112 - Providence

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KIDS
CAROUSE
SWOP
Those arduous mornings at the
tv1ommy-and-mescreenings around town, the long afternoons bouncing from
couch to couch in search of the comfiest, the bleary-eyed nights prowling
bars for the perfect strawberry margarita. We consumed buckets of coffee
and teed up at a dozen miniature golf courses to find out who offers the
city's finest. Enjoythe fruits of our labors, safe in the knowledge that we're recuperating-where else?-on the table of this year's winner for best massage.
OH, THE LENGTHS TO WHICH WE HAD TO GO.
ASSEMBLAGES
BY
LISE
LOTTE
WATKINS/ART
DEPARTMENT
AUGUST
2006
LOS
ANG.L.S
111
Best of LA
fish underlies Cimarusti's preparations, whose elegance is transporting: a velvety uni sabayon arrives in
an eggshell, the wild, troll-caught king
salmon in a chamomile emulsion. But
he knows better than to sissify his
"chowda," a rich bacon-and-clamstudded medley that would make a
schooner of tvlassachusetts fishermen head for shore. » 5955 tvlelrose
Ave., 1-101lywood, 323-460-4170
providencela.com.
or
If you have eaten at Lucques and
A.O.C., it comes as no surprise that
chef Suzanne Goin has written a
z
z
cookbook whose meticulous recipes
are season and market driven.
SUNDAY SUPPERS AT LUCQUES
FISH RESTAURANT
Chef tvlichael Cimarusti is a devoted
angler. 1-1
is idea of meditation? 1-10urs
alone in the fish room of his restaurant, filleting halibut caught for him
off the coast of tvlaine or arctic char
so fresh it still smells like cucumbers.
After turning Water Grill into a
world-class restaurant,
Cimarusti
opened PROVIDENCE, nominated
this year by the James Beard Foundation for the country's Best New
Restaurant award. A reverence for
(Knopf, 398 pages, $35) is a beautiful compendium divided into menus
for summer, fall, winter, and spring,
with an emphasis on organic produce. With its rich photography,
friendly voice, insider tips, and superlative dishes, it's the sort of book
you could happily read cover to
cover without even venturing into
the kitchen. Eventually, though,
imagining soft-shell crabs with lima
bean salad, or grilled pork burgers
with coleslaw, or cornmeal shortcakes with peaches,
mint, and
soured cream, will drive you to action. » Available at most bookstores.
Ploying Ilord to Get
This elusive truffle is worth sniffing out
The WHITE TRUFFLE from Alba, in
Italy's Piedmont region, is a misshapen
knob of humble origins with an intoxicating scent, an oxymoronic aroma that
might be described as dirt perfume.
The fungi grow underground on tree
roots (mostly oak, poplar, linden, and
willow) and can't be cultivated, l-1unters,
or trito/au, seek them out under cover
of darkness-lest
they be followedwith specially trained dogs (mongrels
preferred). Restaurants fashion tasting menus around the delicacy, whose season runs from October through
December, and gourmet markets fetch a steep price: $1,900 a pound last
year at chef's mecca Le Sanctuaire. Mere shavings-an ounce is enough for
four servings-over
eggs or buttered
pasta can be mind-blowing.
» Le
Sanctuaire, 2710 tvlain St., Santa tvlonica, 310-581-8999 or le-sanctuaire.com.
LOS
S
u
VEGETARIAN
TAKEOUT
While even some of L.A.'s most hidebound steak houses have begun
making concessions to our vegetarian friends, the city's take-out food
scene has remained a messy and,
with the exception of pizza, an over-
INDULGENCE:
116
~
u
ANGELES
AUGUST
2006
whelmingly meaty proposition. M
CAFE:DE CHAYA has filled this void
with the happiest kind of fanaticism,
preparing its array of macrobiotic
to-go options in the culinary styles
of at least a dozen nations. The BiBim Bop rice bowl, for example, gets
its assertive kick from homemade
kimchi and Korean vegetables, while
the panino Tuscano melds caramelized onions, Tuscan white bean
spread, and spicy salami crafted
from seitan between the halves of
fresh-baked
focaccia. The hearty
tvladras Tempeh Wrap-with
its
masa/a-tinged tempeh, curried soy
yogurt, and frizzled onions-invokes
the hush of a monastery
and the
bustle of a New Delhi street corner
in a single bite. Sandwich side salads
are usually a limp afterthought, but
tvICafe's are anything but. tvlost crucial for a to-go joint, it cooks and
packages these dishes so that the
vegetables
retain their snap, the
marinades their tangy luster, and the
tempeh, tofu, and seitan their tender, deep consistency even after a
20-minute drive to your dining room
table.» 7119Melrose Ave., L.A., 323525-0588 or mcafedechaya.com.
Goat will never be what America's
having for dinner. In the hierarchy of
barnyard meats, it languishes among
the semiexotics, disparaged as gamy
and unclean and, symbolically, the
incarnation of Satan. Other cultures
know better-Jamaicans,
Koreans,
Pakistanis, and tvlexicans, especially
those with roots in Jalisco, where
the piquant stew known as birria de
chivo is touted as the ultimate palliative: part comfort food, part
aphrodisiac, part hangover cure. L.A.
is home to dozens of birder/as but
none as perfect as EL PARIAN, a
rustic Pico-Union storefront where
the whack of cleavers can sometimes make it hard to talk. The meat
is rich and tender, the broth a dark,
earthy nectar of drippings that no
mere chicken or cow could ever
hope to match. » 1528 W. Pico Blvd.,
L.A., 213-386-7361.