NakedSushi

After passing by this place several times on our way Pizzanista! I finally convinced Will to take me to Bestia.  We were apprehensive because the chef also used to work at Osteria Angelini, where I had the most underdone plate of pasta in my life. My pasta at Angelini was not a “Oh, this must be al dente” underdone. It was a “Oh, my pasta is crunchy and still half white inside” underdone.  Perhaps I don’t know how to appreciate a properly al dente pasta, but I was not a fan.

Fast forward to last night, where we had a 9:30 reservation for Bestia.  The restaurant is tucked away in an odd parking lot where if you hadn’t known it was there, you’d think you were parking to score some drugs or bootleg something.  Stepping into the place, we were accosted with smoke in the air.  Was the kitchen on fire? No, it must be usually like this because no one else seemed alarmed at how smoky it was. Or maybe we couldn’t hear the cries of alarm because it was just so darn loud.  I literally had to yell across a 2-seat table to Will in order for him to hear me.

When we sat down and looked at the menu, we were surprised to read something we must have overlooked on the menu online. No substitutions or modifications. Uh oh, this does not bode well for the vegan.  Luckily, our server and the kitchen was really understanding and let us leave off the dairy and other un-vegan ingredients in some of the dishes.

We started with some cured olives which were fine.  The addition of fennel or cumin seeds was a nice touch.

I ordered the house-made salumi, which included head cheese and three other slices of cured meats.  While they tasted great, I couldn’t taste much difference between three of them. Other than the color and shape, they seemed similar to me.  I did enjoy the spicy house-made mustard and the pickles.  It’s not every day you have pickled nameko mushrooms. And the grilled bread! It had been a while since I had a nice piece of grilled bread.

We split the roasted vegetables (broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, fennel, potato), which had a great char on them. My chief complaint about restaurant roasted vegetables is that they’re often underdone. This was not the case at Bestia. These were roasted to perfection, but a little too oily.

Although I was fearful of ordering pasta, I couldn’t stop myself from ordering the stinging nettle pasta with mushroom ragu and a poached egg.  Boy, am I glad I did.  The pasta was topped with a few dehydrated leaves of curly spinach that were crunchy and had a seaweed-like savory flavor. The pasta was cooked perfectly with the stinging nettle giving it a characteristic green color. The mushroom ragu tasted incredibly earthy and creamy.  The star of the dish was the perfectly poached egg.  The white was creamy without being slimy, and the yolk ran down my pasta in rich rivulets of gold.  What a great sauce that made!  I’m still kicking myself for forgetting to bring the leftovers home.

Will got the burrata pizza without the burrata, so it was more like a tomato sauce and olive pizza.  The crust was charred well without being too burnt.  I liked the way the tomato sauce tasted along with the briny green olives.  I can see this being a hit when it’s being served with burrata on top.

Even though I was stuffed to overflowing, I couldn’t turn down the chocolate budino tart.  I loved the chocolate wafer-like things it was served on the side with. I loved the dark, bitter taste of the crust. The actual budino part, I could have skipped. It was no comparison to the budino at Mozza.

Along with our meal, we ordered cocktails. Will got a sidecar variation that was balanced and therefore very drinkable. I requested a pregnant-lady-friendly, low-alcohol cocktail and was presented with a campari, white wine apertif, and soda water concoction that was very refreshing, if not a little strong. I liked the slice of lemon balanced precariously on my long ice cube.  I admit to diluting it a bit with more soda water and drinking only half, but it was delicious.

I’m glad we got over our fear of undercooked pasta and underwhelming dishes to finally try Bestia.  I only wish it wasn’t so loud and smoky in there. I emerged smelling more like smoke than I do when marinating for hours in a KBBQ restaurant.

Bestia
2121 E 7th Pl
Los Angeles, CA 90021
(213) 514-5724

A tiny Burmese restaurant opened just a stone’s throw away from Yoma in Monterey Park. Two Burmese restaurants within blocks of each other — was that just a coincidence?

Unlike Yoma’s dark and dank interior, Daw Yee’s is bright and colorful with vibrant seat cushions, gold-colored table ornaments hiding toothpicks, and still glossy menus. Will and I have been back several times and each time we left satisfied.

