la mesita sin nombre

Pizza for breakfast

2010-04-22T11:13:00.000-07:00

Made some pizza last night and was hungry this morning, so what did I do? Cracked and egg on top of it, and suddenly I felt like I was back at Olivetto's in the east bay. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day right?

MIHO Gastrotruck

2010-04-14T17:21:00.000-07:00

As I had mentioned a couple of weeks back, Kevin and I have been working on a project for the last 9 months and we are now ready to let it all out. We are launching MIHO Gastrotruck, offering farm-fresh hand-made street food inspired by local flavors. Sometime in May you will be seeing us offering you lunch during your break and at late night hot spots. Check out our website and follow us on facebook and twitter. Please send us feedback on where you would like to see us parked at and what you feel like eating. We appreciate all the love and support through La Mesita and we will join force for future events. Stay tuned for La Mesita's Beeeerrrrrruunch coming soon.

New Starbucks sizes, yay!

2010-04-01T11:40:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted a bigger cup of coffee and now my dream has come true. Starting this fall Starbucks is going to offer a 128 oz size called the Plenta. I'm so excited about this. Now I only have to go once per day and have enough for the rest of it.

Beautiful day / Beautiful quesadilla

2010-04-01T11:04:00.000-07:00

This morning mom noticed that we had some avocados, cheese, and tortillas that needed to be used. Five minutes later this beautiful multicolored salsa comes out on top of a quesadilla. My mom is very picky about her tortillas, so much that she has her friend bring them from Tijuana's "Tortilleria Boston" to her. That with a pour-over cup of Intelligentsia's Ikirezi Burundi starts me off right. Buen dia!

She-la-kills it with the Chilaquiles

2010-03-25T11:17:00.000-07:00

The streak is on. I love it when stuff in your fridge gets used up before it goes to waste. My mom today started frying the tortillas for some chilaquiles and she was going to use some mole we have in there, but we are saving that for something else so I gave her some home made spicy harissa. She then threw in a tomato to cut the thickness of the harissa, fried some eggs, and breakfast was served. It went really well with my drip pour over cup of Starbucks organic Chiapas, Mexico (thanks Jason for the coffee).

Taco break

2010-03-24T15:43:00.000-07:00

I'm keeping the streak going and I might set a record for 3 blog posts in a row, jajaja. Today Kevin and I had a craving for some street style Mexican fish tacos and thankfully we are in biking distance to Mariscos German, which I assume most of you already know about them. In case you don't, which you should, they are located on the corner of University Ave. & 35th. Growing up in TJ I took this food for granted because there were tons of options and at our disposal, but now I crave them and head straight there.

Today we stuck to the classic baja-style battered and fried fish tacos, and since we wanted to treat ourselves we ordered us an aguachile tostada de camaron. Aguachile literally translate to chile water and by the time you are done eating this spicy, limey, fresh shrimp tostada that's exactly whats left on the plate. Aguachile is similar to ceviche where the shrimp is cooked by the lime juice, but the addition of the chiltepines, the red ball chiles, give it a strong dry spice that makes you crave a nice cold chela or beer. The tostada is then topped with some pickled red onions and fresh sliced aguacate. Needless to say, as we were riding back to crank some more work hours we stopped by the store and picked up some tall boy Modelos, sat in the back patio with the beautiful San Diego sun and worked some more. Not a bad day. Gotta love food, good food that is!

Huevos Ahogados

2010-03-23T10:31:00.000-07:00

I gotta say my mom keeps surprising me. This morning Kevin and I were working on our soon tba project, and my mom comes over and drops off a bowl of huevos ahogados, or drunken eggs. I love Mexican food for obvious reasons, but also because it can be so simple, flavorful, and the meal usually was created by the hard working laborers wives who just threw stuff together. These eggs were poached in home made tomato broth with sauteed onions and chipotle. Served with some fresh cut Haas avocados and some warm corn tortillas. Look out day, cos here we come.
Buen Provecho!

Caldo Tlalpeño for lunch

2010-03-22T12:53:00.000-07:00

I was hard at work on my laptop blasting throught the many to do's of a current project, when my hunger I could not suppress anymore. I got up to start making myself a sandwich and I hear the best thing from my mom's mouth, "Oh I'm already making you lunch it will be ready shortly". That's right peeps, my mom made me Caldo Tlalpeño. Legend has it that back in the 1920's in the southern town of Tlalpan, right outside of Mexico City, there used to be an area where food vendors would gather around the center of town and sell there offerings to the local workers coming and going. There was a lady called "Pachita" that would offer this delicious chicken soup but with her own twist. She added chipotle, rice, avocado, and cheese, served with some warm tortillas. Gotta love the essence of street food.

Well today, Pachita was my mom. Gracias, ama!

North Walk to South Walk

2010-02-19T13:52:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday Farra and I did something we never get to do, enjoy a beautiful walk on a gorgeous day down to South Park. We went on a little stroll down to Halcyon Tea to meet up with some friends. If you are a fan of high quality tea I highly recommend you going down to Halcyon Tea, and you must sit down for some tea tasting with the owner, Jason. I have never met anyone so knowledgeable and approachable about tea. He truly loves what he does and wants nothing more than to share it with you.

My beautiful Farra, on her phone, as always.

Halcyon Tea in South Park.

I liked the image of a modern design tea house with a touch of old.

High grade teas all waiting to be discovered.

James doing a tea tasting with some Yunnan Gold Silk green tea.

The streets of South Park.

picnic.2.pub

2010-02-09T21:35:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday we had the extreme pleasure of playing in the rain, parading with sparklers and making an entire bar holla with some our favorite hosts!

The purpose: Tori and Austin's dual bachelor / bachelorette party.
The theme: picnic to pub.
The outcome: just view the pictures.

FYI: Tori and her friend Myka have 2 awesome wedding blogs:
sitting in a tree & tulle and feathers

Aside from their entire HOUSE being set up like a PICNIC, yes, I said picnic. The food details were amazing. From small white bags marked chips and small bowls of caramel corn near picnic basket to picnic food done right and drink that complimented its food counterpart (sweet tea lemonade!)

Endless amount of hors d'oeuvres.

The candelabra, as charming as Tori and her home. Ok, its also Austin's home.

After the house festivities we made our way over to the "pub" part of the night at Hamilton's Tavern. Certainly not without an activity, bust out the sparklers.

The coordination was essential, but instantly everyone was brought back to their childhood and like kids, lit the sparklers as soon as they got a chance.

Us.

Ms. Jackie a la Abbey Road.

Hooray, was an understatement.

Farra feeling the "La Folie" and short of fist pumping she got the whole Saturday night crowd to cheer the couple on.

Thanks to DJ Austin Hendrix for giving us some tunes at his own party.

Cant call a party a party without some girls getting low.

And the night ended "happily ever after".

Beer, Food, & Music! What else can you ask for?

2010-01-28T10:45:00.000-08:00

With the new year its always great to shake things up a bit, and what better way to do it than with some of our favorite indulgences, beer, food, and music. The 7 course beer tasting party was a thrill and a pleasure to have all those of you who came over.

After getting ready all day our diet consisted of popcorn and whatever else we could get our spare hands on.

Waiting for the arrivals.

The setup this time was meant to be more interactive, casual, a party where you had home-cooked food with well-sourced high quality ingredients, diversity in beer styles, and great tunes that set the tone for the party from Dj Angel.

Kevin worked really hard on the menu design and it looked amazing!

1. Salt cod ravioli with a fish fumét paired with Telegraph White Ale
2. Chilpachol soup paired with Deschutes Winter Ale
3. Cochinita pibil tacos paired with Alpine Willy Ale
4. Vietnamese fried egg rolls paired with Rogue Morimoto Soba Ale
5. Shanghainese Berkshire pork belly paired with Jolly Pumpkin Maracaibo Brown Ale
6. Brillat Savarin, home-made biscotti, blood orange & pomegranate compote paired with Dogfish Head Midas Touch
7. Chocolate Earl Grey tartlets & lemon mascarpone paired with Stone Vertical Epic 9.9.9

A little Genmai Cha before the madness begins.

Jeff from Ballast Point whom always supports our events with beer. This time we had a 15g of Calico and the crowd pleaser, Sculpin IPA. I asked Farra at around 7 for a pint of it and she came back saying "its gone", of course!

Cochinita pibil's steam coming out. Cochinita pibil is usually cooked underground, but due to not wanting to dig a hole in my backyard I opted for the more conventional aproach, the oven.

Beer geeks in deep conversation. Hey did you try the Maracaibo brown ale? I know huh, its amazing. Rock on!

One of my favorite things of the night was seeing people with their forks & spoons in their shirt pockets or jean pockets. Its like the skull and bones of food.

Vietnamese fried egg roll wrapped around red leaf lettuce.

Shanghainese style Berkshire pork belly with home-made Napa cabbage kimchee.

Since we are sooooo sophisticated, why not implement the French cheese course before dessert?

Chocolate Earl Grey tartlets in their beauty.

Ethan, the certified master pourer.

Thanks to DJ Angel for complimenting the mood with his hand picked songs. We had everything from Sergio Mendes, to psychedlic Chilean music, to Santana, to Rick James, and a plethora of lounge music.

Our lovely ladies.

Dance party, well a mini mini one that is.

Obviously this is not a food pic, but gotta love the color scheme. Hmm, who could that be?

Thanks to everyone for your ongoing support. It is a true honor and pleasure for us to be able to host you and create an intimate and unique La Mesita experience. Many thanks to Jeff from Ballast Point, DJ Angel, Ethan, Laurel our impromptu photographer, and to our La Mesita group. The next one will be a different one of its kind, brunch anyone?

Special thanks to Omar at "The Best Damned Beer Shop". For those of you who drive up to Holiday Wine Cellar in Escondido for those hard to find bottles, drive no more. Check these guys out in downtown and tell them we sent you.

Prepping; the labour of love.

2010-01-26T23:43:00.000-08:00

The week leading up to the beer dinners is all about planning and prepping. This time around we had a 7 course beer tasting planned, but for some reason it was not as time consuming as we had imagined. We all did our parts and with strategic planning and the right sourcing things went very smoothly. There were still all those late nights and all day prepping involved, but that goes without saying. Here's a glimpse of it.

Beautiful organic plum tomatoes ready to be broiled for one of the many ingredients in the chilpachol soup.

Our beloved cazuela, which always comes in handy. Here is the base to the chilpachol, which includes roasted tomatoes, onions, jalapeños, chipotle, garlic, peppercorns, cinnamon sticks, and toasted tortillas.

