Sushi Masu: The Best Thursday Ever

I hit it lucky again this term and managed to get two days off school. Seriously, having school FIVE days a week last term was waaaaay too much and I don't think I could ever handle that again. But that also means I have 7 hours of back-to-back classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday...but we don't like to talk about that.

Anyhow, I've decided to make good use of my two days off a week and dedicate the time to a new "project". That's right...a new project. Right off the top of my head, I'll label this project "Eating Beyond Wilshire". It sounds very all-expansive but really, without a car, all it really entails is eating down Westwood Blvd and extending down Pico. But that alone should take me a good amount of time anyways.

So, as an informal beginning to my project (after all, I have eaten at several restaurants "beyond" Wilshire already), I went to Sushi Masu. I've read such great things about this place and, more importantly, it's really been a long while since I've been to a REAL sushi joint. You know, places that aren't fusion or called "California Roll" and the likes.

Sushi Masu is a small place. Personally, I prefer small sushi joints...they remind me of the restaurants we'd go to in Japan and I like the relaxed atmosphere that comes in the small package. Plus, I don't know what it is, but the best sushi always seems to come from the tiny hole-in-the-wall places, which Sushi Masu was.

(Amberjack and Seared Tuna Sushi...SO FRIGGIN' GOOD!)

I grabbed a seat at the sushi bar and already, Chef Masu smiled at me and asked "first time here?" I told him I came ESPECIALLY to try this place and his smile grew even bigger as he semi-bowed his head. I fell in love with him already in those 2 minutes. I glanced over to the hand-written daily recommendations and the first thing that caught my eye: LIVE sweet shrimp.

"Live? It's still moving?"
"Yes. You like?"
"That sounds really interesting. But I've never tried..."

Shrimp in hand. Flick of knife. Live sweet shrimp sushi on my plate.
SOOOO good. It's been a long while since I had something THIS fresh.

"Good?"
"VERY good."

Well, the shrimp was the perfect introduction to what this place had to offer...within 5 minutes of meeting him, Chef Masu had already won over my complete trust:

"Give me whatever you think is good today"

A piece of amberjack sushi appeared before me. Into mouth. Melt. Literally. I looked up at Chef Masu, eyes glimmering almost and told him how good that was.

"Next piece even better."

The thing I love about Chef Masu is that he doesn't lie. The next piece - the seared tuna - WAS even better. This was followed by 5 other pieces of the "best sushi I've had in LA so far" (including white tuna and abalone, among others) and a perfectly sweet eel and cucumber hand roll. Every piece I plopped into my mouth induced a huge smile on my face.

My favorite was definitely the seared salmon sushi. I could smell it when Chef Masu was searing it behind the counter and was already excited. Then he placed it in front of me...the way he seared it made it look like a mini piece of art! My excitement rose. Now, the actual eating of it. WOW. I'm still thinking about it right now. The outter part of the fish tasted almost like smoked salmon (which I absolutely love) and just when I was thinking that it was the best thing ever, I was introduced to the melt-in-your-mouth texture and taste of fresh raw salmon. Two of the best forms of salmon in one bite - what more can you ask for? Want to know what love is? It's Chef Masu's seared salmon sushi!!

(Fried Shrimp Head)

And remember that live shrimp I had at the very beginning? They took the head back into the kitchen, fried it, took it back out. Better than fried calamari!! At the end of the meal, I told Chef Masu that the seared salmon was my favorite, to which he replied,

"OK, next time I give you thicker piece".
I'm so looking forward to "next time".

(Rounding off a perfect meal. Chef Masu is an artist!!)
Everything together (including a huge tip for Chef Masu and the friendly waitress) came out to about $45. Like Chef Masu said, I had a "big lunch" today...but it was worth every cent. I was a VERY happy camper.

So yes, that was my "first time" at Sushi Masu. And that's the "first time" to a WHOOOOOOOLE load of more times!!!!

