The Best Counter Dining I've Ever Had Was At Chef Gary Menes' Le Comptoir

With our love for food, it's only natural that Filipinos have entered into all facets of the culinary world, whether it's as a food business owner or as a chef.  In fact, please check out my Filipino Food Love Page to read about some of them who are based in LA.  This particular post is all about Chef Gary Menes, whose food chops are definitely impressive, starting with his first job at the Patina Restaurant in LA to his stint at the world-renowned French Laundry with Chef Thomas Keller in 2000.

After French Laundry, he returned to Los Angeles and earned 2, 3 and 2-1/2 stars successively from the LA Times for when he helmed the Firefly, Palate Food + Wine and the recently closed Marche.  Currently, Chef Menes is running his own pop-up restaurant at Tiara Cafe in downtown Los Angeles. The name, Le Comptoir, is French for The Counter and refers to one's dining experience which involves sitting at 1 of 12 counter seats, which allows a bird's eye view of all the action.

What's interesting is that given all his time in Los Angeles, my very first time trying Chef Menes' food was at Le Comptoir.  When it comes to dining at Le Comptoir, it's a 5 course set menu; however, 3 of the courses could be swapped out with a different dish for a supplemental fee.  Luckily, my dining partner and I ordered both the regular and the supplemental menu so that we could share everything.

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It started with us eyeing these beautiful loaves of bread sitting in front of us. Eventually, those loaves were sliced and  served throughout the meal.  They were perfect vehicles for dipping in whatever was left on our plates. After getting our bread, the rest of the meal commenced.

Our something amusing aka our Amuse Bouche was a French Cheese Puff filled with fromage blanc, gruyere and chives.  Chef Menes mentioned that the flavors would remind us of ranch dip and that was definitely spot on. As for the cheese puff itself, it was light and airy.

Next up are the first course and the supplemental first course.  The first course was an Okiwanan sweet yam veloute with pickled chanterelles, yogurt and farinette. I enjoyed the soup's smooth and silky texture as well as the sweet-earthy flavors of the ingredients.  The presentation was also a nice touch.

The supplemental first course was a French foie gras terrine with a preserved cherry compote and barrel aged vinegar.  Sitting at the counter gave us a good view of Chef Menes slicing the foie gras terrine for us. As for this dish, I really appreciated how the tart-sourness of the cherries and vinegar cut into the sweet richness of the foie gras.

The second course was a multi-step process. First, you were presented with a plate of greens, herbs and herbed butter as well as a very hot stone slab.  Soon a small cast iron pan arrived with a sunny-side egg.  We were then instructed to add the butter, then the greens and as little or all of the herbs and mix everything together. The herbs and sorrel added a nice hit of "spice" and overall, it was quite tasty.

Next was the third course and the supplemental third course.  The third course was a "veggie platter"with  musque de provence squash, mustard frill, fennel, bermuda onion petal, beets, brussels sprouts, warren pears and grapes. This was one of the best plate of vegetables I've ever had.  I don't even know how to describe how good everything tasted. The textures were perfect and how the individual flavors of the various ingredients played off of each other was sublime.

As for the supplemental third course, it was house made fettuccine with parmesan-reggiano cheese and burgundy black truffles. Simply, it was rich, cheesy, earthy and delicious.

Following our third course(s) came the fourth course and the supplemental fourth course.  Our fourth course consisted of  heirloom shelling beans "pot roast", romano beans, young celery, smoked scallions, sultana raisin-pistachio relish and truffle froth.  The heirloom shelling shells had a lovely "meaty" texture which went well with the crunch of the beans and the celery.

The supplemental fourth course was a j&j grassfed strip loin with hearts of romaine, tomato marmalade, barbara's (of Windrose Farms) potatoes and parsley vinaigrette.  The strip loin was cooked perfectly, red and juicy. It went well with the herbaceous parsley vinaigrette which reminded me of a chimichurri sauce.  The tomato marmalade also added a nice acidity.

Finally, it was dessert time and what we got was a "lemon lush", graham cracker, chocolate, sour cream and vanilla tuille. Unfortunately, this dessert was the weakest part of the meal for me.  The "lemon  lush" had a nice lemony taste to it, but didn't have the luscious, creamy texture that I was looking for.  I also found the vanilla tuille to be a bit hard. While the meal didn't end strongly with the dessert option, everything else up to that point was so good that it didn't detract from what I thought was one of my best meals of 2011.