Halibut for the fish fumét that would eventually end up bathing the top of the salt cod ravioli. Thanks to Tommy at Catalina Seafood whom happily let us go in and grab what we needed. We called so many restaurants and fish purveyors without luck. They either didn't have any fish bones or wanted to sell them to us at a crazy price.

Towels and silverware awaiting the moment they can savor the food.

Chopping away at the chocolate for the earl grey tartlets.

Eden farms organic Berkshire pork belly in cubes, or as Kevin called it "porkhenge"!

Jackie's station as she rolled up the Vietnamese egg rolls.

Handmade chocolate snap cookie crust. Needless to say much of the crust was being munched on as these pictures were being taken.

Let the kneading begin. The girls kneaded the pasta for the ravioli. Thank you!!!

Accurately hand-making ravioli and stuffing it with the salt cod.

Pasta for days. At this point we were all exhausted and a little after 1:30 am we ended up finishing the 120 raviolis and the rest of the prep. We had a little next day planning session and off to bed we went.

long time, no see

2010-01-22T23:08:00.000-08:00

LA MESITA RETURNS IN 2010

kickin' it off with a relaxed tasting...

in keeping with a mellow january, we are offering more tastings in a

mix n' mingle setting

featuring DJ Angel spinning records

7 taste beer pairing

salt cod ravioli in a fish consommé
paired with Telegraph White Ale

chilpachol soup
paired with Deschutes Jubelale White Ale

taco de cochinita pibil
paired with Alpine Brewing Co. Willy Ale

vietnamese egg roll
paired with Rogue Morimoto Soba Ale

red cooked organic berkshire pork belly
paired with Jolly Pumpkin Maracaibo brown ale

brillat savarin cheese with blood orange & pomegranate compote
paired with Dogfish Head Midas Touch

Chocolate Earl Grey Tartlets
paired with Stone Vertical Epic 9.9.9

January 24, 4pm

Winter Solstice 2009

2010-01-06T22:17:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, I'm a little late on this post but I have been a bit busy these days. Anyways, every year Farra and I host a winter solstice party to celebrate the return of the sun. This is our time to give back to a year of great friendship and look toward a brighter year to come. As some of you may know every year there is a theme and this year we went with the Old West / La Revolucion Mexicana. It was a true pleasure having all of you over to our home and we look forward to the next one where the theme will be.......PROM!

Que paso caballero? Y su caballo?

The house señorita ready to defend her home.

Some of the many home baked treats.

Another picture of the treats just to tease those of you who couldn't make it.

Old West meets Old Settler.

Another one for the road. Who knows how long before the next saloon.

Howdy sir. Yes, I am a barber and very meticulous.

This is what happened when we ran out of the 2008 Ballast Point Barrel-Aged Sea Monster Stout.

Planning their next adventure while rallying up some dishes.

The local sheriff and his wife. Pardon my stare sir.

Yes, even back then there was a local "ladies man".

Look at those beautiful blond locks and handsome eyes.

Ladies relaxing back with some bourbon on the rocks, while the men wrangle up some more beer.

This man was mad all night long. Don't know why?

The rest of the folks chatting it up and discussing some local gossip.

Smiles were seen all over peoples faces all night. Could you ask for a better group of friends?

Where is that darn skunk smell coming from. Lemme have a crack at it.

A slice of the many boots that were knockin' that night.

Thanks to everyone for such a memorable evening. We are thankful for your friendship, love and support in all of La Mesita's adventures. See you soon.

Can I get a turkey?

2009-11-22T21:22:00.000-08:00

A couple of months ago Farra and I were at Curtis' stand at the Hillcrest Farmers Market getting some eggs and I asked him "Can I get a turkey for Thanksgiving?" He chuckled and said "Oh I'm sorry I'm all sold out", I could not believe it. Wait a minute, I actually can. He sells out of his 20 dozen eggs of his highly coveted Wynola pastured chicken eggs by 9am every Sunday, by the way they are $7. That's in 1 hour! Even though Farra goes every Sunday and buys a dozen eggs, which are always treated like gold in the house, we still couldn't get one.

Ever since I tried Curtis' chickens I knew that I wanted one for Thanksgiving this year. I dreamed about it. So I asked him if there was anyway I could go on a list in case someone cancelled, and he told me to email him. After emailing him he told me that he would guarantee a turkey that I could buy from him if I came out and helped him slaughter the turkeys. I don't have any experience with this at all, but I'm always up for an experience where I get be closer to the process of where my food comes from. I mean, shouldn't we know what it takes to get our turkey to our Thanksgiving dinner table?

Last Friday I had the opportunity to go out to Curtis Womach's Ranch out in Wynola with Steph and Michael from The Linkery as we were all on the same deal, "come help, get a turkey". As soon as we get there we are put right to work, Steph is in charge of chasing and catching them , Michael is all about reaching inside of them and taking out all their insides, and I'm on the "washing and packing up" job. It was a very grounded experience to actually be out there and participate on getting these turkeys from their home to other peoples homes.

Steph chasing the swift turkeys.

I know this image may be hard to look at, but this is the most humane to kill a turkey. The turkey is placed in these cones and then their neck gets sliced. Most commercial turkeys are slaughtered in ways that could possibly turn you into a vegetarian.

After they are killed the turkeys are thrown into this scalder so the feathers can be pulled out easier.

This spinner gets the feathers out pretty quickly.

Michael at his post taking the insides out.

Curtis at his craft.

Caught uploading a pic on facebook as I take a break from rinsing, washing, stuffing, and bagging the turkeys for the lucky ones.

In the fridge patiently waiting for Thanksgiving, and I will give thanks to this turkey for being part of our dinner.

Ok, I don't mean to brag, but.......well I guess I do mean to.

2009-11-09T17:20:00.000-08:00

This post may not have much of a culinary reference, but it does share several images of some of our other obsessions, Mexico, photography, and details. Our friends whom are getting married next year in the small bohemian beach town of Sayulita, also have this charming wedding blog tulleandfeathers. She does such an amazing job of capturing the beauty and simplicity of the wedding and its couple. There is nothing that slips past her, and at times she makes me want to get married again. Check out the link she forwarded from her blog, which is the one we were in. Can't wait till their wedding.

Falling into Fall

2009-11-03T18:52:00.000-08:00

The fall beer dinner brought us back those feelings we all remember growing up in California, the falling leaves, those brisk cold nights, layers of clothes, the smoky aroma of wood burning, or not! At least we think its fall right? We decided to push ourselves a bit and use some of our favorite styles, Belgian beers.

Chanterelles foraged by my good friend Josh. He had come to visit a few days earlier and since he knows of my love for these earthly beauties he went out foraging in his South Carolina backyard, and flew them out here for me. What better way to use them than to share them with everyone.

Savory Butternut Squash Soup with Fried Sage Leaves and a Toasty Parmesan Crisp. Ommegang's Abbey Ale did the honors on this one.

Local Grass-fed Flat Iron with Duchesse de Bourgogne sauce, Roasted Shallots,Parrano Mashed Potatoes, and Chanterelle Bundles. The veggies had the Vegetarian Sheppard’s Pie option. Paired with Rodenbach Grand Cru. Kevin and I wanted to use local grass-fed beef so we headed over to Homegrown Meats in La Jolla and found some from the Palomar mountains.

As always we brought the salad after the main. Sweet Pear and Apple Salad with Bitter Endive and a Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing paired with Firestone Walker's, Union Jack IPA.

Lastly, everyone's favorite, dessert. This handmade Pumpkin Ice Cream & Churritos were the perfect pairing for The Bruery's Autumn Maple. The ice cream still had some nice texture from the pumpkin puree and its sweetness was complimented by the beers dark roast malt, sweet molasses, and the immense amount of yams in there. A couple of months ago, Kevin and I were at The Bruery's brewery. Hot day and all, we walked in and smelled the sweet aroma of yams. As soon as we knew what they were brewing up as their fall beer we knew we had to use it. This was probably our favorite pairing, as well.

Thanks to all the new diners. It's always our pleasure creating a beautiful space, carefully testing out the perfect beer pairing for the handmade food, and being able to share it with all of you.

We will see you in January for the next event, which we have a surprise twist that we know you will all love and appreciate.

La Mesita

f a l l i s h e r e . . .

2009-10-01T05:45:00.000-07:00

Savory Squash Soup with Crisp Parmesan Toast
Ommegang Abbey Ale
Brewery Ommegang, New York

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Filet of beef with Duchesse de Bourgogne sauce, roasted shallots,
Parrano mashed potatoes, and braised greens
-- vegetarian option available --
Rodenbach Grand Cru
Brouwerij Rodenbach N.V., Belgium

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Sweet Pear and Apple Salad with Bitter Endive and a Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing
Union Jack IPA
Firestone Walker, California

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Handmade Pumpkin Ice Cream
& Churritos
Autumn Maple
The Bruery, California

NY's been ACE'd

2009-09-27T21:31:00.000-07:00

The city that never sleeps has just been graced by one of our favorite hotel groups, The ACE. We've had the opportunity of checking out the one in Palm Springs and just love how in everyone of their hotels they incorporate the essence of the place, twist it up, and spit it back at you with a space that makes you feel like you have seen the whole city. Next time you're in Portland, Palm Springs, Seattle or NYC check it out for its restaurants, bars, or the rooms. NY Times article.

Get your fresh coconuts here!

2009-09-27T07:08:00.001-07:00

This morning I was reading the Fashion/Style section of the NY times and I found an interesting article about coconuts in there. I was not surprised to find a coconut article in the Style section as it is NY and they are known for trendsetting, but it was just funny to me to notice how these trends sometimes start. Yes, coconuts are a great nourishment source for fiber, vitamins, and minerals, but it just poses the question, "are the hipsters capping coconuts and drinking its water for the health benefits or is it the new accessory?". I think it may be the new accessory / healthy food trend. Regardless if coconuts are the new accessory, at least people will be walking around pretty healthy.

Cerveza, Amigos, y Comida!

2009-09-13T21:16:00.000-07:00

This last beer dinner was such an amazing experience. Choosing the dishes to this Mexican theme and using the special releases of Ballast Point beers really pushed us to be a bit more creative. Mexican food is usually on the top list of people's favorite food so our inspiration was to use traditional ingredients and dishes but twist them up a bit.

Thanks to all of you who attended and helped us in creating the wonderful and memorable moments with our food, the making of new friends, the craft beer, the Jarocho music from L@s Cafeter@s, and of course thanks to Miguel Hidalgo for rallying it up and getting Mexico on its way to its independence.

