July 27, 2009 1

Olive + Gourmando (Montreal: Old town)

//// By in 00: Canada, Favorite Food Entries

Continue with our Montreal visit. Next morning we had Brunch at this really popular place at Old Montreal called Olive + Gourmando. It was a rainy morning, though that didn’t lessen the crowd a bit. We had to waited at least 30 minutes for a table.

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Love the twig chandelier! It was very chaotic inside, for some reason dine-in guests and take-out customers both have to line up and order their food at the counter at the same queue.

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Pretty display of what they have each day. Everything looks so good!

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Vero got the Cajun spice guacamole sandwich. Very very good.

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Unfortunately I forgot to write down the name of the salad I got. It’s one of the best salad I’ve ever had! Multiple flavors, I’ve never taste anything similar in LA.

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Smoked trout sandwich: Smoked trout with capers, tomatoes, spinach and cream cheese with herbs.
It’s too bad that the bread was burned, despite the burn the sandwich was incredibly delicious! The smoked trout were moist and flavorful.

We also got some pastries, all were excellent. The bread looks really good too. Even though our meal was just sandwiches and salad but it was just as satisfying as the gourmet meal the night before. Really good sandwiches and salad should not be underestimate. No place in LA is a match for it. I could go there all the time if it’s in my hood!

Olive + Gourmando
351 Rue St.-Paul West Montreal, Quebec

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July 23, 2009 2

Le Club Chasse Et Pêche (Montreal – old town)

//// By in 00: Canada, Favorite Food Entries

Freda and I had a 4 days getaway to Montreal few weekends ago. It was a delightful trip: walk around the beautiful city, visit friends whom we haven’t seen for awhile…and of course, eat amazing food!

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As soon as we arrived Montreal in the evening, we had a dinner reservation to rush to. Almost every Montreal guide tells you to go to Le Club Chasse Et Pêche, a high-end restaurant in the heart of the touristy old town. Usually “expensive” + “touristy location” raise the red flag for me, but my friends who have been living in Montreal reassured me that this place is good for real.

The interior feels like a dungeon or a secret club, I’m not sure if I like it or not. Most of the patrons seem to be non-locals. The menu is small and would change constantly.

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Appetizer: Four of us share the Duck Foie Gras two ways, Rhubarb, Brioche.
Delicious! I love both foie gras mousses and pan-seared foie gras very much and always had hard time deciding which one to get. What a great idea to be able to have both in one dish. The foie gras mousses was better than the pan-seared in this dish.

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Main course: I got the Rabbit, bacon, ravioli, oyster mushroom, parsnip.
Amazing! I had rabbit before and didn’t like it that much, but this was very well done. There are thin and crispy bacon wrapped around the rabbit, what a nice touch. The ravioli was good too. Everyone agrees this was the best dishes of the night.

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Main course: Freda got the Lamb two ways, “upside down” goat cheese, olive Puree.
The roasted lamb was really good. The other lamb was in the terrine under the goat cheese

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Main course: My friends got the Wapiti, Celery, Seranno, Quinoa, Nectarines
Wapiti is elk. The meat was kind of rough and the flavor is so-so. The sauce was good though.
We all shared the Vegetables with panache. It’s a good veggie dish to balance our heavy meal. I like the varieties it had too.

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I forgot what’s the dessert we got. It might be Québec strawbwrries, lavender, biscuit breton, granité. It was refreshing.

What a strong start for our culinary adventure in Montreal!

Le Club Chasse Et Pêche
423, rue St-Claude, Montreal, Qc
+1 (514) 861-1112

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July 10, 2009 4

Barbrix (Silverlake)

//// By in 05: Silver Lake + Echo Park

I was treated here at this new wine bar opened at Silver lake. Just when I thought “isn’t it recession right now,” then I saw their reasonable priced menu.

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The restaurant is in a house with patio and its own parking lot. We sat at the bar seat, right in front of the open kitchen where we see the chef cooks. The mixed olive bowl is very good.

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They have an impressive, extensive menu for imported cheese, cure meat and wine that changes often.

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Roasted Cauliflower Salad with chickpeas, green beans and charmoula dressing. $7. The colors are so pretty!

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Prime Skirt Steak “Tagliata” with wild arugula, parmegiano-reggiano, balsamico $12. Wow this is SO good! Tender, juicy, cooked perfectly and the dressing is light but flavorful and delicious.

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Grilled New Zealand Lamb Chops with eggplant caviar, artichoke chips & mint pesto. $12  Really good too (for the price especially).

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Crispy Stuffed Squash Blossoms with herbed goat cheese & Corn Salad. Very aromatic and crispy. We got another plate of ham to finish our wine with.

This place is definitely not ‘just another wine bar’. The dishes are simple, but carefully designed in flavors and presentation. With everything under $12, it just makes you want to try them all. On top of that their menu changes often so it’s worth to go back again and again. The staff are attentive and friendly, the vibe is friendly and casual…seems like a promising addition to the neighborhood that’s been a bit underwhelming for me (food wise)!

Barbrix (323) 662-2442
2442 hyperion avenue los angeles, CA 90027

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July 9, 2009 6

Polka Polish Restaurant (Eagle Rock)

//// By in 03: Eagle Rock

Our friend told us how the food at Polka reminded him of his Polish grandma’s cooking. Freda had been to this Polish restaurant years ago and forgot about it. So it’s time for us to go back and refresh our memories.

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Love the delightful, kitschy space that resembles a grandma’s home. Polish tea with rum, it’s a comforting drink that warms you up.

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The tasty salad would be the one and only refreshment to start off a heavy feast of meat. The soup is yummy in a junky, creamy way.

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Polish Sausage, very good! Especially with the onion sauce.  Gulasz (Beef Stew). The meat was tender and it was very hearty

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This basically has everything: Royal Platter: Pierogi (Polish Dumplings), Golabki (Stuffed Cabbage), Gulasz (Beef Stew). The portion is huge, I could only managed to eat half. I like the dumpling (which had cheese and potato fillings) and goulash a lot, the stuffed cabbage was alright.

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Bigos: Polish Hunter Stew (mixed of stewed sauerkraut, mushrooms, sausage and beef). Basically it is a stew of every ingredients that’s featured in other dishes. Delicious.

Our group occupied half of the small space and limited seatings.  Most of us took half of our plate home because the portion was generous. I ate my leftovers few days later and somehow I found them to taste a lot more delicious than what I had at the restaurant! Perhaps that indicates Polish food “last” well?

Polka Polish Restaurant
4112 Verdugo Rd., Los Angeles, CA 90065
(323) 255-7887

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July 2, 2009 2

Umami burger (La Brea)

//// By in 09: Weho

Umami burgerUmami burgerUmami burgerThere’s been a lot of hype for Umami burger ever since it opened. My friend tried it before and found it so-so. So here I am to try it myself. The space is small and pretty well-designed. They don’t have a liquor license so it’s BYOB. It’s a pity we didn’t have beer with us as the burgers are perfect for beer, and we realized there’s a liquor shop right across the street when we left.

The menu is small, and they only have burgers on the menu (it is called “Umami burger” afterall). You get to choose one condiments per order, we chose roasted garlic aioli and house spread. Since we didn’t get fries, so we end up didn’t really use them.

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We both went for the non-traditional kind:

I got the No. 5 burger: pork with Chinese 5 spice.

Truffle burger: Italian truffle cheese and truffle glaze

Both are  quite interesting and tasty, though I can barely taste the 5 spice as the ketchup overpowered other flavors. I have the same complain for both burgers, and you can see it in the pictures too: the buns gets soggy and mushy!  Halfway eating I just get rid of the soggy buns and eat the patty by itself.

The burgers would be a lot better with stronger buns. Otherwise I like the burgers and the varieties they have. Next time I should try their signature Umami burger.

Umami Burger
850 S La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 931-3000

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