Pann's - fried chicken in a classic diner

Pann's Restaurant & Coffee Shop has been in business at the intersection of La Tijera and La Cienega for over 50 years, since 1958 to be precise. It has been used for filming scenes in numerous movies, most memorably Pulp Fiction. It has the classic Googie look of a 50s California diner and made me miss the late lamented Ships on Wilshire Blvd in Westwood of my childhood.

There is a large black and white photograph of the interior of Pann's taken in the 50s up on a wall. The inside looks exactly the same except the customers were wearing hats and there was even a construction worker in a hardhat at the counter. Back then it also appears that the clientèle and staff were all white. The same terrazzo floors, booths and long counter. Amazing to see a classic still in business and still looking the same.


But what brought me to Pann's recently was their fried chicken. I had heard it reported that Pann's serves some of the best fried chicken in town and I have been continually craving fried chicken lately - I blame you for that Ludo! Monday - Friday they offer a 2 piece (light or dark) fried chicken meal with sides for only $6. That is an outstanding deal. We were there on a weekend so got 2 half chicken meals for the 3 of us, at $12 for each order. Each order came with two sides plus a biscuit (there were other bread options but once we heard biscuit we knew what we wanted).

Sides available were: Chef's Vegetables, Real Mashed Potatoes & Gravy, Herb Rice, Sautéed Fresh Spinach, Macaroni & Cheese, French Fries, Cole Slaw, Potato Salad or Pickled Beets. We tried the spinach, mac & cheese, french fries and cole slaw.


Our waitress warned us that the chicken could take a while as it was fried to order. Not a problem we told her. I'd rather wait for fresh hot food than have it sitting around waiting for some fool like me to order it. After a shorter wait than I was expecting the fried chicken arrived. Two hot plates full of food, preceded by hot biscuits with butter and honey for each of us. The portion sizes were enormous. Each dish was enough to feed two comfortably, even a glutton like me.

One of my dining companions commented that they had not had food come to the table this hot anywhere in recent memory. The fried chicken was crisp and indeed steaming hot once you cut into it.


It was juicy and tasted like real chicken. Sometimes when you go to casual restaurants the chicken is just bland because they purchased mass produced birds - I am not sure where they source their chickens but these birds have flavor. Exceeded expectations was the unanimous verdict. French fries were good as was the spinach. The mac & cheese was very blah, cole slaw fine.

I ended up with some of the leftovers and the chicken held up for lunch the next day. Not as good as fresh from the fryer but more than respectable.

We were too full to even consider the dessert menu. As we walked out we saw the dessert case which had cakes of such height even Homer Simpson would be impressed. I imagine one piece would be enough for a family of 4 to split.

Pann's is located at 6710 La Tijera Blvd @ La Cienega Blvd. Phone: (332) 776-3770. Website: www.panns.com

Hatchi - Burning Sensation - Kuniko Yagi @ Breadbar

Breadbar Century City hosted the latest edition of its Hatchi series of guest chef pop-up dinners last Thursday night with Kuniko Yagi, the chef de cuisine at Sona, David Myers acclaimed flagship restaurant (which is due to close soon), for a dinner themed and titled as Burning Sensation.

The meal offered 6 savory courses and 2 dessert courses (by Sona pastry chef Ramon Perez) for $8 each. Guests were required to purchase a minimum of 4 courses or 3 courses + a drink, per person. The idea behind the Hatchi series is laudable - offer a chef the opportunity to cook whatever they want, and at the same time provide a wider public access to these chef's cuisine, at an approachable price point. The "one night only" nature of the events have frequently led to full houses and chefs being more experimental.

My dining companion and I tried all the dishes, with the exception of #4, as we do not eat clam.