First, we ordered the one thing we always want to get at a Burmese restaurant: fermented tea leaf salad. This one came neatly plated in sections, which were mixed together table-side. There was a generous helping of fermented tea leaf, just the right amount cabbage, and some crispy soy beans to give it additional crunch. We ordered this without fish sauce so that it was vegan and I didn’t think it was missing anything.

Another one of my favorite Burmese salads is tofu salad (thoke on the menu) which is a misnomer. Instead of soy based tofu, this is finely ground chickpea flour and water molded into blocks and sliced. The slick texture makes it seem like tofu, but the bright yellow color shows that it’s not. I find that it’s also a little softer and creamier than your average tofu. This too was tossed in dressing and accompanied sliced cabbage and fresh herbs for a cold refreshing bite. (Ask for no fish-sauce for a vegan-friendly version.)

Then there’s my go-to dish that I order regardless of whether it’s breakfast time or not: mohinga (not pictured). The version at Daw Yee is decent, but not my favorite. It has the hearty rich texture I like, but I prefer it with a little more spice or funk. Maybe I’m too used to the one that comes in a styrofoam bowl at Jasmine Market in Culver City.

For dinner one night, we ventured away from our Burmese staples and tried some curries. Will ordered the vegetable curry, which had okra, eggplant, radishes, and some other vegetables in a thin curry broth. I got the egg curry, with its four deep fried hard-boiled eggs and a thick, spicy tomato sauce. It hit the spot but was so filling that I could only eat two eggs before getting full.

We also ordered the chickpea fritters as an appetizer. If you liked crunchy, deep-fried things (and who doesn’t?), this is the way to go. These little disks of chickpea had a satisfying crunch on the outside while still being gooey and hot on the inside — a Burmese latke.

 

Daw Yee is a great addition to the neighborhood.  The food has been consistently good even if the service is sometimes awkward or strange.  The hot loose-leaf tea is also surprisingly good, almost like a fresh young pu-erh.

Daw Yee Myanmar Cafe
111 N Rural Dr
Monterey Park, CA 91755
(626) 573-8080

I haven’t written much about it (if at all) on the blog, but I wanted to write about my pregnancy. Don’t worry, this won’t turn into a mommy-blog (or will it?), but since this is a general-subjects type of site, I thought I’d rant a little about it.

Since becoming pregnant, my eyes have been opened to all the crazy stuff a woman’s body has to go through.  Sure, I knew most of the high-level biological changes involved in producing another human, but I didn’t really find out the nitty-gritty details until too late.  But that’s not even the worst part. The worst part is how everyone else reacts!

But first, about the symptoms.  I was lucky to have a fairly easy, uncomplicated first trimester.  No morning sickness at all and I didn’t even throw up once.  I did notice some mild stomach sensitivity issues. For a while, I did not want to think about the leftover black eyed peas in the fridge even though I ate them happily and enjoyed them the first time with no ill-effects.  Then there were a couple of days where I was just not interested in food. Crazy, right? I didn’t even want to look at food porn! I guess that’s what normal people feel like when they’re not hungry, right?

It’s funny because before even getting pregnant, I just knew that I wouldn’t get morning sickness.  Maybe it was a trick of the mind and I convinced myself that it would not happen.  I think it also helped that I stayed fairly active by playing 3-5 hours of volleyball every week during the first trimester and I tend to eat fairly healthy things.

The other symptom women report during the first trimester was extreme fatigue and that did hit me more than morning sickness. Fatigue struck me through earlier bedtimes and naps during the day.  I used to never nap in the middle of the day, but there were some days where as soon as I finished my lunch, I needed a nap to get through the rest of the afternoon. Left to my own devices, I probably could have napped for three hours, but I kept them to 30 minute to 1-hour naps and that seemed to be okay.  Instead of my usual 12am bedtime, I would go to sleep sometimes at 10:30pm!

Because of the fatigue, I didn’t really have energy to do anything productive, which probably accounted for the drop off in blog posts a few months ago.  Sometimes, I would just want to sit on the couch and do nothing. Even watching TV consumed too much energy.

As I made my way through to the second trimester, things swung around gradually. I no longer felt as tired and I could feel my mood picking up as my energy did.  The second trimester really is the best trimester! I suddenly had energy to clean parts of the house, reorganize my closet and make granola!  Now that I’m mid-way through the second trimester, I’m half-dreading the third trimester, which some people say brings back the fatigue. Hopefully, we can get some work done in the baby’s room before then.

