Black Market - Cocktails & A Top Chef in Studio City

Black Market Liquor Bar is a welcome addition to the San Fernando Valley dining scene.  The new venture, with a cocktail program curated by Steve Livigni and Pablo Moix of La Descarga and Harvard & Stone, is a comfortable local bar that happens to serve destination worthy drinks.

The star of the cocktail menu is the Smokin' Monk.  No two ways about it, this is a gorgeous drink.  It is made with mezcal, yellow chartreuse, lemon and orange juices and served with some large ice cubes with a lemon wedge for garnish.  The mix of the mezcal and citrus is magical and the mezcal provides just the right amount of smokiness to keep it intriguing sip after sip.  This might be my favorite new drink of 2011.

The Amber and Embers is made with Laphroig Scotch, Clement Canne Syrup Rum, Angostura and Orange Bitters.  Note, only a dash of each type of bitters is used.  The version I had used Ardberg in place of Laphroig.  I sampled versions with 2 dashes of bitters and one dash, and the one dash was superior.  Counterintuitively,  the version with two dashes was smokier and tasted more of the Scotch.

Red Hot and Bothered: Jalapeno-infused vodka, strawberry, blood orange, agave syrup and ginger beer.  There is nothing shy and retiring about this damsel.

The Boulevard Sour, a dangerous concoction of rye whiskey, cynar, lemon juice and egg white, is pleasingly frothy.

Punch is all the rage this days, but Black Market takes this trend one step further with its Punch for One, a pisco based cocktail with pineapple juice, agave syrup, angostura bitters and lime juice.  This is a mellow cocktail that is easy to sip on.  This has been a pisco week, after some pisco sours earlier at the new Picca.

Black Market has an all-star bartending staff, including Zach Patterson (below) of STK, Mia Sarazen of Harvard & Stone, and Tricia Alley, formerly of B-Side Lounge.  If any of these assassins offers to make you a drink, accept.  You are in good hands.

Zach Patterson

In addition to bringing in a stellar team of barkeeps, Livigni and Moix brought chef Antonia Lofaso of Top Chef fame to the equation.  The menu includes some Italian influences, not surprisingly.

A highlight of what I tried was the Ricotta Gnudi, served in a brown butter sauce.  The gnudi were soft and had a light consistency.  The only off note for me was the crunch of pistachio nuts, which were unnecessary.

Gnudi

The Duck Rillettes with bourbon raisins were served in a jar with ample toasts alongside.  The rilletes required some mixing to get the sweet and salty components into proper proportion.

My other favorite of the night was Oxtail Ragu with perciatelli pasta and perorino cheese.  The dish is rich and savory.  The noodles were perfectly cooked and were heavy enough to sustain the meat.  It was attractively plated as well.

I only managed a bite of my dining companion's Crispy Poussin with french fries, which was unremarkable.

For me Antonia's pastas were the highlight of the food menu.  With the cocktails, I enjoyed all that I drank, although the drink that is going to lure me back to Studio City is the Smokin' Monk.  Absolutely delicious.

Black Market Liquor Bar proclaims itself "purveyors of cocktails, bites and candy." I can vouch for the first two; the third you will have to explore for yourself.

Black Market Liquor Bar: 11915 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA.  Phone: (818) 446-2533.  Website: http://blackmarketliquorbar.com/

Casa Vega puts the tinsel in your holiday season

If you want the kind of restaurant where they have overflowing tinsel hanging from the ceiling in November (and perhaps more of the year), Mexican food with a lot of melted cheese, inexpensive margaritas during happy hour and long waits if you arrive after 6 pm, then Casa Vega is for you.  It is one of those San Fernando Valley institutions that has been on the Boulevard forever, in this case more than 40 years.

Meals at Casa Vega begin with bowls of the saltiest tortilla chips I have ever eaten.  I like salt, a lot.  But these chips were a whole new level of saltiness; just two or three would likely exceed the recommended sodium intake for the day.  The margarita I had was strong but also salty and I was drinking it through a straw, not the heavily salted rim.

