The food of Spain has more and better cachet, and major food cred as time goes on. Lagging behind sister European countries like France and Italy due to the slow return from Francisco Franco’s dictatorial ways, Spain’s foods, cuisine and chefs are now hitting their stride on the world stage. Only due to lack of exposure this writer hadn’t fully experienced the wonders of Spain’s food until the last few years.  Assuredly much like many others who pride themselves in eating well, traveling and experiencing new things.

A basket of jamon and chorizo at a Cristina's from Spain booth.

Cristina Rodriguez, owner of Cristina’s from Spain, was born and raised in Madrid.  She has lived for the last seventeen years in Los Angeles.  Missing many of the foods and flavors of her youth she sought out U.S.-based importers who were already importing some of her favorite things to eat from Spain.  She and her husband Tony Testa sell cheeses, jamons, chorizo, tortilla, almonds, olives and other delicacies at various farmers’ markets around Los Angeles.  The difference between what she sells versus what you may find at big box stores like Costco is that she went back to Spain, found the items she remembered she loved so much, then located the items through an established importer.  As a child she remembers a manchego maker in the countryside outside Madrid that sold his cheese village to village on a donkey.  She found him, he’s still making cheese and now she sells it in Los Angeles.

A basket of cheese at a Cristina's from Spain booth.

All the items that she and Tony sell have a similar story.  After tasting one too many mediocre versions of something Cristina knew tasted better back in Spain, she and Tony set out to find the highest quality version of that specific item.  Among the many foods they offer are quince paste, olives, marcona almond flat bread, chorizo, serrano ham, manchego, goat and blue cheeses, and the Spanish favorite tortilla (a potato and egg fritatta).  The couple made sure each item was up to snuff by having Cristina’s mother in Madrid give her approval.  If she didn’t like an item they were considering it wasn’t added to the inventory.  When Cristina and Tony visited Cristina’s mother, Tony took copious notes.  He’s now the official cook in the partnership.  Anything the couple sells that is prepared is Tony’s doing.

Cristina’s goal is to share the flavors she remembers growing up; to find those Spanish delicacies that are a step above the rest; those that taste of the place they come from, the terroir which always affects the flavors in endless nuanced ways.  With the help of people like Cristina and Tony the glorious flavors of Spain will reach more and more willing and hungry mouths.

Tony Testa manning the Cristina's from Spain booth.

Spanish tortilla. The recipe is Tony and Cristina's.

Cristina’s from Spain (323-719-1974) can be found at these Los Angeles-area farmers’ markets: Tuesdays in Silver Lake, Saturdays at La Canada, and Sundays in Atwater Village.

*A version of this post was previously posted on Honest Cooking.

Michael McCarty, chef/owner of Michael's restaurant, at the Santa Monica Farmers' Market.

A shopping and eating adventure with a world-renowned chef and restaurateur: Michael’s Market Meet-Ups — where friends, food and flavor come together.

Chef Michael McCarty is hailed as a pioneer of the California Cuisine movement that began in the early 1980s.  He and a group of California chefs started sourcing and cooking local ingredients only; those solely grown or raised in California.  And a movement was born.  Chef McCarty is the owner of Michael’s Santa Monica, a restaurant that has been at the same location on 3rd Street for thirty-two years.  Chef McCarty prides himself in only serving the best seasonal ingredients and is known for his personal connections to local growers.

Michael’s is two city blocks away from the world-famous Santa Monica Farmers’ Market.  He and his chefs make weekly visits to the market to see what is in season, to decide on menus, and to buy produce for the restaurant.  Considering his knowledge of ingredients and his familiarity with the purveyors it comes as no surprise that he can easily lead a tour of the market, and that he knows virtually every vendor.

Alex Weiser of Weiser Family Farms.

Michael’s Market Meet-Ups are monthly tours of the market led by Chef McCarty followed by a lunch prepared from items purchased at the market.  On the most recent meet-up seven of us met Chef McCarty at Michael’s at 8:30 in the morning for coffee and house-made cinnamon buns.  Shortly thereafter we set out for the market where he introduced us to his favorite vendors while also grabbing items for that day’s lunch.  Since it’s spring in California it was all about spring ingredients: English peas, fava beans, ramps and morel mushrooms.  As we toured the market Chef McCarty offered lessons on produce of the season, as well as tips for navigating the market and selecting the best ingredients.  We met Alex Weiser of Weiser Family Farms, a McCarty favorite.  We stopped by Pudwill Berry Farms, another McCarty recommendation, where his executive chef bought berries for the restaurant.

