Review – Food Woolf

Who’s Afraid of a Juice Cleanse?

I was in the deli meat section of Whole Foods when my husband asked if I’d be interested in joining him on a three-day juice cleanse. An answer came swiftly. “No way,” I said. “Not interested.”

He tried again by the salad bar.

“Come on. It’s just for three days,” he said. “I’ll go to the Pressed Juicery tomorrow and get all the juices we need.”

He pushed the grocery cart past the display of pre-made soups and a barricade of kombucha.

“No, thanks. Not my jam,” I said.

I slipped four of my favorite chocolate bars into our cart. I could not encourage an idea that had me going without dark chocolate and coffee for three days. Hadn’t I given up enough already?

Hans was quiet through the frozen food section. He held his tongue as we waited in line behind two chatty Asian women with a small basket of food. They stopped talking long enough to eye our grocery items. They want what we have, I thought. They think a juice cleanse was a bad idea, too.

The cashier waved us over. I unloaded kale, red quinoa, sweet potatoes, and low-fat yogurt onto the conveyor belt. My healthy choices edged towards to the glass of the bar code reader. My ego welled up and banged against fear. I live a rather healthy life. I don’t drink alcohol or smoke. So why on earth would I need a cleanse?

My husband gave one final pitch. “You have the week off. This is a perfect time.”

I pulled a five-pound turkey breast wrapped in butcher paper from the cart. “What about this turkey,” I said, running scenarios, dates, and health code statistics through my mind. There was a lot at stake here. I had plans and recipes. I couldn’t give up eating for THREE days!

“What about the turkey?” he said. “We’ll freeze it. Come on. It’ll be good for us.”

It was in that moment that I heard the sound. It was the kind and gentle tone my husband can get sometimes when he knows something about me that I don’t. Deep in there between the consonants and vowels was something good and important. Patience. Wisdom. Insight.

Love conquers fear

This moment was familiar. Wasn’t it just a few years ago when my husband suggested an idea so outside of my comfort zone, I automatically said no to it then, too? Wasn’t it just a few years ago when my life was upside down and needing some direction and my husband asked if I was willing to give up drinking with him for just one day at a time? Hadn’t my life been transformed by uttering the word, Yes?

I smiled as I handed the butcher’s bundle to the cashier. “Would it be okay if we didn’t get this turkey breast? I changed my mind,” I said. “Looks like I’m going to be doing a juice cleanse after all.”

There were no applause or sudden dancing. Just a grin of knowing from the man I love.

“Yes. No problem,” the cashier said. No hesitation was offered with her response. Continue reading “Who’s Afraid of a Juice Cleanse?”

December 31March 14

Food Woolf: A Year in Review 2012

It may not be best to dwell in the past, but it doesn’t hurt to look back and appreciate all that’s happened. So rather than write a post featuring top recipes or big news stories of the year, I thought I’d take a little time to write something of a gratitude list for this blog in 2012. It has been an eventful time filled with great lessons, delicious recipes, and outstanding moments for me and my family. I hope you don’t mind me sharing them with you!

Perhaps the most valuable lesson of 2012 was to slow down and appreciate the little things. Despite the whirling speed of new tech toys and cool apps, I began to apply mindfulness techniques to my life, work, writing, and even social media. Slowing down may not have been instinctual when I started this year, but after twelve months of meditation and mindful action–I find that I have much more joy and gratitude for the little and big things that happen throughout my day.

I had the honor of being a keynote speaker at The Big Summer Potluck. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing my new internet BFF Maggy Keet and speak with all the good and big hearted people about Mindfulness in the Digital Age.

I was nominated for Best Literary Food Writing in April by one of my most beloved food magazines, Saveur. I might not have won, but knowing that the incredible food writers and editors at Saveur had considered my writing worthy of recognition was award enough.

I continued telling my story about being an LA-based restaurant consultant in my Service 101 essay series. I spoke about the need for restaurants to consider teaching better bussing. I wrote about restaurant concepts that work, why guests should keep an open mind when visiting restaurants, how I enjoy my work in restaurants, and how I am working a compassion practice in restaurant dining rooms.

Other landmarks during the year that was rumored to be the end of the world included a very busy year in my work of opening restaurants. Some of my clients included Milo and Olive, Karen Hatfield’s Sycamore Kitchen, and the artisanal hot dog stand of Neal Fraser, Fritzi Dog. In addition, I celebrated five years of blogging and became the proud mama of a puppy.

I had the good fortune of enjoying some travel during my year. I visited San Francisco and saw my friend Michael Procopio for a great meal and later he suggested I visit the unique/edgy/performance art coffee shop called The Red Door. Experiencing a meal there was revelatory and completely mind blowing.

There were many great meals and restaurant moments in 2012. While I may not have spent half as much time I would have like to writing about the meals I enjoyed during my twelve months of 2012, I did manage to snap several hundred pictures of my repasts via Instagram.

Beyond my meals in restaurants, I found my way into my own kitchen and created a few recipes of my own. A few that I’m most proud of include my simple, and delicious recipes for a Sriracha Chicken, and Kale Salad that was inspired by one of my favorite new restaurants (and clients!), Sycamore Kitchen. My favorite recipe of the year–made so by its versatility and highly addictive flavor profile–is my savory cranberry compote I made last month. Even though Thanksgiving has come and gone, I’ve made the recipe a few more times since then. In my last batch I halved the amount of dried cranberries and added dried cherries.

I am grateful for so many things, including my family, friends, and all the great people I have had the good fortune of meeting during this year. Most of all, I appreciate and thank you for reading, writing such kind comments, and supporting my writing. I wish you all the best in 2013 and may all your dreams and goals be exceeded in the new year.

Love and peace to you and your family. Happy New Year!

Cranberry Compote on Greek Yogurt

Of the many uses of the compote (as a spread for sandwiches and a sweet/savory condiment for turkey and chicken), my favorite may be as a topping for yogurt and ice cream. I love how the sweetness of the cranberry sauce compliments the flavors of an unsweetened Greek Yogurt. I especially love putting it on top of Fage: it’s low in fat and super creamy!

1/4 cup of Cranberry Compote
1 cup of Fage (or plain) Greek Yogurt

Put the yogurt in a bowl and top with compote. Stir in to sweeten the creamy yogurt.

