Power Lunching @ Osteria Mamma

You hear about those Hollywood power lunches. Execs hang out at the Ivy, sip their gimlets, talk shop over a salad. I on the other hand usually spend lunch time in my office or at the gym. But just once, goshdarnit, I too can have my Hollywood power lunch. At Osteria Mamma. I wasn't going to close any deals over lunch. I was going to have a quick lunch and test out the menu for my food blog.

Osteria La Buca (another restaurant) originated on Melrose Ave and was a neighborhood favorite as chef Mamma cooked up her fresh pastas. After some falling out, Mamma and her son left the restaurant. I recently went back to Osteria La Buca and wasn't all too impressed with their pasta dish. When I heard that Mamma and son decided to set up shop just a couple blocks away from La Buca, I was excited to check it out. Their restaurant is cleverly named Osteria Mamma.

Osteria Mamma does not have a liquor license yet and was initially BYOB for the time being but when I got there, I saw a sign outside that said outside alcohol was prohibited. Apparently "someone" complained to the food & beverage authorities about it. Wonder if that complaint came from an ex-partner a couple blocks down the street. I don't want to sound like a lush but that sucks! You gotta have a glass of wine with pasta, no? Well, I do!

Decor is simple with old black and white photos hanging on the wall.

The menu includes salad, pastas, paninis and entrees. The pastas are homemade and some favorites include the gnocchi and bolognese.

Bread with tomato sauce. They serve this at La Buca as well.

Carpaccio di Manzo $16.25
Tenderloin carpaccio served with mâched salad in truffle dressing and shaved white mushrooms
The carpaccio was tender, thin, lean and not fatty. It was a good cut of meat but it needed a bit of seasoning. Thankfully there was a salt shaker on the table and a pinch really did the trick. The drizzle of truffle cream dressing was aromatic and rich. A great combination with the carpaccio. I wished they had used wild exotic mushrooms instead of the ones that looked like they came from a package from Ralphs.

Crostini di Burrata $17.25
Burrata crostini with black truffle and prosciutto
There was a pretty sizable portion of cheese on each crostini. The burrata was creamy and fresh. I liked the slices of black truffle and the prosciutto was fresh.

Trenette Nere alla Bottarga $17.95
Black squid ink trenette, organic cherry tomatoes, shrimp and bottarga
I love squid ink pasta. There's something about the color and the flavor from the infusion of squid ink. The pasta was fresh and the shrimp was plump and cooked perfectly. Bottaga is cured fish roe and it added some texture to the pasta. Unfortunately the sauce had an odd sour tangy taste. I liked the pasta but I didn't think the sauce was as good as Valentino's. Perhaps it was the rich lobster sauce at Valentino that won me over.

I enjoyed the food at Osteria Mamma. It was great to indulge over lunch for a change instead of making my homemade turkey sandwich. It was good ole Italian comfort food. The service was great as well from the friendly hellos to the authentic Italian accent of our waiter. Apparently the BlackboardEats 30% promotion that we were planning to use was only for Fridays and Saturdays however they were accommodating and gave us the full discount anyway. It wasn't the cheapest lunch at $25 per person sans alcohol but it was a good excuse to get out of the office. I'd like to return to sample the gnocchi or a pizza ex-cheese, but only after they get some booze in stock.

Hits: carpaccio, burrata, shrimp
Misses: no alcohol yet
Rating: ***

Osteria Mama
5732 Melrose Ave.,
Los Angeles, CA 90038
(323) 284-7060
http://www.osteriamamma.com/

Philippe: Chinese restaurant that sounds French, and priced like upscale French

Philippe Chow owns a string of high end Chinese restaurants in Miami and New York, and faced some legal issues last year. According to famed Michael Chow (of Mr. Chow restaurants), Philippe Chow, who used to work in a limited capacity at Mr. Chow, was trying to capitalize on the Mr. Chow brand by serving relatively similar items and deceiving customers into thinking that the restaurants are related. Amidst the lawsuits, Philippe opened in West Hollywood last year at the old Dolce spot on Melrose Avenue. There's ample street parking so at least you can save a couple bucks and use them towards your expensive dinner. I would never subscribe to overpriced Chinese food but when BlackboardEats offered a 30% discount, I decided that I could check the place out under these conditions.

