3.0 miles, about 10 minutes from my home in Atwater Village.

A new kind of sausage has arrived to Los Angeles: Berlin-style currywurst.  Something new, and oh-so-different to the always evolving culinary scene in Los Angeles.  Currywurst is German street food that has been around for at least sixty years.  Considered the number one street food in Germany, currywurst vendors can be found on street corners throughout the country, and most definitely in Berlin.  As Los Angeles has the bacon-wrapped hot dog vendors waiting outside bars and nightclubs to feed hungry late night hipsters, Berlin has its currywurst stands.  Many of which have become neighborhood meeting points.

Such is the case with Berlin Currywurst located in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles.  Not a food stand but a brick and mortar shop; small in size with a few tables outside, it is sandwiched between an artisan gelato shop and a bead store.  The food is simple yet immensely satisfying.  Big on flavor, it’s a mix-and-match menu.  The reason it’s called currywurst is due to the red curry flavored tomato sauce that each plate of wursts is served under.  Pick your wurst (brat, bock, rinds and so on), pick your level of heat for the sauce (1 to 4), add a flavoring (garlic, chipotle, jambalaya), and fritten (French fries) if you wish, and you’re set.  If beef, veal and pork are not in your diet they offer chicken and tofu wursts.  Each plate of sausages is served with German farmers bread.  Berlin Currywurst uses all-natural meat, the made-on-the-premises sauce contains organic ingredients only, and the fries are made with hand cut, organic potatoes.

Opened in February 2011 by husband and wife team Lena and Hardeep Manak along with partner Haike Buentemeyer, Berlin Currywurst already has a dedicated following.  A recent lunch of Paprikawurst (all natural pork with paprika and garlic), heat level 1, garlic flavoring, and fritten with onions was so satisfying that I can’t wait to go again.

Berlin Currywurst, 3827 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA  90026, 323-663-1989, www.berlincurrywurst.com

**A version of this article was first published in Honest Cooking, April 14, 2011.

*The Local Report(s): are occasional blog posts on restaurants, and/or businesses that either support the idea of one-hundred miles, and ‘living life locally’; or are small, localized businesses in my neighborhood, and/or within one-hundred miles of my residence, that I prefer to support over the larger, national, corporate chains. For other The Local Report(s) please go the Archives section of this blog. Also, I’d love to hear from my readers about businesses that they support in their neighborhoods: write to me at charlesgthompson@100miles.com, or leave a comment here.

Follow The Local Report on Twitter: @TheLocalReport

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

#1 – Honest Cooking ~ I’m now a Contributing Writer to the new online food magazine Honest Cooking.  My first story was published on April 14, 2011: “Berlin Currywurst Arrives to L.A.” I’ll be writing several pieces a month about the L.A. food scene.

#2 – A Menu of Parisian Bistro Classics at Le Saint Amour, Culver City, CA.  Consulting chef Walter Manzke offers a different Parisian bistro dish every night of the week (Sunday is Poulet Frit for example) at Le Saint Amour.  If you like classic French food like I do then get thee to Le Saint Amour for a plat du jour, or for something delicious off their full menu.  Bon appétit!

#3 – Saturday, April 16 & Sunday, April 17, 2011, 11 am – 8 pm (Sat.), 11 am – 7 pm (Sun.) ~ Artisanal L.A. where nearly 100 local, artisanal and handmade vendors showcase their wares.  Support your local crafts persons, vendors and businesses.

#4 – Saturday, April 23, 11 am – 6 pm ~ The 2nd 8th Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational, a grilled cheese cooking competition.  You cook.  Judges vote.  Everybody wins!

My Status:  Enjoying the gradual arrival of spring in So Cal and the new spring produce: artichokes, asparagus, and the tail end of winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, collard greens.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. More The Local Reports. Cookbook Reviews: Small-Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers by Debby Maugans.

Image from iStockphoto.com

Once upon a time I was a line cook.  I worked my ass off.  And I really learned how to cook.  The place was called “Sourdough Jack’s.”  It was in Santa Rosa, California.  The year was 1978.  I was 19 years old and I had no prior restaurant experience aside from a summer job at a Jack in the Box.  The year before I had worked for a French couple in rural France cooking, cleaning and babysitting.  At the point I started at “Sourdough Jack’s” I was a self-taught cook.  Six months later when I left the restaurant to go to cooking school in San Francisco I was head line cook.  I knew my way around a professional kitchen.  I was good at my job.  I could measure the temperature of meat (rare, medium rare, well-done) by touch.  I knew when a piece of fish was cooked by sight.  I managed the tickets and the other cooks on a busy night without losing it.

“Sourdough Jack’s” was a seafood restaurant and extremely busy.  Each Friday and Saturday night we were “in the weeds” to use restaurant parlance from opening to last ticket.  Sue, the kitchen manager, took me under her wing.  She taught me what she knew.  There was no real chef; just Sue and us line cooks, and we did it all.   The prep, the cooking, the breaking down: everything.  Sue taught me how to cook large volumes of food.  The restaurant was known for two things: clam chowder, and homemade sourdough bread.  I became a master at making huge quantities of both.  Each table was given a hot just-out-of-the oven loaf of sourdough bread as soon as they were seated.  Before service I made vast amounts of clam chowder in huge, commercial soup cauldrons.  I also half-baked enough sourdough bread to get us through service.  I oversaw vegetable and salad prep.  It was exciting, and I loved every minute of it.