Suggestion: Add nuts or granola for an additional, crunchy texture. Enjoy!

May 11July 4

Service 101: Partnership in Service

Service is a dance that requires partnership. A diner orders a meal from a waiter. A customer asks a salesperson for a pair of shoes in their size. A passenger requests a seat assignment from an airline booking agent. The sequence of service is the required steps of giving and receiving in business transactions. Unlike any ballet, however, plenty of participants are unaware they contribute to the outcome of the service dance. When one half of the partnership is belligerent, demanding, and unmindful of their contributions to the equation beyond the financial, often times the dance becomes contentious.

Customers may have a very clear opinion of the responsibilities of the service giver–complaining about customer service is de rigueur on sites like Yelp–but its rare for the patron to see past their financial role in the dance. The Red Door Cafe is a small restaurant in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco where each and every potential diner is made aware of their role in their service experience and the owner challenges every diner to take responsibility for their part in the service exchange.

Wake up and smell the coffee

My good friend and fellow service provider, Michael Procopio suggested I check out the small restaurant when I recently visited San Francisco. “The lines will be insane,” Michael said. “But you have to go. Really. You must.”

Upon reading up on the Red Door Cafe on Yelp, you’ll see 5 star reviews from diners who rave about incredible food, great service, and an untraditional setting for breakfast. But it isn’t until you arrive at the restaurant and take a good look through the big glass windows that you start to really understand that you are regarding a very unique establishment.

The 12-seat restaurant opens at 10 am, but you’ll more than likely find a line has formed outside on the sidewalk by 10:15. Unlike a typical queue for breakfast, however, the diners-to-be aren’t reading newspapers while they wait. Customers giggle and laugh as they cuddle tattered, plastic baby dolls and sip coffee from Easter egg colored bowls.

A sign in the window spells things out for the curious diner right away: This isn’t a restaurant, it’s an experience. Look around and you’ll quickly start to get an inkling that this place is different. Inside, you’ll see diners cavorting with plastic trolls and headless dolls. If you look close enough you’ll note the risqué, plastic items sold at most sex shops next to the salt and pepper shakers on every table.

Ahmed–known to his regulars as A.D. or Absolutely Delicious–is the gregarious owner/bouncer/server/host of The Red Door Cafe. He’s the man to speak to if you want to put your name on the clipboard wait list.

“I don’t let everyone into my restaurant,” A.D. says as he sashays outside to eyeball you and other potential diners. “You have to prove why I should let you in, honey.”

Continue reading “Service 101: Partnership in Service”

March 10March 14

Consider the Chocolate: Askinosie Tasting Notes

The writer William Blake said, “For nothing is as pleasing to God except the invention of beautiful and exalted things.” I can only imagine God is quite pleased with the inspired works and bean-to-bar chocolates made by the good people behind Askinosie Chocolate.

I had my first taste of an Askinosie Chocolate bar one year ago and gained access to an entirely new world of flavor. With just the smallest square of a San Jose del Tambo Nibble Bar I suddenly became aware of complex flavors and playful textures I had never experienced before. That rough, dark square of chocolate no bigger than a quarter had more flavor compressed into it than any over-sized, American candy bar I had ever tasted. One bite and I was left transformed by its rich and earthy tannins, hints of smoke, bitter cacao (all seventy-two percent of it), and the satisfying crunch roasted cacao nibs.

One bite of Askinosie’s chocolate made me a chocolate obsessive.

Continue reading “Consider the Chocolate: Askinosie Tasting Notes”

August 7

Floc de Gascogne, a Taste of Summer

It is summer in Los Angeles and you wouldn’t know it. The days are intermittently cool. Only occasionally does the sun rev up enough power to make a handful of the southern California city dwellers turn to shorts and summer dresses. I miss lush grass, thick sweet air, angry rainstorms and, oddly, the crown of sweat-soaked curls that twist at the nape of my neck on the hottest of days.

This summer holds nothing to the hot-house heat and lush green of the east coast. There are no lush green trees, heavy with sun-soaked leaves or grassy front yards so excited by the season’s heat they swell like miniature forests.

Here in the valley of a former desert, the change in season is miniscule. Palm trees are parched. Grass grows on borrowed water. Lawns are so manicured you could count every blade of grass from the standing position.

I need a back yard picnic to perk me up. Pronto.

Luckily, a pair of great friends are having a back yard party this weekend. I knew exactly what I needed to bring with me to perk me and the rest of my Southern California friends up: a chilled taste of summer in a glass.

perfect summer bbq wine — Floc de Gascgogne

Floc de Gascgone–a recent discovery thanks to a fellow restaurant professional and friend—is a blend of fresh grape juice and young Armagnac is a straw colored apertif served chilled. A classy and ancient drink, Floc de Gascogne is a thoroughly modern drink that’s been enjoyed since the dark ages. Crisp, and lightly sweet, the Floc is like a wine cooler that went to an Ivy league grad school: its very sophisticated and smart.

Chateau de Laubade Floc de Gascogne is a 16^th century adaptation of the earliest version of the apertif, which blends fifty percent Colombard and fifty percent Ugni Blanc grape juice with a young Bas Armagnac. After settling for a year and decanting, fresh grape juice and young Armagnac is blended in a closed vat and aged until the end of winter. Bottom line, this is a perfect way to start a meal or end a night with a bit of cheese. Serve chilled, this delicate nectar has a playful hint of Armagnac that offers the sweet taste of summer. No matter what the weather is like.

You can find Floc de Gascogne online at my favorite online wine store retailer, K&L. You can see some more of my recommendations and links to this blog over at the K&L store’s blog.

*I do not get paid to write for them. I’m a big fan!

June 5November 14

Summer Reading: Great Food and Writing Books (and some fluff)

I was lucky enough to get in a lot of reading while I was on vacation. Though much of my reading was crammed into the last two days of my trip, I was able to plow through three books in just a couple of days before returning home. Each book offered food for thought, entertaining story, and psychological fodder.