After reading up on reviews on Yelp, the common thread seemed to be that food was overpriced but service had improved substantially as of late.

The decor is sleek, modern and nothing like your typical Chinese restaurant. If you didn't know any better, you might think this was a fancy French restaurant based on the restaurant name and decor.

The dining area had stiff red leather booths.

We started off with cocktails at the bar.
Pearfection (Absolut Pear, TY KU liquor, muddled Asian pear, lemon juice, simple syrup) and Golden Grape (Ciroc vodka, muddled grapes, Elderflower cordial, finished with champagne and a frozen grape garnish). Both drinks were delicious especially the Golden Grape but pricey at $19. There was also a plate of candied walnuts and peanuts at the bar. They didn't change out the plate after I grabbed some with my grubby hands. Not very hygienic for an upscale restaurant.

The menu included items that you could pretty much get from Chinese restaurant Hop Li. Although the BlackboardEats promotion listed minimum of 2 appetizers, they weren't strict about it. They just wanted to ensure that diners didn't come in for just one appetizer and water. Our waitress made some recommendations and I liked that she didn't try to trick us into over ordering.

We ordered a bottle of pinot grigio. After a $19 cocktail, I was afraid to look at the wine list but they have reasonably priced bottles. Ours was $55 and it was pretty mid range.


Chicken satay (3 for $18)
This was one of their special dishes, apparently very similar to the one at Mr. Chow. It looked a funky red but was actually pretty good. The meat was tender, moist and tasted almost like veal. Most satays are served with a very strong peanut sauce but this sauce had a creamy flavor in addition to peanut.

Mr. Cheng's noodles, hand pulled noodles in veal bean sauce.
The noodles were fresh but a bit soggy. The sauce also seemed a bit slimy but I really liked the flavor. The noodles were served with cucumbers that were crisp and crunchy.

Steamed Chilean sea bass with two sauces, garlic and black bean sauce.
The fish was not as tender as other ones that we've had or even prepared at home. It's a pity because Chilean sea bass is supposed to be buttery if prepared correctly, hence the higher price tag. When eating this fish, you couldn't even tell that it was a superior cut of fish. It could easily have been another white fish. The black bean sauce was better than the garlic sauce as it had more flavor.

Steamed white rice in a fancy tin pot.

We just HAD to order their specialty 7lb Peking duck. Yes, it's indulgent and at $75, extravagant (we did have some leftovers, although not a lot). I know you can get duck at the Chinese restaurant for $20 but we were at Philippe, we had a 30% discount and the duck aroma that filled the room was all too tempting.

Chef came out and expertly carved the Peking duck, thinly slicing the meat from bone. We asked for the meat and bones to take home for making stock.

The duck was served with thin house made wrappers which I prefer over starchy buns that some restaurants use. Apparently pancakes are the more authentic form of wrapper. They use the more doughy buns further south in China.

It's interesting that they sliced the duck and skin together. At some Chinese restaurants, they slice off the skin 1st, then the meat and bones separately. The duck skin was crispy and there was not much oil in between skin and meat, however the meat itself was under seasoned. It tasted bland if you ate it alone. I couldn't help but compare it to the Peking duck I recently had for Chinese New Year at Hop Woo. The meat was flavorful on its own and one duck yielded so much food (skin, meat and bones).

A package with duck skin and hoisin sauce. Even if you are on a low carb diet, I would recommend eating the skin with the pancake because the latter absorbed some of the fat from the skin and just held everything in place.

Our waitress brought by the dessert tray. A bit incongruent here as the desserts were not Asian. Desserts included molten chocolate cake and creme brulee. Wish they offered some Asian inspired desserts, perhaps something with black sesame or red bean.

Red velvet cake was more like a neapolitan with layers of cake and cream cheese, garnished with berry sauce and strawberries.
It was delicious, wasn't overly sweet and was something different that wasn't a chocolate dessert.

