99 pLAtes: 2010

12.24.2010

CREATE-A-PLATE – Nana’s Christmas Cookies

Every year around the Holiday Season, despite protests heard round the Hollywood Hills, I whip up a heaping (as in the cookies fall over the side of the plate) batch of my Nana’s Cookies.

Picture it…Sicily 1890…Maria Rosario Caldora (no not Sophia Petrillo) sailed from her hometown along the Mediterranean straight into Ellis Island. Among the items packed tightly in her cargo aboard the ship were her husband Michael (fun fact – he’s the man I’m named after), some goats (pure speculation) and this traditional, now infamous Anisette Cookie Recipe.

Fast forward a century give or take a decade and an awkward first-semester college freshman (that’s me!) was standing in Anna’s daughter’s (my Grandma Angie) kitchen, learning the craft of Nana’s baking.

The thing about baking (as I learned from Gail Simmons on Just Desserts) is that all your measurements need to be very exact.

The thing about this cookie recipe is that none of the measurements are very exact.

My Grandma scrawled out the ingredients and directions on a piece of paper dated 12/23/01. Here we are nearly nine years later and that piece of paper is still in my possession and still intact!

Now before I share my Nana’s Cookie recipe with you, here are a few glowing reviews I’ve received over the past several years:

These cookies are dry.
Why are they in the shape of the letter S?
Are they supposed to be this dry?
You are making another batch…it’s only November?
This cookies are great...for dunking in coffee.
A Pictorial Comment from our last Christmas Soiree:

7. Oh look the Bagel cookies! (as dubbed by a former roommate)
8. You used how many cups of flour?

9. Need...Milk…..STAT!!!
10. The fact that you are still eating those cookies is really stressing me out.

Ya know what, all of you Grinches can keep your Gingerbread, Chocolate Chips and fancy Cookie Cutter shaped, frosted delights for yourselves. They may be a little rough around the edges (literally), but I stand by Nana’s Cookies…no matter how many teeth I’ve chipped over the years.

I know, I know…I’ve really whet your appetite now haven’t I. Well the wait is over, below is the recipe for Nana’s Christmas Cookies. Bake at you own risk:

INGREDIENTS

10 Eggs (Beaten)

1 cup of Crisco (heat it up in the microwave so its liquid)

5 Teaspoons Baking Powder

2 cups Sugar

1/2 cup Anisette

2 Teaspoons Vanilla

6+ cups of Flour

DIRECTIONS

Mix all the ingredients and then slowly add the flour in one cup at a time. As the mixture starts to form it will get sticky, start kneading it with your hands in a big bowl. Keep adding flour (may be more than 6 cups) until the mixture isn’t too sticky. Let it sit for 30 minutes in the fridge.

Form S-shapes (still unsure why) with the dough and then cook in the oven for approximately 20 minutes (or until the smoke detector goes off) at 350 degrees.

Make sure you use parchment paper or grease the cookie sheets.

You can add some sprinkles before they go in for fun.

I’m already looking forward to all the fun new criticisms I can add to my ever-growing list. We’re taking off for the Christmas break, but 99pLAtes will be back in January with all new posts of LA foodie favorites.

Until then, Happy Holidays…and stock up on 2% milk. Trust me, the cookies are better when you dunk ‘em.

12.14.2010

#7 - Philippe's Lamb and Blue Cheese French Dip

It was a four alarm GROUPON alert this weekend in Los Angeles.

“Hundgen this one to Philippe’s expires on Monday we have to go this weekend!” But with more Christmas parties than Ebenezer Scrooge could shake bough of holly at, there was no way we were going to squeeze this one in.

“Well, we are just going to have to go Monday night.” John said defiantly. For those of you who missed the last Groupon fiasco, let’s just say letting a Groupon go to waste is just not an option.

[Editor note: I only bought the deal because I knew it was one of your plates.]

