Come One, Come All

Bring On The Green Thumbs Already

We have no idea what we're doing, but we intend to get the skills we need as fast as possible. We asked our friend Jimmy to help us do the installation in our parking lot, not to sustain our kitchen, but merely to grow wacky things and learn the whole process of "Seed to Skillet". It makes my heart hurt how we throw away so much rich compost material, but no longer! Jimmy built us a compost as well. We'll keep you posted on what we grow and learn.

Decisions, Decisions

So these are straight up Mexican Wedding Cookies, but I don't want to call them that. They've got all the markings of the classic recipe: almond meal, cinnamon, a little citrus zest and most importantly in our line of work, people can't resist gobbling them up. But I must take pause..... ladies, how many bottles of red nail polish are named Red Nail Polish? Hmmm, precisely zero. We accept names like "Bad Romance" and "It's Raining Men" whose accompanying hues are all subject to interpretation, but yet, over here at Heirloom I am still calling a Mexican wedding cookie a Mexican Wedding Cookie.  How about something a little more inspired like "Ox-Eye Daisies" or "Golden Marguerites"? 


Suggestions would be appreciated.

Fish With Style

Did you see the dinner we threw for Bash, Please that was featured on Design Sponge? We served up a very unfashionable fish to some ladies all known for their popular blogs featuring style and design (Oh Joy, Bonnie Tsang, Bando, 100 Layer Cake, to name a few). 


What's that you say? Why would you cook up an unfashionable fish for a bunch of fashionable girls, Heirloom LA? 


Welp, to show that unassuming food, like unassuming clothes, when put together with some care and imagination, can turn heads and have an impact. Here we take a fish, most often seen (gasp!) in your frozen food aisle as fish sticks, and we get it in fresh, line caught even, and roast it whole with a crust of egg whites and coarse sea salt that Tad carved a face and scales on (very stylish, Tad!). This crust created a shell in the oven that locked all the vapor inside the fish while at the same time it created the flavor that only roasting can bring. When pulled from the oven, the crust a tawny brown, it looked like a sand sculpture and tasted just as mild and moist as it's more pricey counterparts.


Grouper, the modest fish altered to a dish chic and delightful, and I daresay from witnessing their clean plates, the girls all liked it. 

photos: Aaron Shintaku

Thanks C Magazine, We Love To Be Called Hot

Tonight on the Truck at Silverlake Wine

There was a buzz going around the Santa Monica Farmer's about a month ago because there was a new vendor, Frog Hollow Farm, that was offering the most spectacular pears I have ever wrapped my greedy mouth around. In this case, believe the hype. They taste as nuanced as a fine wine and, sadly, they are almost done for the year. Get them while you can on our truck tonight at Silverlake Wine in a delicious and colorful salad. Here's the rest of the menu:

Slow Braised Pork Shoulder over Fagioli Beans 

with Mc Grath Farms Charred Baby Green Onions + Apple Chutney

Housemade Spaghetti Verde + Lamb "Polpettine" Meatballs 

with Roasted Tomato Sauce + Buratta + Parmesean

Braised Stuffed Cone Cabbage (Vegan)

in a Tomato Broth with Roasted Fennel, Dill, + Bulgar Wheat

Jidori Chicken Breast Picatta + Cavatelli

with Brown Butter, Chenin Blanc + Caper Berries

Root Beer Marinated Smoked Ham Slider

on Brioche Buns with Whole Grain Mustard, House Cured Saurkraut + Arugula

Frog Hollow Pear Salad with Nutmeg + Apple Cider Vinaigrette

over Speckled Greens, Housemade Ricotta + Wild Radicchio

And of Course.... Assorted Lasagna Cupcakes.