Overall, this was truly a delicious dining experience and although better late than never, I left there kicking myself that I didn't get to experience any of Chef Menes' food earlier.  All I can do now is make sure that my first experience will not be my last.

Chef Gary Menes
Le Comptoir Website
Le Comptoir Facebook Page
Chef Menes Facebook Page
Chef Menes Twitter

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Pleasure Palate Food Truck Tasting with the Go Chew Truck

WHAT:   Private Food Truck Tasting with the Go Chew Food Truck with Pleasure Palate

WHEN: Saturday, March 31st at 1 pm

WHERE: Secret Location in Los Angeles, CA

COST: $16 per person

DETAILS:

Go Chew is one of LA's newest food trucks and what's interesting about the Food Truck Owner/Chef Charles Slonaker is that for the last few years, he's been traveling around the world cooking at different fine dining establishments including stints at Noma in Copenhagen and Commerc 24 in Barcelona as well restaurants in the states like Nobu 57 in NYC, Valentino in Las Vegas, and Joule in Seattle. Quite an impressive culinary resume, don't you think?

And yet, the focus of his menu is on his Korean heritage and I have to say that the food I was able to sample was really delicious. Check out my recent blog post about Go Chew by clicking here. You can also see pictures of some of what I was able to try below, which included a Rice Cake Bowl, a Fried Chicken Bowl and a Spicy Soup.


The tasting is going to run $16 per person and will include the following:

• Root Vegetables with Molasses Miso, Walnuts and Kale
• Tofu Yogurt with Grilled Cucumber Pea Shoots and Lotus Roots
• Egg Tofu with Spicy Aioli and Togarashi
• Spinach Salad with Sesame Seed, Pickled Carrot and Bonito
• Pork Bowl With Charred Pork Bely and Beer Brined Egg Yolk
• Miso Soup with Fried Pork, Egg, Kimchi and Rice Cakes

Beverages will be sold separately.

This will be an awesome chance for you to not have to chase a food truck or have to look for it via Twitter.  Instead, the truck is going to come to us and with it, your chance to try a variety of items on their menu at a reasonable price. So please come out and join  us!

To RSVP, Pay and Attend This Tasting, please join my Dining Group at the Link Below:

http://www.meetup.com/pleasurepalate/events/54143402/

Sweet on the B Sweet Dessert Food Truck

As a Filipina Food Blogger, I'm all about supporting Filipino-Owned Food Businesses. So when I got an invitation to visit the Filipino-Owned B Sweet Mobile Food Truck, I was happy to stop by.  Before I talk about the truck, let me introduce you to the Owner, Barb Batiste.

Barb has actually been in the food business for a number of years.  Past stints included working along side the Executive Pastry Chef at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel as well as being the head pastry chef for an LA Art Gallery. But, while she enjoyed making high end pastries and desserts, her real love was all about making homemade desserts the old-fashioned way.

That love was so prevalent that she even started a side business selling her own Chocolate Chip Banana Bread to local cafes, which got rave reviews. Eventually, Barb opened her own catering company and just recently, the B Sweet Mobile Food Truck.

Since the Chocolate Banana Bread was what started it all, I definitely wanted to try that.  I ended up taking a loaf home so that I could have a taste.  To be honest, I'm not much of a "sweet" bread kind of person, but I can see why this was a good jumpstart to her business.  It was moist and it tasted like fresh bananas were used in this recipe.

Other than the chocolate banana bread, you can take a peek at other items they carry below.  Those items are the standard menu items; however, there will also be special dessert items. Every night, there will be a "hot" dessert option like a cobbler or bread pudding. Their selection of specialty cupcakes will also change flavors nightly.
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B Sweet actually put together a selection of items for me to take home which included a Vegan Carrot Cupcake, Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes, an Angel Baby Cupcake (Vanilla Bean), Red Devil Cupcakes (Red Velvet) and Red Velvet Cake Pops. To those of you who are vegan, there will always be one vegan dessert option for you to choose from.  I was only able to try the Red Devil and the Chocolate Ganache Cupcake since everything else and the banana bread were pounced upon by my family and some visiting friends.

I've never been much of a red velvet fan, but I did like how moist the cupcake was; however, I totally fell in love with the Chocolate Ganache Cupcake, which is one of their specialty cupcakes.  The frosting was like a creamy pudding which I thought was awesome and the cupcake itself was moist and made my "chocolate" tooth happy.