The second thing I mentioned was the way people reacted.  The most annoying thing is how people treat you. It’s like you’re no longer your own person. You’re just a container for the baby and you just happen to have arms and legs.  This includes people trying to control what you consume.  Like I said, I think I eat fairly healthy, but constantly getting lectured about eating organic this and preservative free that gets pretty annoying.  And don’t even get me started on the alcohol thing.  I’m not having tumblers of whiskey, folks! Half a glass or a full glass of wine every couple of weeks should be fine. Women in previous decades did it and we’re not inundated with hoards of malformed adults, are we? People in Europe do it and they seem to have perfectly healthy children.  I just get annoyed by this whole thing because it seems like yet another way men are trying to control women’s bodies.

Another annoying thing is people treating you like you have an illness.  Every time my parents see me, they ask me how I am in the tone of voice reserved for people on their deathbed.  It’s pregnancy, not cancer, people. On that subject, I’m tired of talking about how I feel. Just because I’m pregnant doesn’t mean I don’t have other feelings unrelated to it.

Then comes the inappropriate questions. I’m really amazed at the questions people who are mere acquaintances ask Will and me about intimate subjects.  One of my favorites is, “Was it planned? Were you guys trying?”  I would like to reply to that with an honest answer, “His penis did not accidentally ejaculate into my vagina.”  If people are offended by that, why would they ask such an intimate question in the first place?

In the spirit of inappropriate questions, here’s a FAQ:

Q: Did you get morning sickness?
A: No.

Q: Do you have weird cravings?
A: Not really. I’ve always liked weird food and food combinations, so even if I did, I don’t think I would have noticed.

Q: What is it?
A: A baby! Are you asking if it’s a boy or a girl? We don’t know and even if we did, we’re not telling people.

Q: Why aren’t you telling people the sex of the baby?
A: (short version) We don’t want a ton of gendered clothing or toys like pink frilly dresses or a bunch of baseball mitts.
A: (long, annoying version) The kid will have plenty of time in its life where gender expectations will be put on it. We’re trying to limit that for now.

Q: Was it planned?
A: It’s not like he tripped and fell into my vagina on accident.

Q: How long were you trying?
A: Are you asking how long it takes us when we have sex? That’s kind of a personal question, no?

Q: Why didn’t you mention it on Facebook?
A: I don’t like it when my friends’ feeds get taken over by baby news, so I don’t do it myself.

Q: Can you post an ultrasound?
A: I find it creepy that people want to see what’s inside my vagina.

Q: When is the shower?
A: We’re not having one.

Q: Why not??
A: I find them boring.  Throwing a party so that people can buy me stuff also makes me feel icky.

 

AND the number one annoying thing about being pregnant, even before I started to show, is all the people touching my stomach!  It’s not just a little creepy, it’s A LOT creepy. You wouldn’t touch a normal woman’s stomach for no reason, why would you touch a pregnant woman’s stomach? Sure, its large size probably makes it a satisfying target, but it’s still a part of the woman’s body!

Yes, I know I’m lucky to be pregnant because there are lots of people out there trying to conceive but can’t and I’m just taking my fertility for granted. But still, have some common courtesy people.  Pregnant women are people too.

When we talked to locals about things to do in Austin, one thing that kept coming up was Alamo Drafthouse.  I asked myself, how good could a movie theater be that everyone keeps talking about it? Giving it the benefit of the doubt, I went online and checked what was showing. It was my favorite John Travolta movie! Face/Off!

If you haven’t seen this and you like corny action movies with ridiculous explosions, Face/Off is right up your alley.  I don’t want to give up too much of this complex plot away, but two men switch faces. Explosions! Crazy Nic Cage being Crazy. John Travolta playing Nic Cage.  It’s everything I could ever ask for in a popcorn movie.

So of course, we went to Alamo Drafthouse to watch Face/Off. We bought our tickets at the lobby and walked into the theater. The seats were large and roomy with a little table in front that holds the menu, the order sheets, and any food or drinks that are brought.  I thought that having a server going through the theater would be distracting, but it wasn’t.  Before the beginning of the movie, a server comes through, explains everything and gives you a chance to write down your order if you know beforehand. If you want something in the middle of the movie or a refill, just write your order on the sheet of paper and place it vertically on the stand on your table and a server will whisk it away and return with the goods.

