The Food at Rivera is Even Better with the Introduction of New Menus

After my first visit to Rivera, I thought the food was fantastic, but with the introduction of new menus, I think the food is even more fantastic. When it comes to Latin Food, Chef John Rivera Sedlar, owner-chef of Rivera Restaurant truly believes in giving the diners at his restaurant a real sense of Latin Food history. Last July, along with his main CONEXIONES menu, he introduced 3 special regional menus available only in specific dining rooms within Rivera.

In the Sangre Room, the focus is on the Iberian roots of Latin Cooking; thus, the foods that are featured are from Spain and Portugal. The menu in the Samba Room is all about foods with South American, Central American and Caribbean influences while at the Playa Bar, it's all about seafood-themed cuisine inspired by Mexico as well as inspiration from the Southwest. If you can't decide, you can even opt for a Tasting Menu that includes 8 dishes from all three menus.

Last July, I was hosted along with a few other restaurant bloggers for a preview of the dishes that would be featured on the Conexiones menu as well as in the three menus mentioned above. In the end, our meal consisted of 15 total courses. Our first course was the Cabeza de Oro (from the Playa menu) with foie gras, lobster, scallop, truffle, jamon iberico and caviar. All the ingredients were layered on a golden head and it's definitely a luxurious way to start a meal.

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From the Samba Menu came our second course, an Argentine Mushroom Carpacchio with king oyster, bluefoot, chanterelle mushrooms, chimichurri spices and combava lime. I'm a big mushroom fan, so I was already sold when I saw this dish on our Tasting Menu and it didn't disappoint.

Our third course came from the main Conexiones menu and it was Equadorian Crudo with hiromasa, kumquats, Fresno chiles and chives. I enjoyed the freshness of the fish, but I thought it needed more of the kumquat for additional tartness.

Also from the Conexiones menu was the Post-Colombian Gazpacho, a traditional cold heirloom tomato soup. I'm not sure what was added to this soup other than tomatoes, but there's a depth of flavor in this soup that I wasn't expecting, but definitely enjoyed.

Next to arrive was the Chile Relleno, which was an Anaheim chile stuffed with buratta cheese and topped with martian red corn salsa and Cherokee tomatoes. When I went online to check out Rivera's current menus, this dish wasn't listed in any of them. Perhaps, it was a seasonal dish or it didn't make the final cut? Regardless, I found it quite tasty and hope that it is just a seasonal dish that will make a return appearance.

The Flan de Elote, a corn custard with black quinoa and squash blossom sauce, can be found on the Conexiones menu. This was definitely one of my favorite dishes of the night. I loved the sweet creamy texture of the corn custard paired with the chewy mouth feel of the quinoa.

From the Playa menu, a must order is the Chile Guero Relleno with tempura chile, crab, corn, soy, ginger and scallion. I really enjoyed the Asian-Latin fusion of ingredients and flavors. I had to share this dish, but I could have easily eaten all 4 by myself.

One of my least favorite dishes of the night were the Venezulan Arepas which were made up of traditional fried corn cakes and a soft shell crab in the style of Cartagena, Colombia from the Samba menu. I've never had an arepa before, but from what I've seen on tv and what I've read about it, an arepa is more of a sandwich made using a bread made from corn (but not necessarily corn bread). What I saw in front of me didn't fit my idea of what an arepa was supposed to be, plus in general, I just found the whole dish underwhelming flavor-wise.

Another standout and from the Playa menu, was the Clam Tamalli. The Clam Tamalli is a Pismo clam that was steamed with a sweet corn masa mix that included poblano chiles, garlic, oregano leaf and a blistered chile verde meuniere. Simply delicious.

Our next dish was the Parilla, a rib-eye filet with habanero chimichurri and yucca chips and it comes from the Conexiones menu. The meat was tender and juicy and I liked the crunch of the yucca chips. It's not as imaginative a dish as some of the dishes we had tried so far, but if you're in the mood for meat and potatoes, this is the dish for you.

I wasn't really into the Brazilian Feijoada dish which was a traditional black bean stew with lamb and came from the Samba menu. I've only had feijoida once before and it was mind-blowing. The black beans had been stewed for a couple of days with various cuts of meats so the flavor was amazing. In comparison, the Rivera version of the feijoada just didn't cut it for me, especially in regards to the black beans which didn't have the pure meaty flavor of what I had before.

