CUT

The four of us gorgeous ladies, Rania, me, Julia and Julie



I first heard about CUT from my friend Steve (of Nicole’s Gourmet Foods), which was voted Best French Market by Los Angeles Magazine! (Congrats Steve!!!) I’ve been a big fan of the magazine ever since they called my dad “wine guru.” For a while, I was trying to get him to pitch a reality show with him as the main attraction, and I thought we could call it Wine Guru. I mean, if you’ve ever met my dad, he is completely irreverent and hilarious, and you can learn about wine while you laugh your butt off!

Anyway, Steve said CUT was Wolfgang Puck’s new steakhouse, it was good, blah blah blah. Honestly, I think Wolfgang Puck is kind of a sellout. I like his place in the Venetian, Postrio, because they have lobster burgers. I think technically it’s called “the lobster club with bacon.” But I mean, he has his own line of coffee. What the hell does he know about coffee??? Okay. Rant over. But after I saw CUT made it on the LA Weekly’s 99 Essential Restaurants inn LA List I knew I had to go. Because my New Year’s Resolution for 2008 is going to be to visit every restaurant on that list, and I need to get a jump start otherwise I’ll never be able to afford it. AND (one more plug for Los Angeles magazine) they voted the potato tarte tartin as one of the best steakhouse sides in LA. Just a word of warning though, it's located at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel, so be prepared to see MULTIPLE Lamborghinis out front, high class Russian hookers, and lots of Persian people.

To start off the night, we get drinks at Sidebar *insert lawyer joke here*, while we are waiting for our table. It’s very sleek and chic, just opposite the foyer from CUT. This is where we saw our first Russian hookers. They looked good, though. I’d say, $1000 a pop, minimum. The martinis were about $15, but were really tasty. I wanted to order a Bellinissimo, but they were out of peach juice or something. I love Bellinis because they come from Harry’s Bar in Venice. So the Bellinissimo was basically a Bellini (peach juice and champagne) with some top shelf booze thrown in. I can’t remember the name of what I ordered, but it was vanilla vodka with lime and champagne. I didn’t think vanilla and lime would work very well, but the cocktail waitress recommended it. It was an interesting flavor match, very aromatic. Totally different, and quite tasty. Julie ordered something that tasted like straight tequila, and Julia had a subtly fruity martini. Only about 3 crusty 65 year old men tried to talk to us, so it wasn’t THAT bad. Oh, and they give you the best bar munchies. Marinated kalamata olives, wasabi peas, and housemade honey roasted almonds, among other things. Way better than some pretzels on the bar which have been there since 1984.




Rania, Julie and I at CUT

The weirdest thing about CUT by far is the “beefolier” part. I guess beefolier is supposed to be like a sommelier, but for beef. So they come to your table with like 6 cuts of beef, nicely stacked and wrapped in napkins. I think they do it to upsell the Japanese wagyu, because he kept pointing out the “superior marbling” when compared to the American wagyu. Of course, if I had $100 to spend on 6 ounces of steak (no, I’m not exaggerating the price) then I would have ordered it. I REALLY considered it. But normally, I’m expecting to drop $100 on an ENTIRE steak dinner. But for just the steak? I’m still a starving student here, people. And look, I know I’m eating a cow. I like meat. But I really don’t want to see a bunch of chunks of raw beef at the end of my table. Sorry!

So, we finally sit down, and I want to share the American wagyu porterhouse with Julie, and she’s down. I love porterhouses. Filet + New York = What’s Not to Love? But No-o-o-o-o, we get the 21 day aged Illinois porterhouse instead. Because they have run out of the American wagyu. On a Friday night. I mean, really??? Anyway, for a New York, it was pretty good. I used to always order New York steak when I was a kid because I was born in New York, and I thought I should support my peeps. Nowadays, since it’s kind of a fatty cut, if it’s not really high quality, I’m not into it. I’m just a filet kinda girl. And this filet mignon was AWESOME. It was perfectly grilled, cooked, and seasoned. It wasn’t the best I’ve ever had, but that’s because I’ve had filets of better quality. But they did an excellent job with what they were working with. Plus, it’s fun to order a porterhouse because they make such a big deal about the presentation. The guy comes to your table and chop chop chops it all up. I think one of the secrets to the flavor is the steaks are grilled over hardwood and charcoal, and then finished in a 1200 degree broiler. Kinda hard to replicate at home.