Continue Reading for my current picks for Great Summer Reading for Foodies »

April 6January 4

Touchstone Cookbooks

girl reading Betty Crocker Cook Book — Betty Crocker Cookbook, an influential cookbook to generations of food lovers

Maybe it’s because I’m approaching a somewhat noteworthy age, but I choose to believe that perhaps the most significant of all my birthdays was my fifth. Why? My fifth birthday marked the day that my obsession with food (and food as an artform) was born when my mother gave me my first cookbook.

I was in the kitchen, watching my mother fuss with something in a drawer, when she gave me a copy of Betty Crocker’s Cookbook for Boys and Girls.

“Go sit at the table and look through the pictures,” she said. “Figure out what kind of cake you want for your birthday. Draw it for me.” I took to the challenge right away. I sped to the kitchen table, grabbed paper and wax crayons, and went to work. In between pages of subtle advertising, black print, and Gloria Kamen’s clever illustrations, I found vibrant color photos of party foods and ornate party cakes.

Even then I was a fool for clever food styling.

extra special drinks cocktails for kids — “Extra Special Drinks” for kids from Betty Crocker’s Cookbook

Continue To Read More about Touchstone Cookbooks »

March 10

A Healthy Granola Recipe = A Virtual Hug

I’ve been thinking a lot about a very special person in my life that’s about three thousands miles away from a great big hug I desperately need to give her. Bleak hours are the time for embraces, warm cups of tea, soft blankets, silly smiles, and gentle kisses. But my beloved friend is back home on the east coast, in a difficult bog that is so deep and wide I can feel its ripples hit the Pacific.

Since my life is built around food and its comforting pleasures, the one thing I long to do is cook a warm and satisfying meal for her. No shipping container can hold the moment of making a meal together. But a well-made care package that’s filled with healthy and tasty treats may be just the thing that I can do to offer some much-needed sustenance. Perhaps just a handful of happiness.

In hopes of finding a healthy recipe for a mail-friendly package, I turned to one of my new favorite cookbooks: Lucid Food. The author, Louisa Shafia, is a chef and caterer based in New York City; her cookbook is filled with recipes that celebrate the seasons and the idea that food should be sustainable for the planet and our bodies.

Continue for The Best Granola Recipe Ever »

August 26

The Perfect Fruit by Chip Brantley, a Book Review

While pursuing my undergrad and masters degree in writing, I consistently heard the advice that the life of a writer is one that should be avoided, if at all possible. “Do anything else if you can,” the teachers begged. But despite their warning to turn back from a life of hard work, no respect, and very little (if any) financial reward, I persevered.

Turns out, artists aren’t the only foolish ones with careers that don’t always pay off. According to Chip Brantley‘s book, “The Perfect Fruit: Good breeding, bad seeds and the hunt for the elusive Pluot,” fruit breeders are also part of a cursed bunch of men and women shackled with unfaltering passion, a blinding desire to create something, and a life of hard work that doesn’t necessarily offer any financial reward.

In fruit breeders, Brantley found a kindred spirit. It’s no wonder that a single piece of fruit, and the history of its breeder would eventually become a subject so compelling Brantley would dedicated a couple years of his life to tell the story. One bite of a ripe Flavor King plum was all it took to ignite an obsession in Brantley, a journalist and founder of Cookthink. In what could be described in movie terms as the cute meet, Brantley’s stone fruit encounter was so thrilling and exciting it changed the course of his life forever.

An obsession is born

Brantley’s research lead him to the fruit of his of his affections: a Flavor King Pluot. A relatively new hybrid created by a man named Floyd Zaiger, the writer tracks the history of the fruit through its creator’s lineage. From the fields of San Joaquin Valley, California, to the text books of early American fruit breeders, Brantley leads us through the meandering path of plant husbandry. He unravels the history of the hybrid and tells the stories of the growers responsible for creating obsession-worthy fruits. What results is a mostly compelling story of dedication, competition, invention, and an undying passion to create a perfect piece of fruit.

Brantley spends time in the field with an array of fruit breeders: an interesting bunch that have hybrids on their minds and an insular culture that keeps the group rather off the grid. Brantley navigates the world of the plant breeders and corporate fruit buyers as an inquisitive observer that would happily spend a full day wandering around a field to taste hundreds of juicy plums.

With the growth of interest in fruit that tastes good, Brantley shows readers why breeds such as the Dapple Dandy and the Flavor King are now just starting to make it on the buying public’s radar. And with the popularity of farmers markets growing by the week, Brantley is only able to guess at the affect of local consumer demand on stone fruit farmers.

Brantley’s “Pluot” is a must-read book for food lovers, plum obsessives, and any writer that has ever felt alone in the world of struggle. Thanks to Brantley’s research, it becomes clear that one can find artistry in just about any field of work. Take for example one fruit breeder’s desire to grow fruit. In his mission statement for growing fruit, he states that he hopes his plums will illicit a response equal to “a first kiss, a grandma’s smile, the last day of school, and outside fastballs over the right field fence.”

And maybe, if you’re a food blogger with a dream of someday making enough money to do nothing but write about food, consider this: it took Floyd Zaiger, the creator of the Flavor King (Brantley’s perfect fruit), twelve years before he saw any profit from his labors. The amount that he made after twelve years of planting, cross breeding, and creating an intricate system of tracking genetic crosses only resulted in a small check for just two hundred and fifty dollars.

Brantley’s research has a way of filtering into a food lover’s mind (mine) and affecting buying choices. After reading about the passion it takes to grow delicious plums, I couldn’t resist the eat-over-the-sink juicy plums at my local farmers market. As the season comes to a close I will enjoy every last, anti-oxidant rich bite.

According to Brantley, most Americans eat only one pound of plums a year. Since reading “The Perfect Fruit,” I am well on my way of breaking the record for average plum consumption.

Photo courtesy of Bloomsbury

The Perfect Fruit
Good breeding, bad seeds and the hunt for the elusive Pluot
Published by Bloomsbury

August 11

Julie and Julia: one food blogger’s review

Image courtesy of Sony Pictures

“Don’t get too excited. It only leads to disappointment.”

That’s what a weary Bostonian told me one night when I expressed giddy enthusiasm before tasting her food. Her warning hasn’t stopped me from being eager about a lot of things, but her words have definitely stuck with me.

