Adam D. Roberts's Blog, page 55

Melissa Clark’s Spicy Pork Stew with Hominy and Collard Greens

Here’s a cooking tip: if you have something in your pantry that requires a long soak (dried beans, for example, or dried chickpeas), rip open the bag in the morning, pour them into a bowl and fill it up with water even if you have no idea what you’re going to do with them later in the day. What’s great about this approach is that it narrows the field for you after 5 o’clock; instead of choosing from endless recipes, you know you need to find one that features soaked-beans or chickpeas. It’s a win-win because you have a component that’s normally a pain in the butt and some direction for your dinner.

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Seeking My West Coast Hummus Place: The Hummus Bar & Grill

When I lived in New York, my body was composed of 90% hummus. That’s because I lived close to Hummus Place on 7th Ave. and I’d go there a few times a week for lunch (see this post). And though I’ve attempted to recreate a Hummus Place meal for dinner here in California, it never hits the spot in quite the same way. Which is why, last week, I found myself seeking out a west coast alternative. First place to check out: The Hummus Bar & Grill in Burbank.

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My New Cookbook Shelf

Let’s pretend that I have a boyfriend (or partner or whatever it is you prefer I call him, you touchy readers you) named Craig and let’s pretend that Craig, one day last year, bought a designer bookshelf from H.D. Buttercup in Culver City. The bookshelf, in this story, was so heavy you couldn’t lift it and so important to Craig that it remained in our bedroom, virtually empty, for a year. We’d talk about the things we might put on it (“What about a vase?” “No, I hate vases,” Craig might reply) but never actually put anything on it except the one time I put a bunch of my favorite paperbacks on the top shelf and they looked incredibly feeble and minuscule in this giant bookcase. “You know,” I may have said, if this story were real, which–to be honest–it is, “what would look really good on it?” “What?” “Cookbooks.”

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Sweet Potato Hash w/Aleppo Pepper and Poached Egg

Remember that time I told you how to make Sunday Morning Potatoes? The recipe, which isn’t really a recipe at all but a technique I learned from Marion Cunningham’s Breakfast Book, has become so popular here on Sunday mornings, it’s now a regular part of my repertoire. But last weekend I decided to shake things up by applying the same technique to a different sort of potato, a bright orange sweet potato. How would that work? (Drumroll)…

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Shophouse (The New Chipotle)

You should’ve seen the crowd at Shophouse on Hollywood & Vine, where I went to meet Zach Brooks (of Midtown Lunch and Food Is The New Rock fame) for lunch last week. The place was his suggestion because, apparently, he’s addicted to it. It’s a new concept from the folks that brought you Chipotle; whatever it is they did with Mexican food, they’re doing it here with Asian food (I say “Asian” food because it’s a combination of rice, protein, vegetable, and sauce which could describe various Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Thai dishes). Despite some lawsuits going on behind the scenes, it looks like Shophouse is going to be a huge hit. Here’s why.

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Malted Waffles

Wow, what a morning. I went to sleep last night slightly anxious: would the Supreme Court continue its conservative streak, this week, and uphold DOMA? Would Prop 8 remain in place? Then, at 6 AM, I woke up and checked my phone, going straight to Twitter to see if there were any relevant updates. There weren’t, so back to sleep I went. Then at 7:30 I woke up and same thing. Maybe it was around 8 that the news began to trickle in: DOMA had been overturned. I switched to Facebook and so many of my friends were ecstatic with the news. My friend Lauren, who I lived with in law school and who had the same family law professor I did, wrote this: “Around 10 yrs ago, my Family Law professor (an orthodox rabbi) confidently said to my face that he believed within 10 yrs time there would be an amendment to the U.S. Constitution banning same sex marriage. The smile on my face right now is dedicated to him. Law students: don’t believe everything they tell you.”

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I Am Not An Actress

That’s Paula Deen on The Today Show. What do you think? Is she being sincere or does she deserve an Emmy? In my opinion, it’s a little of both.

The Art of the Cheese Plate

Bar Covell is one of L.A.’s (and the country’s) most celebrated wine bars and it’s quickly becoming one of my favorite places to go in the early evening to meet a friend before grabbing dinner. The wine is always interesting and carefully selected and, if you’re hungry, they make a cheese plate that pretty much puts all other cheese plates to shame. I mean, look at it. It’s like the world’s most awesome clock except instead of numbers you have cheese. And not just cheese but, and this is important, little pairings of various textures, shapes, and flavors that take the cheese in totally new directions. It’s what’s separates a “just OK” cheese plate from a cheese plate that makes you go “wow.”

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Rebuilding Chez Panisse

My pal David Prior pens a moving piece about Chez Panisse’s resurrection after a fire. And in case you weren’t around for my meal there in 2007, here’s a link to that post. It’s still one of my most memorable meals.

The Salty Turnip and Egg at Ruen Pair

Jon Shook, of L.A.’s Animal and Son of a Gun, once told L.A. Weekly his favorite places to eat in L.A. One of them is one of my favorite places to eat in L.A., Ruen Pair, where I almost always get the same thing: the Prik King (see #9 on the list of my favorite places to eat in L.A.). Shook, however, goes for a different reason: “You gotta get #106,” he told L.A. Weekly. “The salty turnip and egg. It will blow your brain out coz it’s super cool.”

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