Grubtrotters

One Life Natural Natural Foods is a healthy little corner market on Main Street in Santa Monica. I often stop in after my yoga class at Exhale Center for Sacred Movement, when I’m craving clean cuisine. I love their juice bar. You can create any combination you want, and today I ordered organic spinach, beet, carrot, cucumber and ginger juice with a shot of wheatgrass thrown in for good luck. Ginger was the dominant flavor, but it was the mixture of sweet, spicy and bitter that got my blood flowing. They also have great acai smoothies, a deli, and prepared foods from Leaf Cuisine, the raw food restaurant in Culver City, and Sakura, a catering company. I bought a delicious Sakura hiyashi wakami seaweed salad to go with my juice. If you have never tried seaweed, except wrapped around your sushi, it’s crunchy, tastes like the ocean, and it’s surprisingly good. I was feeling the spice, with red peppers adding a nice kick and mellow sesame oil providing some balance. I only wish the portions had been bigger. One Life has had the same owners for almost 30 years, and before that, it was a hippie hangout where people used to give away food. The prices now are a bit steeper than free, but it’s a great spot to pick up some veggies and health foods. They also have a cool upstairs space to devoted to natural herbs and vitamins and alternative cures for whatever ails you. With only one life to live, One Life might just help you extend it. – Jenny

One Life Natural Foods, 3001 Main Street, Santa Monica, 310-392-4501

My wine pick of the day is Rocca Family Vineyards’ 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon, made from organic, estate-grown grapes in Yountville, Napa Valley. This was Rocca’s first Cabernet, and it was just re-released. You can purchase it directly from Rocca for $85, but the supply is limited so there’s a three-bottle limit. Having tasted this wine, I suspect it will go fast despite the price. I recently had the opportunity to meet the owners of Rocca Family Vineyards at a Campinile wine pairing dinner hosted by Mary Rocca, formerly a dentist, and her husband Eric Grigsby, a renowned specialist in pain management. (No, he doesn’t manage peoples’ pain with his wine, although I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt.)

While it’s probably unfair to compare wines when you’re not tasting them side-by-side in a blind tasting, I also attended a special Opus One wine dinner at Whist a couple months ago, and Rocca’s wines hold up against (and even surpass) some of the excellent Opus One cult wines I tasted. I’m not the only one who thinks so, either. A couple of vintages of Rocca’s Cabernets have placed first in blind tasting competitions against some pretty heavy hitters in San Francisco and France.

The ‘01 Cabernet (with 22% Merlot) was blended by winemaker Celia Welch Masyczek. After six years of bottle age, it’s smooth, complex and elegant — a very yummy, drinkable wine. Campinile paired it with sauteed trenne pasta that was crispy and had the look of French fries, as well as beef bolognese, peacock kale and Parmesan. I also enjoyed their earthy 2005 Syrah ($45), which was paired with rabbit sausage, beluga lentils, apples and pea tendrils. Delicious. Napa may not be known for Syrah, but Rocca proves it can be done quite well. Their new winemaker, Paul Colantuoni, a young hipster and Princeton grad who majored in molecular biology and Italian, is a big fan of Syrah so expect to see more of it in the future.

Our third course was a sage and rosemary crusted slices prime rib with creamy, cheesy aligot potatoes, paired with Rocca’s silky 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon ($75). Aged in small French oak barrels for 20 months, the wine is 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 4% Perdit Verdot. Smooth, smooth, smooth. If you can’t get the ‘01 Cabernet, buy this one. I wasn’t quite as impressed with Rocca’s ‘06 Bad Boy Red ($32), except for the hot cowboy on the label, who I learned was Grigsby himself. The Cabernet, Cab Franc and Petit Verdot blend is big and fruity and lacks some of the elegance and complexity of the other wines we tasted. But you might not notice if you’re not drinking them side-by-side, and the price is certainly right.

Grigsby and Rocca also run a foundation training doctors in Malawi, where 20% of the population has AIDS. They help doctors there provide palliative care at the end of life. So while you may be drinking something called Bad Boy, you can feel warm and fuzzy knowing your money went to some good folks who are spreading the love. I’m so grateful I got the chance to meet them. — Jenny

I just had a lovely little lunch with my friend Shelley at The Cabbage Patch, a casual Urth Cafe-esque spot that opened in February on Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills. Much like Urth, you order at the counter, take a number and sit at one of a handful of tiny tables to wait for your food. It’s fresh organic fare in the vein of Tender Greens. The chef is a veteran of Rustic Canyon and Axe, and all his beef, lamb and pork come from Niman Ranch, while his chicken is, of course, Jidori.