Julie & Julia is a much hyped movie I’m glad I maintained my cool about. I did my best to keep my excitement to a minimum and enter the theater with a general sense of calm. As a food blogger and child raised on Julia Child (our local, public television station was WGBH), I really wanted the film to be great. But the more reviews I read—one critic suggested that Meryl Streep’s Julia Child was reason enough to see the film but the food blogging story line was so boring it required a penlight and reading materials–the more I began to worry. Perhaps the narcissism of Julie Powell and the sickly sweet impulses of Nora Ephron would ruin the film. Would Julie & Julia be another hokey romantic comedy that would make me shiver with revulsion every time I passed by its movie poster?

In the hands of other actors, Julie & Julia could have been a disaster. But the honest and impressive artistry of the cast make this a savory film, rather than sickly sweet. The casting of Meryl Streep, Amy Adams and Stanley Tucci is compelling enough to propel this movie into Oscar territory. Streep and Tucci as Julia Child and her husband, Paul, spark with chemistry. The simple moments—Streep’s darting eyes when she slices open an envelope holding potentially important news, Tucci’s physical comedy when he is forced to confront a mound of sliced onions, and Adam’s commitment to feel the frustrations of a sleep deprived woman cooking through the night—make watching the film a real pleasure. Despite real life Julie Powell’s flaws (she is nagging, bratty, selfish, narcissistic and oddly food-phobic), Adams manages to make her true-life character (somewhat) appealing. It is with lesser actors—Adam’s boss and best friends—that the weakness of Ephron’s scripting and direction become more obvious.

In Hollywood, Ephron is the go-to writer for stories of bitchy women that come to their senses after a run around the romantic comedy wheel. Julie & Julia requires from Ephron the use of an entirely different writing muscle. Since the two books she adapted for this film both have story lines with pre-existing husbands, Ephron is unable to fabricate her usual cute-meet scenarios. Ephron the screenwriter is bounced from her comfort zone and is forced to create something new. What results is a romantic movie that celebrates the existence of love, the art of cooking and the delicate dance required for a successful marriage.

What’s even more impressive to me—as someone that struggles with mastering the art of screenwriting—is how Ephron easily captures the art of writing on film. In what could be sappy diary writing, Ephron is very careful in how she shows Powell at the keys. Writing as a story point, isn’t very exciting, especially when the writing is blogging–a field relatively new to many. But thanks to Ephron’s script and direction, the moments when Powell (Adams) sits at the computer to write, does double duty for the story—making the audience feel like they are part witness and part blog reader. Creating a compelling writing scene for a writer on her laptop is not an easy task–just watch the pilot episode of Sex In The City and you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about.

Julie & Julia may not be a perfect movie, but it is a keeper and a must have film for any food blogger’s DVD collection. So if you haven’t seen Julie & Julia yet, be sure to see check it out. But don’t go in expecting too much.

July 14

Italian Fast Food

24 hours days aren’t what they used to be. Hours spin in a blur of color, sound and flavor. Life as I know it—thanks to the opportunities this blog continues to offer me—is morphing into something wonderfully different.

With my new job as a columnist for the LA Weekly’s on-line food section called Squid Ink (home to the nation’s only Pulitzer Prize winning food journalist, Jonathan Gold!), waiting tables a few nights a week and multiple freelance writing gigs, there’s a lot to accomplish in one day. Consequently, sleep has become a luxury. Coffee is a non-negotiable necessity. And lately—here’s the shocker—I’ve gotten so busy I barely have enough time to eat.

Fast food for foodies

Granted, lots of food lovers have secret fast food indulgences. In-n-Out is definitely one of mine. But in terms of being good to my body and the world around me, pulling up to a drive thru window on a regular basis just isn’t an option. Protein bars are good in a pinch, but the act of devouring a meal replacement bar may quiet my stomach but it tends to put me in a bit of a sour mood.

In truth, my idea of great fast food is a slice of great bread with a small bowl of oil-soaked sardines sprinkled with red wine vinegar and radishes. But after several weeks of eating my way through many cans of sardines, I knew it was time to expand my fast food repertoire.

Dinon Alimentare

I recently discovered Dinon Alimentare’s line of marinated seafood salads at the seafood department at my local Whole Foods. Beautiful white anchovy filets and golden jewels of marinated mussels from Italy’s coast had me intrigued. The less than $9 price tag got me buying.

I love toasting bread and dropping a couple tender anchovy fillets over the top. I like to toss the marinated mussels* in with some greens and heirloom tomatoes. The calamari salad travels well in its sealed container and is a perfect addition to an outdoor picnic.

With a couple of Dinon seafood containers in the fridge and a beautiful loaf of bread on my counter, I’ve got ready to go meals in just seconds.

The quality of the ingredients and care that the people at Italian based-Dinon Alimentare take to prepare their marinated seafood salads has me thinking that the Italians really do know how to make food–even fast, prepared food–sexy. I may not like the words “prepared packaged foods” but I certainly do love saying the company’s motto: “Freschezza pronta in tavola.”Freshness brought to the table fast? Who doesn’t like that?

*sometimes the Dinon mussels need a little more de-bearding. I take the extra few seconds to trim that off. Otherwise, they’re just perfect.

July 4

God Bless America

I might not say it much, but I really am proud to be an American. Proud to live in a democratic country where freedom of speech is treasured and issues of ethics are weighed and decided by many–not just one supreme leader.

It’s true, I’m not really a flag waving kind of girl, but I do have moments of civic pride. The night Obama was sworn in had me wishing I could bang a drum and sing that hokey tune they always sing at sporting events about being proud to be an American. When I hear my mother and father in-law talk about how lucky they feel to have immigrated from Guatemala and become citizens in a country so beautiful, safe and full of opportunities my heart swells with appreciation. And early one morning in September of 2001, I cried tears of pride and humility when I heard about the courageous American men and women that helped bring their own plane down, in order to save hundreds–if not thousands–of others.

Beyond the philosophies, declarations and laws that make up this great country, the thing I’m most proud of are the American people. Once I get past the stereotypical personas and bone chilling ignorance of some, I am struck by the fact that this place celebrates believing in yourself and the freedom to pursue The American Dream.

I recently heard a political comedian say this of Americans: “We’re not a thinking people. We just do it.” And though this behavior often gets many of us Americans into quite a bit of trouble at the dinner table, international events and war zones, I do find this American trait endearing.

