Following Chef Ben Bailly to Fraiche Restaurant

When I heard that our beloved Chef Ben Bailly was leaving Petrossian, I was crushed! I've not only had an amazing dinner there, but also great brunches. My disappointment was short-lived when I realized he was moving to Fraiche in Culver City. I've only been Fraiche once when they first opened, but hadn't been back since. I guess I never had a reason to until now. I was exited for Ben since he had more control over the menu and had free reign to do whatever he pleased. Awesome. Less caviar and more rustic french cuisine.

Let the feasting begin!

olives and almonds, rosemary, olive oil

vodka infante

oysters

While waiting for my dining partner to arrive, I was sipping on a lovely, sweet and sour cocktail and nibbling on some olives. Chef Ben didn't want me to wait too long without food, so he sent over a couple of oysters to hold me over. And like clockwork, my dining companion showed up as soon as I was about to slurp these babies down.

smoked trout rillette, lemon, chives, creme fraiche

poison ivy, vodka, lemon, basil, cayenne pepper

As soon as my friend got situated, our first course and another cocktail was brought over for us to enjoy. The basil and lemon flavors in the Poison Ivy were really nice and played a primary role, while it finished off with a lingering heat from the cayenne pepper. The smoked trout rillette was also quite delicious. It was smoky, salty and while it wasn't meant to be paired with the cocktail I really enjoyed it together. The mild heat of the drink with the smokiness of the rillette reallly worked.

brussel sprouts, chorizo, manchego, dates, almond, piquillo

burrata, broccolini, bosc pear, hazelnut

Our next courses were the brussel sprouts salad and the burrata with broccolini salad. I really enjoyed the texture in the burssel sporuts salad. And the flavor combination from the bitter greens, sweet dates and salty manchego cheese was fantastic. The little bits of chorizo were also a very nice surprise. I'd highly recommend this dish to any brussel sprouts lover. The burrata salad was also quite nice. The tartness of the pear was a nice complement to the creaminess of the burrata and bitterness of the greens. Both were very strong salads. I would only pick one over the other depending on my mood that day.

eastside, vodka, cucumber, lime

pencillin, scotch, ginger, honey, lemon, islay scotch spritz

It was time for our next round of drinks: Eastside for me and Pencillin for my friend. The Eastside was a perfect drink for me because it embodied all the things I love in a cocktail: vodka, cucumber and lime. Yes, I'm a simple girl who loves acid. Not that kind of acid... While mine was a simple cocktail, my friends was more complex in taste. It had a medicinal flavor (obviously, read the name) but had a sweet finish. It was quite nice.

vitello tonnato,veal steak tartar, arugula, parmesan

Next up was the veal tartar, subtle in beef flavor and almost creamy in texture. The saltiness from the parmesan was nicely balanced out by the veal and arugula. I also loved how crispy the bread was. I hate it when you try to be a lady and finish the bread in two bites but forced into once because it was impossible to bite the bread off. No one likes tough and chewey bread.

house made agnolotti, wild mushroom, mascarpone, truffle butter, truffle

The agnolotti was one of our favorite dishes of the night. The moment the plate was set down my nose twinkled and I couldn't stop salivating. The shaved tuffles with the wildmushrooms gave an abundance of earthy flavors. Like my dining companion said, "Umami, umami, umami..." This is one dish I'll keep ordering again and again.

grapefruit twist, gin, rosemary, grapefruit

turkey dinner, clove infused wild turkey, cranberry juice, cynar, candied orange peel

It was time for our third round of drinks. I had the Grapefruit Twist, which was my favorite drink of the night, while my friend had the Turkey Dinner. The grapefruit twist was delicious with the perfect amountof citrus and an underlying hint of rosemary. The Turkey Dinner, on the other hand, was too strong for me, but my friend enjoyed it.

