Newsletter: Counter: Preservation techniques
The Baroo dish known as Asian Fever consists of Amira basmati rice, southeast Asian inspired housemade mix, lemongrass and coconut foam with sake lees, crispy shrimp chips, heirloom cherry tomatoes and lime supreme.
It's that momentary lull, at least for some of us, between Jonathan Gold's annual catalog of 101 pretty great places to eat and Thanksgiving, our yearly feast and the cook's best holiday. So this week, we return to normalcy: more restaurants, more dining out, more stories about buildings and food.
In this week's review, Jonathan Gold discusses things in both bowls and in fermentation pots at Baroo, a restaurant that sometimes feels not that much larger than the Buddhist monk's food bowl it is named for. Russ Parsons visits Bouchon Bakery and the former gang member who is now a baker there; I check out the newly opened (or reopened) Rose Cafe in Venice; and Jenn Harris considers Korean BBQ and, finally, one-hour delivery service for Umami burgers. Thank you, Amazon.
And be on the lookout for Wednesday's In the Kitchen newsletter, with cooking tips and news, including new recipes from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen.
More fun in strip malls
Let's return to Jonathan and Baroo, a newish restaurant in a Hollywood strip mall, where two men have created an ambitious menu out of grains and vegetables and lots of things in fermentation pots. Of those pots, he writes: "I have once seen a display like this — not in Copenhagen’s Noma but in its Nordic Food Lab, confined to a houseboat moored a few yards outside the kitchen."
One baguette at a time
Russ Parsons gives us the story of how a former gang member turned his life around — thanks to lots of hard work and Homeboy Industries — and is now a baker at Bouchon Bakery in Beverly Hills. This is, of course, not your average bakery, but Thomas Keller's. It is also not your average success story.
(Michael Robinson Chávez / Los Angeles Times)
The Rose Cafe opens, or reopens
The long-awaited project from chef Jason Neroni and restaurateur Bill Chait finally opened this week — or, rather, reopened, as the original Rose Cafe was for decades a Venice institution. I spent some time at the reworked compound of a restaurant, which showcases Neroni's cooking and includes a bakery program, an impressively outfitted open kitchen, a catalog of chefly machinery — and neighborhood-specific Dogtown art.
Schwarma pizza from the new Rose Cafe in Venice. 
(Pascal Shirley)
Korean BBQ, with bone marrow
At Hanjip, chef Chris Oh and Stephane Bombet's new Korean BBQ restaurant, Jenn Harris writes that the shiny new gold-plated barbecue grills are nicer than your car rims. What else does she find at the Culver City restaurant? Prime beef, kurobuta pork, wine pairings — and a bone marrow dish that turns into a soju luge for your next shot.
Prawns on the grill at Hanjip in Culver City. 
(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)
Umami burgers in an hour
Jenn also spends a little too much time on her computer, checking out Amazon Prime Now — the one-hour service that now delivers Umami burgers, Sprinkles cupcakes and 99 Ranch Market groceries. Because you really want to track that wok you just ordered on your phone, don't you?
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
Jonathan Gold's 101
The 101 is here! Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants, the authoritative annual guide to local dining, is online for subscribers. Find the list at latimes.com/jonathangold. Official hashtag #JGOLD101.
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