Pizza by Stella Rossa

Wrote an article for the SM Observer on the pizza joint Stella Rossa.

Pizza by Stella Rossa:

Ingredients that Dance Together

I’m not a fan of Molecular Gastronomy.   Truthfully I think it’s overrated (especially the foam… I really don’t need to eat my carrots or anything else that way… not that you actually feel like you’re eating anything when it comes in foam form).   That being said I appreciate what Molecular Gastronomy can teach about food: especially how important every single element is that is added to a dish.  Which makes me a fan of those who have studied the art of food chemistry and then returned to the real world of food (at the risk of sounding pretentious I’m gonna pull out my philosophy degree would say it recalls Plato’s Cave, learning some bright new concepts and then bringing them back to us normal folks still in the cave…. okay it’s totally pretentious, but it’s also true).  Which leads us to Stella Rossa Pizza Bar, the new bar that opened on Santa Monica’s Main Street a couple of months ago.  

“It seems like a hangout on a TV show,” noted my dinner companion (that’s to be taken as a super high compliment).  Stella Rossa’s got that casual vibe.  There’s no staff uniform; other than servers required to don a bit of white on top and the bartenders needing to dress in all black everyone wears what they want.  The night we were there most everyone was wearing skirts with Chucks.  A thirty something birthday party was being celebrated next to us, the type of birthday party you’d want to go to comfy and chill. 

And let’s call it out right away.   With the words upscale pizza we need to note that Stella Rossa is not Pizzeria Mozza.  But it’s not supposed to be.   It’s simpler, more casual (there’s no twenty four dollar pizzas), and there’s no ridiculous wait to get a reservation (they don’t even take them).  

And in some ways that makes Stella Rossa cleaner restaurant (a reference to form, not their tidiness skills).    Stella Rossa pretty much just makes pizzas (they have some Salads and Starters (referred to as “For the Table” on the menu) but it’s that and Pizza (nary a Primi or Secondi on the menu).   Which means as a restaurant, you better really rock what you do make.  

These dishes have some of the cleanest flavor profiles you’ll ever taste because it’s only the necessary ingredients and nothing else.  Nothing is wasted.  “There is something very intriguing about taking such a simple food and applying the same philosophy and attention that the top kitchens in the world put to their most intricate dishes. We are setting out to create the very best pizza we possibly can,” said Jeff Mahin, Executive Chef and Partner of Stella Rossa.

At just 27 years old, Mahin has worked at some of the world’s most respected restaurants including Arzak in Spain and Nobu in the U.S. If you ask him, Mahin might actually liken himself to more of a “food scientist.”  The oldest son of a scientist and an engineer, Mahin spent much of his teen years using his natural talent and instinct to construct and deconstruct whatever foods he touched within his family’s modest kitchen in Northern California.  

 

In 2006, Mahin tested fate when he applied to The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, England (voted the Best Restaurant in the World 2005 by Restaurant Magazine and the Michelin Restaurant of the Year 2001) on a whim.  As a laboratory assistant in Chef/Owner Heston Blumenthal’s kitchen, Mahin spent months on end creating and recreating a number of well known dishes (including pizza) as part of the BBC’s “In Search of Perfection” documentary (which aired stateside on Planet Green).

“The food has the feel of European cooking,” noted my dinner guest, which having just gotten back from living in Europe for a year is a total high compliment.  “Not that heavy feel, but the freshness of the food.   That it feels like it was just bought at the market today.”  We started with the Burrata.   Topped with organic extra virgin olive oil, and sea salt, it was the expected creaminess (and also local).   But the showstopper of this dish was the accoutrements: fresh grapes perfectly charred, infusing them with a delicious smoky flavor, that is then topped with a tangy balsamic vinegar.

Along with the Burrata we sampled the Mizuna and Baby Mache Salad.  “This is the perfect summer salad, very crisp and clean,” noted my dining partner.   Mizuna has been called the Japanese Arugula, but is delightfully softer lacking that sometimes overly harsh bite.  Tossed with toasted sunflower seeds and Parmigianino Reggiano, a simple dressing of olive oil and lemon juice pull it all together.       

And then there’s the Pizza.   This section of the menu offers up a seasonal variety of 12-13-inch artisan-style pizzas showcasing sustainable, locally grown ingredients found at the Santa Monica Farmers Market.  Separated into Red and White both are composed of Mahin’s signature pizza crust. 

Made from four simple ingredients: locally milled flour, filtered water, sea salt and fresh yeast that is fermented for at least 18 hours.  The end result is a hybrid of a thin golden crispy crust and the necessary (for me at least) chewy center. To achieve Stella Rossa’s signature crisp crust (which is derived from a stacked oven that hits a temperature of 650 degrees Fahrenheit and BTW is totally necessary if you want crispy pizza which is why you’ll never get that perfect crunch making a pizza at home with an oven that never gets above 450 degrees).  For those looking for something thinner, Stella Rossa offers Thin Sin, a super thin, extra-light pizza crust that is offered in some of the menu’s selections.   