Buying berries at the Pudwill Berry Farms stand.

When we returned to Michael’s for lunch we were served Morel Mushroom Wonton Soup (English peas, fava bean wontons, ramps, tempura morel in a morel mushroom broth), followed by Warm Spring Salad (ramps, pickled English peas, morel lardons, and a poached egg in a mustard and fava bean dressing).

Morel Mushroom Wonton Soup

Warm Spring Salad

The final hurrah was receiving a copy of McCarty’s cookbook Welcome to Michael’s and having him personally autograph it.  A fun, educational culinary outing with one of California’s best-loved chefs and food personalities.  Not a bad way to spend a Wednesday morning.

For more information on Michael’s Market Meet-Ups, and to find out when the next one is scheduled, check the Michael’s Santa Monica website ~ http://www.michaelssantamonica.com/

*A version of this post was previously posted on Honest Cooking.

This sign went up recently in a Wells Fargo parking lot in my neighborhood.  It brought back so many memories.  When I was little before my father left, and even after he left, Sunday was pancake day.  The day my father made breakfast.  It was always pancakes.  They were nothing fancy.  He used Bisquick pancake mix.  They were thin and he made big stacks of them.  It seemed like I ate five or six at a sitting but that could be my memory exaggerating.  I loved putting loads of butter between each one and dousing them with syrup.  Again, it was Log Cabin syrup, nothing fancy.  When I cut into them with a fork all the butter and syrup would squish up, the pancakes acting like a saturated sponge.  It was starchy, buttery, syrupy pancake heaven.  I looked forward to Sunday all week.  I ate until I was sick (literally once!).

After my parents divorce my father would still come around on the occasional Sunday to make us pancakes but as time went on, and he remarried that ceased.  That’s when we started going to pancake breakfasts put on by the Lions Club, or the Kiwanis, or some other men’s social group.  Just like the one in the picture, they took place outdoors if the weather was nice, or in a church hall if it wasn’t.  There were long tables with chairs to sit at and eat.  The men’s club members made the pancakes, and I believe some of them were all-you-can-eat.  They were also inexpensive so for my mother raising two children on her own it was the perfect outing.  Food her children loved, away from home, we might have gone with neighbors or friends so it was social as well.  I grew up in a small California town so these pancake breakfasts had a real community feel to them.

Living in large cities all my adult life I’d forgotten about them until I saw this sign.  I just might have to go this one.  The area of Los Angeles I live in, Atwater Village, has a small town vibe to it so a Lions Club pancake breakfast fits right in.  I’ve lived here for five years, this has been going on for sixty-seven, I’m not sure why I never noticed it before.  I’m glad I did.  It’s brought back some very nice memories.  If I do end up going, I’ll report back, and post some pictures.

Are there pancake breakfasts in your community?  Do you go to them?

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 most recent story is “L.A. – Casa Vega, Hang With The Stars on Cinco de Mayo.” I’ll be writing several pieces a month about the L.A. food scene.

#2 – Los Angeles ~ Sunday, May 15, 1 pm – 5 pm, ~ Taste of the Eastside 2011, an all-star regional tasting event with a diverse array of Eastside restaurants at Barnsdall Art Park.

My Status:  Enjoying the arrival of spring in So Cal and the new spring produce: artichokes, asparagus, peas, spring garlic.  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: Heartland: The Cookbook by Judith Fertig, and Goat: Meat, Milk, Cheese by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough.

7.7 miles, about 20 minutes from my home in Atwater Village.

Lindy & Grundy, Local, Pastured & Organic Meats opened a few weeks ago in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles.  The shop which was sorely needed and highly anticipated opended to throngs of customers and rave reviews.  Owned by wife-and-wife team, Erika Nakamura and Ameila Posada, Lindy Grundy (as it’s affectionately called), only sells pastured and organic meats sourced within 150 miles.  “Lindy” and “Grundy” are the women’s nicknames: Lindy is Posada aka the Shop Mama, and Grundy is Nakamura aka Meat Maven.  The Tokyo born Nakamura learned the butchering trade from Josh Applestone of Fleisher’s Grass-fed & Organic Meats, a sustainable butcher in upstate New York.  Posada, a native of the Los Angeles-area, oversees the day-to-day operation of the shop, and is also a food activist committed to teaching America how to eat.

