GIVEAWAY: The Asian Flavors of Fresheast

This giveaway is now closed! Congratulations to Sara!

Last December, I was invited by Ravine Hiranand, to visit his restaurant, fresheast, in West Hollywood, where he would host a meal for me and a guest.  With fresheast being new to me, I checked out their website to find out the concept behind this eatery. Simply, fresheast is a casual dining restaurant that focuses on providing high-quality, organic and sustainable Asian cuisine that incorporates the flavors of India, Korea, China, Japan and Thailand. They believe in healthy portion sizes and in eliminating butter, salt and nuts from their dishes. For those with specific dietary needs, they're also happy to customize their menu items.

Another thing to note about fresheast is that they believe in supporting the environment.  That's reflected in their use of reclaimed and natural materials in the design of their space as well as their use of recyclable and eco-friendly utensils and plate ware made from bamboo leaves.

More ...

When my guest and I arrived and met up with Ravine, I asked him to just send us a selection of some his favorite dishes.  What came out first was samples of some their beverages which included a Melonade (seasonal melon, lemon, palm sugar, raw sugar), a FreshEast juice (Orange, lemon, apple, cucumber, spinach, kale, red beets), a Mango Lassi (fresh mango, yogurt, palm sugar) and coconut water out of a whole coconut.  If for nothing else, you should stop by just for these drinks.  I loved the sweet and tart flavors of the Melonade.  The FreshEast juice definitely is a great way to "drink your greens" and their Mango Lassi is definitely much better when fresh mango is used because you can really taste the fresh mango.

The first dish to arrive was their Spicy Noodles that was made up of wheat noodles, seasonal vegetables, garlic, cilantro, sesame oil and chili garlic sauce. This was one of my favorite dishes of the whole meal. It had the heat, but not so much that it overwhelmed your taste buds.  A plus for me was also the noodles that were cooked al-dente.  Mushy noodles always disappoint.

Next up was the Pan-Fried Curry Noodles with wheat noodles, seasonal vegetables and curry sauce.  The curry sauce itself had a nice flavor, but to me, it needed a little salt.  At the very least, these noodles needed to be seasoned in such a way that I wouldn't have missed the salt.

Our first meat dish was the Curry Lamb (Rogan Gosht) with red lentil dal and cilantro.  I liked that the meat was tender and I enjoyed the red lentil dal, but like the Curry Noodles, this dish felt a little under seasoned.  When I had asked Ravine about this specific dish, he said that traditionally, it's cooked with ghee, which is a clarified butter, but their Curry Lamb isn't.  Perhaps that's what I was missing, a little bit of fattiness.

A little seafood came our way next via their Tandoori Shrimp Salad with tandoori shrimp, baby green lettuces, tomato, cucumber, curry yogurt dressing, lentil cracker and a red curry vinaigrette. I wasn't really in the mood for a salad, but the shrimp itself had a nice chili rub to it that I liked and I remember liking the taste of the red curry vinaigrette although I can't remember what it tasted like exactly.

Next was the Grilled Miso Grilled Chicken with miso grilled Jidori Chicken, fresh wok’d vegetables, miso glaze. I have to say that this chicken was cooked perfectly. It was moist and tender.  I also loved, loved that miso glaze. I don't know what was in it, but it had a sweet-salty flavor to it that worked for me. I have a feeling that it might be a good glaze for fish, too.

Before our last entree, we got to try their Vegan Red Lentil Soup.  I was actually getting full already, so I only had a couple of spoonfuls.  Considering that this soup was dairy free, the soup's texture was thick and hearty and was a great "winter" soup.

Our final savory dish of the night was their Korean BBQ Sandwich with beef bulgogi, cucumber, green onion and roasted garlic.  By this time, I had reached my food limit, but the sandwich itself was pretty good.  I would have liked a crustier bread, but the meat itself had nice flavor with a little hit of sweetness that was appealing.

Last, but not least was dessert and unfortunately, I don't have a photo of it, but it was a dairy-free Pear and Cardamom Sorbet.  That sorbet was one of the best I've ever had and I've had a lot of sorbets in my life.  It tasted like I was eating a fresh pear and that cardamom added all the right flavor notes.  The sorbet itself is seasonal when it comes to the ingredients used and is made fresh every day. It's definitely a sweet way to end your meal.

