A-Frame Makes the Grade with a solid B+

Although A-Frame has been open for awhile now, it's only recently that I've been able to pay it a visit.  Having experienced Owner/Chef Roy Choi's food through Kogi here and here and having loved it, I knew I was going to enjoy my meal at A-Frame. Although it didn't get an A,there was more than enough great food to have me wanting to come back for more. Our meal started with the Heirloom Pickles with creamy dip and extra virgin olive oil. I love pickled vegetables so this was a definite hit with me.

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For awhile now, I've been hearing from fellow blogger, Tiffin Unboxed about how wonderful the Furikake Kettle Corn with buttered Blazin’ J’s Hawaiian style is and after my first handful, I was in complete heaven. I just loved the sweetness, the saltiness and the ocean flavors of the seaweed all combined together. A whole bowl wasn't enough since I had to share. I could have easily eaten a whole bowl just by myself.

Next up was a Filipino-inspired dish in the form of a 5-Grain Pan de Sal served hot and crusty with Plugra butter and sea salt. As a Filipina, this dish just didn't connect with me. Filipino pan de sal are usually like dinner rolls, not a shaped into a loaf, but it was more than just the shape. I didn't care for the the sunflower-seeded embedded crust and I also felt that bread itself lacked a bit of sweetness that I usually associate with pan de sal. Funny, if this dish was called anything but Pan de Sal, I might have been okay with it.

Next up was Chef Roy's version of Clam Chowder, which was made with green curry, lemongrass, pancetta, coconut milk and came with toasted sourdough. This dish was a home run. I enjoyed the herb-y, sweet and salty flavors of the combined ingredients.

Needing some greens, we also ordered the Island Famous Market Salad with shaved Maui onions, tofu, fried garlic, seasonal fruit and ginger shoyu vinaigrette. The sweetness of the onions and the strawberries paired well with the slightly bitter greens while the fried garlic added a hit of pungency as well as a crunch component that I definitely appreciated. I also like the balance of sweet-savory notes when it came to the dressing.

The Kitchen Fries which were made up of purple Okinawan sweet potatso, yams, and Korean sweet potatos were good at the time, if not necessarily memorable.

What was memorable was the Dyn-O-Mite, which was a butter and sour cream twice baked duchesse potato with chives and parmesan crust.  The cheesy crust was amazing with a potato filling that was soft, with an almost creamy texture.

Our next dish was The Classic with grilled pencil asparagus, crispy pancetta lardons, fried egg, shaved Parmesan Reggiano, and lemon. I absolutely couldn't get enough of the grilled asparagus and any dish that is smart enough to have crispy pancetta and a fried egg definitely has my stamp of approval.

Being a sucker for crispy chicken skin, we had to order the Cracklin Beer Can Chicken with kimchi, century egg, salsa roja and verde. While the chicken skin had a beautiful golden brown color to it, I was disappointed because the skin wasn't as crackling crispy as I would have liked or as it claimed to be. Also, I didn't really taste any beer in the chicken meat itself.

Following the chicken, we had the Knuckle Sandwich, which was a bowl of braised oxtail, tendons, knuckles and other forgotten pieces served with soy chili dipping sauce and toasted bread. This is definitely a must order.  The tenderness of the oxtail and the tendons and the meatiness of the broth are really tasty.  It's even better when you put a little bit of the meat on the toasted bread and drizzle the soy chili dipping sauce before taking a bite.

Now on to the sweet portion of our meal where we tried 5 different desserts, starting with their Thick Ass Ice Cream Sandwiches. The first one was a salted chocolate cookie with black pepper Szechuan ice cream. Of all the desserts we had, this was my favorite. I liked how the black pepper added that hit of spice and heat to the ice cream and salt and chocolate always works for me.

The second Thick Ass Cream Sandwich we had was the oatmeal cherry cookie with cinnamon ice cream. I liked the tartness that the cherries added to the cookie and the combination of cinnamon and oatmeal has always been a good pairing.

Our third dessert was the Beachcomber Cake, which was carrot cake, whipped coconut cheesecake, praline pecans, strawberries and roasted pineapple and mango. For me, the star was the whipped coconut cheesecake.  If all I had was that in a bowl, I probably would have inhaled it. It was just that good.

Next was the Chu-Don't-Know-Mang which were pound cake cinnamon churros with malted chocolate milk and vanilla ice cream. The pound cake had a nice crispy texture to it and I could taste the cinnamon, but I'm a fan of the more traditional churros, especially, if they're filled with caramel.

Last was the Fried Apple Pie with Southern Comfort caramel and cheddar ice cream. I thought the pie itself was fried too long.  Visually, you could see that by how the outer edges were a tad too brown; however, I liked the pie filling and the cheddar ice cream was something I'd order again just by itself.

Except for 2 to 3 dishes, I thought the food at A-Frame was delicious and it's a place I could easily be a regular at, if only it was in my part of town. However, it's good to know that I have a go-to place that won't disappoint, if needed, if I happen to be around the Westside.

A-Frame
12565 Washington Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90066
(310) 398-7700


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Pizza Pleasure at Pitfire Pizza

I just love alliteration. My blog name is certainly a good example of that, so of course, I couldn't resist stringing 4 "P" words for this blog title. All fun aside, I really did enjoy my pizza lunch at Pitfire as I have at other times including a Pizza and Wine Pairing and a Pizza Making Party that I did a few years back at their downtown Los Angeles location.

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I've also visited their North Hollywood location, but this time around, it was all about their restaurant in Culver City, which by the way, is a beautiful space  with a lovely red pizza oven and even some fun wall art.

I also enjoy an open kitchen which gives you a chance to see the chefs hard at work, like the one below who was doing his pizza thing.