But that’s not the only thing that made Alamo Drafthouse awesome. There were in-theater pyrotechnics! So they weren’t exactly like Backdraft from Universal Studios, but there were enough flames shooting out of the flame thrower thing during explosions in the movie and enough confetti exploding everywhere to make the visit worth it.  It was a nice surprise and upped the cornball factor of the movie.

As for the food, it wasn’t half bad based on what I tried. I got some fries and queso and Will got popcorn. He claimed his popcorn was too salty. Maybe that’s how they get you to not take advantage of endless popcorn. I liked that it came in a stainless steel bowl, for that “I just made popcorn at home” experience.  My fries were perfectly crisp, hot, and the queso was trashy in a convenience-store way.

Alamo Drafthouse is definitely worth visiting, especially if you don’t want to brave the puke smell of going to a crappy college bar on dirty 6th, but want to do something fun during a night out.

Alamo Drafthouse
Several locations in Austin

While researching things to do in Austin before our trip, Whole Foods came up a lot on other people’s lists.  At first, I laughed at that. We already have plenty of Whole Foods in LA, why specifically visit a Whole Foods when traveling? Then I thought more about it.  I love going to super markets in different countries just to see what weird stuff is on the shelves.  Whole Foods started in Austin.  Someone on the food forums claimed that the barbecue at Whole Foods wasn’t half bad.  Sold!

The Whole Foods in Austin is huge. Not only is it almost Costco-sized, but there’s just so much stuff in it! Honey dispensers? Check! Lots of different types of made-to-order food and prepared foods? Check! Barbecue counter? Check! Wine and beer? Check! Walk-in beer closet? Check! Vegan donuts? Check! Luckily, our hotel was about a half mile walk from the market, so we visited it a couple times during our trip.

I was really curious to try the barbecue, but having just had dinner, didn’t want to order a whole sandwich. I asked the man behind the counter to cut me just a slice of moist brisket and he gave me a generous piece on a sheet of tin foil and said, “Here you go, on me!”  How nice!  I brought my slice of brisket to the eat-in counter, drizzled it with a little sauce and dug in with my bare hands.  It was moist, it was tender, it smoky, it was everything I wanted barbecue to be.  And if I had any doubts about the barbecue being made on location, a whiff of the barbecue smoke drifting in the downstairs parking lot cleared those doubts away.

One thing I particularly liked about this Whole Foods is that there’s a basket of free fruit in the entrance for kids 12 and under to munch on!

So yes, when in Austin, make sure to visit the Whole Foods on Lamar.  Come with an appetite and you can get a pretty decent meal of barbecue and fixin’s.  Then, when you’re bored of that, you can walk across the street to Book People and browse the shelves and shelves of books.

Whole Foods Market
525 N Lamar Blvd
Austin, TX 78703
(512) 542-2200

Book People
603 N Lamar Blvd Austin, TX 78703
(512) 472-5050

One important thing on my Todo List when visiting Texas for the first time is to eat barbecue.  It would be a shame for me to visit barbecue country without trying it at least once.  When I stepped out of the Jet Blue terminal and right into the smokey aroma of the Salt Lick outpost in the airport terminal, I knew that I couldn’t leave without going there.

While there are other places in the city limits, most of the locals and Texans I spoke to said the definitive place to go for barbecue brisket is The Salt Lick.  Considering I never really liked brisket, I wondered if I just never had the right brisket.  I always associated brisket as dry and stringy meat that takes forever to chew.  If The Salt Lick can’t make me like brisket, maybe that cut of meat is just not for me.

The Driftwood location of The Salt Lick is a short twenty-five to thirty-minute drive outside of Austin. For those of us in LA who’s used to driving thirty minutes just to travel ten miles in the city, this drive will be easy.  Leaving the actual city of Austin takes only a few minutes on the freeways and then the rest of the way is boring suburbs, big box stores, followed by rolling hills and even a Hindu temple in the middle of nowhere.