Lindy Grundy practices nose-to-tail butchering, allowing them to use the whole animal which produces very little waste.  The small, family farms they source their meat and poultry from never use antibiotics or hormones, and the grass the animals eat is not treated with pesticides or herbicides.  In addition to the beef, pork, lamb and poultry they carry, they make their own sausages and charcuterie.  Because they only sell from whole animals running out of stock is always a possibility which happened in their first week.  The anticipation in the community was such that by the end of the first week of business they had sold out of almost their entire stock.  This is not only a good sign, it’s a great one.  It speaks to the high-quality one can expect when shopping at Lindy & Grundy.

Los Angeles can never have too many small, neighborhood, and in this case artisan butchers so welcome to Lindy & Grundy, and best wishes for much success.

Lindy & Grundy Local, Pastured & Organic Meats, 801 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046, 323-951-0804, http://www.lindyandgrundy.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 most recent story is “L.A. – Grilled Cheese Invitational 2011.”  I’ll be writing several pieces a month about the L.A. food scene.

#2 – Los Angeles ~ Sunday, May 15, 1 pm – 5 pm, ~ Taste of the Eastside 2011, an all-star regional tasting event with a diverse array of Eastside restaurants at Barnsdall Art Park.

My Status:  Enjoying the arrival of spring in So Cal and the new spring produce: artichokes, asparagus, peas, spring garlic.  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: Heartland: The Cookbook by Judith Fertig, and Goat: Meat, Milk, Cheese by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough.

Or maybe I should say citrus was California?  But no, despite the Southern California citrus industry going the way of the subsequent aerospace industry, I still think citrus is California.  I was inspired to write about California citrus by an article that recently ran in the Sunday Los Angeles Times’ L.A. Then and Now column: “Southern California’s Great Citrus Had It’s Crate Advertising.” The article is about the colorful labels slapped onto the wooden crates the fruit was packed in, and how they were considered cutting-edge marketing at the time.  Big, bold, multi-color images of the fruit and the growers logos let the consumer know that the oranges, lemons and grapefruit of that specific grower were special, above average.

Photo courtesy of the Citrus Label Society.

Oranges, Oranges Everywhere!

As the article goes on to explain, after the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 California’s citrus industry exploded.  Between 1880 and 1893 citrus acreage grew from a few thousand acres to more than 40,000 with 90% of it in Southern California.  That’s a lot of oranges.  Growers wanted to stand out from the crowd so catchy brand names, and colorful labels were born.  By the late 1950s when pre-printed cardboard boxes replaced the crates 8,000 designs had been created.  That’s a lot of labels.  I guess I’m a total geek after all because I love stuff like this!  I was also thrilled to learn through the article about the Citrus Label Society located here in Southern California.

My mother remembers coming to the Los Angeles-area when she was a child in the 1940s and seeing orange groves as far as the eye could see.  Much of what is now city, or housing tracts, used to be orange groves.  The industry existed all over Southern California down to San Diego, out to Riverside County and north to Santa Barbara.  One can imagine the air full of the scent of citrus.  It must have been magical.  What remains of local citrus growing is primarily in the Santa Paula, Ojai and Santa Barbara areas.  The California citrus industry ultimately migrated north to the San Joaquin Valley and now ranks second to Florida in overall citrus sales.  But remnants of the old days are still around.

Citrus, On the Honor System

A good friend’s mother lives in Loma Linda, a city in the Inland Empire that is located in San Bernardino County, east of Los Angeles by about sixty-five miles.  The area was once nothing but orange groves; there are still pockets here and there of leftover groves.  On a visit to Loma Linda to see my friend who lives in London, I noticed tables with bags of oranges on them in front of peoples’ homes.  On the tables there would also be a locked box with a slit for money.  A handwritten sign would list the cost of the fruit.  All on the honor system.  So wonderful and old-fashioned.  I saw this again on a recent trip to Ojai (see above photo).  To me this sort of throwback to bygone days is magical.  The trust people still have that no one will drive off with the whole kit and caboodle is heartwarming.

The Thompson children, Lee, De Ette, Russell, June and Ed (my father).

