Gujrati-Style Dim Sum at Rajdhani

Usually one doesn't associate Dim Sum and Indian Food together; yet, at Rajdhani, there actually is a connection between these two thoughts, albeit in a round about way. Like Dim Sum, there are servers that dispense food from table to table, from patron to patron, plus it's not going to cost you an arm and a leg to eat at Rajdhani. A mere $13.99 plus tax and tip is all you have to pay.

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Instead of carts, the food is served from hand carried bowls or platters. Instead of small portions of dumplings, rice noodles and other similar dishes, you will be treated to small servings of various vegetarian Indian dishes, but what moves Rajdhani a little ahead of the pack is the set price you pay above is for an all you can eat meal. Once you're seated, you're given what's referred to as a thali plate, which is basically, a large silver plate with smaller silver bowls. Think of it as an empty canvas from whence the food will eventually paint what your meal will be like.

At each table, you will find a trio of condiments that include tamarind chutney, carrot pickles and mint chutney plus you will be served a glass of chass, which is a salty buttermilk.

As soon as you've settled in, the servers start coming around and serving the food. They basically will keep coming until you raise the white flag of surrender. The complete meal itself will consist of around 10 different courses, with the menu slightly varying each day. What may stay consistent are three different types of Indian breads like the Pappadam, Puri and Chapati.

For my particular visit there with my dining group, we were first served the Khandvi, a pasta made from chickpea flour, buttermilk and sprinkled with coriander seeds and shredded coconut.

Following the Khandvi came what almost seemed like a tomato salsa, but didn't taste like one and another dish that I can't identify. Unfortunately, I didn't take any notes during this meal and the only reason I'm able to even identify some of the dishes now is due to the postings on Food GPS, Street Gourmet LA and LA Weekly.

Next up was Daal, a spicy lentil stew and Kadhi, a yellow spiced yogurt.

Soon after, a trio of stews appeared. One of the stews had chickpeas and paneer cheese as ingredients while the other stew was chock full of eggplant, potatoes and peas. As for the third one, I'm not sure, but at least, you can see a picture of it below.

By now, my empty plate was actually getting quite filled up, but I managed to save some room for the Khichari, a boiled rice dish seasoned with yellow mung beans.

All the food was actually quite filling just with the first pass, although I did get seconds of a few things. When you've had your fill, part of the meal included a choice of one dessert. I went for the Gawar Halwa, which are grated carrots cooked in sugar, milk and cardamon and garnished with pistachios and almonds.

Other dessert options included Besan Halwa, roasted gram flour simmered in milk, sugar, and cardamom topped with shaved almonds and pistachios and Gulab Jamun, fried milk powder soaked in cardamom and saffron syrup.

Overall, I enjoyed my meal at Rajdhani. I wouldn't say the food is mind blowing, but everything tasted good and so reasonably priced that I'd definitely make my way there again.

Rajdhani
18525 Pioneer Blvd
Artesia, CA 90701
(562) 402-9102


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LA Wine Fest 2010

On June 5 and June 6, one of LA's premiere wine festivals will be in full swing at Raleigh Studios. With 130+ wineries, craft breweries, artisanal spirits producers along with food by top LA chefs, food trucks and some of LA's best gourmet food shops, a good time will definitely be had by all. Even better, the LA Wine Fest will be supporting the Hollywood-Wilshire YMCA and International Children's Tumor Foundations via raffle tickets sold at the event.

Special programs, for an additional cost, will also be available both days from a seminar with Barrie Lynn, the Cheese Impresario on Saturday to Sake and Scotch Tastings on Sunday. To see the schedule of programs, click here.

A short list of wine and spirits representatives include:

1 2 3 Tequila
Boutique Sake by Smart Assist, LLC, Japan
Bridlewood Winery, Santa Barbara
Caliza Winery , Paso Robles
Firestone Walker Brewery, Paso Robles
First Crush Winery, Paso Robles
Roxo Cellars, Paso Robles
RND Vodka,Santa Barbara
San Antonio Winery - Riboli Family Estate

....and much more.

For a full participant list, click here.

For the wine lover, this is definitely a must attend event. I'm definitely going to be there and hopefully, I'll be able to click glasses with you on the Sunday that I will be attending.