The restaurant’s culinary team spent countless months (and more than 30 variations) perfecting its signature pizzas.  From the Red we sampled the Fresh Tomato: Heirloom Tomato, Fresh Mozzarella, Sweet Basil, and the Housemade Organic Italian Sausage composed of Tomato, Fresh Mozzarella, Hand-Picked Oregano, and Fennel Pollen.  With both the flavors blended perfectly clean.   “It tastes like Rome,” noted my dinner guest.  “The sausage tastes like it walked here from Italy.”   

From the White it was Shaved Mushroom composed of Gruyere, Melted Onions, Black Truffle, Torn Parsley, Rosemary, and Thyme, and the Asparagus and Prosciutto composed of La Quercia Prosciutto Rossa, Parmigianino Reggiano, Red Onion, and Organic Virgin Olive Oil.  Both tasted as good as the ingredients make them sound with the perfect balance of crust to cheese to toppings ratio.  “They do a good job of complimenting flavors with few ingredients,” noted my dinner guest, “of getting them to dance together perfectly.”

Which in the end is a trademark of a really good chef.   It’s common knowledge in the cooking world that anyone can make a good dish with twelve ingredients (at least one of the other ingredients will be there to mask most any mistake you make) but a truly good chef will make a great dish with five or less ingredients.

For this type of cooking to work it requires quality of ingredients.   As much as the modern day farms would love for it not to be the case, you can taste the difference between a Farmer’s Market Heirloom Tomato grown outside with sun and soil and something hydroponically grown (and FYI, because it seems we as a culture have totally forgotten this, tomatoes have a season (which is summer) so don’t expect anything close to decent in the winter.   That’s just the way it is, respect Mother Nature.)

Stella Ross isn’t big, 50 seat dining seats and another 15 at the bar (which is why it’s doing a great takeout business at the moment) but it’s worth the wait to get a taste at ingredients that dance.   

Kat Thomas is a food writer in Santa Monica.   You can check out more of her articles at edibelskinny.com

A Redesigned Menu for Today: Dining at Santa Monica’s Sushi Roku

Wrote an article for the SM Observer on Santa Monica's Sushi Roku.

A Redesigned Menu for Today

Dining at Santa Monica’s Sushi Roku

Who goes to Sushi restaurant to eat a vegetarian meal?  

Turns out I do.  

The reason I ended up at Sushi Roku when I am not eating dairy or meat (which for me includes fish, chicken, and red meat) is that the restaurant had recently unveiled a new menu redesign at their Santa Monica location (aka Sushi Roku 2.0).   The new menu at the Sushi Roku at the Santa Monica location followed the Innovative Dining Groups’s (aka IDG the restaurant group who owns a bunch a restaurants around town) reopening of the original Sushi Roku on 3^rd Street in October.  

At this point it’s safe to say that Sushi Roku is a Los Angeles fixture.   The original Sushi Roku (Hollywood) opened in 1997.  There are now five Sushi Rokus out there.  Two blossomed in the city of Angeles: Santa Monica, and Pasadena, there’s one in Scottsdale (where Sushi Roku opened at the W Hotel in 2008), and one at the Forum Shops at Caesars in Vegas. 

Redesign it’s an intriguing word.  

We all need transformation.  Everyone wants to transform themselves into something more, to evolve (there’s even talk of the human body just being version 1.0 that someday we’ll be able to upgrade ourselves to a computer mainframe which to me is just super super creepy… Creepy!)  Now 1997 might not seem that long ago but in reality it was almost fifteen years ago (shocking I know!)  So you can understand while the Roku family was ready for some alteration (think about it: would you be caught dead in your outfit choice circa 1997?)  

This new menu at Sushi Roku includes Salmon Sashimi Carpaccio with Black Truffles shaved tableside; Toro Tartare on Japanese Eggplant; Albacore Tacos with Yuzu Guacamole (and in case you haven’t heard Tacos are the new Mini Slider); and the new Ume and Matsu Signature-Style-Sushi plates, featuring six (Ume) or eight (Matsu) pieces of individual Nigiri-style sushi where each fish is complemented by unique accoutrements that enhance the fish’s flavor profile. 

All which sound great. 

And none of which I had.

And why would a someone who loves food and writes about food for a living restrict their diet so much?   The kernel of reason at the start was health by way of vanity.   A couple of months ago I decided to kick a hard core dairy addiction in the form of ice cream and Lattes in an attempt to pinpoint some potential allergies that were showing up in the form of acne.  Two weeks into this adventure it dawned on me that since I had already phased out dairy and I was rarely consuming meat, fowl, or fish I should just remove those items from my diet completely.  