The menu was:

1. New Zealand Spinach Creme, Almost Burnt Caramel, Cauliflower

2. Yellowfin Tuna, Smoked Eggplant Puree, Mitsuba Sauce

3. Yogurt Marinated Chicken, Burnt Shishito Puree, Maitake Mushroom

4. Geoduck Clam and Charred Veggie Salad, 3 Kinds of Grains

5. Harissa Marinated Cod, Sunchoke Puree, Crispy Pigs Feet

6. Miso Marinated Hangar Steak, Miso Marinated Soubise, Chino Radish

7. Burnt Orange Consomme, Meyer Lemon Creme, Sushi Rice Sorbet

8. Soft Chocolate, Charred Pineapple, Alpine Strawberry, Burnt Milk Ice cream

Favorites:

The first dish was a disc of new zealand spinach, much less aggressively flavored than the usual variety formed into a dish with a creme brulee like consistency, only slightly more solid. Not so jiggly. The dish was garnished with flowers and hazelnuts. Beautiful presentation, a hallmark of the evening and of Sona's dishes in general.

The harissa marinated cod had a hint of spice/heat. The waitress had warned us that it was the spiciest dish. No need to worry, Jitlada this was not. We had this dish without the pigs trotters. The sauce had penetrated the chicken and it was flavorful. This was also the most sizeable dish. Most were tasting menu portioned if that - delicate morsels.

Least favorite:

The yellowfin tuna dish was bland. The sushi quality tuna was served seared but did not have much flavor. Presented attractively.

Overall the meal was enjoyable but as a calling card did not compel me to make a reservation at Sona for a return visit. My last visit to the restaurant was nearly 3 years ago. The Sona style has a large degree of emphasis on presentation, almost like in a Japanese kaiseki meal. Much of the meal felt very ephemeral in nature, like it could float away.

Chef Yagi is charming and she is off to Japan and then to Europe once Sona shutters in the next couple of months. I look forward to trying the next iteration of her cooking.

Photos (in descending order) are of: Breadbar, Chef Yagi, Spinach Brulee, Tuna, Chocolate Dessert

Rivera's Spring Cocktail launch

On Thursday Rivera's superstar bartender Julian Cox launched his Spring cocktail list of 13 new libations with a special launch night price of $6 each.

The bar and lounge area was packed with cocktail aficionados, bloggers, and fans of Julian's delicious drinks. Recent DonQ cocktail competition champion Kristina Howald (pictured at left), who is usually only behind the bar on Fridays & Saturdays, was there to help with the onslaught.

I got to meet several people in person for the first time including the Amateur Enthusiast and LA/OC Foodie.

I sampled three beverages over the course of the evening in two sessions (had to decamp to the Rooftop Bar @ The Standard for a reunion of another sort in the middle).

Began with the Widow's Kiss - Rye Whiskey, Calvados, Yellow Chartreuse.

Followed up with Sexy Thyme - Gin, Aperol, Orgeat, Golden Raspberries, Thyme

Last drink (round 2) was the Smoked Manhattan - Rye, Amaro Cio Ciaro, Smoked Rosemary, Angostura

My favorite of the cocktails I tried was the Sexy Thyme. Very balanced, not too sweet but easy to drink. I was a bit hesitant to order it as I have had a few unsuccessful cocktails with Aperol, but Sexy Thyme has removed the Aperol jinx from me. I also love the great ice served with this drink.

The smoked manhattan involves lighting the rosemary on fire to smoke it and impart some of the smoky scent to the drink. Enjoyable to watch and it adds another flavor component to the drink without overwhelming it.

The evening was so successful that when I came back for round 2, the bar had run out of several of the fresh ingredients, which I take as a very good sign. Rivera's classics will continue to be available.

Blogger ThirstyinLA has helpfully posted the full list of Spring cocktails here.

Cart for a Cause: Nobu Edition

Tuesday March 23rd was the first day of operation of Cart for a Cause. This is a temporary gourmet truck that will operate on Tuesdays and serve gourmet lunches from shnazzy chefs for $10. The beneficiary of the cause is St. Vincent's Meals on Wheels, a Catholic charity based in downtown LA which brings meals to the housebound. According to LA Weekly's SquidInk Blog, $6.50 of each meal goes to the charity.

