I was out with a gourmand all evening and what an evening it was! But T despite his honest admission of how he loves to eat is an exception in this breed of people because he also takes a a lot of effort in understanding what is in his food and will go to great lengths to replicate something he wants to eat and eat well. Once when in Italy, he spent two weeks with his Italian friend's grandmother understanding how the real semolina pasta and fresh sauce are made. And over dinner today, I got a lowdown about every food and liquer I was eating with him. God bless people who are happy to eat, cook and share their knowledge about food!
We were off to the Farmer's Market but this crazy town begins shutting at 9AM so we settled for a not so great but just about decent Thai on Venice called 'Natalee Thai'. The Surmai squid delight was chilly, for the first time ever and the soup was perfect with the lemon leaves and lemon blended to perfection. I wouldn't recommend this restaurant unless you have no place to go around because it has one of the most confused hostess and a shortage of hands when it comes to bussers. That apart, they often bring out a flaming barbecue very low over your head as you are trying to settle in to your cozy meal.
Next, I drove T to 'The village Idiot' on Martel and Melrose. I found this place with a couple of friends who all love cider and believe it or not unlike the fascination of hard liquor, hard cider hits you very slow after being refreshing for the first half hour or so. The after effect in my case is a lot of laughter, longer conversation , teasing and magic tricks I would never attempt. I love the candle lit feel to the place with its high wooden beams and very East Coast stone look. Sadly though I got a parking violation right after this awesome binge wich took the fizz out of my cider spree :(
We decided to catch a film at Pacific on Culver Blvd but instead landed up in Ugo, a really nice Italian place for great deserts and digestifs. I had the dulci with chocolate ganache and T got his customary espresso sho. Note: caramel infused liquers esp desert wine (dulci) are better than a sambuca or limoncello to go with dark chocolate delights.
We were late for the movies so we decided to drive out to Mulholland. Then it started raining and in LA it's always a fine drizzle that overtakes the entire city. Bad vision and hence this otherwise scenic route was pointless. So at 2AM we decide to drive towards Hollywood. T suddenly starts complaining that I never told him about the Korean eat outs (given I declare I love Kemchi). So we change route and head to 9th and West 3rd and find an all night Korean place where drunk girls in the shortest dresses and boys with side swept bangs ( which would put Justin Bieber's to shame) are all eating hot bubbly rice gruel with eggs dropped in. We walk in and realize this is the first place we should have stoped at. In 15 minutes, we have kemchi (the combo of pickled cabbage, chillies and whatever you can name) with fried fish and rice gruel with hot tofu soup. We chat about all the south east asian cuisine we love, the countries I absolutely need to travel to and our common love for Gerald Durrell and Corfu. Why didn't I ever get to hang out with T in Mumbai?!!!
We are back by 3 AM but not before I get a proper 'Chi' treatment by T himself to alleviate my bad right shoulder. We hug goodnight and decide to take the weekend slower on our stomachs.
I forget how much fun it is to hang out with people born in the late 70s. It's been a tough few days but I think February and more gastronomic adventures through the nooks and crannies of LA instead of the more predictable restaurants is going to keep me going.
Thanks T for awakening the foodie in me once again :)
