Sunday, June 26, 2011

Marnee Thai Restaurant!! - San Francisco!

In my recent trip to San Francisco, my sister and I made the rounds to as many 'foodie' places we get to.  For lunch we stopped by at Marnee Thai Restaurant!! They're famous for a award winning Pad Thai dish and I was so excited to try it!!  The location was relativity easy to find, and the cost wasn't too bad for lunch.



I got the tofu Pad Thai and my sister got the chicken Pad Thai.  They give you a generous portion, probably enough to feed two people with a moderate appetite.  But, when I took the first bite I could really see why this was a award winning dish.  I've tried A LOT of pad thai dishes all across Southern California, and it's probably one of my go-to dishes at any Thai restaurant.  But when I had this dish, it had a very distinct bump of flavor than the rest.  Other pad thai's are usually mono-tone; just between sweet and sour.  This however, jumped out at you.  The flavor was in every part of the dish, in every bite and EVEN in the noodles!

This place is def worth a try if your a thai food connoisseur!      



WoOo..noddle close up!




2225 Irving Street
San Francisco, CA 94122
(415) 665-9500

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

SORTED - Pasta Carbonara dish!!

SORTED has become a weirdly addictive/obsession of mine lately and I've finally come around to making my first SORTED dish!!




I  converted the recipe into american measurements and also doubled the recipe so it would serve four.

1 Package of Dried Spaghetti
1 Package of Italian Pancetta (3 oz.)
1/2 Package of Smoked Bacon
4 Eggs
4 Egg Yolks
200ml of Cream (I used heavy whipping cream)
1 cup of Parmesan Cheese\
Black pepper (to taste!)
Texas Toast (lol definitely cheated! My oven doesn't work!)

PAN of choice:  Large pot, and small pan.

1.  Boil your pasta, 7-10 mins. Cook till al dente! Drain the pasta, then put it back in the same pot, and set aside for later.

2.  Dice the pancetta and bacon, and fry it up in the small pan until golden brown.  Adding bacon seems like a very american thing to do...but my family tends to like hearty proteins in their dinner.  Plus, YOU WILL NOT REGRET the addition on bacon (well, if you like bacon)!! But, buying pancetta in large amounts, can be a bit pricey and scarce.

 3.  Mix the eggs, egg yolk, cream, chesse, and alittle bit of black pepper!



 4.  Add the Pancetta/Bacon and the sauce to the awaiting Spaghetti and mix!


5. Toast up some Texas toast, and crumble the yummy crumbs all over!!

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT!!
(Leftovers are also the best!)




mmm..


I found it absolutely amazing!! I think I made it cheesy-er than it needs to be; but it totally reminds me of that famous dish from Yard House (Mac&Cheese'squared') without the truffle oil!! The bacon definitely gives it an intense hearty bacon flavor, whereas the Pancetta is much more complex and subtle.
 This is now a must have staple!!! 

{OPTIONAL: Give your dog Bacon!}

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Bottega Louie! Why haven’t I visited you before?!?


We visit downtown L.A. from time to time, usually for shopping and getting supplies such as fabric, beads, and other things, for my sisters online etsy store.  And man ALL THESE YEARS we have never went to this restaurant!!  It's about 5 mins away from the fabric district on 7th and Grand, and truthfully there was a lot of hype on yelp but I avoided reading it, just to get a personal interpretation of it.  The biggest excitement for me was the portobello fries, and the French macarons/pastry section.


The interior definitely gets top marks.  They have very beautiful trimmed ceilings, leather chairs, and you can even see the pizza guy put your pizza in the oven.  Overall it’s very luxurious, and it does make it seem that you would pay a fortune for the meal but Bottega is honestly REALLY REASONABLE!  The menu has a dish for anyone’s budget.  Also the service was great!  Our waiter was the sweetest guy ever.  We loved this garlic ailoi sauce with the Portobello fries and he gave us another.  We felt very well taken care of. 
.Bread & butter given at the beginning
I mean it’s really how proper bread should be made, but it had a really hard crust.  The middle was perfect though, spongy with consistent flavor.  Not at all doughy or poorly made, but hey it was complementary.
Latte
This latte is very good.     And I’ve tried A LOT of lattes.
The espresso was not at all bitter, it had a very smooth taste.  The height of the foam and the thickness of it was perfect.  The latte was also at a perfect temperature, and they also give you a large amount.  The foam art was ehh, but you can’t really judge it by that.  Def worth a try if your into coffee.
Portobello fries!! This is how all fries should be!
Flat out: it’s 9 dollars.
It’s a bit overpriced, but I believe the richness compensates for the amount given.  However, it’s good for about two people though.  The batter, mann the batter. You would expect it to be greasy, but it’s not at all greasy.  The batter felt light and had a fair amount of flavor, the best part was they cut thick slices of the mushroom.  Make sure to get the aioli sauce.
Trenné $12
I got the Trenné.  It had perfect flavor.  It reminded me of a rich beef stew with the bits of rib eye, but the main character of the dish was the sauce and the pasta.  Don’t get this dish if you want a lot of meat.  At first the pasta looked kind of like french fries but it complemented it well.  It took up the sauce differently then would normal pasta, and it created this very interesting texture to the pasta.  There was strong flavor and I would go back for this anytime.
Fettuccine Belmondo $10
Fettuccine Belmondo is the dish my sister ordered.  A little disappointing.  Just because when you compare the both, the dishes are on completely different tangents.  It was very simplistic.  Not too much sauce, truthfully a little too plain for my taste.  We found if you add just a bit of salt it brings out a lot more flavor.  Very healthy though.
Pink Salt!
Very good salt!  It might just be the color (hehee)