Also from the Samba menu were the Bolivian Anticuchos, which were white sea bass skewers marinated with spicy aji peppers coated with semilla salsa. I really enjoyed the flavors, but found the sea bass itself to be a bit dry. Perhaps, it marinated too long and as a result, it was "cooked" through more than it should have been.

Finally, after all the savory dishes, it was time for dessert and it started off with my favorite of the three we tried, which was the Hielo Y Fuego (Ice and Fire), a poblano chile sorbet with a port reduction. The juxtaposition between the spicy ice cream and the coolness of the port reduction worked perfectly together.

My second favorite dessert was the Xochimilco, which was an ancho chile chocolate cake, with avocado mousse and lime pepper sauce. Chile and chocolate? Yes, please and when you add the sweetness of the avocado mousse to the mix, the Xochimilco was definitely a palate pleaser.

Our last dessert was the Pan de Santa Teresa which is a Spanish lenten bread pudding with cherimoya ice cream, cactus pear esencia and salted peanuts. I'm not much of a bread pudding fan, but this one was pretty good, but what really made this dessert memorable was the tartly delicious cherimoya ice cream.

It was definitely quite a meal with definitely a lot of highs to it. I've always enjoyed the food at Rivera, but with these new menus, Rivera has only gotten that much better and is a place I'd continue recommend to anyone who wants to experience fantastic Latin cuisine.

Rivera Restaurant
1050 S Flower St
Los Angeles, CA 90015-5100
(213) 749-1460
www.riverarestaurant.com

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Honey-Inspired Tasting Menu at Rivera Hosted by National Honey Board

Last November, I was invited by the National Honey Board to attend a honey-inspired 4 course tasting menu at Chef John Rivera Sedler's Rivera Restaurant in Downtown Los Angeles. This event was one of a 3 part series held across the country where the National Honey Board decided to focus on Latin Cuisine and tapped 3 celebrity Latino chefs to create honey-infused gourmet dishes. The other two chefs that participated including Chef Michelle Bernstein of Miami, Florida and Chef Aaron Sanches of New York, New York.

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The dishes prepared by Chef Sedler was a fusion of Spanish influences and the American Southwest and started with a cocktail, a Pineapple and Serrano Licuado with Honey Infused Tequila. It was a refreshing cocktail that didn't initially give you any heat, but as you continued to drink it, you could feel a little bit of at the back of your throat. The spiciness definitely snuck up on you.

As we were enjoying our cocktail, Chef Sedler came out and shared some stories of how as a child, smearing honey on bread was one of his favorite sweet treats. Throughout the tasting event, he'd also come out to explain the ingredients for each course as well share any antecdotes. He also mentioned that clover honey was the honey used for all dishes we were going to sample that evening.

Our first tasting of the night were Crostinis of Queso Cotija with Hierbabuena, Pink Pepper Berry Infused Honey and Figs. Honey on its own can oft times be too sweet. By mixing the honey with the pink pepper berries and letting it sit overnight, the sweetness was cut back plus the honey had a nice peppery flavor to it.

Second to to arrive were Spanish Piquillo Peppers Stuffed with Honey Raisins, Serrano Ham and Manchego Cheese. In this dish, the raisins were soaked with honey and sherry vinegar overnight. The honey was more subtle, but those honey raisins balanced well with the saltier ham and cheese to create a good balance of sweet and savory flavors.

Our third dish was the Jicama and Tomatillo Salad with Burrata Cheese and Honey Lime Vinaigrette. When Chef Sedler came out to talk about this dish, he specifically mentioned how his aunt used to cook for artist Georgia O'Keefe and how this particular recipe is based on one of O'Keefe's recipes. This was my favorite item of our tasting menu. I loved the textures of the soft chewy cheese with the crunchy jicama and the tart-sweet-peppery seasoning was spot on.

Last, but not least were the Blue Corn Quesadillas of Goat Cheese with Chorizo and Habanero Infused Honey. For this particular dish, the habanero was the star because there was definite heat when I ate into that quesadilla. When it came to this dish, Chef Sedler mentioned that the honey's role in this dish was to cut into the heat of the habanero, but to also lessen the pungency of the goat cheese. Both were accomplished, although as a goat cheese lover, I say "Bring it On."

To end, we were treated to a Mexican Ice Cream Sundae, which had scoops of vanilla ice cream, cinnamon, almonds, dulce de leche and also a little bit of honey. What a sweet ending!

