Dining Out Lessons
As much as I love finding new restaurants, what sends me over the moon is when I go to a place that inspires me to create new dishes in my own kitchen. The Tavern in Los Angeles (Brentwood, to be precise) is just such a spot. I felt that each dish was a twist on what I can do at home -simple with a dash of flair. So even if your life isn't taking you to Southern California, you can learn a lot by checking out these plates. And if you DO live in So Cal, go to The Tavern yourself. This is dineLA week and so the price-fixed menus make experimenting with food affordable!
The starter dish was a Farro & Squash salad. I've never had Farro and I LOVED it. There's competing information about what precisely constitutes a Farro grain, but it's essentially a whole grain with a type of nutty flavor. This salad was simply prepared with olive oil, pesto, and arugula.
I live in the south, but I've never had Sweet Potato Soup - are you kidding me??? Such a delightful party for the mouth in this tiny bowl, with just a drizzle of a maple glaze. Why do I not have a sweet potato soup in my repertoire? Also on the dineLA menu, a simple shrimp salad with buttermilk dressing. After living in the land of big sodium, heavy ranch dressing, I forget that LIGHT buttermilk dressings are perfect for baby lettuces. My take away on this dish is to play with my dressing recipes.
Thanksgiving Sandwich. OK - that's not the name on the menu, but turkey with stuffing and cranberry sauce with sweet potato chips on the side sends me right back to the last Thursday in November. Nomnom.Equally as pretty, and surprisingly tasty was the salmon entrée. The smoky flavor of the fish may not be easily replicated (though I'd love to figure it out), but the mashed potatoes, pomegranate seeds and parsley are easy enough to assemble. Onto desserts. The easiest and most delightful treat was milk and cookies. I'm definitely going to replicate this small plate of tasty bites. Good looking and perfect for sharing.S'more in a glass. Put together bits of graham cracker cookies, burnt marshmallow filling, chocolate ice cream and top with nuts. Presto! S'more in a glass!The most "California" part of the menu for me was the Date Cake. I don't usually see dates as a regular menu ingredient, but I love them! (If you ever drive from LA to Palm Springs, a stop at Hadley's for a Date Shake is a must!) The cake on this dish was fantastic. They topped it with a savory crème frâiche that was "meh" - but the sesame ice cream more than made up for it. I won't attempt to replicate this one!
Happy dining!