Week in Pictures: Quebec, Baja + Restaurant Girl Visits L.A.

Food Writer New York City

9/15/11 - New York based Restaurant Girl Danyelle Freeman was in town to promote her first book, Try This, which encourages diners to try seemingly daunting dishes by demystifying international cuisine. Her choice for the L.A. book party was a natural - Susan Feniger's Street - which has a worldwide menu. Passed appetizers included Syrian inspired lamb kofta meatballs and Indonesian gado gado lettuce wraps. Crumbs pitched in cupcakes sporting her book cover.

Every week involves a seemingly continuous stream of food, drinks and people. Of course not every taste or conversation is post-able, but the range of experiences is usually pretty amazing. Here are some highlights from September 12 – 18, 2011, some of which will help to fuel full posts.


Chef Quebec

9/12/11 – Jean-Pierre Curtat was in L.A. as part of a Québec Government Office effort to promote their cuisine. The Québec native has been executive chef for the Casino de Montreal since it opened in 1993. He cooked for one week at The Grill on Hollywood, showcasing native ingredients in dishes like Pastilla de Canard Braise and Filet de Veau de lait. This week, Chez l’Épicier Restaurant chef Laurent Godbout is cooking down Hollywood Boulevard at Public Kitchen & Bar.

Vegetables Los Angeles

9/13/11 – Chef Jeff Cerciello and business partner Michel Darmon debuted prix fixe dinner service at Farmshop on Tuesday night after a long hold-up with their beer and wine license. Now they’re building full-blast on the market portion of the multi-faceted concept, and hope to debut that element before Thanksgiving. In the meantime, look for 3-4 course menus with seasonal selections like roasted ribeye with wild mushroom conserva and Peacock Family Farms’ eggplant.

Food Festival Baja

9/14/11 – Chef John Sedlar, Secretaría de Turismo del Estado de Baja California Juan Tintos and Chef Javier Plascencia appeared alongside Street Gourmet LA founder Bill Esparza (not pictured) at a Playa press conference announcing the inaugural Baja Culinary Fest, which will be from October 5 – 9 in places like Tijuana, Ensenada and the wine-focused Valle de Guadalupe.

Food Festival Baja

9/14/11 – After the press conference, chefs who work for Plascencia and Sedlar prepared several dishes using ingredients sourced from Baja, including salicornia (sea asparagus), callo de hacha sea scallops and bluefin tuna, which factored into tostadas with currants, capers, olive oil and jalapeño. This dish is normally available at Plascencia’s Cebicheria Erizo in Tijuana.

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Joshua Lurie

Joshua Lurie founded FoodGPS in 2005. Read about him here.

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