Abott Kinney Festival

This has to be one of the most eclectic street festivals in L.A. In the past 14 years this festival has literally outgrown this 1 mile strip of Venice. I remember back in 1993 going to this festival and there were maybe 10 booths and a few small bands, which consisted of a drummer and a base playing rythmic reggae tunes. This day there were over 300 booths and just about every restaurant in Venice had a presence.

All the local color and lure of this small town was out in full force.

Overall it was fun, though it was a bit crowded for my taste and you really see how much this place has changed. Venice still has it's artsy flavor but the money coming into this town shows the most on Abott Kinney Blvd. The shops have changed from local vegetarian stops to French fair and cheap clothing shops turn into high end boutiques. It's great eye candy, but not so nice on the wallet.

Cuba a Bittersweet Tale - Part II

So now we're ready to fly to Cuba, right? Not yet. With our paperwork in order, we fly to Miami to pick up our Visa's from our friends and family who arranged our travel to Habana. Once in Miami my dad starts taking me around to all these family members I've never met. Where have these people been all our lives? In fact my dad wondered the same thing. Old memories surfaced, stories unraveled as we drove from one families house to the next. Dad had been in a camp in Miami, conditions at the least in the camp were deplorable, he'd even written his mother in Cuba a letter with a drawing of the camp. The letter boldly said SOS, get me out of here! Family in Miami were alerted to this by my grandmother. They were none too pleased that he freaked his parents out in Cuba. However, when it came time for dad to leave the camp no family members in Miami would let him stay with them. So my dad got options to go to several different cities, he kept saying no, he wanted to go back to Cuba. The last and final option was Albuquerque. Which is where he ended up.


I was getting the taste, literally and symbolically, of what it would be like in Cuba once we arrived. I nearly choked the first couple of times I drank the Cuban coffee, so dark and sweet that it made you purse your lips. But the Cuban bread, how to describe this? It's got a flaky crust which is absolutely perfect and it's soft middle has the texture of finely ground flour. Toasted with butter dipped in Cuban coffee is an amazing breakfast, lunch, or dinner treat. While in Miami I spent time with my half-brother, who I had only seen once in my life (this is another LONG story). I neglected to tell SB I had a half-brother so that made for an interesting phone conversation. To say I was in the dark about these travel arrangements was an understatement. I had no clue and all the Miami relatives scare you to death on what to expect when you arrive in Cuba. We packed two humongous suitcases full of clothing and basic toiletry items. My neighbor who sells Italian import foods gave me two enormous tins of olive oil for my family so my suitcase was stuffed. After a two days in Miami I was antsy I was ready to go. Because we had relatives in Cuba we were allowed to travel directly from Miami to Cuba. Boarding the plane my dad had memories of his plane ride out of Cuba at 14. He said it was a huge plane with big propellors on the sides he was frightened that they'd crash. Now he was scared all over again for other reasons which were a mere 45 minute plane ride away.

Joe's on Abbot Kinney

Recently our friends took us out to dinner to Joe's on Abbot Kinney in Venice. I've passed this restaurant many times and have always wanted to eat there. Joe's sounds like a diner but it's not. Very upscale place, light and airy. My dear friend Conrad who recently passed away has a son who was the architect of this restaurant, so without even looking at the menu I wanted to try this place.

Our friends former boss and spouse love this place and told her about a particular waiter that they always request, Greg. Well this very nice gentleman proceeds to ask us if we've ever been to Joe's, "no", was our reply. He thought it funny that we were all locals and had never been there, my friend said "Abbot Kinney not my scene." Funny thing is he lives on AK. Loved the honesty and so did Greg. He said he could tell we were new since we were studiously reading the menu. He explained it all with confidence and warmth. My friend knew he must be Greg and indeed he was. I see why her former boss likes him. He's confident without being obnoxious, friendly without being snobby. It was already a good start.
Here comes the food. Heirloom Tomato Salad with Burrata Cheese, Pistou, Fine Herbs, Melon Marinated in Port Wine. Really I never get tired of this appetizer.

