Top Chef Shocker

Hosea? Really?? If Carla was the dark horse of Top Chef, Hosea was the beige one: good enough, I suppose, but in a boring sort of way. Seriously, did anyone see that coming? Anyway, the real highlight for me, of course, was the return of Marcel Vignerone, the rapping molecular gastronome with the Wolverine coiffure from Season 2. Incidentally, Marcel is sous chef at The Bazaar at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, which got a 4-star review last week. Someday...

Another highlight of last night’s finale brought to you by the Glad family of products was actually being invited for dinner by my brother, who used to invite himself over for dinner at our house every Wednesday until he moved into his newly renovated home about a year ago. In honor of both Padma and this week's Oscar wins for Slumdog Millionaire, Daniel cooked up an Indian feast of chicken korma, eggplant curry, channa masala, and brown basmati rice. The only thing he cheated on was the naan, bought frozen from Trader Blows, I mean, Joe’s. Everything was delicious.



Here’s Daniel’s easy eggplant curry recipe:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Cut a large eggplant in half lengthwise and rub the cut sides with some salt. Brush a pan with olive oil, put the halves cut side down, and roast the eggplant for 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, mince a medium onion and sautée with garlic, turmeric, coriander, cumin, and salt.
Once the eggplant is done, scoop the flesh out from the skin and put in a blender or food processor.
Blend with the onion mixture and a chopped tomato.
Voila.

Catch of the Day

Handmade ceramic pitcher, found at Goodwill in Victorville, California

Booze Traveler

Photo by Hane C. Lee

If there’s anything I enjoy as much as food, it’s booze, in particular, bourbon. Originating in the 1800s in what is now Kentucky, bourbon was declared by the U.S. Congress in 1964 a “distinctive product of the United States”—the same way Scotch whiskey is distinctive of Scotland or champagne is distinctive of Champagne, France. Not only does it have to be made from at least 51% corn and aged for at least 2 years in new, charred oak barrels (which gives the liquor its unique taste and lovely amber color), but it also has to be distilled within these United States to be classified as bourbon, making it about the most American spirit you can sip.

While bourbon is now made commercially in a dozen different states from New York to Colorado, to gain a true appreciation for our nation’s spiritual heritage, Kentucky is the place to be. And if you ever get the chance to tour bourbon country, an essential first stop is the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History in Bardstown, bourbon capital of the world.


Glencoe Distillery personnel

Getz was a Chicago businessman who cofounded Barton Brands, a whiskey broker, after the end of Prohibition in 1933. The following decade, Barton bought the Tom Moore distillery in Bardstown, and Getz started amassing historic whiskey artifacts and memorabilia. Originally housed in his own office at the distillery, his collection was donated by his wife to Bardstown to establish the museum after his death in 1983. The museum now resides at Spaulding Hall, built circa 1826 as a college and seminary and subsequently used as a Civil War hospital, an orphanage, and a boys’ prep school.

This poster is Prohibition propaganda, but to me, the graphic looks like "Sad World + Booze = Happy World."


Even during the dark days of Prohibition, there were ways around the law. These labels specify that the contents within were to be used for medicinal purposes only.

The medical marijuana of its time

I'm not sure how long this was on the market:

For the exceptionally lazy bartender

This has nothing to do with booze, but Spalding Hall also houses the Bardstown Historical Museum. Check out this Civil War–era front page:


Editing nerds like me will note the hyphen and period!

Eyes on the Pies

Way back in mid-2007, bloggers started buzzing about New York’s Two Boots setting up an outpost in Echo Park adjacent to indie-rock emporium the Echo. With fond memories of the pizzeria from when I was a poor postcollegian bumming around NYC, I looked forward to having another option for a good slice. The amazing Vito’s was long gone (though it had reopened much farther west, on La Cienega), and Il Capriccio had just debuted its pizza offshoot a few months previous to wildly divergent reviews. Of the old standbys, Palermo was passable, but Nicky D’s was pricey and overrated, while Hard Times had become Truly Crappy Times.

More than a year and a half later, Two Boots has finally opened. But in the meantime, so has Garage, Andiamo, Tomato Pie, Lucifer’s, and Cruzer. Pizza Buona, a mere 2 blocks away from Two Boots, is a 50-year-old institution with a loyal clientele. Clearly there’s a glut of pizza joints in the Silverlake–Los Feliz–Echo Park environs now, so the timing seemed unfortunate.

It turns out Two Boots was worth the wait. Inspired by the “two boots” of Italy and Louisiana, the petite parlor enlivens traditional New York pizza with innovative concoctions named after pop cultural icons, like The Big Lebowski’s the Dude (Cajun smoked pork, ground beef, cheddar, and mozzarella) and Andy Kaufmann’s infamous alter ego, the Tony Clifton (wild mushrooms, sweet red pepper pesto, Vidalia onions, and mozzarella).


The BIrd

On a recent evening I settled on the Bird, a white pie topped with spicy Buffalo wings, blue cheese dressing, jalapenos, and a shower of scallions. With a perfectly textured thin cornmeal crust, assertive flavors, and a powerful kick, this slice was outstanding. As a comparison, Tomato Pie’s Hot Wing pizza, which combines similar ingredients, is really skimpy on the toppings and relatively bland.


Selection of slices

Some other pizzas my companions tried were, clockwise from top left, the Larry Tate (a white pie with spinach, plum tomatoes, and fresh garlic), the Mr. Pink (marinated chicken, plum tomatoes, fresh garlic, and mozzarella), the Earth Mother (vegetarian on a Sicilian crust; this one apparently has a Bette Midler tie-in, but I don’t know why), and the Cleopatra Jones (sweet Italian sausage, roasted peppers, onions, and mozzarella). All were very well received.


Photo by Hane C. Lee

Aside from the food, it’s really nice to see that after removing the ugly metal siding that had been added in the name of, I don’t know, modernization, they’ve restored the original brick facade and stone arch, framing a pretty patchwork of stained glass. Inside, the colorful vintage glass globe light fixtures, vibrant mural, and jukebox stocked with funk 45s and ’60s and ’70s pop and soul singles make dining in just as appealing as ordering out.