And, to make today even better, after the meal, I nipped into Pink Orchid bakery next door and got a mini tub of Mashti Malone's pistachio ice cream. And, unashamedly finished the whole thing by myself. I rock.

FOOD: 4/5
SERVICE: 4/5
ATMOSPHERE: 3/5

Sushi Masu ($$$)
1911 Westwood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025

(310) 466-4368

Good Friends, Good Food

I'm still lamenting my return to LA after having spent a (beautiful) week in New York. But there's one thing that consoles me: being back in LA means being back in the kitchen. I was reading Julia Child's My Life in France during my stay in Manhattan and not only was it an absolutely delightful read, I could feel myself itching to get back and make something. Yes, I might as well confess it out loud - when I was in NY, part of me missed Los Angeles...but ONLY for the kitchen!!

Truth is, not a lot makes me happier than cooking for people I like. It's really not JUST the food (although, of course, that makes up a huge chunk of it) but the idea as a whole. Argh, it's hard to put into words...the point is, I already had my heart set on cooking for the girls the first weekend we all got back. Saturday.

I decided to go with a Salmone in Cartoccio dish with herb and cheese puffs on the side. I'd never made this before but I think I now LOVE this cooking method (baking the fish in individual parchment "steam packets")! When reading My Life in France, one thing that really caught my attention was Julia Child's description of the beurre blanc sauce (Butter, white wine vinegar, flavored with shallots). There was a copy of the recipe in the book and I knew I HAD to try it...so in a way, I guess going with the fish was just an excuse to try out the beurre blanc. Julia Child called it a "wonder sauce" and she was soooooo right!!!! At first, I was scared that it would be overkill if I added the sauce to the Salmon...but thank God I DID add it. It's now officially my new favorite sauce. Thank you Julia.

And what's food without wine? Of course, I'm still only a poor college kid so I had to make do with whatever we could afford. At least most cheap wine doesn't taste like absolute shit anymore - especially whites...which was good since that was what we went with. Quickly whipped up a couple of bellinis which, in my mind, are perfect when paired with salmon...and CATCHING UP!!

Foodwise, the real highlight of the night, though, was the pomegranate gin cocktail. Sososososososo good! I bought the world's cutest cocktail glasses as well so you can only imagine how stoked I was (great drink in a great cup...yes, I'm a huge serveware nerd).

And to round off the night, I made a coffee mousse cake. Yes, this was the labor of love (it took 2 days to prepare). A sponge cake base (which was dipped in vanilla syrup), topped with caramel latte biscotti and a coffee mousse. This dessert was actually an adaptation of a recipe from Claire Clark's Indulge (I bought the book a week ago and it's GREAT! I can't wait to try more things from it). The original asks for an almond sponge flavored with marzipan but: a) I was too lazy to do that and b) having blown enough money on serveware and cooking supplies already in the past few weeks, my wallet wasn't in the mood to ""splurge"" on marzipan. It also uses amaretti but neither Ralph's or Whole Foods carried it (I'm surprised they didn't at least have it at Whole Foods!) - I would NEVER have had this problem if I was back on the Upper West Side...I could just pop into Zabar's! Oh well, I used biscotti instead and it still worked fine. This dessert also gave me an excuse to try out the chocolate transfer sheets I got in New York (YES - I FINALLY have transfer sheets!!)

This was my second attempt at the whole individual mousse delices thing and, though far from perfect, I'm slowly getting the hang of it (my first go was a white chocolate and hazelnut delice...but I hated it and didn't bother taking photos at all. We shall not mention it again). I'm having a mousse cake phase right now so if you happen to live near me...I'm VERY sorry - you're going to have to put up with a lot of those in the next few weeks.

And again, with transfer sheet chocolate discs

All in all, I loved Saturday. I'm hoping I'll have more time to cook this term (after all, I do have 2 days off school). In all honesty, this is all you need: Good Friends, Good Food, (Good) Wine

...oh, and Love!!

--

Pomegranate Gin Cocktail

2 parts gin

1 part Simple syrup

1 part lime juice

1/2 part pomegranate molasses

Shake in a cockatil shaker with ice. Strain into tall glass and top with slub soda.