Fearless Passion

The fearless passions of the American people can sometimes be a scary thing, but the juxtaposition of brilliance and ignorance is what has made me become a writer, journalist and story teller.

I raise a glass to the American people. Here’s to our differences and the freedom to express ourselves.

June 28January 4

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Zingerman’s Guide to Good Eating

“I’m craving American food!” said no one, ever.

I’ve lived in the US my entire life and never have I heard anyone exclaim such a thing. But now that I’ve eaten at Zingerman’s Roadhouse—an Ann Arbor, Michigan restaurant that celebrates the culinary traditions and artisan food makers of the United States–I’ll be saying that phrase a lot. Zingerman’s Roadhouse makes me proud to be an American and hungry for its regional specialties.

Where else can a discerning food lover enjoy tasty buttermilk fried chicken, savory Southern Carolina BBQ, sweet Hawaiian Pineapple Chicken Salad, meaty Maryland crab cakes and earthy-sweet Pennsylvania Dutch Creamed corn in one glorious location?

One trip to the Roadhouse and you’ll save yourself a three thousand mile cross-country culinary tour. The masterminds behind Zingerman’s Roadhouse studied the nation’s gastronomic traditions with the care of scholars and created a menu that celebrates the nation’s best dishes all in one central locale.

Zingerman’s puts Ann Arbor on the culinary map

Zingerman’s may have started in 1982 as solitary delicatessen dedicated to serving great sandwiches, but it has since grown to include six other establishments that consist of a bakehouse, creamery, training branch, culinary press, and an impressive mail-order artisan food company. The Roadhouse—the seventh establishment in the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses—is a tour de force where elements from all of the culinary outposts can come together.

Welcome to the Roadhouse

Enter the Roadhouse and Zingerman’s friendly staff is always happy to help. Past the blur of the busy open kitchen, beyond the colorful signage announcing daily specials and the glass cases filled with vintage salt and pepper shakers, you’ll find diners tucked away in backroom booths, bellied up to the bar or lounging outside at tables adjacent to the barbecue pit.

My husband and I sat at the bar so that we could study the names of the Michigan-local brew taps. We were impressed by the extensive selection of rare Bourbons, jars of house made maraschino cherries and containers filled with freshly squeezed juices. Unlike many restaurants across our fair country, no mixers are used and only fresh ingredients are stocked behind the bar.

Our barkeep, Adam, greeted us with an uncommon enthusiasm and excited menu descriptions that had us wishing we could order everything. Adam told us how Roadhouse Chef/Partner, Alex Young had such a commitment to fresh ingredients he started a three-acre organic farm to supply the restaurant with all its seasonal produce. Located in Dexter, Michigan, the Roadhouse’s dedicated farm produces lettuces, radishes, scapes, morels, asparagus, and almost thirty different heirloom varieties of tomatoes for the restaurant. Roadhouse food wastes are composted and trucked to the farm to improve the health of the earth.

While still mulling over the menu choices, Adam presented my husband and I with a sample of the Roadhouse’s famous barbeque. On the plate were mouthfuls of pulled pork topped with three different sauces: earthy, eastern North Carolina vinegar, sweet Memphis tomato, and spicy South Carolina mustard. Adam explained how Ed Mitchell, a North Carolina native and pit master, moved to Michigan to teach the Zingerman’s crew how to smoke free-range, heirloom-breed hogs over oak for over fourteen hours and prepare the meat southern-style.

To drink, we ordered the Jolly Pumpkin “La Roja, a sour amber craft beer that gets its tart, food friendly acidity from naturally occurring yeasts found in the brewery. Within seconds of sampling the beer, a smiling server named Brian dashed over to enthusiastically approve of our beer choice.

“Cool!” the young man with the long side burns exclaimed with unsolicited enthusiasm. “You guys picked the best beer we have!”

We paired our sour beer with Zingerman’s Chesapeake Bay Crab Cakes ($12.50). More Maryland jumbo lump blue crab meat than anything else, the cake’s sweet flavor was enhanced by a dollop of Zingerman’s ultimate tartar sauce*.

While waiting for our next course, the bartender poured us a sample of Zaison, a Belgian styled beer Jason Spaulding, the Roadhouse’s bar manager (and former New Holland Brewery’s brewmaster), created for the restaurant. As we enjoyed the beer’s zesty flavors and light style we had the good fortune of meeting Jason, and happily listened as he explained how he came to make the food-centric, single-batch brew with orange peel and black pepper.

If it isn’t clear yet that the Roadhouse isn’t your typical restaurant, it’s time to point out an important aspect that many people don’t realize is a key to Zingerman’s success: an unrivaled commitment to service. From the minute you walk through the door, every employee goes out of their way to make sure that they can help give you the best possible experience. Want to have creamed corn instead of coleslaw on your entrée? Sure. Want a behind-the-scenes look at what’s going on inside Zingerman’s Roadshow (a free standing take out “trailer” designed for speedy breakfast, lunch and dinner to-go orders)? Come on inside! At Zingerman’s, “no” is not in the employee’s vocabulary.

In preparation for the arrival of our entrees, we ordered the Dragon’s Milk Beer. This gloriously dark and hoppy beer from Michigan, gets its vanilla and mocha flavors from being aged in bourbon barrels.

The beer paired perfectly with the sweet, Niman Ranch pork ribs ($19 for a half rack). Cooked for nine hours in Alex’s Red Rage Tomato BBQ sauce, the ribs were served on—thanks to Zingerman’s yes-we-can attitude–a generous portion of South Carolina corn grits and mustard coleslaw. The sweet and meaty ribs were fall-off-the-bone tender and chewy from the long, slow cook. The grainy texture of the grits and the sweet crunch of the coleslaw made the title “side dish” seem like an insult—these were must-have bites that required our full attention.

We enjoyed the Southern Carolina mustard BBQ pork entrée ($11.50) with Pennsylvania Dutch Creamed Corn and Southern-style braised collard greens. The mustard vinegar sauce (a favorite in western South Carolina) enhanced the moist and flavorful pork without overpowering the meat’s natural flavors. The earthy sweetness and playful texture of the creamed corn played perfectly against the tart collard greens.

