Jar for the Course

I'd been wanting to try Jar for quite some time, and seeing Suzanne Tracht perform so well on Top Chef Masters only made me want to try it more.

We took Papa Monkey there for brunch.

Complimentary pecan bread.

Kind of amazing. More like cake than bread. What a way to start!

Oven-roasted turkey sandwich with bacon, avocado, lettuce, tomato, homemade pickles, and Jar fries ($17).

Simple, fresh, high-quality, and tasty, but was it worth $17? No. Papa Monkey seemed to enjoy it anyway.

Pot roast hash ($14).

Not what we were expecting at all. It was chock-full of peppers and onions and yet...not that flavorful. Mr. Monkey actually doused it with Tabasco. Eek.

Lobster benedict, two poached eggs, char siu pork, pea tendrils, lobster bearnaise ($16).

Best dish of the day -- mine, of course! Interesting combination of flavors and textures. I really liked this update to a classic.

While Papa Monkey's and Mr. Monkey's entrees disappointed me, the pecan bread and my lobster benedict proved that excellent stuff does come out of the kitchen.

Because of this, I can't write off Jar completely just yet.

Freshness Cubed

On Saturday, Mama Mo, BroMo, and I sought sustenance and refuge from the hot summer sun at Cube, a great cafe/marketplace/cheese bar on La Brea.

Complimentary [overexposed] cheese and pizza crust.


Deeeeelish way to start!

We ordered a few things to eat family-style. We are a family after all.

Heirloom tomato and peach, Mimmo's burrata, fresh basil, and six-year balsamic ($14).

This was the inspiration for the title of this post. Fresh tomato. Fresh peach. Fresh burrata. This incredible trio was the perfect respite from the searing sun outside. I stacked mine like this.

Not pretty on my plate, but every bite I took was heavenly. The peach was my favorite part. No, the burrata. No, the peach. No, the burrata. Gah. Can't decide. Just delicious cubed.

Pizza with black truffle, mozzarella, and fried egg ($17).

Very enjoyable. Thin, crisp, and bursting with strong truffle flavors. Our server encouraged us to poke the yolk and smear it all around. Good stuff.

Baked four-cheese mac and cheese, charred heirloom tomato, truffle salt ($8).

One of the biggest slices of tomato I've ever seen -- bigger than my hand! But, as my piano teacher used to lament, I have pretty small hands. Oh, Mrs. Olsen, I could never please you. But this mac and cheese sure pleased us. Rich and super cheesy and no shortage of flavor here. Just right.

Tuscan kale tortelloni, heirloom tomato brodo, pecorino ($12).

This was the loser of the day. Exceedingly salty. We thought it was the sauce at first, but it turned out the filling was the culprit. Too much seasoning here. Sad face. Skip this.

Matagliati, shaved lobster mushrooms, browned butter, red cow parmesan, white truffle oil ($8 for small size).

Quite yummy. Simple but well-executed. Texture was near perfection.

Too stuffed for dessert. All smiles after our meal.

Not sure why my brother looks so pensive here. He was probably listening to our mom intently. I like it. And I like Cube, too.

Bloggus Interruptus Again

Life keeps happening. And things that happen aren't always good.

My uncle had a brain aneurysm recently. Things took a turn for the worse, and he got pneumonia soon after. My visit today was a sobering experience. There were so many wires in his head and so many tubes all over his body.

His brain must be kept cold, but his body cannot handle the cold.

He kept shivering. It was hard to watch.

I debated whether or not to take a photo. What kind of sicko would photograph her uncle in this state?

I snapped this one shot. Just one. I looked at my LCD monitor. The image was so stark, even on a 2.5-inch screen. That was enough. I put my camera away and sat quietly for awhile, contemplating whether I should wake him up.

Lucky for me, my aunt arrived, and we chatted for awhile and caught up on each other's lives. She saved me from having to talk extensively to my uncle. He drifts in and out of sleep and can hear and understand, but he can't respond. I felt relieved that he could listen to us sharing our latest news without my actually speaking directly to him.

I'm not good with stuff like this.

This photo really proves the old cliche. Nothing I could write would come close to what I saw and felt for the hour I spent with my uncle today.

I hope he gets better soon. My cousin is getting married next year. He has to be there.

Rollin' Down the Street, Eatin' Indo, Sippin' on Gin and Juice

During this blogging hiatus, everybody has been asking me, "Why?"

No particular reason. Just want to take a break. Relax. Re-charge. It's a good practice for bloggers. When you come back, you're refreshed and ready to rock.

A few tidbits to tide you over until the full return....

I rolled down to Susan Feniger's Street for lunch yesterday with my brother. The food will be blogged in due time, as I have plans to go for dinner. (If you're curious, my initial thought is that it's tasty but pricey for what it is. I want to try more dishes, though.)

BroMo recently got wind that he will be featured in a prominent industry publication, so I took some photos of him for it. This was perfect for me because my last assignment for my photography class was to do a portrait session. BroMo was a great model who took direction very well.

Which one do you like the most? We've already decided on one of these to submit, but I'm itching to know what the masses think.

Mr. Monkey and I had a lovely introduction to Indonesian food last night, coordinated by the ever-awesome mind behind gastronomy (which, if you don't read already, you really should). The feast was prepared by Ira's Gourmet, a caterer who works out of her Pasadena home (626.345.9931). We paid $10 per person for all of this.