At least for today.  I’ve never been a huge fan of labels so I don’t want to get labeled with the V word: Vegan.    You say the word Vegan and eyes are rolled like no other (less so in Los Angeles than other parts of the country, but still the eyes do roll) but for today I’m not eating dairy or meat.   Tomorrow I will probably make the same choice, but there’s always the chance I might want to pick up a cheeseburger and that’s totally cool.           

But for me there’s good reason not to: from the Engine 2 Diet to Dr. Oz a plant based diet is being advocated to avoid a bucket load of diseases.  Much of these recommendations came by way of the China Study, a research book which documents that animal proteins can accelerate the growth of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. 

Now there’s two ways to perceive the concept of not eating meat.   One is to look at a vegetarian lifestyle and think it’s totally restrictive and you’ll never been able to have great tasting food again: another is to look at as it a full of potential to the artistry of cooking without those ingredients. Luckily Sushi Roku, my dining partners, and myself chose the later perception.  

Which can be pretty cool.   One thing I learned as an improviser at the Upright Citizens Brigade and Improv Olympic is that art actually works better with boundaries (this is especially true for improv but works with any type of creative medium from dance to cooking).  Once you know and recognize the structure you can learn to innovatively play within it.  

But still not eating fish at a Sushi restaurant?  Bet you would think that I would end up resigned to brown rice off the side dish menu.  Which is true at many other places, you’d be surprised how many restaurants don’t carry entrée offerings that are both non-dairy and non meat (other than the ubiquitous garden salad).   Many times during this plant based adventure I have had to order strictly off the side dish part of the menu.

But happily for my taste buds this is not the case at Sushi Roku.  There are items galore for those looking for plant based food at a sushi restaurant. 

Mouthwatering rolls like their Garden Roll made with Cucumber, Asparagus & Mizuna (aka a Japanese lettuce, hey I didn’t know what it was either till the manager told me) with Ginger Soy, Truffled “Renkon Kinpira” Lotus Root (a braised Lotus Root dish that is considered good luck in Japan), Seaweed Salad (made in house so it’s not dyed that crazy neon green color) with Cucumber Sunoman, Shishito Japanese Peppers with Soy Garlic, Miso Eggplant Dengaku, Tofu Steak “Toban – Yaki” with Mushrooms in Citrus Ponzu (a style of cooking that is baked on a ceramic plate, the dish arrived in a delicious bubbling cauldron of gooey yummy tastiness), and the Mack Daddy… Black Truffle Tempura Hand roll with Avocado (positively my favorite served warm with slight kick).   

Who knew?  

Past and present everything off the menu at this LA fixture has always been tasty, both when I was eating sushi and not. So whether you’re looking for Nigiri Sushi or Truffled Lotus Root you have the option for both at Sushi Roku at Santa Monica.    And at the end of the day that to me is the most important part: options.   Options denotes choice and choice denotes consciously thinking.   And if you’re consciously thinking your taste buds are definitely going to be happy.  

Kat Thomas will probably not eat dairy or meat today, but don’t label her a Vegan.  You can see more of her writing at edibleskinny.com

There’s Only Us

Wrote an article for the SM Observer on the Auh-Mazing Auh-Mazing Father Greg Boyle!!!

  

There’s Only Us

Father Greg Boyle Speaks at SMC

 

 “There’s no us and them, there’s only us.   Them is an illusion.”

-- Father Greg Boyle

Fifteen minutes early and I barely make it into the auditorium to see Father Gregory Boyle, aka the Gandhi of Gangs, speak at Santa Monica College at eleven o’clock on a Thursday morning.  With a white beard and a twinkle in his eye it wouldn’t be hard to confuse Father Greg (as the Homies call him) with Santa Claus.   Like Kris Kringle Father Greg has bestowed many gifts upon the children of Los Angeles, just not the gifts you would normally think of: Free Tattoo Removal, GED Classes, Domestic Violence Counseling, Anger Management Classes, Mental Health Counseling, 12 Step Programs … the list is endless.   Father Greg is the Founder and Director of Homeboy Industries and is an acknowledged expert on gangs and gang intervention approaches. 

Luckily for those who get there on time there’s an overflow room.  

It’s very humbling to see Father Greg speak.   Homeboy Industries, now located in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, is recognized as the largest gang re-entry program in the county, and has become a national model.  “I wouldn’t trade my life for anything,” he noted.  “I’m the luckiest man ever.”   States the man who buried his 174^th gang member fatality 3 weeks ago.  And yet he still soldiers on. “We’ve backed ourselves into a corner as the largest rehab and gang intervention in the world.   We get over 1,000 people a month. You name it, we do it to help.”

