He's the king and he's got a crown to prove it

I am not ashamed to say that despite my mother’s diversionary tactics, I partook of many a processed “snack cake” as a child.  In Boston area grocery stores and Cumberland Farms, we had access to various and sundry sweet treats from two “bakeries” (yes, I use that term very generously): Hostess, known first and foremost for its Twinkie; and Drake’s Cakes, whose signature Devil Dog was the holy grail of the school lunch dessert.  (And to all you people who grew up in Jersey or Philly, I do know about Tastykake, but I’m sorry, Butterscotch Krimpets just don’t cut it.)

Ring a ding ding

Since childhood, I have considered myself a connoisseur of the cream-filled, chocolate-iced devil’s food cake, known both as the Ding Dong (Drake’s) and the Ring Ding (Hostess).  In one later iteration, the treat became known as the “King Don”, whose mustached mascot is pictured above.  Wrapped in the most delicate of aluminum foil, bathed in icing that left an Exxon Valdez slick on the roof of your mouth, and filled with something called “cream” but surely lacking any ingredient close to a dairy product, these little babies nevertheless made my heart sing.

Now that I am middle-aged and unable to gorge myself on junk food without crippling bouts of self-loathing and intestinal distress (TMI), I am forced to be much more discerning in my snack cake choices. Quite honestly, I went for years without indulging in sweets, opting for french fries and red wine when the situation required.

That was until I found Cake Monkey.

The "Awesomewich"

Take a gander at their Cakewich.  This little guy is a chocolate cake sandwich filled with vanilla cream and Valrhona crunchy pearls (a truly sublime addition), covered in bittersweet chocolate.  Complete with the aluminum foil wrapper, it was everything I remembered my childhood Ding Dongs to be, except all grown-up and gourmet-like.  They are sweet without being cloying, possess the right ratio of cake to cream filling (this is key for all snack cakes), and do not fall apart or slide when bitten into. They taste even more amazing when refrigerated.  And for those weirdos among you who do not care for chocolate (I’m sure you have your reasons), they also have peanut butter & marshmallow and red velvet versions (both delicious).

Cake Monkey treats (which go way beyond the Cakewich – check out their website for the full rundown) are baked fresh to order, can be delivered in the Los Angeles area, and are available for shipping nationwide.  Many of their products are also available at local restaurants and bakeries.  I found mine at a fantastic Toluca Lake establishment called SweetSalt Food Shop, located on Riverside Drive.  Perhaps at a later date I’ll swap out my ‘wich for one of the restaurant’s savory versions, but for the time being, I’m working my way through dessert.  I’ll let you know when I get to the Yodels.

The Candy Man can!

For all of you hot-weather athletes (and sideline hypoglycemics) out there, I have a great little product to help pick you up during those unfortunate – and often rather uncomfortable – moments of low blood sugar levels.  They’re called Shot Blok Energy Chews from Clif Bar.  About the size of cherry tomatoes, they are tasty little gummies that come in packs of 6, available in 8 different fruity flavors. Each blok purports to replace electrolytes and carbs lost over long-term training or racing.   Check out their flavors and nutritionals here.

While I don’t run marathons or scale Mount Everest, I have used Shot Bloks during particularly long and hot tennis matches, when things have started looking a little fuzzy around the edges.  I must say, they were very helpful.  They’ve got several things going for them: they taste good (almost just like a gummy candy), are easy to eat (unlike the ponderous energy bars that make your mouth feel like it’s been spackled), and they kick in pretty darn quick.

Mountain Berry and Tropical Punch are my favorite flavors.  Any cocktail lovers out there might want to try the Margarita version, which packs in 3 times the amount of sodium of the regular chews (good for when you’re on the verge of cramping up, or pining away for Taco Tuesday at Gringos Locos).  I haven’t tried that flavor myself, so I’d be interested to hear from you if it’s any good.  There are also bloks that pack in a little shot of caffeine if you’re feeling sleepy.