We were not cooking food that would have won any prizes.  I’m quite sure that now after years of cooking with, and eating  food made by the best chefs around I’d be appalled by it.  At the time it fit a need.  It was before the food revolution hit areas outside of large cities.  Our patrons were happy to get a well-prepared piece of fish, or a steak, a salad or clam chowder and our signature sourdough bread.  Jack, the owner, understood his business model well, and his restaurant was a success for a number of years.

Sue and her boyfriend at their bakery in Washington state, circa 1979.

Sue left shortly after I did to open a bakery in Washington state.  Her first love was bread and baking.  If I recall correctly the sourdough bread recipe we used was hers.  I lost touch with Sue and the other guys I worked the line with.  Like every restaurant I’ve ever worked in, we were a little family as short-lived as it was.  We cooked our asses off at work, we went out for food together after service ended, and we socialized together on our days off.  Sourdough Jack’s was the beginning of my career in food; granted one where I hopscotched around, left and returned to it, but a glorious start none the less.

My Status:  Still enjoying winter in So Cal and the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens, beets and fennel.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

I’m published!! My recipe “Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya” was selected to be in the cookbook: “Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.”  You may order it here.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  My memories of Graham Kerr, The Galloping Gourmet.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. More The Local Reports coming soon. Cookbook Reviews: “The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook” by Rachel Saunders, “Grilled Cheese, Please! by Laura Werlin, and “Italy Dish by Dish: A Comprehensive Guide to Eating in Italy” by Monica Sartoni Cesari.

Photo: My sister, Traci and me, with our great-grandparents, Rolla and Ora Goodman in 1962. Traci was 10 months old and I was 3 years old.

My great-grandmother, Ora Goodman, and her garden, were the impetus for me to start writing this blog.  She was a major influence all through my childhood.  She lived a ‘local’ life without realizing she was doing so.  She simply lived her life.  This series is part of a longer piece I am working on about her, and her life.  Herewith, Part 4…

A Garden, Bigger Than Life

As long as I knew my great-grandmother, she had a garden full of beautiful flowers and incredible tasting fruits and vegetables.  Her garden was bigger than life, and provided me with experiences never to be forgotten.  For me, life began in my great-grandmother’s garden.

Photo: My great-grandparent's house in Orcutt, California which my great-grandfather built. My mother lives in it now.

The plot of land my great-grandparents owned was small — one to two acres at most.  The garden sat in front of a moderate sized house that my “Grandpa Rollie” built, and took up almost as much room as the piece of land the house was built on.  There was a dusty dirt path that split the garden down the middle and while Grandpa Rollie raised vegetables and fruits on one side, “Grandma Ora” grew all types of beautiful flowers on the other.  She was famous throughout the small town of Orcutt for her vermilion poppies, tall and prolific everyone in town enjoyed watching them grow.

Photo: Left to right, my great-grandparents, Ora and Rolla Goodman with family friend Becky Twyford, in their garden.

Of course, the seasons were always reflected in both the garden and the table – this, to me, was one of the many joys of their way of life.

Seasons, Reflected in Garden Bounty

Under normal circumstances, fall comes late to most of California due to a phenomenon called ‘Indian summer.’  Usually beginning in September and lasting until the end of October, it’s an extension of the hot summer months with a distinct feeling of fall in the air – summer’s almost behind us, but happily not quite gone, as fall lurks just around the corner.  It was a unique time of year and the garden usually proved that to be true.  Many summer vegetables continued to grow while fall crops started to appear.  As always the table reflected the season.

Photo: My great-grandparent's vegetable garden.

Fall was also traditionally the time of year to prepare for winter and Gramma spent most of the fall canning, pickling and freezing late summer fruits and vegetables.  Whenever I was at her house during this period, which was often, I was witness to the canning process.  There was usually a huge blue canning pot up on the stove bubbling and rattling and steaming away.  And when I pulled a chair over to peer inside I saw 4-6 Mason jars full of the crop she was currently conserving.  The various fruits and vegetables she “put up” were a myriad of colors and textures to be eaten during the winter months.  “So we can have a little taste of summer in the winter” she would say.

California winters are mild by comparison to many other parts of the country but a wet and cold season does exist, and it does affect what can be prepared for the table.  While much of the garden was dormant during the winter months Grampa always planted a winter crop, and Gramma always tended her ‘winter flowers’ many of which returned year after year.  Winter crops usually consisted of root vegetables, cauliflower, broccoli, and all types of squash.

Photo: My great-granparents, Rolla and Ora Goodman in their garden amongst my great-grandmother's famous vermilion poppies.

Spring, Bees and Honey!

In the spring when Gramma’s flowers were approaching their fullest bloom the bees arrived in force.  My sister and I would go down into the garden amongst the flowers just to marvel at the loud buzzing the bees made.  We knew that as the bees were pollinating the flowers, honey was being made in a neighbor’s hives — honey that my sister and I would get to eat every morning when we were staying at my great-grandparents’ house.

I’ve no idea when the tradition began but it did — each morning at sun up Grampa sat at the kitchen table with his cup of coffee, my sister and I seated on either side of him as he fed us, one at a time, pieces of toast dripping with honey straight from a neighbor’s hives.  The process was simple:  he’d tear off a piece of toast, put a dab of butter on it, a spoonful of honey and pop it into our eagerly awaiting mouths — first my sister’s then mine, back and forth between us.  We were his little birds and he was the daddy bird feeding his young hatchlings.  It was a tradition we relished and one that survived for many years.  Following is a recipe for this simple yet satisfying treat.