Had we more room for food, we would have ordered the Buttermilk-fried free range chicken with mashed potatoes, gravy and coleslaw. But we had enjoyed that dish and many others on a previous visit, and thought better to save room for dessert.

Thank god we did, because the Roadhouse brownie sundae is not to be missed. Zingerman’s bakehouse brownies are crave-worthy on their own. But served warm, with the Creamery’s fresh vanilla ice cream, a perfect amount of hot fudge and a house-made maraschino cherry—we were in heaven.

As a fan of one of America’s greatest liquors—Bourbon—I decided to try a Roadhouse specialty cocktail. . A perfect American cocktail to end a perfectly American meal, the Kentucky Bed Warmer is made with Knob Creek and Blenheim ginger ale. It’s a delightful tippler that aids digestion and makes you smile.

It’s only been a day since I visited the Roadhouse, but I can already feel a new kind of craving coming on. I turn to my husband with a smile.

“Hey honey, guess what I’m craving…”

Kentucky Bed Warmer
From Zingerman’s Roadhouse

2 ounces Knob Creek
1 ounce Orange Curacao
2 dashes Orange bitters
Blenheim ginger ale
Orange zest

Add Knob Creek, Orange Curacao and bitters to a Boston shaker filled with ice. Stir until chilled. Add to bucket glass and fill with Blenheim ginger ale. Top with orange zest and serve.

*Zingerman’s Tartar Sauce is a delicious blend of mayo, Dijon mustard, minced cornichon, minced red onion, diced plum tomatoes, Quebec cider vinegar and sugar. Try making your own version at home!

NOTE: Thank you so much to the generous people at FoodBuzz.com for their support of this blog and helping fund this food adventure.

March 19January 4

Wine Review with Wine Woolf

Thanks to all of my years working in great wine-friendly Los Angeles and Boston restaurants, I take wine drinking very seriously. Wine can elevate a meal. A well made wine can highlight the subtle nuances of an herb or delicate ingredient. Searing acidity can cut through the fat of a juicy piece of meat and clean the palate for the next incredible bite. One sip of an extraordinary little known wine or a well aged investment bottle and your tastebuds are on a journey to a distant locale; great wine can lift you out of your comfort zone and put you in a place you’ve never been to before. Wine can relax, blur reality and show you life in a whole new way.

Not content with the question “can I have a glass of white wine?”, I often push my restaurant customers to define what it is they like about wine so that I can expose them to something new and different. When someone tells me “I only like a buttery Chardonnay,” I hear a challenge to offer a new way of seeing wine. Perhaps they like residual sweetness. Maybe they like clean flavors. Perhaps they just need to be talked to with kindness and shown the way into a whole new world of flavor.

Vino Time

Vino time is a very special moment in the household of Food Woolf. Usually enjoyed late at night at the end of a long day of waiting tables or during dinner to elevate the flavors of a home cooked or restaurant meal, Vino time is when we clear away the mental clutter of the day to focus on the enticing flavors and aromas of what’s in our glass. In hopes of bringing some great wine values and amazing finds, my husband Hans and I have decided to start Wine Woolf to share with you what great wines (or beer) that we have found at local stores or discovered at the restaurants we work at.

If you only like chardonnay or big reds from California, our wine picks will most likely be unfamiliar or seem esoteric. Perhaps they are. But the wines we seek out are high in complexity, deliciously easy drinking and always AFFORDABLE.

Great reds for steak

This week we fired up some tasty grass-fed steaks from La Cense Beef and tried them along side our hand-picked adult beverages.

New School

Tablas Creek Vineyard, Syrah, 2006 ($20)

Just the fourth national release of Syrah for Tablas Creek, a Paso Robles vineyard, this wine is definitely a keeper. Though located in the heart of juicy wine territory in Paso Robles, these talented wine makers craft their wines with European techniques–making most, if not all their wines, beautifully nuanced. We’ve been fans since the beginning and have the scars to prove it.

Nose: Crushed stones, black cherries. Finishes with a touch of anise. This syrah was drinking well in the tasting room so we absconded with half a case of the stuff without breaking the bank.

Taste: Savor the black fruit, white pepper, and pork fat. That’s right. We said it! Pork fat! And that fat played real nice with our Montana cut of beef.

**We’ll be writing more about Tablas in the future, for sure, but in the meantime, if you come across a bottle of Tablas’ Counoise anywhere, buy it! Throw a bottle or two in the fridge and save it for a perfect wine moment.

Old School

(we didn’t take a picture of this bottle, but here’s a photo of our wine making friend Chris Keller to entertain you!)

Bandol, La Bastide Blanche, 2006 ($26)

From one of the best appellations in Provence comes this deep, blackberry laden, bitter chocolate-dripping Mourvedre. The vines are grown traditionally in stony soils using organic fertilization. Grapes are all hand-picked.

Nose: Blueberries and mocha. Elegant and classy.

Taste: Juicy on the tongue and structured like your grandmother’s armoire. This wine plumps up with a little fat (say a great, marbled steak). This beautiful Bandol also loved the marbling on the rib-eye we sampled. Top notch wine paring for steak!

Cantina Zaccagnini, Il Vino “Dal Tralcetto”, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, 2005 ($16)

We coaxed this bad boy off of a shelf at Corktree Cellars Wine Bar and Bistro in Carpenteria. Maybe it was the wine twig hanging on the label that caught our eye, or maybe it was the approachable grape of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo that made this wine hard to resist.

Nose: Bright fruit with crushed herbs. Rustic.

Taste: Nice balance of jam to tannin ratio. Raisinated, but smooth. Deep color. We loved the fact this wine was extremely affordable. Great choice for Top Sirloin.

March 11January 3

A Homemade Life

The thing about Molly Wizenberg’s blog Orangette and food memoir, A Homemade Life, is that her words are so charming and engaging they have the power to remind us that the simplest moments are worth cherishing (and in her case, documenting). For her, the way the light comes in through an open window; the texture of a great pudding; the crunch of a homemade granola; the smile on a loved one’s face–all of it requires description and care. Through her stories and treasured recipes, Molly shows us again and again that the things that make life special are great meals and the people you share them with.