If You're Not Careful, It Could Take a Whole Day

So, Amy decided to turn 20 a few days ago. How could I NOT bake for her?? On Monday, I got out of class, ran over to Ralph's to get some last-minute provisions and got to work.

2:00pm.

Consulting Donna Hay was a must. I had big plans for this "project" (I happen to like Amy. A lot). I started by making the "bases" - a chocolate cake and a yellow cake. Basic basic basic stuff - into the oven, 25 minutes. Cool down. You know the drill. These were then cut into small rounds - 2 rounds to a cakelet: sandwiching a layer of icing (cream cheese icing for the chocolate cake, dark chocolate ganache for the yellow cake). It was in the next step that I realized I should probably get a palette knife. Icing cakes can be a back breaking job.

A formidable army of bears and bunnies <3

Since this was to be a baking "excursion", I thought I'd try my hand at marzipan. I personally hate the taste of that stuff...but it works well for decorative purposes. After a few trial-and-errors (aka. a lot of deformed bunnies), I came up with a somewhat-uniform bunny model. I got a little better when it came time to make my marzipan bears.

So the finishing touch: a bunny for each chocolate cake and a bear for each yellow cake!!

Of course, A LOT of room for improvement. Don't worry - I'll get it someday.

12:00am. Oh shit. Time flies!!

Griddle Cafe: It’s cheesecake…no wait, it’s French toast…no wait…

There are only two things in the world that can make me wake up voluntarily at 7am on a holiday. One is to go on vacation (I prefer morning flights) and the other is...

Breakfast. I love breakfast food (and not only just during breakfast time. I love breakfast at any hour of the day). I will wake up at 7am and take a bus across the city if that’s what it takes to get good breakfast. No joke – Kenji and I used to always meet up for breakfast at the Flying Pan back home. And the Flying Pan was #1 on my list for breakfast. That is, until today where it’s dropped to #6 on the list. The first 5 spots are now taken by The Griddle Café.

(The magic begins with the Creme de la Creme French toast)

I. LOVE. THE. GRIDDLE. CAFÉ. Really. I love it more than I love daisies and little puppies. You know how there are some places which are really hyped up and you go with high expectations only to find that it’s really not as good as everyone says it is? Well, the Griddle Café was NOT one of those places. The Griddle Café was 100% genuine, down-to-earth, KICK-ASS food. It’s no wonder this place is such an institution.

When we walked in though, there was a mildly attractive but horribly rude waitress to greet us. She cleaned the table for us and when I smiled and said ‘thank you’, (note: though I am usually an unpleasant person, I am strangely really nice to strangers) she just looked at us, and in an impatient and pretty demanding tone, told us to “sit”. She was probably an aspiring actress who was working at the Griddle to pay the rent. I guess she was being bitchy because she didn’t get a callback…probably because she gave the audition panel attitude as well.

Bernard and I were pretty put off…that is, until our serving waitress came up to our table. Hmmm…how should I describe her? She was like the love-child of a rainbow and a beam of sunshine…not to mention, she looked like a (pretty version of) Cameron Diaz. She flitted to our table and sprinkled her magical good-service fairy dust over our heads and we were all happy again. I was soooo glad bitchy-girl wasn’t our waitress! So if you ever go to the Griddle Café and get shitty service, don’t write it off just yet – you were probably just unlucky and got the bad-egg server.