For those of you who could not make it, we hope to see you at the next...OCTOBER 18TH

Same-day picked local black mission figs from the backyard tree topped with goat cheese and drizzled with chipotle honey

1er tiempo: Grilled shrimp taco in a jicama tortilla with watermelon pico de gallo and tlacoyos de huitlacoche. Paired with Ballast Point Fathom India Pale Lager
The freshness of the jicama, watermelon and the citrus in the shrimp brought out the fruity hoppy aroma of the beer. Its light clean and refreshing lager body really balanced the spice and overall flavors. The tlacoyos de huitlacoche with a dash of chile de arbol salsa were just a nice treat...really nice treat!

2do tiempo: Chile Pasilla relleno de picadillo con frijoles negros Paired with Ballast Point Abandon Ship Smoked Lager
The chile's bittersweetness and smokiness was complimented with depth from the smoked lager, which had a nice medium body with some balanced smoky flavors. The lightness of the lager helped cut all the rich savory flavors from the pork picadillo. The black refried beans were fried southern Chiapas style...dried out and then flipped like a pancake!

3er tiempo: Ensalada de espinaca, ejote, y betabel con aderezo poblano. Paired with Ballast Point Longfin Helles Lager
The spiciness of the poblano dressing along with the fresh spinach, radish, and green beans were a nice pair with the light, cleansing Helles style lager.
I always love how the 3rd course gets the palate cleared up and ready for dessert.

4to tiempo: Pastel de 3 leches al chocolate con un picoso ganache Paired with Ballast Point Black Marlin Porter with cocoa nibs
Who doesn't love pastel de 3 leches? So how about it with chocolate? We used a whole grain pastry flour that gave it a nice nutty texture for the milks to soak up really nicely. The chocolate used for the cake and ganache was from Oaxaca, pure and spicy.
The sweet and rich & spicy ganache pieced the dish together with the porter's rich, robust, and toasty sweet cocoa nibs.
This all went down suavemente!

La Mesita diners in the garden and under the moonlight

Nothing goes down better after a handcrafted Mexican meal like some Mezcal and homemade sangrita in the lime cups. For the Mezcal we poured Scorpion blanco, and Don Amado reposado.
Salud!

After the party is the after-party!
L@s Cafeter@s all the way from El Lay sharing with us the beautiful music that is, Jarocho. I didn't spot that many Guayaberas, but I know the few that repped it, Brad!
Listos pa' tirar party!

Encantados!

Where else can you see someone with an donkey's jawbone used as a percussion?

Thanks to Jeff from Ballast Point for all the beers, La Mesita crew, our followers, and life for giving us the opportunity to do these events and take food and beer to another dining experience.

Que Viva Mexico, Que Viva!!!

Dogfish Brewery takes on Chicha

2009-09-09T09:42:00.000-07:00

Dogfish Head Brewery, the makers of the delicious festina peche, the beers we have all been drinking this summer, is at it again. Sam Calagione, founder of the brewery has taken on making Chicha the traditional Peruvian method, but the process is a bit more complicated than normal beer. You actually have to chew the maize in your mouth, spit it out, and then you boil it with water. Yes they do chew and the spit becomes a key part of the brew. Saliva has natural enzymes that break down the starch in corn, which turns into sugar, which ferments into alcohol. Little did he know it was a huge physical endeavor for his mouth.
Read more....

Congrats to Woodberry Kitchen

2009-09-03T11:53:00.000-07:00

This morning I got a text from co-"la mesita" partner about Woodberry Kitchen and how they were referenced in one of her favorite blogs, apartment therapy. Turns out that Woodberry Kitchen was named one of the top 10 new restaurants in Bon Appetit. You know how sometimes you read on all these restaurant lists and say to yourself "Oh I wish I would have eaten at one of these on the list so I know why they were chosen"? Well, we ate there and I can surely agree with the people at Bon Appetit. The whole team is knowledgeable and friendly. The menu is well thought out with great local ingredients and love put into it. Click here for the article. I wish I could be in Baltimore this weekend. I guess I shouldn't complain because we are about to have a fun Mexican themed beer dinner this weekend with live Jarocho music. Ok, I feel better now.

¡Que Viva México: su comida y sus tradiciónes!

2009-08-24T22:31:00.000-07:00

September is Mexico's month!

Grilled shrimp in a jicama taco
with watermelon pico de gallo and tlacoyos de huitlacoche
Fathom IPL
Ballast Point

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Chile Pasilla relleno de picadillo
-- vegetarian option available --
with frijoles negros
Abandon Ship Smoked Lager
Ballast Point

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Ensalada de espinaca, ejote y betabel with aderezo poblano
Longfin Helles Lager
Ballast Point

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Pastel de tres leches al chocolate
with spiced ganache
Black Marlin Porter
Ballast Point

_______________________________

Live Jarocho music

Food, beers, & a Wedding!!!

2009-08-11T13:35:00.000-07:00

We just got our hundreds of pics from our wedding in digital format and we are so excited to share some with you. This post is on food, but there will be more to come on the actual place. Our photographer did an amazing job to say the least. If you are thinking about someone for your wedding you seriously need to consider her. Check her out at QWeddings. The place where we got married is called Hotelito Desconocido, probably one of the best private, intimate, and breathtaking beaches in Mexico. The name says it all, it is definitely a hidden hotel gem with impeccable service and a setting that will make you never want to leave.

The dinner table awaits the authentic handmade Mexican food.

What better breakfast than menudo after a night of hard partying!

I just love this beautiful and lively picture of beans, one of Mexico's many treasures.

Huachinango (snapper) a la parrilla with some garden fresh squash, chayote, and onions. Simple, healthy, and beautiful.

Da beers. Gotta have these ice cold, especially when its about 85 degrees and lots of humidity, plus we were celebrating. I do prefer negra's though, let's be clear on that one.

San Francisco Solo

2009-08-10T00:09:00.000-07:00

I recently visited the bay area sans Juanito and
I had to post a few pictures from the
Academy of Sciences.
Living roof, rainforest, penguins, glowing jellysfish....
you have to see the sea dragons and the male cardinalfish,
which incubates the eggs and cares for the young in his mouth!

And what better way to say it?
RECYCLE COMPOST LANDFILL

Garden Date

2009-08-04T00:22:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning in the garden on a bed with a canopy above you, big white fluffy pillows, baby kicks, dreams and lots of color....

Menu:
shirred eggs with fresh garden delights:
sauteéd zucchini and topped with arugula and tomatoes
apples with honey
cornbread with fresh strawberries
english breakfast tea

Thank You! July, July, July, Oh My!

2009-07-28T20:07:00.000-07:00

Another exciting evening to celebrate the seasons!
This time we were fortunate enough to have an amazing kitchen to work in and we took full advantage of this! It definitely was able to accommodate our largest group yet! Thanks to Holly & Fred for your home, Kevin and Jackie for your kitchen love, Aileen for your photo magic and Jeff and Ballast Point for the awesome session beers!

F really outdid himself with this one. We had thrown out the idea of cooking some meat underground and he absolutely ran with that idea. It took 160 bricks and lots of elbow grease during the 4th of July weekend for this new appliance to be in place.

The pit began warming in the early morning hours around 7am by throwing about 20lbs of charcoal in there. The pork was marinated and then wrapped in banana leaves, placed inside a roasting pan, and layed down in the pit. It was then cooked in the pit for about 4 hours where it reached temperatures of over 500 degrees. The pit was then covered by a metal plate and soil thrown above it to ensure no air sneaked in.

The real deal...dug with love and stacked with passion! It's no wonder the pork tasted so amazing ... shouldn't we all construct an underground pit in our backyard?

Grilling is always a summer favorite with too high of temperatures to operate an oven inside. It's absolutely worth it to buy mesquite charcoal...not briquettes!
The corn with its protector, was grilled with the husk which achieves the same texture of the kernel as boiling would, but with a smokey grill flavor.
The peaches were grilled with branches of rosemary thrown into the charcoal to give an herbal smokey taste...

When July takes over the kitchen....

To begin: Tomato consommé
See our post here about how it was made.

1st: Crispy zuchinni flowers stuffed with ricotta & mint served with a spicy peach chutney paired with Avery's 16 saison.

The ricotta cheese stuffing had lemon zest and red peppers that brought out the saison's zesty aroma and its light effervescence. The peach chutney added some balance on the sweet side and brought it all together.

2nd: Pibil inspired Pork served with Berry Beer Baked Beans
paired with Port Brewing Co. Hot Rocks Lager

It was no coincidence that this underground course was served with a beer that practices the same methods in preparation! The berry beer baked beans were baked for hours with a raspberry lambic. The beer's malty sweet characteristics cut through the pork's flavorful fat and the marinade's rich flavors.

3rd: Grilled Peach Salad with Prosciutto and a Creamy Dressing
paired with Marin Brewing Co. Stinson Beach Peach Ale
As always, we love to offer the greens in between the meat and the sweet. The spicy arugula and the saltiness of the prosciutto balanced perfectly with the creme fraiche and goat cheese in the dressing.
Simple and cleansing in preparation for the sweet.

4th: Warm Strawberries with Pimm's and Vanilla Ice Cream
paired with Bayerischer Bahnof's Berliner Weisse served mit schuss style with
Castle Brewery's St. Louis Framboise
Of course everyone loves dessert, but this one had dessert in the beer, too. The handmade crumbled shortbread cookies with the broiled strawberries, essences of vanilla and ginger and handmade ice cream paired beautifully with the tartness of the berliner and the framboise kicked in to balance the sweetness.

Thanks to everyone for a beautiful evening under the July sky!

Szechuan Pepper....What???

2009-07-23T02:13:00.000-07:00

On the last night of our dinner at Woodberry, we had the pleasure of experiencing the Szechuan peppercorn at its freshest. The peppercorn had just been picked and the farmer brought it by to see if the kitchen was interested in cooking with it. Our server came out and told us what he had just tried and said that it was something that we had to do if we were interested in having a culinary adventure.

How could we pass it up? After dinner, there were 2 peppercorns that perched on a small white plate. It should also be known that the server explained this feeling after biting into the peppercorn as an "acid trip for your mouth".