Nobu Los Angeles was the first restaurant/chef up and they will be returning this coming Tuesday as well. The location was behind the UTA building on Wilshire Blvd in Beverly Hills, the same building as the Niketown, just off Rodeo Drive.

There were three options: sushi with black cod, sushi with chicken skewers, and a field green salad with shrimp. All the lunches also came with a drink, either bottled water or one of the pomegranate beverages from Pom, who is one of the sponsors. (Pom corporate sibling Fiji Water and Lexus are also sponsors). I opted for the sushi with chicken skewers. The skewers came with two types of sauce, a red sauce that was mildly spicy and a darker one that reminded me of teriyaki sauce.

It was incongrous to see a nun hanging out at a food truck. But she was there to represent the cause. A reasonably sized line had developed by the 12:30 launch time and after a suitable number of photo ops, the food distribution began. They only had 150 portions and sold out within an hour. I was told by a friend who went by too late that by the time he got there only the shrimp salad was left.

The sushi was 3 pieces of spicy tuna roll and 3 pieces of salmon and avocado maki. According to the Cart for a Cause facebook page, the two sauces/skewers were anticucho & kushiyaki.

After next week's Nobu round 2, other chefs will be taking weekly turns. They will apparently be using other locations to park the cart in future weeks as well. Note: the best parking option is to park in Via Rodeo's underground valet parking lot. They have 2 hour free parking, no validation required, and the only cost is the valet tip. It is less than a 5 minute walk to the UTA driveway from there.

Food Fight Screening & Discussion Panel

Last night there was a screening of the documentary Food Fight, at the Crest Theater in Westwood, followed by a discussion panel. Panelists included Chris Taylor, the director, Suzanne Goin, chef/owner of Lucques/AOC/Tavern, Evan Kleiman, chef/owner of Angeli Caffe and host of Good Food on KCRW, and Russ Parsons, author and editor of the Los Angeles Times food section.

The 2008 film is about the shift to mass produced industrial foods which deliver cheap calories and the movement which began as the fight of a few passionate people to look for a better alternative. The rise of the green markets / farmers markets, the role of Alice Waters and Chez Panisse in both educating the public and building a supply chain of local producers where none had existed before and the incentives of government subsidies in pushing packaged calorie dense and nutritionally questionable foods.

Goin and Parsons both appeared in the film. The theater auditorium was mostly full and the audience applauded at several points. The panel discussion was somewhat interesting although few of the questions were actually questions. Most questioners wanted to make a statement or talk about an organization that they were involved with. Rather than end with a question mark, most audience questions ended with the statement, go to yadayadayada.ORG to learn more.

Homegirl Cafe provided mini tastes of their food in the lobby for free and the theater sells both organic and regular popcorn. I did my part for sustainability by choosing the organic popcorn and by walking to the movie theater.

DonQ USBG LA Regional Competition at Caña @the Doheny

On March 23rd the Los Angeles chapter of the US Bartenders Guild (USBG) held the regional competition sponsored by DonQ rum, in which the winner received a free trip to New York to compete in the nationals against bartenders from across the country at the 1st ever Manhattan Cocktail Classic.

Each participant had 10 minutes to set up their station and then 7 minutes to make their original cocktail. Twelve bartenders from many of the top cocktail & mixology bars competed. A sampling of the bars represented included The Varnish, The Tar Pit, Malo, La Descarga and Rivera. Competitors had to be members of the Los Angeles branch of the USBG.

The three judges included the manager of The Varnish (Eric Alperin), the manager of Caña (John) and Jonathan Gold, the pulitzer prize winning LA Weekly food critic. Each drink was judged solely on taste and appearance. After much deliberation and doublechecking of scores, the winner was declared: Kristina Howald, who bartends at both Rivera and La Descarga.

She will be joining a large Los Angeles delegation attending the MCC in May. Congratulations Kristina! Take home the national trophy for Los Angeles!

