Chef Debbie Lee's Seoul Town Tapas at Breadbar + GIVEAWAY

Congrats to Dina Leigh for Winning the $50 Gift Card to Seoul Town Tapas from the Breadbar!

Ever since I saw Debbie Lee compete on the America's Next Food Network Star Show, I was really interested in her cooking style that fused both her Korean and Southern background. Unfortunately, I had missed her first stint at BreadBar as a part of their Hatchi series, but I wasn't about to miss her second one. This time, her second appearance was going to serve as an introduction to the type of food she plans to serve at her own restaurant opening later this year. Simply, her concept is all about Seoul Town Tapas, where the food is a take on Korean pub food, but with a modern flair.

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Since tapas are fun to share with a good-size group, 9 of my dining club members, joined me one Saturday evening where we shared a total of 17 dishes plus a couple of kimchi dishes in place of bread and butter. Being a kimchi fan, I'd take it over bread and butter anytime. Besides, it's less filling so that over indulging in it means you still have room for your meal.

Both the daikon and the cabbage kimchi were very light in the sense that you get a taste of the chili and also some vinegary-sour flavor notes, but the vegetables still shined through. While I still love my kimchi very heavily fermented to the point that the vegetables take on a deep orange red, this lighter style of kimchi is good starter for the novice kimchi eater.

Although our group ordered all 4 skewers, I actually only tried two of them. First, there was the Bacon Wrapped Rice Cylinders with Jalapeno Ponzu. You can never go wrong with bacon and of all 4 skewers, this one was the absolute favorite of the group. The rice absorbed the smoky saltiness of the bacon and dipping it into the jalapeno ponzu gave it nice little hit of citrus heat.

I also tried the Kimchi Roast Pork and Fuji Apple Skewers. Apples and pork usually pair really well together and in this case, the apple did its job and was crunchy and juicy. However, the roast pork was a little dry and wasn't as flavorful as I would have liked. If you're going to use kimchi as a way to describe an ingredient, you really have to mean it.

As mentioned, I didn't try the other two skewers, but you can take a look at them below. The first is the Grilled Eggplant and Tofu Skewer with Pimento Scallion Glaze and the second is the Salmon and Scallion Skewer with Korean Miso Honey.

Next up was the Sesame Flatbread with Perillo Pesto, Soy Braised Pork and Chile Tomatoes. Other than wishing that the pesto was spread out a little more towards the edges of the flat bread so I could get more of it, I enjoyed this dish. The herbiness of the pesto sauce went nicely with the salt-sweet of the soy sauce braised pork with the tomatoes adding a nice acidity and since I love thin crust pizza, I appreciated the crispiness of the flatbread itself.

Since I enjoy bold flavors, the stir-fried kimchi, pork, rice cakes with a gochujang splash made my taste buds happy. The gochujang is a Korean red pepper paste and it definitely added an extra oomph to this dish, which I truly appreciated.

When it comes to Korean dumplings aka mandu, I've had my share and there's only been two I've liked so far and one of them is Chef Lee's Modern Mandu with Pork Rilette and King Oyster Ju. At first, I wasn't quite sure of the whole oyster ju thing. Pork and oysters? Huh? However, the subtle brininess of the oyster jus actually paired well with this dumpling. In fact, many of us were spooning it into our dumpling as we took bites out of it.

One of my almost favorite dishes of the meal was the Chicken Meatballs with Magnolia Pepper Sauce and let me tell you why. I absolutely loved the crispy texture of the meatball and the sauce it was cooked in was absolutely delicious. Unfortunately, the chicken meat itself seemed under seasoned. Maybe, just a little salt and/or pepper and hand's down, this would have been tops on my list.

Following the chicken meatballs was Mama Lee's Meatloaf made with ground rib eye, soy onion demi and crispy shitake mushrooms. We weren't initially going to order this particular dish, but after Chef Lee came out to tell us about some of the dishes on the menu, her description of this one sounded so scrumptious, we had to have it. I'm so glad I did. That meatloaf was so juicy and flavorful, I almost wish that we ordered another 2 or 3 plates, just so I could have seconds, maybe, even thirds.

Up next was the Shrimp and Scallion Cakes with Ginger Soy Vinegar. To tell you the truth, although I know that liked this dish, I don't remember any specifics about it at the moment; however, if you order it, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Ok, three more dishes before dessert and next to hit our table was the Halibut Jeon Style, Egg Battered with Kimchi Stir Fry and Seoul-Style Chimichurri. I liked the kimchi stir fry and the chimichurri. Unfortunately, the fish itself was a little too dry. Perhaps, it was overcooked? I'm not quite sure. Of everything we had that night, this was my least favorite dish.