LA Wine Fest 2010
Saturday, June 5 and Sunday, June 6 , 2010 from 2-7 pm
Raleigh Studios
5300 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038-5111

Tickets can be purchased for the LA Wine Fest 2010 by clicking here! Use Promo Code, abby, to get $15 off a single day ticket.

The Vendy Awards Come to LA!

After five years in New York, the Vendy Awards have come to Los Angeles and what exactly are the Vendy Awards? The Vendys are a yearly street food cook-off that, since 2005, has determined the best street chef in NYC. It has become one of the greatest food events in New York. In fact, Chef Mario Batali called the Vendys “the Oscars of food for the real New York" and now LA will be handing out their own Food Oscars on Saturday, May 15, 2010.

Since April 15, Angelenos have been nominating their favorite street food vendors, from food trucks to taco tables and finally, the votes have come in and the finalists are:

India Jones Chow Truck
Hot Dog Kings
Bigmista's Barbecue
Nina's Food
Grilled Cheese Truck
Tacos el Galuzo

Click here to read more info about the finalists!

On the day of the Vendy Awards, these finalists will be duking it out to claim the top prize and will be judged by the chefs from Animal, Good Food's Evan Kleiman and respected bloggers Bill Esparza and Javier Cabral. For $50, not only will you see the winners crowned, you'll have access to an all-you-can-eat feast and an open beer and wine bar in MacArthur Park. That $50 is tax deductible and will go towards raising money for the movement to protect vendors’ rights. Click here to see the organizations that will be benefitting from your generosity.

Good eats and helping the community? How can you go wrong with that? Don't delay! These tickets will sell out fast and you wouldn't want to miss out this historic occasion - the first year that the Vendy Awards came to Los Angeles!

2010 LA Vendy Awards
Saturday, May 15, 2010, from 4pm to 7pm
MacArthur Park
S. Park View Street between W. 7th and Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90057

Tickets can be purchased through Brown Paper Tickets!

Libra Brazilian Eatery + GIVEAWAY & Coupon

Using Random.org, Congrats go to Moonbeam's Auntie for Winning Dinner for Two at Libra Brazilian Eatery!

Thanks to Libra for supplying me with photos for this blog post. Unfortunately, I lost my Libra photos when my external hard drive crashed. :(

Last month, I received an invitation from Kathy Kwon who does PR for Libra Brazilian Eatery in Culver City to check out the restaurant. When I first read the email, the word "Libra" was the only thing that stuck in my mind and honestly, I was scratching my head over it. What does astrology have to do with Brazilian food, I wondered. I soon found out from Street Gourmet LA blogger, Bill Esparza.

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First, libra is Portuguese for pound. Second, kilo restaurants, as they are known in Brazil, are quite prevalent in that country. In short, both at Libra and kilo restaurants, the cost of the food is based on its weight. Now I get it. Thanks, Bill. In the case of Libra, the food cost is calculated by the pound and not kilo, since our American sensibilities aren't quite geared towards the metric system. Specifically, Salads + Hot Sides are $8.45/lb, Salads + Hot Sides + BBQ are $9.75/lb while BBQ only is $12.95/lb.

Libra is owned by Marcelo Ahn, who also owns M Grill, a churrascaria in Koreatown and Libra's executive chef is Marcelo's sister, Carol Ahn, who creates and oversees the revolving 40+ menu items at the restaurant. Other than the food by the weight aspect, Libra is different from the other Brazilian restaurants because it's a buffet that also has a grilling station for a variety of barbecued meats.

This is no ordinary buffet. It starts off with a hand washing station and then goes into a really long salad bar featuring fresh and flavorful foods that reflects a global influence on Brazilian cuisine. All the food is made from scratch and if you're vegetarian/vegan, there are 30+ items for you to choose from like hearts-of-palm salad, grilled eggplant, snow pea salad, pickled vegetables and more. Hot items can include anything from an oxtail stew to various pasta dishes. Carnivores don't despair. As mentioned, there is also a grilling station where you can order Portuguese sausages, one of the best chicken thighs I've ever eaten as well as other cuts of beef.
As mentioned, I lost my Libra photos or else I'd be showing you that for around $21, I was able to get one very full plate of various veggie items, a plate of each bbq meat they had, dessert and a mineral water. Paying by the pound may seem a lot, but it's not as much as you would think. I didn't go home hungry. What you get in exchange is delicious food, prepared well and that will satisfy both carnivore and vegetarian alike. I think Libra is truly a welcome addition to the Culver City dining scene.