We got fortune cookies with the bill which came up to about $270 pre-discount and excluding the cocktails at the bar. With the discount, we paid about $70 per person.

The fortunes are playful and leaves diners laughing when they exit. My favorite is the master baiter. *hee hee*, can't stop giggling like a schoolgirl. Wonder if they serve PG-13 fortunes if there are kids present at the table.

I was impressed with the service. It wasn't stuffy at all. In fact, when we mentioned that we were utilizing the BlackboardEats discount, the host seemed excited about it and didn't look down on us or compromise their service. Service was attentive and friendly. I liked the ambiance- it was fancy, trendy yet inviting, and they played awesome tunes including Zeppelin and Coldplay. But of course apart from service and ambiance, there isn't anything else going for Philippe especially if you are Asian or frequent Chinese restaurants. Philippe's is pricey. Very pricey. But then again, you should already know that going in. So don't act surprised. You made the decision to dine there. You made the decision to pay exorbitant prices. The part that was disappointing was that the menu was exactly like what you could find in a regular Chinese restaurant. We were hoping that they would put a spin on some classic Chinese dishes as we'd be willing to pay for that. Unfortunately, the menu items were traditional although less tasty than what you could find at an authentic joint. And at $75 for the duck, I was hoping for it to taste different than what I could get at Hop Woo. Well, I guess it was different. It was bland. In any case, glad we got the 30% discount because my financial advisor would not approve otherwise. Checking this off my list but probably won't be returning unless asomeone else picks up the tab.

Hits: satay, cocktails, service
Misses: prices, duck meat bland, fish, nothing unique
Rating: ***

Philippe by Philippe Chow
8284 Melrose Ave.,
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 951-1100
www.philippechow.com

Facing your fears, then rewarding yourself with bubbly @ Bin 73

I had the weekend all planned out. Beerfest on Saturday, no late night drinking but instead much needed rest in order to face Sunday morning's drive to San Diego for skydiving. When the alarm went off at 8am, I jumped out of bed, brewed some coffee and was mentally ready to jump out of a plane for the first time in my life. We made a quick call to the skydiving company to check on weather conditions (there was a possibility that weather might be crappy down south) and to our dismay, there was a weather hold on all skydiving. Boooooo. What a buzzkill! I contemplated going for a hike instead since we were up so early on a weekend with no plans, which is a rare occurrence, but I'd already gone for a hike the day before. I wanted to do something different, something that would feel as accomplished as jumping out of a plane. I could ride a bike. I know, it's sounds silly. I snowboard, surf, have zip lined through the cloud forest in Costa Rica and kayaked down the rapids of Kern River. But yet, I have a serious case of bike-o-phobia. I'm not even talking about mountain or race biking. I'm talking about your regular ole beach cruiser.

But today I was ready to face my fears, so I met up with my girls and made it a beach biking day. We rented bikes by the pier at Marina Del Rey and made our way north. The moment I got on the bike seat, my heart skipped a beat. I wobbled around on the bike like jello during my pratice run around the parking lot. My bike was swerving around like it had a mind of its own. Ugghhh, I'm can be pretty (internally) competitive. I hate sucking at anything. I was lagging behind while my friends rode ahead but when we got to the end of the bike trail at Temescal Canyon and turned around for the ride back, I was finally getting my groove. We ended up accomplishing a 12 mile bike ride, not bad for my 1st time in 20 years. This was way more satisfying than skydiving, I think..

To treat ourselves for facing fears and getting a great workout, we decided to grab brunch and mimosas (of course) at Bin 73, a new wine bar by the beach.

Bin 73 is located on Washington Blvd on the stretch that houses a bunch of other dining options including Venice Whaler, Cabo Cantina and C&Os. Parking can tend to be hectic on weekends if you aren't willing to pay the $10 beach parking fee.

They have a quaint patio where we snagged seats. Bin 73 is owned by the same guys as the next door Mercedes Grill. It's pretty casual for a wine bar - they didn't cringe when I walked in with sweat pants, a sweaty wife beater and a ponytail.

I like the wine bottle fountain that gave the patio a serene feeling.

A wooden cheese board where our napkins were placed.

