Food Maker, Chef, and Traveling Diner
There’s something about a perfect fluffy pancake that can be heartwarming. I don’t mean going out to get some, because honestly, they’re so simple to make that paying $10 for pancakes just makes me cringe. So every now and again, when I’m in the mood, …
I eat chorizo often. I love Mexican chorizo, though most people have questionable ideas of its origins and what it’s made of. Chorizo is just something I’ve grown up with, eaten many times and will eat tons more of for the rest of my life. …
On a lovely evening, after shopping for some cooking gadgets and finding some great deals on my favorite large white platters, Brandon and I decided to get a bite to eat at the new Umami Burger in Thousand Oaks. I’m not really a big fan of going somewhere when it first opens, and partially this place and the way things were handled here, is part of the reason. Opening a new restaurant is never what you think it’s going to be. You can plan your whole life and still, there are going to be some things that are just beyond your control to handle.
I’ve been to Umami Burger in Studio City with my sister-in-law Linh, and we had a pretty amazing time, and Brandon had been to Umami in Los Feliz, so we were familiar with the set-up, the way the menu was and all that other jazz. But at first glance, you could tell that overexpansion is probably going to be the downfall of this delicious burger. The Thousand Oaks location is less than lackluster. Its design and decoration is minimal and rushed. The intricate details of the Studio City location’s design and development of flashy red chairs and contrasting black and white accents, are completely overlooked here and it’s a very open-space place, which wasn’t very crowded, aside from the amazing amount of overstaffed workers, just standing around talking to one another.
Now I understand the idea of overstaffing, but if you’re going to do it when you first open, at least work it so that people are getting service, instead of one person having a huge section with no one else helping him, as he’s desperately running around, sweating and getting trampled on by numerous requests. Cue our server. The poor fellow was getting the runaround from everyone. We sat at our table for at least 10 minutes before anyone said anything to us or even made an attempt at helping us. This is a common mistake that ill equipped management makes when hiring 16 year-old hostesses and showing them a map that they don’t know how to read. It’s not your fault, it’s your manager’s. Fortunately, our waiter was doing as much as he could, with the little means of help he was getting.
We were finally able to order and Brandon got the Truffle Burger and I ordered the Port and Stilton Burger. We ordered tempura fried onion rings and sweet potato fries, and chose the garlic aioli and Umami ketchup to compliment them. I also ordered a market salad. The salad came first and was the most salty, over-seasoned, little salad I’d ever had. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get anyone to take my salad back for at least 10 more minutes and had to flag down a hostess before anyone came by. After I had them re-make the salad with the dressing on the side, the salad wasn’t served first, but later accompanied the rest of our food.
Over salted salad and Condiments Umami Ketchup and Garlic Aioli
Undressed market salad
Tempura fried onion rings and sweet potato fries
Port and Stilton Burger
Truffle Burger
Whenever I go anywhere to have a burger, I almost always have to build it my own way. I love lettuce in my hamburgers and since I don’t often indulge in them, I like them to be memorable. This burger, on its own, was well made medium-rare and the beef has plenty of flavor. The onions were a bit on the light side, for being called port caramelized onions. The stilton was a sharp and delicious cheese that went well with the meat. The bun was fresh and soft, a perfect complement to the meat. So with my side salad, I decided to put about half of it inside the burger along with a tempura onion ring and the flavor combination was awesome. I enjoyed the whole thing, after it was built to my liking. Brandon’s truffle burger was well made, but the truffle was not very pronounced for us. We enjoyed both the onion rings and the sweet potato fries. Overall, our food was warm and delicious, with just a few preferential taste issues for our own palates.
Additions to Port and Stilton burger
We understand that opening a restaurant is never easy and there are going to be hiccups along the way. Our waiter was nice enough to address us with as much attention as he possibly could, but with ¾ of the restaurant empty, the managers should have been able to give this poor guy a hand. He would probably have made better tips. I like Umami, but if they keep popping up like McDonalds, they’re going to have more experiences not worth devouring.
Cheers
-Unrivaledkitch
I haven’t written about anything sweet in a little while. I’m a pretty savory type of person, but I won’t say that I don’t have a couple of sweet teeth in my mouth; okay maybe more than a couple. My family really does love coconut …
As we find ourselves in a hurry, which I seem to be doing more and more often nowadays, a large meal or something that takes a lot of time might not be the most accessible thing to eat. Today, after yoga. I was thinking that …
Something about the versatility of polenta makes for crossing cultures and pops up in my dishes all the time. I love polenta. Its creamy nature of substantial delicious flavor always speaks to me, plus it’s very simple. This polenta was just hanging out in my pantry and one afternoon, I found it and decided that savory polenta pie sounded like a good idea for dinner with the family. You can do this with any base: vegetarian chile recipes, tamale pies, meaty cheesy Tex-Mex ideas, etc. It all works. Put it in a simple casserole dish, then cover it with polenta, and broil; it makes for a delicious substitute for pasta or rice. In this polenta pie, I used a combination of flavors that would satisfy for a meal that could be made ahead of time and then just heated up when needed. I hope you think about using polenta in one of your next meals.