The peppercorn is beautiful and looks like a mini sunflower, except that its gentle and lovely apperance is deceiving. Once you put it into your mouth get ready for a numbing and salivating experience on your tongue. At first bite you start to feel a tingling sensation, then the tingling lingers away while the numbness goes into effect and before you know it your mouth is as dry as a desert and salivating like you have never experienced. The sensation lasts for more than a few minutes and it goes from an intense and long stage to a gradual decrease.

Quite a deceiving little beautful flower! and what an experience to conclude our "charm city" visit!

Tomato Consommé

2009-07-21T21:32:00.001-07:00

It's the middle of summer and what better way to showcase one of its beautiful offerings, tomatoes. We had so much fun with this one. Usually, when you think about tomato consommé you think of broth, but what gives this one its clarity are the hours in between. You'll need lots of cheesecloth, if you are making it for 40 people.

Being the huge bloody mary lovers that we are, when we saw this recipe we knew it would be a proper way to start the afternoon. This recipe comes from one of our favorite chefs, Jamie Oliver. We both love his free spirited and confident way he approaches the kitchen.

Our Tips:
The color is absolutely incredible and worth the wait
I used about 1/2" thick slice of beet
More cheesecloth is better than less because you'll need it to tie the corners
It's worth it to find some sort of hook...it makes the hanging a lot easier
It's true, if you squeeze it, it gets a lot of the tomato meat in the broth, which affects the color
It's worth the wait, be patient and leave it alone
You can't mess up, just follow your tastebuds

Ingredients:
serves 6
a large bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked, stalks reserved
4 1/4 pounds really nice tomatoes
1 x 2-inch piece of fresh horseradish, peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 a clove of garlic, peeled
1-2 tbsp good quality red wine vinegar
a couple shots of vodka
1 slice of beet ( for color)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

"First of all, pick out the tiny inner basil leaves and put them in a bowl in the fridge. Then put all the tomatoes, basil leaves and stalks, horseradish, garlic, vinegar, vodka, beet and a good pinch of salt and pepper into a food processor or blender (you may have to do this in batches) and whiz until you have a kind of slush. It smells great! Give it a stir, have a taste and season with salt. As horseradish varies in strength, you may need to add a little more - I would say it's better to slightly over-horseradish it - and whiz again.

Line a big mixing bowl with a double layer of cheesecloth and pour the tomato pulp into it. Gather up the corners of the muslin and carefully, but securely, knot them together so you can lift the bundle up by the knot. Hang from a butcher's hook over a clean bowl to collect the juice that drips through the muslin and place in the fridge or a cool pantry. The liquid will be the most incredible crystal-clear rose-colored essence.

Taste a spoonful and adjust the seasoning with sea salt only - don't use pepper now or you'll get little black bits in your lovely clear juice. Stir, season, taste until you feel you've got perfection - be confident, as now is not a time for blandness! One of the background tastes should be a subtle acidity from your red wine vinegar - add a little more if you like, but not too much. You could also swig in a little extra vodka at this point.

It will take about 5 to 7 hours for the juice to drip through. (If you think this sounds like a long time, you can gently push the cheesecloth to force the juice out over the course of a minute, then let it drip for an hour or so from there. The longer you can let it drip naturally though, the clearer the consommé will be.) You'll know when it's done because you'll have 4 to 6 large ladies of juice in your bowl and the muslin pouch will be reasonably empty - discard what's left in it. Chill the soup in the fridge, along with your serving bowls.

When you're ready to serve, divide the soup between the bowl and sprinkle with the reserved basil leaves and a few small drips of quality extra virgin olive oil. Absolutely incredible!"

- Taken word for word from Jamie Oliver's "jamie at home, cook your way to the good life"

Time is the essence. You definitely need to let it do its thing.

The sheer beauty of tomatoes and time.

4th of July at it's east coast best

2009-07-18T19:40:00.000-07:00

After staying up til 330 from Ally's recommendation to follow up our Woodberry Kitchen experience with the Mt. Royal Tavern and waking up to a headache, we reluctantly got up at 9am and made our way towards Centreville where the wedding party was. The wedding was held at Content Farm. The place could not have been anymore charming and it was Americana at its best.

The entrance and driveway up to Content Farm.

Here we are ready to party down. We had been driving all day so we were all about relaxing in the barn and enjoying the Italian feast!

Matt and Steph, our PIC's (partners in crime).

The bluegrass band killed it!

The barn was turned into this beautiful space with colorful old French vases and old cart wheels serving as chandeliers. Beautiful evening for a charming couple and done right on the 4th of July!

Woodbery Kitchen....we miss you

2009-07-17T01:22:00.000-07:00

Woodberry Kitchen rocks!
Baltimore was great upon arrival, but this sealed the deal our first night when we found this amazing farm to table restaurant.
I can honestly say they didn't miss a beat!

The brick oven in the photo is used to cook the majority of their meals. It heats up to the 700 - 800 degree range when they use it for dinner and then in the early dawn hours when it cools down to around 400 degrees the pastry chefs use it to bake all of their breads and pastries.

To say that the service here was impeccable is an understatement! From the greeting at the door, to the knowledgeable staff, to the vibe of their teamwork and most importantly to the servers who love what they do and will sit down and talk to you without any rush. Without a doubt, they know exactly what they're doing and are fully aware of what they have created.

We were in awe!
If ever in Baltimore, it's an absolute must see!!!

We started with this snack of fresh Kohlrabi, Cucumber, & Scallions sprinkled with cumin, lemon, and sea salt.

My first drink was "Plantation" a single barrel bourbon, smoked honey, California port, and whiskey barrel bitters. Farra had the Gov't mule, which is probably the only thing that we found was not as good as what we had tasted before... Starlite's mule is better.

With our hunger and amazement at the menu, needless to say, we ordered way too much. After the snack we had Ladyfinger popcorn, which is a heritage corn. We split the Truckpatch spinach salad, goat cheese, strawberries, almonds and maple.

Here is my grass fed Roseda KC strip on a bed of cheesy mashed potatoes, summer squash, scallions, with a spring garlic butter. Yes, I did eat all the fat!

Farra's local (West Virginia) Stuffed Rainbow Trout with chard, mushrooms, skillet potatoes and green garlic aioli paired with a local Seyval white wine.

In complete glutton mode, we agreed to let the server choose a dessert and pair a drink with it. By this time, we both still had our cocktail to finish, our glass of wine to finish and now another drink was on its way. But what's dessert without coffee?

With 3 drinks in front of us, Ally, the barista comes over with 2 french presses from Counter Culture - single origin coffee from Burundi....why stop there? Marco, the general manager, then tempted us with our, now, 5th drink of local made rye whiskey...

Our surprise dessert pairing: Dessert was Summer Pudding with blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and whisked goat cheese....complete decadence!

Thank you to everyone at Woodberry Kitchen who made our stay in Baltimore so memorable!
Thanks to Sophie and Ally for the awesome service and insider info!

Baltimore and the iphone

2009-07-16T18:46:00.000-07:00

Farra and I took a mini trip to Baltimore for our friends' wedding last week. We were able to really appreciate what the"charm city" had to offer.

We rolled in Thursday and had the unfortunate mishap of forgetting / losing our camera on the airplane so these pics were all taken with the clutch iPhone.

Being that we are a bit food obsessed I researched for restaurants and found this great farm to table one called Woodberry Kitchen...saving this for a post by itself :) This place is located in the Woodberry area of Baltimore. Back in the early 1900s it used to be a huge milling area that now houses townhomes, condos, art gallery, and the Woodberry Kitchen. They did a nice job of incorporating the old buldings and putting a new twist on it.

This is the inside of the old milling factory, which now serves as the parking garage for all the residents.

The pool sits at the bottom of what used to be the basement. This reminds me of a hotel in Puebla, called La Purificadora, done by famous Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta and his son.

We fell in love with this district and ultimately fell in love with Baltimore.

goodbye, goodbye, goodbye July!!!

2009-07-14T22:53:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who helped make this evening such a pleasure

Next up, see you in September in honor of Mexico's Independence
(Mexico's Independence Day is 9/16, but we're celebrating a little early)

September 6, 2pm

All dishes for this pairing will be Mexican-inspired

Live Jarocho music

RSVP to: farragood@gmail.com
seating is limited and please only RSVP if you are sure you are able to attend

j u l y j u l y j u l y - oh my! we're full...

2009-07-09T01:27:00.000-07:00

See you this Sunday...

4 courses, with beer pairings at 3:00pm on
SUNDAY, JULY 12, 2009

Donation: $45

Tomato Consommé to sip before sitting...

1° Crispy Zucchini Flowers Stuffed with Ricotta and Mint served with peach chutney paired with 16 Anniversary Saison Ale from Avery Brewing Company

2° Pibil inspired Pork with Berry Beer Baked Beans
paired with Hot Rocks Lager from Port Brewing Company

3° Grilled Peach Salad with Prosciutto di Parma and a Creamy Dressing paired with Stinson Beach Peach Ale from Marin Brewing Company

4° Grilled Strawberries with Pimms, Crushed Shortbread and Vanilla Ice Cream paired with Bayerischer Bahnof's Berliner Weisee mit SCHUSS: Himberee style with St. Louis Framboise from Castle Brewery

Hard day at work

2009-06-30T08:38:00.000-07:00

As most of you know I work at The Linkery and every so often I get to drive up to the Santa Monica Farmers Market to get some produce. This time around Farra joined in on the trip and we had a blast. We hit up the SMFM and loaded up on a bunch of stone fruit from the Central Coast. The best part of that trip this time was not the SMFM, but the visit we had at the Intelligentsia coffee bar in Venice.

When I had the opportunity to take over the coffee ordering at The Linkery I got exposed to Intelligentsia coffee, which is the best thing to happen to coffee in the last years and in the years to come. We had an amazing visit with one of our friends from Intelligentsia who gave us the tour of it all. Check out the link's blog to read more about it.

After all the coffee drinking we needed some food to stop our shaking. Thankfully, Nick recommended a great restaurant just down the street called GJELINA. This place was full of people just having casual lunch during the middle of the day on a Wednesday, which made me think "do these people work?" Anyways, we scored this petite table on their charmingly rustic looking outside patio. First things first, I ordered Green Flash's West Coast IPA and Farra ordered a glass of Triennes rosé. We had heard that their brick oven pizza's were delicious so we knew that that was one dish we were getting and then we decided on a salad.

Here is the rocket, sweet corn, cherry tomatoes, lemon, and shaved pecorino salad. I loved how the spice from the rocket was balanced out by the sweetness of the corn and the cherry tomatoes. And who doesn't love shaved pecorino on their salad?