After looking through the menu (which has a huge selection…with everything – seriously, EVERYTHING – sounding really good), I decided to go with the Crème de la Crème French toast ($10.95) and Bernard got the Golden Ticket pancakes ($10.95). My French toast was amazing…like cry-worthy amazing. I’m not even being over-dramatic – I definitely felt some small tears welling up at the back of my eyes. I mean, I’m no stranger to French toast – I’ve had a fair share in my time – but this was definitely something special. Two slices of thick French toast covered with graham cracker crumbs and then topped off with powdered sugar and the magic ingredient – the Griddle Café’s cheesecake topping. It’s a cheesecake disguised as a French toast! And what I’m about to say next is completely honest – not only was this French toast better than all other French toasts I’ve had, it was also better than most cheesecakes I’ve had! Bernard’s Golden Ticket pancakes were light and fluffy, yet every bite was packed with brown-sugared bananas, caramel, streusel, and walnuts. I would’ve taken more of Bernard’s pancakes but I was just too enamored with my own French toast. I also ordered a pot of their dark roast French-pressed coffee ($3.35) which came in a French-press to keep at the table. The coffee was so friggin’ awesome and was especially good for washing down all that sweet sweet sugar. If you like coffee – DEFINITELY try their French-pressed coffee. Yes, it’s a little pricey but you get a whole pot to yourself (with complimentary refills).

(The MONSTER-sized Golden Ticket pancakes could hardly fit on the plate!)

Word of warning: portions are big large huge FUCKING GARGANTUAN. There should be a law against the sizes they serve up. Just one slice of my toast was bigger than two slices of what they serve at most other places. Even with that, the size of the French toast didn’t seem that ridiculous anymore when compared to the pancakes. The pancakes must have been at least 10” across…and there were THREE to a plate. The food here is dirt cheap when you consider the portion sizes (seriously, we could live off the leftovers for the next 3 days). You can tell that the restaurant EXPECTS people to box up their food because there was a giant shelf of white take-away boxes near the kitchen. A couple sitting near us grinned when they saw Bernard admit defeat to his pancakes and told us, “we’ve been here a few times so we’ve learnt to only order one to split”. Smart people. One of their pancake servings could probably feed a family of 5.

The atmosphere was great. Some reviews said the place can seem a bit pretentious, since it’s a popular hangout for scenesters but we were there at around 9am on a weekday morning so the scenesters were still probably in bed, passed out from last night’s partAy. Instead, the place was filled with people who genuinely like good food (my favorite kind of people) and if you enjoy the blues (think Robert Johnson), you’ll extra-love the Griddle Café. There was no wait when we got there but by the time we left the place (around 9.45am), a line was already beginning to form outside. I also heard crazy stories about the lines at weekends. So, take a tip from me – go before 9.30 on a weekday and you’ll have a ball.

Our final bill came out to $30 for two people (plus a big tip for Cameron Diaz-waitress, NOT bitchy-waitress). Again, dirt cheap for the amount and quality of food we got. Bernard and I could have ordered something to share and that would’ve probably cost less than $15 between us. Oh well, at least we’re educated for when we visit again (and you can be sure as hell we’ll visit again!)

FOOD: 5/5
SERVICE: hit-or-miss
ATMOSPHERE: 4.5/5

The Griddle Cafe ($$)
7916 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90046


*Random note: I bought some yellow roses today and they are B-E-A-UTIFUL!! They should be in full bloom in a day or two...I'm so excited :)

(All you need is love...and a bunch of yellow roses to brighten up a room)

It's Cold Outside

I hate crowds. HATE them.

So you can only imagine what I felt when Bernard and I walked into Hop Li (proper and full review to come soon) to see forty people crammed up against the front counter. It was absolutely horrible. We waited for over half an hour without even being able to get so much as our names down on the waiting list.

OK, I admit it…it was stupid of me not to make reservations on Christmas night. Really stupid. But still, it was ridiculously crowded! Eventually, we decided to get a take-out order to bring back home instead. It's no wonder Hop Li was crowded, the food is amazing.

After dinner, I made a quick dessert with what scraps of supplies I had lying around the house. I decided to make a batch of Dorie Greenspan’s Korova cookies. Now, I’ve made these before and know that this recipe produces amazing cookies but still, to me, cookies don’t really make a satisfying after-dinner dessert. To get around this problem, instead of making a batch of small cookies, I made two large cookies and served each one with a scoop of ice cream and Christmasy sprinkles (the recipe is below).