Libra Brazilian Eatery
3833 Main Street
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 202-1300


To see what other bloggers have to say about Libra and more photos, check out:

harb knock life
starchy marie

PRIZE GIVEAWAY!

Now that you've read and seen some pictures of my experience at Libra Brazilian Eatery, you can enter for a chance to win Dinner for 2.

There are two ways to enter:

1. Leave a comment and tell me why you'd like to you'd like to this free dinner for 2. (Please leave your email so that I can contact you. Spell it out like abby at pleasurepalate dot com)

2. Tweet: Win Dinner for 2 at Libra Brazilian Eatery via @pleasurepalate http://bit.ly/9QGX39

Please note that if you do tweet the contest, you have to comment back and let me know that you did so, so that I can keep track of it. If you don’t let me know that you tweeted then I won’t count it as an entry.

Contest ends Monday, May 10 at 11:59 AM, PST and a winner will be randomly chosen from all entries. Good Luck!

COUPON

If you just can't wait and would like to check out Libra for yourself, print out the coupon below to get 15% off your meal. Good until May 31, 2010



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Tasting with Mandoline Grill Food Truck

Last March, while standing in line to check out the Dim Sum Truck, I struck up a conversation with Mong Skillman, Owner of the Mandoline Grill Food Truck. New on the scene, her truck had only been around for a few weeks at the time. We had a really nice conversation and in the midst of it, I asked if she'd be willing to do a tasting for my dining group. It took only a few emails and we were set a month later.

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So on a gray Sunday, we met for what was going to be a delicious event. It started with Mong telling us a little bit about her inspiration. First and foremost, all the recipes for the food are based on family recipes, many of which are used at her Mom's Vietnamese restaurant in Honolulu, Hawaii. She also talked about how she got her start interning and training with Mama's Hot Tamales and the Dosa Truck and eventually serving her food at the patio of the Verdugo Bar. In regards to her menu, Mong also mentioned that she's very supportive of the vegan community and that shows in that she offers vegan bread and vegan "fish" sauce as options.

After Mong's intro, we went straight into our tasting which started with Chả Giò which were vegan crispy spring rolls served w/herbs, lettuce wrap and traditional Vietnamese dipping sauce. We were instructed to wrap the spring rolls and the herbs with the lettuce leaf and enjoy it that way. I've never done that before and I have to say that there's something about eating something fresh with something fried that was appealing. As for the spring roll itself, I really liked that it was crispy and not oily.

From the crispy spring rolls, we had the Chicken Curry with a Baguette. This was my first time having Vietnamese curry. I've never seen it at any Vietnamese restaurant I've been to, but maybe, I need to check more out. This curry was more on the sweet side with chunks of sweet potatoes and just a hint of heat. The addition of the bread to soak in that curry was genius. I liked this curry, but would have preferred it to be spicier than it was, but there were also members of my group who thought it was just perfect the way it was. Maybe, there should be both a non-spicy and a spicy version on the menu? I'd definitely go for the curry with the kick.

The next three items on our tasting menu were their banh mi sandwiches. Before I talk about each individual sandwich, I have to tell you that the bread was superb. The bread was golden, crusty and not soft and sweet, which I've experienced before. I thought the toppings were fresh and crunchy, although I would have liked them to be a bit more vinegary, but that's just my preference. First up was their Grilled Beef Banh Mi Sandwich, which was generous when it came to the beef itself. The beef had a good flavor to it. I couldn't quite identify the seasoning used, but I enjoyed every bite.

Our second banh mi was the Grilled Pork. The quality of the pork meat itself was good, but I thought it needed more flavor, perhaps a stronger marinade? It would also have tasted even better if there was more of a char to it. I had asked Mong about the pork and she had mentioned that the griddle available in the truck doesn't allow for much charring and that normally, she doubles the marinade for the pork to ensure that it absorbs the seasonings better. Perhaps, this just wasn't one of the better batches.

The third banh mi we tried was the vegan Lemongrass Tofu. I liked the fact that the tofu was fried, which gave it more of a firmness than if it was served otherwise. The tofu had a nice light refreshing taste to it with a hint of ginger. I actually liked it the best of the three banh mi sandwiches we tried, which says a lot, since I don't eat tofu on a regular basis.

