Newsletter: Counter: The 101 and other food matters
Salutations:
It’s the hap-hap-happiest time of the year here in the snug environs of Planet Food. And by that, I refer neither to the joyful week of stollen and dreidel-shaped cookies, nor to the annual celebration of Russ Parsons’ mother's cranberry sauce, but to the release of the 101 Best Restaurants list, available online, as a handy pullout, and for the first time, as an actual app.
The L.A. Times data team may not have been involved in the arguments about the best Sichuan food in the San Gabriel Valley or the spectacular rise of what its proponents insist on calling Alta California cuisine, but they are as responsible for the joyfulness of the 101 as any of us here. Your next year’s dining out, sorted. And if I’ve neglected your favorite restaurant, let me apologize in advance. Maybe next year?
Elsewhere in the dining universe, Philip Frankland Lee contemplates a restaurant without servers at his upcoming remix of Scratch Bar, Russ Parsons goes to sea with Michael Cimarusti, the chef of this year’s No. 1 restaurant Providence, Jenn Harris finds an Indonesian ramen burrito at Komodo, and Margy Rochlin discovers the stunning Persian sangak at the oddly named Naan Hut in West Los Angeles . . . a flatbread so lovely that I would be surprised if the poets weren’t already composing ghazals in its honor. Also, S. Irene Virbila discovers a stack of old brochures from Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant and reveals that I am not, in fact, delusional when I remember the days of $14.95 Raveneau Chablis.
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.
A hundred and one great places to eat
As you probably know by now, the 2015 edition of Jonathan's 101 Best Restaurants list is out. To quote his intro: "Your next great meal in Southern California is as likely to come from that tiny storefront next to the 7-Eleven as it is from a Beverly Hills gastronomic palace. Los Angeles, which is both where American ideas about food tend to be formulated and where they come back eventually to die, can be a spectacular place to eat." Indeed.
Dock to Dish at Providence
Russ Parsons considers the sustainable seafood program Dock to Dish, an experiment in tightening the connection between fishermen and chefs. At Providence, chef Michael Cimarusti pays a $750 weekly subscription and is guaranteed at least 75 pounds of seafood every week — caught by 16 small fishermen in the Santa Barbara area. Then the chef and his staff translate that catch to their restaurant's menu.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
Ramen + burritos = Komodo
If you love Indonesian food, maybe you're familiar with Indomie, a brand of instant noodles that comes in a variety of flavors. Now Komodo chef Erwin Tjahyadi is putting it in a burrito. The Indomie burrito is available at both Komodo locations, in West L.A. and Venice, through Nov. 15. Jenn Harris suggests you bring your own bottle of ABC extra-hot chile sauce.
No servers? No worries.
Jenn Harris reports on the new restaurant from chef Phillip Frankland Lee (Gadarine Swine), who has picked Encino as the second iteration of Scratch Bar, the Beverly Hills restaurant Lee closed this summer after a two-year run. Lee's new place will have 20 seats at the kitchen counter, a 12-seat communal table in the kitchen area — and no servers, as the food will be served by the chefs and the cooks.
Phillip Frankland Lee is gearing up to open Scratch Bar and Kitchen in Encino. 
(Courtesy of Scratch Bar)
The joys of sangak
Love flatbread? If you haven't discovered sangak, a Persian version of the stuff, maybe you need to head to Naan Hut on the Westside. Margy Rochlin writes that it's made of whole wheat flour and is sold in sheets so long they could be used as a sesame-seed encrusted table runner at your next biblically themed dinner party.
More reasons to save your wine mail
For S. Irene Virbila, a stash of old Kermit Lynch newsletters from the early '80s points out just how much wine prices have gone up in the years since. Lynch, of course, was one of the first wine importers to go to Europe to search out true artisan producers. The entries on various wines reveal the breathtaking change in wine prices over the years.
(S. Irene Virbila / Los Angeles Times)
And more about the 101
The 101 is here! Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants, the authoritative annual guide to local dining, is now online for subscribers. The print edition is delivered to The Times’ Saturday subscribers today. Find the list at latimes.com/jonathangold. Official hashtag #JGOLD101.
More at: latimes.com/101
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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