Grubtrotters

There’s a new website for pizza lovers called PizzaShare that allows users to pick their favorite pizza joints in the area and share that news with others. The concept looks a lot like Sportsfanlive.com’s feature FanFinder, which allows users to find sports bars in their area where fellow fans gather to watch the game. I quickly searched Venice, Calif. and found a handful of listings, including Abbot’s Pizza, for which I cast my vote. It only allowed me to vote once for Abbot’s, which is probably good. Prevents gaming the system. Village Pizzeria seemed to have the most support in the LA area, but there were many pizzerias not yet in the website’s database. This may be a good thing, but some huge chains like Pizza Hut and California Pizza Kitchen were nowhere to be found. On the other hand, neither were many of the restaurants that serve delicious pizza, but are not specifically pizzerias, such as Gjelina in Venice, Riva in Santa Monica and Angeli Caffe in LA. Anyone can add a restaurant to the database, but without reviews, I’m not sure this site is as useful as Yelp. I suppose if enough people populate it, it could be another great resource. Especially if you’re out of town and jonesing for a decent slice. If you’re wondering who wins in New York, by the way, Mr. Bruno’s Pizza and Grimaldi are currently in the lead. – Jenny

Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer

“True Blood” co-stars and real-life romantic partners Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer lunched on the back patio of Gjelina Tuesday. I’m loathe to share that “news,” given that my favorite new neighborhood joint is crowded enough as it is.  I was enjoying a meal of Jidori chicken there with Curtis Duffy, chef at The Peninsula hotel’s Chicago’s restaurant, Avenues, which received a perfect four stars from the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times. He and his wine director Michael Muser are in town sampling the cuisine at restaurants such as Michael Mina’s XIV, Fraiche, Comme Ca, Sona, The Bazaar and Providence. I can’t wait to make it back to Chicago to try a meal by Duffy, who worked previously for Chicago icons Charlie Trotter And Grant Achatz of Alinea.

They shared a few interesting foodie gossip tidbits at our meal. Turns out the Wall Street Journal had been planning a story on Jidori chicken, which is sometimes called the Wagyu beef of chickens. Duffy serves Jidori chicken at Avenues, and they’re supposedly pampered and raised in such purity you can eat the chicken raw. (Not that anyone would ever test that theory.) Anyway, this has not been confirmed by my friends at the Journal, but rumor has it the paper spiked the story because the suppliers of Jidori chicken didn’t want to talk. They claimed their product is in such demand from top chefs that they really don’t want or need any more business that a publicity onslaught might bring.

Of course, anytime someone shies away from press coverage, I get a little suspicious. Are their chickens really as fresh and pure as they say?  It’s hard to know if they won’t let the media inspect their farms and processing plants. Sounds like the job for an intrepid undercover reporter. Stay tuned. — Jenny

Fogo Photo From Lacitybeat.com

We’d like to give a shout out to Lesley Balla, former writer/editor of Eater LA, who is launching a new food blog called Chow Balla. At Eater LA, Lesley pretty much kicked ass — constantly breaking food stories, seemingly everywhere at once. She made Eater LA a must read for food news and gossip addicts. Everyone will miss her there, but Balla junkies need not despair. In addition to her new food blog, she’s now editor of TastingTable LA, a new e-mail newsletter. So sign up for the latest food dish.

And while we’re on the topic of food sites, I must offer a ridiculously, embarrassingly — I hate adverbs, but in this case, they’re warranted — belated thanks to FoodDigger.com, a cool new site that hosted us at a dinner back in October at the all-you-can eat Brazilian churrascaria steakhouse Fogo de Chao. There we were lucky enough to meet fellow food bloggers Wandering Chopsticks, The Foodie Traveler, Teenage Glutster, kevinEats and Famished L.A.

Vic and I first visited Fogo together in Chicago six years ago after a group of fellow journalism instructors had a contest to pick the restaurant for a night on the town. Victor, who had visited the Fogo outside Dallas, won the contest with his campaign of “unlimited salad, unlimited meat. Did I say unlimited?” Its proximity to the Blue Frog karaoke bar was also a plus. Since then, we have make a habit of visiting the Chicago Fogo nearly every summer, and I’m happy to report that the Beverly Hills outlet offers just as gluttonous an experience.