As for the food, well, I started my meal first with a refreshing and fruity red wine sangria.

Then the first of two pizzas that my friend and I ordered arrived. That first pie was called the White Pie with creamy ricotta, mozzarella, red onion, Parmesan, torn basil and Mama Lil’s pickled peppers.  As soon as it hit the table, I did have one issue with it.

Namely, Pitfire didn't really do a good distribution of the ingredients. All you have to do is look at the picture below to see that the peppers and the basil were pretty much on one side of the pizza. If I wanted a slice of cheese pizza, I would have ordered it. All that aside, when I did bite into a slice that had all the ingredients on it, I definitely appreciated the slight vinegary tang of the peppers along with the peppery-sweet notes of the basil.

Our second pizza was playfully named Greens, Egg and Ham Pizza with braised rapini, a farm egg and Zoe’s natural prosciutto. I'm a sucker for yolky egg on a pizza.  Heck, I'm a sucker for yolky eggs on almost all foods from enchiladas to hamburgers to hot dogs. 

That yolk rounded the bitterness of the rapini and the saltiness of the prosciutto for a pizza so that the strong flavors of those two ingredients didn't overpower each other too much. All the flavors balanced out well and made for a delicious pie.  By the way, I wanted to briefly mention the crust.  It has a crispy-chewiness to it. The first bite through the exterior part of the crust has a small crunch, but the inside of the crust has a slight chewy texture to it. I prefer more of a thin cracker-crispy crust, but that didn't stop me from enjoying both pizzas.

Following the two pizzas came dessert in the form of the Pitfire Smothered Cookie which was a chocolate chip cookie with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce.  You really can't go wrong with a soft warm cookie smothered with all that goodness, so it was a nice way to end the meal.

Overall, I've never been disappointed with Pitfire's pizza offerings and what I like is that no matter which location I've been to, there's a really nice consistency with the food,. Basically, that  means a good meal at Pitfire is always the norm and not the exception. If you get a chance, drop in one of their locations, which also includes Downtown Los Angeles, West LA and North Hollywood. I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed.

Pitfire Pizza
12924 W Washington Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90066
(213) 258-5956


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Norcal and Socal Filipino Tweatup Brunch at Fraiche

Last March, I wrote about a meeting of Norcal and Socal Filpino Twitter Foodies over the delicious meaty goodness of The Park's Finest BBQ.  To read that post, click here. Well, the day after we bonded over bbq, a few of us met up again the next day for Sunday Brunch at Fraiche, where Remil aka @Limer35 set up a tasting menu for us. By the way, check out the quirky food-focused chalkboard art.

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After everyone arrived and settled into the seats, the food soon started coming out our way, starting with complimentary bread and butter on a wooden block.

Soon after, the first of two salads hit our table. First, there was the Baby Beet Salad with housemade ricotta, orange and pistachio. I'm definitely a beet lover, so I enjoyed the sweetness of the beets paired with the citrusy and nutty notes of the orange and pistachio.

Our second salad was the Frisse Aux Lardons with frisee, blue cheese, bacon and poached eggs. A nice gathering of flavors made up this salad, from slightly bitter to pungent to smoky.  Of course, what I enjoyed most was breaking the yolk and mixing all the ingredients together. Delicious!

More egg love came our way in the shape of a cast iron skillet that contained Baked Eggs with goat cheese, olives and tomatoes and a side of grilled bread. All I have to say that I really didn't want to share this with the rest of table. Enough said.

Next to arrive at our table was Soft Polenta with wild mushrooms.  I enjoyed how rich and buttery the polenta was and how the woodsy mushrooms cut into that to help balance the flavors.

It was burger time now and we all got to sample the Truffle Burger with onion fondue, Boschetto cheese, truffle aioli and and an egg. Egg is definitely a popular ingredient in this brunch menu. Not that I'm complaining. It's just an observation.

As for the burger, I think the ingredients gave it a hype that really wasn't there.  There wasn't anything wrong with this Truffle Burger, but there was nothing that really stood out about it also. It also didn't help that burger meat itself leaned more towards well done and as such, it was a little dry.

I did like the Belgian fries that came with the burger though.  They were golden and crispy and came with a garlic aioli dipping sauce that I enjoyed.

After the burger came the Croque Monsieur with smoked ham, comte and gruyere cheese. Like the burger, the Croque Monsieur sandwich didn't really do much for me, but I should also mention that I've never been a fan of Croque Monsier sandwiches in the first place. I just find them a little too uninteresting to my tastebuds.

When it came to dessert, we were showered with sweetness starting with molten chocolate lava cakes, which could satisfy one's chocolate craving, but weren't necessarily that memorable.

Then a trio of potted desserts arrived which were a Caramel Budino (with vanilla mascarpone and sea salt), a Chocolate Pot de Creme (with candied hazelnuts and creme fraiche) and a Pistachio Creme Brulee.  My favorite of the three was the Pistachio Creme Brulee. I just loved its nutty sweetness.

A trio of jarred desserts also came our way and included a Mango/Pop Rock Panna Cotta, a Passionfruit Panna Cotta (with pistachios and balsamic reduction at the bottom) and a Tiramisu (with praline mascarpone and feuilletine).  The Mango/Pop Rock Panna Cotta was delicious plus was fun to eat, but the Passionfruit Panna Cotta with its intense flavors was my favorite of this particular threesome.

Overall, it was a nice meal, but I doubt I'll be making any special trips from the Eastside to the Westside anytime soon for a repeat brunch experience.  I liked the food, but I wasn't wowed by it and for me to make a 45 minute trek to dine somewhere, the food has to merit more than just a mere like.  I have yet to visit Fraiche for dinner, so love may still be around the corner.

Fraiche
9411 Culver Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 839-6800


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