Joan on third

Breakfast at Joan on Third, what a pleasant surprise! this place is a little gourmet market that has yummy looking baked goods displayed in the front window. i had a fresh orange juice to start. then an order of chocolate french toast which is a french toast sandwich with chocolate shaving in the middle, yummy!!! and i ended my breakfast with a grape fruit yogurt, the brand is Emi - Swiss yogurt recipe. this is what all yogurt should be, smooth and creamy. i have to say this is the best yogurt i've ever had.... definitely a must for me next time i'm in L.A., i might just have breakfast/brunch here everyday while in L.A.

http://www.joansonthird.com/

Huntington beach

next day, we had to go to Huntington beach in Orange county to do more people watching at a surf contest...

miles of beach...

the pier

beach scene

there's a sport bar (i forgot the name) across the street from the pier (on the second level) which has excellent margarita, the cadillac margarita that is, not the house margarita.

i met up with my dad for dinner at Seafood Paradise - a Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant in Westminster, Orange county. excellent food at excellent price. i love the fried tofu - super crispy outside and piping hot soft tofu inside - delish!

Seafood Paradise
8602 Westminster Blvd
Westminster ca 92863
714.893.6066

Clafoutis restaurant

the first night in L.A., we had dinner at Clafoutis on Sunset since we wanted to sit outside and watch the lovely people of L.A.

Clafoutis was nice and casual, good enough food at reasonable price and the staff was always nice. i had a gimlet to start, it was strong! the onion soup was extra sweet with honey (i think) which was a bit too much on the sweet side for me. my steak was good with a glass of syrah. for dessert, we share the profiteroles which was good enough. i didn't take any pics since we were having a good time and busy with the people watching! finally i took a pic of my friend's desert which could be some kind of tropical fruit mousse???

Clafoutis
8630 W Sunset Blvd.
L.A., ca 90069
310.659.5233

The Chamberlain

i was away last couple weekends so no baking for 2 weeks in a row... i also had a couple disaster making raspberry bavarois in the weeks prior. so it seemed like i didn't bake anything but i tried. anyway, i was in L.A. for work one of the weekends. i love the Chamberlain where i was staying for a couple reasons (among others) - style and comfort. the hotel used to be an apartment complex and the Kor group with the design maven Kelly Wearstler had turned it into a lovely hotel....

from the front entrance...

the lobby sitting area

the bar

and restaurant

with back patio, lovely for breakfast or afternoon drinks....

roof top pool with pano view...

cabana

and the 3 mini cabanas

bed room with sitting area

and a fireplace by the desk

the most comfortable hotel bed (beside the ones at the Viceroy which also belong to the Kor group and designed by Miss Wearstler as well)

the only thing that doesn't match the rest of the hotel decor is the bathroom(s), definitely need an update.... other than that, the location is fantastic - a lovely hideaway but near all shoppings and restaurants, the staff was super nice, the hotel is well designed and the my room was comfortable....

http://www.chamberlainwesthollywood.com/?cmpid=GL_CWH

Farmers market at the Ferry building

Saturday morning, i went to the farmers market at the ferry building to have lunch with my friend. she recommended this mexican food booth - Primavera. i really wanted to try the shrimp and cod ceviche but was afraid for my tummy.... so i had the chicken tamales with poblano mole sauce. it was good but i expect more since she said it was her favorite mexican place for breakfast. it was decent for a food booth. food is served on paper plate with plastic utensils. there's a small common table and benches on the pier.... i like the honeydew melon and lime drink, refreshing!

Jack Falstaff

Dinner with a friend visiting from NYC, we went to Jack Falstaff on a friday evening. Surprisingly it was not crowded on this friday night which i prefer. the decor is nice enough, industrial exterior and a modern interior. the dinning area is a bit too dark for me. the staff were very professional but friendly enough, they moved us to the outdoor/indoor dining area and turned off the heaters upon our request which was very nice. The crowd on this friday night is more family oriented in the main dining area...

the drinks are nice. i ordered the pear vodka drink but they were out so i had a basil gimlet instead, very nice. others were having a side car, some raspberry drink and a margarita....

complement from the chef, the amuse bouche plate had different pickled roots, a bit too salty for me...

for the starters, i had the heirloom tomato salad and a side order of the bone marrow. the tomatoes were sweet, delicious!

and the bone marrow was tasty on toasted baguette...

others were having, a cesar salad, nice presentation!

some kind of salad with chorizo, pretty!

entrees, i had the scallop, good enough! i ordered a glass of viognier and they were out too! i had a chardonay instead, good enough!

one had the halibut, i didn't try but it looked very nice...

and the roasted chicken, looked good!

the roasted pork ramen with soy both and partridge egg sunny side up, fancy! i never had partridge egg before, and actually have never seen a partridge before in my life, hmmm.... anyway, my friend said it was a bit on the salty side.

desserts, this usually is the good part of the dinner but not here. we had the 3 things of chocolate and it came with the milk shake. the chocolate cake/mousse/gelato were all good but the milk shake was lumpy, it made from powder milk! yuk! and we thought that was a cookie on top of the chocolate mousse but no - it was a thin slice of toasted baguette, drizzled with olive oil. was it a mistake or a new twist combining sweet and savory for dessert??? who know but either way, it was not a good idea to me...

the rootbeer float, not good. i did not like, very disappointed.

overall, i like this place. a bit on the pricey side, small portions (which i like), nice atmosphere, nice staff, good food but choose your dessert wisely....

http://www.plumpjack.com/plumpjack/

Triptych

late dinner after work on thursday night, we went to Triptych - a small restaurant in SOMA. we got there around 9pm. and the restaurant was kind of bare, only one table with customers. and only one girl worked the floor that night - she is great - friendly and knowledgeable.

i had a glass of rose and my friend had red (i think)... the rose was very good - a perfect balance between red and white...

we shared the whole meal. first was the grilled octopus salad. i liked it ok. i think there was too many flavors in the salad... there was celery, onion, garlic and fennel... for flavor, i would stick with just one, may be fennel??? the grilled octopus was good.

next, the paella (valencia style) was good enough, i liked it alright. again, the use of spice is unnecessary in this dish for me. there was cumin in the paella and i'm not a fan of cumin - it's very pungent with all the shellfishes...

dessert, my favorite dish of the entire meal - apple crisp with extra extra vanilla gelato, yum... extra sugar and butter caramelized the apple real nice... delish, i forgot to take the picture before devouring it so here's a pic of the well cleaned dessert dish...

http://www.triptychsf.com/

Cinnamon puff pastry snails

i was defrosting the freezer and found some leftover store bought puff pastry dough, i thought cinnamon rolls might be nice with puff pastry???


for the cinnamon spread

60gr unsalted butter @ room temp.
2 table spoons of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder
zest of 1 orange
100gr raw sugar (crytal or dermarara sugar)

for the dough

2 sheets of puff pastry (about 10" x 16")

preheat oven at 400 F

zest orange, i used vegetable peeler and then sliced the peels into thin strands.


add zest and brown sugar to butter


mix well, either by hand (with spoon) or mixer. i mixed by hand since it was a small portion.


roll out 2 sheets of puff pastry slighly.


divide the cinnamon butter spread in 2 and spread evenly on both puff sheets. sprinkle both sheets with 50 gr of raw sugar. stack 1 sheet on top of the other.


cut puff pastry into 3/4" -1" strips and roll them in to snails. or sheets can be rolled into a log and cut into slices.


roll and coat each snail in the remaining raw sugar, place them on parchment lined baking sheet.


bake for about 20-25 minutes.