Now for the sides. We order the tarte tartin, because all the cut reviews rave about it (and everyone at the table is following my lead on this stuff). But, I don’t know WHY this is be-all-end-all of steakhouse sides. It was merely ok. It was crispy and a little greasy. Definitely not the best side in LA. I also ordered the chantrelles, because I LOVE them. However, when the dish arrived, I asked, “Where are they?” Because there were about three chantrelles with a bunch of waxy green beans. The true side star was the grilled corn. It was AMAZING. I ate the whole thing after everyone got a taste. The corn was really fresh and crisp, and then smoky from the grilling. Very simple, but perfect. We also got the white polenta with parmesan which was passably good. It was a little too creamy. Maybe they added butter or there was too much cheese? The flavor was good, but it was thisclose to being gluteny. Of course, I’m picky about polenta. Nobody makes it as good as Mom does. ;-)

Now for the desserts. Of course, we ordered the chocolate soufflé. Holy crap. It was FANTASTIC. It came with this cocoa gelato, which was okay, kinda lacking on the sweetness. But this soufflé, OMG. It was rich, and flavorful, but not too heavy. I could have eaten about three of them, even though I was really full. I also wanted to try the Boston cream pie dessert, since that is my favorite doughnut. Unfortunately, it was a disaster and I’m sorry I was the reason we ordered it. The top was solid chocolate, which was too thick to break easily with a fork and didn’t work well with the spongy cake and really thin layer of pastry cream. I felt bad, because the girls were following my lead on the ordering and I came up with a couple of duds. Julia and Julie ordered coffee, and it smelled divine. Maybe Wolfgang does know a thing or two about coffee. Yes, we’re on a first name basis..... kidding!!!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JULIE (with the ill-fated Boston Cream Pie)

Shiro South Pasadena

Everyone at Shiro


Last week for my friend Claire’s birthday, her parents took her to Shiro in South Pasadena. I was lucky enough to be on the invite list. I had never even heard of this gem, right in the same plaza as Lucha’s Comfort Shoes, a store I frequent because I’m a granola eating hippie when it comes to shoes. I started out with the Chinese Ravioli. They are stuffed with shrimp mousse and come in a shitake mushroom cream sauce. They were divine. I ordered them because Ruth Reichl adored them. She is my idol. I <3 Ruth Reichl. I wish I could BE Ruth Reichl. For those of you who *gasp* don’t know who she is, she’s the editor of Gourmet Magazine (of which I am a subscriber) and she used to be the NY Times food critic. I have several of her books. We share our knack for food memory. But I digress... back to these divine ravioli. Now, the pasta part was a little more reminiscent of a won ton wrapper (although made with wheat durum flour), but the filling was absolutely divine. Flavorful and light all at the same time. There was a generous heaping of shitake mushrooms which were just a tad bit firm for my taste, but very fresh. The sauce was made with about 2 cups of heavy cream, so it was tasty. They even serve it with a spoon so you can savor every last drop. However, I figured by not licking up the sauce I saved myself about 600 calories. Claire ordered the tuna sashimi, which looked really fresh. Apparently the chef goes to the fresh fish market every morning to pick out the evening’s catch (although the fish market is not open on Sunday... so this was not morning fresh. But still good.)