[Author note: John is the editor]

Philippe’s is located in Downtown Los Angeles at the epicenter where Chinatown, the Mexican Pueblo and Union Station meet. Established in 1908, Philippe’s is locked in a modern-day Cold War with Cole’s (coming up soon on 99pLAtes) over who actually established the French Dip Sandwich. Funny, I would have thought the French coined that one.

It’s said that the original owner, Philippe Mathieu, accidentally dropped a French roll into a roasting pan that held the juices from the meat. That slip of the hand turned into a now century + 2 year long tradition (and a lot of juicy, soggy bread).

John and I arrived just after 8 on Monday night and the place still had a steady stream of customers. In some ways, Philippe’s looks like a Norman Rockwell painting that’s come to life. Customers stand in lines behind a high glass cased refrigerator unit waiting to order from neatly uniformed ladies bustling trays back and forth from the kitchen. Also, there are wood shavings covering the floor...is there some kind of carpentry happening here that I’m not aware of?

After flirting it up with the Lithuanian cashier (she was into it until he whipped out the coupon) we placed our orders. John went with the chili, cole slaw and a double dipped beef sandwich while I ordered the tomato bisque, a pickled egg (more on that later) and the required pLAte, a Lamb Dipped sandwich with blue cheese.

Let’s start with the positives:

The prices at Philippe’s are dirt-cheap. It’s pretty tough to walk out of there spending more that $14 on a full dinner and drink. Best of all – a cup of coffee is a mere 9¢! That’s unheard of, so unheard of in fact it took me 7 minutes just to find the ¢ key on my keyboard.

“My Groupon is $10, what if I ordered 100 cups of 9¢ coffee?” John asked in an effort to further put the kybosh on his newfound relationship with Helga, our Lithuanian friend.

Philippe’s has not one but TWO parking lots! For you non-Angelinos, you need to understand this is a gigantic deal. Where are we the Valley?

Pickled Eggs are FANTASTIC. I know, roll your eyes now. They might look like an Easter egg gone terribly wrong or something you might shoot in Angry Birds, but the tart to egg ratio is balanced just right.

Philippe’s spicy mustard is to die for! Beware, this is no Grey Poupon or French’s, we’re talkin’ it’ll-make-you-as-red-as-the-Kool-Aid-Man spicy. Use sparingly and don’t try to sneak out a bottle in your bag…I tried, epic fail.

The Negatives

The soups were (like the look of the restaurant) a little bit middle school cafeteria style quality. The tomato bisque tasted a lot like Ellio’s pizza sauce and the chili was a dead ringer for taco meat.

The sandwiches were good-ish. The beef (hey-O) I have with Philippe’s French dip is I want to keep dipping! The operation works in such a way that they dip your sandwich upon ordering, but by the time you dig into your meal, the juicy jous (do those two words mean the same thing?) has turned crusty and hard. Call me picky…or gross…but I want my French Dip soggier and dripping with meat broth.

Also since the meat is hand carved, you never know if you’ll end up with a fatty slice, which in turn results in a picture like this…

Criticisms aside, when you do get the perfect balance of meat, blue cheese, bread and jous it is pure delight to the taste buds.

Before we crown a winner in this French Dip Family Feud (paging Richard Dawson) we need to give Cole’s French Dip a fair shot. Coming up in the new year on the 99pLAtes blog, it's a Downtown Sandwich Smackdown. We’ll be drinking our 9¢ coffees till then…only 94 left to go….

Phillippe's

1001 N. Alameda

Los Angeles, CA 90012

www.philippes.com

12.08.2010

Foo-Detour - Cattleman's Steakhouse

LAX --> OKC is what my FB status message read on a recent Monday morning (and stayed up until Thursday afternoon since I often forget to change my status). So what brings me to Oklahoma City you ask? As previously mentioned, I work in television. Picture it – Hollywood, 2006….a young, fresh-faced whippersnapper just off the obligatory cross-country drive along Route 66 (I insisted we referred to it exclusively as the Mother Road) arrives in Los Angeles, the ‘Entertainment Capital of the World’ according to KEARTH 101.1. I was filled all the hopes and dreams of glitz and glamour.