Also on the truck was their Cupcake Bar. There's three steps to the Cupcake Bar.  1) Choose your cupcake.  2) Choose your frosting.  3)  Choose your toppings.

The one thing that my 7 year old grand-niece really loved about the truck was that Cupcake Bar. The packaging was such that the toppings were separate, which gives you the chance to add as much or as little as you wanted.  I actually picked one up for my 6 year old niece as well and both their cupcakes became mini art projects, which they were quite happy to devour once it was decorated to their taste.

When it comes to beverages, you have your choice of picking from the Milk Bar, Tea Bar and Soda Bar.  The Milk Bar will offer drinks like soy milk, chocolate milk, regular milk, Yoo-Hoo, etc.  If you're into tea, there will be 8 hot teas to pick from.  Finally, there's the Soda Bar, which will contain unique sodas like the ones I tried below.

Overall,  I'm happy to support the B Sweet Mobile Food Truck. However, I would have loved to see one or two Filipino-inspired desserts.  It's a missed opportunity to introduce a food from our culture.  When I asked about that possibility, I was told that bibingka may make it on the menu, so that's definitely something to look forward to.

ADDENDUM:  After some tweeting with B Sweet, it looks like there will be Filipino-inspired desserts and/or desserts using Filipino ingredients that will soon show up as specials! :)

B Sweet Mobile Food Truck
Website
Twitter

B Sweet Catering
Website
Facebook
Twitter ^

First Look: The Go Chew Food Truck

With the plethora of food trucks in the Los Angeles area, it's very difficult to keep track of who's coming and going and which truck is new and which truck has said its last good-bye. To be honest, while I used to be an avid food truck follower, these days, I'm back to being a more sit down restaurant kind of gal. So when an email dropped in my in box with the subject header "culinary adventure with a not so ordinary food truck", it didn't interest me at first, but then I actually read it and it did get my attention.

The email was from Food Truck Owner/Chef Charles Slonaker and what I found intriguing was his culinary background.  For the last few years, he's been traveling around the world cooking at different fine dining establishments including stints at Noma in Copenhagen and Commerc 24 in Barcelona as well restaurants in the states like Nobu 57 in NYC, Valentino in Las Vegas, and Joule in Seattle.  That's a pretty impressive resume, but what threw me off a bit was in Charles' email, he included a menu that seemed very Asian and in fact, Korean-influenced.  Considering his cooking background and his last name, I was curious as where this Asian influence came from, so I decided to check Go Chew out.

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Imagine my surprise when I showed up with a friend and it turned out that Charles is actually Korean. He was adopted by non-Korean parents and in fact, his proud mom was there taking pictures.  She's the one who told us that Charles took it upon himself when he got older to live in Korea for a year to learn the language, to learn Korean cooking and just in general, to get in touch with his cultural background. How awesome is that! As for the food truck name, "Go Chew" actually refers to the word, "gochu", which is Korean for chili pepper and Go Chew's food focus is on rice bowls and sides.

Now that you've learned a little more about Charles and Go Chew, let's talk about the food, starting with their Fried Chicken Bowl which had a jidori leg and thigh, green onion salsa, pickled daikon, egg yolk and rice. First, the chicken was fried just right with both a crispy skin and tender, moist chicken meat. I liked the tartness of the daikon and the poached egg was a wonderful touch.  However, I did have an issue with the rice, which was too mushy and when mixed with the egg yolk, it got even mushier.  So that's something that needs to be fixed.

Next we tried the Rice Cake Bowl with rice cakes, chili sauce, egg, pork, bean sprouts and sesame seeds. Hands down, this was my favorite.  I think the rice cakes were slightly fried, so there was a crispness to their surface that I liked.  Also, the chili sauce was so nicely balanced.  It was spicy, but not burn your tastebuds spicy and overall, simply delicious.  Everything just mixed together so well that every bite was a pleasure for my palate.

Another dish that I really enjoyed was Go Chew's Fried Cauliflower with fried garlic and Chinese chives. Cauliflower on its own is quite bland, but this bowl of veggies was a hit.  I have complained about dishes in the past that were supposed to have garlic but didn't taste garlicky enough; however, no complaint here. There was garlic love all the way.