So no more excuses for withering during your athletic endeavors!   Throw a couple of packs of these babies in your bag, and you’re good to go for the long run.

Don't let the purple fool you

A friend of mine from Columbus, Ohio used to speak in solemn tones about the best ice cream in the world, which happened to be made in her hometown.  Mention Graeter’s Ice Cream to Ohioans, and you’ll be met with superlatives not unlike the following: “Best ice cream ever”; “The Black Raspberry Chip will knock your socks off”; “Forget Jeni’s! Graeter’s kicks butt!” (the latter statement has sparked many a heated debate).   My friend even went so far as to Fed Ex quarts of the stuff to friends for Christmas.

I was fortunate to receive one of said quarts a few Christmases ago.  It was the Black Raspberry Chip (pictured above), a flavor which I must admit has ranked at the bottom of my ice cream roster, along with Rum Raisin and Daiquiri Ice.  After a few spoonfuls, however, my lineup was upended.  It was fantastic.  Its unnaturally bright purple hue belied a subtle, tangy berry flavor. The “chips” turned out to be substantial chunks of soft, creamy milk chocolate – not the waxy pucks I was accustomed to as a child.  The fruit and the chocolate played off of each other perfectly and made me beckon for more.

And yet my happiness was short-lived.  Oh, the sadness I felt when my spoon scraped the bottom of that little paper container…would I not enjoy such cold, creamy goodness until the next gift-giving cycle?

Pillars of delight

Weep not, La Cañadans.  We need not wait for our Ohioan friends to Fed Ex us little pints of pleasure anymore:  Graeter’s Ice Cream is now available at your local Ralphs! I almost wouldn’t have believed it, were it not for another friend in town who lovingly brought four flavors (Butter Pecan, Coconut Chip, Toffee Chip and Mocha Chocolate Chip – all outstanding, although I believe the Coconut Chip received the most accolades) to our Memorial Day gathering.   It was a beautiful thing.  Graeter’s is now and will be a staple at all summer barbecues.

And fall potlucks.  And holiday parties.

Pick up a pint and see.  You’ll be hooked.

*For readers outside of the La Canada area, you can visit the Graeter’s website, enter your zip code in the right hand column, and they’ll tell you the closest market that carries their product.   Hope you can find it nearby!

Hello, everyone.  Remember me?  After a very busy year, which was not without its share of fantastic meals, I have returned to the blogosphere.  Sorry I disappeared for a while.  Good news is, I have built up a rather large backlog of food reviews that I will roll out over the next few weeks.  Stay tuned for new and tasty reports from eateries around town!

What inspired me to return to lcfoodie.com was an outstanding flatbread pizza that I enjoyed this afternoon at Atwater Crossing Wood Fire Kitchen.  Thanks to a recent article at Tasting Table (a fantastic foodie website & daily email service, btw), I made a trek to this little culinary hideaway in an industrial park-ish complex tucked between Glendale Avenue, San Fernando Road & Fletcher Drive.  The kitchen’s menu is simple: thin crust flatbreads with a nice array of savory toppings, fired up fresh to order.

"Wild" flatbread

I chose the “Wild” version, which came with pesto sauce, a hearty covering of fontina cheese, and chunky roasted wild mushrooms.  The crust was chewy and crunchy where it needed to be, the ratio of cheese to sauce was ideal, and the mushrooms were roasted perfectly – not overcooked to squishiness, but roasted long enough to bring out their earthy flavor.

I was able to talk briefly with the owner, who described the other flatbread choices with great glee, as if each one were a culinary adventure in and of itself.  A sure standout is the “Bastourma” (my choice for the next visit), which offers cured beef, sheep’s cheese from Cyprus and a pistachio-arugula pesto.   I am also keen to try the “Ratatouille”, chock-full of roasted vegetables and topped with fresh goat cheese.

