Perks of the Job...

What's the best thing about profiling an insanely talented chef (hint: LATimes.com just broke this story about him) and doing the photo shoot in your own kitchen? The leftovers!!! Look for said profile about this riddle inside a mystery wrapped in a baco flatbread in issue #20 of Intermezzo magazine, out in about one month.

The Perfect Weeknight Supper

Crisp, blanched sugar snap peas, a farro and pea salad and some canned Japanese eel makes me very, very happy.

Chaya Brasserie, San Francisco

I love weekends in San Francisco. As many of you already know, I lived there for many years so it's one of my favorite places to go back to. Though the summers in this city are colder than most winters in Los Angeles, there's something about the fog and the cool air that I love.

On our first night, we hit Chaya Brasserie. Yes, it's the same Chaya that's already very popular here in Los Angeles. Normally I would stay away from chains, even ones as small as Chaya, but I actually really love the food and it was about a 2 minute walk from the hotel. For those unfamiliar with Chaya, it's an Asian fusion restaurant that focuses on "La Nouvelle Cuisine Franco-Japanese." We started with some drinks: red wine, a peach Bellini and a black cherry cosmo cocktail. Yum.

For an appetizer, we had the Hudson Valley Foie Gras with Toasted Homemade Brioche, Raspberry & Rhubarb Gastric. The foie was rich and lovely, and the tangy fruit and mild brioche were the perfect compliment.

We also shared the Poached Main Lobster Salad with Endive, Orange, Watercress, Ravigote Sauce. The flavors were great, though the lobster was slightly overcooked. Still, we enjoyed it.

My favorite of the evening was the Pan Seared Wild Sea bass with Sweet White Corn Polenta, Watercress, Morel Jus. The fish was cooked perfectly, so tender and so light, and the polenta just melted in my mouth - nothing at all like the thick, gritty polenta I've had at other restaurants. This was almost like a corn pudding, it was so light. And the morels...I loooooooove morels. Everything about this dish was perfect, just perfect.

We also had the Roasted Free Range Chicken Breast with Roasted Baby Potatoes, Brussels Sprouts, Asparagus, Espresso Port Wine Sauce. We raved about this dish as well; the chicken was tender and juicy and the vegetables were cooked to perfection.

For dessert, we all shared the butterscotch pudding. Though it doesn't have the salt aspect like the famed Butterscotch Budino at Mozza, it was still a major winner. Sweet, light and buttery - all three of us wished we'd ordered two.

To burn off the calories of that fabulous meal, we boarded a ferry to Angel Island for a long hike the next day. No, that's not the ferry, but an old-fashioned boat that passed us on our way. Pretty cool.

Here is the view from Angel Island - breathtaking! The hike takes you all the way up to the top of the island, so the views are just amazing and totally worth the climb.

A Little Self Promotion...

I am thrilled to announce that I am now a regular contributor to Intermezzo magazine, one of my favorite food publications. For the latest issue (cover above), I wrote a story about La Merced, one of the largest farmer's markets in Latin America. Check it out if you feel inclined. You can pick up Intermezzo at Barnes & Nobles and other popular bookstores!

"'Happy Donut' is Music To My Ears..."

Weezer with Carli (holding a slice of cheese) and Mykel.

...that was the first line of the last email I ever received from Mykel Allan, one-half of the sisterly duo known to thousands of Weezer fans simply as "Mykel and Carli." It was July 5th, 1997, and the girls were, as the band's fanclub presidents and long-time friends, traveling with Weezer on one leg of the Pinkerton tour. I think they were in Utah when they sent that email, and they were due to arrive in San Francisco a few days later where I would be picking them up at the airport and hosting them at my humble abode. In emails prior to their arrival, I'd told Mykel and Carli of the dozens of Happy Donuts the city offered, with its strange but somewhat appealing combination of Chinese food and donuts. It was one of the things Mykel was really looking forward to experiencing.

That element is pretty much the only food-related aspect of this blog entry. The reason why I am posting today is because it just occured to me that it has been eleven years to the day that these lovely girls, along with their younger sister Trysta, were killed in a tragic car accident on their way home from a Weezer concert. Eleven years. Wow.

I met Mykel and Carli because way back then I was a music journalist and Weezer was a band that I'd spent a good amount of time interviewing. Through my research, I'd discovered the tale of two sisters who nurtured the band through its lean years and supported them when no one else cared. After I'd conducted a phone interviews with the girls, they invited me up to their Portland home for a weekend of fun, food and Weezer craziness. They were so open like that; the weekend I was there, they also hosted a random group of fans including a guy named Chris, and twin sisters Keirah and Khadeja (who I am still friends with to this day). The girls had an amazing sense of humor. Acknowledging that they were both on the heavy side, they used to joke that they were "Weezer's BIGGEST fans!" I loved that.

They took me to a cool place called Dots for a great meal and we stayed up all night talking about music and going through the bags of fan mail that crowded their living room. Carli gave me my very own Weezer fanclub membership card, complete with a photo of a girl she thought "looked like a Clare" (she'd made it before my arrival). I met their parents, who just happened to be passing through Portland that weekend and we all ate KFC by a creek (for some reason I remember this clearly). They took me to Powell's bookstore. They laughed when I marveled at the lack of sales tax in their city. We saw Weezer play and hung out backstage and walked around the tour bus. It was, in short, a perfect weekend.