Overall, it was a fun tasting event and as a honey lover, I really enjoyed learning ways honey could be used in Latin cooking. If you'd like to try out any of the recipes yourself, look for them below.

Rivera Restaurant
1050 S Flower St
Los Angeles, CA 90015-5100
(213) 749-1460
www.riverarestaurant.com


Click here to read about my past dining experience at Rivera!

Pineapple and Serrano Licuado with Honey Infused Tequila (Serves 6)

Ingredients:

For the honey infused tequila:
12 liquid ounces of reposado tequila
9 tablespoons honey

For the pineapple chile juice:
1 ripe pineapple peeled, cored and cubed
5 serrano chiles stemmed, seeded and deveined

Preparation:

Combine in a mixing bowl the tequila and the honey and stir vigorously until blended. Set aside.

In a juicer or blender, place the pineapple and three chiles adding a little water if necessary to make a juice. Slowly add more chiles until you reach desired spiciness.

Fill 6 double old fashioned glasses to the top with crushed ice. In a pitcher mix the honey tequila with 30 ounces of the pineapple juice and pour into each glass over the ice.

Crostinis of Queso Cotija with Hierbabuena, Pepper Berry Infused Honey and Figs (Serves 6)

Ingredients:

For the pepper berry infused honey:
1 ½ tablespoons honey
1 ½ tablespoons pink pepper berries (also known as pink peppercorns)

For the crostinis:
1 fresh crusty French baguette
½ pound cotija cheese
12 large spearmint leaves
2 fresh figs thinly sliced

Preparation:

Combine in a mixing bowl the honey and the pink pepper berries. Macerate overnight.

With a sharp serrated knife slice the baguette diagonally about ¼ of an inch thick. Brush the crostinis with a little olive oil and toast lightly in the oven until golden brown.

Place the crostinis on a platter topping each one with a little more than ½ teaspoon of the cotija cheese, a small slice of fig, a mint leaf and a generous drizzle of the pepper berry honey over the cheese.

Spanish Piquillo Peppers Stuffed with Honey Raisins, Serrano Ham and Manchego Cheese (Serves 6)

Ingredients:

For the honey raisins:
3 tablespoons golden raisins
1.5 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar (jerez vinegar)

For the peppers:
12 canned Spanish piquillo peppers for stuffing
2 cups grated manchego cheese
2 ounces sliced and cubed Serrano ham
1 shallot coarsely chopped

Preparation:

A day before serving the peppers, combine in a mixing bowl the raisins, honey and vinegar and macerate in the refrigerator overnight.

Remove the peppers from the can and drain on paper towels. In a mixing bowl stir together the cheese, ham, shallots and the honey raisins.

Carefully stuff each pepper with the mixture then line up the peppers in rows on a sheet pan.

In a cast iron skillet on medium heat and brushed with a little olive oil, sear the peppers until the cheese is melted and there is a light black char on the out side of each pepper.

Serve 2 peppers per guest topped with light vinaigrette of your choice and a few chopped chives.

Jicama & Tomatillo Salad with Burrata Cheese and Honey Lime Vinaigrette (Serves 6)

Ingredients:

For the vinaigrette:
6 ounces extra virgin olive oil
2 ounces fresh squeezed lime juice
2 ounces honey
Sea salt to taste
Fresh ground black pepper to taste

For the salad:
6 cups jicama cut into very thin 2 inch long bite size matchsticks
6 medium tomatillos, husks removed, washed and sliced thin, about 1/8 of an inch
3 cubes, 6 or 8 ounces each, of burrata cheese cut in half

Preparation:

In a mixing bowl combine the lime juice, honey and the salt and pepper. Whisk in the olive oil.

In a large mixing bowl toss together the jicama and tomatillos and ¾ of the blended vinaigrette. Divide the mixture onto chilled salad plates and carefully place the burrata on top. Drizzle the remaining vinaigrette over the cheese and season the cheese with a little more sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.

Blue Corn Quesadillas of Goat Cheese with Chorizo and Habanero Infused Honey (Serves 6)

Ingredients:

For the habanero infused honey:
3 habanero chiles stemmed, seeded and deveined finely chopped
1 tablespoon honey
½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar

For the quesadilla:
12 blue corn tortillas
6 ounces grated manchego cheese
4 ounces goat cheese
½ white onion finely chopped
4 tablespoons finely chopped Spanish Chorizo

Preparation:

One day before serving the quesadillas prepare the habanero infused honey: in a mixing bowl combine the habanero chiles, honey and the vinegar. Refrigerate overnight.