For now, the Atwater Crossing Wood Fire Kitchen is only open Monday through Friday from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm.  By mid- to late-September, their bar (which is open and airy, a great place to enjoy dinner on a warm fall evening) will be open at night.  I, for one, will be looking to bring some friends so that I might sample all of the offerings this little gem of a restaurant has to offer.

I just got home from a fantastic tour of Taiwanese food in Arcadia.  Organized by Six Taste, a super cool company that runs outings to six Los Angeles neighborhoods (including Thai Town, Little Tokyo and Santa Monica, to name a few), the tour included stops at local food purveyors along with an excellent tutorial on Taiwanese cuisine, dining traditions and cultural history.  Our tour guide Mike was full of interesting facts, funny stories and upbeat energy.

The highlight of the day was Din Tai Fung, a juggernaut of Taiwanese dumpling deliciousness.

Steamed pork dumplings

The xiao long bao (above) were beautiful little packages of pork in a slightly chewy, al dente (or “Q”, as the Taiwanese like to call it) dough.   Holding the dumpling over a plastic spoon, we were instructed to take a small bite out of the casing, which released a little pool of flavorful broth which you could sip on its own before eating the meat.  A pungent mix of Taiwanese balsamic vinegar and freshly julienned ginger provided a tangy dipping sauce on the side, if you wanted to kick it up a notch.  We also feasted on stir-fried rice cakes, pork & sticky rice shaomai (below) and taro dessert dumplings.

Pork & sticky rice shaomai

All you foodies out there need to check these tours out.  Six Taste just celebrated its one-year anniversary, and as a young company in a tough economic climate, they need all the support they can get.  (Check out Yelp for loads of great reviews of their tours.)  Next on my list is the Financial District, which includes a potpourri of cuisines along with loads of interesting architectural and historical info about downtown L.A.   The guide of that tour, Tracy, was on our tour today, and she is a font of wisdom about Los Angeles and beyond.  Anyone care to join me?

Take the Nestea plunge

When the thermometer blows way past 90 and the air is dry as dirt, I find myself yearning for that perfect, thirst-quenching summer drink.  I imagine a tall sparkling glass, glinting in the sunshine, loaded with ice and filled to the brim with a bracingly cold, smooth beverage that defies the heat. Sweating tiny droplets of condensation, it delivers you from sweaty, sticky, buggy afternoons with a single sip.

While a good old Diet Coke on ice or a bottle of Corona straight out of the cooler will do the trick in a pinch, I occasionally like to aim higher for a more inspired – dare I say sublime? – summer libation.   I have had two excellent cocktails in the past few weeks that fall into that category.  The first was the Summer Margarita at Casa Cocina & Cantina in downtown Los Angeles.  A refreshing concoction of muddled honeydew melon, cucumber and cilantro, mixed with their excellent house tequila, and poured into a martini glass rimmed with salt, it was – as the name promised – summer in a glass.  Pair it with their outrageous pork belly sopes, and you’d swear you were sitting on the beach somewhere on the Mexican Riviera.  Riquísimo.

Does this count as a salad?

On a completely different geographical wavelength, but equally as tasty, is the Basil Cucumber Collins at Roy’s in Pasadena.  Their balmy beverage includes Square One Certified Organic Cucumber Vodka muddled with basil, fresh lime juice and is topped with club soda.  Not too sweet nor overpoweringly alcohol-y, it was a perfect compliment to my sashimi appetizer and fresh fish entree.  It was hard to limit myself to just one.

Given our unseasonably cool summer so far (whoever heard of July gloom?), I hope the folks at Casa and Roy’s extend their summer drink offerings well into the fall, so we can sip these beauties when it’s 100 degrees in October.  Cheers!

The new Panera at the LC Town Center

I recently visited our newest local La Cañada restaurant, Panera Bread, and wrote a review of my lunch experience for thereallacanada.com.  Check it out here.  (And check out the whole website – it has loads of good info about what’s up in LCF.)