The house-smoked cheese pizza with roasted tomato, rocket, and sliced jalapeños. We both love spice and this pizza definitely made us take a break every so often. Good thing I had that IPA to wash it all down.

We sat there enjoying our meal and really appreciated the day we had had, a beautiful drive up, a nice sunny day for the SMFM, cruising down the boardwalk from Santa Monica to Venice, the amazing experience at Intelligentsia, and then this al fresco lunch. If you are ever up in this area I highly recommend these 2 places.

j u l y j u l y j u l y - oh my!

2009-06-19T15:30:00.000-07:00

4 courses, with beer pairings at 3:00pm on
SUNDAY, JULY 12, 2009

Donation: $45

Tomato Consommé to sip before sitting...

1° Crispy Zucchini Flowers Stuffed with Ricotta and Mint served with 16 ANNIVERSARY SAISON ALE from Avery Brewing Company

2° Array of Barbecued Meats with Berry Beer Baked Beans
BEER PAIRING still undecided

3° Grilled Peach Salad with Bresaola and a Creamy Dressing served with STINSON BEACH PEACH ALE from Marin Brewing Company

4° Grilled Strawberries with Pimms, Crushed Shortbread and Vanilla Gelato served with ST. LOUIS FRAMBOISE from St. Louis Brewing Company

Summer will be well underway and we hope to showcase and inspire the best of it!

...complete pairings with courses to post later

Cheese and meat plates to start with and continue onward

Many hand selected beers to session before and after

Some special bottles to tickle your fancy

**Menu items subject to change based on what's available or if we run into something better!

This pairing will be at a special location in North County.

Please RSVP by June 28 via email to: farragood@gmail.com

We will forward directions to location upon confirmation. If you need to cancel for any reason, please try to do so before July 7th so we can accurately plan and account for everyone.

We look forward to another amazing late afternoon!

Viva la Whoopie Pies!

2009-06-17T07:49:00.000-07:00

Oh, and the best dessert did, indeed, win! My favorite part about our dining project is the preparation and menu planning, for sure. I'm already a very excitable person and when I find a pairing or menu item that I'm soooo excited about, I can't wait to share it with Juan. Problem with that is that Juan is extremely analytical and methodical. Here's pretty much how it goes...

Farra: "Oh my gosh, guess what we're doing for the dessert?"

Juan: "What?"

Farra: "Ok, are you ready?... Triple Ginger and Lemon Quark Whoopie Pies!" [P.S. I'm beaming from ear to ear and can't sit still]

Juan: "uhhhhh..." [He's not beaming and looks rather confused!]

Farra: "You don't know what Whoopie Pies are, do you?"

Juan: "uh, no, not really..."

Farra: [I'm still not ready to give up, I just need to put my lawyer hat on] "Ok, picture this...triple ginger cookies that are a little chewy, and soft, but firm enough to hold a filling in the center...ok, don't you remember those Little Debbie pies that came individually wrapped? Like that, but waaaay better and a thicker, cakier cookie!" [Still beaming with a huge smile, thinking at least the smile will convince him]

Juan: "uhhhh, I'm not too convinced....it's not a ginger theme, ya know"

Farra: [Ok, completely crushed, the smile didn't work, my descriptive words didn't work...my smile fades, but the lawyer hat stays on!] "Because 2 of our dishes have ginger in them, all of a sudden it's a ginger theme? It's the last course, ginger is so refreshing, so springy, so cleansing...who would not be delighted to finish off with a probiotic cheese and ginger??"

Juan: "I guess, but I'm not convinced and I don't really want that to be the dessert course."

Farra: "Fine, I can stand alone on this one..."

You get the point....Juan was "not too convinced". This went on for days and a couple of weeks, stating cases back-and-forth between the "ginger's not the theme" vs. "who said it was?" We asked friends (who all agreed with me, by the way :)), Juan searched for alternative desserts and it was 3 days before the pairing when I was planning on making the dessert to finalize the beer pairing and Juan one last time made his plea for the NO GINGER. So, I finally agreed that I would try to find another dessert. After searching, rhubarb seemed to be the only thing that was half as exciting as Triple Ginger Whoopie Pies.

We sampled two desserts that night:

Triple Ginger and Lemon Quark Whoopie Pie vs. Rhubarb and Blueberry Crisp

At first bite of the whoopie pie, Juan started laughing and when I asked him why, he said, "You were right."

The Whoopie Pies made the cut and paired beautifully with Bear Republic's Pete Brown Tribute Ale!

Way to show 'em Whoopie Pies!

I wouldn't be challenged to find different seasonal courses if it weren't for Juan and he wouldn't get to say "You were right" if it weren't for me :) All gloating aside, we work very well together and compliment our different styles. I'm up for a dessert dual with you any day, Juanito!

The missing link....

2009-06-08T07:51:00.000-07:00

It never fails, there's always one recipe that keeps us up the night before until ridiculous hours. I don't know if I create this myself, I'm just too tired, or what, but I work on the house until the afternoon, I start preparing around 3pm or 4pm and then hours later just when everything else is prepped and ready to go and I think I'm going to bed, the last recipe or prep work somehow is misread, or an ingredient is forgotten and I find myself at 12midnight, tired and dumbfounded at what happened. And then the race begins....the race to find out what I did wrong, how I can fix it and where I can send Juan at 1am or 7am to solve it! And just like clockwork, the missing ingredient is found or the recipe is started over and the end product is just perfect! We, on the other hand, are not so perfect at 3am...but still manage to thoroughly enjoy ourselves the day of!

That recipe this time around was for the triple ginger cookies that sandwiched the lemon quark cheese in the middle. I'm never sure how a recipe will double, but I thought I'd take my chances....until, I double the wet ingredients and then quarupled the dry ingredients. Then, somewhere in my mathematics at 12midnight, I ended up with very sad and gooey dough! Alas, 2 hours later, I figured out I only added half the flour, so I added the rest and the cookies delivered in taste, texture and style with their quark cheese!

Moral of the story: don't multiply a recipe unless 1. you are a mathematician 2. you have no one talking to you while you're doing the math 3. you have countless hours to waste figuring out your mistake!

A bid farewell to peas and blooms and asparagus...see you next time around

2009-06-02T20:25:00.000-07:00

Summer's officially around the corner and we just bid farewell to Spring in the most proper fashion of which we know....a pairing with awesome friends, a full house and the freshest ingredients....

This pairing just felt good. We were organized, time lines were executed flawlessly, we had awesome help and the courses were alive. That's not to say we didn't have a lot to think about leading up to the pairing. I dedicated a separate post to prep this time :)

Crispy & Delicious Asparagus & Potato Tart served with Sabzi
Paired with THE LOST ABBEY AVANT GARDE Farmhouse Style Ale
This was a great pairing to start with. The asparagus and the sabzi showcased the grassyness of the Avant Garde, the beautiful floral aroma and the hint of sweetness from this delicate golden ale really went well with the cheddar cheese, while the tart's dough complimented the yeastyness.

Alaskan Amber Salmon served with Spring Ragout
Paired with BALLAST POINT GINGER BIG EYE IPA
I had always wanted to pair this beer with this salmon and my wish was granted when Jeff was on board to brew this special batch. I think it was many guests' favorites and I can't blame them. The salmon marinates for 24 hours in Alaskan Amber beer, cilantro, garlic, soy sauce, and of course ginger. The hoppyness really cut through the salty soy sauce and the ginger brought out all the herbal flavors. The spring ragout's favas and peas brought balance and fresh spring to the entire dish. Absolutely delicious!

Fennel with Tarragon Vinaigrette on a bed of Purslane
Paired with THE BRUERY TRADEWINDS Belgian-Style Ale Brewed with Rice and Thai Basil
You know, come to think of it I almost like this pairing better than the salmon. This beer by The Bruery is phenomenal, comlex, a beautiful bouquet of aromas, light and just a treat to drink. The fennel and tarragon brought out the light herbalness in the beer from the Thai basil. The light creamy dressing complimented the purslane's sticky, crispy yet soggy texture. The beer really has this fruity aroma, which needless to say that the strawberries really finished off the pairing all the way through.

Triple Ginger & Lemon Quark Whoopie Pies
Paired with BEAR REPUBLIC Pete Brown Tribute Ale
I won't talk about my ongoing battle to pick another dessert since I was told by many that I should just listen to Farra. I know! Yes, this was great. The creamy quark cheese from Spring Hill Dairy balanced the hint of spice from the triple ginger cookies, not to mention the lemon which just refreshed your mouth all together, while the brwon ale's molasses complimented the sweetness and offered a smooth finish which left your mouth ready for the next bite.

A definite tradition...a pairing can't end without Krupnik! Thanks, Agnieszka for the introduction...

A huge thanks to Kevin and Jackie for their expert help in the kitchen. We all worked so well together and as a result assembled, delivered and executed dishes that were full of Spring!

Another huge thanks to John for photographing this evening so we can share it with everyone!

Another huge thanks to Jeff for brewing awesome beer just for us!

And another huge thanks to everyone who supports what we create!

Summer, here we come!!

2009-05-28T23:17:00.000-07:00

We're a full house for this pairing and so excited about all of the spring goodies we have! Although, we cut it a bit short as spring truly is pretty much gone :) Maybe the last fava beans and peas you'll enjoy this season.

I am dreaming about the flavors in this menu every day and can't wait to start preparing! Next pairing is in July at a special location...mark your calendars for July 12th!

4 courses with beer pairings at 3:00pm on SUNDAY, MARCH 31st

With each course, we will pour hand-selected beers from craft breweries

Crispy & Delicious Asparagus & Potato Tart served with Sabzi
Paired with THE LOST ABBEY AVANT GARDE Farmhouse Style Ale

24 Hour Salmon served with Spring Ragout
Paired with BALLAST POINT GINGER BIG EYE IPA

Fennel with Tarragon Vinaigrette on a bed of Purslane
Paired with THE BRUERY TRADEWINDS Belgian-Style Ale Brewed with Rice and Thai Basil

Triple Ginger & Lemon Quark Whoopie Pies
Paired with BEAR

Cheese and meat plates to start with and continue onward
Japanese cucumbers between courses
Special beer from Ballast Point brewed just for this pairing
Beer to session before and after

Get stoned!

2009-05-23T14:15:00.000-07:00

As most of you know I work at The Linkery, and this weekend we have an amazing lineup of stone fruit inspired dishes. Jay and I went to the Santa Monica Farmers Market (SMFM) on Wednesday to load up on the central valley's stone fruit offerings. Check out the blog post.