Print Recipe

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

#1  – The Good Neighbor Cookbook – consider submitting your, or somebody else’s, good-neighbor story to the Meet This Grateful Recipient or Meet This Good Neighbor Cook features on The Good Neighbor Cookbook blog by e-mailing authors Sara Quessenbery and Suzanne Schlosberg at: cooks@thegoodneighborcookbook.com. Let us know if you do by leaving a comment below!

#2 – Mini-Review: A shout out to a recent cookbook I received ~ “Everday Grilling: 50 Recipes from Appetizers to Desserst” by Sur La Table.  Grilling tips and recipes for first courses to desserts all (or part of the recipe) cooked on the grill.  Grilled Quesadillas.  Endless ways to grill vegetables.  Grilled Pizza (!)  Grilled Pound Cake (!?)

My Status:  Still enjoying winter in So Cal and the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

I’m published!! My recipe “Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya” was selected to be in the cookbook: “Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.”  You may order it here.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. Cookbook Reviews: “The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook” by Rachel Saunders, and “Italy Dish by Dish: A Comprehensive Guide to Eating in Italy” by Monica Sartoni Cesari.

Ingredients

Fresh Garden Honey

Fresh Homemade White Bread

Sweet Butter

Method

If possible procure honey directly from a honeycomb.  This can be accomplished by finding a local farmer who sells honey with the honeycomb, or by buying the same at a local farmer’s market.  You may substitute a quality store bought honey.  Drain the honey from the honeycomb into a jar or container.  Toast several slices of bread and set aside.  Set the table with the honey, toast and butter.  Find several eager mouths and begin eating, or if small mouths feed them like baby birds.

Read Original Post

The Good Neighbor Cookbook: 125 Easy and Delicious Recipes to Surprise and Satisfy the New Moms, New Neighbors, Recuperation Friends, Community-Meeting Members, Book Club cohorts, and Block Party Pals in Your Life!  Sara Quessenberry and Suzanne Schlosberg.  Andrews McMeel Publishing.  $16.99.  (208p)  ISBN: 978-0-7407-9355-4

Neighborliness is seemingly a lot art to most of us.   A cookbook to help those acts of kindness along is most welcome.  “The Good Neighbor Cookbook” is just that.  (The title really explains exactly what the book is about!)  This is a more updated version of what our mothers may have referred to on good-neighbor occasions; books like Betty Crocker and Good Housekeeping.  This cookbook is chock full of modern recipe suggestions specifically geared to the need at hand: the birth of a child; an illness; a new neighbor; block parties and barbecues; community, religious and business gatherings; book clubs; condolences.  Each section offers recipes for that specific act of neighborliness.  Additionally, there are tips for preparing food ahead, and how to package and transport it, all geared toward making it as easy as possible on the recipients.  To welcome a new neighbor, the authors suggest including a list of neighborhood ‘best local picks’; a personal list of favorite neighborhood businesses like dry cleaners, dog groomers, farmers’ markets, restaurants, doctors offices, and so on.

The modern quotient of this cookbook is the way the authors invoke the use of high-quality, fresh ingredients whenever possible.  The ingredients lists include  such as items as fresh thyme, arugula, kosher salt, extra-virgin olive oil, fresh fruits and vegetables (versus frozen or canned), fresh-squeezed juices, among others.  Care has been taken to make dishes both tasteful and healthful.  There are recipes and suggestions for preparing something at the last minute, for large groups, and a great idea called the ‘meal train.’  A ‘meal train’ involves using a free online invitation service like Evite.com to reach out to a group of friends or neighbors to make daily, twice a week, or weekly meal deliveries to a family welcoming a newborn, experiencing a long-term illness, or a suffering a recent death.  Contributors sign up for specific dates, and post comments indicating the dish they’ll prepare thereby spreading the good neighborliness around, and offering ongoing assistance.

To spread the good-neighbor word further, authors Quessenberry and Schlosberg have created a blog, The Good Neighbor Cookbook where readers can find recipes organized by occasion, and fun weekly features like ‘Meet This Grateful Neighbor,’ and ‘Meet This Good Neighbor Cook’ in which readers share their personal, good-neighbor stories, recipes, tips, cooking occasions and more.

“The Good Neighbor Cookbook” will come in handy for anyone wanting to make that neighborly gesture of kindness.  Whether looking for inspiration, or for last-minute ideas, this cookbook has it all.

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

#1  – The Good Neighbor Cookbook – consider submitting your, or somebody else’s, good-neighbor story to the Meet This Grateful Recipient or Meet This Good Neighbor Cook features on The Good Neighbor Cookbook blog by e-mailing authors Sara Quessenbery and Suzanne Schlosberg at: cooks@thegoodneighborcookbook.com. Let us know if you do by leaving a comment below!

#2 – Mini-Review: A shout out to a recent cookbook I received ~ “Everday Grilling: 50 Recipes from Appetizers to Desserst” by Sur La Table.  Grilling tips and recipes for first courses to desserts all (or part of the recipe) cooked on the grill.  Grilled Quesadillas.  Endless ways to grill vegetables.  Grilled Pizza (!)  Grilled Pound Cake (!?)

My Status:  Still enjoying winter in So Cal (wonderful warm weather the past few days) and the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

I’m published!! My recipe “Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya” was selected to be in the cookbook: “Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.”  You may order it here.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. Cookbook Reviews: “The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook” by Rachel Saunders, and “Italy Dish by Dish: A Comprehensive Guide to Eating in Italy” by Monica Sartoni Cesari.