My Father, the Orange Picker

Citrus does have a place in the Thompson family history.  In 1940 at the tale end of the Dust Bowl, my destitute grandmother grabbed her five children, joined a widower neighbor and his two children, and high-tailed it out of Oklahoma City.  Where was my grandfather, you may ask?  He was holed up in San Francisco with his most recent girlfriend, one he’d met on one of his cross-country truck driving gigs.  My feisty, salt-of-the-earth grandmother wasn’t going to let him leave her high and dry with five young children so she went after him.  The group of nine piled onto a flat bed truck, sleeping alongside the road as they drove out to California.  Arriving in California flat broke, the ubiquitous orange groves beckoned.  The story goes that my grandmother split off from the widower neighbor, and she and the children made enough money picking oranges to continue on to San Francisco where she found my profligate grandfather.  And that’s how that side of the family ended up in California.  I can happily blame my wandering grandfather with a token of appreciation to those long ago orange groves.

Citrus still is California.  Citrus, more than any other industry, established modern California.  Orange County has its name because it was once all orange groves.  Imagine that where Disneyland is now used to be all citrus groves.  There was a time when “Citrus was King” in California, and the citrus boom of the early 1900s was called the “second Gold Rush.”  All those oranges, lemons and grapefruit helped continue California’s legacy as “The Golden State” — the land of sunshine and opportunity (and citrus!)

Did you know that California has a state historic park devoted to citrus?  Neither did I! ~ California Citrus State Historic Park

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 – 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!

#3 – Sunday, May 15, 1 pm – 5 pm, ~ Taste of the Eastside 2011, an all-star regional tasting event with a diverse array of Eastside restaurants at Barnsdall Art Park.

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.

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.

“Living life locally” is a catchphrase for this blog.  100 miles is a theme I try to follow.  Regular readers know very well that I often venture way beyond 100 miles but the idea of “local” is still of paramount importance to me and what I write about.  This is why I’m such a huge fan of Artisanal L.A. — their motto is “Eat Local.”  This is an event meant for me.  Artisanal L.A. is two days of chef demos, expert-led panels and speakers on craft beer, local honey, urban homesteading and so much more.  Nearly 100 local, artisanal, and hand-made vendors and purveyors will be in attendance.  The food is great, the demos interesting, the lectures educational, and most importantly it’s the nicest group of people.

I went to the first ever Artisanal L.A. this past fall where I met butcher team Ameila Posada and Erika Nakamura of Lindy & Grundy Local, Pastured & Organic Meats.  They couldn’t have been nicer.  I watched Erika break down a side of pork.  Since then the entire Los Angeles fooderati have watched and waited for their new butcher shop to open.  It opened a week ago Tuesday and they sold out of most of their inventory in the first week.  A huge success.  I also met Jennifer Piette of Out of the Box Collective, a full service sustainable, organic grocery delivery service (I wrote a post about OTBC here.)  Jennifer and her company embody the living life locally ethos.  Expert pickler (among other skills) Racheal Narins of Chicks With Knives manned a booth selling some of her hand-made pickled items of which I bought several bottles.  She also teaches classes in pickling.  I sat in on a beekeeping-honey making lecture that was so interesting.  One day I hope to have hives of my own.  I also ate unending amounts of terrific food.  So much fun was had that I didn’t want the event to end.

Artisanal L.A. is all about supporting local-area artisans and food craftspeople, and purveyors.  It’s a great meeting place, a wonderful gathering to share tastes, ideas, helpful hints, and a love of local food.  Come on out and meet your local artisans, and craftspeople, taste and buy some of their wares.  The spring event is taking place this weekend.

Artisanal L.A., Saturday, April 16, 11 am to 8 pm, and Sunday, April 17, 11 am to 7 pm, $10 pre-sale tickets online, $15 at the door.

Hope to see you there.

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 food magazine site Honest Cooking.  My first story was published today: “Berlin Currywurst Arrives to L.A.” I’ll be writing several pieces a month on 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.

My Status:  Enjoying the gradual arrival of spring in So Cal and the last of the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens, fennel.  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.

Luz Marina Habibioglu, Robert's mother, with her Colombian empanadas. Photo credit: Phil Nigash.

