Restaurants

Gyoro-gyoro round two

Aside | Posted on by Brian and Jim

my mother was in town two weeks ago and we usually hit sushi during her trips since she lives in the sushi desert…gyoro gyoro is a place we have tried in Palm Springs and now they have a location near us (they have 150 locations in Tokyo).  They have a great happy hour DAILY until 6:30 and a yelp coupon for 5 bucks off EVERY 25 spent.   So we raced home to pick her up and hit happy hour pricing . Gyoro-gyoro

Saki for her

  

Echigo gluten free rice beer.
  

Glutinous Sapporo for me

  

Shishito pepper with miso glaze (on the side for gluten man)
  

White fish and sauce on the sauce—loses its charm with no pretty presentation huh?

  

Yellowtail habanero sauce on side
  

Yakitori mushrooms

  

Yakitori Japanese sausages which are super tasty
  

Very nice roll wrapped in Cucs and gluten free…Monrovia roll

  

The sushi platter is on the happy hour menu and we got my mother to eat the shrimp and suck the head in pure Asian style
  

Three hand rolls happy hour special

  

Yellowtail belly
    
  

Avocado roll

  

These are balls wrapped in rice….they have salmon and pickled plum! Oginiri?  That’s not right but close…
 

The price of doing this late is I forget what foods we actually had (especially if I didn’t order them)

Restaurants

El patron-tofu burrito and margs 

Aside | Posted on by Brian and Jim

I’m still playing catch up.  My mom came for a visit and wanted Mexican so we passed on the Friday ritual of el Queso Grande and went to Salsa and Beer who had a wait at 7 pm on a Tuesday so off to El patron .  Who tends to have great margaritas and sketchy service and used to have an extensive veg menu.  About a year ago they revised the menu and rebranded to become a gastro-cantina and elimates the awesome cauliflower relleno ….but they have a tofu burrito that rocks.

  

The ultimate Cadillac 
  

Mango on fire!

  
  

My mother with the salt less house marg on the rocks

  

Who can resist made to order table side guac?!?
    
  

My surprisingly good tofu burrito…they have a few dishes that you have choice of protein which includes a tofu option

  

Huevos rancheros
  

A quesadilla with fillings that I have forgotten

 

One of our last 2015 meals.:-)

Food related, Ingredients

Fun food finds 1/2/16

Aside | Posted on by Brian and Jim

 We were Santa Monica farmers market bound today and since winter is usually bland I wasn’t taking any pics until I ran into this this thing so I started with the food pics….

Having no idea what it was, I bought some.  Wikipedia and several sites have cleared up my lack of knowledge…Mountain yams are a Asian tuber that turn into goo if you grate and get mucilaginous plus have an itchy skin that needs soaked in water and vinegar to neutralize…sounds like a winner here :-p

  

Kohlrabi are also in season as I found baby ones last weekend

Sun chokes have been about for a month or so but few in attendance this week–one vendor said the ground was too frozen to harvest  

  

Sweet limes…which I always look at but never buy….and they aren’t green!
  

Unhusked walnuts which I haven’t seen in person since I used to have to collect them from my grandpas yard

  

Mushrooms!  Including white truffle which I passed on hoping for black truffle soon…but I picked up some hedgehogs

  

My favorite cheese vendor provided me with a raw 1year aged white cheddar

  

Jim found giant macaron that are gluten free at the newly opened Lemonade
  

And I picked up the foodies coloring book at Barnes and noble!

 

Made at home

Romanesco 

Aside | Posted on by Brian and Jim

I’m so far behind.  Here’s a post I started two weeks ago as I frantically figured out a use for my romanesco before it aged away….there are such pretty creations with their spires… They have quite a nutty flavor    

My favorite way to cook them is a sauté – usually with mushrooms.  In this case I had dried mushrooms

Add beans and spices and voila!