We keep thinking that any day now, they might not let us come back…that Victor’s picture will be hanging behind the hostess stand like a Wanted poster. Anyone who has seen him in action knows that he could easily put Fogo out of business with his appetite for bacon-wrapped filet mignon, rump roast, garlic beef, lamb chops and chicken legs. I love the concept of little green and red coasters that tell the gaucho servers when to swoop in with their swords of meat. The start of the meal is always like a meat swarm, truly a vegan’s worst nightmare. Eventually, things calm down, but about an hour after everyone else has finished, Victor usually has his coaster still on green. He calmly chews his meat and asks for more. He has earned such a reputation among our friends that they have urged us to name our first child Fogo.

The man truly has a bottomless stomach, but he does have a strategy. Eat a hearty breakfast, and then nibble the rest of the day and work out hard at the gym mid-afternoon to keep the metabolism revved and to build up an appetite. The classic rookie mistake is overloading on the salad bar, which is tempting because it’s so extensive and tasty. Take it easy there, and save room for the big-ticket (i.e. meat) items. You can always go back to the salad bar. And while the cheese puffs are delicious, they can fill you up fast. You want to get your money’s worth, and Fogo ain’t cheap. Take just one bite for flavor, and don’t forget to save room for the tres leches cake and the papaya cream. There’s no shame in having to waddle out. — Jenny.

You’ve probably heard the term, “Never trust a skinny chef.” But in LA, chefs often have to be camera ready. You never know when the Food Network might call. This city is full of beautiful chefs serving food to beautiful people, and I’ve always wondered how they manage to stay so trim amid all that temptation. Then one night while watching late-night TV, I ran across Ford’s Filling Station’s new chef, Kristi Ritchey, in an infomercial for Barry’s Boot Camp. She was touting the fact that she’d lost 100 pounds.

I decided to dig a little deeper and came up with this piece that will appear in Monday’s LA Times. The answer, of course, is working out really hard and watching what you eat — unless you’re Table 8 Chef Govind Armstrong, who is blessed with an inability to gain weight no matter what he eats. But what surprised me most is how many chefs refuse to eat their own food.

Here’s Page Moll, chef at the beachcomber Cafe in Malibu: “I’ll make you a great crème brûlée or flourless cake, but I’m not going to eat it.”

“Every dish we do we taste over and over,” says Sona and Comme Ca Chef David Myers. “You get sick of it.”

I suppose I can identify. Back in college, I had a summer job at Billy Bakers in San Pedro. Oat bran muffins were all the rage at the time. For years after leaving that job, I couldn’t eat another muffin. The thought made me cringe. In fact, the first muffins I truly have enjoyed since then were the fresh ones baked every day on a recent Wilderness Safaris trip to the Kalahari Plains Camp and the Okavanga Delta in Botswana. Enough time and distance from the saturation source, I suppose. Plus, those muffins were goooood.

So if cooking is an appetite suppressant, maybe those who want to lose weight should get a job in a kitchen. Then again, if you have a serious sweet tooth or issues with impulse control, that strategy just might backfire. Here’s Kristi Ritchey: “There were definitely times after a workout — I’m not going to lie — there were a few days when I ate cheesecake for breakfast.”

Good to know that chefs are only human. — Jenny

Victor and I had the pleasure of checking out AK Restaurant + Bar this week, another relatively new hot spot on Abbot Kinney in Venice from former Four Seasons chef Conny Andersson.  We enjoyed a cool beer tasting featuring a selection of brews from around the globe paired with various dishes. I’m more of a wine gal, but Victor, given his many years as a sports reporter (and now editor of the website SportsFanLive.com), is definitely a beer guy. Beer snob may be a better term. He won’t let me touch his collection of Sierra Nevada Celebration Ales. In any case, we both thought the concept of beer pairing was an entertaining change of pace.