“Eat The Love”.   The very apt slogan for the new food delivery company Out of the Box Collective.  The OBC promotional flier also includes:  “Local”.  “Sustainable”. “Home Delivered”.   All good words in my world.  Out of the Box Collective is exactly those things.  They gather food staples that are local and sustainable, put them into boxes and deliver them to your door.  Unlike a C.S.A. they provide everything you need, or want to feed your family for a week.  Fruits, vegetables, dairy, meat, fish, poultry, bread, pasta and dry goods.  A meal plan and suggested recipes are also included.  The only thing you have to do is cook, and then ‘eat the love.’

Founded by Jennifer Piette along with farm-to-table Chef Erik Stenberg, the goal of the company is to source “local, seasonal, sustainably produced groceries from [a] collective of farmers and artisans: [that include] ‘beyond organic’ produce; pastured meats, poultry and eggs; locally caught fish; dairy, including raw milk from Organic Pastures; regional specialties, such as local olive oil, honey, cheeses, Fair Trade products, and the list goes on.”  Jennifer and Erik have spent a good deal of time tracking down the best quality, organic, and sustainable products available in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.

Jennifer Piette and Erik Stenberg as they begin shopping the Santa Barbara Farmers' Market.

A Morning at the Farmers’ Market

Given that the collective will only use what is fresh and seasonal, the box contents change from week to week.  Additionally, new artisans, growers and vendors are being added all the time.  Piette and Stenberg meet each Saturday at the Santa Barbara Farmers’ Market to assemble the following week’s boxes.  Last Saturday I was lucky enough to spend the day with them as they gathered a week’s worth of food at the market.  Later in the day I watched as they assembled the boxes.  It was an educational and joyful experience — so much amazing food.  Santa Barbarans take food, eating, and their farmers’ market seriously.

The Los Olivos Roots Organic Farm stand from Los Olivos, California.

I trailed along with Jennifer as she made her rounds at the market before it opened.  Many of her orders had already been placed so she was picking up, and adding to where needed.  We stopped at the Windrose Farm booth for beautiful radicchio di Castelfranco, said ‘hello’ to the folks at the famous Los Olivos Roots Organic Farm stand, grabbed poultry from Healthy Family Farms, apple juice at Fair Hills Farms, fresh-squeezed orange juice from Ojai’s Friend’s Ranch, ground beef from Rancho San Julian, pork from Jiminez Family Farm, and blistered almonds from Fat Uncle Farms.   Jennifer also augments her farmers’ market purchases with produce from the Farmer Direct Produce Network, a wholesale produce distributor that features local and sustainably grown produce only.  Wesley Sleight from Farmer Direct met us at the market with a large produce delivery.

Jennifer buying eggs and poultry from Healthy Family Farms.

Buying pork chops from Jimenez Family Farm.

Buying 100% certified organic apple juice from Fair Hills Farms.

Buying blistered almonds from Fat Uncle Farms.

Two More Stops: A Fishmongress, and the Pie Shop

After we finished rounds at the market, I joined Erik as he made two more stops: for fresh fish, and homemade pies.  Cadena Yules of Cadena’s Fresh Fish is a Santa Barbara-based female fishmonger.  On a side street of downtown Santa Barbara she rents space along with several other male Latino fishmongers in a large industrial building that also sells meat (on one door is a sign for fish; a second door says “meat.”)  It was fascinating to watch Cadena at work.   She specializes in locally caught seafood.  Erik picked up line-caught halibut.  Our next stop was Simply Pies, a wonderful small pie shop that does a booming business.  We grabbed uncooked gluten-free pie shells, and freshly made apple pies.

Fishmonger, Cadena Yules of Cadena's Fresh Fish, Santa Barbara, CA.

Assembling the Boxes

The next step in the process was assembling the boxes.  Out of the Box Collective currently works out of a kitchen in Goleta.  I enjoyed watching this unfold as it was a bit like being a kid in a candy shop.  What amazing fruits or vegetables would go into each box?  What locally-sourced proteins?  What other local delicacies?  It was a flurry of activity as Jennifer worked on one side of the kitchen assembling the grocery boxes; while on the other side Erik worked on the produce boxes.  Both were assisted by Chris Schertzer, recently hired as packager, driver and deliveryman.

Jennifer, Erik and Chris as box assembly begins.

Erik assembling the produce boxes.

Finished produce boxes.

A finished grocery box.

The refrigerated delivery van ready to go.

Change Equals Growth

As with most new businesses there are moments of transition; Erik (aka The Surfin’ Chef) has decided to take a hiatus from OBC to catch a few waves.  In his place Jennifer has brought in Shaheda Gosla, a private chef and farmers’ market maven, to work on the meal plans and the weekly suggested recipes.  Until the business grows more deliveries are currently only made in northwest Los Angeles county.  Piette hopes to expand beyond that area soon.  When she does get to my area of Los Angeles, I’ll be her first customer.  I wholeheartedly applaud what she is doing.  OBC is of much value to anyone who enjoys fresh, local, sustainable food.

For more information ~ Out of the Box Collective.

To see more photos from my OBC outing, click here ~ http://tinyurl.com/6jknp92

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the Food World:

#1  – Mini-Review: A shout out to a recent cookbook I received ~ “Everday Grilling: 50 Recipes from Appetizers to Desserst” by Sur La Table.  Grilling tips and recipes for first courses to desserts all (or part of the recipe) cooked on the grill.  Grilled Quesadillas.  Endless ways to grill vegetables.  Grilled Pizza (!)  Grilled Pound Cake (!?)