The recipe didn’t fail me – the cookies turned out great. The only problem was that, since the cookie is naturally REALLY crumbly (which is one reason why the cookie is so good), it becomes really difficult to remove from the baking sheet in one piece when it’s one huge cookie. One cookie broke into pieces when I tried to put it onto a plate…but it didn’t matter – it still tasted great. The crumbly texture also makes it perfect for eating with a spoon (which we needed to do since I added a scoop of ice cream on top!) I also used white chocolate chunks in my cookies instead of dark chocolate…just because I love white chocolate :)

Good food, no crowds. Merry Christmas.

(Yes, I KNOW fortune cookies are un-Chinese...but they taste fucking great!! I could eat a whole bag of those. My fortune this time said "The world will soon be ready to receive your talents". Awesome, now I just have to find a talent for the world to receive)

--

Korova Cookies (ingredient quantities makes 2 large cookies…and you’ll have dough left over for about 4 normal sized ones)

156ml all-purpose flour
40ml cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
5 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/8 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon fleur de sel
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2.5oz white chocolate chunks

Beat butter in a large bowl until light and creamy. Add the sugar, brown sugar, fleur de sel and vanilla extract to the butter and beat until combined. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda. Add this to the butter mixture and mix until just combined. DO NOT overmix…don’t worry if the dough seems really crumbly – that’s what it’s supposed to be like (I know, the first time I made these, I was sure I had made a mistake somewhere since the dough seemed way too dry and crumbly). Add in the chocolate chunks and give it a quick mix to distribute it into the dough. Dump the dough onto a large piece of cling wrap.
Here, Greenspan’s recipe says to roll the dough into a log and wrap in cling wrap but I’ve found that it is next to impossible to roll the “dough” into any shape since it has the texture of sand (no joke). So, instead, when you have the mixture on the cling wrap, wrap it tightly and compress the dough into a ball shape with the cling wrap. Then, gently press and mold the “ball” into a long roll shape with roughly a 1.5” diameter (it’s hard to describe but you’ll get the hang of it when you start making them). Usually, my “roll” ends up looking like some type of slug but that doesn’t matter. Throw the dough, wrapped in cling wrap, into the fridge and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Take the dough out of the fridge and let it sit for about minute. Preheat the oven to 325F and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. How you divide up the dough depends on the size you want your cookies to be. For normal sized cookies, you can slice the dough to about ½” thick. For my big cookies, I split the dough into thirds, with each third making one big cookie. The dough will probably crumble when you slice it up but you can just press the pieces together and press it into a circle shape on the baking tray. Bake the cookies on the center rack for around 12 minutes. The cookie centers will be soft but the edges should be done. Cool on racks…DO NOT touch or attempt to remove (especially the big cookies) until it cools for a bit. The cookie will firm up as it cools so if you attempt to remove from the tray before it cools, it will just break into pieces.

Place a large cookie on each plate. Scoop your favorite ice cream on each cookie and add sprinkles!!

(Large Cookie with triple fudge ice cream!)

--

I've been baking like crazy over the last week...making gifts to send out to friends and such. And with the end of Christmas comes the end of my Christmas gift making spree. Now let's bring on 2008!!

(Sugar cookies decorated with royal icing. These made their way to Vegas!)

(Dark chocolate-hazelnut truffles)

City Bakery: Who Needs Men When They Make Cookies THIS Good??

(Soup bowl sized latte + Molten Chocolate Cookie)

I never visit New York without first compiling a “places to go” list. And, of course, by “places to go”, I mean “places to eat”. Last summer, I made most places on my list (Eleni’s, Fat Witch, Grand Central Oyster Bar, Ciao Bella, etc.) but of course, without wanting to drag my family into my crazed eating-around-the-city tendencies, I had to give up hopes of going to every single place on my list.

One of the places I missed out on was The City Bakery. Since I had managed to satisfy my desire for baked goods with the magic of Eleni’s (the patisserie right by my hotel helped a lot too), I didn’t think too much of it back then. Recently, however, I heard that they opened a branch right here in LA at the Brentwood Country Mart.

