This place needs no introduction.
Moscow Mule, quite a departure from our usual wine.
Oysters, of course, and Pâté de Campagne.
Steak Frites (for me) and I think this was Sole Meuniere (for Maya).
Flan and Beignets.
Then we were off to watch Britney like a pair of teenagers!
Bouchon
At the Venetian
When I was organizing my photo album, I came across a bunch of photos from BFF Maya and my Las Vegas adventure, which took place … wait for it … wait for it … in October 2015!
It’s been more than five months since our trip to the Sin City, but I decided to post them here anyway!
These are the food photos from Chef Daniel Boulud‘s db Brasserie at the Venetian, where we stayed. We ate here the night before during the Happy Hour, and we had such a wonderful experience that we decided to come back for brunch the following day.
Unfortunately, the dining experience the next day was night and day compared to the one we received the night before. 😦 Let’s just say that we wished we went somewhere else for brunch that day so we could have remembered this place fondly in our hearts.
Here’s what we ate: Charcuterie Board; Provencal Caesar Salad; Moulees Mariniere (for me); and Crispy Duck Confit Hash (for Maya).
A lesson learned: A variety is the key to life.
db Brasserie by Daniel Boulud
At the Venetian
I like Balthazar so much that I make an effort to dine here every time I’m in the city. It’s the next best thing to Paris.
Is there anything more beautiful than burnt cheese on top of French Onion Gratinee? I didn’t think so either.
Maya ordered Brandade de Moure, salt cod and potato puree, enjoyed by smearing on crusty baguette slices. It’s light and not fishy at all.
Moules and Frites (Mussels and Fries) for Maya.
Balthazar Salad for me. I didn’t care too much for this. The truffle oil the salad was tossed in was way too strong for me!
This was our first meal in NYC. What a great way to begin the adventure!
Here’s the full list of my top 10 moments:
Tarte aux Pommes is this Francophile’s version of the all-American apple pie to celebrate the nation’s birthday. 
I got the recipe from a blog, Mission: Food, who got the original recipe from Michael Paul’s Sweet Paris – a book I immediately ordered after tasting the wonderful dessert. This French apple tart is out of this world. It rivals any tart you get at pastry shops.
I followed the recipe to a T – from making the Pâte Sucrée (sweet dough) to Frangipane (almond filling) — and although it took me half a day to bake this pie from conception to completion (in a 100 degree kitchen), the result is worth all the hard work. This might be the most professional-looking dessert I’ve made in a long, long time.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July celebration with good food and company!
Shannon and I spent the last four days in NYC and had a wonderful time. All we wanted to do on this trip was to relax, eat good food and drink, and that’s precisely what we did. We stayed in SoHo and we pretty much didn’t leave the area! Some may think that we missed out on a great opportunity to explore the city, but being lazy was what we needed to unwind … and escape from the real world!
Our first stop was lunch at Balthazar, located two blocks from where we were staying. I’ve seen this restaurant before but didn’t realize that this was a New York hot spot, with celebrity frequenting this French bistro. We got really lucky and got seated right away. By the time we ordered our food, this place was jammed packed with locals and tourists, looking to enjoy the French flare.
Salad Nicoise and French Fries for me, and Mac and Cheese for Shannon.
Amazing bread!
Creme Brulee — a perfect finish to a great lunch.
Balthazar Restaurant
80 Spring Street, New York, NY 10012
(on Spring, between Broadway and Crosby)
★★★★☆
My Maid of Honor and sister Saori planned a wonderful day for me and bridesmaids Maya and Tiffany on Friday. This was our version of the Bachelorette Party, but a PG version, compared to the crazy ones that usually involve naked men. Call me square, but my definition of uber fun does not involve certain male strippers from Down Under, so what she planned for me couldn’t be more perfect.
The day started out with a massage at Korean Spa. I guess you can say the day involved naked bodies, but this definitely wasn’t that kind of naked.
We got our bodies scrubbed and polished there, before heading over to Little Next Door for delicious lunch and dessert. We initially planned to have a light lunch and save room from the Rehearsal Dinner that night but we ended up going all out with food and desserts!
We shared Leek and Gruyere Tart to start (pictured above) and I had …
Ahi Tuna and Avocado Tartare
Soufflé au Chocolat
Mille Feuilles
Opera Cake
Assorted Macarons
Afterward, Saori and I went to a nail salon in West Hollywood for a mani / pedi session. My nails must have been so neglected because the guy brought out surgical devices to conquer my cuticles!