Many of the meals come with a salad or your choice of tortilla soup or albondigas (meatball) soup to begin.  I choose the tortilla soup, which was fine and thankfully not oversalted.  The combination of chicken tamale and chicken enchilada was huge.  It was enough food to feed two people easily.  The enchilada was average as was the tamale.  The service was decent and they were good natured about serving our large party, which can't have been easy.

I can't really see the attraction of Casa Vega unless you are either nearby in the Valley during happy hour and want a cheap margarita or are hungry late night as they stay open until 2 am.  You could easily do better than this for dinner at a normal time, and the waits are legendary.  No reservations, of course.

Casa Vega: 13301 Ventura Blvd @ Fulton, Sherman Oaks.  Phone: (818) 788-4868.  Website: www.casavega.com

Asal Bakery & Kabob: Persian in the West Valley

A giant oven dominates the new Asal Bakery & Kabob in Woodland Hills. The oven is used to produce their signature sangak bread, a Persian flatbread. The restaurant's menu focuses on kabobs, whether on a plate or in a sandwich, and there is also a huge display case of cookies from the bakery side of the operation.

At a recent meal with Josh of FoodGPS, we explored the kabob section of the menu as he had devoured all of their lamb brains on a previous visit.

We began our meal with Ash Reshteh, a thick soup with thin noodles, named for the Reshteh (thin noodles).  There were chickpeas, mint oil, lentils, onions and numerous other spices.  Its consistency was between a soup and a stew.

Ash Reshteh

We also ate their signature Sangak bread, which was flat and blistered and fresh out of the oven.  The oven has dimples on the bottom to produce the signature texture.  We used it to dip into the Ash and into the Haleem (below).  Haleem has the consistency of oatmeal and is a traditional breakfast food, according to our waitress.  At Asal, it is made with pureed turkey and oats, somewhat like a porridge.  It was served warm and dusted with cinnamon.  We were encouraged to mix in sugar.  I think it is a cultural thing but I just didn't get this dish, although I have never had porridge before and could count the number of times I've had oatmeal on one hand, so it may have been a texture thing.

Sangak Bread

Haleem

For the main event, we shared the Kubideh ($6) and Cornish game hen ($10) Kabob plates.  The kubideh is ground beef mixed with herbs and spices (no not those) and then reformed onto a skewer and grilled. The kebab had some good flavor and came with more of the sangak bread, which benefited from the kebab juices.

Kubideh Kabob

The Cornish game hen kabob was the highlight of the meal.  It was prepared with saffron and it was like a bunch of tiny chicken wings and drumsticks strung together on the skewer.  This is the must order dish at Asal.

Cornish Game Hen Kabob

Unfortunately on this visit I did not get to explore the bounty of the cookie case, but there were literally dozens of different types of baked desserts on offer, including many traditional Persian varieties.

Dessert case

Asal is located on Ventura Blvd, just West of the Winnetka exit on the 101 Freeway. There is street parking. There is no sign, so you need to go by the address and the plate glass windows showing off the mega-oven inside.

Asal: 20008 Ventura Blvd, Woodland Hills. Phone: (818) 436-2353

Ramen Jinya: lives up to the hype

Ramen Jinya opened up in Studio City only a month ago but immediately began acquiring acclaim, beginning with Rameniac's review, which was quickly followed by that of Jonathan Gold, Joshua Lurie of FoodGPS, and Dylan Ho of Eat, Drink,& Be Merry. I was especially excited as their signature ramen is a chicken broth ramen, not a common option in Southern California, and one I could eat/slurp to the last drop.



I recently headed there with Ron of Sauce Supreme to check out what all the hullabaloo was about. For $12.50, Jinya offers a set meal of salad, gyoza and ramen. The gyoza are also made of chicken and are pictured above. I was starving so ate these in two minutes flat. They were good but the main event was the ramen. I opted for the Spicy Ramen (pictured below), which is chicken broth, chicken meatballs, spicy beansprouts and spinach. The broth was rich and flavorful and the noodles were great. The only weak spot was the chicken meatballs, which were not that tasty. The portion size is large: the soup spoon was ladle sized. The soup is $8.55 a la carte.



The service was quick, friendly and efficient. There is ample free parking in the underground parking structure, which is always a big plus. Overall Ramen Jinya is a winner with good food at reasonable prices, ample portions and good service. Worth going to whether you are in the Valley or not, especially if you eat chicken but not pork.

