YogaWorks Montana

Santa Monica probably has the most yoga studios per capita out of any other city and I've tried many of the studios including YogaHop and Revolution Fitness on Montana; Power Yoga (2 locations), Yogis Anonymous, YogaCo, Hot8Yoga around the Third Street Promenade, YogaWorks on Main Street and Montana, Maha Yoga on 26th Street, TruYoga in the Yahoo Center. The YogaWorks studio on Montana is really the pioneer of it all; the very first YogaWorks studio in the country founded in 1987. A lot of the best teachers in LA come from this YogaWorks location. I used my Lululemon gift of yoga free pass for Jesse Schein's class at YogaWorks Montana on Tuesday. I could tell a lot of people in the class were devoted followers of Jesse; I thought the class was good but not great. It reminded me of Vinnie Marino's class at YogaWorks Main Street. Yoga is highly subjective based on personal preferences, and personally I don't like a lot of traditional series A and series B poses; I just find it boring. I didn't feel like I was really pushed to learn anything new in the class and felt the urge to check the clock occasionally. Plus, I prefer at least some music in my classes (a lot of people can't stand any music). I've liked her class online and on cable tv in the past, but I'm less picky at home or on the road; I'll take any yoga I can get. The studio hasn't been updated in awhile and was really stuffy, reminded me a little of the YogaWorks on Main Street, although not that bad. All in all, it's not my style, but works for a lot of other people.

Fraiche Restaurant Revisited

Monday night, we had dinner at Fraiche Restaurant in Culver City with a bunch of friends. Fraiche used to be one of our favorite restaurants under former Chef Jason Travi. We hadn't been back since Travi left, but the new chef, Chef Benjamin Bailly, formerly of Petrossian, has been getting solidly decent reviews lately so I've been looking forward to checking it out again. The restaurant was really empty; only a handful of other tables besides ours. It was not only a Monday night, but also the NCAA men's basketball final, so that might be part of the explanation. Service was a little rough; I don't think the waitress was pleased that most of us only ordered a main course and a single drink, plus she didn't really appreciate our table's loud sense of humor, but it is what it is. Importantly, I thought the food was still good. I've always loved Fraiche for its pasta dishes, and I was pleased to find out that they were still quite good with toothsome pastas and rich hearty sauces.  The half roast chicken was also quite nice though a touch dry in spots, with nice crackling skin and lots of tasty roasted vegetables in a delightfully creamy mustard sauce.

Lamb Pappardelle with tomato, olives, onetik goat cheese

Pork ragu rigatoni with scallions and gruyere

Half roasted chicken with vegetable hash and country mustard sauce

Fraiche Restaurant
9411 Culver Blvd
Culver City, CA 
(310) 839-6300

Random Monday LA Shots

In Atwater: I think they were filming a commercial

I spent the day yesterday in the east part of LA hanging with some old friends. We grabbed some tasty banh mi sandwiches from Viet Noodle in Atwater and then headed to Griffith Park to ride the train and for a little hike.

Joe's Pizza - A Little Slice of NYC in LA

I'm so thankful that Joe's Pizza on Bleecker opened up a location in Santa Monica not long after I moved home from NYC. Good pizza is all about the simplest things: the freshest tasting, slightly tangy sweet bubbly tomato sauce, lovely smooth fresh mozzarella, thin crunchy chewy golden crust with a good bite, and little bit of fresh basil at the end. We always order the whole fresh mozzarella pie from Joe's Pizza, and we order it often; we love it so much that we even had several pies delivered to our wedding at Shutters in Santa Monica.

Joe's Pizza
111 Broadway St
Santa Monica, CA
(310) 395-9222

Another Big Beer and Wine Party

Rich and Mike were in town this weekend so we got a bunch of friends together for a casual beer and wine tasting that lasted in typical fashion to 4am. This is what it looked like last time we all got together, this time we had a couple of more people, about 25 people, and tried even more new things that I had never had before; special thanks again to Rich and M for bringing some pretty awesome stuff! My favorite beer was the Bootlegger's Brewery's Black Phoenix Chipotle Coffee Stout, followed by the Nogne O Imperial IPA. As for wines, my favorite was the Rivers-Marie Willow Creek Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir followed very closely by the two Cabernet Sauvignons.