Then we all order something different. Silver Salmon with braised mustard greens, pumpkin puree, littleneck clams, white onion, water chestnuts, clam juice. New Zealand red snapper with potato scales, wild rice, crispy spinach & red wine sauce. The potatoes literally looked like fish scales. Sorry all these picture were too blurry to include, I'm sure the wine had something to do with that.
Finally one good picture the roasted sirloin of beef with mashed potatoes, crispy artichokes, brown butter balsamic vinaigrette, and red pepper juice. We all tried everything and it tasted as good as the descriptions. The fish was fresh tasting and seasoned perfectly, the steak was cook just enough to melt in your mouth like butter.

Finale was a pumpkin panna cotta with spiced ice cream, gingerbread, maple marshmallow, cranberries (everything around the panna cotta was good, but I was NOT fond of the panna cotta, it was very bland, definitely not my favorite). We also had what I call a chocolate dream, chocolate crunch cake with hazelnut praline and vanilla ice cream, candied hazelnuts I only had a taste of this but wow, it was superb.

We had a great evening again with good friends and Joe's stands as one of my favorite places on Abott Kinney.

Upcoming Stories

I'm apologize for the neglect to updating this blog. Real life has gotten in the way. I have many posts in the works: the continuing saga of my journey to Cuba, recent restaurant in Venice and the eclectic Abbot Kinney Festival. Stay tuned.

Pizzeria Mozza

We waited a month to get a decent reservation time and to me it was worth it. I had my best friends with me and we laughed, ate great food, drank lots of wine and enjoyed ourselves to the full. And look at that, SB made it into my blog (reflection in the menu). We arrived a little early for our reservations hoping to get seated quickly, or to at least seek some shelter from the record breaking heat. Instead we hovered over the wine table and plotted out what to eat while we drank a cool crisp chardonnay.

We started off with the white bean puree mixed with caramelized onions on bruschetta with a tiny well of delicious olive oil. Simply amazing, much better then my white bean dip, but now I have something to perfect it with. We ordered another bottle of white wine a 2005 Niedrist sauvignon blanc, I've never heard of this label before, but I can say it was perfect, slightly sweet, cool and crisp. That is the extent of my say on wine, as I am no sommelier.We also order the salmon bruschetta with pecorino cheese shavings, I didn't get to taste this but SB said it tasted like tuna, our friends didn't think so and seemed to enjoy it. We also ordered roasted olives these literally came to the table in a sizzling gratin dish, they were tasty but very HOT!

I of course order the fennel and sausage pizza as recommended by udon & stilettos blog. It created this zingy, for lack of a better word, flavor to your palate, an interesting combination of anise and spicy sausage. The crust of the pizza made me yearn for a wood burning oven, only on a colder day. Nancy Silverton's recipe for the crust is so light and airy and the high temperature of the oven makes this the perfect crunch everytime you bite into it. D ordered the plate of the day which was lasagna al forno. This was amazing, I've never tasted such great lasagna. The pasta was definitely homemade and slightly green, spinach maybe? The combination of meat a cheese were perfect, and the top had a nice layer of toasted mozzarella. Wow really I can't stop talking about it. SB order a Magheritta pizza, he was less then enthused with it, said it tasted very basic although of course the pizza crust was great, far cry from my own.

For dessert, YUMMY, our favorite part. Although I had to ensure that my friend B would share her triple chocolate torte with cocoa covered hazelnuts, and I believe a Sabayon or light cream sauce. She's notorious for not sharing any chocolate dessert as our last dinner out foretold. It was rich but not overwhelming, the sauce and hazelnuts were wonderful touches that made something average into great. I ordered the ricotta fritters that were gently placed on a lemon marscapone bed along with juicy ripe huckleberries. Also perfect. Cheese, lemon and berries really great combination and worth every bite.

To finish I ordered an espresso. And well D thought it hilarious or maybe NOT that I insisted on taking pictures of everything even the little espresso cup, it's cute, I love little cups. Here's my ode to the espresso...However, he insisted I take a picture of him drinking my espresso and had the gall to request that it be included in this blog. So I'll humor him...I liked the picture I took, but I like the picture B took better when I excused myself from the table. Here's your 15 minutes of fame D. Enjoy!