Spinach tart w/ snap pea salad

I was invited to a lovely lunch last week with a friend who has scoped out nearby restaurants that use locally grown, sustainable, organic ingredients.  She introduced me to an Eagle Rock eatery called Four Café – named for the seasons that its menu dutifully follows.  At our meal, we chose from a lineup that was bursting forth with vibrant springtime veggies, fragrant cheeses and gorgeous baked goods.

That's a day's worth of veggies right there

I started out with a creamless asparagus soup with a sprinkling of diced red onions and a splash of California olive oil floating on top.  It was flavorful and filling, a bowlful of spring.  My main course was a spinach and goat cheese tart, which was gorgeous in its simplicity.  My friend had a spectacular salad of snap peas, feta cheese and capers, along with a spicy beef brisket chili.  Four Café’s natural drink offerings are refreshingly tasty – I was able to forgo my daily Diet Coke without much grumbling.  I chose a lovely honey iced tea, but am eager to return to try their natural sodas (the peach gingerade on their summer menu is at the top of my list).

Apple & almond heaven

And while the main courses were excellent for their superior flavors, they were all the more appreciated for a pleasingly low calorie count.  I must admit that I planned this lunch out backwards, working from the desserts first.  Offered on this day was an array of cookies, brownies, cakes and pastries that required serious strategic planning, so as to get the appropriate chocolate:fruit:chewy:crispy ratio.  (This was no small feat, let me tell you.)  We went with two cookies (chocolate chip – warm and chewy, fresh out of the oven – and a crumbly lavender shortbread that was nothing short of teatime bliss) and a sublime apple and almond paste tart with a flaky, buttery crust to die for.

It was a perfect little lunch, with a beginning, middle and end.  And like all seasons, my meal has come and gone.  But thanks to the folks at Four, I can look forward to the promise of new tasty treats throughout the year – my own annual cycle of culinary renewal.

Trader Joe's Omega Trek Mix

This is the best-tasting trek mix I’ve found that doesn’t contain anything yogurty, peanut buttery or chocolate-covered.  Why, you ask, would you want a trail mix without those delectables?  Cause I feel better when I eat it, ok?  I can go over to See’s Candies and get a pound of toffee-ettes if I’m looking for that kind of fix, thank you very much.

This combo has walnuts, pistachios, omega 3-fortified dried cranberries, pepitas, pecans and almonds, with a healthy dash of salt to give it a perfect savory-sweet taste.   Trader Joe’s also pre-packages it into perfect little snack packs for those of us who can’t be bothered to do it ourselves.  Great for the car or on the go.

I am going to take this opportunity, as the sun peeks out after two dreary May days, to highlight a lovely little Mexican restaurant I discovered recently called El Sol.  Located in a little shopping center on Honolulu in western Montrose/La Crescenta (and next-door neighbor to my new weekly hangout, the Wishy Washy coin laundromat), El Sol is a family-run restaurant that serves up tasty homemade Mexican-American dishes.  With only eight or ten tables and booths covered with plastic floral tablecloths, it’s a cozy, homey place. And the food tastes like someone’s mom or grandma made it.

Pork huaraches

In my two visits, I have enjoyed warm tortilla chips with a fresh, slightly spicy salsa; tortilla soup made with loads of fresh veggies, like zucchini, squash and carrots; and huaraches con carnitas, which are flat, slightly thick corn tortillas topped with beans, cheese, roasted pork, cool and crisp shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, fresh cilantro, guacamole and a dollop of sour cream.  (The last dish was a daily special, but the owner assured me that its popularity will make it a standard menu item soon.  Excellent.)  Every dish I tried at El Sol was flavorful, light and well-seasoned; in contrast to your run-of-the-mill Mexican restaurants, the food wasn’t greasy, over-sauced or drowning in melted cheese.  I found that to be a welcome alternative.

This is a little diamond in the rough, so you need to check it out.  Thank goodness my washing machine will be out of service for a couple more months and I’ll have to make weekly treks to the laundromat.  Forget fluff & fold – mamita’s got some eating to do.