Why do we go up there and not somewhere more local? Well, because the central valley is known for their stone fruit and San Diego's are not as great nor are in season. The Hillcrest Farmers Market has one farm that comes down from Dinuba, Sweet Tree Farms. This is an all girl run farm and their fruit is sweet in so many ways.

Here is a pic of the smoked oyster stuffed snow queen peaches. The sweetness of the peach is balanced beautifully by the smoky, and salty briny-ness of the oysters. Pair this with our Sancerre, Sauvignon Blanc, and you just may have to order another round. Seriously!

G O O D M O R N I N G! Good Morning, Good Morning, Hey Hey, Good Morning...

2009-05-20T23:49:00.000-07:00

What's not to love about breaking out the china, fresh fruit, squeezed OJ with champagña, french press, arugula wrapped with North Park Meat Co. Berkshire Pork Bacon, soft boiled farm fresh eggs, sauteéd greens, Bread & Cie Country Levain and hungry folks?

This is pretty much my favorite thing ever! No, seriously...anyone who knows me, knows that whenever I have company over, I like to wake up hours before them, tiptoe around the house and prepare something yummy for the to wake up to!

Kevin and Jackie spent the night and I was dying to wake up and buy the missing ingredients, choose china for everyone and make the spread. We had such an enjoyable morning! Even though I don't eat meat, I love to prepare it and this is probably one of my most favorite breakfasts! Yum!

Goodbye Spring...

2009-05-20T23:10:00.000-07:00

4 courses, with beer pairings at 3:00pm on SUNDAY, MARCH 31st, $45

1° Crispy & Delicious Asparagus & Potato Tart with Sabzi
The Lost Abbey - Avant Garde Ale
2° Alaskan Amber Salmon with Spring Ragout
Ballast Point - Ginger Big Eye IPA
3° Fennel and Watercress with Tarragon Vinaigrette
The Bruery - Trade Winds
4° Triple Ginger & Lemon Quark Whoopie Pies
To be Determined...

Cheese and meat plates to start with and continue onward...
Armenian cucumbers to eat between courses
Many hand selected beers to session before and after
Some special bottles to tickle your fancy

**Menu items subject to change based on what's available or if we run into something better!

This pairing will be our largest in number to date and we are excited to watch it play out. Spring is such an inspiring season with an unparalleled lightness & brightness. To the best of our abilities, we aimed to maintain this feeling in the menu

Thanks to everyone for your RSVPs and we look forward to another amazing late afternoon!

The next beer dinner is near!

2009-05-11T13:57:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

We are so exited for the next beer dinner. Farra and I have been working on some dishes and pairings, but its still not finalized. The date however is and it will be Sunday, May 31st. Please stay tuned for more details as they will be posted on the blog.

Thanks for being part of this fun dining project and for supporting what we love to do and helping us share it with others.

Juan and Farra

This years garden

2009-05-04T09:40:00.000-07:00

Every year Farra's mom comes down and helps us out with our garden. I think this years garden is the best so far. We are really excited for what's to come, and hopefully have a bountiful harvest dinner with all of our friends.

They planted 3 varieties of tomatoes, serranos, jalapeños, habaneros, basil, dill, marjoram, oregano, parsley, cilantro, lettuces, arugula, corn (need to cross polenate but may be a challenge), tomatillos, and a hop rhizome.

Finally our years worth of composting gets put to use.

Easter Sunday in Tijuana

2009-04-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

Two Sundays ago Farra, Kevin, Jackie, Steph, and I went down to have Sunday brunch with my mom to our favorite TJ restaurant, La Diferencia. This place serves authentic, regional, and pre hispanic inspired dishes. One of my favorite dishes are the chapulines (fried locusts) that they serve on handmade blue corn sopes. We also had bone marrow sauteed with mushrooms, chicharron in salsa verde, queso fundido with rajas, crepas de huitlacoche (the delicious delicacy of corn fungus), and enjoyed all this with some palomas and micheladas, and finished off with a tequilita and sangrita. I know, I know you are a little jealous, but just let me know when you want to go down there and its a date.

After the beautiful food, my moms company, and a relaxing dining experience we still had dessert waiting. We went to Tepoznieves, this place has the biggest and most unique selection of ice cream that I have ever seen. The place is named after the town where all the ice cream is made, Tepoztlan, Morelos. They have pretty much any flavored ice cream and sorbets such as, mango with cucumber, avocado, rose petals, bubble gum, tequila, burnt milk, zapote, you name it they have it. After tastes and taste we all finally decided on our flavors and got ready for our fashion shoot.

The inside of tepoznieves has the bright rich Mexican colors you find in the south part of the country. The people that work there are so helpful, knowledgeable, and will let you sample as many of their flavors as you desire. My favorites are always the chile inspired sorbets such as cucumber with chile, mangolin ( mango with chile), and then I add some chamoy to top it off. (a spicy, sweet, pulp from pickled fruits like plums and apricots)

The cool kids eating ice cream as they pose au naturel.

Nice color coordination from Kevin with his grey sneaks and a hint of yellow on the sole to match his shirt and jeans.

Un mezcal por favor

2009-04-23T09:20:00.000-07:00

Growing up I had heard of Mezcal, but for some reason I had always seen it as a the lesser liquor from the agave plant. Tequila has such a strong presence all over Mexico that I never thought of drinking Mezcal. The assumption growing up was that Mezcal was drunk by the rural people of Oaxaca or other small villages that couldn't afford tequila, but I am so glad that I was wrong with this assumption. The New York Times just ran an article on the rise of Mezcal, the process, the tradition, and the importance of drinking the small batch high quality mezcal.

Over the past couple of years as I have became more interested in finer cocktails and liquors. I began hearing mezcal making its way onto cocktail menus at places like PDT in NYC and the Alembic in SF. Last summer during our wedding my friends Brandon & Lucera had traveled to Oaxaca and met up with us at the wedding. He had purchased a bottle of El Señorio and was extremely excited to share it with me. I remember we were sitting in his room staring out at the ocean as he told me how he had fallen in love with it in Oaxaca. He poured us two shots, I grabbed it and smelled it. The aroma reminded me of the smoky and earthy characteristics that you get from a 18 year old scotch or a tequila reposado. I gotta say that a good mezcal is a perfect way to end a dinner. You dont have to go to Oaxaca to enjoy this gorgeous and seductive liquid. If you are in the mood hop on over to Cantina Mayahuel on 30th and Adams where you will find an array of tequilas and meszcales that you wont find at any other place except back in Mexico.

Bringing Refrigerators Together

2009-04-22T20:18:00.000-07:00

Usually, our dinners are planned out with details always taken into consideration and calendars always consulted. My mom always reinforced proper etiquette, which leaves me frantic at the last minute polishing silver or dusting plant leaves in case someone noticed the mild build up of dust that had accumulated. But I have to say, there's something about throwing together an impromptu dinner and just working with whatchu've got!

Bradlee and Jen came over last night and...wait for it...it was not planned, nor was it in either of our calendars! Point being, we had an amazing evening and cooked an amazing asparagus stir-fry with ingredients already in our kitchen, lined up and ready to be quickly cooked and enjoyed with great company.

So, in honor of this evening, I'm vowing to be more spontaneous with our meals and evenings with friends and not to pay attention to calendars and silly details. What matters is the company and the meals created together. It's bringing ingredients together from different kitchens and creating an evening that feeds your soul. Cheers to spontaneous gatherings and bridging kitchens!

P.S. Passover inspired haroset was an awesome dessert experiment! Try chopping walnuts, pecans and almonds in a food processor, then add sliced apples and chop in the processor until finely chopped, stir in juice of a 1/2 lemon, a few shakes of cinnamon, shake of nutmeg and a couple T honey. Top with freshly whipped cream and dust with cinnamon. Simple, nutritious and mmmmm delicious.

Palm Springs

2009-04-19T16:28:00.001-07:00

The lawn chair, literally.

We just got back from Palm Springs a few days ago. We were out there for several days for a family (Farra's moms side) retreat and it is gorgeous, thats if you like hot sunny days, lounging by the pool, micheladas, grilling, and nice evening cocktails. Farra's aunt rented an awesome house for a week and we definitely enjoyed it, thank you! We mostly ate at the house, but then after dinner Farra and I would escape for some venturing and checked out some cool restaurants and bars.

Poolside at the Ace Hotel. Classy Palm Springs. For a second we felt like we were in the 50's.

This is the Amigo Bar inside the new Ace Hotel. These hotels are amazing. There are some in Portland, Seattle, New York, and now Palm Springs. The hotel does a great job of involving you as part of the experience. They have such great amenities, DIY BBQ with a personal weber for you to grill on your patio, a dog park, saline pool, gym, and a cool & hip staff. They did an amazing job in keeping the old with the new. It used to be an old Howard Johnson and the diner was an old Denny's.

The inside of the Amigo Room is cozy and vintage Mexican and Southwest twists to it. When you go there this summer you gotta order their Figa cocktail. Its fig infused vodka, chilled earl grey tea, honey and tangerine juice.

Our friend that greeted us at the entrance to the restroom of the Parker Hotel. This hotel is an amazing place to indulge, relax, and splurge. The hotel used to be Merv Griffin's old house and at one point it was also the Givenchy resort and spa.

Breakfast at Norma's inside the Parker. The restaurant has a nice intimate vibe, and a bright open space with great views of their gardens and overall property.

Of course I had to try their take on huevos rancheros. They were good, but I hate when places use flour tortillas when its not traditional. Nice presentation, but the chilaquiles at the Kings Highway Diner inside the Amigo Hotel are just as great and a third of the price.

We're back

2009-04-16T20:33:00.000-07:00

Sorry everyone for the lack of posts lately. We lost all of our pics amongst other items and had a tough week. We are back though! Recently we have been getting some great feedback on things we could include on the blog. One of those requests are recipes for the dishes from the beer dinner.