basil risotto, escargo, lemon, tomatoes

By the time our next course came out, I was stuffed. I had to let Ben know that I was slowly coming to an end. Regardless of how full I was, I still managed to finish our next dish, the basil risotto with escargo. The saltiness of the escargo offset the sweetness of the tomatoes very nicely. This combined with the slight peppery and minty flavor from the basil produced an elegant but homey dish. Not to mention the texture of the risotto was great, not too mushy and not too hard. Lovely.

skatewing, sherry gelee, brown butter foam, mashed potatoes

Our fish course was next which was accompanied with brown butter foam and mashed potatoes. The fish was delicate and beautifully cooked, while the mashed potatoes was hearty and delicious. The brown butter foam on top was exquisite, but my favorite part of the dish was the sherry gelee. These small bits of sherry was enough to balance out the richness in the potatoes and the butter foam. Excellent.

osso buco lasagna, shredded veal

I finally made it to our last savory course, the osso buco lasagna with shredded veal. I only had a few bites of this since I was literally about to pop. The veal was super tender and the saltiness of the cheese was delicious. My dining companion took this leftover since we couldn't finish it. He must've had a good lunch.

palate cleanser: lemon sherbet, gin

the grape, vodka, elderflower syrup, crushed grapes, lime

After our refreshing palate cleanser of lemon sherbert with gin, I was given my last cocktail of the night, The Grape. I felt like I should be sipping this cocktail at some resort spa. The grapes made it "girly," but it wasn't too sweet in taste. I would definitely order this again.

chocolate tart, tres leches gelato, almond crumble

panettone bread pudding, gianduja, hazelnut, mascarpone gelato

caramel pot de crème

I always have room for dessert, so I wasn't too scared when I saw three desserts appear before my eyes. The chocolate tart was rich and decadent, perfect with the tres leche gelato. The almond crumble was a nice texture contrast to the smooth tart. The bread pudding was also quite delicious and maybe my favorite out of the three. It wasn't too dense, but definitely had a bite to it. I am also a huge sucker for caramel, so the carame pot de creme was another favorite. I guess it's safe to say all the desserts were my favorite? Who doesn't love the salted caramel with cream on top? Seriously.. who doesn't?

After our massive feast was over, they couldn't let us leave without having a shot of whiskey, as if all the amounts of food and cocktails weren't enough already! Still, we gladly accepted and took a farewell shot with the manager and our beloved Chef Ben. My meal at Fraiche was wonderful to say the least. My friend who eats out very often was blown away by the food and the thoughtfulness that went behind our experience. We felt taken care of from the very moment we stepped into the restaurant until the very moment we stepped out.







Fraiche Restaurant
9411 Culver Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 839-6800
http://www.fraicherestaurantla.com/

Mos Burger & Yoshinoya: Fast Food in Tokyo, Japan

I've been craving Mos Burger lately, so I decided to do a post on the fast food J and I ate while in Tokyo, which was only Mos Burger and Yoshinoya. I clearly remember the morning we decided to eat Mos Burger for the first time. We knew it was pretty close to our hotel, so we decided to walk over for breakfast before our sightseeing activies. We walked and walked... Of course, we got lost. We were circling around the small streets of Shinjuku when I saw this girl sitting on the floor throwing up with her friend next to her patting her back. GROSS. J and I both immediately stopped in our tracks. We looked up and saw an alley way filled with intoxicated Japanese people all lined up along the wall. They were all drunk or on some kind of other shit... It reminded me of a rave scene in the morning with cracked out people. Don't ask me how I know... It just goes to show how hard the people party over there - haha!

Honestly, my appetite was totally killed after seeing all that, but I was determined to eat the famous Mos Burger. And I did. I ate it all.

cheeseburger

double burger with fries

teriyaki burger

We went to Mos Burger twice during our visit and my favorite item was the double patty burger. The regular cheeseburger reminded me of a McDonald's cheeseburger without the grease. The double patty burger, on the other hand, was something you cannot get in the States. The patty was juicy and the toasted buns were nice. But, the sauce was so addicting! The combination of these flavors reminded me of a sloppy joe and a japanese hamburger steak. The teriyaki burger was good, but I did not expect it to come with rice buns. Kinda cute, actually.

beef bowl with noodles and tofu

beef bowl

The only other fast food chain we hit up was Yoshinoya. And again, we ate this for breakfast and we ate it in less than ten minutes. Obviously, the beef bowls in Japan taste much better because of their quality of ingredients. However, the regular beef bowl tasted pretty much the same as the beef bowls here. J's fancy beef bowl with the noodles and tofu was much more enjoyable to eat due to the added elements. I really wish I could've tried something else, but when you are pressed for time and can't speak the language, your options are limited.