The most amazing catfish you have ever tasted


Apparently for the main course the thing to get is the whole sizzling catfish. Our friend Jason ordered it and let me have a bite. Oh mi god. HEAVEN. Even the little pieces of crispy ginger accenting the cuts in the fish were tasty. It just melted in my mouth but still packed that big catfish flavor. And there were crunchy cornmeal bits. I was so jealous. They serve the fish whole, with head and all, but they kind of artfully cut it up so it’s easy to eat. And they kind of cover up the head with parsley if you’re weird about that stuff. (See, the picture above is not that bad!) I would definitely order it the next time I go (and there will be a next time!) I ordered the Australian John Dory (a flaky white fish) which came in a champagne curry sauce with divine prawns. I was so full, but I still ate it all. And when Claire couldn’t finish her lobster, well, I had to oblige. It was fabulous. Succulent, just a smidge undercooked to make sure it didn’t get tough. So good. And Jason’s fish came with au gratin scalloped potatoes which must have come from heaven. The best I’ve ever had, hands down. No weird congealed milky cheesy bits (which I can never seem to avoid when I make them myself... anyone have tips?), and the potatoes were perfectly cooked, they were firm enough not to fall apart, but cut easily with the edge of a fork. The potatoes, like the shitake sauce, had about 2 cups of heavy cream... but I would have licked the sauce if they were mine. ;-)



Claire and her Momma

Now, I know I said I was full. And I was. But the dessert menu was just too tempting and everyone else was ordering... so I bowed to peer pressure. Not like they had to twist my arm or anything! I ordered the Grand Marnier Baked Peach with Vanilla Ice Cream & Caramel Sauce. WOW. The peach still had the skin on it, but since it was poached in Grand Marnier it actually ADDED to the flavor of the peach without the weird texture ramifications I expected. And the ice cream. MMMMM. Vanilla bean. I bet from Madagascar. :-) Although I hear Kenyan vanilla is making waves lately... once again I digress. Even though I was ridiculously full I ate the whole dang thing. Alona ordered the chocolate torte soufflé which was not a soufflé at all but a poorly executed flourless chocolate cake. Booo! At least the waiter explained it wasn’t really a soufflé when she ordered it. I swear, no place makes good flourless chocolate cake anymore! The restaurant I used to work at in San Diego, Trattoria Positano, had amazing flourless chocolate cake. I guess Amalia should sell her recipe or something. Anyway, bottom line is Shiro is amazing. It’s not cheap, but anything worth eating is worth paying for in my book. :-) Luckily Claire’s parents thought so too, so I had one of the best free-to-me dinners EVER. I only wish Claire had birthdays more often!






Claire and Jason as she makes a wish

Café des Artistes

Normally I don’t eat French food. I come from a long line of French-hating Italians. In fact, if someone offers my dad French wine, his standard line is: “I don’t drink that French shit.” However, I did take French in high school, and I’ve been to France multiple times (and the food is good there). Since Ryan likes French food, and has made me at least tolerate it through our many visits to La Poubelle, AND since our good friend Steve is actually French, I thought, why not? Now, the only other decent French place I’ve been to besides La Poubelle (which is very casual) is Le Petit Bistro when I went senior year with my French class. And all I remember is it was expensive and not that good.



Julie and me


So, for Juju Wednesday (Julie and Julia put together dinner dates around town—hence the juju name), we went to Café des Artistes. I was in the middle of finals, so this was a welcome respite from learning the intricacies of international law and criminal procedure. Of course, the first thing I look for on the menu is frog legs. And they don’t have them. I mean, what self respecting French restaurant doesn’t have frog legs??? But they did have Moules et frites (steamed black mussels and french fries), which is the national dish of Belgium. The last time I had moules et frites I was actually IN Belgium (and that was awhile ago) so I decided to order it. And I ordered a decent Vignonais which was only $32. This wine was introduced to me by that French guy I dated for a nanosecond (which I thought was appropriate since we were at a French place), but he ordered the Coppola version which cost twice as much. French guy did have excellent taste in wine. And women. Haha! But I digress.



Ryan, Julia, and me



What did everyone order? To start with, Ryan and I shared the oysters. They were ENORMOUS, really fresh, and really good. They were literally the largest oysters I have ever consumed (and I have consumed my fair share of oysters). Laura got the goat cheese salad. Other people ordered various salads, but the tastiest thing was the sausage with Moroccan dip which Steve and Julia ordered. The sausage was juicy and succulent with just a hint of caraway seed, and the sauce was filled with different exotic flavors (probably turmeric, etc.) and quite tasty.