Mimosas were at a good price of $6.

To be honest, the food menu didn't look that appealing initally. There were lots of cheese, panini and salad options. The only breakfast item that looked interesting was the pancakes.

Smoked bacon and mushroom profiterole, with Manchego cheese.
The mushrooms were sauteed and well seasoned. The choux pastry was light and airy. I enjoyed these little bites as they were savory and a great way to start off the meal.

Burrata and arugula salad with cherry tomatoes, Serrano ham and balsamic reduction.

The Serrano ham was thick and fresh, and the burrata was creamy. The balsamic vinegar added a rich sweetness to the salad. I don't usually care to order salads at a restaurant but this was simple yet rich and wasn't your normal, boring salad that screams that you'e on a diet.

The girls split the burger with caramelized onions and a side salad.

We asked for the patty to be cooked medium rare but it came out well. Thankfully the meat wasn't dry. The ground meat was still loose and not hard packed. The sesame bun was thin so it made the burger seem a little lighter and less starchy.

Multigrain pancakes with poached pear slices and almond shavings
The pancakes had a nice spice to it, sort of like gingerbread meets pumpkin pie. It was holiday comfort food. The candied almonds gave a nice crunchy texture to the fluffy pancake.

Bellinis were $8. A couple bucks more than our mimosas but still a decent price.

I liked it at Bin 73. This would be a place that I would return for drinks in the evening. After three drinks each, we stumbled out of the restaurant, pleased with our new wine spot and glad that we didn't have to compromise lunch plans with nearby Cabo Cantina. The bill came up to about $40 per person. It wasn't the cheapest brunch but sigh.. the booze actually amounted to 70% of our total bill. Otherwise, everything else was reasonably priced. Hey but after a 12 mile bike ride for the first time in 20 years, gosh darn it I deserve my three drinks!

Hits: mushroom profiteroles, salad, mimosas at $6, prices
Misses: parking
Rating: ***

Bin 73
18 Washington Blvd.,
Marina Del Rey, CA 9029
(310) 827-6209

http://www.bin73.net/

Westwood getting it's own red rope @ Glendon Bar?!?

My friend LB and I have been closely waiting for the opening of The Glendon Bar & Kitchen, excited that another bar was opening up in the Westwood Village. Unfortunately their website still read "Coming Soon", their Facebook page shared practically no information about its opening and no one was picking up the phone. After the LA Beerfest, we went in search of some food and Glendon once again popped up on our minds. When we called to check if they were open, we were greeted by a perky hostess that excitedly advised us that the restaurant was open for business. Away our cabbie took us to Westwood. I wasn't exactly sure where The Glendon Bar was located but googlemaps on my iPhone seemed to indicate that it was located in the same spot as Westwood Brewco. Could it be?!? Glendon Bar took over the space of Brewco? I wouldn't be sad to see the latter shut down as I've watched its slow demise from a cool pub offering great selection of beers back in undergrad days, to a dirty bar with beers that seem to run out and crappy food options. But as our cabby passed Brewco, I noticed that alas, The Glendon Bar and Kitchen had not replaced Brewco. Instead, it was located right next to it, in the old Moustache Cafe that later turned into a sushi joint.

I liked the space the moment I stepped in. High lofty ceilings, a sleek bar and plenty of table and couch seating. It's chic, it's modern, it's sophisticated, it's what the wealthy Westwood residents (the ones living in the million dollar mansions, not the impoverish kids that live in student housing) would welcome.

They have wooden tables with fresh cut roses in vases, leather banquettes seating, suede chairs and also a top loft perhaps for VIP seating. What seemed out of place was a couch that was positioned by the stairway to the loft. It seemed misplaced as it didn't match any of the other seats in the restaurant.

The menu is pretty simple with a bunch of bar bites ranging from $6-12. Cocktails are $11 which are much cheaper than what you would find in Hollywood.

They have fun cocktails. Grapefruit Ricky (Finlandia Grapefruit, Lime Sugar) was the tastiest, Blackberry Agave (Cazadores Blanco, Splash of Chambord, Blackberry preserves, Lemon) was strong, pinot grigio was cheap at $6, and a Black and Tan that was lukewarm so we asked for another beer.