My Status: Enjoying winter in So Cal and the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

I’m published!! My recipe “Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya” was selected to be in the cookbook: “Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.”  You may order it here.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood. Cookbook Reviews: “The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook” by Rachel Saunders, and “Italy Dish by Dish: A Comprehensive Guide to Eating in Italy” by Monica Sartoni Cesari.

.2 miles, about 59 seconds by car, or 5 minutes on foot from my home in Atwater Village.

In many places in the world a bakery is often the nexus of a neighborhood.  A place where the locals meet to buy baked goods and bread.  Bread, the so-called ’staff of life,’ is inexpensive nourishment to many people.  Slowly but surely The Village Bakery and Cafe has become the nexus of our Atwater Village neighborhood.  Much like their sisters in Europe, it has a walk up counter with a shelf of various types of bread behind.  When I go in and see the stacks of freshly baked baguettes it feels a bit like it did when I bought the daily loaf while living in France.  The difference here is you can also order coffee, a house-made pastry, breakfast or lunch, then sit and WiFi it up for as long as you want.   Since it’s located very close to the horse stables and riding schools along the Los Angeles River, I’ve seen more than a patron or two wearing English riding boots and jodphurs as well as the occasional cowboy boots.  A bit of local neighborhood color.

Owner Barbara Monderine had a successful career in the music business before becoming a baker and founding co-owner of Auntie Em’s Kitchen in Eagle Rock.  From there she left to buy the Villa Rosa Italian Bakery, a wholesale bakery located in Arcadia, California.  At Villa Rosa she perfected a line of Italian cookies and pastries including an old Sicilian cannoli shell recipe that she inherited from the previous Villa Rosa owners.  She now sells the cannoli shells wholesale along with other baked goods from The Village Bakery and Cafe.

The Village Bakery and Cafe prides itself on selling artisanal breads baked daily, as well as pastries, pies and other desserts made from all natural ingredients.  The menu items are made using fresh, farmers’ market fruits and vegetables.  One of my favorite dishes is the individual chicken pot pies.  When I see them in the case I buy several to take home and freeze.  Voila, a simple meal after thirty minutes in the oven.  I often go to grab coffee and a sweet, for brunch or a quick lunch, or to buy a loaf of the amazing bread.

It seems I am not the only person to favor The Village Bakery and Cafe; while reading up to write this post I noticed on the bakery’s Facebook page this comment:  ‘The Grey’s Anatomy writing staff LOVES The Village!’  I’m going to have to take a closer look at all those people staring at computer screens next time I go in.  I didn’t know the place had gone Hollywood.

The Village Bakery and Cafe, 3119 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, 90039, 323-662-8600 & http://www.thevillagebakeryandcafe.com/

*The Local Report(s): are occasional blog posts on restaurants, and/or businesses that either support the idea of one-hundred miles, and ‘living life locally’; or are small, localized businesses in my neighborhood, and/or within one-hundred miles of my residence, that I prefer to support over the larger, national, corporate chains. For other The Local Report(s) please go the Archives section of this blog. Also, I’d love to hear from my readers about businesses that they support in their neighborhoods: write to me at charlesgthompson@100miles.com, or leave a comment here.

Follow The Local Report on Twitter: @TheLocalReport

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the Food World:

#1 – Thursday, February 3, 2011, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. ~ A Tasting Dinner at Mo-Chica with Live Music by Chachaca Nova – acclaimed Los Angeles Peruvian restaurant holds its 17th tasting dinner with music by the bossa nova group Chachaca Nova featuring our very own food blogger Bill Esparza of Street Gourmet LA on saxophone!  Cost $40.  Make reservations at Mo-Chica ~ http://mo-chica.com/

#2 – Mini-Review: A shout out to a recent cookbook I received ~ ‘Everday Grilling: 50 Recipes from Appetizers to Desserst’ by Sur La Table.  Grilling tips and recipes for first courses to desserts all (or part of the recipe) cooked on the grill.  Grilled Quesadillas.  Endless ways to grill vegetables.  Grilled Pizza (!)  Grilled Pound Cake (!?)

My Status: Enjoying winter in So Cal and the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

I’m published!! My recipe ‘Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya’ was selected to be in the cookbook: ‘Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.’  You may order it here.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A write up on Jennifer Piette and Erik Stenberg’s local, sustainable grocery delivery service Out of the Box Collective. Cookbook Reviews: The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders, and Italy Dish by Dish: A Comprehensive Guide to Eating in Italy by Monica Sartoni Cesari.

Eataly New York, 23rd St. & 5th Ave. Photo via midtownlunch.com

I have fervently been following the opening of the food emporium, Eataly, in New York City.  The reason for my interest is that I was involved in the opening of another Italian food emporium in the early ’80s: DDL Foodshow.  I was hired by film producer, Dino de Laurentiis, to work with the general manager to open the store.  The flagship store was located at 82nd Street and Columbus Avenue, across the street from the Natural History Museum.  It took up the ornate, marble lobby of the Endicott Hotel building which by this time was no longer a hotel but had gone co-op.  The store was quite large for its time.  Much like what Eataly is doing now there were stations spread out around the store: gastronomica, (prepared hot and cold foods), rosticceria (roasted meats and chickens), baked goods, produce, cheese, salumeria, chocolate, coffee and so on.  It was meant to be 1-stop shopping for the upscale neighborhood.  Dino and his team of Italians spared no expense; he brought chefs and managers over from Italy.  Adam Tihany was the designer.  The store had a full on kitchen with an Italian head chef.  Dino wanted it to be like the stores of its kind that he knew in Italy.  Peck in Milan is one such store.  After opening I became manager of the cheese department.  As manager I did all the cheese buying, was responsible for the counter displays, and oversaw a staff.

