.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.

7.7 miles, about 11 minutes, from my home in Atwater Village.

The SK Story

Google ’starry kitchen hong kong’ and several hits come back for the popular Asian chef and celebrity driven cooking show of the same name on TVB, a Hong Kong television network.  Thi Tran, ‘Kitchen Ninja,’ and chef of Los Angeles-based Starry Kitchen loves the show so much that she and her husband, Ngyuen, named their first restaurant after it.  Starting in May 2009 as an ‘underground’ restaurant out of their North Hollywood apartment, it is now a full-fledged brick and mortar operation in downtown Los Angeles.  It is also hugely successful.  Much of the success comes from the indefatigable Nyguen (pronounced like the word ‘win’) who Twitters, and Facebooks, and blogs seemingly 24/7.  It’s almost as if Twitter and Facebook launched the restaurant.

Thi and Ngyuen Tran

Thi has always loved to cook, and did so often even when she worked in adverting.  She fed very happy friends and family.  When she lost her advertising position, friends urged her to start cooking full-time.  Nguyen had been working for the William Morris Agency putting film finance deals together.   With his business savvy, his likable chutzpah, and her cooking talents they started serving food twice a week out of their apartment.  A card table, a few chairs, a box for the $5 suggested donation, and they were in business.  Thi also loves Facebook, and that’s how they originally got the word out.  She’d cook and then post pictures on Facebook.  They started inviting friends over to eat via Facebook postings.  Word spread quickly to neighbors, on the Internet, and through fast communicating food bloggers.  Once the word was out it was a mad rush to get there before the food ran out.  The underground-apartment Starry Kitchen lasted seven months until a restaurant owner in the neighborhood ratted them out.  A notice from the health department made them think twice about continuing.

SK Now

A few months after ceasing the SK underground-apartment venture friends of the couple made them an offer they couldn’t refuse:  take over a sushi restaurant that wasn’t working out for them.  These friends made it financially viable for the Trans to make the move.  A paint job, logo design, hiring a staff, and they were in business.  The restaurant is located at California Plaza in downtown Los Angeles.  The California Plaza complex consists of two skyscrapers, and is the home to MOCA (the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art), the Coburn School of Performing Arts, an Omni Hotel, commercial office space, and a 1.5 acre water court.  During the summer months Grand Performances — a free summer concert series — takes place on weekend nights.  All of this means that SK had a built in clientele before it even opened its doors.  On a recent weekday lunchtime visit, office workers from the neighborhood, tourists, and other downtown denizens lined up out the door.

Pick Your Protein, Pick Your Vessel, Pick Your Side — (The Food)

There is no formal menu at Starry Kitchen, only the informal chalk board there as you walk in that says: ‘Pick Your Protein,’ ‘Pick Your Vessel,’ ‘Pick Your Side.’  If it is your first time in, Nguyen will grab you and explain how it all works in an often ribald, rapid-fire style.  The menu rotates once per week.  Proteins stay on for two to three weeks and them come off.  They stay off for two to three months and then might go back on.  Nguyen explained that after being an office worker himself, and going through the daily drudgery of what and where to eat, and eating the same food over and over, he wanted to offer diners the excitement of not knowing what would be on the menu.  The very reasonable $7-9 per entree prices can only help.  The long line was evidence that people want what he’s offering.

Thi has no formal training as a chef.  She apparently doesn’t need any.  It seems to come to her naturally.  Both of the Trans are of Vietnamese heritage.  She was born there and came to the U.S. at a young age.  Nguyen was born in the U.S to Vietnamese parents.  Thi’s food is fun, bold, full of exotic flavors and covers the Asian food gamut: Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, and so on.  SK dishes are often Thi’s take on more traditional Asian foods.  She creates her dishes from scratch (no recipes).  “Starry Kitchen is not a fancy place.  I make pan-Asian comfort food that I enjoy cooking,’ stated Thi Tran.  “What I really enjoy about the process is thinking up the next menu item, creating new dishes.  That’s the most fun for me.”

SK Kara-Ge (aka Japanese Popcorn Fried Chix)

Nguyen adds his own touch to the dishes by giving them oftentimes outrageous names like Crispy Tofu Balls.  Bright green in color, CTFs (Nguyen calls them Game Changer #2) are marinated ground tofu mixed with corn kernels, dipped in buttermilk, and coated in glutinous green rice, deep fried, and served with spicy mayonnaise.  Nguyen riffed for days on Facebook, Twitter, and in person about serving and eating his ‘crispy tofu balls. ‘ Other menu items on a recent visit included: SK Kara-Ge, Crispy Kimchi Rice Cakes (Game Changer #1), Bulgogi Burger Báhn mì and Lemongrass Chicken Báhn mì.  Báhn mì are basically Vietnamese sandwiches.

Bulgogi Burger Bahn Mi with Crispy Kimchi Rice Cakes

Laughing about his recent Crispy Tofu Balls fun, the energetic Ngyuen commented, “I love people.  Period.  My favorite part of the day is talking to hundreds of people.  Seeing the regulars, finding out about changes in their lives, making them laugh, entertaining them and hearing the compliments and complaints.  Even if we fail doing this, I’ll still walk away with a few more friends.”

Bahn Mi of Free-Range Lemongrass Chicken in Ginger Sesame Sake Sauce with Japchae (Korean Glass Noodles)

SK(s) Future

The California Plaza SK has been open since February 2010, seven months as of this writing.  When asked about the future of SK, Nguyen does see more Starry Kitchens.  He’s hoping that the no fixed menu, rotating dishes, social media marketing of the current SK might translate into others around the country.  Ngyuen is from Dallas by way of Virginia — he refers to himself as the Asian guy from Texas.  Austin was mentioned as a possible city for additional SKs.  He’s a smart man.  It’s a concept that should work very well in a city like Austin.  But that’s the future.  At the moment the Trans are concentrating on making sure the SK at California Plaza is successful.  So far they are doing an excellent, starry job.

