Forewarning: yes, this is crafty corporate concept pizza. It’s not as glaring of an oxymoron when the corporation in question is Lettuce Entertain You, aka, LEYE. In addition to operating such monstrosities as Big Bowl, and Ben Pao — ex-Chicagoans currently trying to “Escape from LA” can cringe… now — LEYE also operates Everest and L2O. Everest was just listed as the 10th most expensive restaurant in the US, and L2O received 3 whopping Michelins this year. Between Everest and L2O, LEYE claims four stars. What does this have to do with Sella Rossa? LEYE owns Stella Rossa, Stella’s Executive Chef Jeff Mahin and sous Patrick Costa are both from L2O.

While there are 2 Ex-Chicagoans helming this “pizza bar”, do not expect Chicago pie shenanigans. I despise deep dish, I hate almost everything from Gino’s East/Lou Malnati’s and Pizzeria Uno/Dos/Tres/etc. After chatting with chef Mahin, it is clear he wants the pies to transcend categories, to serve a higher purpose, if you well. If Alice Waters moved to SoCal and had to make pizza, without her favorite wood burning oven, Stella Rossa’s deck oven baked pie might be something she’d produce. SM’s pie skips the Caputo 00 but uses sea salt, filtered water, live yeast, and Santa Monica farmers market sourced ingredients, natch. The result, born from months of scientific — Chef Mahin has a math degree from Cal — dough and yeast testing, is unnervingly good.

Serious Eats did a nice blurb in July (shortly after my visit) and aptly covers the most important points of Stella Rossa. What it didn’t do, was provide insight into Chef Mahin’s philosophy. This is a corporate chef who left his post to sling pie in a far away land. His sous chef, wearing a 3 Michelin star tattoo on his left bicep, migrated to LA also to sling pie. When asked how he dealt with transition, Mahin stated plainly: cooking is cooking. »continue reading Stella Rossa, Santa Monica: Michelin Powered Pizza

Some of us are really excited for the Eat Real event, so excited we might even brave the 405 closure debacle & cross from East to West side. Heck, some of us who think free labor is like running in public — the horror — might even volunteer.

Here’s the official blurb, interspaced with photos from the “Preview Event”, followed by further thoughts on the festivities inspired by the Eat Real Fest Oakland:

The Eat Real Festival, the urban food extravaganza that showcases food in all its tasty forms, has just announced highlights of the lineup for the jam-packed Los Angeles event taking place at the Helms Bakery District in Culver City, CA on July 16th and 17th, 2011. Offering an extraordinary opportunity for people to celebrate not only the very best of their regional foods, but also the people who grow it and make it. Attendees will get up close and personal with their food through two days of non-stop food skills and hands on DIY demos including a “flying knives” butchery contest, an eclectic array of local food producers in the marketplace and a curated selection of delicious street eats incorporating local and sustainable ingredients all priced at $5 or less. “Eat Real takes the idea of and old-time state fair and turns it on its head,” said Anya Fernald, founder of Eat Real Festival. “For two full days, attendees can dine and sip on delicious items that highlight local, healthy and sustainable ingredients. But eating and drinking is only part of the fun. We’ll also put people in touch with their food by showing how it’s made – from making jam, sauerkraut or bread, raising backyard chickens and bees, to seeing the artistry involved in butchering a steer or pig. We celebrate the very best southern California has to offer and will activate thousands of people to demand good food, all the time.”

There is no cost for entry into the Eat Real Festival. In fact, there is no cost for any of the festival activities that includes music, workshops, demonstrations and events like the canning and butchery contests. The only cost when attending the Eat Real Festival will come from shopping in the marketplace or purchasing food from the food vendors on site. By agreeing to take part in Eat Real, vendors commit to using 1-2 local or sustainable ingredients in their food, hormone free meat and ensure that all prepared food for sale on site will be priced $5 or less. There is also space devoted to local food craft folks (cheese, charcuterie, pickles, jams, and more) and urban homesteading where attendees can learn what it takes to get in touch with your inner backyard farmer.

»continue reading Eat Real Fest LA: For The Anti-Cool July 16 – 17

BoHo v1 had a rather tumultuous ride as Arclight’s neighbor for a year and a half. First, a GM, or 2, was fired. Then the starting free spirited chef left because he couldn’t do whatever it is that he wanted to do. Through it all, BoHo carried on with its gastropubby fare which almost everyone seemed to have enjoyed, to a certain degree. No matter the food, no matter the chef swappage, everyone could always count on BoHo’s 2 dozen rotating craft beers, one of the first (of the second wave in LA) to have such a well-curated list.

