Grilled Cheese Sandwich and Beer Pairings at Andrew's Cheese Shop

Although I'm not much of a drinker, if I had a choice of beer or wine, I'd lean towards a beer and when it comes to cheese, I'm a definite cheese head. So when I found out that Andrew's Cheese Shop was holding Grilled Cheese Sandwich and Beer Pairings, I couldn't resist and set up a private event for my dining group.

What was nice about this event was that it wasn't a structured cheese pairing event. Our group of 20 were seated at a long table which took up most of the shop space and throughout the evening, owner Andrew Steiner, would pour out our beers before each grilled cheese sandwich course. He'd also give some info about the beer as well as explain why it paired well with a particular sandwich, but first we started off with a small salad, which were the only vegetables we saw the rest of the evening.

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Unfortunately, while I did take tasting notes, I can't for the life of me find them. There are two things I can say for sure. First, I could have easily eaten any or all of the grilled cheese sandwiches without the beer. They were all tasty. Second, while I may not specifically remember exactly how the beer tasted, all the pairings worked out well. The first pairing of the night was a Beer-Soaked Cabot Extra Sharp on French Wheat with a Moinette Blonde-Blond from Belgium. What I remember about the beer was that it was light and refreshing and balanced well with the sharpness of the cheese.

For our next two pairings, the Anchor 2008 Christmas Ale from San Francisco was matched with two different sandwiches. The interesting back story about this Christmas Ale is that the recipe changes each year as does the tree that's displayed on the label. The beer itself was a little malty, but it was easy to see why his would be considered a Christmas ale. There were hints of spices like cinnamon, maybe clove and it reminded me of the type of spices you'd put in a gingerbread cookie or in mulled wine.

First up, we tried the Westcombe Red Cheese with Black Forest Ham on Dark Wheat followed by the Provolone Piccante Gigante with Prosciutto and Pesto on Olive Bread. Ham is such a holiday staple that it seemed appropriate to pair it with a Christmas Ale and here we had two different preparations of ham. The Black Forest Ham was smoked while the Prosciutto was cured, but both were paired with mildly sharp cheeses.

Our fourth match up was Redemption Red from Reaper Ale in El Monte, CA with a combo of Emmenthal and Krummenswiler Cheeses on Hazelnut Bread. I remember that the beer had a bit of sweetness about it and although it ended with a bit of a bitter after taste, it paired well with the sandwich since both cheeses tend to be more on the rich and sweet side.

Next was the Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel from Belgium with Munster Gerome cheese on a Baguette. Unfortunately, I don't remember much about this beer. I have vague memories of it being fruity, also a little sweet and that somehow it went well with the pungent Munster Gerome cheese.

We finally ended with the Lost Abbey Serpent’s Stout from San Francisco, CA and a House Special Cheese Blend on Harvest Bread. Of all the beers I sampled that night, I can say without question that the Lost Abbey Serpent's Stout was the most memorable. With close to 11% of alcohol, it's a serious beer and one that was just too much for me. It was malty, very strongly flavored and just tasted really bitter. I took my 2 to 3 sips to make sure I gave it a chance, but was happy to put it aside to finish up my my last grilled cheese sandwich.

Although this post wasn't so much about dissecting the actual pairings, hopefully, I got two points across. First, this was a nice casual way to spend an evening and second, beer and grilled cheese sandwiches indeed make good pairings. Also, Andrew was happy to answer any cheese, beer or just general food and wine related questions all night and he definitely is a fountain of information.

While I had set up a private event with Andrew's Cheese Shop, you should know that if you sign up for their mailing list, you'll get notification of when this event is available to anyone is interested and if you get a chance, it's definitely a fun activity to participate in.

To see all the pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157622256304468/

Andrew's Cheese Shop
728 Montana Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90403
(310) 393-3308




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I'm In the Mood for a Hot Dog

I'm in the mood for a hot dog! So let's share a virtual one together.

Does anything below catch your fancy?


Oki Dog
from Oki Dog in Los Angeles, CA



Polish Hot Dog
from Hamburger Central in Glendale, CA



Chili Fire Dog
from Mustard's in Long Beach




Chicago Hot Dog
from Mustard's in Long Beach



Colombian Hot Dog
from Tutti Frutti in Pasadena, CA

To check out my Flickr Photos (foodie and otherwise), please click here!

A Carbtastic Taiwanese Breakfast at Yung Ho

When one thinks of a typical Chinese breakfast, Dim Sum usually comes to mind. What some people don't know is that Dim Sum is a Cantonese-based breakfast and like most Chinese cooking, it's not the only game in town. So if you're looking for something a little bit different, why not check out the Taiwanese breakfast and that's exactly what I did for a couple of outings to Yung Ho in San Gabriel.

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While the Taiwanese breakfast does include dishes found at Dim Sum restaurants like dumplings and congee (rice porridge), the main influence seems to come from Northern China, which is known for their noodles, steamed breads, and pancakes. I'm by no means a Chinese food expert, so if I'm incorrect, please let me know, but based on the meals I had at Yung Ho, I could see the connection.

Between two different visits with my dining group, I was able to sample 14 dishes. 3 of them included vegetarian buns, pork and mushroom buns and pan-fried dumplings, which are standard fare at Dim Sum. Although they were fine, I'm going to skip over them and concentrate more on those foods that may not be as familiar.

First and foremost, there's the Twisted Cruller also known as You Tiao. It's basically dough that is long, twisted and fried and usually eaten as an accompaniment for congee or soy milk, both of which are served in a bowl. We had ordered a sweet soy milk to go with the cruller, but with or without the soy milk, I found the cruller to be a bit oily and lacking in crispiness.

