Burgerim

Burgerim

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Always looking for a casual spot that offers a nice mix of something healthy and something yummy (hopefully both!), my hubby and I were recently invited to try Burgerim at its first US location in East Hollywood.

Burgerim is gourmet burger fast casual restaurant chain that is well known outside of the US for its its two, three or sixteen-burger combo boxes....but it's much more than that!

Make no mistake, Burgerim IS a burger joint, but different...

Larger than a slider, each Burgerim burger is made with an 2.8-ounce patty that's made in a variety of proteins including dry-aged beef, Wagyu beef, salmon, lamb, or even a veggie patty.

Burgers can be further personalized when adding one (or several) of the available toppings including a sunny-side up egg, pineapple, or sautéed mushrooms; or topped with one (or several) of the many speciality sauces, including the House sauce, BBQ, or spicy mayo.

To make your burger even yummier, Burgerim gives you a selection of  three artisanal buns, including a gluten-free or whole wheat bun.

Each burger box can have all of the same burgers, or different burgers (the 16-burger box can have up to four different burgers, of four of each).

The sides, round seasoned fries (Burgerim fries) or onion rings, are served with a selection of dipping sauces that will leave you wanting more.

As for other items on the menu, I was partial to the the Basket Salad, made with fresh arugula, strawberries, candied pecans, goat cheese and topped with a raspberry vinaigrette.

While my hubby loved the desserts, especially the New York-style cheesecake.

The complete menu has a nice variety of sandwiches and other lunch and late-night munchie favorites, including chicken wings, sweet potato fries and home fries.

Burgerim Hollywood is a family friendly restaurant that will soon serve beer and wine.

No reservations are needed and street parking was easy to find. But for those not in the area, they also offer local delivery.

Burgerim Gourmet Burgers
5001 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038

Happy Eating!

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Italian Fine Dining at Via Veneto Santa Monica

Italian Fine Dining at Via Veneto Santa Monica

* This is a Sponsored Post *

There are times that for no reason other than having the one you love waking-up besides you is reason enough to celebrate the day, the week, and life in general. On those days it takes a special type of restaurant to sustain -or create- a mood fitting of that occasion. 

Via Veneto on Main Street in Santa Monica, is perfectly suited for one of those days. 

The perfect kind.

The perfect kind of day that celebrates love, an anniversary, a special occasion, or a quite simply just the two of you...

On those perfect days, you drive to Santa Monica only to realize that although you're in the middle of it all, you have just stepped into a restaurant that is far removed from it all...and it's almost as if you have discovered a secret hideaway....

Expect to leave behind your day, your worries, and life...and invite Via Veneto do what they do best...delight their guests with an upscale Italian menu that uses organic, locally grown and sourced ingredients that create a luxury Italian dining experience.

While the menu offers a large selection of Roman-inspired dishes, Via Veneto prides itself for it's selection of sophisticated handmade pastas, while their in-house grill-master has perfected their veal scaloppine and juicy filetto di manzo. Via Veneto also offers an extensive dessert menu and enviable wine selection that pairs perfectly which each course.

All items on the menu can be ordered a la carte, but my recommendation is to let yourself experience Via Veneto by giving your well-versed waiter a few guidelines and ordering the tasting menu. Wine drinkers can also pair their wine with each course with either a selection from the in-house sommelier, or choose your own from a selection.

I also recommend that you start your dinner with the the cheese platter and olives, which is accompanied by a truffle-infused honey and country bread.

We gave our waiter carte blanche for our tasting menu, with our only request being that the octopus be included as one of the four items in our antipasto platter.

While everything presented in our antipasto platter was delicious, the octopus was like nothing I had ever had...

The octopus was cooked, then thinly sliced before drizzled with olive oil and garnished with grilled campari tomato. It was absolutely delightful.

For our first course we were served a selection of raviolis and my personal request, risotto with fresh-shaved black truffles.

While I expected the risotto to be delightful, the ravioli was most impressive due to it's thin pasta shell that simply melted in your mouth before your taste buds exploded when the ricotta met the sweet red sauce.