The event was held at Caña @the Doheny, the recently relaunched rum bar owned by Cedd Moses. It had previously required a 4 figure initiation and annual dues. Now not only have annual dues been reduced to $20 (which goes to charity), but the focus has been shifted to rum drinks and the decor has been updated to match.

Above photos of Chris Bostick of the Varnish, and Rachel Shaw of Malo during the competition.

Ludo Fried Chicken @ Akasha

Chef Ludo Lefebvre has been popping up all over town the past few months, at Royal T Salon in Culver City in December, in a truck at the Los Angeles Street Food Festival on February 13th, at the Gold Standard event at the Petersen Automotive Museum on February 28th, at The Foundry on Melrose on March 2nd, and most recently at Akasha Restaurant on Monday night March 22nd. His upcoming 6 week run at Gram & Papas in downtown LA sold out in one day.

Before his series of pop-ups, he was the chef at Bastide in West Hollywood, where his adventurous and playful cuisine challenged many Angelenos conceptions of fine dining, especially those of LA Times reviewer S. Irene Virbila who demoted the restaurant to a single star. He has perhaps achieved his widest fame for appearing on Top Chef Masters, the upcoming season of which he is also competing in.

In his pop-ups, his signature item has been Ludo Fried Chicken. That was the only item he featured at the Street Food Fest and the recent dinners at The Foundry and Akasha. His fried chicken balls are boneless meat shaped into spheres and fried with rosemary.

On Monday night, the dinner at Akasha sold out within hours and the evening was filled with food bloggers and Ludo-fans. The Ludo Fried Chicken was $18 per person and was served in a portion of 3 balls of chicken, with your choice of 2 of the 4 sides (mashed potatoes, sweet potato fries, cole slaw, or kale.)

The chicken arrived to the table piping hot and was as delicious as I had remembered it from prior events. The chicken on my plate appeared to be dark meat and was juicy and flavorful all on its own. The dipping sauces were tried, but I did not find them necessary. The sweet potato fries were nice and crunchy but not too sweet (a good thing). I tried the coleslaw which went really well with the chicken.

Our table also ordered the macaroni and cheese, which was wonderful - on par with the great mac & cheese at Church & State. One of my tablemates liked it almost as much as their favorite at Lou on Vine. It was not too liquidy and had some strong cheese flavor.

We also ordered the buttermilk biscuits and bacon corn bread. The biscuits had sugar sprinkled on the top to combine savory and sweet one bite. I confess I did not enjoy these as much as my friends, as I will choose savory or salty over sweet any day. I did not sample the corn bread because I do not eat pork. My dining companions also ordered the pulled pork sandwich and raved about it. It came in an order of two sliders, generously portioned.

Now that I have been able to try the LFC at the street fest, at Foundry and at Akasha, I can say that it is remarkably consistent, and consistently good.

The kumquat mojito cocktail that I had was refreshing while the hibiscus drink one of my friends ordered was poorly conceived. Service was friendly. The only mixup was that our table repeatedly received items destined for another table, but these things happen when there is a full house and a special event on.

Until I had tried Bakesale Betty's in Oakland for their fried chicken sandwiches, I did not believe that great fried chicken could be boneless. Ludo Fried Chicken further underscores that point.

The next iteration of Ludobites is coming up next month but has been sold out. Apparently a waiting list will be developed, so follow Ludo's wife Krissy's twitter stream for updates.

This event came about because Ludo and Eric Greenspan of the Foundry were discussing his LFC on Twitter and Eric invited him to cook at his restaurant but didn't have a spare fryer and Akasha jumped in and offered one of hers. Then the adventure continued when Ludo continued the collaboration by cooking on site at Akasha's namesake restaurant.

Akasha Restaurant is located at 9543 Culver Blvd (corner of Watseka Avenue) in Culver City. Phone: (310) 845-1700. Website: www.akasharestaurant.com

Ludobites info: http://www.ludolefebvre.com/ludo-bites

Parking: There is a free two hour city lot on Watseka directly next to Akasha restaurant. Could not be more convenient.