Tangent alert: Speaking of Jidori, I finally got to the bottom of the mystery, thanks to reader Jay Weston, who has a restaurant newsletter. Turns out these chickens, which are served by all the best restaurants in LA (and a few outside of LA), come from a company run by Dennis Mao, the chef at Robata-Ya on Sawtelle. I stopped in to Robata-Ya last week to chat with Dennis. Jidori chickens have been called the chicken equivalent of Kobe beef, but there’s really nothing all that mysterious or exceptional about them. Locavores like Jidori because they’re free-range, grain-fed chickens raised in California without hormones or steroids. They’re also shipped within 24 hours of slaughter, meaning they’re fresh. However, they’re not organic, nor are they massaged daily or treated like some kind of chicken royalty, as some people seem to believe. Mao says you can, indeed, eat his chicken rare, although I don’t really want to test that premise. I tasted a little grilled skewer of his Jidori chicken thighs cooked medium rare, and it was juicy and delicious.

Anyhow, back to The Cabbage Patch. I ordered the chicken n’ apple salad, and the guy behind the counter immediately told me, “That comes with bacon, you know.” Perhaps it was the Indian caftan I was wearing, giving me away as a yogini, albeit a guilty meat-loving one. “Yes, I know,” I told him. “Bacon makes everything better.” That just seems to be my motto this month. (I still haven’t found the time to write about the maple-bacon ice cream I recently tried at Craft, but that’s another post for another time. I don’t want to digress again.)

The salad was large and delicious, with juicy green apples, Applewood smoked bacon, Jidori chicken, celery, capers, baby mixed greens and brioche croutons with a tart champagne vinaigrette. The salad was a full meal, which is good because it was $12. I have to say, after tasting Robata-Ya’s chicken thighs, I think the chicken breast meat in this salad was ever-so-slightly dry or overcooked. Maybe I’m just such a huge fan of the juicy, fatty, medium-rare dark meat I tried last week that a fully cooked Jidori chicken breast doesn’t taste quite as good in comparison. Nevertheless, the salad was satisfying. Not quite as good as Tender Greens, but solid nonetheless. Shelley was also happy with her seared tofu bowl with rice and carrots and cucumbers in a soy sesame dressing. She’s a better yogi than I am, for sure. The big cookies, by the way, are $4, but they’re worth it. I’m also curious to try the Jidori chicken wings next time I visit The Cabbage Patch. That’s one I haven’t seen on a menu anywhere else. — Jenny

Cabbage Patch, 214 Beverly Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-550-8655

More proof that bacon is rarely the wrong answer. The world’s oldest person, 115-year-old Gertrude Baines of Los Angeles, credits her longevity to the occasional piece of crispy bacon. According to People magazine, she’s also a big fan of sweets. “She said she didn’t care what kind of cake or ice cream we got her, that she would eat anything,” a hospital administrator told People. Happy birthday, Gertrude! May you enjoy bacon and cake for many more years. — Jenny

When I think of Coast, the chichi oceanfront restaurant at Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica, BBQ is not the first thing that comes to mind. But Thursday is Blues & BBQ night, and for $25, you can gorge on an appetizer of spicy chilled “peel ‘n eat” shrimp with cocktail sauce and an entree of ribs, chicken leg and thigh, brisket and sausage, with a side of coleslaw and cornbread — all accompanied by live music (albeit a rather sedate form of background blues).

This is hardly your typical down-home BBQ. When I was there on a recent Thursday, Cindy Crawford sat at a table nearby with her husband and kids. We had a view of the ocean. It was lovely. And messy, too. Initially, I felt uncomfortable peeling the shrimp with my hands and tried doing it with a knife and fork. After several minutes of struggling with a single shrimp, I grew resigned to the fact that I’d have to get over myself and get my hands dirty to enjoy this little meat fest. And, I actually did enjoy it. The ribs were moist and tender, the brisket nice and smoky. I definitely like my sauce to crank up the heat more, but overall, it wasn’t half bad, especially for the price. You’ll probably drop more dough at the hipster dive Baby Blues BBQ in Venice, which just opened its second outpost in WeHo.

Call it recession chic. Even at upscale joints, bargains are in. Extravagance is out. At least, expensive extravagance is out. Shutters is still pouring champagne, but you won’t have to spend a fortune to enjoy. The hotel is offering Champagne Wednesdays in the lobby lounge every week from 5 p.m. until midnight. You can sample a selection of luxury champagnes — a flight of five, in fact — and hors d’oeuvres for $30. It’s $25 for just champagne without the hors d’oeurves, but for that price, why would you skip the food part of these sample pairings: Canard-Duchene Brut paired with Duck Prosciutto and Fig Marmalade topped with Black Pepper; Henroit Blanc Souvrain paired with Charentais Melon, Blue Vein Cheese and Pickled Cherry; or Villa Sandi DOC Valdobbiandene Cuvee complimented by White Anchovies with basil and cured lemons? Now that sounds more like Shutters. Typically pricey spots are obviously doing whatever it takes to lure customers back. It seems to be working, and I suspect these deals won’t last long. So take advantage while you can. – Jenny