Patisseries!!
I bought the Macarons (small box $9), and the Crème brûlée (about $3ish)
Open Macaron box
Bite!!
The patisseries are all the same, it’s all a bit overpriced.  I was kind of taken back when I couldn’t choose what flavors I wanted but it was okay…  The macarons did not have definite flavors.  Unlike Paulette Macarons where you can really taste the guava, or the lavendar,  Bottega Louie macarons  were very well made and had really great colors but it  didn’t have sharp flavors.. The Crème brûlée was very citrusy, not bad for the price, and it was a great one to try, but I wish I had tried a tart or something.
I feel like Bottega is going to be tradition whenever we visit downtown L.A,  even if parking is difficult and the wait is long with a huge crowd (fortunately we went on a weekday around 3 so we didn’t wait at all).  I just really want to try more dishes and see if they’re as good as the Trenné.

700 S Grand Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90017

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Dessert Adventure: Famous Cupcakes! in Beverly Hills

Famous Cupcakes have to be THE best so far.
Kind of a bold statement, since I haven't tried EVERY single place..BUT, out of the most of the popular places for this famous dessert craze, this is the best.  Red Velvet is a must have, the chocolate flavor in it is much more pungent then others!  They also offer coffee and other desserts, but what I found interesting was the "take home" in the tube cupcake mixes.  These cupcake are fairly large, when you compare to the others. Amazing ratios when you eat the the cream cheese frosting, not too sweet. If your around that area, it's definitely worth a try!! Also, the taste reminds me of Georgetown Cupcake in DC, except they're larger :)
168 South Beverly Drive

Beverly Hills, CA 90212-3003
(310) 248-2727

Dessert Adventure: Mini Caramel Apples! (..but chocolate covered..)

My auntie decided to have a ‘Birthday Bash Costume Party’ for her two little boys, and I made these super amazing mini caramel apples for their party.The original recipe called for butterscotch and peanut butter, but the butterscotch didn’t melt nicely, so we went with chocolate.
Ingredients:
Apples (red or green)
Melon baller
Lollipop sticks
Chocolate (bittersweet or milk, no white chocolate, ours failed dramatically)
LOTS of sprinkles!

1. MELON BALL the apples and insert lollipop stick.

2.  Pat the apples dry to insure maximum stickery. Meanwhile melt the chocolate in a double boiler (a metal boil over a small pot filled with water)  you can also melt it in the microwave.
3. Dip the balled apple in the chocolate and cover in SPRINKLE’S!!

MY FAVORITE, stars!
We also covered it with crushed peanuts (one of the best ones)!
mmm nom nom nom
yay!
4. Do forget to serve them!  Or you can keep them all for yourself  :)

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Breakfast Time: Eggplant Torta!!

This dish has to be one of my favorite dishes, I'm always pushing my dad to cook this for me!  Then he FINALLY taught me how to make it!  It's a traditional healthy eggplant dish for breakfast, it's very much like an omelette using scrambled eggs.  

Ingredients:

4 Medium Eggplants
8 Eggs
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil

Pan of choice: Wok
Serves: 4

Directions:

1.  Wash the eggplant and roast the eggplant over a stove or put the eggplant in the broiler, till it looks like this photo!   I just used the stove technique.


It might look funny but after this is done hold the stem of the eggplant and use tongs to peel away the top layer


2.  After, scramble two eggs and add it to the bowl and the eggplant, salt and pepper to taste. Using a fork, smash the eggplant into the egg.





I like to use a semi-shallow bowl, because when you put the eggplant in the pan you can just slide it in and it keeps its shape.

3.  Add a large bit of oil to the pan and slide the egg and eggplant in the pan.


4.  Flip the torta around and brown the otherside.


And there you have it!! Repeat the steps for more.. believe me it's addicting.  I definitely recommend adding a bit of ketchup!




mmm..