The Endicott Hotel Building, 82nd & Columbus, NYC where DDL Foodshow was located.

It was an exciting project to be involved in as a twenty two-year old.  The job brought me from San Francisco to New York.  It was my first time living there.  My interview with Dino (who is Giada De Laurentiis’ grandfather) at his film offices in the Gulf & Western Building on Columbus Circle was my first visit to New York.  I was very excited to be working with Dino, and living in Manhattan.  New York was a food mecca then and still is now.  Unfortunately, the store and its satellites (one in Trump Tower on 5th Avenue, and one in Beverly Hills) didn’t last more than a few years.  It never really caught on with New Yorkers.  Zabar’s, Balduccis, and Fairway pretty much had the corner on the gourmet food market.  A lot of people came into the store to look when it first opened but rarely returned more than a few times.  Sadly, Dino was ahead of his time.

The bread counter in Eataly New York.

Eataly is an Italian company with five stores in Italy, three in Japan and now one in New York.  Eataly New York is owned by chef Mario Battali and restaurateur Joe Bastianich, and Joe’s mother chef Lidia Bastianich.  The New York store while similar in concept is much larger than DDL Foodshow, and includes several sit down restaurants.  It is broken up in to a series of ‘eateries’: pizza, pasta, fish, produce, salumi and cheese, deli, rosticceria (with a butcher), bread, pasticceria and gelateria, as well as areas for cookbooks and housewares, and finally a wine shop. All of these are pay as you go.  DDL was more like an old-fashioned grocer.  You took a grocery cart from counter to counter and went through a check out line when you were done shopping.  DDL had no sit down restaurants; it did have the rosticceria where you could pick up a roasted chicken, or piece of meat, while the gastronomica had hot and cold prepared foods.  It was possible to buy a completely cooked meal.

Inside Eataly New York.

I have not yet been to Eatlay but I am anxious to go.  Definitely on my next trip to New York.  A good friend who actually worked with me at DDL has been and her report is that the food is very good, the store nice but that it is massively confusing as to what one is supposed to do where and when.  She and a friend bought things to eat then sat down at an empty table in one of the many eating points and were promptly told they needed to see the hostess to be seated.  A hostess and a host stand that were not readily visible.  As she described it to me: “Right now it’s an uneasy compromise between a food hall and an eatery.  What you have are various specialty shopping departments spotted with seating areas that have table or counter service.”  That does sound confusing.  Another friend ate dinner at one of the sit down restaurants where the prices were not inexpensive.  He said it was the oddest experience eating a nice meal while people were shopping all around him.  This begs the question: is it a sit-down restaurant, a take-out joint, or a high-end grocery store?  It’s trying to be all three.  Will hard-to-please New Yorkers be okay with this?  Only time will tell.  It does however sound like they have a few kinks to work out.

I have very fond memories of DDL Foodshow despite the many difficulties of getting a store of its size and kind open.  Dino’s heart was in the right place.  He wanted to share his joy of food and food culture with New Yorkers and Americans.  New Yorkers are a very tough audience; very set in their ways.  Sadly, they weren’t willing or interested enough to make it viable.  I still think Dino was ahead of his time.  This was before the Food Network, and the new Internet-based food movement.  Giada, his granddaughter, has managed to carve out a place for herself.  Time will tell if Eataly is a success.  I’d venture to guess that now is a better time in American food culture to give it a try than twenty-eight years ago when Dino and a group of us attempted it first.

Shout Outs! Fun, Cool, Interesting, Worthy Things Going on Around Town…

Pink Ribbon Cupcake from Magnolia Bakery

Magnolia Bakery (Los Angeles) ~ Purchase a Pink Ribbon Cupcake, (or several!) from Magnolia Bakery during the month of October.  Proceeds go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer Research.  www.magnoliabakery.com

Los Angeles Magazine ~ The Food Event: From the Vine 2010 ~ Sunday, October 24, 2010, 1 pm to 4 pm, Saddlerock Ranch, Malibu, California.  The 5th annual culinary extravaganza hosted by Los Angeles Magazine featuring celebrity chefs, top restaurants and wine tasting.  I’ll be there.  Hope to see you.  www.losangelesmagazine/thefoodevent

Artisanal L.A. ~ A weekend of shopping, tasting, workshops, and hanging out with local artisans.  A celebration of L.A.’s finest local handmade artisanal edibles.  October 23 & 24, 11 am to 4 pm.   I’ll be there (Saturday, 10/23), will you?  http://artisanalla.com/

Out of the Box Collective (Los Angeles) ~ A brand new business that home-delivers boxes of local, sustainably produced groceries.  The food items used in the boxes are sourced from artisans and farmers in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.  Boxes contain meat, dairy, produce, bread, conserves, and regional specialties.  They have a Thanksgiving Feast Box available for the upcoming holiday that will supply you with all the ingredients and a few suggested recipes if you don’t have the time to shop but still want to cook.  Come check them out the Artisan L.A. event on 10/23 & 24 (see above for info).  www.outoftheboxcollective.com

My Status:  Fall weather has arrived to SoCal.  Cool, wet even rainy.  More cooking, eating and blogging on the horizon as always.