How does this affect us in Santa Monica?   Downtown LA may be only eighteen miles away but it could be India for most of us (minus the occasionally jaunt to one of those hip new restaurants in the revitalized section).  Father Greg emphasized the distance (or lack thereof) between it all. “I had the honor of knowing Cesar Chavez,” explained Father Greg.  “A reporter once said to him, ‘these farm workers love you.’  He responded, ‘it’s mutual.‘”  Father Greg noted how even when you’re helping someone, in the relationship of service provider/service recipient, there’s a distance.   “It’s a distance we need to get rid of.  It’s about mutuality.”  Which can be hard thing to wrap your head around when your waiting for your five dollar Spanish Latte at the Urth Café (which I totally adore!) but something we all desperately need to do.  

Father Greg noted how we needed to follow the work of psychologist and philosopher Alice Miller.   “We’re enlightened witnesses.  We return people to themselves, holding up the mirror and telling the truth.” And how to we do that?   By recognizing that people are people, whether they’re yuppies or gang members.   “We need to dismantle this message of shame.  That I am disgrace,” stated Father Greg.  “You are exactly what God had in mind when he made you!”

After graduating from Loyola High School in Los Angeles in 1972, Father Greg entered the order of the Society of Jesus (aka the Jesuits) and was ordained a priest in 1984.  He received his BA in English from Gonzaga University; an MA in English from Loyola Marymount University; a Master of Divinity from the Weston School of Theology; and a Sacred Theology Masters degree from the Jesuit School of Theology.  Father Greg was appointed as Pastor of Dolores Mission Parish in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles in 1986 where he served through 1992.

Homeboy Industries traces its roots to “Jobs For A Future” (JFF), a program created in 1988 by Father Greg at Dolores Mission.  Dealing with a geographic location housing the largest public housing west of the Mississippi many of the parish’s residents chose to find sanctuary in one of the eight major gangs available.   In an effort to address the escalating problems and unmet needs of gang-involved youth, Father Greg and the community developed positive alternatives, including establishing a school.  “We needed an alternative school for Junior High students.  I told them, ‘if I found a school would you go?’   ‘Yes.’   So we started a school in the church.  Which is definitely a different version of a church than a hermetically sealed building: good people in and bad people out.”  A day care program and finding legitimate employment for young people followed.   Boyle's motto is “Nothing Stops a Bullet Like a Job.”  JFF’s success demonstrated the model followed today that many gang members are eager to leave the dangerous and destructive life on the 'streets.'

In 1992, the year of the Rodney King beating, in response to the civil unrest in Los Angeles, Father Greg launched the first business (under the organizational banner of JFF and Proyecto Pastoral, separate from Dolores Mission Church): Homeboy Bakery with a mission to create an environment that provided training, work experience, and above all, the opportunity for rival gang members to work side by side. The success of the Bakery created the groundwork for additional businesses, thus prompting JFF to become an independent non-profit organization, Homeboy Industries, in 2001. Today Homeboy Industries’ nonprofit economic development enterprises include Homeboy Bakery, Homeboy Silkscreen, Homeboy/Homegirl Merchandise, and Homegirl Café.  But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing.  “Everything worth doing is worth failing at,” noted Father Greg with a chuckle.  “Homeboy Plumbing was a disaster.  Who knew people wouldn’t want gang members in their homes?”  

Along with jobs one of the biggest marks on the community by Homeboy would be the removal of marks. Homeboy offers free tattoo removal on site with Ya 'Stuvo Tattoo Removal. Tattoo removal is a critical positive step in a long and challenging journey out of gang life and into positive social integration. Ya’Stuvo means, "that’s enough, I’m done with that.” 

“It started with Frank, he wandered out of prison with “F-ck the World” around his chin and he came to me saying, ‘I’m having a hard time finding a job.’  We looked for someone willing to volunteer a laser and time.   In the beginning we got 1 hour every 3 months, soon we had a waitlist of 3,000.”   Frank is now a security guard at a movie studio, with nary an opinion on the world written on his face.   

Ya’Stuvo now has two laser tattoo removal machines in two clinic rooms, a dedicated waiting room, and an office to hold records and data.  In spite of the fact that tattoo removal by laser is known to be painful and takes an average of eight to ten treatments per tattoo, and in some cases up to one year to complete, patient retention is virtually 100%.  A team of twelve volunteer physicians and a physician’s assistant under a supervising medical director perform an average of 350 treatments per month, about 4,000 – 5,000 treatments a year.

In 2010, Father Boyle's Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, a book recollecting his 20 plus years with the Homies, was published.  It received rave blurbs from many, ranging from human rights activists like Kerry Kennedy to actor Martin Sheen.   It also received the 2010 SCIBA (Southern California Indie Booksellers Association) Non-Fiction Book Award and was named as one of the Best Books of 2010 by Publishers Weekly.  It recently came out in paperback. 

The universe of Homeboy Industries is ever expanding. They recently introduced a line of tortilla chips and salsa at 256 participating Ralphs stores in Southern California.  And for the last four weeks running they were voted the best snack at Ralphs.   “I would have never though I would be worried did we beat Cheetos this week?”