For the main course, Julia ordered stewed beef short ribs over fettuccine. The meat was excellent. It just fell apart on my fork. It was stewed in this tasty brown wine sauce, and I could have eaten tons of it. I didn’t bother tasting the fettuccine, because we all know French people don’t know how to make pasta (Steve confirmed this). Laura had escargot as a main course. Gross. I have tried them multiple times. Invariably I suck off the butter and garlic and spit out the snail. She said they were good though. Bryan ordered some fish thing over beans. It looked healthy so I didn’t ask for a bite. Julie, my hero, ordered the mac & cheese. Great cheese flavor, nice cheese crust, but the casserole was just oily noodles. A thicker roux was needed to stand up to the tasty crust. Steve ordered filet mignon, surprising me by not ordering the ribeye. It came with french fries (and who can do those better than the French?). And those were yummy fries! But my favorite fries by far are either garlic fries or greek fries. These fries were basically like really really good McDonald's fries. Rania got the mushroom ravioli, which I didn’t try. I had just met her, and I'm a little bit of a closet freak about my food obsession, so I didn't ask. As for my mussels, they were good, but the sauce needed more flavor. A little dash of white pepper and more garlic to liven it up would have been perfect. At least the fries were good!



Me squeezing Laura


Now for the desserts. This is the area where the French can actually outshine the Italians. Julie and I ordered the brioche bread pudding. It was nothing short of AMAZING. It was drizzled with this delicious caramel sauce. Each piece was dripping with custardy goodness. We also ordered the crème brulee, which was decent, but not fantastic. I’m really picky about crème brulee. I want to see fresh grated vanilla bean in that custard! The true dud of the evening was the flourless chocolate cake. It was more like a flavorless flourless brick than cake. I definitely needed the vanilla bean ice cream to even get it down. Obviously the pastry chef didn’t use the right sugar to butter ratio. I mean, I’ve had Pillsbury brownies that were better than this thing. LONG LIVE JUJU WEDNESDAYS!

Dinner Party Club

All of us in Sapna's fabulous living room



The Vegas Loyola gals plus our friend Alex decided to start a dinner party club, since we all love cooking and eating. Sapna hosted the first one, back in January, and naturally prepared us an Indian feast. (We wanted Sapna to make us Indian food, Alex to make us Armenian food, and me to make us Italian food. Tracie is British, so naturally we DIDN’T want her to make us British food… but then again maybe she could change our minds with some of the “jewels” of British cuisine… if they exist. Katherine is totally American, but she IS from Texas, which we don’t hold against her because she’s awesome, so maybe she could make us some Tex-Mex stuff.) But I digress.

Tracie with some of the spread




Sapna started us out with a variety of Indian appetizers, including homemade samosas stuffed with potatoes, peas, and spices, and other pastries with caramelized onion, and some with mixed mushrooms. These were served with a variety of delicious sauces, including mint, and tamarind/date and I forget what else. We sat in her Morroccan-inspired living room, which was featured on HGTV (I’m friends with famous people!). The main course was fabulous. We had stewed chicken in a flavorful broth, yummy basmati rice, chapati (an unleavened pancake-like bread, similar in flavor to nan, but not as thick, and not prepared in a tandoori oven), and delicious cucumber yogurt sauce. Alex brought some delicious pastries, and fun was had by all.

These chapati things are addictive




For my dinner party, as an appetizer I decided to make my delicious bacon-date-blue-cheese- things. Mostly because I wanted to eat them, and everyone loves them. I used Neiman’s Ranch uncured applewood smoked bacon this time, and it was yummers. I also wanted to do a nice cheese board, because this would distract everyone while I labored over the main course, a porcini mushroom risotto. So I went to Steve’s store to get the Arborio rice, cheese, and porcini. For the board, I picked a humbolt fog (yummy goat cheese), Spanish Mahon (mild cow’s milk), English cheddar (mmm one of my favorites), and a Roquefort (stinky French blue). The Roquefort was the real hit, it was tangy but not too stinky. I rounded out the board with some seedless red grapes, provencal black olives, pimiento-stuffed olives, and sesame water crackers.