I knew that I HAD to go.

I’ve wanted to visit the Brentwood Country Mart for some time now but the trouble with living in LA is that it’s next to impossible to get anywhere without a car. I don’t drive, and after a few not-so-pleasant episodes with the Los Angeles public transportation system, I’ve become really reluctant to venture anywhere that’s beyond walkable distance. So it’s a good thing that Bernard came to visit because I’ve been using his visit as an excuse to “go out”. So, on Tuesday, I worked out the bussing route (OK, I admit it – even with my extensive planning, we still got a little lost…but only a little) and I finally got to visit the red barn, and…the City Bakery!!

After a quick browse of what they had to offer, I settled on the molten chocolate cookie ($3.00) and a latte ($3.50). Bern got the chocolate chip cookie ($2.50) and their famous hot chocolate ($4.00?). Sure, it was a little pricey, but it was OH-SO-WORTH-IT! I ordered the regular-sized latte and found myself sipping my coffee out of a soup bowl! Bernard’s cookie was also HUGE…you could definitely fatten a small child with one of those. The hot chocolate and my cookie was a little on the small side for their prices but what they lacked in size, they made up in taste. Their hot chocolate is creamy and crazy-rich…an absolute Chocoholic’s wet-dream! It was definitely a good thing that their sizes were relatively small…I’m sure Bernard would have keeled over and died of a chocolate overdose if the cup was any bigger.

And I’m going to start a new paragraph for my molten chocolate cookie…because it deserves a paragraph of its own. At first glance, it looked like a normal, simple, chocolate cookie. But when I tore a little piece off, I was introduced to a beautiful molten chocolate center. There are really no words good enough to describe the first bite…all I can say is that, at that point, I wished I were a cookie too…so I could marry that chocolate wonder. What I felt at that moment must be what people call “love”. Without exaggeration, the City Bakery’s molten chocolate cookie is pure genius. It’s basically a rich and gooey chocolate brownie housed inside a chocolate cookie exterior. Two desserts in one portable package? You bet!

Needless to say, the City Bakery ROCKS!! Yes, I live near a place where I can get half-a-dozen of pretty damn good cookies for 2 bucks, but after trying the molten chocolate cookie, I just know that, from now on, I’ll be bussing out to the City Bakery to get my cookie fix. In fact, Bern and I have already made plans to go back again some time this week! Thank God for this little slice of New York in LA!!

FOOD: 4/5
SERVICE: n/a
ATMOSPHERE: 3/5

The City Bakery LA ($)
Brentwood Country Mart
(Intersection at San Vicente and 26th)


**Word of warning: Unless you are an experienced and certified chocoholic, do NOT attempt to order the molten chocolate cookie with the hot chocolate. Your arteries will not be able to handle it.

Being Happy

Last week I stocked up (BIG TIME) on cooking tools and ingredients. After a bit of internet research, I took an half-hour bus ride and ended up at the doorstep of possibly the best discovery I've made since moving to LA.

Surfas is AMAZING! Not only is the store impeccably clean and well organized (both of which bode extremely well for me), it stocks up on the type of products you see in Bouchon cookbooks and such (I didn't even know "powdered food coloring" existed! I bought 3 small pots). I fell in love with the store as soon as I saw the shelves of cookie cutters and piping tips and the rows and rows of pastel-colored sanding sugars. Beautiful.

And if that wasn't enough, the staff were also incredibly friendly and helpful. They knew the store inside-out, which was impressive, considering that it wasn't exactly small and probably stocked a gazillion-million different products. After about an hour or so of browsing, I ended up with 2 large brown paper bags filled with $60 worth of stuff...and a warm fuzzy feeling in the bottom of my stomach.

I absolutely LOVED Surfas. The crowd there was the perfect mix of moms-who-cook-at-home and young, hipster chefs. In fact, I love it so much that I'm thinking of skipping out on my next pair of shoes so I can spend money at Surfas instead (I can't believe I just wrote that!)


I think I might start to like Los Angeles...