Life changers in the shape of humans

There are people that change the course of your life within minutes of meeting them. These influential people–life long contributors and brief characters that flutter in and out of your life–have had the power to shake everything up and leave you changed forever.

There is a special kind of individual–the hero–that has the ability to change lives forever through the sheer power of their influence, words or deeds. These Great People–presidents, thinkers, poets, musicians, artists–inspire and inform without any knowledge of their influence on others.

My life changing heroes are artists. Countless writers, storytellers, filmmakers, painters, illustrators, musicians that have entered my life, scrambled my brain and left me forever changed by their art. One such stranger—a hero that has spread whole crops of inspiration—is Molly Wizenberg.

Long and winding road (and story)

Like many Internet searches that lead to an unexpected path of information, I stumbled across Molly’s blog while looking for inspiration for my wedding. Once there, I was captivated by Orangette’s style and voice. I found Molly’s passion for food and delightful stories that were not only entertaining but often inspired me to head to the kitchen with one of her recipes and start cooking. The more I read Orangette, the more I wanted to explore food.

Flash forward a year. I was newly married and in Italy for my honeymoon. While in a beloved chef’s home kitchen in Panicale, I decided I would put my screenplay writing on hold and start my own food blog.

Like the world needs another food blogger

As I cooked bistecca on an open hearth, I imagined what my blog would look like. My posts would be inspired by food and driven by stories. I would tell people what it was like to love food and work in restaurants. I would be honest about my need to learn more and I would chart my culinary adventures on the page. “I’ll be like Orangette,” I said to myself. “Only different.” My blog would be my special place–A Room of One’s Own, if you will—where I could create fearlessly about food. Within my first week of returning home to the states, I started Food Woolf, naming it after Virginia Woolf, a great female writer that championed the need for a feminine perspective in the literary world.

Like an awkward teenager trying out some new dance moves, writing in my blog was strange at first. I both hoped no one would notice my fledgling pages and quietly longed for encouragement. I went to Orangette for inspiration, found wonderful recipes that sent me on my own journeys and over the next several months I began creating a blog that started to resemble the thing I envisioned many months before.

But I became more confident, I started to feel protective of my process. I stopped reading Orangette for fear of adopting a mimicking tone and style to Molly’s. As students and disciples before me, I felt the need to break away from the person that first inspired me, in order create without feeling her influence on my work.

I occasionally stopped by Orangette to keep abreast of important moments in her life. These posts I read—sort of stolen glances across the Internet—told me of exiting new developments in her writing life. There was to be a regular column in Bon Appetit! Hints of book deal! These triumphant moments in any young writer’s life elicited pride and jealousy in me, almost simultaneously.

After less than twenty hours after Molly’s book hit the book stores, I purchased a copy of the three-hundred page book. Once I had the book in my hands, I felt like I had been reunited with a best friend. Lovely, charming, honest and always true to herself, Molly Wizenberg’s food memoir reminded me all over again why I fell in love with her and her blog in the first place.

Without a stitch of bravado, Molly takes readers on a personal journey through her life, one meal at a time. Tales of her childhood are charming and insightful, not at all self-indulgent. Her honesty in describing her relationship with her parents and the unexpected and sudden loss of her father touched me to the core. Using delightful anecdotes and corresponding recipes, Molly shows us what how love and food can transform a life so completely.

Short chapters quickly unfolded in a page turning style that had me polishing off the book in two brief sittings. To overuse a food metaphor, I gobbled the thing up and cried because it was so beautiful. For someone so new to the food writing world, the girl has chops.

Though this isn’t much of a book review, it is a kind of lengthy thank you note to a food writing hero. It’s open letter of thanks to a person I have never met but has inspired me to follow my passion as a writer.

Thank you, Molly and thank you to all the people (known and unknown) who have inspired me to keep on writing.

March 10

What's to love about LA (on Sunday)?

Sundays in Los Angeles are special. Almost always beautiful, Sundays in the City of Angels is the most relaxed day of the week. Gone are the power suits, the high-heels and tight dresses; the uniform of choice is a mixture of well-worn jeans, ironic tee shirts, comfortable shoes (flip flops, Uggs and sneakers), hat (baseball or a hipster 50’s lid) and sunglasses.

I always see great art on Sunday.

Sunday is my jam. If Sunday was music, it would play like an old copy of Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue. Sundays are quiet as the Sunday paper; cozy as a nap on the couch; delectable as a leisurely brunch; meditative as a walk through the farmers’ market.

The food on Sunday is always better.

Sundays are for a freshly made cocktail made with hand picked things selected with care. Sundays are for a cold beer in a pint glass or a crisp white with oysters.

Sundays are for seeing old friends and family and meeting new characters.

May your next Sundays be soft and gentle, like kisses…

Images from Los Angeles Art Museum, Hungry Cat, Los Angeles, Hollywood Farmers Market, Terroni Los Angeles

February 21June 1

SK Donut the best in Los Angeles?

The best kind of donut is one that is so beguiling that you absolutely believe that the sweet, fried dough that’s been dipped or rolled or packed full of sugar is actually good for you. Bad donuts, on the other hand—the kind that weigh so heavy in your hand so you have to think about lifting it to your mouth–have guilt baked right into them. Bad donuts are dusty, grease-laden representations of dough that are better tossed in the nearest garbage pail than eaten. Great donuts, like the ones I sampled at SK Donut, are so appealing you’ll want to do nothing but savor each and every incredible bite.

Located in a tiny strip mall on 3rd Street just west of La Brea, SK Donuts and Croissants is a 24-hour donut shop visited day and night by locals on foot, business folk, mom’s, police officers and happy Yelpers.

SK’s Donuts has perfected the art of fried dough and frosted confections—and well they should, considering this family business has been around for more than 20 years. SK’s Regular glazed donut or “honey dipped” in New England parlance, is a hole-in-the-middle wonder whose airy dough deflates upon applying even the slightest index finger/thumb pressure. A perfect ratio of frosting to doughnut, the sugary topping is lightly poured over the top, leaving the under belly of the donut unadorned.

One bite of the regular glazed and it was if I were Proust tasting his Madeline all over again. With one soft-sweet bite, I became a five-year-old on a sunny morning, distractedly dropping sugary crumbs onto the Sunday Morning Funny Page favorites of Garfield and Bloom County. I recalled my habit of pressing soft layers of the honey-dipped donut between my fingers until the dough was flat enough to be a sweet stand-in for my make-believe communion ceremonies.

