Sunday, November 7, 2010

Corkbar: Test Kitchen Tuesdays, Gougeres, and Pork Sliders

This warm and spacious downtown wine bar is designed by Ana Henton (who also designed Intelligentsia Venice), with nice touches like the hanging shelves of empty wine bottles.

Corkbar, Downtown Los Angeles

Corkbar's wine list is dedicated to California wines, and so is their beer list for the most part. The food menu changes seasonally with some mainstay items. I was invited by their PR to taste their new Fall menu, although since I have never been, I tried a lot of their somewhat permanent items.

Every Tuesday, Corkbar holds what's called TKT or Test Kitchen Tuesdays, where Chef Albert Aviles will try out and serve a new dish for just $2. Last week it was a bowl of Chile Verde, for which chef Aviles even called his mother for her recipe.
Chile Verde
Chili meets chile verde for a hearty, spicy bowl. For $2, they gave very generous portions.

One don't-miss appetizer is the Cheddar Cheese Gougeres ($7)
Cheddar Gougeres

Thursday, November 4, 2010

An Appeal: Donate to Indonesia Disaster Victims

You may know that Indonesia, my home country, has been hit with three natural disasters in the past month, from earthquake and tsunami to volcano eruption. I'd like to take a page in this blog to raise awareness and hope to get some people to make a donation for the victims of these disasters.

smoke burning
 Villages covered in ash after Merapi volcano eruption
Photo by satria_adi1

The 7.7 magnitude earthquake and 3m (that's 10 feet) tsunami in Mentawai, Sumatra now has a toll of 400 deaths and 300 missing, with hundreds still injured. Six villages were destroyed and about 12,800 people are currently living in camps. Building temporary shelters, feeding and healing the victims, as well as rebuilding what once was a surfer's paradise will require a lot of help and resources.

If you'd like to make a donation to the Mentawai victims, you can do so through SurfAid International
 or Food for the Hungry.

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The Merapi volcano in Central Java (one of the most active volcanoes in the world) erupted yet again yesterday, spewing hot smoke all day long. This was the fourth eruption since it first erupted just a little over a week ago. On top of the death and injured tolls, about 20,000 people have been evacuated from their homes which may have been burnt or covered in ash. That's 20,000 people who will need shelter, food, and medicine. Worse yet, they fear Merapi will continue to erupt over the next month.

If you would like to help the injured and evacuated children victims of Merapi, you can donate through Save the Children.

Any of your help would be greatly appreciated by these victims.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Star(Chef)-Studded Iron Chef Dinner at Sashi

This past summer, Chef Makoto Okuwa of Sashi in Manhattan Beach challenged Chef Michael Symon on Food Network's show Iron Chef. This wasn't the first time Chef Okuwa is on the Iron Chef show, as he was actually Iron Chef Morimoto's sous chef before opening Sashi, but this was the first time he's there on his own.

To celebrate his appearance, Sashi set up a special dinner filled with superstar chefs including Iron Chef Morimoto himself, Top Chef Master Michael Voltaggio (who lives nearby and is a big fan of Sashi), Noriyuki Sugie (Ironnori/Breadbar), chef Sonny Sweetman (Exec chef of Wolfgang Puck), and chef Waylynn Lucas (Exec pastry chef of Patina).

Iron Chef Morimoto

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