The spread at my house



Now for the main course! I LOVE porcini mushroom risotto. My mom made it when I was a kid, and it’s a specialty of my dad’s region in Italy (oftentimes the relatives will prepare it when I come to visit, and I always ask for seconds). I got some recipe pointers from Checco, the amazing chef at my parents’ restaurant . He told me to sauté whole garlic in some EVOO until it was burnt, then to take it out. He said adding the actual garlic or onions would overpower the flavor of the porcini. Apparently shallots would be OK, but not necessary. (I just left them out.) I used dried porcini, which I soaked overnight in what started out as boiling water. I also used frozen porcini, which I defrosted overnight in the refrigerator. I diced them all up and mixed them together, and added them to the garlic olive oil and sautéed for about a minute. Next, I added some of the porcini water and then the Arborio rice (about 1 lb.) and a cup of chicken stock. I just used boxed chicken broth, and I threw in a porcini mushroom bullion cube for some flavor. I kept adding broth one cup at a time until the risotto was al dente (about 20-30 minutes). I then mixed in some EVOO, parmesan cheese, and some cilantro (I actually prefer it over parsley because it has a more tangy lemony flavor). And it was divine! Not the best I’ve ever had, but passably good.


The group at my house

To round out the meal we had some delicious pain rustique from Trader Joe’s (crusty French bread which is not all the way cooked, so 10 minutes in the oven makes it perfect), and a salad with homemade honey balsamic dressing, sliced strawberries, and toasted slivered almonds. For dessert we had mini-cheesecakes, also from Trader Joe’s. I LOVE that place. For the wine selection, we started out with an amazing 1993 Barbaresco (Produttori di Barbaresco). I break out the good stuff for special occasions. :-). Then we moved on to one of my favorites, Tuttobene, which is a new supertuscan; a Bogle cabernet; a Korbel rosé; and a Fantinel Pinot Grigio. Mmm! For our round of Trivial Pursuit, I broke out more cheese and some hard salami. Hehe, I don’t mess around when it comes to food and hosting!

AGO West Hollywood

The Magnolia crew, some of whom accompanied me to Ago



So we go to Ago, arguably the best Italian restaurant in Los Angeles. (And I can argue, trust me, I’m a proto-lawyer.) Ago is constantly in Us Weekly (last week Madonna and Guy Ritchie went there). The night we were there, only Ariana Huffington and Eric Benet showed up. But normally it's good for some celebrity spotting. Juju (a.k.a. Julie and Julia) have a Wednesday night tradition of going out to fabulous dinners. Sometimes they let Danny and Steve come along. Now I was eavesdropping on their conversation during one of our many nights at Magnolia, and they said they wanted to go to Ago. Now, I actually KNOW Agostino Sciandri (the chef/owner). I went to his daughter’s fricking wedding people! And I know all the waiters, since they are old timers who worked with my dad at Madeo, Perino’s and the Rex. So, I tell them if they go, they have to take me so we can get VIP treatment. And we did!

I arrive, and Stefano, the manager, greets me Italian style (kiss kiss!). Michele is there (who married Ago’s daughter, so I went to his wedding too I suppose). We go to our table, and who is our waiter? SAVERIO! I have known Saverio since I was a kid. In fact, he used to live at our house in Glendale. I made his bed one day, and he said in thanks he would buy me whatever I wanted. I told him I needed a two-wheel bike because I was getting too old for my tricycle. And of course he had to buy it for me. Ah, the manipulative nature of little girls. *sigh!* Frankly, it’s a wonder that anyone reproduces, SERIOUSLY. Ok, ok, now for the food!

I split the burrata appetizer with Jordan, with green beans. MMM. I love a soft gooey mozzarella, and that’s exactly what a burrata is! Steve and Julia had mozzarella caprese, which was also very high quality mozzarella (and Steve should know, he’s in “the business” of cheese). Danny had like, a green salad (lame! I mean, c’mon!). Julie and Morgan had white asparagus which they shared with the rest of us luckily. Drizzled with EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and grated Grana Padana… FABULOUS! I love white asparagus when they’re done right. Unfortunately if they are done WRONG they are stringy and tough… these didn’t even need a fork. I love white asparagus especially because they are a specialty from my dad’s region in Italy. That’s why all the farmers there drive Mercedes Benzes. They have the white asparagus monopoly. Yay abolition of antitrust!

