Try This: Lamb Meatballs at The Eveleigh

Chef Jordan Toft at the Eveleigh introduced a new winter menu this week and one of the winning dishes is the Sonoma Lamb Meatballs.  These meatballs are served with a crunchy breadcrumb salsa and "lamb chopper" cheese.  The meatballs are served pink in the middle, which I had never seen before.  They are juicy and have a  distinct lamb flavor to them.  The thin shredded lamb chopper cheese added a salty element to the dish.  The meatballs are served three to an order and are relatively large.  They are priced at $16.

If you haven't tried the Eveleigh yet, this is a great excuse to get there and try Toft's food and Dave Kupchinsky and Kiowa Bryan's cocktails.

The Eveleigh: 8752 West Sunset Blvd, the Sunset Strip.  Phone: 424.239.1630  | Website: www.theeveleigh.com

Hunting Season Has Arrived at Chaya Venice: Venison Food Fair

Venison in Venice?  It is not just alliterative, it is delicious, and alas for a limited time as the Venison Food Fair decamps from the hunting grounds to make a stop at Chaya Venice for two weeks from now until Sunday December 11th.  Chaya Venice is known for its Euro-Asian cuisine, its sushi bar and the lively scene at the cocktail bar.  The 20+ year old restaurant originally did a series of food festivals and the chefs decided to revive the tradition with a series of food fairs.  Like Japanese traditional seasonal holidays celebrating harvests, each festival takes place for a short duration.

Pappardelle Pasta with Venison Meatballs

There are four venison specials available:

Venison Chili Con Carne 'Spicy' - $26
Pappardelle Pasta with Italian Style Venison Meatballs - $21
Texas Spiced Venison Burger - $22
Roasted Venison Tenderloin - $42

My favorite of the venison specials is the Pappardelle Pasta with Italian Style Venison Meatballs, served with marinara sauce, shaved parmesan and herbs.  The meatballs were light and packed with flavor.  They tasted distinct from traditional beef meatballs, which was a plus. The marinara sauce complemented the meatballs well and the pasta was done nicely.  The venison brought a juicy and almost spicy note to the meatballs.

Chili Con Carne

My second favorite of the options is the Venison Chili Con Carne 'Spicy' with chunks of venison steak, lean ground venison, kidney, garbanzo and white beans, pepper jack cheese, tomatoes and grilled country bread.  The assertive flavor of the venison shone through and the whole dish was full of bold flavors.  With both chunks and ground venison plus the beans, there was a pleasing variety of textures in the dish.  It was well spiced to give it a pleasant kick.

Roasted Venison Tenderloin

The Roasted Vension Tenderloin with Blueberry Peppercorn Sauce was served with sauteed organic mushrooms and haricot verts.  This was the most traditional of the dishes and was quite solid.  If you are a fan of venison, this was the purest expression of the meat as the loin was roasted and served rare to medium rare in jus.  Personally I enjoyed the use of venison in dishes that are traditionally made with other meats, but this is a classic rendition.

The Texas Spiced Venison Burger was the only dish I can't recommend.  I had it without the cheese and bacon (I abstain from pork) so I did not try it as a complete dish.  I didn't feel that the burger showcased the taste of the venison or had an overall deliciousness in its own right.  It is served with crispy bacon, pepper jack cheese, arugula, red cabbage, fuji apple, red pepper chutney and spicy mayo and country potato wedges alongside.

You only have two weeks to get to Chaya Venice to try these dishes, as come Monday December 12th, the fair will pull up stakes and the fairgrounds will stand empty.  Game meat is all too unusual on Los Angeles menus, so take advantage.  The venison is farm raised in New Zealand.  Chaya Venice puts the festive in food festivals, so go enjoy the ambiance and the meat.  Bambi would approve.

My visit was hosted.

Chaya Venice: 110 Navy Street (at Main St) in Venice.  Phone: (310) 396-1179.  Website: http://www.thechaya.com/venice/

Second Take: Ilan Hall Develops the Menu at Urbano Pizza

Last month Ilan Hall, the chef of The Gorbals in downtown LA and the winner of season 2 of Top Chef, has joined Urbano Pizza Bar, the downtown pizza spot that opened this summer to positive reviews.  At Urbano he has partnered with Chef Josh Moser on expanding and revamping the menu (he is still at The Gorbals as well).

Hall is excited to be working with the huge oven, saying "you have a lot of freedom with a wood burning oven.  We want to use the oven as much as possible.  There are two ovens and we can't just be using the wood burning ovens for pizza."

He has changed the flour to a higher gluten blend, which makes the crust of the pizzas crisper.  Hall and Moser have also been using leftover pizza dough to make open-faced sandwiches.  Below is the meatballs with warm pizza bread, which was delicious.  The meatballs are made with all beef and the sauce was full of flavor.  It is great to see pork-free meatballs on a menu.

The margherita pie ($12) is made with fresh mozzarella, hand crushed tomato and petit basil.  The pie was well executed.  The crust was firm enough and the sauce again was good; I would have preferred just a little more of the mozzarella cheese.

The Testa Verde pizza ($13) is one of the more unusual pizzas I have tasted in that it uses Irish cheddar as the base.  There is no tomato sauce on this pie.  Instead, baby spinach and herbed ricotta as well as the aforementioned cheddar are the toppings.  The cheddar was surprisingly good, mellower than I was expecting and I preferred this pie to the margherita.

Hall and Moser's collaboration is bearing fruit and they have been experimenting with putting more and more dishes into the wood burning ovens, including potatoes, lasagna, artichokes and corn.  The wood used in the ovens is almond wood, which is reasonably priced, less smokey and doesn't pop.

My favorite pie is the Mushroom Ricotta pizza with mushroom oil, eggs and bottarga.  The eggs are runny and delicious and ample enough to coat the pie.  The mushrooms are enhanced by the mushroom oil and the whole concoction is a decadent pie worth going out of your way for.

If it is on the menu when you go, a visit to Urbano is not complete without trying the Nutella dessert, pictured below.  It is made with fresh pizza dough with carmelized raw sugar, sweet ricotta with cream, sweetened and creamed nutella.  I am not a dessert guy, but I'd happily have this on a regular basis as it is not too sweet but the chocolate comes through.

All in all, Hall has rounded out the offerings at Urbano, enhancing the pizzas and expanding the menu with fun and approachable offerings.  There is a happy hour from 5 - 7 pm with six dollar margherita pizzas and four dollar draft beers, both of which are great deals.  Urbano is a great addition to the downtown dining scene and at dinner it is easy to get a table.  At lunch they also offer pizza by the slice, which is priced at $6 for two slices.  Tables are communal.

My visit was hosted.

Urbano Pizza: 630 W. 6th St @ Hope St, DTLA.  Phone: (213) 614-1900.  Web: www.urbanopizzabar.com