No one quite believed BoHo would re-open after the planned October 2010 closure, but it managed to stay remain open, with its bottomless mimosa weekend brunches and all, all the way til Feb of 2011. With an obvious will to survive, it was no surprise BoHo returned to biz at its new digs only after a month of closure.

Except the new location is… wait for it… Hollywood & Highland! Commence collective groan… now. That’s right, BoHo went from being one movie theater’s neighbor to another, except the new one’s in an Egyptian themed mall in the middle of Hollywood. Go ahead, groan again, BoHo’s restauranteur Adolfo Surya doesn’t mind. He brought on a new chef, kept the same excellent beer menu, and hopes tourists (as well as local yokels) will appreciate affordable small batch brewed beer in a cozy environ.

Wesley Pumphrey, the new chef, has worked at Craft and Bazaar, 2 perennial LA faves. Here at BoHo, he’s using Wolfgang Puck designed/built wood-fired pizza to toss out some fantastic pizza/flatbreads. While the menu isn’t exactly the same as OG BoHo, the essence of its fare remains. The fantastic onion soup has disappeared, but a Hawaiian-esque tuna tartare, fully evocative of poke, has subbed in nicely. Moules frites here is solid as well, and offered with both grilled toast along with frites, making the broth all the more dunkable (not a word). Out of the pizzas, there is no doubt the Spaniard, with the sweet roasted piquillo peppers and sweet onion marmalade countering the properly salty manchego and chorizo, will be amongst the greatest hits here. From the mains, the salmon is rather well executed, though it sang the same sweet tune as several other dishes in the mains and apps.

Happy hour of $5 drafts and food bites is already back at BoHo, making it the best craft beer pub, dollar for dollar. On weekends, bottomless mimosas & bloody marys are back as well; now we just need to await the return of the brunch menu.

BoHo 2.0
4th Floor, next to The Grill
6801 Hollywood Blvd #411
Hollywood, CA 90028
(323)465-8500
Validated Parking $2 for 4 hours

The sign itself is modest, muted behind tinted glass, belying the certain impact the contents of its message are soon to reak upon a neighborhood and retail district. It is a simple banner, somewhere between the sort you might make at Kinko’s for a birthday party and one you might hang over an aircraft carrier deck to celebrate the victorious end of the Iraq war, bearing four words in happy fonts that simultaneously elicit giddy anticipation from prospective shoppers while striking the fear of God into the very hearts of Westwood Village food and drug retailers: Trader. Joe’s. Coming. Soon.

»continue reading New Trader Joe’s Taking Shape in UCLA Westwood Village Area

4.38pm, April 25, Losanjealous, CA. DF blasts up the 2 onto the transverse side of the mighty San Gabriels and down into the vast expanse of suburbs and Armeniana that is the City of Glendale. Memories of recent slights by the Losanjealous higher-ups still linger. First: passed over for the big food-critic promotion in favor of outside appointment Georgia. Next: conspicuously left off the invite list to the Coachella Music Festival. I confronted LaVerne about this and he revealed the ugly truth: “DF,” he said, “Losanjealous is nothing if not a high-end tastemaker for the west coast’s cultural elite. And while we’re all amused by your antics, you know, getting stumble-bum drunk at roller derby bouts and all, you’re not exactly … classy.”

4.59pm. Still, I fume. Not classy? What a crock. I ooze class. It comes off me in waves. So for a couple days I asked around for a truly refined event that would allow DF to show off his sophisticated bona fides. The word came from an inside source: there’s lots of buzz about the Rosso Wine Shop in North Glendale, which hosts wine tastings where local oenophiles gather to taste of the grape. Perfect. Now I’ll show LaVerne. I’m gonna class the hell out of this wine tasting!
»continue reading A Classy Affaire: Wine Tasting @ Rosso Wine Shop, 4/25/08

Dancing Bull
Zinfandel
2005
$9.99 (with Ralphs Club)

Notes: This is a really wet wine. An eminently drinkable table red, sourced from a hodgepodge of California grapes. The blend is 80.7% Zinfandel, 5.3% Syrah, 4.5% Petit Syrah, 3.5% Tempranillo. A great dinner wine with bold fruity notes greet the palate like a knock on the door–dark berries, grapes, of course, plum perhaps–while a soupçon of pepper on the backend hangs up your coat and welcomes you to your next smooth swallow. The color, a dark purple, is deep and regal but drinks clean, if a bit sweet, and not at all velvety. »continue reading Losanjealous Wines: 2005 Dancing Bull Zinfandel