Lay out 6 of the tortillas on a sheet pan. Evenly distribute the cheeses, onion and chorizo over the surface of each tortilla. Evenly drizzle about a ½ to ¾ teaspoon of the habanero infused honey onto each tortilla. Top each one with another blue corn tortilla. Press and cook in a cast iron pan until the cheese is melted and the surface of the tortillas are slightly charred and blistered. Cut each quesadilla like a pizza into about 6 pieces.

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Summer Patio Dining at Ciudad

One of things I love about LA is our weather and how patio dining is something that can be pretty much done all year long and when the dining itself is due to happenstance because of my own forgetfulness, it's a win-win situation. It was a Tuesday night and I was dragging a friend to an Examiner.com cocktail party at the Bonaventure Brewing Company. If you didn't know it already, I am currently an Ethnic Restaurants Examiner for that website. Anyway, we arrive, only to find out that I had my dates mixed up and that the event was actually on Thursday. Go figure. Well, we were already parked and hungry, so instead of calling it a night, we opted for dinner across the street at Ciudad.

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Cool weather, sunny skies and being able to watch the tall office buildings glisten from the sun's rays as it set was the perfect reason to sit at the patio and as luck would have it, it was also Tuesday Paella night. Of course, we had to have that as our main entree and it also came with a crab cake appetizer, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. First, let's talk drinks. My friend went for the White Wine Sangria and I chose the Minty Lime Cooler which was made with fresh mint, lime, splash of soda and touch of sugar. I actually had the Minty Lime Cooler for the first time when I went to the 2009 Planned Parenthood Los Angeles Guild Food Fare last March. It was refreshing and tart then and it was refreshing and tart now.

We decided to order appetizers to share and when we weren't able to come to a decision between two of them, we decided to just go for it and order them both. First, we sampled their duo of Argentine Empanadas. One had a spinach, pine nut, raisin and Manchego filling and came with a salsa verde sauce. The other was a wild mushroom empanada with chipotle sauce. Both empanadas were subtle in flavor and as such, they both paired well with their individual sauces which had more of a kick to them, especially the chipotle sauce.

Our second appetizer was the Watermelon Salad with baby watercress, Oaxacan string cheese, pedro jimenez reduction, macadamia nuts and marash chili. At first glance, the ingredients may seem like they wouldn't play together well, but amazingly they did. There was a nice interplay of flavors that included sweet, juicy, salty, nutty, a little bite from the watercress and a hint of earthiness from the marash chili, which make for an unusually different, but delicious kind of salad.

With the paella also comes a crab cake appetizer, which was quite tasty. With it being deep fried, it wasn't greasy and the batter had a light, but crunchy texture to it. The crab itself may have been mixed with sweet red peppers and some kind of herb. Maybe cilantro? The crab meat had good flavor and was seasoned just right.

Now for the main event, the paella. Just an FYI, at $29, the paella is a fairly good sized portion. So if you're a light eater and/or watching your pennies, split it with your dining parter. Add an extra appetizer to go with the crab cake and the meal can be quite reasonable. Now when it comes to how the paella tasted, it's a solid dish. There's nothing about it that was mind blowing, but you get a nice portion of clams, mussels and sausage and while the rice was saucy, it wasn't mushy. The flavor was okay, but it really needed something else to take it up a notch. Perhaps, more saffron? Pepper? Overall, not bad.

Even with everything we ate up to that point, there was still room for dessert, especially since the Goat Milk Cajeta Flan mesmerized me when I saw it on the dessert menu. I was curious as to whether the goat cheese would cut into the sweetness of the flan. Without a doubt, it did. The goat cheese added just the right amount of pungency to soften; yet, not overwhelm the sweet caramel flavors of the flan.

To end, it was a nice evening. I definitely enjoyed the ambiance of dining outside amongst tall office buildings and both the food and service was good. A couple of things to mention is that Ciudad is currently promoting a 3-Course Steal Prix Menu, which is basically a 3 course meal that costs $24 for lunch and $38 for dinner. Also, as we were leaving, we were presented with a $20 gift card off of our next meal of $50 or more. I'm not sure how long they'll be giving this gift cards away, but it's certainly a nice incentive to return for another meal.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157620610104394/

Ciudad
445 S. Figueroa Street
Suite 100
Los Angeles, CA 90071
(213) 486-5171




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