For entrees, Steve had the lamb which was THE BEST I have EVER tasted! It didn’t need a knife, it just melted, the flesh was thick and juicy. MMMM. Julie and I are carnivores, so we both got the wood burning oven seared Ribeye. It was tasty, but a little too burned on the outside (wood can be hard to control, and we ordered medium rare, I mean, it shouldn’t have been charred) and the cut was a bit fatty. Ribeye should be nicely marbled, not fully of nasty fatty chunks. Julia had the spinach agnellotti in a butter sage sauce, and we all know I BRAKE for butter sage sauce. Morgan had the grouper over artichokes with cherry tomatoes, which was flaky and delicious! The sauce was simple and flavorful and really worked with the delicate nature of the fish. The funniest part of the grouper was Saverio’s description of it as a “deep sea fish” to which he used his hand to explain DEEP in the sea. Danny had the grilled swordfish which was SO amazing. OMG. However, ever since Kitchen Confidential all I can think about swordfish is it’s teeming with worms and they die when you cook it so it’s OK, but I really don’t order it anymore (it used to be my favorite after shark… which now I can’t order because I’ll get mercury poisoning… ugh!) Jordan ordered the homemade linguine with lobster. The lobster was tasty tender and infused with flavor, but the pasta left a lot to be desired. The best Italian restaurant in LA can’t make a decent pasta? Are we serious people? GET IT TOGETHER!!!!

And dessert was a little bit of everything! They just brought over a platter, on the house! Tiramisu, banana tart, strawberry tart, walnut apple tart, ricotta cheesecake, mixed berry tart, and chocolate tart. My favorites were the tiramisu (Mario’s recipe which they still use even though they allegedly fired him) and the ricotta cheesecake. For wine we started with the Antinori Peppoli Chianti (which is great to order in a crowd since it pleases EVERY palate), and two bottles of Brancaia Il Blu. I love the Brancaia, bold, full, and great with a huge steak. And all our wine was COMPED. (I said VIP didn’t I???) AMAZING!!! Oh, I forgot to mention the homemade bread and focaccia. The focaccia had a nice flavor, but was a little dry, even with all the EVOO slathered all over it. Overall though, the meal was SOOO good, even AWESOME. The best part of course, is the company you bring with you to your meal. I love you guys!!! ;-)

Vegas, Baby!

At the Monte Carlo Cafe, where we became regulars



The day after fall semester finals, three of my friends from law school and I took off for Vegas. We show up at the Monte Carlo, put our stuff in the room, and head for the in-house brewery. Tracie has a tradition in Vegas, a shot of Patron Silver all around as you arrive. Naturally, we couldn’t break tradition. And we had a bunch of greasy food at the brewery. I got the chili con carne. We shared fried calamari. Tracie got mini burgers, Katherine got a Caesar Salad, Sapna got soup (I think it was creamy clam chowder which I avoid, something about clams and cream makes me rebel). For greasy bar food, it wasn’t that bad. Plus we were really hungry after getting off the plane.

That night, I could have gone to the steak house at the Bellagio with aunt, uncle and cousins. Apparently it was amazing and they sat next to George Clooney. But, I was in the mood to hang out with my girls. While Sapna and I were taking a nap, Tracie and Katherine snuck off and entered a poker tournament at the Paris. Tracie won 4th place! So we go over to the Paris to pick Tracie up, and it is FREEZING and we are STARVING, and since P.F. Chang’s was right there, we decide to go in. It’s packed so we decide to eat at the bar. Tracie used to work at the Chang’s in Sherman Oaks, so she’s chatting up the bartender. (Who told me his name was Superman.) We all share this AMAZING bottle of pinot noir, Estancia, and Tracie and Sapna get these weird cocktails (of which Chang’s has a lot) which were actually kinda good. We started off with the chicken lettuce wraps which are one of my favorites. They are greasy and yummy, but you can convince yourself they are healthy because of all the lettuce involved. We got the salt and pepper shrimp (I could have eaten 10 servings of this), garlic snap peas (you can never have too much garlic), brown rice, and I can’t remember what else. It was sooo yummy. Just what we needed before a night of gambling in Downtown Vegas. My cousins met up with us, and fun was had by all.