Ramen Jinya: 11239 Ventura Blvd (in a strip mall with a Marshalls), Studio City. Phone: (818) 980-3977. Website: http://www.jinya-la.com/ramen/

Brent's Deli

Los Angeles is blessed with many Jewish style delis and each has its own partisans. Nate & Als, Juniors, Canters, Factors, and Langers in particular all have their supporters. Brent's in the West San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Northridge has long been one of the top delis in the greater LA area. They opened a second successful outpost in Westlake Village in the far west Valley in 2006.

Brent's has been open for 40+ years, an eternity in restaurant in years in Los Angeles. Restaurant years are like dog years - if you make it to 10 years in this town that is a big deal. 40+ years is a rarity, a Methuselah in a land of babies (although many of the surviving Jewish style delis in Los Angeles have also been around for decades).

It is located in a bland strip mall in Northridge, next door to a dive bar called the Stovepiper Lounge. Driving down Parthenia Street it is easy to overlook the Brent's sign. They have two green and white striped umbrellas outside the entrance. Business was booming on the recent Sunday I visited. The waiting area was crowded with patrons waiting for their taste of corned beef, pastrami, matzoh ball soup or bagels and lox.

I opted for my traditional Jewish deli favorite, a hot corned beef on rye. It came with a side and I opted for apple sauce in lieu of cole slaw. Some steak fries were also on my order. Seating is in comfortable booths and service was fast and efficient. A menu was brought to the table immediately upon being seated and my order was taken within a few minutes. While I was waiting for my sandwich the waitress brought over some sliced pickles. The pickles were good but not as good as those at Nate & Al's in Beverly Hills. They were cut more thinly - into quarters rather than halves, and were also all of one type.

The sandwich arrived and it was worth waiting for. The corned beef was delicious and generously portioned in the sandwich. I briefly considered eating only half and saving the other half for dinner. That thought did not last long for soon I found myself digging into the second half of the sandwich. The meat was thinly sliced and there was not too much fat, but enough to give it flavor. The rye bread was a little too soft but that was not a fatal flaw. The steak fries (additional charge) were great - soft inside but not mushy. The Heinz's ketchup was sweeter than it usually is. I'm not sure as to why that was, but I am not a fan of too sweet ketchup so stuck to salt as my condiment of choice for the side of fries.

The meal was approximately $20 and a fair value. When in the Valley and the deli itch strikes, scratch it at Brent's. The shlep is worth it.

Brent's Deli is located at 19565 Parthenia Street between Tampa and Corbin Avenues. Phone: (818) 886-5679. Website: www.brentsdeli.com

Martino's Bakery

Martino's Bakery is known for their signature tea cakes. They are small square cupcake like confections and are made with buttermilk and have a hard glaze on top flavored with vanilla.

Martino's is located in Burbank and apparently distributes their tea cakes to other restaurants/locations in addition to selling them at their retail bakery. I was turned onto these delicious treats by family members who fondly remembered similar tea cakes from Grace's Pastries, which went out of business many years ago.

A variety of pastries were available but the tea cakes come in boxes of half a dozen or a dozen. I was on a mission so purchased a box of half a dozen ($4.50) of the classic buttermilk variety. Blueberry and cranberry were also available but were not as good as the plain buttermilk.

The tea cakes are lighter, fluffier and moister than cupcakes. The cake portion is light brown and the glaze is sweet but not in that sickly sugar rush kinda ways that so many cupcake frostings are. The size of the tea cakes are also smaller than most cupcakes are these days. (Is it me or have cupcakes been supersized since we were kids?)

Apparently this latest incarnation of Martino's does not share history/ownership with prior versions but has the rights to the name and acquired the recipe. I make no judgments about the people behind the operation - just about the six pack of square tea cakes, and they were indeed delicious. Rich, one was perfect for dessert, and they also make a nice component to breakfast, not that I would know anything about eating dessert as my breakfast...

Martino's is located at 335 N Victory Blvd. near the intersection with Magnolia Blvd, in Burbank. Just a few minutes drive Northeast of the Walt Disney Studios lot. Phone: (818) 842-0715. Website: www.martinosbakery.com Closed on Sundays.