News! I am now published!! My recipe ‘Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya’ was selected to be in the upcoming cookbook: ‘Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices,’ publish date is October 19, 2010.  You may pre-order it here.  I am thrilled.

Upcoming Posts: Cookbook Reviews ~ Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly by Joan E. Aller; Mary Mac’s Tea Room: 65 Years of Recipes from Atlanta’s Favorite Dining Room by John Ferrell; The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders.

Cooking The Cowboy Way: Recipes Inspired by Campfires, Chuck Wagons, and Ranch Kitchens. Grady Spears. Andrews McMeel Publishing. $29.99. (222p) ISBN-13: 978-0-7407-7392-1

Growing up on the central coast of California was paradisaical in many ways. The natural beauty. The rural feeling. My relatives close by. Farm fresh fruits and vegetables always at hand. Food and family often intermixed. My great-great-aunt Ona Chandler married into the Dana family — a Spanish land grant family dating back to before California was a state when it still belonged to Mexico. Spanish land grants weren’t actually Spanish, they were Mexican. Huge tracts of land that the Mexican government gave away to white men if they married the daughters of Mexican soldiers who were stationed in ‘Alta California’ — the name it had at the time. The goal was to populate the region but it backfired when the white man took the land away from Mexico eventually making it the State of California. The Dana family operated a rancho near the small town of Nipomo — a cow town, full of farmers and ranchers. Cattle was raised in the surrounding hills, and still is. And naturally where there’s beef there’s barbecue. Not just in Nipomo but also in the surrounding area: Santa Maria, Arroyo Grande, and San Luis Obispo. It’s called Santa Maria-style barbecue and the cut used is tri-tip.

Santa Maria-style barbecue is a method of outdoor cooking that dates back to the early ranchos and land grants. It is still extremely popular and these days men spend weekends grilling away in grocery store parking lots on mobile barbecue pits; the smell of the oak wood fire, and grilling meat wafting in the air. Because of my Aunt Onie our family has a strong link to the area as well as to this style of cooking. As a child during the summer months the Nipomo’s Men’s Club held community barbecues on the weekends. A pit barbecue was brought to the Nipomo Community Center and the local men grilled tri-tip over oak and served it with homemade salsa, local pinquito beans, salad, and garlic bread. We sat outside at picnic tables covered with white paper and ate until we were full. And boy was it good eating. I have very fond memories of those days. Of those weathered cowboys both white and Latino who pitched in to cook that delicious food; and of the community coming together to feast.

When I received ‘Cooking The Cowboy Way’ for review, I immediately thought back to those summer barbecues. I was excited to see what recipes were included. Campfire, chuck wagon, and ranch cooking is a very distinctive way of cooking and one that I love. There’s nothing quite like the experience, and the flavors, of cooking bacon and eggs, or a steak over an open campfire. The book is a wonderful compendium of this style of cooking. Chef, restaurant owner, and author Grady Spears explores this way of cooking by highlighting working ranches, and their food and recipes across North America. Each chapter is devoted to a different ranch in such states as Texas, Arizona, Missouri, Florida and Alberta, Canada. He includes cooking secrets, photos and stories about the cowboy way of life. While I was reading through it, it made me want to pack up my cast iron pan, and my camping gear, grab my horse, and hit the open road. I have everything but the horse. Maybe car camping is in the near future instead.

I cooked several recipes from the book and they were all a huge success. The recipes were well-written, easy to follow and pleased several friends that came over to eat them to the point that they asked for the recipes for themselves. The ‘Porterhouse Steaks with Wildcatter Steak Rub’ from the Wildcatter Ranch in Graham, Texas were heavenly — the rub is a definite keeper. The salt pork and the jalapeño pepper gave the pinto beans in ‘Tom’s Ranch Beans’ from the Perini Ranch in Buffalo Gap, Texas a full-flavored kick. A sprinkle of chili powder on the ‘Golden Corn Bread Muffins’ from Rancho de la Osa in Sasabe, Arizona provided a welcome boost; and the ‘Autumn Pear Crisp’ also from the Perini Ranch was the hit of the meal. The food and flavors in ‘Cooking The Cowboy Way’ are simple, big and satisfying. This is not haute cuisine nor should it be. This type of cooking came about because of a need to feed large numbers of hungry men; it had to be easy to prepare as well as filling. It also had to be cooked for the most part out of doors which adds another layer to the cooking and eating experience. To me food always tastes different, better, when cooked outside. The wood fire, the fresh air, the grilling meat are intoxicating. I was a little uncertain when I saw several recipes that listed things like garlic and onion powder, granulated beef base, canned goods, and commercial condiments but then I realized it’s a different style of cooking, that it’s not, as I mentioned, high cuisine, and that some of these ingredients make sense for these recipes. From what I experienced with the recipes I made they had no bearing whatsoever on the taste of the food. I definitely plan to cook more out of this book while checking my food snobbery at the kitchen door. ‘Cooking The Cowboy Way’ is a book worthy of everyone’s cookbook shelves.

Happy trails!

Please Vote For Me! The Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook Contest: I have entered my baked papaya recipe, ‘Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya,’ into the Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook contest. If selected the recipe will be published in cookbook published by Andrews McMeel Publishing. To vote go to the top of my blog to the Foodista icon. Thanks!