The gals at PF Chang's.








Sapna turned in early, but at about 4 a.m. I demanded that Tracie, Katherine and I get breakfast. We went to the café at the Monte Carlo and had a club sandwich and an egg/bacon/hashbrown plate. Katherine told me it was the best idea I ever had. Nothing like eggs at 4 a.m. I say!



High quality food at the Monte Carlo

So the next night, we decide we needed to actually go to a real restaurant and go dancing. We head over to the MGM, hoping to go to Studio 54. Unfortunately, it was closed for renovations for New Year’s. Boo! So we go to Centrifuge, this weird bar where the bartenders dance on the tables every 30 minutes, and we chat up our bartender asking where we can get some dancing action. Apparently the only game in town is Tao at the Venetian. We decide to get food at the MGM and head over.

What do we find at the MGM? Shibuya! We ordered this mushroom amazingness dish, it was mixed sautéed mushrooms, with I don’t know what, but it was oh-so good; the ahi tuna tartare tower, which was good, and some assorted sushi. The place is tres chic, a bit overpriced, but it was good. Then we proceeded to Tao where we jumped the line because we were so gorgeous. Then we ended up back at the café at 4 a.m.




Shibuya agreed with us. We really complemented the fabulous decor.

Now, every time I go to Vegas, I want to go to Burger Bar at the Mandalay Bay! So I convince the girls this is where we gotta go. I mean, they have burgers with truffles and fois gras! I got the Kobe beef burger with a fried egg (ever since I had this at Fatburger I’ve been addicted). Sweet potato fries. Pitcher of Newcastle. Unfortunately, none of us could afford the $60 fois gras truffle burger, but maybe next time if I have a winning streak. Ironically, this was our most expensive meal!

Mmm. YAY! Nothing like good food, good times, and good friends.




Me sleeping on the plane home. Soooo attractive. Ugh! Need to start that diet!

Christmas Madness!

Elizabeth, Chelsea and Candy in front of Chelsea's gorgeous centerpiece



The spread



Daddy carving up the turkey










Christmas Eve:

Starts out with me running around the grocery store looking for gruyere to make my savory cheese puffs, and CURSING myself for being too disorganized to get it in time from Steve's store. So, I'm wondering if Ementaler is going to be a good substitute all by itself, or if I should combine it with some cheddar or Havarti to kick it up a notch, so I call Steve. He first chastises me for not buying it at the store, but then greenlights my substitution. OK, good. I get home and shoot off an email to Steve apologizing for being so hyper-holiday on the phone, and assure him I'm not on drugs or anything. (Normally I'm very chill, but when I'm rushing and need to get a bunch of things done in a short amount of time I turn into what my ex calls "work mode," from my days working as a server.)

Now, gotta prep the dough for the rolls since it has to be refrigerated overnight. And it's sticky, why is it sticky? I put so much flour in it! Ugh! And the egg wasn't even that big! Now I'm wondering if I measured the milk incorrectly or put the yeast in too-warm water. Curse my inadequate memory! Ugh. Whatever, it's going in the fridge and I'll deal with potential disasters tomorrow. I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off since I have to leave at 1 p.m. to work at my parents' restaurant. Merry Fricking Christmas to me. And since Alessandra is in South Dakota with her husband, my options were 1) work at the restaurant, make money, and have lobster, or 2) sit at home by myself and cry watching some stupid Christmas movie. Naturally, I chose option 1.

Mmmm mmmmm mmmm and Francesco (the chef) can make him some lobster. He's cute, awesome, and I have a soft spot for a man who can cook. He's from Venice and we talked about Padova (where I used to live, which is 30 minutes from Venice). He used to have a one-Michelin-star restaurant there. Too bad he's 40 and married with child. *sigh* The lobster was grilled, so it was super tasty, and kind of crunchy, since he split it in two to do the grilling. And I started with a baby octopus salad, and my dad paired it all with this AMAZING Soave (white wine from my Dad's region of Italy). And almost all my tables left me 20%. Not bad for being out of practice for a few years. It's totally weird using a computer to send the orders (I know, I'm a fricking restaurant dinosaur), but whatever, I'm adaptable. And my dad keeps going to the tables and being like, "dis is my dodder, she is going to be bigtime lawyer," and I'm like, "Dad, shut the hell up, they don't want their server to be smarter than them, they want to imagine me going home to my trailer park and 3 children under 5." But then they think he is cute, and don't really understand what he says anyway, so, I ended up OK.

