Newsletter: Rossoblu, ribs — and more ribs
Welcome to what, for many people, is a long holiday weekend. The Fourth of July is traditionally time, of course, for outdoor cooking, and thus we conveniently have stories about rib cookery. We give pointers on how to grill your own spare ribs, where to go if you prefer others to cook them for you, a great dish of heirloom beans to pair with all of that, as well as cool red wines to have on hand.
As for where to book a table (or try) before you hit the patio, Jonathan Gold visits Rossoblu, the new Italian restaurant from chef Steve Samson. And yes, we seem to be in the middle of an Italian renaissance in Los Angeles at the moment. Lucky us.
As for what else is going on, plums are hitting the farmers markets; we have news about Surfas, the great SoCal cooking shop; news about what’s happening with two restaurants and their tacos; a list of great sangria recipes; and yes, pie recipes. Because it’s pie season — and because some of us need to roll out pie dough whenever Clayton Kershaw pitches.
GRANDMOTHER COOKING
This week, Jonathan heads downtown to chef Steve Samson’s new Italian restaurant, Rossoblu, a paean to Bolognese cooking in a huge, loft-y, mural-painted location on San Julian Street. Samson, who opened Sotto with chef Zach Pollack, is cooking on live fire in the gorgeous open kitchen, serving plates of salumi, and making excellent pasta in the form of tagliatelle Bolognese, tortellini in brodo, tortelloni stuffed with chard and ricotta — and minestra nel sacco, “Bolognese grandmother cooking introduced into a city where few Bolognese grandmothers exist.”
RIBS 101
Sure, you can grill burgers and hot dogs on Tuesday (“If Thanksgiving is turkey day, the Fourth of July should be rib day,” says Meathead Goldwyn), but why not do it up with a rack of ribs? Test Kitchen Director Noelle Carter gives a tutorial on rib cookery, including tips on what kind of meat to buy, recipes — a basic rib rub, Kentucky bourbon barbecue sauce, hickory-smoked spare ribs — sauce wisdom and a tool kit for essential barbecue gadgets.
AND MORE RIBS
If your idea of fun is ordering your ribs rather than cooking them yourself, then Deputy Food Editor Jenn Harris has four great rib places to check out. “This is not a story about how barbecue is a religion, or how it should adhere to a certain region, method or ideology,” she writes, since in L.A. chefs tend to do their own thing when it comes to barbecue. Thus she visits a Filipino-style rib joint in DTLA and a Texas-style place in Van Nuys, as well as two others well worth the trek.
AND BEANS TO PAIR WITH ALL THOSE RIBS
What to make to go with your ribs? Food writer Margy Rochlin suggests a batch of pinquito beans, a staple of Santa Maria barbecue. These are lovely pink heirloom beans from the Central Coast, which are cooked many ways, of course, but particularly famous in Nipomo, Calif., for the long lines they provoke outside of Jocko’s steakhouse, where folks can get them to go. And yes, we have a recipe.
AND WINE TO DRINK
That would be chilled red wine, according to wine writer Patrick Comiskey — which you may or may not pair with your barbecue. Because when it gets to be summertime, not only beer and white wine, but the right reds taste pretty good pulled out of the fridge too. He picks a few bottles, from Provence, Piedmont and Napa. “They’ll be more substantial than rosé, but no less refreshing, and have the added benefit of more tannin to counterbalance whatever’s coming off the grill.”
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