Colombian food has become a big part of my life since meeting my boyfriend, Robert four years ago — primarily because his mother, Lucy is an amazing cook, and loves to feed us.  She not only cooks Colombian food but all styles of food, and always without recipes.  I have learned to love such dishes as empanadas (in photo above), arepas, and sancocho, among many others.

Robert and I just completed a year long project: walking all forty-two stairways in Charles Fleming’s “Secret Stairs: A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Los Angeles”.  Every Sunday morning since last May we have tackled one of the stair walks in this book.  Robert started his own blog, Climbing L.A. that documented our experience.  It was an amazing journey all over the Los Angeles area.  Our forty-second walk took place last Sunday, April 3, and to celebrate Robert threw a Colombian fiesta and asked his mother to cook.  What a party it was!

Empanadas, Arepas, and Sancocho

Lucy's sancocho. Photo credt: Phil Nigash.

Luz Marina, or “Lucy” as we all call her came to the States from Cali, Colombia in 1962.  She has lived here ever since.  Both Robert and his brother were born in the U.S.  While Lucy is now a U.S. citizen, she’s still Colombian through and through and this comes out most in her cooking.  She loves to throw a party and when she does she always makes empanadas.  In fact, she’s famous for her empanadas, and gets requests to bring them when she’s invited to other people’s homes and parties.  We held this party in Griffith Park as the last stair walk we did skirted the park.  Robert and Lucy decided to serve arepas, emapanadas, sancocho, (a one-pot hearty soup), ensalada de zanahoria y remolacha con repollo y cebolla, a beet and cabbage salad and, arroz con leche (rice pudding) for dessert.  Robert also made his famous dulce de leche brownies.

Arepas, empanadas and chicharron. Photo crediit: Phil Nigash.

Arepas are cornmeal cakes similar to a corn tortilla but much thicker.  They can be grilled, baked or fried.  Lucy makes hers with sour cream and farmers’ cheese.  I love them and now have a stash in my freezer, and on weekends Robert heats them up and serves them with fried eggs.  ¡Muy rico! Empanadas are a type of cornmeal fritter stuffed with shredded beef, or pork, or even potato and served with a sauce called ají. Lucy stuffs hers with beef; Robert makes the ají.  Sancocho is a hearty soup that can be made with almost any kind of meat,  (chicken, beef, pork) including fish that also contains large pieces of potato, plantain, yuca (cassava) and vegetables like corn.  It’s a substantial one-pot meal, and is very popular in Colombia.  Lucy’s version had beef, potatoes, plantains and yuca.  As I have learned most recipes for Colombian food are subject to change and alteration depending on the region of the country.

Lucy and Robert in their makeshift-park kitchen.

Paseo de Olla

Paseo de olla translates as “excursion with a pot.”  I love this concept as described to me by both Lucy and Robert.  Cali where Lucy is from is very near the Equator so always on the warm side.  As a little girl she and her family spent many Sundays enjoying paseo de ollas along the banks of the local river.  They took everything they needed to make a sancocho on the river bank.  A big pot, and all the ingredients; while the children swam in the river, the men started a wood-fire, and the women cooked a big pot of hearty soup.  Lucy told me they also did their laundry in the river!  Apparently the paseo de olla-river experience still takes place in Colombia and is quite popular (minus the laundry).  We had our own version of a paseo de olla.

Lucy serving sancocho to party guests Leah and Inés. Photo credit: Phil Nigash.

We had about thirty people at our paseo de olla.  Many of them were regular stair walkers on our Sunday walks; others were friends and family, all fans of our project.  It was a great way to celebrate the end of our project.  We ate very well thanks to Lucy (and Robert).  Here are a few more photos from the “party in the park” as Robert liked to call it:

The sancoho cooking away. Photo credit: Phil Nigash.

Robert and me in our custom-made Secret Stairs T-shirts! Photo credit: Phil Nigash.

Lucy gave a speech in Spanish and Robert translated simultaneously. Photo credit: Phil Nigash.

Ensalada de zanahoria y remolacha con repollo y cebolla. Photo credit: Phil Nigash.

Robert and Lucy serving sancocho. Photo credit: Phil Nigash.

Group shot of all the party guests.

Thanks to all who came on the walks, to all who supported this project, to Jimmy Habibiolgu, Lucy’s husband and Robert’s step-father, and thanks to Phil Nigash for all the great photos.  To read all about our stair walks go to Robert’s blog ~ Climbing L.A., and for more party and Colombian food photos check out my Flickr stream (a side bar of this blog).

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

#1 – 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!

#2 – 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.

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

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  *A post on New York food blogger Sean Sullivan of Spectacularly Delicious.  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.

Moules Marinière from Le Saint Amour.

Is there an uptick in the number of French restaurants in Los Angeles?  I certainly hope so.  French food = comfort food.  At least in the case of Le Saint Amour in Culver City.  I haven’t kept track, and I don’t really know actual figures but it seems to me that there are more and more French restaurants opening in Los Angeles.  And that’s a good thing.  We’ve been so Italian for so long that I’m ready for the return of France.  The best recent example of this was my weekend visit to the very French Le Saint Amour, a Culver City restaurant that has been open for a year and a half.

Escargots de Bourgogne from Le Saint Amour.

French Restaurants in Los Angeles, (San Francisco and New York)

But before I go there, a bit more on French restaurants in Los Angeles, (San Francisco and New York too).  I just checked on Open Table and seventy-four French restaurants came up in a search for Los Angeles and Orange counties.  A quick cursory glance and I’d remove a number of them because they’re not truly French.  A secondary search of West Hollywood/Beverly Hills/Mid-Wilshire and the Westside gave me thirty-five results.  For those same neighborhoods seventy-three results pop up for Italian.

Not scientific in the least.  The reason I say there seem to be more French places: Le Saint Amour, Petrossian, Fraîche Culver City (French chef Benjamin Bially), RESTAURANT at the Sunset Marquis (French chef Guillaume Burlion), Church & State, Comme Ça, Bistro LQ (French chef Laurent Quenioux), RH at the Andaz (French chef Pierre Gomes), to name a few and not naming the many that have French influenced menus, or American chefs that lean towards cooking French food.  And then there’s Ludo!  French chef Ludovic Lefebvre who cooks French in a way no one has before at his pop up restaurants, Ludo Bites.  Café Stella is my favorite neighborhood bistro.  Sitting on the outdoor patio feels like being on a back street of Paris.

San Francisco has always been more equitable when it comes to French versus Italian, or maybe it’s just their natural hybridization of French food — it simply appears as part of the menu on so many Bay Area restaurants.  They naturally cook French.  They operate their restaurants in the French brasserie/bistro/café way.  I’m not sure if Zuni still does it but in my Zuni eating days (’80s to ’90s) they had an oyster station outside on Market Street, complete with shucker and all.  So very Parisian.  New York is the most welcoming to French food and French chefs.  Mostly, I’d venture to say, due to its size and numbers: a huge city, millions of mouths to feed.  All cuisines get good coverage there.  I’ve always felt that Los Angeles was slighted when it came to French restaurants.  They’re here, they exist but not in the ways they do in San Francisco and New York.

Les Frites from Le Saint Amour.

Le Saint Amour

Over this past weekend Robert and I were returning from a great day with food blogger friend Sean Sullivan (of Spectacularly Delicious)* who was in town from New York.  We’d dropped Sean off at his hotel, and were on the 10 Freeway going home and desperately needed gas.  Off at Robertson Boulevard and suddenly we were in Culver City.  Hunger.  Parked and walked along Culver Boulevard.  I wanted to find Le Saint Amour as I’d heard about it.  We popped in around six forty-five and a kindly French woman promptly sat us.  I assume this was Madame Herve-Commereuc.  The place felt so French.  Café.  Bistro.  Brass, lace curtains, French café chairs, art deco advertising posters on the wall.  The very French waiter sealed the deal.  Heavy French accent, no name (thank God), available not intrusive.  I knew I was in a French restaurant when I ordered my Steak Frites and he simply said “medium-rare?” as if there was simply no other option.  The food was quite good, straight forward, traditional French café/bistro fare.  It was just what I wanted.

Owned by Florence and Bruno Herve-Commereuc they recently hired chef Walter Manzke to revamp the menu.  Chef Manzke introduced a Plats du Jour menu, a different special each night of the week.  These are truly French dishes.  The night we were in it was Bouillabaisse.  Other current dishes include Choux Farci, Bourride Provenςale, and Filet Mignon Bordelaise. Monsieur Herve-Commereuc is a master charcutier and makes house-made charcuterie, and terrines.  Oysters, onion soup, escargots, bone marrow are among the many typical French dishes on the regular menu.  If I lived in Paris, this is the kind of neighborhood place that would be a second home.  I’d pop in on my way home from work, or for a morning café. I wish it was in my Atwater Village neighborhood so I could.

