Gastronomy Blog by Cathy Chaplin

Now Closed

29 Apr 2011

LA Market Restaurant by Kerry Simon – Los Angeles (Downtown)

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Dining at LA Market by Kerry Simon combined two of my favorite things: good food and reality television. Tucked into the expansive lobby of the JW Marriot in downtown Los Angeles, LA Market is headed by Chef Nona Sivley, the winner of Hell’s Kitchen season eight. Shortly after Gordon Ramsay declared her victorious, she claimed her prize as the restaurant’s Chef de Cuisine.

I’ve been hooked on Chef Ramsay’s parade of mostly incompetent culinarians for several seasons now, so I was more than a little excited to taste the creations of a bona fide Hell’s Kitchen survivor. Joining me for dinner was my friend Danny and a representative for the restaurant named Pate.

LA Market’s menu, which focuses on “American cuisine with a California flair,” still largely belongs to Executive Chef Kerry Simon. However, there are touches of Chef Sivley’s signature Southern roots sprinkled here and there. It’s likely that the food will gradually shift to reflect more of her culinary point of view as she grows more comfortable in the kitchen and at the restaurant.

The first item to hit the table was the bread basket. I quickly snatched up a pretzel roll and took a bite. It looked like a winner, but ended up tasting unfortunately dry. The bread stick, on the other hand, looked like a loser but tasted like winner. It had a croissant-like quality that I quite liked.

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Restaurant Review

28 Apr 2011

Wedding Banquet Redux at New Capital Seafood

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In the months leading up to our wedding, The Astronomer and I worked closely with New Capital Seafood to plan an exceptional banquet for our guests. The restaurant has a dozen set menus that most brides and grooms choose from, but we insisted on selecting each of the ten courses individually. Food might be an afterthought for some couples, but we wanted our guests to eat ridiculously well.

When the big day rolled around, The Astronomer and I were so caught up in laughing, dancing, toasting, and reveling that we ended up not eating much of the feast that we had thoughtfully planned. We stole a couple bites here and there in between making the rounds, but the party superseded the meal that evening.

We recently returned to New Capital Seafood to celebrate our first anniversary. Since we missed out on the ten-course banquet the first time around, we decided to order the whole shebang to share between the two of us. It was an over-the-top endeavor, but also incredibly festive and quite romantic.

The kitchen here has a tendency to rush things a bit, so we ordered three dishes at a time to control the pace and to avoid eating cold food. To start, we shared a luxurious platter of cold appetizers. The “house special combination” ($29) included jellyfish, pork hocks, beef brisket, roasted duck, and cuttlefish. Our favorites were the cinnamon- and anise-tinged brisket, as well as the glistening pieces of fatty duck.

The next dish to arrive was a super-sized bowl of hot and sour soup ($8.99) that our waiter messily dished out into two smaller bowls. Brimming with soft cubes of tofu, snappy woodear mushrooms, tender pieces of pork, and wispy curds of egg, the soup was soothing, well-balanced, and true to its name.

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Recipe

26 Apr 2011

Gỏi Cuốn – Vietnamese Pork and Shrimp Rolls with Hoisin Dipping Sauce

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It is tradition in American culture to bestow paper upon one’s beloved in recognition of the first wedding anniversary. While The Astronomer and I usually buck tradition, there was something awesomely antiquated and strangely appealing about this age-old gift giving ritual.

A special book, a letter written by hand, or a magazine subscription would have all made very nice gifts for The Astronomer; however, none of these things resonated with me personally. I wanted to give him something truly unique to honor the occasion.

After plotting and planning for a few weeks, I came up with a quirky idea. Rather than define “paper” literally, I decided to interpret it edibly. For our first wedding anniversary, I presented The Astronomer with rice paper in the form of gỏi cuốn and bò bía. My husband’s the kind of guy who really appreciates cleverness, ingenuity, and deliciousness, so this gift was absolutely perfect for him.

Gỏi cuốn is a popular snack food in Vietnam and is usually ordered as an appetizer in Vietnamese restaurants stateside. It is comprised of tightly wrapped rice paper bundles filled with pork, shrimp, vermicelli noodles, herbs, and greens. A Hoisin-based sauce topped with crushed peanuts is often served on the side for dipping. The flavors and textures present in this dish are fresh, snappy, and satisfying, kind of like our first year of marriage.

For gỏi cuốn (pork and shrimp rolls)

1 pound small shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 pound pork leg (or any other lean cut)
8 ounces thin rice vermicelli noodles, cooked according to directions on package
1 head red leaf lettuce
1 bunch fresh mint leaves
1 cucumber
16-20 garlic chives or Chinese chives
1 package rice paper

For nước tương (hoisin dipping sauce)

Hoisin sauce
Broth from cooking pork and shrimp
Sugar
Peanuts, toasted and crushed

Prepare shrimp and pork

Bring a small saucepan filled with salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the shrimp and cook for 30 to 60 seconds or until just cooked through. Remove the shrimp with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool. While the water is still boiling, add the pork. Reduce the heat and poach the pork at a low simmer for 15 to 18 minutes or until cooked through. Remove the pork and set aside to cool. Reserve the stock for the Hoisin dipping sauce.

Once the shrimp have cooled, slice each one in half horizontally. Once the pork has cooled, cut across the grain to create thin slices of pork. Set the shrimp and pork aside.

Prepare herbs and greenery

Wash head of lettuce thoroughly and remove the ribs. Remove the seeds from the cucumber and slice thinly. Wash and trim the mint and garlic chives as necessary.
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