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Showing posts from October, 2014

A Delicious Experiment at Ice Cream Lab Pasadena

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What's a Delicious Experiment? You've heard of an experiment gone wrong, this one went delicious! Ice Cream Lab , which opened it's Beverly Hills location  in 2013,  uses liquid nitrogen with natural ingredients  to make  ice cream. Yes, the kind of ice cream we grew up on, except just a bit different. (I'll explain more later)  It's Opening Day! At the Grand Opening of Ice Cream Lab's Pasadena store on Fair Oaks ( just South of Colorado Blvd.) a line was out the door for ice cream. Not Just Any Ice Cream!  Photo Courtesy of Ice Cream Lab Co-founders cutting the ribbon with  Pasadena  Mayor Bill Bogaard. It's Officially Open! You won't find ice cream tubs in freezers like most places. They have mixing stations, since it only takes a few moments to make your selection. Ice cream ingredients are placed in a mixer Liquid Nitrogen is added The Magic Happening ...

Talkin' Turkey and BBQ at Wood Ranch BBQ & Grill

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It's time to think about Thanksgiving and preparing the turkey and sides. Wood Ranch BBQ & Grill was kind enough to invite me to their Flame, Smoke, and Turkey 'When BBQ and Thanksgiving Collide'  Chef Alex Benes, Wood Ranch's Sultan of Smoke, gives us prep/cooking tips and prepped a turkey for us. NOTE:  Wood Ranch doesn't do turkeys for Thanksgiving.  Chef Alex showed us how to cut out the backbone and butterfly the turkey. After injecting the bird to keep it moist, a rub was spread on and will be cooked breast-side down. All of the juices will run down into the breast, keeping it juicy.  Through the magic of television, well you know what I mean... The turkey is done!  Chef Alex breaks down the bird  for tasting, which was really good and moist. The best part was sampling the bird with  the smokey gravy. Now that the demo is over, time to sit down and sample...

Dinner for Two at Chaya Downtown

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It's hard to believe that Chaya Downtown is celebrating their 5th Anniversary. They're located between the twin towers at the old ARCO Plaza (now known as City National Plaza) Did I just show my age?  Celebrating their 5th Anniversary with a Special $55 Shared Dinner for Two menu (through October 2014)  It's a shared 2 course dinner with dessert for $55. See What Jay Eats...  We started off with some La Brea Bakery bread while looking over the special menu  and also regular menu. We pretty much wanted to try the special menu, but there was one dish we HAD to order from the regular menu... One of Chaya's specialties is the Tuna Tartare which is prepared table side. Did you know that Chef Tachibe created the tuna tartare at their West Hollywood restaurant in the 1980's? Manager Michael told us that Chef Tachibe's chef coat and knife are in the Smithsonian for the creation of th...