Sigh…I digress.

There are so many other donuts to try. Though I’ve lived for some eight years just blocks from SK’s Donuts, I haven’t allowed myself the indulgence. I’ve really only just begun my exploration of all the SK donut varieties. There are still chocolate dipped, crullers, chocolate with sprinkles and bigger-than-your-hand apple fritters to sample. I won’t be trying the jelly donut again. The jelly is too cherry-pie-filling-like for my taste. If I’m going to go for a filled donut, I prefer a true strawberry or raspberry jelly filling in the center.

But after that revelatory culinary moment at SK’s Donuts last weekend, I fear I may never eat anything but SK Donuts every Sunday morning from now on.

SK’s Donuts
5850 W 3rd St # A
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 935-2409

Open 24-hours

(Gosh, I could really go for a donut right now!)

August 12March 14

Dearborn Michigan, How Could I Forget You?

If you’re a foodie on vacation, sometimes the place you travel to ends up being secondary to the food that’s eaten while you’re there. Sure there are pretty vistas, gorgeous wild life, interesting art to admire—but aaaah, the food! When vacations become culinary journeys, sometimes it’s difficult to take a detailed accounting of every great meal. If you were to witness the more than one thousand pictures of every meal I had on my Italian honeymoon, you’d get and idea of what I’m talking about.

After my trip to Ann Arbor, Michigan, I unpacked my bags, downloaded the hundreds of pictures of food I snapped, and perused the menus from all the restaurants I ate at. Originally I hoped for a few good stories out of the experience. But after the posts about Zingerman’s started piling up, I realized I had a bit more than just a few words to say. Because of this never ending rant, I thought it would be best for me to “step away from the mike”, as it were, and go back to my usual business of posting about Los Angeles food. Continue reading “Dearborn Michigan, How Could I Forget You?”

August 1

LA's best kept wine secret: The Wine Hotel

If you find a hidden gem or an amazing bargain, do you tell the world or keep the information to yourself? For some, keeping the inexpensive getaway, a cheap ethnic market or clothing sale under wraps is essential in maintaining their front of the line status as well as keeping the hidden spot’s prices low.

For others, there is no such thing as a secret spot. These sorts of people tell anyone that will listen their “insider information” until that secret spot becomes so popular it’s ruined. Then there are people like me, a half-breed of secretive local and flamboyant big mouth, who believes there’s a happy medium to the Secret vs. Success issue. When I find a secret spot, I feel obligated to share my newfound information with trusted friends.

Which is why I thought I should come out and tell you, my trusted readers, about the amazing little wine store that almost no one in LA knows about. If you don’t live in LA, stop reading. But if you live anywhere near the 3rd and Fairfax area, you really ought to know that there’s an amazing wine store just around the corner. And it’s hiding from you.

Located on the corner of Third and Cochran, this windowless (and seemingly door-less) yellow building is easy to miss. Other than the hand-lettered sign that simply reads “The Wine Hotel” outside, there is nothing to tell potential customers that there is a wine store located somewhere inside. But there is. Trust me.

Things to know before you go:

The first thing you should know before you visit the current incarnation of The Wine Hotel is that it is a wine store and wine storage facility in transition. Recently purchased by world renown wine specialists and wine collectors Rudy Kurniawan and Paul Wasserman, the pair plan to turn this once unsuccessful wine storage facility into Terroir: a wine buyer’s and wine collector’s Mecca.

Going against all feng shui laws, the front door is located in the back of the building. The only way to access the door, requires you to take a walk down the battered back alleyway. The door, once you locate it, looks like this:

Though this pretty, windowed, wood door may appear to be locked, it probably isn’t. Push, pull and when all else fails, knock. Once inside, Dan, the store’s friendly wine expert and only employee, will most likely be the face that greets you.

Dan is an agreeable guy that reminds me of a brainy Simpson’s character, who will always greet you with a nod or a grin and is always ready to share with you his incredible wealth of wine history and tasting notes. Tell him what you like and what you want to spend and get ready for a wonderful wine education. Take notes if you are fast of hand, because Dan has a lot to of great information to share. Want a show stopping Rioja for under 20? Dan recommends the R. Lopez de Heredia, “Vin Cubillo” Crianza, 2002. How about a tasty white from the Alto Adige? Dan might suggest the 2006 Garlider “Valle Isarco” Muller Thurgau, for less than 10 bucks. Dan’s fast and furious suggestions are punctuated with excited information, intriguing names, tid-bits on little known grapes and funny stories. Most surprising, even the rare and collectable bottles sport reasonable price tags.

Be warned, there’s nothing fancy about the current incarnation of The Wine Hotel. The space has an office in transition, rough around the edges feel–but not for long. Extensive renovations will soon be undertaken which will transform the space into a sleek and modern retail space, wine storage facility and tasting room.

In the meantime, I suggest spending a some time to talk with the highly educated wine sellers and follow their suggestions as you decide just how much well-priced wine you can afford to buy RIGHT NOW–before it becomes the popular wine destination it plans to be.

The Wine Hotel (soon to be Terroir)
5800 West Third Street
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323-937-9463

Hours:
Monday- Friday 11:am to 7:00pm
Saturday 11:am to 7:00pm
Sunday closed

July 21

Perfect pairing: 2007 Domaine Roland Schmitt Riesling Glintzberg

There’s nothing better than a delicious glass of wine that pairs well with a dish. If you’re making prosciutto wrapped scallops, why not drink this refreshing, bone dry Alsatian Riesling with it?

2007 Domaine Roland Schmitt Riesling Glintzberg

The Schmitts are known as one of Alsace’s very few producers that still make a classic dry Reisling. Grown in gravelly limestone soil of the Gran Cru Atlenberg, this hand picked wine is cool fermented in stainless steel vats. Very little, if any, residual sugars remain—giving this wine a zippy acidity.

Flavors are reminiscent of a salted lime, almonds and a fresh minerality. The acidity and zest of this wine is extremely refreshing with seafood such as a sweet and fatty scallop wrapped in bacon!

Available at K&L wines for under $17