Newsletter: Counter: 10 dishes, 16 vegetables
With a few weeks left to 2016, it is the time of the year when people give us their year-end top 10 lists of interesting things — best books, favorite movies, most baffling political tweets. So it is that Jonathan Gold weighs in with his catalog of the year’s best restaurant dishes. These are, of course, just as likely to be bubbling vats of stew at restaurants in semi-obscure strip malls as they are ornate dishes at the fancier places. And for one of these celebrated dishes, we’ve paired a story on how to cook the dish yourself — if you have a huge collection of seasonal vegetables and not a few sauté pans and available hours.
In other news, we consider certain wines of New Zealand, the latest restaurant from a noted local chef (fried chicken sandwiches!), and a few more goings-on about town (a gin-and-tonic bar!). Something to read, in other words, while you make dinner reservations or wait in line outside San Gabriel Valley noodle shops.
2016’s 10 best dishes
Jonathan’s 10 favorite dishes of the year takes the place of his weekly restaurant review — because it is the season for lists. If you’ve been paying particular attention, you might try the parlor game of guessing them first. (Some of us do this sort of thing all the time.) So: a bowl of Sichuan noodles, a bowl of Vietnamese noodles, a few brilliant odes to vegetables, one glorious pork chop. Did you need more restaurant suggestions? Maybe so.
Eat your vegetables
Even if you’ve been dining at Spring, chef Tony Esnault’s French restaurant in downtown Los Angeles, long enough to clock the seasons through his légumes de saison dish, you may not realize the work that goes into a dozen or so vegetables on your plate. So we asked him to demo the dish — and give us the recipe.
New Zealand wines
Wine writer Patrick Comiskey recently went to New Zealand, and while he was there he checked out the current state of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. It’s a variety that’s “like no other wine on Earth,” writes Comiskey; it also became a global commodity. He considers a group of winemaking brothers who have been working to differentiate their wines from the pack.
More fun with fried chicken
Like fried chicken? Of course you do, and so does chef Neal Fraser (BLD, Redbird), whose new Fritzi Coop stall at the Original Farmers Market has a pretty amazing fried chicken sandwich. Deputy Food editor Jenn Harris checks it out, as well as the sous-vide carrots, Brussels sprouts and (of course) kale salad that you can order if you’re trying to be a bit more healthful.
What’s up with China Cafe
If you spend a lot of time at Grand Central Market, the near-century-old food hall in downtown L.A., then you’ll have noticed that China Cafe’s counter has been shuttered: No worries, it’s just for a remodel. Jenn gets us up to date on that, as well as the new gin-and-tonic bar from barman Vincenzo Marianella, plus the latest project from prolific restaurateur George Abou-Daoud in her weekly Restaurant News column
Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants, the authoritative annual guide to local dining, is online for subscribers and now features his 2016 Best Restaurants. If you didn’t get a copy of the booklet, you can order one online here.
“City of Gold,” Laura Gabbert’s documentary of Jonathan Gold’s Los Angeles, is available on Amazon.
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