Here is a pic of the veggie nut loaf that we offered to the vegetarians instead of the ribs. Kevin this is for you let me know how it turns out. The recipe is as follows:

1-1/2 cups walnuts
1/2 cup cashews
1-1/2 cups cooked brown rice
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, chopped fine
1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped fine
1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in hot water for 20 minutes, then drained and chopped
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley
2 teaspoons fresh chopped thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried
1 Tablespoon fresh marjoram, or 1 teaspoon dried (I was out of this and it tasted great without it)
1 teaspoon fresh chopped sage, or 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
2 large cloves of garlic, minced very fine
4 large eggs, beaten
9-12 ounces of grated cheese -- Use odds and ends of different cheese that go together. I used cheddar and jack cheese, but swiss or fontina are good too
1 cup (8 oz) cottage cheese
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 375° F. Butter a loaf pan and line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper, then butter it again.
Toast walnuts and cashews on a baking sheet (or you could use a hot, dry skillet set on medium and stir constantly) until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Let cool. Chop fine with knife, (I used the food processor).
Melt butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Add mushrooms and cook until they're browned and any liquid from the mushrooms has reduced by half. Stir in the cooked rice, the nuts, chopped herbs, eggs, cheese, cottage cheese, minced garlic, salt, and pepper.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan. Smooth it down until it's level. Bake until golden brown and firm to the touch, about 1 hour. It should be firm when you shake the pan. Let cool in pan 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edge of the loaf and invert onto a serving plate. Serve with Herb Bechamel sauce or a mushroom sauce.
Herb Bechamel Sauce
2-1/2 cups milk (I used 1%)
1 Tablespoon finely chopped onion
1 bay leaf
pinch ground pepper
4 branches fresh thyme or a pinch of dried thyme
2 Tablespoons finely chopped parsely
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons flour
1/2 cup heavy cream (optional)
Combine the milk, onion and herbs in a saucepan and slowly bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to lowest point and cook for about 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it set until you need it. Then strain it--or not, if you prefer. There should be about 2 cups.
Melt the butter and stir in the flour and cook over medium low heat about 1 minute. Whisk in the warm milk all at once and stir in cream, if you're using it. Season with salt and cook over lowest heat for about 20 minutes, stirring often.

Wynola field trip

2009-04-03T13:00:00.000-07:00

One of the many cool things about working at The Linkery are the fun projects and activities of which we get to be a part. On Tuesday we went out to Wynola, 3 miles right before Julian, and we checked out a couple of farms, Albert's Organics and Womack Ranch. Albert, his wife Lydia, and their son Jehtro (seen here), raise these goats the natural way. Curtis from Womack ranch raises natural chickens and his land is right next to Alberts. It was so nice to be out there in the spring and connecting with them. They are so passionate about what they do and are the nicest.

Here is a little buddy posing for the camera. He was like "oh you want a picture, here you go then"

Farmer Juan feeding the goats. They were so friendly and just loving the fact that we were feeding them. After that we moved them to a new area with fresh pasture for them and they soon forgot about us.

Right before we left we had lunch out on Albert's table and chair, Max had packed us a lunch with North Park Meat Co beef pepperoni, cheddar cheese, and The Linkery's house made semolina roll. Then Albert brought out a bottle of red wine from a local winery, Orfila, and we just sat there enjoying that moment. Its interesting how those simple things can just make your day. We all left pretty happy, especially Ethan and I which we made a stop at Holiday Wine Cellars and Lost Abbey. Good day all in all!

Tijuana visit to see Mom and eat!

2009-04-03T11:59:00.000-07:00

About every 2 weeks my brother and I go to Tijuana to visit our mom. We drive down there, pick her up and she takes us to the best street style food. She always has a new place for us to check out, but for some reason when it comes to eating birria, Angel and I usually stick to the same place. It's also 2 blocks from Moms house so it is pretty convenient. This time we went with Ethan whom got tired of me teasing him about how good it is everytime I came back.

The birria they make is Guadalajara style but is it from beef instead of the popular goat, which is equally as good. They also have carnitas, potato tacos, a cup fo the birria broth, tortas ahogadas (drunken tortas), and a plethora of sides to put onto your taco, they can make micheladas with clamato, and put a smile on your face. In case you ever find yourself in the Gabilondo area of TJ, the neigborhood behind the old bullring, you need to go to these tacos and then thank me afterwards. Here are some pics to tease you a bit more:

The broth you are looking at is delicious. Add some cilantro, cebolla, limes, habanero hot sauce and slurp away like tasting a fine wine, just a bit different of a flavor profile!

The taco you see above is a new finding for us. The place is called Tacos Memo's. The taquero is hilariously cool, he wears sunglasses, asks you if you want the combo, which you say Hell yes! They make these tacos with handmade flour tortillas, followed by a proper smearing of refried beans, some carne asada, grilled chorizo, guacamole, salsa, cilantro, cebolla, and followed by some chicharron cracked right on top. Pair with a grilled jalapeno and a Mexican coke, eat it all, then repeat until you are satisfied.

This is Cecilia, our mom and the reason why we go down to Tijuana. This is one of my favorite pics of her at our wedding on 8-8-8 at Hotelito Desconocido and I'm sorry Disney, but this is the happiest place on earth check out the link and you'll see why. Look at her all serious waiting for Juan and Farra to make it official. She would kill me if she knew her pics are on the net, but she wont find out. In case anyone ever wants to go down to TJ let me know and we can plan something. Cecilia will be our guide and you will return very happy!

Beer Pairing 2009 / "La Mesita" Project Kickoff

2009-03-20T15:18:00.000-07:00

Every year we wait for this dinner to come and it finally happened. This one was such an exciting event and we were lucky to have some new faces at the tables. It was our kickoff dinner for the dining project "la mesita sin nombre". Tons of preparation went into it again and special thanks to all of those who helped making the mole, shucking oysters, dishes, serving, etc. Also, thanks to Jeff from Ballast Point for providing some great Calico amber ale.

The day started off with early prepping of the dishes, last minute runs to the store, and turning our home into an intimate dining experience. Luckily, Farra creates the action plan that brings it all together.

When the guests arrived they were greeted with a pint of Ballast Point's Calico amber ale and an assortment of cheeses. From Venissimo in Mission Hills we had the Cahill Porter, a unique mosaic looking cheesed pressed in port beer, the Tipperary Irish Cheddar aged 12 months that give it a sharp and creamy texture, Cotswold, a super yummy creamy double gloucester with onions and chives, Chimay made by monks and bathed in beer, and last but not least Humboldt Fog with its signature creamy, pungent ashynees. From the North Park Meat Co. we had Point Reyes blue cheese and the Sweet Grass Dairy's aged cow cheddar as well as the smoked local spotted bass, which was left with only bones.

Just before dinner we served baked oysters filled with pickled jalapeños, a splash of calico amber and some colby jack cheese. Thanks for your help shucking, Ethan!!!

Every year there's always one dish that catches us by surprise and this year it was the gnocchi! We thought about buying the gnocchi fresh from an Italian market, but we just couldn't do it after putting so much thought and time into the handmade menu. So began the adventure.... 3 variations, 5 hours and over 300 gnocchi later...we served our first course: sauteed gnocchi with snap peas, pea tendrils, chanterelle mushrooms, and shallots paired with one of my favorite American Breweries, North Coast Brewing Co's Pranqster, a Belgian Golden Style Ale. The floral notes brought out the earthiness in the potatoes and chanterelles and the beer's crispness paired well with the freshness of the snap peas.

2nd course: beef short ribs braised in coffee and chile ancho sauce topped with mole poblano and served with a yam puree The mole was prepared by friends and family the previous weekend. This was the hardest pairing for me to find a beer that went well with such complex flavors. I purposely did not do a porter because of the one we had in the lineup for dessert. After trying different pairings for dinner almost every night that week, I finally found Bison Brewing Co's Organic Chocolate stout. The hints of chocolate brought out the mole's ch0colate notes and the stout's sweetness also balanced out the spicyness.

After the rich and heavy mole dish we thought that a nice salad would balance the whole meal out right before moving onto the decadent dessert. 3rd course: Butter leaf lettuce, red spinach, and a citrus avocado dressing. Paired with Alpine Beer Co's Mandarin Nectar Ale. The beer's mandarin honey like flavor really brought out the citrus in the salad and the crisp fresh leaves kept the dish very fresh and clean. This was a favorite of many!

And the moment that everyone waits for....dessert. Dessert is always a fun course to play around with to try and pair every single flavor in the sweet with a matching beer. There are so many great dessert beers out there, but I was biased because earlier in the week I visited Ballast Point's brewing facility and had the opportunity to sample their newly released, "Victory at Sea". I think I was secretly looking for a dessert to pair with the beer! Luckily, Farra and I were on the same page because she had been wanting to make these itsy bitsy chocolate chip cookies! Handmade Vanilla Bean ice cream was a no brainer at this point. 4th course: Home made vanilla bean ice cream with itsy bitsy chocolate chip cookies. Paired with Ballast Point's "Victory at Sea" Coffee Vanilla Imperial Porter. This was heaven in your mouth, easily enjoyed, and a great way to finish the dinner.

After dinner there is nothing better than a little shot of after dinner delight: Polish honey vodka: Krupnik to warm your belly. Here is Farra happily passing out shot after shot. The shots were a hit and needless to say, the Polish bottle was Polished off (yes, pun intended).

The night was such a success and truly filled with a richness and soul that you just couldn't have found in any restaurant. I guess that's exactly what inspires us to create these gatherings with our community and friends.

The next project is set to be at the end of May, so please join us. We'll post the invitation on the blog and most likely send out an email with the updated blog. We absolutely look forward to sharing our tables with you and thank everyone for their support and love for an unparalleled combination of food, friends, libations and community.

THANKS AGAIN AND STAY TUNED...

Beer Pairing 2009 Invite

2009-02-27T14:17:00.000-08:00

In honor of our new project,

la mesita sin nombre,
we are kicking it off with what has become one of our favorite dinners of the year:

our 3rd annual Beer Pairing Dinner.
It all started in celebration of St. Pat's Day: a favorite holiday of ours, well mostly mine. We realized what a better time than this holiday of beer drinking to celebrate the beautiful marriage between food and beer. Ever since then, we have continued on, and the amount of great supportive feedback has allowed us to put this wonderful event together for our close friends year after year.

As many of you foodies and beeries have been noticing, beer being paired with food is grabbing a hold of the spotlight these days. I think it's about time since this movement began over 20 years ago. Beer pairs so well with food, in many cases better than wine. Everywhere I read these days from Imbibe, to Ce lebrator, to local beer bars, and restaurants such as The Linkery (who has hosted dinners with Lost Abbey , Firestone Walker, and the local boys from Mission Brewery , the beer and food dinners are catching on and I think that this is the beginning of a big movement... "you say you want a revolution?" Not only does food and beer taste well together but it brings a diverse group of people together who share a commonality: to eat well, drink well and be in good company!