Christmas Day:

Morning Prep

The alarm goes off at 9. Ugh. I run around the kitchen deciding which dishes I need to wash, when I see it. A bowl with something that looks like ghee in it. Oh no. It can only be… the melted butter I forgot to put in the rolls. At least I figured out why they were sticky. So I take the dough out of the fridge, melt a new half stick of butter and work it in. Roll crisis averted. I KNEW there was something wrong with the dough. Now, onto the Zuppa Inglese. I made a custard for it (which was really better than the finished dessert), and layered it with Amaretto and Frangelico soaked poundcake slices, and topped it with some homemade whipped cream. Then, onto the cheese puffs. I’m starting to run short on time, but I’ll be damned if I went through the gruyere debacle only to not make them. In the middle of the recipe I get confused, BECAUSE THERE IS AN INSTRUCTION MISSING. I have two piles of dough, and nowhere did it say, COMBINE. So I hope that now is the time to do the combining, get a second opinion from Mom, and then start baking them. (Luckily, they turned out fine.) Now, for the hard part. Blue cheese stuffed dates wrapped in bacon. I don’t have a recipe, but I saw Sidoe do it. OMG I DID NOT BUY PITTED DATES!!!!! So now I have to figure out how to pit a fricking date. 30 minutes and one sticky chopstick and pair of tweezers later, they are pitted. What a pain, I am not making that mistake again. I awkwardly stuff them with blue cheese (Sidoe made this all look way easier, but she is a professional chef), wrap them in bacon and pop them in the oven after the cheesepuffs.



My cheese puff yummies (we ate all the bacon things before I could take a picture)

Then I take a shower. In the middle of the shower the smoke alarm goes off. I didn’t think about the fact that bacon releases a lot of grease and since I put the dates on a cookie sheet and not a jelly roll pan, all the grease is just dripping and catching fire at the bottom of my oven. It is at this moment I realize I have not wrapped any presents. I’m in my towel, opening windows and disabling the smoke detectors. I decide I need reinforcements. I call my parents. On each of their cell phones, and on their house phone, and they don’t pick up any of them NOR do they call me back. *ugh!* This is why people hate Christmas. Anyway, we finally get our crap together and leave.



My Zuppa Inglese------------>


Dinner!

So we arrive at casa Redcay, and let everyone go to town on the appetizers. Daddy opens this amazing wine, made by the people who do Sassicaia... it goes really well with the bacon date things. To my delight, Robby has in fact already MADE the eggnog, all we have to do is fold in some egg whites later. Robby also made the mashed potatoes. He has skill, but this time they were a little chunky for my taste, but the flavors were spot on. And the problem is if you overmash, they get gluteny and become inedible. So erring on the side of undermashing was a good call. The turkey was absolutely gorgeous, brined to perfection. Plus the Redcays actually know how to make gravy so it was super tasty too.



Elizabeth working her green bean magic --->



The modified stuffing recipe turned out good, they substituted corn and other veggies for the apricots, but it was a little too herby for me. Too many flavors and I just get overwhelmed. But there was this wild rice dressing with pomegranate seeds, and that was super incredible. Apparently a pain to make, but everything worth it is a pain to make, right? Of course there were my rolls and AG’s sweet potato buttery goodness with chestnuts. Green beans a la Elizabeth, Bristol Farms cranberry sauce, and creamed spinach to round out the table. Then we took a break, opened some presents and then it was onto dessert. AG made a pumpkin pie, and homemade cookies (which Elizabeth decorated) and then we had egg nog and my Zuppa Inglese. The Zuppa was O.K. With the eggnog it was just too much custardy alcohol. Oh well, you never know you don’t like something until you try it. Now when is someone going to invite me over for Chanukah? I can rock some latkes and noodle kugel with the best of them!



My parents are too fricking cute!