Now then: All you Los Angeles-based French chefs, put the word out to your French brethren to hie their way across the Pond, and our vast continent to our sunny Southern California shores.  We need more French restaurants in Los Angeles.  And for the rest of you Angeleno readers: Are there more French restaurants opening in Los Angeles?

Bon appétit!

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

#1 – 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!

#2 – Thursday, March 31, 2011, 6 pm – 10 pm ~ Mo Chica’s 18th Tasting Dinner – 6 Courses for Japan Relief at Mo-Chica, Los Angeles, CA. Help raise money for Japan disaster relief.  Special tasting menu by chef Ricardo Zarate.  Details here.

#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.

My Status:  Enjoying the gradual arrival of spring in So Cal and the last of the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens, 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.  *A post on New York food blogger Sean Sullivan of Spectacularly Delicious.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. More The Local Reports. Cookbook Reviews: Southern My Way by Gena Fox; Heartland: The Cookbook by Judith Fertig; Small-Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers by Debby Maugans; Maida Heatter’s Cakes, and Maida Heatter’s Cookies by Maida Heatter.

.8 miles, about 3 minutes (driving), or about 16 minutes (walking), from my home in Atwater Village.

Small, medium or large.  Or maybe it’s just medium and large.  I can’t remember exactly.  The point is they’re not some kind of faux-Italian words made up for coffee sizes.  Very old-fashioned but Kaldi Coffee & Tea is a throw back coffee place.  They roast their own coffee, and it’s good coffee.  You can buy it in bulk, or order it there.  The choices seemingly endless on the very large chalk board.  And if you want tea there’s a really great selection to choose from.

Kaldi sits smack dab in the middle of my neighborhood, Atwater Village, the few blocks that run just east of the 5 Freeway and Silver Lake almost to San Fernando Road.  It’s in the middle of a mish-mash of businesses that are constantly changing, (when the casket shop closed two doors down a marijuana dispensary — I think that’s what it was — opened, it lasted about six to eight months.  The gift shop right next door where I bought several Christmas and birthday gifts recently shuttered, now both businesses sit empty).  There’s a bookstore, a few hair salons, two liquor stores, several restaurants, a Starbucks, a wine shop, a pizza place, a Bikram yoga studio all close at hand that along with Kaldi make up the “village” part of Atwater Village.

I like Kaldi for obvious reasons; it’s a small, localized business, they roast their own coffee, they offer something to the community.  The coffee is stellar and the counter guys are super friendly.  Most every time I stop in every table is taken — granted it’s library-quiet because everyone is on a laptop, some with ear buds firmly planted.  That’s okay, it’s place to go, a refuge for folks in the neighborhood.  Often when I’m working at home, and need a break, I’ll walk over for an afternoon coffee.  Robert and I frequently eat at one of the restaurants along the boulevard, and if we time it right we make it to Kaldi just before they close to grab an end-of-day brownie or cookie that are sold at half-price just before closing.

Kaldi Coffee & Tea, 3147 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90039, (323) 660-6005

*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

Update: A follow up to my post on Graham Kerr ~ his new book “Growing at the Speed of Life,” all about starting his first kitchen garden, was published on March 1, 2011 if you’d like to learn more about what he’s been up to lately.

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

#1 – Sunday, March 6, 2011 ~ 7th Annual Cassoulet Night ~ Lucques Restaurant, 8474 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA  323-655-6277 ~ http://www.lucques.com/

#2 – Monday, March 14, 2011 – Blood, Bones and Butter ~ A Dinner in Honor of the Publication of Prune Chef, Gabrielle Hamilton’s First Book ~ Lucques Restaurant, 8474 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA  323-655-6277 ~ http://www.lucques.com/

My Status: Still enjoying winter in So Cal and the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens, beets and fennel.  Trying to bone up my citrus knowledge so bought a pomelo and some Sumo mandarins (aka the Dekopan in Japan), a new crossbreed of citrus recently introduced to the U.S.  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. More The Local Reports coming soon. Cookbook Reviews: “The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook” by Rachel Saunders, “Grilled Cheese, Please! by Laura Werlin, and Southern My Way by Gena Fox.