Seeing Korean Fried Chicken on the menu, I knew we had to order it. The chicken itself was moist and tender, but the garlic glaze needed to be more garlicky than it was, but that could also just be a personal preference.

Our last savory dish was the Spicy Chilled Buckwheat Noodles, Sashimi Trio, Scallion and Crisp Apples. I really like cold noodle dishes and this version was quite good. I could have easily just eaten the whole bowl by myself if I hadn't already been getting full.

Of course, I'm never too full for dessert and we decided to sample 3 of the desserts on the menu. Although we only ordered 3, all 4 actually came out, but when we had mentioned that we hadn't actually ordered that fourth dessert, they let us have it anyway and took it off our check. Now that's good service. That fourth dessert was a Nutella and Blueberry Sandwich on a Pan di Mie Bread. Usually, nutella could be really sweet, but the addition of the blueberry cut into that sweet and gave the sandwich more of a tartness, which I thought was genius.

Next was the Fuji Apple Egg Rolls with Ginger Mascarpone. I enjoyed the crispy egg roll wrappers and the sweet apples. The ginger mascarpone could have been more gingery, but I still enjoyed slathering it on my egg roll and even just eating small spoonfuls of it.

With bacon being one of my favorite food groups, I absolutely loved the Bacon Coffee Sponge Cake Roll with Coffee Cream and Almond Butterscotch. I liked how the soft, mild sponge cake was the foundation for all the other stronger flavored ingredients around it. I could even seeing myself eating this for breakfast. After all, doesn't bacon, coffee and eggs (albeit in the sponge cake) say breakfast to you? It does to me.

Of our four desserts, my least favorite was the Sesame Buttermilk Beignets with Chocolate Drizzle. When I think of beignets, I'm thinking light and airy and these beignets were too dense for my liking. Even the chocolate syrup didn't add much to it. Maybe, if it was filled with cream, but then I don't know if that's a typical ingredient for beignets.

Overall, while there some minor misses, this meal was one I enjoyed a lot and I'm looking forward to seeing what else Chef Debbie Lee comes up with when she finally does open up her own restaurant.

Seoul Town Tapas with Chef Debbie Lee
Breadbar
717 West 3rd Street
Los Angeles CA, 90048
(310) 205-0124
Seoul Town Tapas Ends May 1st!


PRIZE GIVEAWAY!

Now that you've read and seen pictures of my experience with Debbie Lee's Seoul Town Tapas, now you're chance to win a $50 Gift Card that will give you a chance to check out Debbie Lee's food at Breadbar for yourself. Please note that this gift card will only be good for Seoul Town Tapas and you should only enter if you can make reservations between April 22 and May 1st.

There are multiple ways to enter, so check them all out below.

1. Leave a comment and tell me why you'd like to you'd like to try Chef Debbie Lee's Seoul Town Tapas. (Please leave your email so that I can contact you. Spell it out like abby at pleasurepalate dot com)

2. Follow Debbie Lee on Twitter (if you aren’t already doing so)

3. Follow Breadbar on Twitter (if you aren't already doing so).

4. Fan Breadbar on Facebook (if you aren’t already doing so)

5. Tweet: Win a $50 gift card for @seoultosoul Seoul Town Tapas from @breadbar_la via @pleasurepalate http://bit.ly/95gp06

You can have up to 5 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 Wednesday, April 21 at 11:59 AM, PST and a winner will be randomly chosen from all entries. Good Luck!

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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/

Stone Cold Sober at 3 Drunken Goats

 

Maybe not as bad as Stone Cold, but doesn't that title sound better than just Cold Sober at 3 Drunken Goats? Anyway, before I really get into my dining experience at this new tapas restaurant in Montrose, I want to mention that my visit was during a soft opening, which basically meant that there were still kinks being worked out before this eatery could find its footing. So even though my thoughts on 3 Drunken Goats may not be overwhelmingly positive, that doesn't mean that a later visit would not yield a meal more worthy of praise.

