Jewish Deli Night @ Mezze

Mezze, Micah Wexler's Mediterranean restaurant on La Cienega, recently launched a Sunday night only special menu of matzo ball soup and pastrami sandwich.  The regular menu is also available on Sunday evenings, but these two Jewish deli classics are hard to resist.  Fortunately for Dine LA fans, they are both on the Mezze Restaurant Week menu if you eat at Mezze on a Sunday.

The Matzo Ball soup ($10) was excellent.  The matzo ball was light and fluffy and the broth was intense and rich and sprinkled with chicken cracklings.  Large chunks of chicken meat, carrots, celery and onions all lurk beneath the surface of the broth.  This is not a dish you are going to want to share.

The Pastrami Sandwich ($15) was also quite good, although the bread was too soft for my taste.  The pastrami meat was well seasoned but mild if eaten alone.  It is the house-made mustard that truly gives the sandwich a kick.  The combination of the sliced pastrami, the mustard and the bread does form a wonderful sandwich.  If they had bread from Langer's, it would be a true home run.  The meat is thickly sliced and the portion is filling without being huge.  Good stuff.  Perhaps Chef Wexler should consider opening up a deli as a spinoff and give Canter's a run for its money in the neighborhood.  With Langer's not open for business in the evening, the matzoh ball soup and sandwich is the best Jewish deli for miles around, if only for one night a week.

Mezze: 401 N. La Cienega Blvd, Mid City. | 310.657.4103 | mezzela.com

DineLA Restaurant Week: Now through February 4th

 At a kickoff event, Chef Kerry Simon (above) welcomed Los Angeles food lovers and restaurateurs to Restaurant Week 2011.  From January 23 - 28 and January 30th - February 4th, almost 300 restaurants (297 to be exact) are offering diners the opportunity to experience a three course meal at their eateries for a special reduced price.  Some are participating and lunch, others at dinner, and many more at both.  New to Restaurant Week are Beachwood, Inn of the Seventh Ray and The Hungry Cat and the many returning restaurants include hotspots such as AOC, Cleo, Comme Ca and Petrossian (newly home to Chef Giselle Wellman).

Participating restaurants are organized into three price tiers: Deluxe Dining, Premier Dining and Fine Dining.  What this means for you is that the special DineLA Restaurant Week meals are priced at $16, $22 or $28 at lunch and $26, $34, or $44 at dinner.  Whether you have always wanted to try Spago, Michael's, Lucques, The Bazaar by Jose Andres or any of the hundreds of participating restaurants, now is your chance to do so.  There are still plenty of reservations available for next week.  I already have several reservations and have my eye on a few more.

Restaurant Week is a fun way to experience old favorites or places that have been on your list and includes a broad range of price points and cuisines, including Starry Kitchen, a Savory Hunter favorite, and the Brazilian meat fest, Fogo de Chao.  So unbuckle your belt a few notches, and start eating!

The list of participating restaurants and their menus are here.

DineLA Chief Carrie Kommers at right, Kerry Simon at center

Craft LA: A DineLA Success

After all the build up to Dine LA restaurant week with the quickfire challenges, I had to try at least one of the deals. I chose Craft, the Los Angeles outpost of Tom Collichio's fine dining empire. I was joined at the meal by Dommy! of Chowhound and LA Weekly and her husband.  Usually the Dine LA menus offer choices for each course but at Craft the appetizers, side dishes and desserts are served communally for the table, while there was a choice of four different entrees.

The restaurant was packed when we arrived and we had to wait a full 30 minutes past our reservation time to be seated. Even the lounge was packed. We were shown to a table in the modern but comfortable dining room.  Craft employs many fine dining flourishes whether you are dining on a Dine LA promotion or paying full freight.  The meal began with a plate of gougeres, finishes with mignardes and we were sent on our way with a treat for the next morning.  The gougeres (small puff pastry balls filled with cheese) were made with Gruyere cheese and were served room temperature.  They were nothing special but might have been great if they were served warm.

The two appetizers were Chicory Salad, Pear, Goat Cheese & Date Purée and Braised Octopus Carpaccio. I did not eat the octopus but it was enjoyed by my dining companions. The salad (above) was a nice start to the meal and I enjoyed the traditional pairing of pear and cheese but it wasn't a very memorable dish.

It was at the entree portion of the meal that Craft really shined.  The Roasted Leg of Lamb (shown above) was especially delicious.  It was sliced like a prime rib and had a salty and slightly gamey flavor.  It was cooked a perfectly rosy medium rare and was something I would order again.  The Spotted Skate Wing was presented nicely (see below) and I was pleased to see a more adventurous dish on the Dine LA menu.  The skate was a successful dish and more interesting than the vegetarian pasta (not pictured) that was our third entree.  Unsurprisingly for Craft the three entrees were served family style as if they were all for the table.

The entrees arrived with two shared side dishes: market squash puree and grilled vegetables.  The puree arrived in a pot at the table, which some may find charming but I found a silly affectation.  The vegetables were squarely in the Craft wheelhouse of getting the best ingredients and minimally fussing with them to let their quality shine through.

Desserts were a chocolate item (below) and a vanilla panna cotta (not pictured). You can see the salt crystals on the chocolate.  I really liked this dessert a lot but didn't care for the panna cotta.  My dining companions strongly preferred the panna cotta, so it worked out for all of us.