Fast-forward four years and here we are I’m a PRODUCER…..of reality-tv. Now before you scoff, many unscripted television shows (the snootier way to say it) get more viewers than most of the NCIS:LACSI:NYL&O:SVU’s out there. Just because we don’t have half the craft services spreads the scripted kids do, doesn’t mean we don’t contribute to the American television landscape. Need I say, fist pump?

My current producing gig is on a pretty big primetime network show…let’s call it The Largest Person Who Comes in Last Place... My producer duties on this episode include a field shoot in Moore, Oklahoma, just outside of OKC.

Things you need to know about Moore - Walmart:Oklahoma::Donut Shops:Los Angeles, there are more Wal-Marts in a 5 mile radius of my hotel than schools…priorities people. Also, Moore is home to Toby Keith.

Apparently I am supposed to know who this Toby Keith is, but I don’t listen to much hip-hop music. Finally, in Oklahoma the corn is not as high as the elephant’s eye, I’d say it goes up to about his trunk. After checking into my hotel, which by the way looked like a cross between Ikea meets a West Hollywood nightclub that threw up turquoise…

I decided to venture off and rub elbows with some Oklahomians (?) at dinner. I moseyed (cause that’s what you do in OKC) on over this classic must-eat-at haunt called Cattleman’s Steakhouse.

The dimly lit restaurant looks like any other classic American steakhouse complete with dark-wood panels, leather vinyl booths and heavily trodden floral carpets. Adorning the walls were portraits of various cowboys and sheriff looking men. I probably should have recognized one of these heartland heroes, but to me they all looked like Wilford Brimley.

I was seated in the Non-Smoking section of the dining room (Smoking Section…really? I had a flashback to my local NJ Sizzler circa 1998). Billy Jack (Confirmed: real name) clad in a bowtie welcomed me and presented the menu. I settled on the Filet wrapped in bacon (natch) and gladly took up the offer to add-on the side of sautéed mushrooms.

With the order placed, I took off my hat (isn’t that customary in the heartland?) and spent some time taking in the atmosphere. I looked around the room and noticed the various sun-kissed couples donning cowboy hats idly chit-chatting about business on the ranch. How simple…how serene…how did this blog just turn into a Nicholas Sparks novel?

The food arrived and not soon enough, I was starting to get worried the four 300+ pound men in cutoff denim shirts and cowboy hats were getting uncomfortable with the guy dressed in American Apparel writing notes in the margin of his Details magazine about the experience.

Filet Wrapped in Bacon – Billy Jack had me cut into the meat to make sure ‘it was to my likin’. The pinkish-red center looked perfect and just the thought of taking that first bite sends a tingle to my taste buds as I write this. The only disappointment on the meat was the bacon (gasp!). The fatty slice just kind of flopped around the side and I actually ended up pulling it off and pushing it off to the side (double gasp! – I don’t even know who I am anymore).

The Fixin’s – Along with supper, steaks come with a side salad and I also got the sautéed mushrooms to boot, cowboy boot that is. The mushrooms were drenched in some sort of onion au-jous that could have almost doubled as a French onion soup. The mushrooms were so good, in retrospect I should have just poured them over the meat to create a harmony of Oklahoma flavors.

OH – and then there was a bread roll…and tell me this bread roll isn’t the spitting image of Toad from Mario Brothers 3 on Super Nintendo.

By the time Billy Jack dropped off the check I was more stuffed than the bison head that hung over the bathroom door. After recapping the meal through email with Kelly and John, apparently I missed the must-see of the menu…lamb fries. So, the next time I’m in OKC I promise I’ll give you a full report on what lamb fries at Cattleman’s Steakhouse taste like. For now, you can find me at Wal-Mart picking up the latest album from Toby Keith…or is it Keith Urban?