For our seafood main course, we were given a selection of branzino, which is a meaty Italian sea bass and langostinos, a smaller version of a lobster, but sweeter and with a nicer texture.

Both were cooked to perfection and served with a light butter sauce and garnished with chopped tomatoes.

The meat main course included house-made Italian sausage, veal scaloppine with porcini mushroom sauce, and grilled prairie land, bone-in veal chop, cooked with butter and sage.

Let me preface by saying that I usually find veal quite gamey...but not at Via Veneto. It was butter and absolutely melted in my mouth. My hubby devoured this dish. Devoured.

Both our seafood and meat platters were presented with vegetables, our favorite being the garlic spinach and oven-roasted potato side-dish.

For our final course our waiter recommended that we try an Italian dessert wine followed by a selection of their most popular sweets, including the tiramisu, chocolate profiteroles, berry panna cotta, and my personal favorite and the crowning jewel for the evening's dinner: the Nutella tart. 

The tasting menu at Via Veneto was an absolutely beautiful experience that I recommend you enjoy for your next special occasion...or quite simply, a day that you give-in to the love that you have around you.

Via Veneto
3009 Main St.
Santa Monica, CA 90405
(310) 399-1843 (Advance dinner reservations required)

Ana Lydia

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Tomato Macaroni and Cheese

Tomato Macaroni and Cheese

Disclosure: I’m working with Ovation TV to promote Southern Uncovered. All thoughts and opinions my own. 

Macaroni and Cheese is a classic Southern side dish that most of us consider comfort food and the perfect side dish for most holiday meals.

But as we all know, Southern Mac & Cheese is delicious because of the butter and cheese, which makes it more of a guilty pleasure than something to make, or eat, often.

The Mac & Cheese I grew-up with was actually quite different....

The macaroni and cheese of my childhood is made with a tomato base; which makes it healthy, flavorful and quite easy to make...

Ingredients to prepare Tomato Macaroni and Cheese include:

• 1 16 oz Elbow Macaroni Package - Cooked al dente with salt water
• 4 Medium-sized Tomatoes cut in half
• 1 Medium-sized Chopped Tomato
• 1/4 cup Chopped White Onion
• 1 Garlic Clove
• 4 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
• 6 oz Tomato Paste
• 16 oz Sour Cream
• 1/2 cup Shredded Swiss and Gruyere Cheese Mix
• Ground Pepper and Salt to taste
• 
  

Preparation:

1. Blend (in a blender) four tomatoes, tomato paste and garlic clove until a smooth "sauce" consistency. Set aside.
2. Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a stockpot with low heat.
3. Add the onion to the stockpot and cook until the onion is transparent.
4. Add the tomato sauce to the onion and cook with medium heat until the sauce boils. (Make sure to mix while cooking to prevent the sauce from sticking to the pan)
5. Reduce the temperature once the sauce boils, then add the chopped tomato and sour cream. 
6. Mix slowly until the sauce begins to bubble. 
7. Add pepper and salt to taste.
8. Remove the sauce from the stove and add the cooked macaroni. Mix the pasta with the sauce until all the pasta is covered.
9. Fold-in the cheese mixture and serve immediately. 
10. Refrigerate any leftover Mac & Cheese and reheat with just a bit of lowfat milk in a pan.

Please let me know if you try my family Tomato Macaroni and Cheese recipe. Hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I do! 

I also invite you to watch Southern Uncovered on Ovation TV starring The Lee Bros to get a few other ideas on how to add a Southern touch to your favorite dishes.

Ana Lydia

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Whole Foods Market Opens in Playa Vista

Whole Foods Market Opens in Playa Vista

Playa Vista has gone through major changes since Silicone Beach planted itself as the hottest work-and-live location in the Westside.

Conveniently located a couple of miles west of the 405 and less than five miles from the beach, Playa Vista has slowly developed its community to include a dog park, several coffee houses and restaurants, and most recently a movie theater and Whole Foods Market in The Runway mixed used development.





Although my nearest Whole Foods Markets is less than two miles from where I live, the Playa Location makes all other locations pale in comparison, while making it a must destination for anyone that lives or works on this side of town.

