Ink Sack in Los Angeles

On a quick visit to LA recently, my friend and I stopped to grab a bite at Top Chef winner, Michael Voltaggio's, new sandwich place called Ink Sack, on Melrose Avenue. Ink Sack creates delicious, unique sandwiches for the locals who work there or walk by. There are no chairs, just a few tall tables to stand at and eat. We ordered our sandwiches TO-GO and actually, don't faint, found a park within walking distance to eat at! There had been a marathon that weekend and the streets were empty. Melrose did not have one car on it. Quite apocalyptic really. At our new found park, we sat on a bench listening to the sounds of the mini waterfall beside us. The sandwiches are quite small, so we had ordered 3 to share - each at around $6.

We enjoyed the Cold Fried Chicken with house-made ranch dressing and spicy pepper sauce sandwich first. The buns on all the sandwiches are super fresh and flavorful. The fried chicken was surprisingly crunchy and the chicken moist. The house-made ingredients really make a difference!

We then tried out the Spicy Tuna with miso-cured albacore tuna and sriracha mayo. It was like a super fancy tuna sandwich, but packed with flavor and a lovely amount of heat. House-made pickles too!

The third one, Maple Turkey Melt, was my personal favorite. Roasted turkey with sliced camembert, mostarda, and arugula. Yum.

After our lovely picnic, we ventured over on foot to Urth Caffe where I enjoyed this almond milk latte. Isn't it neat? Happy Halloween everyone!

New Look

Hello! I've been playing around with the new template options Blogspot has created. Thoughts? I'd love to hear what you think...

And just for some eye-candy, here is a pic from this glorious weekend in Santa Barbara:

New Breakfast Spot in Santa Barbara

On this beautiful Sunday morning, Jeff and I decided to experience one of Santa Barbara's new restaurants, Scarlett Begonia. They are located in Victoria Court and have many tables inside their space, as well as courtyard space, and a few tables up on a terrace, seen below. The menu has an Italian flare and interesting baked goods like roasted beet chocolate cake. The cappuccino seen above did not disappoint. They also offer complimentary still or sparkling water.

Below is a bread pudding amuse bouche brought to us for our enjoyment. I'm not much of a bread pudding person, but this was quite light and flavorful without being overly sweet...plus it's a nice touch!

 Look! You can see the Granada from the table!

The sticky bun below was delectable. Once again, not too sweet with perfect amounts of spices, nuts, and stickiness.

Look! A view of the Arlington from a different seat at our table.

And now, the main dish. Mascarpone polenta with two poached eggs, fried artichokes, cipollini onions, and prosciutto. Mmmmmm. The quality of the ingredients is impressive. Check out that prosciutto! Those little round onions were beautifully acidic, especially great contrast for the rich yolks and salty meat. Only one complaint, I think it needs 1/4 less the amount of polenta. This combo is wonderful.

With the bill, little chocolate toffee bits...another unique touch.

Overall, this was a great breakfast and though the service was real slow (probably because we were upstairs out of sight), we didn't mind since the ambiance was so lovely. I can't wait to check it out for lunch!

More Radish!

Fairview Gardens in Goleta...beautiful!

New Dishes Chez Eve

Tonight I took apart an entire chicken we purchased from the farmer's market and made a version of Chicken Cacciatore. I even chopped up the veggies much smaller than I usually take the time to do.

With the veggie trimmings and bits and the chicken carcass thrown into a pot I made chicken stock. The recipe also calls for a few spoonfuls of marinara so I made my own tomato sauce as well.

 Voila! Turned out quite delightful indeed!

With figs from Fairview Gardens and some raspberries, I created my breakfast yogurt bowl and there ya have it! Yum.

Above is seabass with a caper sauce over garlic polenta. Gettin' creative these days!

Simplicity

Radishes. Salt. Butter.

Boat Street Kitchen, Seattle

During a busy, weekday lunch hour I walked through the doors of Boat Street Kitchen, tucked away off the street. There I found a bright, airy room full of happy diners and simply decorated tables. I was offered a seat at the 3 stool bar and gladly sat down, eager to rest my feet after walking quite a ways around the city. At the marble counter top, I ordered an iced tea, which they kept filling the moment I was thinking how I wouldn't mind another gulp. Magali's tomato soup tasted extremely fresh and truly showed off ripe tomatoes. A woman, who seemed like the owner, kindly asked if I would like some bread and butter to dip into it since, she said, their bread purveyor is amazing...and she was right.

I followed the soup with wild caught Keta salmon accompanied by fresh squash and beets, ripe and sweet melon, and green salad. I cannot express how fresh all this food was. I wouldn't be surprised if it went straight from their vendor to the pan to the plate. Really, really delicious.
Boat Street Kitchen 3131 Western Avenue, #301

The view from Olympic Sculpture Park...