Overall, you can definitely taste the difference in quailty of ingredients between the fast food here and the fast food in Tokyo. But, between Yoshinoya and Mos Burger, I'll have to choose Mos Burger... every time. There's just something about that damn sauce... that I still dream about. I'm drooling...

Night Out in the Valley: Mandarin Deli & Get Shaved

Let's face it, the dining options in the Woodland Hills/Canoga Park area are pretty limited to your chain restaurants and well... that's it. I haven't found any hidden treasures yet, so my dining life in the valley is pretty non-existent. Since I've been staying in the valley a bit more now, I've been bugging J about hitting up Get Shaved in Northridge. I've only had the truck and I was craving shaved ice ALL day. To shut me up, he remembered a place he used to frequent during his CSUN days that was near Get Shaved. SCORE!

During the drive, I was obviously more excited about my dessert than my dinner. I just really wanted to get through the average meal I was going to have and jump right into dessert heaven. We arrived around 9 p.m. and there was only one other party in the restaurant besides us. I didn't know if it was a good sign or not... we came in an hour before closing so that might have been it.

J said that he always gets the beef noodle soup - a popular dish at this restaurant. So, ordering that was a must. While J is a noodle-lover, I am a rice-lover. So, naturally, I had to order fried rice. Along with that we ordered the scallion pancakes.

beef noodle soup

I didn't think we ordered that much food, but once the big bowl of noodles came out I knew we'd have fried rice as leftovers. The bowl was filled with noodles and soup that smelled amazing! The friendly, older Chinese waitress split the noodles into two smaller bowls, which looked less intimidating. The noodles were chewey and easy to slurp. The soup was a tad oily but really flavorful. The beef was super tender and so good. This bowl of soup is what you eat when you want your soul to feel good. Yes, I said soul.

shrimp fried rice

The fried rice was also delicious. It had ample amount of shrimp and scallions for that extra crunch and onion flavor. It was even better as leftovers, especially when you're drunk at home and watching korean dramas on the computer while your boyfriend is too busy playing COD to notice you're eating all of it. SCORE again!

scallion pancakes

I was already full from the noodles and some of the rice, but I couldn't say no to these pancakes. As a Korean, I really love Korean pancakes, seafood or kimchi, you name it. It's so simple and easy to eat, but has so much flavor. These scallion pancakes definitely reminded me of that same concept. I love scallions, so liking this pancake was an easy guess. The pancake alone is pretty mild in flavor, but when dipped in a little bit of soy sauce, the combination is really great. Simple and honest food - my favorite kind.

monkey brains

After our meal, we headed over to Get Shaved and was happy to find that it was on the next block over from the restaurant. Whenever I order from Get Shaved, I always think I'm going to try all of their different flavor combinations. Unfortunately, I never do. I always cave and stick with my favorite: monkey brains. Monkey brains consist of strawberry and banana shaved ice with sweetened condensed milk. Yum. Honestly, the condensed milk just makes it that much better. I wish I could carry a bottle of condensed milk around with me without being judged.

My night out in the valley wasn't filled with fine dining or elaborate cocktails, but it was a night that was satisfying on a different level. It was homey and comfortable. Comfort food and great company is sometimes all you need to make a night special. Now I know I need to find more of these hidden gems in the valley, so please send me your suggestions!

Mandarin Deli

9305 Reseda Boulevard

Northridge, CA 91324
(818) 993-0122

Get Shaved
9255 Reseda Blvd
Northridge, CA 91324
(818) 439-1053
http://www.getshavedice.com/