From the sampling of food that I tried, I think fresheast is a great addition to the West Hollywood dining scene.  Eating healthy doesn't mean that the food doesn't have to be delicious also. The next time you're in the mood for healthy Asian cuisine, you might want to give fresheast a try.

fresheast
8951 Santa Monica Blvd. Suite G-1
West Hollywood, CA 90069
(310) 859-9989


PRIZE GIVEAWAY!

Now that you've learned a little more about Fresh East, it's time to enter for a chance to win a $50 Fresh East Gift Certificate!

Here are the ways to enter!

Mandatory 1: First, check out Fresh East's menu. Then leave a comment and tell me what dish you'd like try first if you won and why. (Please leave your email or some kind of information on how I can contact you. Spell your email address like abby at pleasurepalate dot com). If I can't find a way to get a hold of you, I'll choose another winner.

Optional 2: Tweet: Win a $50 @fresheastla $50 Gift Certificate via @pleasurepalate at http://bit.ly/hvrZNf

Optional 3: Follow Fresh East on Twitter

Optional 4: Join Fresh East on Facebook

You can have up to 4 total entries each; however, please note that you have to comment back and let me know which of the actions you took, so that I can keep track of them. This is especially true for 2 through 4. If you don’t let me know which actions you took, then I won’t count them as entries.

Contest ends Friday, January 28 at 11:59 AM, PST and one winner will be randomly chosen from all entries. Good Luck!

^

Food Porn from the Now Closed Courtyard

With all the eating out I do, I definitely get behind on my blogging about my various dining and restaurant experiences. I think that's a problem that most bloggers experience as well. Such is the case with The Courtyard in West Hollywood, which is now closed. Briefly, I wouldn't say it was a destination restaurant for me, but I still enjoyed my meal there. Even more so, I liked how my pictures came out. While I may not be sharing a review with you, I hope you enjoy some of the food porn below.

Blueberry and Lemonade Sangria
(white wine with fresh lemonade, mint and blueberries)

Piquillos
(sweet red peppers filled with cumin-lime blended goat cheese and avocado)

Dates in Bacon
(bacon wrapped dates with cabrales dipping sauce)

Five Spice Calamari
(calamari with lemon and salsa brava)

Chicken Albondigas
(ground seasoned chicken meatballs simmered in tomato sauce)

Courtyard Seasoned Fries

Dessert Sampler
(chocolate mousse, arroz con leche and banana pudding)

To see the rest of the photos, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157610274212058/

Hadaka Sushi - CLOSED

Other than the Gospel Brunch at the House of Blues and the now closed Norman's, I haven't had that much luck so far with WeHo restaurants on Sunset when it comes to their food. For the most part, they seem to be all quite gimmicky - gimmicky enough that I've certainly been sucked in, only to be disappointed in the end. That was certainly the case with Hadaka Sushi.

Once you get past the high school giggles over seeing the words "SEX" in large bold letters when you first enter the restaurant as well as perusing the "Naughty Menu" which includes menu items like "Happy Ending", Bisexual and "Nipple Twister," there's really nothing else that interesting about Hadaka Sushi and that definitely includes the food.

The evening started with our group sharing the Sex Beads, which are edamame tossed with sweet garlic ginger glaze. Very messy to eat, but I wouldn't have minded if the mess equated to flavorful. I didn't really taste the garlic or the ginger, which left nothing but bland on my tastebuds as well as glaze coated fingers that definitely were not finger lickin' good.

For my meal in particular, I ordered one cold appetizer and two sushi rolls. My cold appetizer was ginger-peppercorn crusted tuna bathed in soy-lime vinaigrette on a bed of spring greens, better known as "Turned On Pussy Cat." In short, I certainly wasn't turned on. You could definitely taste the pepper, but no ginger flavors were to be had plus the tuna wasn't tender. In fact, it was a tiny bit chewy.

As for my sushi rolls, if I didn't know before, I definitely know now that I like my sushi to be simpler and not bathed in so much sauce that you can't even taste the fish itself. The first roll I had was "The O Face", a spicy pussy cat roll (chopped tuna tossed with chili aioli, masago and scallions) topped with tempura rock shrimp tossed with chili aioli. When you see the word "tempura", expectations for the food are that they will be crispy-crunchy.