Pretzel was fresh from the oven. It was warm and lightly salted inside, crispy on the outside and served with honey dijon. Everyone at the table was impressed with the pretzel, and we are a good judge as we've tasted the real thing in Germany.

Belgian Garlic fries with garlic aioli.

The fries were crispy yet soft and fluffy inside. Garlic and spices gave the fries additional flavor.

More cocktails including The Distinction (Cazadores Blanco, Croft Distinction Port, Lime, Ginger Beer, Sugar) and Dimmi Pepper (Seven Tiki spiced rum, Dimmi Italian Liqueur, Egg white, Bell pepper and Sugar)

Glendon sliders with caramelized onions and horseradish aioli. The meat itself was juicy but the sliders were nothing special.

Glendon South Pizza with mozzarella, cheddar, grilled chicken, smoked BBQ beans, purple onions, fire roasted red pepper, grilled corn, a touch of sour cream and a hint of house made ranch. This was a cross between a salad and a 7 layer dip of some sort. I'm not a big fan of the salad pizza. I feel that every ingredient on a pizza should be cooked and warmed through. I didn't care for the sour cream and ranch on the pizza. They had no reason being there. Go back to the salad where you belong!

Baked Mac and Cheese, bechamel based three cheese, with panko bread crumb crust
I of course had to ask what the three cheeses were. Our waitress said it was Parmesan, gruyere, mozzarella. BTW, she couldn't pronounce gruyere. That was the 1st red flag. Secondly, really? Mozzarella in Mac & Cheese? Well, if you say so... The macaroni itself was cooked well and the crunchy panko crust added a nice crunch. The cheese sauce wasn't too creamy and had a hint of green chili pepper flavor in it that gave it some heat. Suddenly, someone in our party insisted that there was blue cheese in the dish. Noooooooo, we all insisted. Can't be. We couldn't taste it. But eventually, everyone took a complete bite and agreed. Apparently the bechamel itself didn't have blue cheese but it was definitely in the bread crumb topping. We asked the waitress again, she checked with the kitchen. Oops.. you are right, there was gorgonzola blue cheese in the dish. I was a bit put off by this. Granted I didn't take a full bite so I wasn't really affected by the pungent cheese, but that's an important and offensive ingredient to get wrong. The cheese definitely left a bad taste in everyones mouth, especially since most at the table didn't care for that type of cheese.

Apart from tricking us into eating stinky cheese, otherwise the food was decent although the menu was rather eclectic. It didn't seem as though they had found a theme to their menu. The dishes seemed to span over many cuisine, I felt like I was at a Cheesecake Factory. There was European (pretzel, Belgian fries), All-American (pizza, sliders, mac & cheese) and Southern (Tex Mex pizza, Cajun calamari). The menu also seemed limited as we had already sampled over half the menu in one sitting. When I made a suggestion to the waitress that perhaps they should include some sort of a chocolate dessert on the menu (they only offered an apple cobbler and fresh baked cookies), she said "Oh, I don't think I told you, but this is just a sample menu, we'll be offering a larger dinner menu in the coming weeks". Err.. that's pertinent information you would think she should have mentioned because we weren't really thinking of coming back since we had already tried most of the items on the menu. I know our server meant well but she was definitely a bit loopy that night. I do have to cut them some slack. It was Day 3 that they had been opened. They still have some kinks to work out. They definitely have potential. I'd be willing to come back to check out their new expanded menu. When we left, we noticed two large bouncers complete with ear pieces and a red rope at the entrance of the restaurant. Hmm.. I wonder if those wealthy Westwood residents (the ones living in the million dollar mansions, not the impoverish kids that live in student housing) would welcome that..

