Must Eat: Cleo

After months of trying to coordinate our schedules, we finally met up with our awesome friends Evie and Vince for dinner in Hollywood!  J and I had been to Cleo before for our friend Steph's birthday party back in September. That was when the Redbury / Cleo just opened, and we really enjoyed the food.  We were equally pleased this time around. The ambiance is kind of urban glam and the food (small plates) is fun, and for the most part, very well executed.

The exposed kitchen design.

Cook: Grilled Mexican Corn

I remember the first time I was introduced to Grilled Mexican Corn - it was love at first bite at Cafe Habana in Soho, New York. (There is an outpost of Cafe Habana in Malibu, CA - but we have not tried it yet). The corn was sweet, buttery and grilled so that the kernels were almost caramelized. It was seasoned with lime and loaded with cotija cheese. YUM.

J and I grill corn all the time.  It is hands down our favorite way to prepare corn. J has actually mastered a delicious grilled corn that is prepared by basting it with parsley and butter. However, since I love grilled mexican corn so much, I decided to try to make it on my own. To my delight, it actually isn't hard to make at all!!!

Ingredients:

• Corn on the cob
• melted butter (a couple tablespoons for brushing on corn)
• Mayonnaise (1/4 cup is plenty, in a small bowl)
• grated parmesan (if you can find cotija even better, but parmesan will do)
• fresh limes, sliced into wedges
• paprika

Directions:

1. Warm up grill to med- high heat. You can also do this on a grill pan on the stovetop but it will take a little longer. 
2. Remove the husks from the corn (if necessary).  Brush melted butter all over the corn.
3. Place on heated grill. Grill until corn is cooked, with some caramelized spots. 
4. Remove from heat. Squeeze lime juice liberally over corn.
5. Brush with mayonnaise 
6. sprinkle with parmesan
7. sprinkle with paprika

Serve with lime wedges. Yum!  Below - the corn from Cafe Habana - photo taken the last time we were in NYC!  ok. So the home made version doesn't look quite as glam but it tastes pretty darn good!!! :)

Must Eat: Venice Beach Wines - Wine Shop and Artisanal Deli

This is one of the first places that J and I ate at when we first moved to LA in July 2010.  We were impressed with it then, and it remains one of our favorite places to eat. 

I met with my friend Steph last week for happy hour. The best time to go to this tiny wine bar is before 6:30pm. After then, it fills up and you may need to wait up to an hour to get a table/seat.   We started with a glass of sparkling wine each - I picked the rose sparkling - d' orfeuilles from France, she picked the prosecco - drusian, from Italy. They were both absolutely delightful!

We shared the brie and grape panini with basil pesto and truffle oil. OMG it was good.

We also loved the special - speck with burrato crostini

We were still hankering for more cheese, so we tried the p'tit basque, istara (france/sheep) - earthy, nutty, brown butter and caramel notes. 

Our last dish was the salad - I can't remember the name, I think it was the chopped salad. This was actually kind of bleh. Not bad, but nothing special. 

In summary, Venice Beach Wines is a great little intimate spot to meet up with friends for a glass of wine and some fine cheeses and charcuterie.  We have enjoyed almost everything we've eaten there (other great staples include the lambwich and the cheesy melty pots). The salads seem to be a bit hit or miss but that's forgivable in light of how good everything else is.

Venice Beach Wines

www.venicebeachwines.com

529 Rose Ave

Venice, CA. 90291

310-606-2529

Mon - Thu: 4 p - 11p

Fri: 4p-12a

Sat: 9a -12a

Sun: 9a- 11p

Listen: Strokes You Only Live Once

Happy Music Monday! Here is a classic that I love.

The Strokes - You Only Live Once (Official Music Video). Watch more top selected videos about: The Strokes

Must Eat: Blue Plate Oysterette

As a native New Englander (born and raised until 30) I LOVE a good lobster roll. For a while, my friend Monica and I were on a quest to try as many lobster rolls as we could in the New England region to find the best lobster roll. My favorite was the lobster roll at the Bayside Restaurant in Westport, MA. They also knew how to make a killer pie there.  I especially loved that it was only 5 minutes away from my favorite beach, Horseneck Beach.

When I moved to Los Angeles, I worried if I would be able to find a lobster roll that lived up to New England standards. To my fabulous good fortune, there was. And it was in our new hometown of Santa Monica on Ocean Ave with a fabulous view to boot!  Let me introduce Blue Plate "BP" Oysterette.

This is where J and I go when we want good casual seafood. There lobster roll is kickass. In fact, it was recently named by Bon Appetit as one of the six best lobster rolls across the country!!!  We went here yesterday after our 7.5 mile hike in the Pacific Palisades at Los Liones Canyon.

Here is another view of the delicious lobster roll. It is a satisfying portion of fresh lobster nicely seasoned and served on a top- split brioche roll with a side of house-made fries. 

Here is a view of their menu - as you can see, it's full of yumminess.

Mussels in red curry sauce is one of our favorites. It is served with grilled bread to sop up the delicious broth. The mussels are juicy, meaty and delicious.

The linguine with clams is also a satisfying and pleasing dish.

The lobster mac and cheese with truffle oil is also to die for. 


In summary, we've enjoyed almost everything we've ordered here. As one may deduce from their name, they have a pretty good variety of oysters that rotates (we did not order them today but usually do).  Their homemade desserts (ie. vanilla bread pudding or apple crisp) are fantastic as well (if you have room after your meal). :)


Note: They do not take reservations and are extremely popular on weekend evenings. If you try to go on Friday or Saturday, you may need to wait > 1 hour. Leave your phone number and walk around the promenade.


Blue Plate Oysterette
www.blueplatesantamonica.com
1355 Ocean Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90401
310-576-3474

Do: Hike Los Liones Canyon

Our friend Sheenie invited us on a hike today at the Los Liones Canyon. Hiking is a very popular past time in LA, and we've been getting more into it recently.  A couple of weekends ago,  J and I hiked Solstice Canyon and really enjoyed the views and spring flowers.

We enjoyed this hike as much, or perhaps even more! It was a longer hike (7.5 miles total roundtrip) and took about 4 hours at a leisurely pace. The scenery was incredible (despite the fact it was overcast today and there was a lot of fog/mist) - I can only imagine how amazing it must be on a clear day!   LA has been getting an unusual amount of rain lately, so everything was super green, lush and there were tons of flowers. Here are some photos from our hike....

Cook: Fresh Oranges with Spiced Red Wine Syrup

This is the last recipe of the Spanish themed dinner. For those of you who are new to this blog, this week I posted a recipe each day so that you could make your own Spanish feast by the weekend. Today's recipe is an absolutely lovely dessert.  It is super light and refreshing, and if you want, you can add a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Fresh Oranges with Spiced Red Wine Syrup
Ingredients:

• 1 750 ml bottle dry red wine (I used a bottle of Trader Joe's $2 Shiraz!)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
• 8 oranges

Directions

Bring wine, 1 cup sugar, and cinnamon to a boil in a large heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves. 

Boil until reduced to about 1 cup or is a thick syrup (I used medium heat, and this top about 40 minutes, stirring every now and then) When it is done it should form little drops that hold their shape. Remove from heat and cool syrup completely. (can be made 1 day ahead - if you do, cover and chill)

Using sharp night, put off peel and white pith (the stringy part between the slices) from all the oranges. cut into slice.  Layer orange slices in a shallow dish and pour wine syrup over oranges.

Allow to marinate for 30 min or more. Then serve.