My Status: Winter in Southern California — warm days, cold nights, comfort food. Off to Yosemite at the end of January to attend a ‘Chefs’ Holidays 2010 at the Ahwahnee’ event: three days of cooking demos, lectures and eating with chefs Suzanne Goin, Duskie Estes and John Stewart. Can’t wait! Also new cookbooks to try, some to review; new kitchen equipment to use. More cooking, eating, writing, and blogging.

Upcoming Posts: Reviews: Cooking Light, a review of the redesign of the Time Inc. magazine; and of the new cookbooks Venezia: Food & Dreams by Tessa Kiros, My Nepenthe: Bohemian Tales of Food, Family and Big Sur by Romney Steele, The Spirit Kitchen: Everyday Cooking with Organic Spices by Sara Engram and Katie Luber and Kimberly Toqe.

When I was a kid my sister and I baked all the time. That is we baked when weren’t running all over Kingdom Come. We were latch key children being raised by a single mother. It was the 60s and 70s in small town California and it was safe to run all over K.C. with abandon, without worry. When we were old enough to care for ourselves my mother gave us house keys which we wore around our necks next to our skate keys on those metal ball chains like soldiers use to wear their dog tags. Running all over K.C. was pretty much a full-time activity but on those days when the weather was inclement, where we had to stay indoors, my mother often came home at five o’clock to two dozen chocolate chip cookies that we’d spent the wet afternoon baking. We simply followed the directions on the back of the Toll House chocolate chips package (still one of the best recipes for chocolate chip cookies ever!) and voila! Fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies. Even though my mother could barely keep up with it all she did manage to always have flour, white and brown sugar, baking soda and powder, oil, butter and Crisco on hand. If we were running low on a precious baking necessity Traci or I added it to the grocery list on the refrigerator. If we weren’t making cookies it was cupcakes, or full on cakes from those Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines boxed mixes. We had no fear, we pretty much baked anything. Our solo forays did stop at yeast baking however but I do know that on more than one occasion we made bread with my mother. I have fond memories of slicing the still hot loaves and slathering butter all over them, and gobbling them down. Those were kitchen events where we all baked together as a family.

And then for some reason as an adult I did a whole lot less baking. I did bake massive amounts of sourdough bread at my first restaurant job as a cook which was both a challenge and a lot of fun. The place was called Sourdough Jack’s and fresh-baked sourdough loaves were the first item put on a diner’s table. But after that both personally and professionally I moved over to savory cooking; cooking the first courses, main courses, and sides. My culinary interests solidified. I didn’t actually find the time for yeast baking and it sadly fell by the wayside. So when I received ‘Bread Matters’ to review from Andrews McMeel Publishing I was excited. I looked forward to reading it and to trying the recipes. ‘Bread Matters’ is not just a book about baking — it’s a book about a lifestyle. Author-baker Andrew Whitley has owned an award-winning bakery near Cumbria, England since 1976. He has devoted over twenty-five years to perfecting the craft of baking bread. In 2002 he founded Bread Matters, an organization devoted to improving the state of bread. He is also a founder of the Real Bread Campaign in Great Britain which started in 2003 and aims to encourage the increased and local consumption of ‘real bread’ in Great Britain.

The first three chapters of ‘Bread Matters’ are devoted to the issues surrounding the production of commercial bread. Whitley believes that store-bought bread has little nutritional value and unnecessary additives, and that it is made too quickly. He advocates that slowing down the process makes for better tasting, more nutritional bread. Chapter Three – Taking Control is a call to action: leave the store-bought, commercial stuff behind and buy or bake your own organic bread. The rest of the book tells you how with over fifty recipes. The book is for all levels of baker from beginner to expert. The first recipe I tried was from Chapter Six – First Bread and Rolls and is titled ‘Basic Bread.’ For not having made a yeast bread in a very long time it was just like getting back on the proverbial bicycle. It took several hours but they were relaxing hours; once I set the dough to rise on the back of my stove there was a giddy anticipation of will it rise properly, will it work? And it did, my basic bread loaf was a beautiful sight and tasted even better. Whitley’s recipe and explanations were clear and straightforward. To have a complete experience I kneaded the dough with my hands vs. a mixer or Cuisinart and I am glad I did. It put me in closer touch with the process and it was fun!

What I like about the book is the detail to which Whitely goes to explain all the technical aspects of yeast cookery. Types of flour, water, yeast, baking equipment, essential ingredients, temperature, ovens, nutritional value, troubleshooting — he even includes a section on gluten-free baking. While making my basic loaf I had a question about the process and quickly found the answer in another section of the book. I tried several other recipes including Baps (Small Rolls) and a recipe for calzoni; all worked beautifully. Next on my list of attempts will be something with sourdough and possibly croissants. The book is thorough, well-organized and full of great information on baking and yeast cookery. Whitley walks readers through the baking process with chapters like Starting From Scratch, Bread-A Meal in Itself, and Easy As Pie. If you don’t already own one of the many yeast cookery books out there, or are looking for a good primer, I highly recommend Bread Matters. If you already have one or more of the others out there, this will make a perfect addition to your library. It’s always good to have more than one source, isn’t it? Andrew Whitley absolutely knows what he’s talking about.

My Status: The cold weather is here in Southern California and I’m loving it. Time to pull put those winter dishes, recipes. Also new cookbooks to try, some to review; new kitchen equipment to try out. More cooking, eating, writing, blogging coming soon.

Upcoming Posts: my personal, childhood food history as told by my mother, Dawn Goodman. Reviews: Cooking Light, a review of the redesign of the Time Inc. magazine. Cooking The Cowboy Way, a review of the new cookbook by cowboy-chef Grady Spears.