Hits: pretzel, fries, cocktails, prices
Misses: loopy waitress, gorgonzola blue cheese bleugh!, pizza
Rating: **1/2

The Glendon Bar & Kitchen
1071 Glendon Ave.,
Los Angeles, CA 90024
(310) 208-2023
www.theglendonla.com

Beers and food trucks @ LA Beerfest

The Los Angeles Beerfest was held this past weekend at Sony Pictures Studios. For $40, you get unlimited beer from local and international brewers served in your own mini 4 oz beer stein, live entertainment and access to various food trucks (food is an additional cost). Last year, Beerfest was held over two days but they decided to consolidate it into two sessions in one day this year. Reason being that Saturdays were traditionally more popular, and a one day event made it convenient for beer companies. The event was sold out with the 1st session (1-4pm) selling at a faster pace than the 2nd (5-8pm). Guess the young'ens prefer to party earlier in the day. We bought tickets to the second session.

The selection of beers were quite impressive including many local representation. Yes, there were also reps for Bud light but I saw that their stand was somewhere in an obscure corner!

My friend who went to the first session advised us to get there early as he had to wait in a painful line. When we arrived 30 minutes early, there was no line at registration and a reasonable line at the entry. While we were at registration, we saw the inebriated crowd from the 1st session hanging around, some were lying on the sidewalk. Hope that won't be me, I thought. The gates opened promptly at 5pm. I was quite impressed that it was clean and well organized. Odd that they didn't check IDs to determine drinking eligibility.

There were numerous beer stands. Some of the (many) ones that I sampled were Maudite Chambly, Shipyard Blueberry Ale, New Belgium Mighty Arrow, Lagunitas, Ballast Point Big Eye, Strand Pale Ale, Acai Berry Wheat and a Saison by Eel River, Coronado Brew Co, Skyscraper Sancha, Hobgoblin lager, The Bruery, Angel City, Karl Strauss, Green Flash Summer Saison, Allagash White, Speakeasy Prohibition Ale and for a sweet ending, Wyder's Pear Cider.

There was a large crowd but it wasn't overly claustrophobic. After some drinks, we made our way to the food trucks which were situated towards the front of the festival. There weren't too many trucks. The ones present were NomNom, Lomo Arigato, Don Chow, Frysmith, Border Grill, Worldfare Bus and Calbi. I was surprised that there weren't any lines. Perhaps most of the 5-8pm attendees had already eaten.

Deli Special banh mi with ham, headcheese, pate, jalapeno and pickled vegetables. A 12 inch sandwich for $6.50 was a steal! The sandwich was huge and the bread was fresh. I think they could have used more pate but I'm sure if you requested, they may oblige. The pickled veggies were delicious, crunchy, a bit sour but not overpowering. I also liked the jalapeno which was extremely spicy and gave the sandwich a kick.

Next up was Lomo Arigato, a Peruvian Japanese truck.

Lomo Saltado made with marinated steak and fries with gravy on rice. It's basically a stir fry with fries! I've never had this before and really enjoyed it because it was so flavorful. The fries were crisp yet slightly softened by the gravy. The sauce and rice combination was delicious. There's something so simple yet satisfying about rice and gravy.

Don Chow tacos, a Mexican Chinese fusion taco truck.

Spicy tofu taco from Don Chow, served with pico de gallo, avocado and salsa for $2. The tofu was fried and well marinated.

While I got in line at the porta potties (p.s. not as scary as I thought, and after experiencing Coachella porta potties, nothing will faze me), my friend decided to sample from Tastymeat, which was the only truck located at the west side of the festival. Tastymeat serves Turkish wraps.

Yes, it's not meat, but she's on a semi vegetarian diet, so my friend ordered the grilled cheese. It was served in a pita wrap with tomatoes and onions. Interesting spin on a grilled cheese.

We initially thought 3 hrs seemed short for the session but believe me, 3 hrs of non stop drinking is more than sufficient especially since there were minimal lines at the beer stands. Unfortunately some stands (Hollywood Blonde, Skycraper) ran out of beers just half way through the festival. LA Beer Festival is a pretty great way to spend your weekend. It was a fun night with ample beer samples and food bites. I liked the 4 oz pours as you didn't have to commit to a full glass of beer. They could have had more food variety. Seemed like they had a lot of taco options. It might have been better to get in other cuisines such as those offered by The Buttermilk Truck, Marked5 or dosatruck. But then again, tacos and beers go hand in hand.