But surprises turn up, that’s what happens when you keep striving.   “We’re all imagining something different for our world,” noted Father Greg.  “All of us want something different.   That vision still has its time.  And if it delays, wait for it.”

Kat Thomas is a writer is Santa Monica who was humbled beyond words by Father Greg.   You can find out more about her at edibleskinny.com

EvoFarm

Wrote an article for the SM Observer on Los Angeles' largest aquaponic farm EvoFarm.

Evo Farm

As we approach the halfway mark of 2011 it can be noted that one of the most pressing food trends is the reclaiming control of our food sources.

Whether it’s Jamie Oliver and Michelle Obama’s war on childhood obesity to Mark Zuckerberg recent admission that his year long goal is that he’s only eating meat that he’s slaughtered (and thus eating a mainly vegetarian diet the rest of the time), more and more people are realizing that factory farming and over-processed food aren’t the healthiest and humane ways to get the job done.  But how to stop the cycle and reclaim our food sources?  Well, it’s simple: one of the easiest ways to take control is to grow (or kill) it yourself.   

Which leads us to EvoFarm in Mar Vista.  

Didn’t know there was a farm in Mar Vista?  Well it’s not surprising considering it has only been there for a few months and is the size of a two-car garage.    But what’s more surprising is that considering its size the farm has the potential to produce 15,000 plants a year. 

Nestled next to a suburban home off of Venice Boulevard EvoFarm is only a prototype, but even so at this point it is the largest aquaponics system of its kind in Los Angeles.  Aqua-What-ics?  Maybe that large unusual word is throwing you off.   So maybe, just maybe, you’ve heard of hydroponics (growing plants in water and liquid fertilizer without soil… probably when referring to the growing of marijuana), or maybe you’ve heard of aquaculture aka aquafarming (the farming of aquatic animals like fish and crustaceans in netted off coves or in tanks), or maybe you haven’t heard of either of them (which could totally be the case, and absolutely no judgments).  

Well aquaponics takes these two ideas and smashes them together to create a food production method that has the highest crop yields while using the least amount of water with no waste.   It is the most sustainable method of food production and exceeds organic certification standards (while most soil farms require 3 years to obtain organic certification, aquaponics farms can obtain it in a few months).  

“Even though 80% of population of America lives in a city there are a few places where commercial urban farming is possible (from a logistics standpoint).  Fortunately in LA you can run a business in your backyard selling land off the land,” explains EvoFarm owner Rosenstein.  “Aquaponics is really cool urban farming, but it’s a path.  I believed in this enough to take the plunge. I’m a full time farmer!”

In a nutshell, fish (at EvoFarm: Tilapia) are raised in water tanks and eat a diet of plant protein (non-soy).  The byproduct of this is highly fertilized water that is then transferred to growing beds that grow a variety of non-creeping fruits and veggies (such as tomatoes, lettuce, kale, leeks, cilantro, etc).  Due to the richness of the water the plants easily grow two to three times faster than it would in the ground, with far greater planting density, and are full of flavor (something that those plants grown with hydroponic fertilizers have been know to lack).   “There’s nothing like it with standard growing,” notes Rosenstein.  “There’s so much life in that water, you can get 12 planting cycles per year.”

Before he became an exuberant urban farmer Rosenstein was working full time for a company that made documentaries for PBS.  It was during this time working as a producer on such films as “America’s Family Farms” and “Growing a Greener School” that Rosenstein became interested in managing one’s own food source. “In the end you can’t control the world, you can only control how you spend your life.” 

Then his wife signed up for a class on aquaponics.  Turns out the person teaching the class claimed to be an expert.  He wasn’t.  But through that experience the Rosenstein family started to visit aquaponics farms and study successful systems.  Most modern methodology comes from the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) created by Dr. James Rakocy.  This system later evolved in Hawaii.  “This system later evolved in Hawaii with Tom and Suzanne Man of Friendly Aquaponics on the Big Island in Hawaii. They have been the people who influenced me the most.  They created a LD (or Low Density) system.”  An aquaponics system, which runs on one-tenth the electricity of the original UVI systems, and still generates the same amount of vegetable production.

So with that information in hand Rosenstein went to good old Google Earth looking for open land within a few blocks from his condo and contacted his neighbors about starting a farm in their backyard.  Turns out one of them was interested.   “The greatest accomplishment of this urban farming adventure is building a community.  Peter Graef and his family are a great inspiration.   Now I know a ton of his family members, their friends, and neighbors.”

It’s definitely been a lifestyle shift.   “It’s not a film, it’s a farm,” explains Rosenstein.  “Farms grow all year long, it’s in our face.  It tells a story through a living breathing example.” “That being said there is so much to learn.  There are all the levels to Aquaponics and the farming components.  I also need to learn all about the entrepreneurial side, launching a business.“

There’s been no money exchanged on this adventure just the idea of growing food to feed both the Graef and Rosenstein families with the excess being sold in a community CSA (community supported agriculture aka boxes of locally grown food (usually organic) you can pick up once a week).  “Food can bring us all together, and in reality everyone needs to eat.”