My tempura rock shrimp wouldn't know crispy-crunchy if it came up and bit them and to make it worse, the shrimp was also over-cooked, which translated to chewy. With the proliferation of the sauce mixed with the tuna and squirted all over the food and the plate, I couldn't even tell that I was eating tuna. Now isn't that a sad state of affairs?

Then my "Happy Ending" sushi roll arrives, which consists of chopped salmon, julienne red onions and mild miso aioli. Eating-wise the red onions were too long. They were sticking out of the rolls like swords plus between the strong onion flavor and the miso aioli sauce, they both overpowered the taste of the salmon. There was just too much happening with this dish and none of it very good.

After a disappointing meal so far, I had hoped that dessert would at least salvage the meal and to that end, I ordered the Banana Play, which was banana foster's bread pudding, ginger-caramel sauce & lychee ice cream. For the most part, even though the dessert wasn't that great, I think it was actually the best part of the meal, although I felt that the ginger-caramel sauce didn't really have that ginger zing to it and I also thought the lychee ice cream tasted more vanilla-like than like lychees.

As you can see the food wasn't a hit. As for the service, it wasn't that inspiring either, especially considering that the restaurant was pretty much empty. Our waiter mentioned a special soup of the day, which someone in my group ordered, only to be told 10 to 15 minutes later, that they don't have that special any longer. Isn't that something the waiter should have checked before even mentioning the special?

Also, a couple members in my group had to leave dinner early, so we requested the check so that they could pay for their share ahead of time. It took about 20 to 25 minutes before the check arrived and than to add insult to injury, when I was ready to pay the bill, which included cash and a credit card, our waiter had his back to us because he was chatting with another waiter. I waited and waited for him to turn around and finally, 10 minutes later, I had to walk up to him so he'd take the check and run the credit card through. What's galling is that the restaurant was half-empty, so this kind of service is even more unacceptable.

When you get both mediocre food and mediocre service, you have tell like it is and unless someone's willing to pay my way for dinner there, I don't have any plans to return to Hadaka Sushi in the near future.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157600757691668/

Hadaka Sushi
8226 W Sunset Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90046
(323) 822-2601

Ketchup

If looks were everything, Ketchup would have at least 4 stars. I really liked the look of the restaurant from the white booths to the red balls that served as lighting to the ketchup inspired art on the walls. There was a cool LA vibe to the place which was further enhanced by the 20-something hipsters that served as the majority of the customers that night.

However, cool LA vibe or not, it's really the food that determines whether I'll return to a restaurant to dine and unless someone takes me for a free meal, I don't plan on making a trip back to Ketchup anytime soon.

Oh, one thing I did want to mention before I get into food. There's actually a "bartender" who pushes a drink cart throughout the restaurant who will give you free samples of some of their signature martinis. Considering that those martinis are $12 each, this is a nice service that Ketchup provides. After all, if you're going to spend the bucks on a drink, you might as well know if it's going to be worth it or not. Now I'm not sure whether they put a limit on the free samples or not, so don't assume that you'll be getting freebies all night.

So now let's talk about food. When we sat down, we got complimentary breadsticks and pretzel bread that came with a spicy mustard. I actually liked the pretzel bread a lot. It was soft and warm and had that nice hit of saltiness. The spicy mustard could have been spicier, but still it went well with the bread.

When we finally ordered, my group decided to share 3 appetizers. The first to arrive was the Scandalous Lobster Wraps, which were chunks of lobster meat, iceberg lettuce topped with mango ketchup. Given that this appetizer is described as being "scandalous", you'd think that the wrap would be so delicious that you almost felt like you were committing a crime eating it. That wasn't the case at all. In fact, the scandal quickly whimpered away after I took my first bite. The lobster meat tasted really bland. Even the addition of the mango ketchup added nothing to this dish. In fact, I found the mango ketchup to be too sweet. At least, the lettuce was crisp and fresh.

Soon came the Mini Chicken Tacos and I have to say that out of everything we ordered, this was the tastiest. The blue corn taco shells had a nice light crunch to it and I thought the chicken was moist and tender. With the addition of the cheese, salsa and sour cream, this little taco was packed with a lot of great flavor. I could have eaten a couple of plates just on my own.