It took a while but we got back just in time for our rehearsal dinner in Pasadena.
It was busy but incredibly fun day with the girls. Thank you, Saori, for the wonderful Bachelorette Party and treating me to such blissful afternoon!
I am a shameless bandwagoner when it comes to food trends. I might not be the first one to jump on the newest craze (and may not understand what all the fuss is about at times), but I’ve done my share of waiting in long lines at Sprinkles Cupcakes, Bread Papa’s, and Pinkberry when they first opened their doors to the hungry and curious public. I am surprised that I never got into the food truck phenomenon all that much, but my fiancé and I did fork out a fortune for the Korean BBQ tacos when we spotted the Koji truck parked in our neighborhood.
The current food trend that blows all the others out of the water is the macaron sensation. These delicate French cookies make this Francophile forget about all the warm and fuzzy feelings I once had for pint-size cakes and tangy swirly goodness. They are one of my favorite things in the world, and I know that my love for these little heavenly morsels will last forever, even when something new comes along and eventually takes over the pastry world.
My new favorite macaron shop in Los Angeles is ‘Lette Maracons. I tried it out for the first time over the weekend (at the Little Tokyo location) and fell absolutely in love. They tasted very close to the macarons I ate and loved in Paris, especially the Earl Grey Tea and Rose favored ones.
There are many, many debates on the blogosphere over who has the best macarons in town. I’m no expert in the maracon field, but what makes them perfect, in my book, is the impeccable combination of airiness and chewiness. I love it when the shells flake off and instantly melt in my mouth, while the sweet filling provides the perfect bite of luscious gooey-ness. These ‘Lette macarons provide the perfect pairing of both. It’s no surprise, from the first bite of its macaron, that Paulette Koumetz and Christophe Michalak, two magicians behind this operationare, are authentically French.
I can seriously eat these all day.
The only bone to pick with ‘Lette is this: Why is it that you charge $1.70 for one macaron but charge $10.50 for a box of 6? Shouldn’t it be $10.20? The box is not worth $0.30. I was hoping for a price break for buying the set, not realizing that I was paying extra for the box that I didn’t even need or want. Eeek.
‘Lette Maracons
Various Locations: Beverly Hills, Pasadena, and Downtown LA
★★★★★
P.S. Is it just me or does this Colombian Coffee macaron look very much like Baby Ike?
An airport is not necessarily the first place people associate gourmet dining experience with, unless, of course, you’re at the Jet Blue terminal in New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
If you’ve flown to NYC with this modern airline in recent years, you know what I’m talking about. Terminal 5 looks more like a spacious shopping mall with great restaurants and stores rather than an airport terminal. There’s even a touch-screen monitor in the middle of the terminal where you can order food and drinks and a server will bring the food straight to your gate. I hope Los Angeles and / or Burbank airports would offer such service! Oh, how time has changed.
I was able to resist the shopping temptation (well, sort of, if you don’t count the shopping bag full of stationary I picked up at Muji), but I could not stay away from walking in to one of the alluring restaurants that sit in the middle and around the circular terminal. Dining selections here include a casual cafeteria (with the usual selections of sandwiches, salads, pizzas and boxed sushi, etc.), a steak house, a sushi bar, and a seafood place, among many others.
Everything looked wonderful, but one place that caught my eyes in particular was a small French brasserie that sat on the very end of the restaurant row. I sat at a bar counter at Brasserie La Vie and treated myself to a glass of Chardonnay to celebrate the end of the work week in NYC.
The place is totally cute, offering seemingly authentic dishes like Escargot with Garlic Butter, Duck and Pistachio Terrine, and Moules Frites aux Pernod (mussels and French Fries) on the menu — something you’d expect to find at a brasserie / bristro in Paris, certainly not in a middle of the busy airport terminal in the states. There are more mainstream items on the menu as well, like French Onion Soup and Croque Monsieur / Madame. Particularly craving something light, I ordered Salad Nicoise (no surprise here as I am obsessed with this salad) with a side of Pommes Frites (the ultimate guilty pleasure).
The salad was pretty darn delicious, with vinegary anchovy fillets and seared tuna atop a bed of arugula, tomatoes, haricot verts, olives, boiled eggs, and roasted peppers tossed in vinaigrette. Each bite went incredibly well with the glass of chilled white wine, with a side of crispy French fries with a touch of ketchup and Tabasco.