Next to last was the Shorty Bowl with short rib, black bean and oyster glaze, shitake mushroom, kimchi, egg and rice.  I have to admit that I expected a bit more from this bowl.  The overall flavor was good and this rice bowl has potential, but the rice again was a big issue.  In fact, it had gotten even mushier since we had the Fried Chicken Bowl earlier.  As for the short rib, it was nice and tender, but dry.

Last, but not least was the Spicy Soup with a pork and chicken broth, tofu, kimchi, egg and shredded pork. The broth was absolutely wonderful.  It was initially light and clean; yet, it had a nice spicy kick to it.  When the poached egg was broken into and mixed into the soup, then it had an added richness which was really tasty.

Overall, except for a few things that could be fixed very easily, I thought the food coming from the Go Chew truck was really delicious. In fact, it's been awhile since I've enjoyed food from a food truck as much as I did that afternoon.  I only have one minor critique.  Simply, I would have liked to see more variety in terms of the dishes.  Specifically, I'd love to see food with inspiration coming from some of the restaurants that Charles has worked at. Maybe, that's what's coming next.

Go Chew Food Truck
Website
Twitter ^

The Jokbal Was No Joke at Jangchung-Dong Wong Jokbal

 

When it comes to planning where I'm going to take my dining group, Pleasure Palate, my bookmarks are chock full of links to dining possibilities.  Once or twice a week, I take a look and ask myself, "Which restaurant  is worth a visit in the next few weeks?"  When I make my decision, the meal pops up on the dining calendar.  After re-reading an LA Times article about a Koreantown restaurant called Jangchung-Dong Wong Jokbal, I knew this is where I wanted to go.

So what exactly is Jokbal? Basically, it's a braised pork foot and shank and apparently, one restaurant serves the best version.  Jangchung-Dong Wong Jokbal is a satellite of a renowned braised pork foot specialty restaurant in Seoul.  Several years ago, the owner of the Seoul restaurant came to Los Angeles, bringing with her a sample of the braising liquid she uses. She proceeded to train her nephew-in-law on how to make jokbal properly. With that knowledge, Jangchung-Dong Wong Jokbal came to be.

Now that you have a little background, let's talk about the food.  As is standard in many Korean restaurants, the meal starts with an array of panchan. The panchan was just okay, nothing to write home about.  Along with the panchan also came dipping sauces, lettuce, jalapeno and raw garlic for the jokbal itself.

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After noshing on the panchan for awhile, the jokbal arrived in all its glory.  Its presentation almost reminded me of flower petals because of the way the meat was sliced and fanned out.

The jokbal could be dipped in the sauces and eaten on their own.  Another alternative is for the jokbal to be wrapped in lettuce along with the raw garlic, a jalapeno with a dollop of the sauce.  I did it both ways and both ways were delicious.  The pork was tender and I loved how the ribbons of fat around the pork slices had a soft, gelatinous texture. There was a definite soy sauce flavor that I tasted as well as a bit of sweetness that may have come from some type of sugar. Other than that, I don't know what other braising ingredients were used, but it simply didn't matter because this jokbal was amazing.

Not so amazing and unfortunately, not very good were the other dishes we ordered along with the Jokbal, which included Pan Fried Squid and Pan Fried Spicy Pork Hock.  The squid was way too chewy and the pork fried pork hock was overcooked.  Also, not only did both dishes look alike, the sauces they were cooked in tasted the same.  Unfortunately, the Pan Fried Spicy Pork Hock wasn't spicy at all, which made it even more difficult to differentiate it from the Pan Fried Squid.

Another disappointment was their Seafood Pancake. It looked promising when it came out, thick and hearty. I liked that the pancake's surface was nicely browned, but I think the seafood must have been invisible, because there was little to none to be seen or eaten.  There was a little bit of shrimp, but not enough to really merit calling this dish a Seafood Pancake.

The only dish other than the jokbal that tasted really good was their Buckwheat Yam Noodles with vegetables and topped with a chili sauce.  The noodles had a nice chewy texture and the chili sauce brought the heat that the Pan Fried Spicy Pork Hock was missing.

Suffice to say, the jokbal is truly the star of this restaurant. While you certainly can order other things from the menu, if all you had was the jokbal, that would be enough to make this meal one of the best you've ever had.

Jangchung-Dong Wong Jokbal

425 S. Western Avenue

Suite E

Los Angeles, CA 90020

(213) 386-3535

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