Perhaps you might be wondering if it’s possible to actually sell food grown in your backyard (that it wouldn’t be restricted by yards and yards of bureaucrat Red Tape...).  Turns out that in 2010 the city of Los Angeles passed the Food, Freedom, and Flowers Act, which allows for commercial backyard farms. 

This all came about because in 2003 by Tara Kolla of wanted to grow flowers out of her backyard.  So she created SilverLake Farms, a ½ acre garden farm in her backyard with the goal being able to sell her flowers seasonally at local farmers’ markets on the Eastside (it’s hard to find organic, local flowers. Most of them are flown in from abroad and/or covered in pesticides.) 

But after six years at market Kolla was told to stop.   The LA City’s Department of Building & Safety ordered her to stop selling her flowers or pay a fine/serve six months in jail. Apparently selling homegrown flowers was illegal because it was not considered "Truck Gardening."   Truck Gardening is a farm where vegetables are grown for market.  It was allowed in LA City residential zones but City Planning’s codebook manual didn’t have any information on what Truck Gardening so officials consulted Webster’s Dictionary for a definition of the term. Because Webster’s definition of Truck Gardening only mentioned vegetables, City Planning interpreted this to mean that it’s illegal to sell anything grown in residential gardens unless it’s a vegetable, this included fruit and flowers.  So Kolla started growing vegetables and went to City Hall.  “They raised Hell and amended the law to make it legal that you can run a business in from your backyard,” notes Rosenstein.  “They’re one of our local heroes. They’re a big part of the reason why I’m doing what I’m doing.”

And that’s what EvoFarm, it’s the next evolution from the result of the Food, Freedom, and Flowers Act.   Allowing us to the reclaiming control of our food sources. “That’s why I chose the name EvoFarm,” explains Rosenstein.  “Like all of life it’s moving forward, evolving towards our next step.”

The Day to Day Workings of Excellence

Wrote an article for the SM Observer on the Santa Monica restaurant Typhoon. 

The Day to Day Workings of Excellence

“Your job is to be excellent, and if you can't be excellent then you can be excellent at trying to be excellent.”  My long time writing teacher John Hindman uttered these words specifically about writing, but even he is one to admit the philosophy is applicable to absolutely everything in anyone’s life, including your own.   About a month ago a massive earthquake hit Japan.  Three weeks ago a Santa Monica restaurant held a 12 hour “Jazz for Japan” fundraiser where ticket paying guests were treated to nine different jazz and blues musicians and a couple of 20 piece big bands while enjoying Pacific Rim style Bento boxes. In the end this event, between ticket sales and waiters donating the entirety of their tips, raised $10,000, 100% of which was donated to the Santa Monica branch of the American Red Cross.  The restaurant, which ran this event from 11 in the morning to 11 at night, who did this most excellent of actions (in the words of the immortal Bill and Ted)? Typhoon restaurant and its new Pan Am Room. 

Now we can’t go any further without confronting the pink elephant in the room; well it’s the pink elephant in the room as much as a two week national media story will create a pink elephant in the room: The Pan Am Room space was formerly the Hump, the Santa Monica sushi restaurant that became national news in March of last year for serving illegal and endangered whale meat.   But the thing about national media cameras is that eventually they all leave for the next story and Typhoon, a restaurant that’s been there for almost twenty years, and is still there, continues on. 

It’s easy to judge each of us on the days when we done the shittiest things possible.  But the thing is we’ve all done shitty things.  We’ve all betrayed the people who trusted us the most. We’ve all let people down.  We’ve all broken people’s hearts.   The question is: what do we do the day after that?    How do we own up to our wrongs and be excellent?  How do we seek forgiveness and move on, because really forgiveness is just the act of remembering we’re all human.  

Brian Vidor, owner of Typhoon and the Pan Am room, is a man of little words.    A man of little words in the way someone who’s lived a full life doesn’t have to fill the space surrounding him with a constant dribble of talk, his actions speak for themselves.   Vidor’s lived an adventurous life.  He spent fifteen years in Asia transporting animals to zoos, personally helping to bring over 4,000 animals to the Taipei zoo. Later in his life he owned an airplane, an airplane that one day he flew into the hundred year old Santa Monica Airport.  It was there he saw a building located where a fuel pit used to be with a sign in the window noting there was restaurant space.  The space, a location where you could watch the planes land and takeoff and that showcased an unobstructed view of the setting sun over the pacific to the west, and Century City to the east, was what he called, anyone really would, a no brainer.  

Thus the community focused Pan Asian cuisine Typhoon restaurant opened twenty years ago, with the sushi based Hump to follow five years later.  The Hump was a smaller separate space restaurant housed within the larger Typhoon restaurant, a space that is now filled with the Pan-Latin cuisine Pan Am Room.  The Hump was open for 12 years before closing last year as part of self-imposed punishment on top of the punitive fines determined by the court for a national media misdemeanor. 