The wine line up, in order consumed

The beer line up

The Pinot flight, different vintages and places: 2009 County Line Sonoma Coast Pinot 2008 Belle Pente WillametteValley Pinot, 2007 Hardesty Humboldt County Pinot Noir (all natural), 2007 Rivers-Marie Willow Creek Vineyard Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir

The big wines flight: 2006 Domaine Charvin Chateauneuf du Pape, 2008 Rudius Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, 2008 Rivers-Marie Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

The bubbly flight, for some reason at the end of the night around 2am, we decided we felt like some bubbly, after the heavy wine we'd been drinking all night, so we opened two bottles that were already chilled: Schramsberg Blanc de Blanc, and a Chandon

The Pale Ales: Nogne O Imperial India Pale Ale (from Norway! Very balanced and drinkable) and Dogfish Head Pale Ale

A lager, barley wine and some rich ales: Great Lakes Brewing Co's Eliot Ness, Firestone's Abacus, Dogfish Head World Wide Stout, Lost Abbey's Deliverance Ale and Dogfish Head's Punkin Ale

My favorites of the night: Deschutes' Once in a Decade 2010 Ale, Bootlegger Brewery's Black Phoenix (love this one, a chipotle coffee stout), Middle Ages Brewing Co's Dragonslayer Imperial Stout (from K's hometown, Syracuse!), Kuhnhenn Brewing Co's 2010 Solar Eclipse Imperial Stout

Some of the fruity sweet and sour stuff: Brouwerij Fonteinen's Oude Kriek, Russian River Brewing Co's Supplication (sour), Kasteel Rouge (my favorite cherry soda beer) and a home brewed mead (love the painter tape label and I liked the honey flavor)

Shrimp, Sausage and Grits

We've been going lighter on the meat and heavier on the seafood this week, after a lot of meat last week. Last night, I made shrimp, chicken sausage over creamy cheddar grits with a side of roasted brussels sprouts with balsamic vinegar. I was inspired by this recipe from thekitchn.com, and made a bunch of adjustments. It was really good, the shrimp was perfectly done with a good bite and texture, the sausage, onion and thyme gravy was really savory and everything tasted so good all mixed together with the rich and creamy grits and fresh green onions, without getting too heavy. Brussels sprouts were a nice green accompaniment with just a touch of refreshing acid from the balsamic vinegar. We opened a bottle of 2007 Beckman Grenache Blanc which had just enough tartness to pair well with the food and was also very refreshing in this warm weather. I think I may have kept it in the fridge too long, as it wasn't as lively or complex as I had remembered the previous bottles of the same vintage being. Some white wines just aren't meant to be aged as long; they start losing their character quickly.

Shrimp, Sausage and Grits Recipe:

For the grits (caveat: first time making grits, so I'm not sure if it tasted authentic, but tasted good to us):

• Heat up four cups of milk (I used non-fat and it was fine) over medium high heat until it is just about to boil
• Lower to medium low heat and add 1 cup of corn grits (I picked up mine from Whole Foods)
• Whisk often. I think it took about 30-40 minutes to be done. Season with 1-1 1/4 tsp of salt
• Add 1 TB of butter and half a cup of grated cheddar cheese (I like the lowfat Irish cheddar from Trader Joes which still has nice sharpness despite the low fat) and turn off the heat

While the grits are cooking:

• Season 1 1/2 lbs of peeled and deveined shrimp with 1 1/2 tsp of old bay seasoning and juice from half a lemon.
• Remove 2 links of chicken sausage from the casings and saute over medium high heat in a large pan over medium high heat for 5-8 minutes, until fully done and remove to a separate plate (original recipe calls for bacon but I had leftover chicken sausage from the cauliflower casserole I made earlier this week. I really like the fresh chicken sausage from Trader Joes; tastes really good and flavorful even though it's healthier than regular sausage)
• In the same pan, saute the shrimp, about 2-3 minutes on each side, flipping once, until done. Remove to another bowl with any liquid and drizzle with juice from half a lemon
• Melt 1-2 TB of butter and 1-2 TB of olive oil over medium high heat and saute 1 whole onion, chopped, until soft, about 7 minutes. Add leaves from a few sprigs of thyme and 3 cloves of minced garlic for the last minute
• Add 2 TB of flour and stir everything together well. Then add 1/2 a cup of white wine until the white wine is fully absorbed
• Add 1 cup of chicken stock and simmer for a few minutes. Season to taste with salt and red pepper flakes. Then lower the heat and add back the shrimp and sausage until everything is heated through
• Serve the shrimp, sausage gravy over the creamy grits and garnish with some fresh chopped green onions

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Balsamic Vinegar

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and cut of the bottoms and halve 1 lb of brussels sprouts
• Scatter on a large sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil, salt, red pepper flakes and pepper. Make sure to not overcrowd the sheet pan or else the vegetables will steam and get soggy, not nicely roasted
• Roast in the oven for 20-30 minutes until done
• Put the brussels sprouts into a serving dish and drizzle with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar