This isn’t exactly news since they’ve been open since May, but La Focacceria Tra di Noi at 362 N. Camden in Beverly Hills is now hosting their official grand opening celebration. Here’s a peek…
http://www.tradinoimalibu.com/index.html
The first annual Toast & Taste Santa Monica will be held this Saturday, August 6th from 2:00pm until 6:00pm at 1238 Lincoln Blvd. (just south of Wilshire) in Santa Monica. The charity affair benefits the Boys and Girls Clubs in the LA area and will feature wine and beer tastings as well as local restaurants and food trucks, and a silent auction. Some of the participants are: BRÜHAUS, Pourtal, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Blue Moon beers, and Cheeseball Wagon. The kid-friendly event costs $29. Go to http://www.smbgc.org/toasttaste/ for more info.
Work is underway on a new cafe at 360 N. Camden in Beverly Hills. Located inside the new José Eber Hair Salon, 360 Cafe will be opening “very soon”. (Or so I was told.) With entrances from the street as well as directly into the tony new salon, the petit cafe will feature a simple menu of coffee and cafe items featuring baked goods from the new-ish La Focacceria Tra di Noi next door. (While investigating the new cafe, a kind receptionist at the salon let me look around unescorted until I stumbled into the station of José Eber himself, who dropped his scissors and stared at me as if I were a janitor stumbling into surgery. I was promptly walked out.)
This week, Bouchon Bistro Bar (the bar upstairs) in Beverly Hills launched a new happy hour. Look for reduced prices on beer, house wines and spirits, and a $9.00 Bouchon Cocktail. The new hors d”ouvres menu includes tarte aux tomates (heirloom tomato tarte with dehydrated nicoise olive crumble, burrata and petit basil), pommes frites (french fries with truffle aioli), as well as fried oyster, steak tartare, and ceviche. The fun lasts from 5:30 until 7:30 Monday through Friday.
La Gourmandise School, the culinary school in the Market at the top of Santa Monica Place is offering an array of upcoming vegetarian and vegan classes. On Monday, August 1st, there will be a “vegetarian Indian basics” class at 6:30pm taught by Kaumudi Marathe of Un-Curry, the Indian pop-up (http://www.un-curry.com/Un-Curry_Website/home.html). Then, on August 14th, there will be a “vegetarian BBQ” class from 10:00am to 2:00pm. There is a “rewiring to vegan” class on Friday, August 23rd. “Indian vegan” will be the subject on Thursday, Sept. 8th at 6:30pm. Check out http://thegourmandiseschool.com/index.php for prices and more info.
395 Santa Monica Place The Market, Santa Monica CA 90401
310-656-8800
The old Alexandria Cafe, next to Joe’s Pizza at 109 Broadway in Santa Monica has changed ownership. The new restaurant is now called the SeaSide Grill. The Middle Eastern menu remains mostly the same as before.
Work continues fast and furiously on the new Urban Fresh going into the old Mr. Kicco’s Coffee space at 9679 Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills. As you can see from the photo, they are currently hiring and are looking to open August 15th. Look for a menu of organic coffees and teas, juices, farmer’s market-driven salads and sandwiches, and breakfasts. Read more at https://toddrickallen.com/2011/06/03/urban-fresh-taking-over-the-mr-kiccos-coffee-space-in-beverly-hills/ or at http://theurbanfresh.com/.
Looking for something to do tonight? Yearning for the Spanish coast? Josiah Citrin, Raphael Lunetta and Jonathan Moulton are hosting a special happy hour at their restaurant Lemon Moon this evening (Thursday July 21) titled “Tapas, Tempranillo And Sangria” featuring Spanish tapas and wines from 5:00pm until 7:00pm. Lemon Moon is at 12200 W. Olympic Blvd. in Los Angeles. http://www.lemonmoon.com/
Today, (Wednesday July 20th) is Veggie Grill Virgin Day at their Rolling Hills Plaza location. If you bring in someone who has never been before (the virgin), Veggie Grill will comp their entrée. But they have to be accompanied by an “experienced” VGer (that’d be you, you tramp), no solos and only at this location. http://www.veggiegrill.com/
They made their deadline and Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza And Grill is now open in El Segundo Plaza. Read more at https://toddrickallen.com/2011/06/27/sammys-woodfired-pizza-and-grill-el-segundo-update/.
To soothe the jangled nerves of the upcoming Carmegeddon, Susan Fenger’s Street is offering $4.05 beers and free kaya toast if you mention “Carmegeddon” when making a dinner reservation. (Trust me, you’ll want the kaya toast!) Deal only available Saturday and Sunday, July 16th and 17th.