The generosity of Craft continued with the post dessert mignardes which included caramel corn and mushroom shaped marshmallows.  We found room to eat these too.

The last impression the restaurant leaves is the mignardes and the "to go" pastry given to each of us to enjoy in the morning, which is a very classy touch.

Overall it was a good value for $44 and a great way to sample the restaurant.  The service was good and the Dine LA menu was printed right on the regular menu, not hidden at all, which was refreshing and welcomed.  Normally the fish and meat entrees cost between $29 and $54, with the side dishes extra (like a steakhouse), although note that the items are meant to be shared.  At those prices it is significantly more expensive than Bastide, my favorite of the fine dining spots in town, so not likely to be a regular spot in my rotation.  However note that the CraftBar menu is significantly more accessible in pricing and may be a good way to experience Craft without breaking the bank.

Remember that Collichio will be hosting an Australian dinner there next Monday November 1st.

Craft Los Angeles: 10100 Constellation Blvd, Century City. (310) 279-4180.  Website: craftlosangeles.com

Tonight: Dine LA Quickfire Competition Champion Crowned in Battle Dessert

Tonight at Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill at LA Live, Chefs Mark Peel (Campanile), Akira Hirose (Maison Akira), Octavio Becerra (Palate Food + Wine), and Eric Greenspan (The Foundry on Melrose), the four finalists in the Dine LA Quickfire compeition, will duke it out for the title of Champion in the final round of the competition, Battle: Dessert. Judging them will be Sherry Yard, the author and pastry chef at Spago, Russ Parsons from the LA Times and Evan Kleiman from Angeli Caffe and KCRW's Good Food.

Each chef in this battle won their preliminary round to advance to the finals.  The championship battle will be held from 6 - 8 pm tonight (Tuesday) and will be open to the public, so bring your sweet tooth as well as your camera. Savory food will be on offer as well, including $6 appetizer specials of spicy tuna tartare and slider trios.

Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill at L.A. LIVE
800 West Olympic Boulevard. Phone: 213.748.9700 Web site: here.

Battle Cold Noodles at Starry Kitchen

Last night was the third in a series of four quickfire challenges sponsored by DineLA in which local chefs have competed to create a dish based on a secret mystery ingredient. Octavio Becerra (right) of Palate Food + Wine and Brendan Collins (left) of Waterloo & City competed to created the winning Cold Noodles dish, which would appear on the Starry Kitchen restaurant week menu.

Collins prepared an eel and foie gras terrine paired with cold noodles, while Becarra prepared a spicy cold noodle soup.  Becarra had the winning dish, and he will advance to the final round on October 5th, competing against Mark Peel, Akira Hirose of Maison Akira and the winner of tomorrow's challenge at Loteria! Grill.  Starry Kitchen also offered several specials for the Quickfire attendees, including their signature neon green crispy tofu balls, which lived up to their exalted reputation.

Tomorrow's final quickfire in the preliminary round will pit Akasha Richmond of Akasha restaurant in Culver City against Eric Greenspan of the Foundry on Melrose in an epic battle of Tacos.  Whose cuisine reigns supreme?  You can find out by attending the event at Loteria! Hollywood tomorrow (Thursday) from 5 - 7 pm, where they will be offering specials such as $4 Guacamole and Chips and $5 Chalupa plates.  The judges will include the owner of Loteria! Grill, Heather John from Bon Apetit and Harriet Ells, producer of KCRW’s Good Food.

Loteria! Grill Hollywood: 6627 Hollywood Boulevard, (323) 465-2500

dineLA Cold Soup Quickfire at Petrossian

To help launch this fall's dineLA restaurant weeks (October 3 - 8 and 10-15), dineLA is in the midst of a series of "Quickfire" challenges with some of the top chefs in town facing off in cooking challenges.  The second in the series pitted Celestino Drago of Drago Centro (and other Drago restaurants) against Akira Hirose of Maison Akira in a Cold Soup challenge at Petrossian West Hollywood.  Drago (left) and Akira (right) are pictured below with dineLA director Carrie Kommers (center).

The competition was judged by Petrossian chef Benjamin Bailly, Joshua Lurie of FoodGPS and Esther Tseng of e*star LA.  Each competitor was asked to create a cold soup and include the surprise ingredient of California caviar.  The voting was close but Akira edged out Drago 2 to 1 with his winning dish of French Vichyssoise (below).

You can be part of the action in the third of three preliminary rounds tomorrow from 6 - 8 pm at Starry Kitchen where Chef Octavio Beccera of Palate Food + Wine and Chef Brendan Collins of Waterloo & City will compete in the "Cold Noodle Challenge." If you have always dreamed of being in the audience for an "Iron Chef" style competition, this is your chance as the competitors use one of Starry Kitchen’s signature ingredients: Oyster Sauce, Hoisin Sauce, or Coconut Milk, and offer their interpretation of “Cold Noodles.”

The judging panel will include Starry Kitchen’s Executive Chef Thi Tran, Jeff Miller from Thrillist.com, and Krista Simmons from the Los Angeles Times’ Brand X. Attendees and guests can watch the noodle madness while munching on $5 Happy Hour specials previewing Starry Kitchen’s dineLA menu, including Crispy Tofu Balls and Chicken Wings.