Heirloom LA Launches Food Truck

Heirloom LA is not just any food truck. Matthew Poley brings his experience working for Gino Angelini into his homemade pastas, his famous lasagna cupcakes, and everything else from a braised brisket to pork belly. Tara Maxey, in charge of the sweets, honed her skills working at Cake Monkey Bakery.

Heirloom LA started off as a catering company, so their food so far might have eluded many people, except for a somewhat brief stint at Intelligentsia Pasadena, but now you can find them roaming the streets of LA with their new truck, powered by Windows Phone. They held a preview party last week at Bar Covell, which I happily attended (lasagna cupcakes!)

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Sotto: Beyond the Test Kitchen

Chefs Steve Samson and Zach Pollack (formerly of Pizzeria Ortica in Costa Mesa) recently opened up Sotto on the first floor of the old Test Kitchen space. Sotto focuses its menu on Southern Italian cuisine with a wood-burning Neapolitan pizza oven.

After hearing great reviews, I finally made my visit. The Test Kitchen space looks quite different now, but it was just as packed (and a little loud).

We started the meal with tomato-braised octopus ai ferri, chickpeas, preserved lemon, chard, bottarga ($14)

Sorry, David Chang, I like my "rustic Italian shit" including this one. There's just something about a hearty tomato-based dish, especially with this tender octopus and the chard.

Casarecce, braised lamb ragu, egg, pecorino ($15)

Casarecce, which means "homemade", is basically a short, partially rolled pappardelle. They're rolled loosely and look like scrolls. Al dente and almost chewy, it's hard to imagine what would go better with these pasta than chunky lamb ragu.

Grilled lamb ribs in agrodolce, sesame seeds, mustard green salad ($22)

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Snowiest Cities and Sam Adams' Summer Ale

The past winter, Columbia, Missouri had 51.6 inches of snow, making it the snowiest city in the US. Boston brewery Sam Adams decided to help by hosting a "Summer in a Bottle" party, hosted by brewer Dean Gianocostas. The party will be held on May 3 (that's tomorrow!), complete with grilling and beach photo backdrop. Lucky Columbia residents can win tickets through local promotions. They will also send summer ales to the 2nd through 10th snowiest cities.

Los Angeles certainly was not one of the snowiest city, but I received a special Summer Ale delivery anyway. According to Sam Adams, the Summer Ale was "brewed with lemon zest and grains of paradise, a centuries-old exotic African pepper." I was curious and googled it. Wikipedia says the pepper is a native West African plant, also commonly known as melegueta pepper, not to be confused with the South American malagueta pepper.

It wasn't as peppery as I had expected, just a hint below the citrus flavor. The golden-colored beer was crisp with a richer aftertaste, and only a touch hoppy which made it very drinkable for me. I'm sure I'm completely biased here since I drank one after a 7-hour bartending gig, but it was quite refreshing! Nothing like a glass of cold, crisp ale to revive you, right?