We exchanged many emails after that visit about everything from crazy fan stories to mundane daily happenings. My article came out and they were happy to have been included, though I was the one who felt grateful to have been let into their lives with such open arms. So many people in the music industry, especially those closest to the artists, typically want to keep those connections to themselves. Mykel and Carli did nothing but share it.

Flash forward to the day when I got the phone call from Carli's roommate, telling me that the girls would not be coming to San Francisco because they had perished in a car accident. I'm not going to pretend like I knew them forever; I'd only known them probably a year at that point. But when I heard the news my knees buckled and my heart plunged to the floor. It's strange and wonderful how, even in a very short period of time, someone - or, in this case, two people - can touch your life and leave an impression that still remains over a decade after they've left this earth.

Anyway, I just wanted to write something to acknowledge the anniversary of their departure, and also the impact they had and still have on me today. They were sweet, kind and nurturing and thinking of them always brings a smile to my face.

Fresh, Fabulous Shellfish Tacos!

I've never considered ordering shellfish online, except when buying a gift for a client or far away friend. But after the Crab Place sent me some complimentary crab meat and lobster tails to try, it's something I would definitely consider ordering for myself.

The Crab Place features lots of Maryland Blue Crab products like fresh, jumbo lump crab, crab salsa, crab cakes and other seafood like shrimp, lobster and oysters. The company was started by a local Maryland guy who wanted to share the local seafood wealth with the rest of the country.

Now before you start in on the whole "Well you got it for free, no wonder" business, let me assure you that there was no obligation to review anything. But after seeing and tasting the products, I wanted to share how good it was.

For my July 4th weekend dinner party, I used the lobster tail and jumbo lump Maryland Blue Crab meat the company sent. The lobster tails were sent packed with ice packs and came perfectly fresh and ready to cook. I simply boiled the tails for 5 minutes in salted water, put them into an ice bath to stop the cooking, then cut up the meat into big chunks. I picked through the already-cooked crab meat then mixed it with the lobster, a bit of Kewpie mayo, Sriracha hot sauce, diced red onion and a huge handful of chopped cilantro.

Because this shellfish meat was so fresh, I wanted to keep it simple. The key is to highlight the natural flavor of the shellfish, not dress it up in something too overpowering. I used a very small amount of mayonnaise and hot sauce to bind this together, and just enough salt and pepper to bring out the natural flavors of the shellfish.

For a side dish, I made a Mexican cole slaw: Napa cabbage, red cabbage, red bell pepper, jalapenos, lime juice, cumin, salt and pepper. Simple and perfect for a warm summer night.

The lobster/crab mix was perfect for the DIY tacos that were the main event of the evening. Everyone just took a good scoop of the shellfish mixture and put it into a warm, stone-ground corn tortilla, and then added a dollop of homemade guacamole and a dash of hot sauce. The result was an incredibly fresh and rich taco that we all raved about.

Now if that isn't the perfect summer dinner, I don't know what is. I will absolutely be making this again and will definitely consider ordering my seafood direct from The Crab Place next time. I haven't seen lobster tail that beautiful at my local grocery store, and Whole Foods sells it for more than it costs at The Crab Place. The Maryland Blue Crab meat was gorgeous and delicious as well, with the meat being much more dense than other crab meat I've tried.

Here's an "after" photo of the table - we polished off almost everything, but thankfully had just enough of the crab/lobster left over for me to make myself a sandwich the next day (woohoo!).

Rob's Annual Meat Fiesta!

Championship BBQer, music guru and all-around good guy Rob Kelso throws an amazing backyard barbecue every year for his friends. There are ribs, brisket, chicken, salmon, sausages, pulled pork, whole turkeys, veggies, chicken wings and lots of other goodies to be had by the over 100 attendees who go every year. This year was as good as ever, and per usual, we all pigged out and a ton of meat.

Look at that smoke ring!! Now that is a sign of a pro BBQer. It was tender and absolutely lovely.

Chicken thighs!! The key to a juicy chicken thigh is cooking it with the skin ON. C'mon folks, anyone on a diet shouldn't be here anyway, so don't fret about the skin. The skin is GOOD.

More beef!! And the only thing to eat it with is Rob's award-winning BBQ sauce, which there was plenty of at this party.

My friends Kai and Monty attended Rob's for the first time. Monty, who is from Memphis, declared Rob's ribs the best he'd ever eaten.

The ribs were tender, juicy and finger-lickin' good. The meat just about fell off the bone, which is how you want it (you don't want it to actually fall off the bone completely; makes it hard to eat).

Cupcakes!! Every year, some nice soul makes chocolate cupcakes, and another person makes red velvet cupcakes. Both are delicious.

Fresh plums!! I didn't have any of these, but people seemed to enjoy them. Then they went right back to the meat.

I don't know if this is a rule of Rob's, but all the grillers wore Hawaiian shirts. OK, the teddy bear guy on the left isn't really wearing a Hawaiian shirt per se, but it sure is colorful.

Sausages!! Plus one, lonely wing. I got to this after the crowd had already gone to town on the wings.

A whole turkey!! Look at this piece of wonderfulness!? It's smokey and juicy and absolutely one of the best turkeys you'll ever eat. It was literally devoured in about 10 minutes.

Thanks to Rob for hosting another great party this year. I look forward to his annual chili cook off this fall (I had to miss it last year).