The Whole Foods Market Playa Vista location is housed in an expansive 35 thousand square foot building that includes must-have amenities for all foodie households, including: a cheese bar, fresh seafood department, prepared food section, a wall of chocolate (yes my friends, a wall.of.chocolate!), a coffee house & juice bar, AND Astro Pub, a casual sit-down restaurant with a patio that's perfectly suited for summer happy hours.

The Whole Foods Playa Vista location is located at 12746 Jefferson Blvd. Playa Vista, CA 90094.  Regular store hours are 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week, and indoor parking is plentiful.

Ana Lydia

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Southern Uncovered

Southern Uncovered

My views of the South were limited at best (no pun intended) when I was younger.

But when a cousin married a woman from Alabama, right around the time that I began to work with a proud Southern man, my views about the South were quickly replaced with my lunches and family gatherings boasting with Southern mainstays.

Gritts, thick smoked bacon, greens, and well, things that you only saw on TV but weren't readily available in my suburban community, were different. flavorful. delectable.

Even today, southern or "soul food" restaurants are few and far in Los Angeles; and none, from what I have been told, compare to the home-cooking and nouveau-fusion upscale Southern cuisine that is emerging in the most misunderstood parts of the U.S.

The Lee Brothers, the James Beard Award-winning food and travel writers, have embarked on a Southern road trip starting with their hometown of Charleston, South Carolina, to do just that: document the food, culture and history of the South.

Their new show "Southern Uncovered with the Lee Bros," is premiering on Ovation TV this Sunday, June 14; and Matt Lee, one half of the Lee Bros, shared his excitement at the recent kick-off reception at the award-winning restaurant Border Grill.

Proudly Southern, Matt told me that "Southern Uncovered with the Lee Bros" would not only honor the long-standing Southern food traditions, but respect the people of these communities, at least; at most, entice me and other viewers of the show to visit the South.

Because, truly, "the South is beautiful," he told me.

I can't wait to find that out.

Ana Lydia

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Whole Animal Menu's in Long Beach

Whole Animal Menu's in Long Beach

The Tasting Menu for all three Michael's Restaurant Group restaurants

I always thank my Mexican ancestry for encouraging to brave non-traditional dishes. Brains, tripe, pig ears, you name, I've had it...and I've loved all these dishes. But one thing I am not as familiar with, is eating a "whole" pig, rabbit, quail or lamb.

This "whole animal" food trend, is something that Michael's Restaurant Group is perfecting at all three of their Long Beach restaurants: Michael's Pizzeria, Michael's on Naples and Chianina Steakhouse.

Michael's Pizzeria

The "whole animal" cooking is similar to butchery, in the sense that nothing from the animal goes to waste. As I said before, I pretty much experienced this before it was a food trend, while others might be familiar with this way of cooking, and eating, because it is done in more rural areas. Being that LA or Long Beach don't qualify as rural cities, whole animal cooking is not often done.

Porchetta, smoked mozzarella, confit artichokes and caramelized onion pizza.

But during a summer tasting headed by renowned Chef David Coleman, I had the opportunity to sample items off the new whole animal menu that are available during the summer and extended to the fall months (depending on seasonality and availability). 

I also learned more about cooking "the whole animal" trend, that is a major focus of Michael's Restaurant Group: beyond using from the tail-to-the-head butchery in cooking, the folks behind Michael's also practice sustainable food policies by visiting the farms to examine the animals they cook with, run their own vegetable and herb garden, and make everything from scratch.

Housemade fennel sausage with rapini and garlic.

Michael's Pizzeria was the first restaurant of our foodie excursion, and also the most casual. Fortunately for us, the food was anything but. 

The pizza had a very thin crust that packed the flavor in not just the dough, but in the house-made fennel sausage made with rapini and garlic which was absolutely delicious.

Duck prosciutto goat cheese mouse, mission fig and aged balsamic appetizer.

Smoked duck neck with homemade cavatelli pasta.