Starry Kitchen, 350 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA  90071, 213-617-3473, http://starrykitchen.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

My Status: Still enjoying the coolest summer we’ve seen in Los Angeles in years (apologies to all readers living east of the Rockies).  Eating, cooking, restaurant-ing, blogging and writing.  A food-filled trip to San Francisco to join my friend, Chef Jeremiah Tower, coming up this weekend.  The IFBC at the end of August (see below), and a trip to Sonoma County in September: returning to Zazu & Bovolo…

Coming Up: International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC), August 27 – 29, 2010, Seattle Washington.  So much fun last year that I’ll be attending again this year.  Are you?

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.

Foraging? There seems to be a new movement afoot in the food and restaurant worlds. Or is it simply an expansion upon sustainable and local eating? Gather what is closest to you versus buying ingredients that come from thousands of miles away. Eat fresh, seasonal, locally produced goods rather than the stuff that sits in ships and trucks for weeks on end. And when possible forage what you can yourself. Go to your local outdoor spaces: fields, mountains, streams and pick the edibles you find there. Harvest your backyard fruit and vegetables, and donate them. There is a mini-movement happening, or at the very least foraging is gaining a more public face. There are more and more Chefs that forage themselves, or rely on foragers to bring them ingredients; organizations that encourage picking public fruit are appearing. Among restaurants Chez Panisse is the most famous for foraging. They have long had a policy of accepting goods at the restaurant’s back door from people who forage in the surrounding area, or grow produce in their backyards. The local person who brings them mushrooms, or backyard strawberries, or edible greens from local mountains that all end up on that day’s menu. On a recent trip to San Francisco we ate at S.P.Q.R. and we had raviolis with locally foraged nettles in them. The chef, Matthew Accarrino, forages his own edibles across the Golden Gate Bridge in the Marin headlands. When he was at Craft in Los Angeles, he worked with forager, Kerry Clasby, to learn the art of foraging. Fallen Fruit is an amazing group that promotes gathering public fruit. Fruit from trees that are in public areas or that hang over sidewalks. The group says this about themselves: “Using fruit as our lens, Fallen Fruit investigates urban space, ideas of neighborhood and new forms of located citizenship and community.” They sponsor Public Fruit Jams, bring your homegrown fruit and participate in communal jam making; Community Fruit Tree Plantings; and most recently they’ve started EAT LACMA in conjunction with LACMA — “a year-long investigation into food, art, culture and politics.” Food as a protest movement? I’ll join up.

Now Los Angeles has a new restaurant that combines foraging and urban harvests: ‘Forage.’ The restaurant actively encourages backyard farmers and gardeners to bring in their bounty to be used in the food they prepare. Since its recent opening it has been very active on Twitter and Facebook; I’ve seen a lot of posts about what has been brought in by customers and how it will be used. They even post who brought what in on the specials chalk board that hangs near the cash register. They see this as a collaboration between the restaurant and the customer. To further this interaction they hold ‘harvest calls’ every Sunday from 3 to 5 p.m. Bring in items from your personal harvest; they will taste them and decide with you how they might be used in an upcoming menu. The Forage website also has a running list of produce they are looking for: garlic, onions, shallots, limes and avocados are on the current list. If you have them, bring them in, they will probably use them.

I have eaten at the restaurant several times and it has been very good each time: fresh, clean, bold. No fancy foams or exotic preparations here; honest food, simply prepared. On my first visit I ordered the Combo Plate — One Small Protein with Two Sides. I chose Chimichurri Rubbed Flank Steak (grilled natural Angus served with nopales tomatillo salsa), Honey Mustard Chickpeas and Greens (sweetly spiced chickpeas with raw mustard greens), and Citrus Beets (citrus marinated beets with goat milk feta and arugula). At lunch today I discovered my current favorite Los Angeles sandwich: P Belly Sandwich (Niman Ranch pork belly on a crusty baguette with cabbage, tomato, fennel pickles and green garlic aioli). The flavors all combined together almost made me swoon. And it was very popular; every other person seemed to order it. For dinner tonight I grabbed one of their roast chickens, Jidori Chicken from Our Rotisserie (here’s the description on the menu: “Jidori, translated from Japanese means ‘chicken of the earth.’ They’re raised locally on a family farm, and we gently roast them with herbs and garlic.”) I added a side of Maryanne’s Broccoli (baby broccoli with chile, shallot, and garlic) and a slice of Chamomile Honey Vanilla Cake. I’ll let you know how it all is tomorrow. Owner and chef Jason Kim, most recently sous-chef at Lucques before venturing out on his own, has the necessary cooking experience to pull this off. It has only been open a short while but so far it has really taken off. There are frequently lines out the door. I like it because it’s local, sustainable, seasonal and most importantly involves the customer in the harvesting and menu planning of the food they will eat. How cool is that to see your backyard fruit or produce become a delicious dish on Chef Kim’s menu? Pretty damned exciting I’d say.

And it’s only three miles from home!

Forage
3823 W. Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026-1529
323-663-6885
www.foragela.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-hundered 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

Upcoming Posts: Interview with Chefs John Stewart & Duskie Estes owners of Zazu & Bovolo restaurants in Sonoma County. Reviews: 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.