On that note, I'll go ahead and start. When my friend first told me about a restaurant called 3 Drunken Goats, I actually laughed because I didn't believe that was the actual name of the restaurant, but after Googling it later on, I saw that I shouldn't have doubted her even for a second; however, I really didn't find out where that restaurant name came from until I read a recent Yelp review. Basically, the "3" refers to Chef Jason Micheaud from Cobras and Matadors, Owner Brandon Kim and General Manager, Daniel Sevilla. "Drunken Goats" is an artisan goat's milk cheese from Jumilla, Spain that gets its irresistible name from its seventy-two hour soak in Doble Pasta wine before being aged for a couple of months. So there you have it, the mystery of the unusual restaurant name solved.

Walking into the restaurant, I really liked the dark brown color palette. To my right was a small wine retail area and to my left was the bar. In front of me was the main dining room and to the back, the kitchen was open to anyone who wanted to take a look at the action. It wasn't very full so we were seated really quickly. The first thing we noticed was the glass candle holder which was a bit spotty. It's not a big deal by any means, but I would think presentation is important, even when it comes to candle holders Then my friend was given a water glass with lipstick on it. Granted, when she told our waiter, he did replace it with a new glass, but what stuck in my head was if a glass with a lipstick stain was able to get out of the kitchen on a night when only a quarter of the restaurant was full, what happens when it's packed to the gills? Something to think about.

Finally, we placed our order of 7 different tapas. While we were waiting for our first course, we somehow got a sampling of the corn chowder. Unfortunately, it was a bit lukewarm and it also wasn't that flavorful. We were hoping that it wasn't an omen of things to come.

Then our first dish arrived, but before we even really got a chance to sample it, the other 6 dishes arrived in quick succession, both cold and hot items. What the heck??? Generally, tapas are something that should be paced: cold before hot and arriving at the table one by one allowing for some time between the courses. I looked around expecting to see a huge crowd anxiously waiting to be seated. Why else would they give us everything at once, if not to hurry us along to accommodate all these starving people. But no, the restaurant was still fairly empty. I just didn't get it. Well, all the food was before us so we just dug in.

While eating our way through the 7 dishes we ordered, I didn't find anything spectacular about any of them or I may have liked some of them better if not for a component of the dish that didn't work for me. For example, there was the Belgian Endive with Grilled Radicchio, Almonds and Apples. Belgian Endive can be a bit bitter and pairing it with radicchio, also a bitter leaf vegetable just didn't work at all. However, the sweetness of the apple and the nuttiness of the almonds were the perfect counterpart for the Belgium endive and was a much more successful combination.

Then there was the Mussels with Chorizo, Protocolo Wine and Fingerling Potatoes, which I found to be a little salty, both the broth and the mussels themselves. I don't think I've ever had salty mussels before. I found out later that there were two types of chorizo in this dish, one that was more on the sweet side and the other which wasn't as sweet. Definitely, more of the former and less of the latter would have made a tastier dish.
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The Braised Pork Shank with Onion Confit could have easily been one of two possible favorite dishes of the evening. The meat was meltingly tender, but it didn't have much flavor. Also the bread it was sitting on became mushy because the dish was sitting there for awhile before we got to it; whereas, if it had been properly coursed out, the bread still would have been crispy.

As for the other dish which would have been a home run, the Pan Roasted Striped Bass with Fennel Two Ways had a lot going for it. First, there was lots of oomph to the palate that was missing in the pork shank. The fish meat was tasty and I also enjoyed the two different fennel presentations; however, while I totally loved how the fish skin was left on and enjoyed its crispiness, the skin was also a bit salty.

I do have to say that my dining partner absolutely loved the Bacon Wrapped Dates with Chorizo. For me, it's a preference thing. I like the smaller, less meaty dates and I found these dates to be too big and a little mushy, but at least, out of the 7 we had, there was at least one dish that someone found perfection in.

When all was said and done, I was pretty disappointed in my overall meal and although I knew that this was a soft opening for 3 Drunken Goats, I wasn't sure if I wanted to make a return visit. However, two things changed my mind. First, let's talk desserts. We shared two, the Queen Nut Cake and Housemade Churros. The Queen Nut Cake had great flavors, nutty and with a hint of citrus from the zest mixed into the batter, but was a bit dry; however, the addition of some chocolate sauce that came with our Churros on top of the cake made a wonderfully tasty difference.

As for the churros, wow, they were some of the best I've ever had: light, crispy and just the right amount of sugar for sweetness, but not to the nth degree. Honestly, the churros were so good on their own, the chocolate sauce was just an after thought.