Sliced Liberty Farm duck with lavender and local honey

For our appetizer course we walked down the street to the award-winning restaurant Michael's on Naples. 

A more upscale experience, Michael's on Naples kicked-it-up-a-notch by showcasing how even "blood" and "bones" can be crushed to make an amazing sauce.

Whereas the meat from the duck neck was cooked to make a surprisingly flavorful and hearty smoked duck neck with homemade cavatelli pasta dish.

A Liberty Farm duck was cooked with lavender and local honey and sliced to order. Duck usually being a more robust meat, was cooked in such a way that made the meat tender and delicately sweet flavor. A complete surprise to my palate.

Corned beef tongue, pickled ramps, rye bread crostini and mustard seed vinaigrette.

Whole roasted leg of lamb and Farm Lot 59 summer squash.

Sliced leg of lamb.

For our final meal, we walked to Chianina, which is the newest member in the Michael's Restaurant group.  

Touted as a "boutique steakhouse," Chianina delivers on the white tablecloth restaurant experience, together with the dimly-lit dining room and formal restaurant dress-code.

We started with a corned beef tongue, pickled ramps (sweet onion) rye crostini with mustard seed vinaigrette. An appetizer robust with flavor that was the perfect sedge way to the whole roasted leg of lamb carved in front of us and served with summer vegetables.

To finish our meal, we were given the option to either enjoy a bacon gelato, that was reminiscent of a butter pecan ice cream, or the blueberry muffin gelato.

By the end of the evening, it was perfectly understood how this true, slow food movement brought farm-to-table authenticity to Long Beach; and, working with Devil's Gulch Ranch, these three restaurants and Michael's Pizzeria in Rancho Mirage, use pigs, rabbits, quails and lamb in their entirety in different dishes. As a foodie, I appreciated the attention to detail in all dishes, but also the creativity in perfecting a trend that very few people are familiar with.

I highly recommend that my South Bay/Long Beach friends stop by any of these three restaurants for a special night out and enjoy this new trend.  From a more casual lunch to a perfectly staged night-out, everyone now has various options to try to whole animal trend in Long Beach.

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Recipe: Mexican-Style Pico de Gallo

Recipe: Mexican-Style Pico de Gallo

I've been craving Mexican food as of late. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I have been with my hubby for over five years and Italian food outnumbers anything else we eat.  That, or the fact that Mexican food, prepared right, is actually quite healthy and flavorful.  

Either way, I have been preparing my own Salsa Mexicana (as I grew-up calling it), or Pico de Gallo. My version is prepared the way my family taught me, which is focused on mixing the ingredients at the right time to let the flavors marinate.

This version, which I claim to being the original way to prepare salsa Mexicana (Pico de Gallo or Salsa Fresca or Salsa Bandera), should be enjoyed within minutes the same day it's prepared; which is when the flavors are at their peak.

PICO DE GALLO / SALSA MEXICANA:
Ingredients to prepare pico de gallo or salsa Mexicana or salsa fresca or salsa bandera

• 2 Roma tomatoes or one large tomato

• 1/4 white onion

• 1 jalapeno pepper or 1 serrano pepper (serrano is the spicier of the two)

• 2 Mexican limes

• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro
• Mexican or sea salt (to taste)
• Pinch of sugar

Preparation:

• Cut the white onion into small squares and put into a round/bowl-like dish.
• Juice the limes over the onion and toss to coat the onion with the lime juice. (the reason you start with the onion, is that by the time you chop everything else, the onion has a milder flavor because of the few minutes of it marinating with the lime juice)

• Chop the jalapeno or serrano pepper and fold into the onion and lime juice mixture.

• Chop the tomatoes and gently fold into the onion and pepper mixture.
• Chop the cilantro as fine as possible and add to the tomato, onion and pepper mixture.

• Add salt and a pinch of sugar together with the cilantro.
• Fold all ingredients as gently as possibly without smashing the tomatoes.
• Set aside for a few minutes either at room temperature or covered in the refrigerator.
• The salsa should be enjoyed within minutes of it being prepared, at most 30 minutes.

Provecho~ 

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