Susan Feniger’s Street
742 N. Highland Los Angeles, CA 90038
Phone: 323.203.0500
It looks like they’ve quietly changed the sign shielding the construction on the upcoming Charley’s Grilled Subs in the Westfield Century City Shopping Center. As you can tell by looking at an older photo, the previous opening was scheduled for July 1st. That has been pushed back to September 1st.
Before…
After.
If you haven’t come across the name Yotam Ottolenghi yet, you’re just not paying attention. He seems to be everywhere lately. Despite four London restaurants and constant contributions to the food press there, the chef and restaurateur has been extremely busy promoting his popular vegetarian cookbook Plenty, and has finally arrived in Los Angeles. He’ll be cooking a four course veg meal at Animal this Thursday, July 14th (see http://la.eater.com/tags/yotam-ottolenghi for info). But if you can’t make that, you can get a chance to meet him on Friday, July 15th from 12:00pm to 2:00pm for a book signing at Anthropologie at 1402 Third Street Promenade (corner of Santa Monica and Third). Refreshingly, although they encourage you to buy your book there, the manager assured me that you’re not required to purchase it there in order to get your copy signed. I’ve had a chance to make a few things from the book already. His technique of preparing individual components of a dish separately and then layering the flavors to create a complex yet unified whole produced some amazing results. This is a great opportunity to check out the future of vegetarian cooking. Read more at http://www.ottolenghi.co.uk/
With the recent explosion of new food places in the Century City Shopping Center, here’s one I overlooked. It looks like a new Yogurtland will be opening on August 1st right next to the incoming Vanilla Bake Shop on the first floor.
The busy folks at Veggie Grill have just added a new item to their menu: buffalo wings. Made from their proprietary “chillin’ chickin’ “, house-made buffalo sauce, and served with ranch dressing, these spicy little vegetarian numbers would be the perfect TV snack…
Bread and Porridge, the Santa Monica institution at 2315 Wilshire Boulevard where people line up on a Sunday morning, is now serving dinner. Their new hours are 7:00am to 9:00pm. http://www.breadandporridge.com/
This week’s Cart for a Cause will feature Chef Gordon Drysdale from Pizza Antica of Santa Monica. $10 will get you choice of sandwich (such as warm grilled fontina sandwich with fresh morels and sherry-braised cipollini), drink, and a cookie with the proceeds going toward Meals on Wheels. Chef Drysdale will be cooking this Tuesday, July 5th from 12:00pm until 2:00pm in the parking lot of the Helms Building at 8800 Venice Blvd.
Do you ever dream about the bavette cacio e pepe at Osteria Mozza and wonder how they produce such perfection rivalled only in Italy? Now’s your chance to find out! Here is the July schedule for Mozza Scuola di Pizza pizza and pasta classes:
Pasta Class will be held on Tuesdays July 5th & 19th 7-10:00pm
Pizza Class will be held on Thursdays July 14th & 28th 7-10:00pm
Cost is $150 per person. Make reservations by calling 323.297.1133. http://www.mozza2go.com/calendar.cfm
641 N. Highland Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Phone: 323.297.0101
Fax: 323.297.0109
Obika Mozzarella Bar in the Westfield Century City Shopping Center has made some new summer-y additions to its menu: a variety of new bruschette from various regions around Italy including the Piemonte: mozzarella & roasted peppers, or the Lazio: plum tomatoes and olives. Additionally, the have a new Neapolitan Pizza, the cunzato pizzato. http://www.obika.it/
A lot of you are interested in the progress at Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza And Grill the upscale pizza chain that is going into the space once occupied by Smith & Hawken in El Segundo Plaza on the corner of Rosecrans and Sepulveda in El Segundo. The chain hails from San Diego (where they were the first to bring wood fired pizza oven to the scene there) and has since expanded to Nevada as well. I had a chance to drop by recently and chat with a rep. As you can see by the photo, they are now hiring and work is nearing completion. The official opening day is going to be July 14th. You can read a sample menu on their website here: http://www.sammyspizza.com/, however it was explained to me that the menu in the new location will be different from their San Diegan counterparts. Chef Sami Ladeki not only created the menu for Sammy’s, but for another venture as well, Roppongi Restaurant & Sushi Bar in La Jolla. The menu at the El Segundo location will be a combination of the two: Mediterranean and Asian-Fusion (apparently the onion rings are legendary). I’ll keep you posted…
Toddrickallen 