Second, as we were walking out of the restaurant, we ran into the Chef Micheaud and Owner, Brandon Kim taking a break. Earlier, we had mentioned to Brandon about the spotty candle holder, the lipstick on the water glass and also that the coursing of the meal was way off, all of which he took in stride.

When asked what we thought of our meal, my friend and I didn't hold anything back. What was cool is that Chef Micheaud really listened and even talked through adjustments he could make to improve some of the dishes For example, he mentioned adding more sweet chorizo to help lessen the saltiness of the Mussels dish. He talked about creating some kind of citrus sauce to top the Queen Nut Cake with that will complement the orange zest already in the cake plus give it some moisture.

Now I don't know if any of these things he mentioned were actually implemented since I haven't made gone back yet, but I really appreciated Chef Micheaud's willingness to take our critique seriously and without any type of prima donna attitude. I think that's really admirable and speaks well of Chef Micheaud. Although I wasn't very satisifed with the food, the to die for housemade churros and a Chef who's willing to listen to his patrons is definitely worth a return visit to this very memorably named restaurant. After all, how can you resist a restaurant called 3 Drunken Goats?

3 Drunken Goats
2256 Honolulu Ave
Montrose, CA 91020
Neighborhood: Glendale
(818) 249-9950

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Orris

With so many restaurant choices available to me on the Eastside part of town, I rarely need to make a trip out to the Westside to get a good meal, but a friend of mine has been raving about Orris for a long time now and lured me out that way so that she could treat me for my birthday. So off I went.

Joined by other friends, we walked in a little after 5:30 and already, there weren't any tables to accommodate our group of 5, so we sat outside instead. Although a bit windy, the sun was out and overall, it was a pretty spring evening, a great setting for a delicious meal.

With Orris being a small plates restaurant, we shared 9 different dishes. 6 of them were savory items, 3 were desserts and each dish was a delight to both my eyes and my palate. In fact, the food looked almost to pretty to eat, but we got over that really quick.

We started off with the Seafood Salad, which was light, refreshing and I really enjoyed the fresh citrusy-herby flavor of the vinaigrette dressing. This would be the perfect salad to cool you down on a hot summer day.

Then came the roasted beets with the Basque sheep cheese. What did it for me was the deliciously earthy resonance of the tender beets when eaten with the cheese which had a slight pungency to it. It was a wonderful contrast to the first dish.

Following the beets was the smoked salmon on potato pancakes, but it was the grilled hearts of romaine with Parmesan cheese that really enthralled me. I've never had cooked lettuce before so I wasn't sure what to expect. I do have one word to describe this dish. Wow! I liked the slight smokiness of the romaine itself and the fact that it still had a crunch when you bit into it. No wilted leaves on this plate and you can take that to the bank.

I remember the dressing to be quite mild but what was sheer perfection for me was those large Parmesan cheese shavings that topped the romaine. That cheese added just that right amount of saltiness that put this dish over the top for me. In one bite, there was just so many textures and flavors. Who would have thought that something as "simple" as roasted romaine and Parmesan cheese could prove to be such a revelation?

Next up was the fried chicken with sweet and spicy sauce. The fact that the chicken was deep fried and not greasy or oily truly is a feat worth applauding. The last of our savory dishes was the foie gras with Japanese eggplant. Now that was an interesting experience.

I've never had foie gras before, primarily because organ meats don't really appeal to me, but tonight, I decided to have just a taste. I was surprised at how creamy it was. I tend to think of liver as more of a meaty item, like a thin chewy steak. The consistency of the foie gras reminded me of a creme brulee or maybe, a pudding, which was a little strange to me. I'm glad I tried it, although it's not something I would order on my own in the future.

After the foie gras, it was time for dessert. We shared a Berry Won Ton, a flourless chocolate cake and an apple tart Both the cake and apple tart were tasty, but the Berry Won Ton was definitely the star of the show. This was one interesting dessert. It was more like a won ton sandwich than a filled won ton and just like the grilled romane had a lot of wonderful textures and flavors.

In this one dessert, you can experience the sweetness of the pears, the crunch of the won ton "sandwich" slices and then the slight tartness of the strawberries mixed with some kind of sweet cream. Kudos to the Pastry Chef for coming up with this unusual dessert and not just unusual, but absolutely delicious.

Overall, I can see why people rave about Orris. I'm already counting my days when I can go back for my next meal.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157600316975242/

Orris
2006 Sawtelle Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 268-2212