The last appetizer we shared was the 3some, which consisted of three separate containers with the three different French Fries that they have on their menu. Those fries were:

Ketchup Fries (garlic-parmesan tossed)
Fire Fries (cayenne spiced)
Sweet Potato Fries

The fries were okay, but while I could taste a little bit of the parmesan on the Ketchup Fries, the garlic was missing in action. The Fire Fries had a little spice to it, but were certainly not that fiery and as for the sweet potato yams, they were mushy and could have been a bit crispier.

With the fries came 5 different ketchups: Chipotle, Classic, Mango, Maple & Ranch. Now I remember the mango ketchup being a little too sweet from the Lobster Wraps, but I don't really remember what the Maple & Ranch ketchups tasted like. That's how forgettable they were; however, I really liked the Chipotle ketchup a lot. It had a nice smoky flavor that was really appealing.

A few of us ordered entrees. I had the Beer Can Chicken which was a garlic studded whole chicken braised in Sam Adams and came with smashed potato, caramelized onion & baby vegetables. This entree cost $19 and wasn't worth it. Yes, the portion was huge so I did take most of it home, but it was one of the most flavorless chicken dishes I have ever had.

Just like the garlic from the Ketchup fries, the garlic was definitely missing in this dish. Garlic-studded, my you know what! The sides were just as bad. The mashed potatoes were a bit grainy and not smooth or creamy and the veggies were overcooked. It was just an awful entree.

Two other entree dishes people in my party ordered were the Diver Scallops and the Tuna Tartare dish. Apparently, the diver scallops were tasty so that's good and even the Tuna Tartare was apparently a hit, except for the fact that the basil potato chips that came with it were burnt. When the burnt chips were pointed out to the waitress, she took them away but never bothered to replace them. That certainly wasn't good service in my book.

Overall, Ketchup was a real disappointment and when you add $10 for valet parking, that just adds insult to injury. Like I said earlier, unless someone is planning on paying for my meal, I will definitely not be making a return trip to Ketchup anytime soon.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157600198678757/

Ketchup
8590 Sunset Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90069
(310) 289-8590

"Soup's On" - Borscht Soup at Traktir

As part of a "Soup's On!" dining series, a friend of mine and I put together for my dining group a series of restaurant outings where we got to try different soups around the world. We did everything from chicken mami soup from the Philippines to jade noodle soup from Thailand and ended the series with Russian borscht soup at Traktir in West Hollywood.

On a side note, Santa Monica Boulevard going through WeHo is home to a host of awesome Russian delis. After our lunch at Traktir, we actually did a Russian deli crawl and some of the food we saw in those delis were amazing, from breads and pastries to salads and various cooked meats. Definitely check it out when you get a chance.

Anyway, on to the food. While the primary draw was the Borscht soup, we all started our meal with a compote. When I went home, I did an online search for what a compote was and according to wikipedia, it is a light refreshing drink most often made of dried fruit (raisins, prunes, apricots, etc.) boiled in water with sugar and left to cool and infuse. The compote really was as the description said, light and refreshing. It reminded me of fruit ice tea.

For an appetizer, I ordered feta cheese and kalamata olives. When the dish arrived, I was surprised to see a whole bunch of cilantro on top. It seemed like a lot just for garnish, but then I was told by someone in the know that you actually eat the cilantro with the olives and cheese.

So I ended up doing a Korean BBQ thing, wrapped the leaves around a piece of the cheese and olive and eat them all together. The peppery cilantro really added some great flavor and green freshness to the mild saltiness of the cheese and the olives. What a great combo.

Soon after the borscht arrived. This was my first time having borscht and given that I love beets, I was really looking forward to this soup. While the soup was quite tasty, I was a little disappointed. I expected more of a "beet" flavor to come through, but in some ways, this particular borscht reminded me more of a chunky tomato soup and tomatoes weren't even part of the ingredients. It was still a good soup, but just not what I expected.

From the soup, I shared an order of Russian Vereniki (dumplings) with another diner. Our order consisted of three different verenikis:

Potato Vereniki - Russian style dumplings with potato filling

Meat Vereniki - Russian style dumplings with ground meat and spice filling

Mushroom and Sourkraut Vereniki - Russian style dumpling with mushroom and sourkraut filling

I didn't think any of the three Russian dumplings were anything to write home about. The meat dumpling had some good flavor, but the potato dumpling was bland and I couldn't even tell that there were mushrooms or sauerkraut in the mushroom and sauerkraut dumpling. At least the sauce for the dumplings were good, but without that great sauce, these dumplings would have been a waste of time.

