Wishing everyone a splendid New Years Eve celebration and a 2010 filled with the finest life has to offer. May this year bring an abundance of peace, health, and joy to all.
With Love and Gratitude,
Todrickallen
As we usher in 2010…
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Monthly Archives: December 2009
Christmas Day Brunch at the Four Seasons
Christmas day brunch at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills was as expected: The usual (but not outstanding) cadre of salads, eggs, desserts, Asian food, made special by the company. Our table however, was sat next to Mark Wahlberg and his beautiful family.
Gorwydd Caerphilly
Still working on the UK posts, dear Readers! Trying to include a few of the treasures we encountered along the way. On our last evening in London, in our room at the Connaught, we had an interesting cheese from Wales called Corwydd Caerphilly, purchased at Harrod’s. It was creamy, smooth and salty, buttery but not sweet with a distinct meadow flavor. Coupled with a glass of Kistler chardonnay, it was a perfect way to toast a perfect trip!
Poilane
As you head for the airport in London, I highly recommend having your taxi driver stop by Harvey Nics in Knightsbridge. On the fifth floor, you can procure some bread from the mythic Parisian boulanger, Poilane which will still be fresh enough by the time you arrive home. Nothing cures jetlag better than warm, buttered Poilane toast spread with marmelade and Fortnum and Mason tea.
(As far as I know, the only place you can sample Poilane in L.A. is at the cafe at Saks, who have it flown in daily although I haven’t been in some time.)
Boxing Day at Melisse
We had a delightful boxing day dinner at Melisse (1104 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica 90401 http://www.melisse.com) They offer a 5 course garden tasting menu which is out of this world. We stopped frequenting Melisse a few years ago because we felt the quality had dropped somewhat. But they have most definately shored things up. Every dinner we have had there for the past two years has been remarkable in food and service. They deserve their 2 Michelin stars. Some highlights of our meal were the velvety smooth mushroom and chestnut soup with argan oil (very hard to find and well worth your investigation into how this rare oil is curiously produced in Morocco), The main course was a heavenly yuba stuffed with artichokes and ricotta on top of a portobello mushroom with carrots and ‘vadouvan’. Vadouvan is the new ‘it’ spice, sometimes called French curry and is usually comprised of onion, shallot, garlic, and curry spices (find recipe here http://www.gourmet.com/recipes/2000s/2008/09/vadouvan) . The portobello, ubiquitious on many lesser menus was not the usually limp and soggy blubber often seen, rather it was succulent and thinly sliced and was thouroughly delicious. For desert, I managed to score one of the last two sticky toffee puddings, always flawless there. Not everything was perfect. The second course of course of kabocha squash ravioli with black trumpet mushrooms (a favorite of mine) was heavy and dull and only slightly brightened by the addition of pomegranate seeds. The cheese cart is as always, quite good. In addition to many familiar cheeses, I sampled Grain d’Orge from Normandy which was very ‘savory’ (the word used by the cheese steward). It tasted of bitter earth and pasture. The Cassica from Beemster in Holland on the other had was rich and earthy as well, but with a hint of sweetness to redeem it. The Sommelier steered us to a wonderful bottle of 2000 Ermitage ‘Le Reverdy’, a very complex and mysterious white which made our meal absolutely perfect. Such use of rare ingredients (yuba, argan oil, vadouvan) coupled with excellent quality food and masterful chef know-how by Josiah Citrin was a magical combination. Thank heaven Melisse is back on track and moving in the right direction!
Christmas Eve Dinner
Our Christmas Eve dinner is a veg extravaganza of choice items gleaned from our recent trip to the UK. We’ll start with stilton canapes, the stilton from Fortnum and Mason topped with a lovely boxing day chutney from Harrods. Then we’ll tuck into dinner of Cheese and Parsnip Roulade with Sage and Onion Dressing from Delia Smith’s cookery book, Happy Christmas. This will be accompanied by roast brussells with lemon and pecan, roast fennel with thyme and lemon, roast parsnips with sage and white balsamic, stilton yorkshire puddings, carmelized onion and wild mushroom gravy, and cranberry chutney. To finish, I’ll steam a Harrod’s Chrismas pud, set it afire and serve with brandy butter. May your Christmas create wonderful memories for you!
The Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop
We ended up in Bakewell, a pictoresque village in Derbyshire, UK. Well of course we had to have the famous bakewell tart… until we realized that it is a common misapprehension that Bakewell is famous for the bakewell tart. It is in fact famous for the bakewell pudding, an entirely different pastry. Apparently three different bakeries claim the authentic recipe. We chose the Original Bakewell Pudding Shop. According to the menu, the puddings were an accident created by a misunderstanding between the owner of the White Horse Inn (now the Rutland Arms) and her cook. Instead of stirring the egg and jam into the pastry, the cook spread it on top. The recipe however, is a closely guarded secret, although it appears on tea towels all over town, minus one concealed ingredient. We made our way to the small 17th century tea room above the shop and ordered our pudding. It arrived with the ubiquitous custard. The tart was set in a puff pastry. The filling was eggy, sweet, not unlike flan, and to me, tasted slightly of almonds and liquor. I thoroughly enjoyed it but the rest of our table disliked the texture. It is definately worth a trip to this charming town in this beautiful part of England to taste this unique pudding. Cheers!
Rowley’s Restaurant
We met friends for dinner at Rowley’s Restaurant, a charming little place set in an old pub in Baslow, Derbyshire. The staff were extremely friendly and the whole exprerience couldn’t have been better. I had an eggplant and grueyere mille feuille with a flavorful ratatouille and potatoes, but it was the pumpkin ravioli starter that impressed us; surprisingly, it was more of a salad with rocket and a wonderfully comforting sauce. The flavors were exceptional and Chef Rupert Rowley was certainly accomidating. A lovely find!
Laduree London
Anyone who’s ever visited the oh-so-French Laduree in Paris (I prefer Laduree Place de la Madeleine) has doubtless never forgotten the experience; the elegant dining room where beautifully dressed ladies in pearls, squeezed in like shimmering sardines in a tin, nibble petite morsels of perfectly executed food between sips of sancerre while pretending not to notice the supermodel who just plucked a succulent maron glacee from a large pile on the counter. Laduree London, nestled at the rear of Harrod’s (turn left at Krispy Kreme), while not presenting the quite same frappe as it’s Continenental sisters, still delivers an utterly charming experience. Imagine, sitting in a sun-drenched (Yes, we had sun that day!) window, with a glass of Marsanne, crusty bread, and the quintessential French omelette with morrels or perhaps a delicious sandwich consisting of a chopped salad of arugula (rocket), sun dried tomato, black olive, parmesan, courgette, aubergine, and olive oil layered between fresh mozzarella on toast with perfect frites stacked like Lincoln logs. Heaven!
St. Pancras Station, London
After a long and exhausting plane ride to Heathrow, we finally arrive at St. Pancras Train Station for our voyage to Derbyshire and the Peak District. St. Pancras has been thouroughly redone (for a cool $100 million) and is magnificent as the new departure point for the Eurostar. Many delightful and interesting shops line the interior of the station . I particularly loved the rustic cheese and produce market that reminded me of Oxbow in Napa. There, the delighted shopkeep was thrilled that I knew what Stichelton Cheese was. Having only read of it, this attempt to return to Stilton’s roots via unpasteurized milk was an exciting find. The flavors are far more complex than Stilton…More earthy, sweet, with a complicated finish that left a distinct taste of the pasture on one’s tongue. I was blown away. As eventuallly the jetlag overtook us, we settled in for a plate of creamy, welcoming scrambled eggs, English mushrooms, and whole grain toast washed down with bracing latte. This was going to be a perfect trip…
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London!
Toddrickallen just returned from the UK. Over the next few days, we will be posting a few highlights from the brief trip. Stay tuned!
Toddrickallen 