The other soy milk option was the Salty Bean Flower with tofu, green onions and cruller. I was actually quite surprised at how much I liked this dish. Salt and milk didn't seem like a good combination, but in an odd way, this salty soy milk reminded me of oatmeal and I just happen to like oatmeal.

One of two favorites from both visits was the Hubei Doupi , a three-layer extravaganza of sticky rice topped with minced pork and green onion and then topped with some kind of egg-flour pancake. The browned pancake had a light crispy texture and I liked the sweet and savory combo of the rice and pork.

My other favorite and a must order was the Beef Pancake, which is actually beef that's rolled into sesame bread. The bread was wonderfully crusty and went well with the thinly sliced marinated beef.

Soup is something I usually don't associate with breakfast, but at many a table, customers were consuming various different bowls, so we followed suit and ordered a Spicy Beef Noodle Soup. I will never be a naysayer again. Forget oatmeal. Give me a hot bowl of soup any day, especially when it has tender cuts of beef and a delicious spicy broth.

As a Filipina, I'm used to the idea of having rice as part of breakfast and apparently so are the Taiwanese. First, there was the Hubei Doupi that I mentioned earlier, but we also had two different kinds of stuffed rice rolls. One was a Sweet Rice Roll with a sugar filling and the other was a Salty Rice Roll with a pork filling. Both were okay, if not really that memorable.

The one dish that confused me the most was the Steamed Taro Bread. It was large and lumpy and there didn't seem to be much to it. I did take a bite of it but found it dry. I later found out that it's usually eaten like a sandwich. Break it in half, stick egg in the middle and you're good to do, which is kind of strange because I don't remember seeing eggs a la carte on the menu, so if I'm incorrect about the right way to eat it, please let me know.

When it came to egg, the next two dishes weren't lacking in that respect at all. First, there was the Green Onion Pancake with Egg, which was basically an omelet put between two green onion pancakes and than cut into pizza slices. What a perfect use of these two ingredients. The egg by itself is nothing exciting, but I loved the crispiness of the pancake when both were eaten together.

Second, there was the Turnip Cake with egg wrapped around it. Turnip cakes are always one of my favorite Dim Sum dishes to order, but having egg wrapped around it took it an entirely different direction and I loved it.

With all these savory items, we did manage to sample one sweet item which were the Sweet Boiled Sesame Dumplings. The texture was a little too glue-y to my taste, so it's not something I'd order again.

Between the noodles, the various breads, the pancakes, rice and the cruller, eating breakfast Taiwanese style could certainly put you into carb overload, but for a once in a while morning option, why not? You can always walk around the block a few times afterwards, right?

Yung Ho Restaurant
533 W. Valley Blvd.
San Gabriel, CA 91778
(626) 570-0680




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Launch Party for dtownLA.com and Taste of dtownLA

There's a new online magazine in town and it goes by the name of dtownLA.com and last July, I was invited to attend their launch party, which was co-sponsored by Yelp LA. dtownLA.com caters to downtown residents and they bring a fashionable element to restaurant coverage and downtown activities. Their focus is on high fashion as well as swanky night spots and generally capturing the essence of downtown LA's lively spirit. As for Yelp, it was founded in 2004 to help people connect with and talk about great local businesses Currently, more than 21 million people have visited Yelp and Yelpers have written over 6 million local reviews.

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At the launch party that was aptly called The Taste of dtownLA, over 800 people were in attendance and it was a palate pleasing event that featured a food tasting from downtown restaurants that included Magnolia, Provecho, Maria's Italian Kitchen and more. Since I'm not much of a drinker, my main focus was on the food, but for those who had a Bacchus bent, they could sip on POM cocktails featuring Rain Organics Vodka as well as an Italian beer from Peroni Nastro Azzurro. I do admit; however, to falling in love with the Coke in the aluminum bottles, which are never sold in public, but instead, used only for special events.

In regards to the food, given that this party was held in the 7,000 square foot historic Brunswick studio, there was only enough room for 9 restaurants to be in attendance; however, they represented themselves well. The nice thing about attending a tasting event like this is that sometimes you'll be introduced to an unfamiliar restaurant. Such was the case with Gram and Papas. Their table was my first stop and had my absolute favorite food of the evening. Simply, their mini chicken salad pretzel bread sandwich was amazing. I could have eaten at least 2 or 3 more, but I didn't want to be greedy.

Next door to Gram and Papas was Takami Sushi and Robata and their offering was a tuna tartare on a won top chip which was a cool yet crispy bite of tuna goodness.

Our next stop was at Magnolia's table and being a cheesehead, I appreciated every spoonful of their baked macaroni and cheese.

Provecho has actually been on my radar for awhile and their octopus and fish ceviche was so good that I'm even more interested in dining there in the near future. Their tuna tartare and mini red velvet cupcakes also hit the spot.

When it came to desserts, Urth Caffe definitely took the cake and then some. Teenage Gluster and Food Blogz, my companions for this event, shamelessly shared 5 or 6 between us with the Tiramisu coming out on top.

The remaining restaurants included The Daily Grill, Maria's Italian Kitchen;

Wokcano;

and Rock 'n Fish.

Overall, this was a nice event. It was fun mixing and mingling with the Downtown LA crowd and as more restaurants make their way downtown, the Taste of dtown could be an annual event that can only get bigger and better.

Click Here to See all the Pictures!



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