My favorites were the complex German pilsner Konig paired with a chilled seafood appetizer, and the Japanese Hitachino Nest white ale, a light, bright and citrusy compliment to the perfectly cooked duck breast in a black pepper honey gastrique. Vic was partial to the Cupaca Mexican pale ale,  which he described as “fruity and hoppy.” The Sing Ha lager was decent, but nothing special, given that I’ve had it at dozens of Thai restaurants before. The Vietnamese pilsner Hue just didn’t hold up in this crowd when it came to flavor, strength and complexity. And the Belgium ale Maredsous 8 was too sweet when I first took a sip but tasted great with a bite of mac & cheese.

Our first reaction to AK as a whole was mixed. Given the timing of its opening, the similarities and proximity to Gjelina, I couldn’t stop myself from comparing the two. It didn’t help that it was a frigid night, and we sat close to the door, which wouldn’t close all the way on its own. We were cold. While drinking cold beer. Vic kept getting up and shutting the door himself. The overall feeling of the place left me cooler than Gjelina, even though it was hopping. Perhaps it’s the mid-century modern design. The original Earo Saarinen chairs are incredibly stylish and comfy. And the glass walls overlooking bamboo, the glass-enclosed fire feature, the communal tables in the bar are all very lovely. But I found the spare, clean lines of mid-century modernism a bit chilly on this winter night. The little upstairs nook of a terrace looks a lot cozier and more private, and I think I would have preferred it.

The food, too, was up and down. Both of our entrees were wonderful. The duck and the king salmon with grilled fennel and a honey mustard glaze were both outstanding –  moist and tender. The plating was gorgeous, the flavors divine. However, the steamed blue mussels starter was disappointing. Not terrible, but again, the ones at Gjelina are such much better. The dish needed something, maybe garlic? Spanish chorizo in the sauce was a little tough and chewy, although I have to say the tiny toasts covered in pistachio parsley pesto were a great idea. The buratta cheese and prosciutto appetizer with marinated peppers is always a favorite, and the cheese was silky and smooth. But it just didn’t wow me. And while the mac & cheese with chorizo, ham and manchego was yummy, the ricotta gnocchi was just bland. The crunchy texture of the chestnuts didn’t help the dish at all. Again, I couldn’t help but compare it to Evan Kleiman’s amazing ricotta gnocchi at Angeli Caffe, which we served at our wedding. Her buttery gnocchi is so wonderful that eating it is almost an orgasmic experience. This gnocchi inspired in me a Larry David-like expression of ambivalence, which frankly, I don’t know how to spell. “Eehhhh?” That’s the closest I can get.

Of course, I’d rather have a mediocre starter and side dish than a bad entree, and the entrees definitely delivered. So did the desserts. The chocolate obsession was filled with a river of gewey molten chocolate.  Mmmm, mmmm. It was almost identical to a dessert I ate at the Four Seasons in Bora Bora two weeks ago after winning a four-night stay there as a door prize at a party. (Mom always said I was lucky.) Given Andersson’s Four Seasons background, I suspect he knew he had a winner on his hands with that one. The raspberry sorbet was also delish.

I’m not going to be too quick to judge AK just yet. Andersson is Swedish, and I have yet to try his Swedish dishes, such as the meatballs and the salmon gravlax — both of which the Los Angeles Times food critic raved about in her recent review. So I’ll be back to AK, I’m sure.  On a warmer night next time. And perhaps I’ll try the wine. — Jenny

AK Restaurant + Bar: 1633 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, 310-392-6644.

We are very excited to report that Kristi Ritchey has started a new gig as chef de cuisine at Ford’s Filling Station in Culver City. The former Murano chef joined Ford’s Wednesday after spending some time consulting for Greenleaf Gourmet Chopshop in Beverly Hills. We’re big fans, and we’re happy to see her land at a restaurant closer to us. I suspect we’ll be visiting Ford’s more often now. You can check out Kristi in action in this week’s LA Times Health section, too.