I’m not sure if it was the atmosphere of the brasserie or the fact that I was finally coming home, but I was feeling very happy sitting at the counter at the restaurant. I had a few hours to kill before my flight, and while I usually get bored and antsy waiting, that was not the case this day. I caught up on my leisure magazine reading and just enjoyed the time passing by, while soaking up the energy of New York City.
After we grabbed a quick but wonderful lunch at Cuisine de Bar, Maya and I headed over to Patisserie Sakaharu Aoki for another round of dessert. I am not over-exaggerating when I say that this Japan-born and trained pastry chef, who now runs an extremely successful pastry business in France with numerous store locations in Paris, as well as in major department store like Galleries Lafayette, is the reason why I now am obsessed with sweets. I have not had the honor of trying his famous pastries until this trip but it’s the concept of incorporating wonderful Japanese ingredients like matcha green tea, yuzu (Japanese citrus that is slightly more bitter than orange), and goma (sesame) into French classics that inspired me to do the same in my little kitchen.
The moment Maya and I reached the store on Rue de Vaugirard, a 10-minute walk from Cuisine de Bar, I almost kneeled down and cry. Okay, that’s a little melodramatic, but I felt a powerful energy rush through my body, like I have finally arrived to my culinary mecca.
The shop was everything that I had imagine – a very simple, white and black / silver interior, with rainbow-colored macarons and chocolate- and green tea-inspired cakes filling the showcases. There were many kinds of confectioneries, like candied orange and other heavenly morsels lined up against the wall.
I had to fight the urge to buy up the entire store, and settled on the following: Bamboo, a green tea opera cake; Fuwafuwa Fraise, a soft and airy sponge cake with whipped cream and strawberries (“fuwa fuwa” is the term Japanese use to describe something airy, like a cloud); Citrus Tarte; Green Tea Eclaire, and five different kinds of macarons. I tried matcha, hojicha, jasmine, chocolate, and wasabi. I know that wasabi-flavored macaron can sound a bit strange for some, but it was one of the greatest sweets I’ve ever had – along with all his other creations.
Because there was no indoor seating, Maya and I “smuggled” our purchases to a nearby café, where we sat and enjoyed hot beverages with our cakes. It started to rain but we got the best seats inside a tent, under a warm lamp, overlooking the beautiful St. Sulpice church. The waiter didn’t mind that we brought in our own desserts. In fact, he looked more curious as to what we were about to indulge! And if any of you are wondering, yes, we ate all the dessert in one sitting!
I am so glad that I had the chance to experience the wonder that is Sadaharu Aoki. He made me fall in love all over again with pastries and Paris, the birthplace of all things wonderful.
Patisserie Sadaharu AOKI Paris
35 Rue de Vaugirard and other locations
Metro: St Sulpice or Renne
I was in Atlanta several months ago for business, and across the street from the hotel I stayed was this little French bistro with outdoor patio, just like you would see in streets of Paris. My colleagues / friends and I stopped by there for dinner one night, and went back for late lunch the following day. It wasn’t that the food was particularly special (the beuf bourguignon that I ordered was slightly on the bland side) but the atmosphere was so lovely that we had to go back for one more time before we headed to the airport. On both occasions, we shared a plate of Tarte Au Saumon, a thinly sliced smoked salmon, capers and tangy sauce layered on top of a flatbread, and loved every bite of it.
I decided to recreate the French appetizer for lunch today, using the leftover Indian naan I had in a freezer from Aarti’s Indian Pizza I made over the weekend (delicious!). I purchased mine at Trader’s Joe’s (look for a package “Tandoori Naan” in a frozen food section. One package comes with four naan flatbreads). This dish is really easy to make but sophisticated enough for a special occasion (like a luncheon with your girl friends) and is absolutely delicious. Too bad it was for a weekday lunch and I couldn’t wash it down with a chilled glass of Chardonnay!
Smoked Salmon Tarte
(Serves 1)
The Sauce:
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1/2 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon capers
Salt and pepper to taste
1 Frozen Indian Naan
3 pieces of smoked salmon, or enough to cover the top of the flatbread
1/8 of onion, finely sliced
More capers to garnish
1 lemon wedge
Baked the naan based on the package instruction (I baked mine in 375 F degree oven for about 5 minutes). When the naan is baked, smear the sauce on top. Layer the smoked salmon and sliced onion on top, and sprinkle capers. Serve with a side of vegetable such as asparagus spears or broccoli rabe.
Lavender and OliVE 