For those not in the know, empal is sweet fried beef. Bakmi goreng is stir-fried egg noodles with chicken, shrimp, vegetables and egg. Lemper is the most amazing sticky rice filled with chicken in coconut gravy. I'm pretty sure lemper is Indonesian for "the effing bomb-diggity." We really enjoyed our meal.

Today we went on a delightful dim sum excursion with our friends The Cruisers, followed by some chillin' by the pool at the Pagoda Bar at Yamashiro, where The Cruisers' friend was deejaying.

No actual gin and juice for me. I sipped on a Bernheimer Basil-Jito with vodka, strawberries, and fresh basil. Ahhhhh.

Love that view from the Hollywood Hills. So very L.A.

She's Crafty

I'm still several weeks behind on blogging, but it's time to go a little out of order for Mother's Day. We took Mama Monkey to craft for brunch.





I liked the lights.

Tom Colicchio's Los Angeles eatery is usually not open for Sunday brunch, but this was a special Sunday -- three courses for $48.

Complimentary fresh-baked scones, blueberry crumb cake, carrot crumb cake, and cheese bread greeted us after we placed our orders. Very very good and worth taking home if you don't finish!


FIRST COURSES

Spring pea soup with lobster fritters.


The golden nuggets arrived naked, and our server poured a wondrous savory green pea soup atop. Fried lobster? In creamy soup? Thumbs up.

Crispy oysters with warm leek vinaigrette and almonds.

So light and crunchy and wonderful that even this bivalve hater loved them.

Foie gras torchon with cocoa nibs and ginger.



Nom nom nom-errific. Particularly delish with the cocoa nibs.

Pork terrine with spring lettuces and ramp oil.

Nobody's perfect. Not even Tom Colicchio. This was the loser dish of the day. Flavor was fine, but it was really just a total of two full bites. Sad.

MAIN COURSES

Dungeness crab omelet with California asparagus and roasted tomato.

Generous portion of crab embraced by light, fluffy, and perfectly cooked egg. A seafood lover's morning dream treat.

Roasted and braised lamb with spring garlic and morels.

Are you a carniwhore? I am. The braised portion was particularly droolworthy.

Fried pheasant egg with crispy Berkshire pork belly and shoulder ravioli.

This fat-filled, cholesterol-laden dish was worth it. I still haven't encountered any pork belly as good as the pork belly at Animal, but this was tasty. I enjoyed the ravioli very much.

Moulard duck with mulberries and green almonds.

Winner, winner, ducky dinner! My fave main, hands down. Tender, meaty, and a little sweet. Yum.

PRE-DESSERT

Chocolate mousse with seared marshmallow and candied kumquat.


I adored the marshmallow! Mousse was fine. Kumquat was not so great.

DESSERT

Crème fraîche panna cotta with strawberries.

Panna cotta makes me happy. This didn't disappoint. Smooth, creamy, and a little tangy, topped with fresh strawberries and a bit of granita. Refreshing.

Red velvet cake.

Good enough. The vanilla bean ice cream actually outshone the cake.

Salty chocolate tart.


The salt brought out the dark richness, but, again, I enjoyed the ice cream more. This scoop had a buttery toffee flavor.

Rhubarb blueberry cobbler.

Best dessert of the day. Hot tart cobbler! In a mini cast-iron pot! Paired with more ice cream! Really awesome stuff.

***** Begin Side Story Re Camera Stuff*****

The previous day (which I hope to blog tomorrow), I went to Samy's Camera for its No-Sales-Tax Mother's Day Sale (going on until Wednesday, May 13), intending to buy a nice zoom lens and a decent prime lens. Lo and behold, Papa Monkey was just down the street at LACMA, so he met me at the store...and bought me my coveted zoom lens! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh! Even better than paying no tax! Thank you, Papa Monkey!

Sadly, however, the store had run out of the prime lens I wanted and suggested I call the next day in case there were any in stock. As directed, I called Sunday morning, and the store had two of them! I asked the salesperson to hold one for me and told her I'd be there in 20 minutes.

Apparently, these lenses have been selling like hotcakes. You can't even get them on Amazon right now. No exaggeration. By the time I got to Samy's, the other lens had been sold. Good thing I put one on hold!

Anyway, the point of this side story is that I have two new lenses, including a prime lens that's perfect for food photography. I ripped open the packaging in the car on the way over to craft and used my new lens for the food at this brunch. I can't wait to see how it fares during a dimly lit dinner -- it's so much faster than my kit lens!

***** End Side Story Re Camera Stuff*****

For those of you uninterested in lens talk, allow me to show you my other purchase from Samy's before our brunch with Mama Monkey.

The. Cutest. DSLR. Camera. Case. Ever. Totally ideal for my restaurant excursions!

Shiny happy people laughing.


Many years ago.

And now.

After brunch, we went to Brother Monkey's house to watch the Laker game. I snapped these outside his place.


I found this little story that BroMo wrote when he was four.

BroMo has been making Mama Mo (and the rest of us) laugh since forever.

Another laugh for you -- when I gave Mama Mo my corporate photo, she asked, "Where is my Tiffany bowl?" Told you she reads my blog!

Happy Mother's Day, Mama Monkey! We love you!