food

New vegetarian cookbook has its roots in Echo Park

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Alex Brown (left) and Evan George/Amanda Marsalis

Former line cooks turned food bloggers Evan George and Alex Brown have now released their first cookbook that was conceived, written and photographed in Echo Park. The Hot Knives Vegetarian Cookbook: Salad Daze reflects the pair’s love of vegetarian and vegan fair and the irreverent, chatty style found in their Hot Knives blog. Says Mark Batty Publisher:

Paired with beer selections and soundtracks, these recipes rely on hearty tubers, root vegetables, and bushels of other ingredients readily available during the winter months. Imagine a rice bowl that echoes Primal Scream’s decadent psychedelia; mushrooms with the musty umami of early Rolling Stones; squash ice cream as sweet and tangy as Os Mutantes.

George, who moved from Echo Park to Boyle Heights, said the Salad Daze meals were created and refined in a home kitchen on Avon Street. The meals where then photographed nearby in the home and kitchen of photographer Amanda Marsalis. On Saturday, Nov. 12, George will return to Echo Park with Brown for a book signing and demonstration at Stories Books and Cafe.

What’s on the menu? Homemade NyQuil that, George said, is “one-part elixir, one-part cocktail.”

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Glassell Park

Black cherry ice cream with your brew? Get the scoop on beer floats

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Story and photos by Valentina Silva

The 2nd Annual Beer Float Showdown, hosted by Food GPS, went off at Verdugo Bar in Glassell Park this past Sunday. Admittedly, the whole beer-plus-ice-cream concept was a little baffling at first, but I can now say I love beer floats!

Simmzy’s Cherry Pie (pictured above), the prettiest of the bunch, was my first float of the evening. It was sort of a revelation since when I first heard about the contest, all I could imagine was stout with vanilla ice cream. Simmzy’s opened my mind by using a cherry Lambic called Brouwerij Verhaeghe Kriek, which was on the lighter side, giving it a soda feel. The ice cream was black cherry brown sugar with lots of tart cherry chunks. I took their advice and let the snickerdoodle garnish soak up the beer—surprisingly awesome.

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Echo Park

Shopping for dinner at Echo Park’s Cookbook

Friday, October 1, 2010

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Story and photos by Valentina Silva

Locally-grown, organic and quality foods are hard to find in Eastside neighborhood markets, so I was psyched when word came that Marta Teegan of Homegrown was opening a green grocer in Echo Park. When I finally stepped into Cookbook, I wasn’t disappointed. The tiny shop carries an abbreviated yet satisfying collection of fruit, veggies, cheese, and pantry staples like flour, sugar, green tea, coffee and various cooking oils. Spotted: very hard-to-find Matiz Sugared Tortas, Spanish olive oil crisps encrusted in sugar and spiked with anise.

But I wasn’t looking for sweets – my Cookbook mission was to find fixings for an effortless, and of course delicious, meal. I was directed to a tempting selection of fresh pasta and sauces catered by Heirloom LA (they also supply some pretty yummy-looking sandwiches in the deli case). After some tortured deliberation, I chose the mushroom ravioli, which had a hint of citrus flavor, and some very meaty wild boar bolognese. To round it out, I grabbed a block of Parmesan, served myself some Cerignola olives and asked for a small container of the picturesque roasted peppers and kale from the deli case.

At $34, the price tag for all this was a little steep, but it did create a meal for two that was better quality and a lot cheaper than what I’ve had in many restaurants. My only addition was some sauteed mushrooms (and a couple of glasses of red wine), so the entire preparation took about 10 minutes. Plus, I think I’ll be using that cheese for another month.

My only regret is not buying those Matiz tortas …

Cookbook LA
1549 Echo Park Avenue, Echo Park
(213) 250-1900

Valentina Silva is a regular contributor writing about food and restaurants. You can also find Valentina’s reviews and stories on her new blog, Eastside Food Bites.

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Echo Park

Echo Park restaurant owner plants the idea for an ambitious food program

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Echo Park’ new vegan restaurant, Mooi, has teamed up with Community Supported Agriculture California to serve as a distribution point for farm-fresh produce. Residents will be able to buy and pick up $25 worth of produce on Tuesday afternoons at Mooi. But serving as a CSA pick up center is part of a more ambitious plan by Mooi’s owner, Stephen Hauptfuhr, to make it easier for residents to grow and learn the benefits of a plant-based diet by starting a community garden and offering classes. Two dollars from every order of produce will be earmarked for the garden, according to CSA California. Here’s what Hauptfuhr is working on:

I am putting something together, a proposal if you will, to hopefully get [Councilman] Eric Garcetti’s office and the city council behind re appropriation of land in Echo Park for a community garden. We have turned the basement of Mooi into a usable lounge area and plan to use it for multiple things, including classes/workshops on gardening and the benefits of growing your own food … We then want to use as an extension of the class the community garden to be able to take people from the class environment to the garden and be able to plant, grow and then harvest their produce to take home and make food for themselves. We also have some guest speakers already lined up for September … who are on tours discussing benefits of eating a largely plant based diet.

If the community garden does not materialize, the $2 raised from each order will be redirected to a school garden or nutrition program, said Kali Wnuck with CSA California

Photo by Waldo Jaquith/Flickr

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Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Smoke-free tacos, anyone? A city proposal to ban smoking in outdoor restaurant dining areas also includes a provision for those who like to puff while patronizing their favorite taco truck. Under an ordinance that won the backing of a city council committee, smoking would also be banned within 30 feet of any food truck, according to LA Now. The ordinance, however, says nothing about the smoke belching from passing cars and trucks.

Photo by SteveLyon/Flickr

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Echo Park

What's the big deal about Two Boots Pizza?

Friday, February 6, 2009

The New York chain featuring “Cajun-Italian style” pizza had a “soft opening” for its Echo Park outlet last night according to Daily Dish and Reservation for Three. Several former New Yorkers I know rave about the place. Others are so-so. Can it actually top the Rustica at Pizza Buona or the Chicago deep dish at Masa? Only time and several thousand calories will tell.

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Echo Park

Almost ready for the big night…

Friday, October 31, 2008

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Echo Park

The race to reopen an Echo Park restaurant

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

When the frosted glass door to Restaurant 15 was locked shut last Saturday night, the clock started ticking for Charles Kelly. He does not have a minute to lose. The new owner of the Echo Park Avenue bistro and bar has imposed on himself and his partner an ambitious, or some would say impossible, task of remodeling the interior, redoing the menu, installing some new equipment and retraining the staff in less than a week. His goal: reopen the place under new ownership with a limited menu and wine list this Friday, October 31, at 5 p.m.

Late Monday afternoon, with less than 96 hours before the reopening, Kelly standing on the left) and partner Bill Didonna stood in the middle of the restaurant dining room surrounded by stacks of furniture covered in plastic and the scent of primer paint and plaster in the air. They had initially planned to take more time to transform the Echo Park space into the Allston Yacht Club, kind of a cross between a wine bar and a “small-plate” bistro. But the sale of the restaurant took place sooner than expected, leaving Kelly and Didonna with much less time to get ready. In fact, they will open with the name of the old 15 restaurant still in place.

“We wanted to have more of a relaxed transition,’’ said Kelly, a former film technician who lives in Silver Lake. “But that’s not going to happen.”

So, the race is on. All they have to do is finish painting, finalize the menu, train the staff, find their food vendors and figure out who to call to pick up the trash in time to reopen by Halloween. Talk about scary.

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Echo Park, Glassell Park, Silver Lake