S u n d a y , M a r c h 1 5 t h : 4 : 3 0 p m

will be the afternoon this year when beer meets food and we celebrate! This year we have decided to do a four course pairing, and some before and after dinner delights to keep the atmosphere and the beer flowing. We will continue to strive to source as local as possible, with the food being made by hand, of course.

There is an insane amount of thought, hard work, effort, planning and expenses so we will continue with the tradition of a $35 donation per person, if you will. And although we would like to do this for 50 people, for an intimate ambiance, seating is limited (only 20 seats). Below is the menu and beer pairings are left to be a surprise. We can assure you that you will not be disappointed. Also, besides the beers for the pairing there will be many more beers for sessioning (although not necessarily session beers). If you want a certain beer for sessioning you are more than welcome to bring what you fancy, but there will be no need.

Crudités for the tables
Oysters with a trio of toppings to get the afternoon started
Spring pasta with peas and lemon peel
Braised short ribs in mole sauce or
Veggie nut loaf (vegetarian option)
Butter lettuce and spinach salad with citrus and avocado
Dark chocolate sorbet with a crunchy chocolate chip cookie
Cheese plate and barley wines to continue onward...

**Menu items subject to change based on what's available or if we run into something better!

Beer Pairing 2007

Beer Pairing 2008

la mesita sin nombre

2009-02-27T12:50:00.000-08:00

The reason for starting this project and blog is to share our passion for entertaining soulfully by showcasing inspired meals, homegrown ingredients, beer, wine, friends and memories. La mesita sin nombre, (the little nameless table) is our dining project. Yes, a dining project.

We are not chefs, beer or wine snobs, nor experts by any means. We simply enjoy cooking, entertaining, drinking, friends, and the environment they create altogether.

Over the years we have been hosting and partaking in dinners, gatherings and parties, which has evolved into pretty much any excuse to have a good time and create an intimate experience. Whether its that memorable dinner we cooked for our friends, those mouthwatering fish tacos we eat in TJ, the beautiful pics we take of food, gatherings for occasions, or cooking nights with themes - this blog is meant to showcase the many different aspects of dining with friends or mere acquaintances in hope that that feeling reciprocates and becomes contagious.

"La mesita sin nombre" is all about those experiences, pleasures and dreams we all get when we eat and drink something so indescribable, and at that very moment you realize that it simply doesn't get better than that. We look forward to the natural progression of our project into whatever it may become and to many more memories.

Salud!

Mole & Day of the Dead

2009-02-27T11:30:00.000-08:00

For the past 3 or 4 years it has become a tradition to make mole for the "Dia de los Muertos" and I have put up some pics of past years. It started with us wanting to learn how to make mole from scratch - the right way, of course. I called a family friend and great cook from Chiapas who lives in Tijuana to show us how. Since then, it's been at least a bi-annual day full of laughter, eg g massages, many bottles of wine and a different creation each and every time. The type of mole varies from Mole Poblano to Mole Chiapaneco. They're all good and never taste the same...... think "Como Agua Para Chocolate"

After the mole making is done, which is an all day affair, we serve it up for about 3o people in a "Day of the Dead" celebration, where we ask everyone to bring an item (food, drink, or memorabilia) that pays homage to a loved one who has passed on.

Our friend, Amy, supported by her crafty husband, Eddie, pours out all of her creative energy into paper lanterns, a lit up backyard and and an altar that's ironically, so full of life. We typically serve the mole up the tradish way, with turkey, but always have a vegetarian option. Although "we" (mostly the cackling and delirious mole makers) once made tamales Chiapanecos, the traditional southern Mexico style where they are wrapped in banana leaves. This just might have to make a return for next year because they were amazing!

As if the mole isn't enough, we serve refried black beans that you flip like pancakes and red rice with tortillas for mopping up the sweet and spicy mole sauce. The night isn't complete without Juan's famous Micheladas, some Negra Modelo's, hand made Margarita's, and straight Tequila for the valientes!

Beer Pairing 2008

2009-02-18T17:23:00.001-08:00

Ok so this time we were a bit more prepared. Farra and I decided on creating a space that was inviting enough so everyone could have a full and unique dining experience. We basically set up our home as an intimate little restaurant. The menu was planned in advance and we chose dishes that complimented each other as we guided you through the 5 course dinner.

Doing these dinners are so much fun for us and our friends because we all get to be together having some drinks, hand making food, catching up and learning from each other. The menu planning and pairing of the beers starts weeks in advance and the prep work starts a couple of days earlier. Farra and I work together in creating the menu. This year we decided on the following menu: We took from different cultures and traditional courses, which made pairing fun, too...

Bigos: (a traditional Polish stew), fermented cabbage and seasoned with pepper, bay leaf, dried mushrooms and plums. In honor of our Polish friend and her sister who personally brought the sausages from Chicago and was questioned through the airport security for the lbs of sausages in her purse. This was paired this with a Polish beer called Zywiec. It's a pilsner with a toasty caramel aroma, crisp and balanced.
Alaskan Amber Marinated Salmon with White Bean Puree and Spring Vegetables: I love making this salmon so much that I made it last year, as well. It is the easiest marinade and it packs a lot of flavor. You basically take ginger, garlic, soy sauce, finely chopped cilantro, and pour it over the salmon inside a bag. You let it marinate for at least 24 hours, then once its ready you pat it dry and toss it on the grill. By the time its done the whole backyard smells like ginger and the fish is moist and flavorful. Ballast Point sometimes makes a batch of their Big Eye IPA brewed with ginger. I have never had the opportunity to try it together but I bet it would be perfect. If not, a nice IPA would do as well. This time we paired this with North Coast Blue Star, an American wheat beer with a light body, fruity, with hints of citrus and buttery hops, it finishes off with a clean and refreshing taste. Some people are not a fan of American wheat beer (hefeweizen's), but this is a nice one especially during a hot summer day.

Braised Short Ribs with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Fried Onion Stack: This is one of my favorites, as well. I love meat, and the rich, smoky tenderness of the ribs is fantastic. We paired this one beautifully with Stone Smoked Porter, a full body, robust, rich beer, with chocolate and coffee like flavors followed by a smoky malt. It was a perfect pairing. The short ribs were marinated with chipotle, chile ancho, maple syrup and Starbucks Casi Cielo, which with its full body, cocoa aroma, and spicy flavors enhanced the overall taste of the ribs. The ribs sat on the roasted sweet potatoes and the crunchy onion stack. Lots of rich, toast, smoky, spicy flavors going on here.

Greens with Stone Ground Mustard Vinaigrette and Croutons: I got to say Farra was right. We are so used to salads, or greens being served before a hearty course, but it makes so much sense, especially in a pairing dinner, to have it after the hearty course that way it cleanses your palette from all the richness of the ribs and preparing you for dessert! Needless to say this salad was wonderful and light after the ribs. The greens were from Chino Farms and were probably picked that morning or the day before. This course was paired with Rogue Morimoto Soba Ale: its a medium body ale roasted with soba ( Japanese buckwheat), it has a nice sparkle, a bit complex and fruit like notes.

Chocolate bombs with Stout floats made with homemade vanilla bean gelato: Always a crowd pleaser. I mean who doesn't like chocolate, beer, and gelato? Farra made the gelato and the chocolate bombs, Rogue made the beer, not me. As I've said before I love Rogue beers, and this one was done with their Chocolate stout. Its a dark, full body, smooth, sweet, and decadent stout. The chocolate they use is imported, so that's gotta be good, right? It was definitely a great way to finish off the pairing.

The whole evening went really well. There were about 25 people there and I feel like we all learned a bit more about how great it is to make food from scratch and how it tastes even better. For me, its always a thrill to see people appreciate beer and realize how well it actually pairs with food. Beer can be simple, complex, sweet, bitter, hoppy, sour, rich, dark, etc.
Beer is the new wine!

We enjoy doing these dinners and every year we will continue to have the beer pairing around the same time as St. Patrick's Day, but for us its more of a celebration of food, beer, and friends.

We would like to thank everyone who attended this year and also to those who have joined us 2 years in a row. And, of course, I could not forget about the helpers, whom without your support, patience, passion, enthusiasm, and hands this would have been a bit more of a challenge. Thanks and hopefully we'll see you at the next one.

Juan & Farra

Beer Pairing 2007

2009-02-10T10:20:00.000-08:00

The beer pairing dinner started out as a celebration of one of my favorite holidays, St. Patrick's Day. In the past we had always celebrated St. Patrick's Day in one way or another, but this time we decided to do something different. We obviously have a love for food and pairing drinks with them and this was when we decided that it would be fun to have friends over to help us celebrate the marriage of food and drinks, specifically beer in this case.
The first beer dinner was held at our backyard, overlooking Switzer Canyon, in our previous home. For those of you who were there, you know how great that backyard was and how much I miss it. The backyard had this beautiful long deck where we set up a communal table with heaters and blankets and scarves. It was a great way for our friends to get to know one another, eat amazing food and to enjoy dining al fresco.

This was 2 years ago so I don't really remember that well what the courses were or with what they were paired. I do remember a bit so here it goes: Jason made cajun style shrimp and we served it in oyster shells paired with a nice crisp lager to wash up that spiciness. Josh made a delicious seared ahi salad with a hot toasted sesame oil dressing. I believe it was paired with an IPA but not sure which one. I made an Alaskan amber marinated salmon. This is one of my favorite dishes. It marinates for 24 hours in soy sauce, cilantro, garlic, ginger, and Alaskan Amber Alt amber. By the time you open up the bag you get this nice spicy aroma of ginger. This was paired with the Alaskan Alt amber. i know we also had a frisee salad served in frico parmesan cups....what a fun project that was! And for dessert, we had chocolate lava cakes, which seem to have become a tradition of finishing off with a chocolate dessert paired with Rogue's Chocolate Stout, made with real imported dark chocolate.

After dinner we all stayed outside and continued to drink the fine assortment of beer we had left. The night ended extremely late with the last course being served somewhere around midnight! Since then we've been working on our timing :)

For the pairing, I had visited Holiday Wine Cellar, which is hands down the best place to buy alcohol in San Diego (especially beer), and stocked up on beers from all over the West Coast. I am a huge Rogue fan and picked up the Chocolate Stout, and the Soba Ale. We also had Pure Hoppiness from Alpine, Hoptown IPA from Hoptown, Chronic from Lagunitas, Red Seal Ale and Blue Star from North Coast, Sierra Nevada, Downtown Brown from Lost Coast, Guinness, and some other good ones that I'm forgetting. It was such a soul filled evening and since then Farra and I vowed to make it an annual celebration....