Archive for the 'Products I Love' Category

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Gioia Cheese, Inc. – South El Monte

Published by Gastronomer on November 19, 2010 in El Monte, Italian, Los Angeles and Products I Love. 9 Comments

Heaven is located 9.7 miles from my house on an industrial stretch in South El Monte. Don’t believe me? Well, then you’ve probably never tasted freshly made burrata from Gioia Cheese, an Italian-style fromagerie owned and operated by Vito Girardi since 1992. The unassuming factory churns out 2,000 pounds of the creamiest, stringiest, most delectable burrata daily and delivers it to restaurants across the country. Gioia is one of a small number of domestic burrata producers, and best of all, its wares are available for sale to the public.

I’ve been meaning to procure a hefty stash for months, but didn’t make the trip until my mom rolled into town to celebrate her 58th birthday. My present to her was a three-course celebratory feast, and gooey mounds of burrata were slated for the starter. A half-pound probably would’ve sufficed for the evening’s meal, but I went ahead and hoarded two pounds for good measure ($6 per pound).

I blasted the AC on the car ride home and refrigerated the tubs as soon as I arrived at the apartment. Without any preservatives in the product, I wasn’t taking any chances with spoilage. For those unfamiliar with burrata, here’s a quick primer from the article “Burrata di Andria” by Gary Allen on Leite’s Culinaria:

Burrata cheese begins life like other mozzarellas, with rennet used to curdle the warm milk. Whereas for fresh mozzarella the curds are plunged into hot whey or lightly salted water, kneaded, pulled to develop the familiar stretchy strings (pasta filata), and then shaped into whatever forms, during the making of burrata the still-hot cheese is instead formed into a pouch which is filled with scraps of leftover mozzarella and topped off with fresh, rich cream, called panna.

Even though I’ve eaten burrata dozens of times at restaurants, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I cracked open the lid. The cheese was pristinely white with rounded edges and a smooth surface. The perfection of it all reminded me of a cityscape after a fresh snow fall. Burrata inspires the poet in me.

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Sauce Magazine

Published by Gastronomer on February 14, 2010 in Products I Love and St. Louis. 13 Comments

As much as I embrace and appreciate new media in all of its diverse and chaotic forms (blogging, Twittering, and Facebooking), there’s a part of me that pines for the good ‘ol days of print media. With everything moving in a digital direction, I can’t help but miss the feel of good quality paper between my fingertips, the excitement of receiving a new issue in the mail, and the simplicity of sitting down with a magazine and giving it my undivided attention. Sure, I find pleasure in having ten windows open on my laptop and erratically switching from one website to the next, but there was something glorious about the recent past that I can’t seem to get over.

On a recent trip to St. Louis, I re-experienced a thrill that I had abandoned sometime ago. Flipping through the gorgeous pages of Sauce Magazine, I felt giddy like a school girl. In a time when beloved publications are folding and talented journalists are being laid off, it was uplifting to read a magazine that seemed to not only be surviving, but truly thriving.

Sauce is St. Louis’ monthly food-focused magazine. It is available for free at nearly every eatery in town and highlights the city’s bounty.

Sauce‘s pages are filled with restaurant reviews, seasonal recipes, chef interviews, ingredient breakdowns, and pertinent trends. It provides a window into the city’s belly.

The writing is solid and all, but what I adore about the publication is it’s clean design and vibrant photography. The magazine’s paper and pixels are just a smidgen nicer than the daily newspaper, which means that colors really pop and the photos really shine.

I think Sauce needs to come to Los Angeles. We’d rename it Salsa, of course.

XT Patisserie

Published by Gastronomer on November 19, 2009 in Dessert and Products I Love. 14 Comments

XT Patiserrie‘s eye-poppingly beautiful chocolates and macarons first caught my eye back in October at the Los Angeles Luxury Chocolate Salon. I was casually roasting some marshmallows at the Plush Puffs booth when I glanced over to my right and spied the most gorgeous array of sweets. I was instantly seduced by the shiny jewel-toned chocolates resting in their precious little boxes. I quickly downed my unevenly browned marshmallow and scooted over to XT’s table to steal a taste.

I showed commendable restraint and only sampled two varieties, Saigon cinnamon and kalamansi. Each vibrantly flavored bite melted away smoothly and luxuriously on my tongue. After satisfying my urge for truffles, I simmered down and chatted with Tuan Trinh, the “T” in XT Patisserie. We instantly hit it off because he was Vietnamese-American and a @GastronomyBlog Twitter follower—two of my favorite qualities in a person (ha!).

I learned from Mr. Trinh that his partner, chocolatier Xuan Ngo (the “X” in XT Patisserie), was born in Da Nang, Vietnam and grew up in Les Baux de Provence, France. Chef Ngo spent the summers of his childhood in the kitchen of Oustau de Baumaniére, a two-star Michelin restaurant owned by his adopted father Jean-Andre Charial. Upon graduating high school, he went to work for Pâtisserie Lenôtre, a renowned Parisian bakery.

Chef Ngo came to the United States to work at Daniel Boulud’s restaurant Daniel in New York and later moved to Los Angeles to work at Spago, Sona, and Boule. He currently works at the Belvedere Restaurant in the Peninsula Beverly Hills Hotel.

After our chummy conversation, Mr. Trinh sent me on my way with a 12-piece box of chocolates ($24) and a colorful tray of macarons ($12). I couldn’t believe my luck! The box of chocolates included exciting flavors like coconut, Earl Grey tea, ginger, hazelnut, honey, and vanilla. My favorites were the caramel vanilla fleur de sel, passion fruit, and coffee, along with my old standbys Saigon cinnamon and kalamasi. I made a conscious effort to eat only one to two pieces each day to prolong the goodness for as long as possible.

The quality of the macarons was on par with the chocolates. Each bite was incredibly airy and daintily flavored. The vanilla, passion fruit, coffee, and hazelnut macarons made me swoon just a little more than the others.

Having hand-crafted chocolates and macarons available at home meant that all of my meals for an entire week ended with fancy mignardises. What a pleasure! Everyone on my Christmas list is getting something sweet and beautiful from XT Patisserie this holiday season, because expertly made desserts shouldn’t be reserved only for meals out on the town.

For additional information, contact XT Patiserrie by email at info@xuanpatisserie.com or by phone at 714-686-8512 or 714-366-4331.