Typhoon restaurant kept its doors open.

Open to a Sunday brunch where parents and their kids (and dogs) can watch planes take off.  Open to a Monday night Jazz night that is populated by hardcore Santa Monica locals (one of Typhoon’s day managers actually met her husband, a musician in one of those bands, during one of these nights) and that broadcasts these performances on YouTube for anyone who can’t make a Monday.   Open to Wednesday night community band night where local bands from high schools such as Crossroads and New Roads perform for friends and family at no charge.

The menu of Typhoon hasn’t changed in 20 years. There’s free parking and nary an entrée over twenty dollars.  The 70 dish menu includes elements from Thailand, China, Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan, Korea, Burma and Singapore.  Some are classics: such as homemade Korean Kimichi (made with American cabbage) and Filipino Grilled Pork with Garlic-Vinegar dip.    Some definitely fare into more exotic elements: Thai Style Frog Legs, Taiwanese Crickets, and the Singapore Style Scorpions.

The forty-five seat Pan Am Room, which opened last summer, is a little more gourmet, a little bit more très cher (but all the entrees are under thirty dollars), and with a second floor location has an unparalleled view of the Santa Monica Airport’s landing strip. For over seventy years, Pan American World Airways introduced its passengers to exotic cultures in Latin America. Thus the aptly named restaurant’s menu features Argentine Empanadas, Uruguayan (yes totally a real word) Beef Tenderloin with Chimichuri, and a bevy of different style Ceviches from countries such as Ecuador, Panama, and Peru.  It’s an adventurous menu that reminds one of the potential found in the discovery of travel, of experiencing new cultures and dishes.     

We’re all looking for ways to become the person we want to become instead of the person we sometimes are, the person who’s made a mistake or two.  But the funny thing about getting there, the funny thing about forgiveness, is that the only one way to get it is to go out and earn it.   And to earn it one must be completely and totally honest, to own up to the totality of one’s actions. Last year when the allegations emerged the Hump did just this.  On their website they posted the following statement: “We write to address the misdemeanor charge recently filed by the U.S. Attorney. The charge against the restaurant is true: The Hump served whale meat to customers looking to eat what in Japan is widely served as a delicacy. In serving this meat, The Hump ignored its responsibilities to help save endangered whales from extinction and failed to support the world community in its uphill fight to protect all endangered species. While The Hump cannot undo the damage it caused, it will put into place procedures to ensure that it strictly complies with the laws and becomes a good corporate citizen. We sincerely apologize. We pledge to work hard to re-earn the trust of the public and respect of our customers." 

Think about it, in the world of plausible deniability that we live in these days how often does that happen? That, my friend, is ownership.

We can all aspire for excellence.   Whether it’s in the form of taking ownership, creating the best restaurant experience for families and the Santa Monica community at large, or helping raise over $10,000 for a country who’s definitely dealing with some hard core real problems.   We might not always hit the target, but we can sure as hell try. 

Typhoon Restaurant and Pan Am Room are located overlooking the runway of the Santa Monica Airport at 3221 Donald Douglas Loop South, Santa Monica, CA  90405.

Kat Thomas is a writer in Santa Monica.  Check out more of her writings at edibleskinny.com

The Lounge Comes to Main Street

Wrote an article for the SM Observer on the Main Street lounge 31Ten.

 The Lounge Comes to Main Street 

There aren’t a ton of fire pits on Main Street in Santa Monica. Which is just too bad because fire pits are sexy; they’re swank, and cool, and hip.  In other words there aren’t a ton of lounges on Main Street in Santa Monica.  There aren’t a ton of locations on Main Street where you can grab a cocktail (perhaps a combination of Vodka, St. Germain, Pomegranate Juice, Thai Basil, and Prosecco aka the Californication) while watching dangerously beautiful flames flicker in front of you. So when the 31Ten officially opened in the 3110 Main Street space in February, I was ecstatic to see that special lounge something: a fire pit.  

31Ten is a Hip place (not just hip, but Hip). The thirty something first date crowd transitioned into twenty something martini drinkers in our two hour window, 8-10pm, so by the time we left the place was hopping with a resplendent swanky chillness.  A neo-Italian lounge that only needs to be open Wednesday through Saturday from 5 pm to 2 am (the time management truly says it all).  On the interior, the 5,500-square foot space features exposed brick, couches and bucolic walnut floors.  For the outside spaces there’s the aforementioned fire pits, four bars, a trio of cabanas (for ultra swanky private parties), and an open space lounge topped with a retractable roof (for our random So Cal rainy nights) that allows you to see the moon while still being lit in moody red tones.  The DJ begins spinning at 9 p.m. and the music soundtrack sometimes includes someone having an orgasm.