  

My ever present daily avocado

  

Gluten free bread
  

A quick meal is born

 

Made at home

Mushroom/lentil/nut loaf returns

Aside | Posted on by Brian and Jim

 The loaf still lives on and is incarnated into a pasta sauce tonight…

Cans of tomatoes and my favorite sliced portobellos which are on my Amazon subscription by the case…

  

Mix me up with spices of your choice
  

Crumble in some loaf

  

Cook up some gluten free pasta
  

She’s done

  

Add a side salad with the cutest little lettuces I buy at the farmers market
  

Gluten free focaccia from the Palm Springs steer fair with olive oil and balsamic wrap it all up

 

Ingredients, Made at home

Green tomato and mushroom/nut burgers

Aside | Posted on by Brian and Jim

I was watching tabouli on tv the night before I made this and was thinking what to do instead of bulgur ….so I searched my fridge and came up with this pretty salad of Italian parsley, cannelini beans, tomatoes, olive oil and lemon juice…a tad of red onion   

Oven fries coated with olive oils and franks red hot (a new kind with ginger in it and a sweetness)
    

Baking the lentil/mushroom/nut loaf while baking the burgers
  

Ian’s gluten free bread crumbs on the green tomatoes waiting to be oven fried

  

Finishing
  

I totally forgot the brand of buns

  

The new spice pickles from vlassic 
    

  
   

Ingredients, Made at home

Mushroom-nut loaf nights

Aside | Posted on by Brian and Jim

Made a mushroom but loaf last night (which is one of my favorite roast like meaty dishes) and it was a fail in texture and was crumbly so today I took a piece of it and mushed it up with a little egg and a little grated cheese…   
  And made little mini meatloaves  
And the texture worked!  This ended up being the most meaty textured loaf I’ve made before

And gravy to go with the loaf and some potatoes 

The gravy was Powdered no chicken broth from whole foods bulk bins that I love with some tapioca starch stirred into olive oil.  I added a tad half and half and the rest was water…this worked out well and tasted good

    
My completed meatloaves

 
My pretty lettuce

   
The salad gets the tarragon vinegar and olive oil treatment

   Look close for the tiny cilantro micro greens which is code for coriander sprouts
 

Restaurants

Palm Springs eats revisited In December

Aside | Posted on by Brian and Jim

 Back to Palm Springs for four days of work…so we eat….this is round one at blue coyote  
  

Crabmeat relleno for me

Carnitas for jim  
  

  
  

Right outside the door

  
  

Back to our fave…el mirasol and we are outside on the patio

  
    

This is a custom dish…it’s a shrimp with tomatillo sauce with Dona Diablo sauce added for some spice    

I think it is carnitas….
  

Flash forward to Wednesday and it’s our love Tropicale and our fav server remember Ed us and my Fiery Dragon low on the sweet

  

And a coconut martini for him of course
  

Gluten free pizza appy 

  
  

She so did not want her picture taken

  

Giant shrimp and a filet on potatoes….the least inspired dish I have ever had here
  

Cioppino 

  

Some crazy ass snickers cake that was gluten free and quite yummy
    

Palm Springs street fair findings….and the sample was seriously spicy
  

Love this stuff

  

After the street fair it’s time for a trip to pommes frites…tres Belgique, non?
  

Always start with the affligem 

  
  

Not for the true vegs!!!!  Tar tar!   But it was yummy:-)

  

Next round saint bernarbus
  

My mussels with mustard cream sauce

  

And of course, the pommes frites with three sauces
 

Restaurants

Today’s eats…gyoro gyoro Encino location

Aside | Posted on by Brian and Jim

I’m so behind everyone…work insanity, thanksgiving plus out of town work insanity.

But we are back and hit gyoro-gyoro izakaya on the way home from today’s outings.   We have been to the Palm Springs location a couple times…they have 150 restaurants in Tokyo and are venturing into the states….Japanese bar food.  
They are one of the few places that stock echigo rice beer which by default has no gluten

    

Yellowtail and jalapeño are on the daily happy hour menu:-)
    

Scallops
  

Shishito!   On the happy hour menu too!   They are served with a Carmelites miso which was unique 

  

Veggie roll!

Uni hand roll    

Shiitake yakitori 
  

Rainbow roll

  

Kuroboto sausage yakitori and chicken liver yakitori…..and here we popped into meat eater zone.
   

Extra nice that yelp had a check in coupon of 5 dollars off every 25 dollars you spend

Made at home

Leftovers 

Aside | Posted on by Brian and Jim

 Leftovers Saturday (heading out for a couple days starting Monday so this fridge needs emptied asap)

Below is a tiny chanterelle and onion tart with a crust of dressing

  

The ever present avocado on my table

Leftover roasted veggies get mixed with cream and topped with leftover mashed potatoes to create the vegetable pie below  

  

My new favorite gluten free gravy mix plus mushrooms
  

And here it is!