Overall, I'd say that lunch at Traktir was okay. I'd go back to check out some of their other dishes at another time, but be warned. Parking is a pain. There's a small parking lot, but primarily it's metered street parking and you know how much fun that is.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157594587148440/

Traktir
8151 Santa Monica Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90046
(323) 654-3030

Dinner at L'Orangerie - CLOSED

For the last few years, I've been meaning to dine at L'Orangerie, but have never found the occasion to do so. With this restaurant landmark finally closing its doors at the end of this year, I finally decided that now was as good a time as any to check this place out. So last Friday, I visited L'Orangerie for the first and last time.

Upon walking through the green door from the valet to the front courtyard of the restaurant, I caught my breath at the very pretty sight before me. There were tables with white linen table clothes, fresh pink and white roses, and candlelight along with sage green wrought iron chairs with a curvy pattern. There was greenery everywhere from potted miniature fruit trees to ivy along the walls. At the end of the courtyard was a beautiful creamy white fountain that had a yellow glow of light at the mouth of the lion where water would normally be streaming out of.

Even the door to the restaurant was no ordinary door. It was a dark blue with a golden knocker and with arched windows above it made it seem larger than it probably was. As you enter through the front door, you're greeted by Sphinx-like statues guarding the entrance into the middle patio of the restaurant, which is where I was guided by the Maitre'd to await the rest of my party. Inside was just as beautiful with more greenery and white tablecloths, but instead of pink roses, white roses were the choice this time and of course, candlelight and crystal stemware were on the tabletops.

Once everyone arrived, we started perusing the menu and eventually placed our orders. Many of us ordered appetizers and that included me. Before the appetizers came, we were treated to an amuse bouche. It came in a little glass cup and it was three-layered. The bottom layer was eggplant, the middle layer was yogurt and the last layer was something sweet, but I can't remember what. It was a weird mix of flavors. I didn't care for it much and neither did most of the people in my party.

As for the appetizers, I decided to share an appetizer with someone else and we ordered the zucchini flowers with basil, tomatoes and olive oil with lemon. Believe me, I'm glad I shared because there's no way I would have been able to finish all four of the zucchini flowers, which is what comprises a full order. A nice thing that the restaurant did was to split the order onto two separate plates.

In regards to the zucchini flowers, while I liked the combined flavor of the acidity of the tomatoes and the slight bite of the basil, the dish as a whole was really mushy. The only time I've ever had zucchini flowers in the past were when they had been stuffed with cheese and deep-fried and those were delicious. Not that I expected the ones I ordered to be deep fried, but just the general limpness of the flowers were quite disappointing to me. They seemed overcooked.

For my entrée, I had the roasted breast of duck with Tonka beans, grilled zucchini and potatoes. I was really disappointed with this dish as well. The duck breasts were too chewy and the bean and veggie mixture left a funny after taste in my mouth, so I took a couple of bites and that was it. So far, it's been three strikes and dessert hadn't even arrived yet. For dessert, I ordered an assortment of 4 crème brulees: vanilla, coffee, amaretto and dark chocolate. Thank goodness for these crème brulees. They were so good. Creamy with lots of flavor. I think if I didn't have at least one good course, I would have been really upset. While enjoying our desserts, we also were treated to two trays of little mini dessert trays, which included cream puffs, a guava-tasting mousse and a few others. The presentation was pretty. Unfortunately, many of us were too full to enjoy them, so I ended up taking most of them home.

While the restaurant is absolutely beautiful, there were more misses for me than hits. The service wasn't that great. It seemed like we were always having to signal our waiter or the bus boy for things we needed. I already mentioned how I wasn't very happy with my food orders, except for the crème brulees. I don't know if the fact that the restaurant is closing down at the end of the year has anything to do with my negative experience there. Whether it is or not, it's too bad that a restaurant that I've always kind of put on a pedestal would come crashing down so hard.

Anyway, regardless of my less than spectacular meal, I'm glad that I was able to say a good-bye. At the very least, I'll have pictures of what was once a beautiful restaurant space and now will be able to share them with you.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157594262567567/

L'Orangerie
903 N. La Cienega Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90069
(310) 652-9770