Who’s the host?  Who’s our server? Are they the same person? Truthfully it’s a little hard to tell because everybody working at 31Ten is wearing the same thing.  An outfit that’s more Cahuenga than AWOL: short fiery red dresses and tall tall black boots.  Plus it’s dark.   It also turns out the confusion is justifiable: they’re a set of identical twins. That’s right this place is so Hip they have identical twins working there.  “Everyone thinks we’re the same person,” said the server, although she informed us that she is taller than the host sister.

Sequestered in the back, the 3110 Main Street space has been a lot of restaurant/bars over the years (Cache, Hidden, and Schatzi to name just a few).  And none of them have stayed to the point that many locals think of the space is somewhat doomed (Read: me).    But the cool thing about owner Paolo Cesaro is he’s been here before and he still fiercely loves the space.  Prior to Caché (3110’s last reincarnation) the space housed Hidden, a restaurant turned lounge where Cesaro served as General Manager.

Born in Italy, Paolo Cesaro has worked at restaurants around the world in Chicago, Miami, New York, Paris, London and Italy. He came to California in pursuit of a new experience.  After serving as General Manager at Hidden, Paolo had the opportunity to achieve his lifelong dream by opening Ado with fellow Italian ex-Pat Antonio Muré, his business partner and one of California’s best chefs.  Together the duo founded one of Venice’s most successful Italian restaurants: Ado (located two blocks down Main Street at 769 Main Street in Venice.  You might recognize it as the one with the ridiculous amount of half a million dollar priced sport’s cars in the parking lot…).  For Cesaro opening 31Ten was the perfect opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills he gained while working at Hidden and execute a concept he’s chiseled out with the success of Ado.

31TEN isn’t about fine dining; it’s not about sitting down to white linens tablecloths. The menu instead offers up international-inspired (through an Italian focused kaleidoscope) small plates at couches and low tables, Hip casual food. “The idea behind this,” explained Cesaro “was to create an atmosphere where it is easy and organic to mix and mingle.”  Along with cocktails such as Blueberry-Pomegranate Mojito, topped with ginger beer, the wine list consists of more than 10 white and 30 red varieties from Italy and California.  The beer selections focuses on Italian and German brews. 

The standout appetizer is the Crisp Kurobata ($8) Seared Pork Belly served over Le Puy Lentils and Baby Wild Arugula Char.  It’s grilled to perfection: the outside is crispy with the inside housing a very succulent and buttery smokiness.  The salad compliments the crispness with a buttery olive oil dressing dotted with teardrop tomatoes.  From the Mains make sure to check out the Seared Prime Beef Medallion with a Poached Lobster Tail, Seared Foie-Gras, and Pomegranate Sauce ($28, the highest pricing on the menu) Filet Mignon cut with lobster. It’s surf and turf (even if it’s too Hip to describe it that way) wrapped into a perfect bite: filet with lobster and fois gras it’s layer upon layer of umami that your taste buds almost can’t comprehend due to information overload (but do!).  

And one can’t talk about 31Ten’s menu without mentioning pizza (it is an Italian restaurant) which run a range of $10-$14.  The menu offers five different selections of Wood Fired Pizzas such as a Margarita, Diavola, and Prosciutto e Funghi (Ham and Mushrooms for those who don’t speak Italian restaurant).  Each of these choices are also featured on the Happy Hour (which runs from 5pm to 7pm every day).  But the standout pizza of 31Ten is the San Daniele, Parma Prosciutto, Shaved Parmigianino Cheese, and Wild Arugula (although the Arugula is generously sprinkled so it can be a little awkward to eat as the pieces have a tendency to fall off the slice).

All of these dishes are the brainchild of Italian-born Antonio Muré, who serves as Executive Chef at 31Ten and Ado. Muré was born in Portopalo di Capo Passero, Sicily, and raised in Parma, Emilia Romagna, know to be one of Italy’s most important food regions.  Influenced by his hometown, Antonio’s culinary style blends the essence of Emilia Romagna’s cuisine with the exotic flavors of Sicilian cooking tradition.  After graduating from Istituto Alberghiero di Stato, the Michelin award-winning chef spent several years perfecting his skills at exclusive restaurants and hotels in Italy.  Antonio moved to Los Angeles in 1995 and became the chef at Il Moro.  Since then, he’s served as the chef at a handful of local restaurants including Locanda Veneta and Allegria and Valentino in Las Vegas.  Today Antonio serves as Executive Chef at 31Ten and Ado. With 31Ten’s menu he collaborated with Chef Rodger Marsh to create a menu that boasts high-quality dishes at an affordable price.

Resplendent hipness is now present on Main Street.   “We take you from dinner to 2:00 a.m.,” noted Paolo Cesaro.  “You don’t need to go anyplace else.”  So lounge lovers and pyromaniacs (Read: me) take note.

Kat Thomas is a writer who has way too much love for fire pits.  You can find more about her at edibleskinny.com