Polenta Pie with Ground Beef, Sweet Potatoes, Spinach and Red beans
1 lb ground beef (or omit for vegetarian option and add extra vegetables)
2 large sweet potatoes, diced small
2 stalks celery, minced
½ large onion, minced
1 cup frozen spinach or 2 cups fresh spinach, cleaned
1 can unsalted red beans, drained and rinsed
1 ½ cups vegetables broth or beef broth
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
Salt
Pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ large can diced tomatoes
1 tube polenta, cut into slices
½ cup parmesan cheese
Optional garnish (arugula on top for freshness)
In a large skillet, place 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and heat over medium-high. Add onion, sweet potatoes and celery and sauté for about 5-8 minutes.
Add the ground beef to the pot and cook till meat has become completely browned, about 7-10 minutes. If there is excess grease in the pot, drain it over the sink carefully.
Add tomatoes and spinach, then cook 5 minutes.
Add salt, pepper, garlic, smoked paprika, red pepper flakes and broth and simmer for 20-25 minutes over low heat. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. At the last 10 minutes, add rinsed and drained red beans.
Once the sweet potatoes are soft and you’ve tasted for seasoning adjustments, place mixture in a 9×9 baking pan and cover the top of the mixture with the slices of polenta. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and broil in the broiler for about 5-7 minutes till warmed and cheese is melted. This may be longer or shorter depending on your broiler power. If you don’t have a broiler, then use the oven at 400 degrees for about 10-15 minutes.
Scoop and enjoy
Anyone eat Fatoush salad? It’s that delicious bit of crunchy pita that satisfies your craving for extra bread and fresh vegetables, sitting in an acidic-flavored dressing, with a bit of middle eastern influence. I love it. Working with what I have, I decided that this …
Life is a balance. We all feel ourselves spiraling some way or another, at some point in time; either in our joy, or sometimes in our sorrow, but the choice is our own, even when it feels like it’s not, and that in itself is …
Wednesday afternoon, we decided to celebrate Mother’s Day a little early because of my brother’s work schedule. So all of us (me; my sister, Kristen; my niece, Maleeya; my brother, Kyle; my mom, Trudy; my dad, Mark; and my boyfriend, Brandon) decided to meet up and enjoy some delicious Thai food in Toluca Lake, where Kyle lives.
We chose a neighborhood favorite of Kyle’s, Summer Canteen; a lovely little Thai inspired modern eatery. Kyle and his wife, Viet-Linh, have been going here since it opened and we’ve frequented the place many times since then. For some reason or other, I guess it’s eluded my blog, but with such a large group and a variety of dishes, I thought this would be a nice sampling of what Summer Canteen has to offer–wonderfully fresh and well done Thai food at reasonable prices with a modern and chic atmosphere.
Kristen and Brandon ordered Curry Noodle: a delicious yellow curry broth with chicken and vegetables, along with both crunchy noodles and soft rice noodles, sitting in a large bowl. Curry Noodle is definitely a dish that is always on our table at Summer Canteen. It’s not like any other curry that just comes with rice; the combination of crunch and rice noodles with the spicy mouth-watering curry, makes for a delicious and filling meal.
My dad ordered Thai Sukiyaki. The noodles were small cellophane noodles with an array of vegetables in a spicy sirracha sauce. This dish is a very different interpretation of Japanese sukiyaki, but appetizing nonetheless.
My mom ordered Pad See U with tofu and shared a bit with Maleeya. This dish is made of delicious flat noodles sitting in soy sauce and egg with tofu and broccoli, a perfectly scrumptious dish for the less adventurous pallet to enjoy Thai food.
Kyle ordered Pad Thai, a classic dish that never seems to fail here. I love the peanut sauce and noodles that are always cooked to perfection.
I ordered the Panang Beef with extra sauce and brown rice. The brown rice that they use here is fantastic. It’s not your usual cardboard tasting brown rice and it’s a beautiful, almost purple shade of color. The deep spicy and sweet flavors of the Panang beef with fall-to-pieces tender large pieces of beef, topped with some steamed bok choy, was the perfect meal. It’s something that I’ll definitely order again. I was completely satisfied and had plenty left over, even as a lunch portion.
Our service was kind and attentive, without being overly intrusive, which gave us plenty of time to converse and talk about what’s been going on and what’s going to go on. I love my family very much and this was a wonderful experience to have with all of us together, which doesn’t happen as often as I would like, but when it does it is always a great time.
This is my sisters second Mother’s Day. It’s so different when your sibling becomes a parent, I’m truly amazed by the transformation and strength it takes to raise such a beautiful little life. I love my mom so much, shes always been such a great support of myself and my dreams. I love you both and a special thanks to all the amazing moms out there doing one of the hardest jobs on the planet.
How are you spending your Mother’s Day?
Cheers
-Unrivaledkitch
I’m always on the search for the perfect bagel. Something that’s not too crazy, you don’t have to be in the kitchen for too long making it, and it’s just plain satisfying. I don’t eat a bagel the same way twice, but this one made me think …