At first, I was worried by how touristy The Salt Lick seemed to be. It boasted a winery and a separate wine tasting building. There’s an outdoor patio full of large wooden tables and benches and even a separate area for kids.  The merchandise for sale on the walls made it a little too Disneyland for me, but one look at the barbecue pit and a whiff of the smell and I knew I had to stay.

For about $15, I got to pick two meats (I got brisket and sausage) which came on a large plate along with potato salad, coleslaw, beans, bread, pickles, and a part of an onion.  I opted for a combo of moist brisket and burnt ends when the waitress asked what my preference was for the brisket.  The service is fast and in no time, this plate was plopped down in front of me as well as two types of sauces.  Since the meat seemed already sauced, I didn’t add too much extra sauce on top. Just enough to realize the habenero sauce is not spicy enough.

Did The Salt Lick change my opinion of brisket? It sure did!  The moist slices were tender and fell apart in my mouth. The burnt ends were crispy and had a decent bite, but was nowhere near as chewy as I was fearing. The sausage wasn’t half-bad either, with a great snap.  The flavor of the barbecue and the smokiness of the meat was everything I hoped for.

The sides were surprisingly good.  The cole slaw was light on the dressing and not that mayonaise nightmare that I associate with some coleslaw.  It’s good that it’s delicious because one needs some roughage to help in digesting all this meat.  The potato salad was not what I expected either, but still delicious.  It was slightly tangy from mustard or relish, and had chopped cooked onions inside. It was one of the better restaurant potato salads I’d had.  The beans were alright, but I ate only a couple bites of it because I wanted to save my protein compartment for the meat.

The pickles and bread I mostly left alone because I couldn’t figure out what their purpose was.  Was I supposed to make a sandwich with the bread rolls? They were fluffy and white, reminding me of the rolls I used to eat in the cafeteria in elementary school.  I guess if I had more stomach space, I could use it to soak up the barbecue sauce later. And what about that quarter of a raw onion?  I mostly left that alone because I didn’t want to ruin the smokey barbecue aftertaste with the pungent aroma of an onion.

Although I shouldn’t have ordered it, I was curious, so I also ordered the blackberry cobbler. This was unlike any cobbler I’d ever had.  The breaded part was soft and spongey, more like a thick pancake than a biscuit.  The blackberry filling was way too sweet for my taste and I was regretting not ordering it with some ice-cream to tone it down.  The serving size of the cobbler was also very Texan. I think one order would be enough to satisfy four people.

Was the Salt Lick worth the 30 minute drive? Yes! I have a new found respect for brisket and am wishing I had finished my plate of barbecue because I’m now craving it.

Protip: It’s BYOB, so get a 6-pack from the Texaco station off the freeway and bring it with you. If not, you can always try your luck at the winery next to the restaurant, which also sells beer.

The Salt Lick
18300 FM 1826
Driftwood, TX 78619
(512) 858-4959

Will and I heard about this recipe over the weekend while we were listening to The Splendid Table. It seemed like an easy and hearty meal, so I attempted to make it for dinner last night. I thought it would be a one-pot meal, but the recipe said to cook the barley separately.

For the barley, I first cooked half an onion (diced) in olive oil until almost caramelized. Then I added the barley and stirred to coat in oil. I let that toast for a few minutes while stirring so it doesn’t burn. Then I added in a handful of salt, pepper, and about twice as much water and let it come to a boil before covering and simmering on the lowest heat for 30 minutes. I checked once toward the end of 20 minutes to make sure there was enough water and added a little more just in case it got too dry.

For the chickpeas, I mostly followed Lynne’s recipe for tart pan-roasted chickpeas but left out the mint because I couldn’t justify paying $2.50 for a few measly sprigs of mint at Whole Paycheck.

For a side, I cooked swiss chard with olive oil, garlic, and the juice of half a lemon added at the end. I think lemon and the chards go really well together — it makes me think of spring.

I”m not sure why, but my roasted chickpeas didn’t really get crunchy or browned. Maybe because I used some frozen chickpeas that I had cooked from dried a few months ago. Lynne’s recipe mentioned canned chickpeas, but I didn’t want to waste my frozen ones. I’m now wondering if this can turn into a one-pot dish if I just cook the barley in after the chickpeas and everything else is done, and then stir in the chopped olives last.