To end our meal, we had the Grilled Pork Bún which is rice noodles served with traditional Vietnamese dipping sauce. I was actually getting full at this point, but I went ahead and poured the sauce in, mixed it up and took a couple of bites. If I hadn't had so much food already, I would have finished the whole thing. I enjoyed the fresh crunch of the vegetables and the chew of the noodles. This would be a perfect light lunch on its own.

Overall, I really enjoyed the Mandoline Grill's food. Everything tasted fresh and I appreciated how Mong cooked and/or prepared everything to order. The general consensus of all the food truck diners in attendance was that Mandoline Grill is a truck worth chasing and even better for me, they tend to stay in the Eastside part of town, which means I don't have to go too far if I want to get another Lemongrass Tofu Banh Mi.

Mandoline Grill Website
Mandoline Grill on Twitter
Mandoline Grill on Facebook

Check out Pleasure Palate's Two Upcoming Food Truck Tastings Below:

04/25 - Southern BBQ Dinner with Qzilla BBQ Truck
05/02 - Dim Sum Tasting with Dim Sum Truck

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New $40 Chef's Tasting Menu at XIV by Michael Mina

Thanks to Rachel Krupa of Krupa Consulting, PR rep for XIV by Michael Mina, a guest and I were hosted by XIV to try out their New $40 6 Course Chef's Tasting Menu and since a tasting menu is so much more fun with a group, a few of my dining club members attended as well. Our meal started with a dish that actually wasn't part of the tasting menu. It was toasted pita bread with a dipping sauce made with feta and yogurt. That feta and yogurt sauce was quite refreshing with the feta cutting into the tartness of the yogurt.

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Our first course was Ahi Tuna Tartare, Ancho Chile, Pears, Mint, Pine Nuts and Sesame Oil. What I found interesting was that all the dishes were served on trays that were put in the middle of the table for diners to serve themselves. I never dined that way before, but it was nice to just get your food whenever you were finished with the course you were currently enjoying. As for the Ahi Tuna, I think the sesame oil was a tad over powering, but I like the small bite of heat that came from the ancho chile.




For our second course, we had the XIV Caesar, Classic Dressing, Shaved Parmesan Reggiano and White Anchovy. Unfortunately, we all found this salad a bit uninspiring, especially in comparison to the rest of the menu. If a salad was going to be included, I think a better choice would have been their Heirloom Beets or Sam's Chopped Salad or if they're going to stick with the XIV Caesar, a more intensely flavored dressing and beautifully crunchy romaine may have done the trick.



Our third course was the Tai Snapper, Tapioca-Crusted, Broccoli Rabe and White Soy Vinaigrette. By far, this was the favorite dish of the group. The fish was light and delicate and paired well with the slight bitterness of the broccoli rabe. One of my dining partners mentioned that he could have easily eaten 6 courses of just that one dish.



The fourth course was Jidori Chicken “Tajine”, Vadouvan, Baby Carrot, Fennel, Petit Cilantro. Cooking chicken breast meat is no small feat because if not done well, it's dry; however, this chicken for this dish was tender and moist and I thought the vadouvan sauce was tasty.



Our fifth course was the Grilled American Wagyu Skirt with Moroccan Spiced Vegetables. That skirt steak was cooked perfectly. Pink in the middle and seared on the surface, this steak was tender and juicy. I definitely would not have turned away a couple more plates of this steak.



For our final course, we had the Passion Fruit Panna Cotta with Mandarin, Yuzu and Lemongrass. I enjoyed the refreshing tartness of this dessert and I thought it was a great way to end the meal.



Overall, this was a nice light meal and my group had a great time. The restaurant also had a wonderful ambiance and I loved that we got to sit by the fireplace which added a wonderful touch to the evening. If you have a large appetite, you may want to consider ordering a la carte dishes to supplement your dinner.

But considering that the tasting menus at XIV range from $64 to $112, this 6 Course $40 Chef's Tasting Menu is a great way to get a feel for the food first without having to dig too deep into your wallet just yet. So if you haven't given XIV a try yet, this may be the perfect time to do so while this $40 Chef's Tasting Menu is still available.

XIV
8117 W. Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 656-1414


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