Cattleman’s Steakhouse

1309 S. Agnew

Oklahoma City, OK 73108

12.01.2010

#6 - LA Street Dog at Fab's Hot Dogs

“This strip mall has everything! CVS, Pizza Hut, Loehmans…” said John’s Mom, Peg O’Toole, from the backseat of the Prius. The sight of a Pizza Hut can only mean one thing folks...we’ve entered unchartered territory. A land where strip malls outnumber strip clubs, where you can find two Wal-Marts and three Chili’s in a 4 mile radius, where if you went just a little farther north, you’d be in Canada. You guessed right…we’ve landed in the San Fernando Valley.

Now before you go all Cher (from Clueless) on me for venturing out near Ventura County…there are a few redemptive qualities about the land on the other side of the hill.

The Valley is the only part of Los Angeles where restaurants and stores have actual parking lots…where you don’t have to pay to leave your car (unlike The Grove, The Beverly Center and most Trader Joes).
Burbank is the Valley…I just like saying Burbank…
I don’t actually have a third quality, but things are always funnier in threes…

The Valley is also home to Fab Hot Dogs, which happens to be the 7^th pLAte on my list of 99. John’s mom and step-dad, Peg and Lew, were in town for a quick jaunt and casually dropped that they might be interested in joining us for a pLAte. Any hesitation was quickly cast aside when John mentioned that Fab Hot Dogs was not only on the list, but also happened to be featured on a recent episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (Triple D).

“Well I’d like to see it!” said Peg as we turned off the 101 and into scenic Reseda. Time check – 10:50am.

Nothing like a famous Ripper hot dog to wash down the breakfast we just had merely 45 minutes ago. “Calories don’t count when you’re blogging about them” I assured the car as we pulled into the wide-open (aforementioned perk) parking lot.

Truth be told John and I had actually been to Fab’s before with Kelly (the one who inspired this blog). Cue the Wayne’s World flashback….

Ten months ago we were paler, hungrier and seven pounds lighter…food blogs do a number on the waistline.

The experience was memorable, not so much for the hot dogs (the Texas Burrito Dog I’m eating above was GROSS)…but more because we visited Nora Walker’s house that afternoon.

Flash forward to November (now 10:55am – frankly, pun intended, a great time for a hot dog) and we were ordering up three dogs for Round 2 at Fab’s. I went for the required pLAte, the LA Street Dog, John opted for the famous Ripper Dog and Lew went for the Ripper with Bald Eagle Relish.

“Do you guys want any fries or Tator Tots?” – Cashier

“No, we’re on a diet” – Lew. ZING!

While waiting for our orders to come up, John took notice of the Hot Dog Challenge Champion plaque/posterboard on the wall. “10 ½ Hot Dogs…really, he couldn’t finish the 11^th. Seriously, I could take this guy.”

Look out Stephen Willard, you’re about to face some formidable competition on the Hot Dog version of Name That Tune. “I could eat that hot dog in 2 bites…”

CRUNCH…is the sound you hear when taking your first bite of a Fab Hot Dog. The secret to the crunchy outer shell comes from grilling, then deep frying the dog to give it that extra boost of fatty flavor. The LA Street Dog (which looked a lot like a Chi-Chi hot dog – holla Boston College) is wrapped in bacon (joy!) and topped with peppers, onions, mayo, mustard, ketchup, jalapenos and tomatoes. You know those amazing hot dogs you get at 2am on Santa Monica Boulevard on Halloween when you are wasted…yep the LA Street Dog tastes just like that, except you don’t need to be blitzed to enjoy it!

The all-beef link in John and Lew’s Ripper Dog is imported directly from New Jersey (where all great things come from) and is also deep-fried for that crunchy goodness. Lew’s spicy mustard relish was piled high and upon further inspection actually included bits of carrot. “My mouth is still spicy from that relish,” Lew chimed in.

Despite not ordering her own, Peg did sample each of the dogs. “They look worse than they taste, ” she said and if that’s not a ringing endorsement, I don’t know what is.

With another pLAte accomplished and our bellies full from two meals in under three hours, we rolled out of the parking lot around 11:45. “Hmmm...” I wondered aloud, “When’s lunch?”