High Art in the Land of Oz

Remember when those fierce Santa Ana winds came tearing through Los Angeles the first day of December uprooting fences and crushing trees onto rooftops leaving us all here to feel something akin to Dorothy, frantically clicking on our red bejeweled shoes mumbling "there's no place like home"? Our electricity went out for three days too, but luckily Kelsey somehow scored the last high powered generator at Home Depot and our inventory was ultimately left unharmed. She says she didn't hurt anyone in the process and we, the team here at Heirloom, never questioned her. This was our morning. Our afternoon was spent on a scavenger hunt in heavy traffic anxiously searching for internet service, our chief artery to maintaining business. Starbucks, you got it? No. La Mill... Intelligentsia? No and no. Westside, here we come, but very slowly. Cell phones sufficed when our telephone service was down, but service was shoddy at best in our area. And then there was the evening when we were scheduled to be a part of an event loftily referred to as Anatomical Theater at MOCA. 


Due to the nerve wrenching circumstances leading up to this event, none of us, not even Matt, can really comment much more than to say that the artist, Liz Glynn, was very nice and uncommonly respectful as she solemnly passed around the gory head of a Colorado Lamb that she had commissioned Matt to butcher in front of guests at a dinner party set up outside the museum. Lamb Tar Tar, anyone? Hold on, it's coming up. Delicious. The evening capped off with a medieval character hoisting himself up on the long dining table, rumbling all the plates and silverware that guests then gleefully thrust down upon the ground, lamb shanks and all. 


Waking up the next morning, having narrowly escaped danger of any kind, we were bewildered as our little dog licked our faces and we, Matt and I, concluded decisively that there was, indeed, no place like home.

photos: Christina Edwards

video: Alex Mac Innis

Inventory

photo: Autumn de Wilde

Kinfolk Magazine At Mc Grath Farms

Any excuse to cook at Mc Grath Farms, we're there! We love to roam the farm and forage our ingredients to prepare on our truck for another glorious Farm to Truck To Table Dinner. And those donuts you see, well the jam is from all those seascape strawberries we got in a few months ago. It's always fun to team up with Bash, Please and Casa de Perrin.

Photos by Lou Mora 

Leftover Christmas Roast

Leave it to Autumn de Wilde to make a charming video like this on an I Phone without any bells or whistles or post razzle-dazzle manipulation. Here we are in her kitchen making tacos and tortilla soup from her leftover Christmas roast.

Our Own Holiday Party

photos by non other than George Simian

Rue's Holiday Table

Make Cavatelli at home, see recipe here.

photos by Jasmine Star

Baby, It's Cold Outside

all outdoor photos by George Simian who was also freezing

last three (indoor) photos by Aaron Shintaku

Joys + Bitters

See original LA Times link here

Here's How It Goes

And that wraps up our Silverlake Wine Tastings for this year. Down below you see myself with George Cossette, co-owner of SLW, who you may have heard on KCRW's Good Food. He is essentially an alcohol Wikipedia. I ask him questions in which he always responds with an articulate and fascinating answer. How I am unable to retain this information is shocking to me. I can say with the utmost of confidence that all of his wine recommendations are spot on so don't worry if you too do not recall his explanations, you will, as I,  relish the drink instead.

photos: George Simian

Pink + Yellow Apps On Their Way

Heirloom LA + Mc Grath Farms

A couple of months ago, at the peak of fall, we decided to host a dinner off our Food Truck, Black Betty, right in the middle of a pumpkin patch at Mc Grath Farms. The purpose was to showcase some of our favorite people who have helped to propel and support the growth of our business in these last couple of years. We wanted to introduce them to each other and give thanks for all they do for us. Among them of course were our resident photographers George + Beata, and Shark Pig was shooting a video. Casa de Perrin provided their gorgeous variety of vintage plates and glasses that had everyone talking and Bash, Please sent us some pretty flower arrangements that we scattered about on tables delivered by Town and Country. Alex Weiser of Weiser Farms was there as well. With Jeff Fisher of Habit Wines and Silverlake Wine providing some special vino, it was truly a family affair.

In addition to the spectacular array of produce that my dad picks up from Mc Grath Farms every Monday, Matt actually went out to the fields and picked some treasures to cook up on our truck for the feast before guests arrived in the caravan from our kitchen in Eagle Rock.

APPETIZERS  

Fried Kennebeck Potatoes

 with Sprouting Garlic Aioli + Fried Herbs

House-cured Lamb Heart Pastrami on Brioche

 with Pickled Cabbage + Roasted Tomato Thousand Island with Cornichons

Fried Squash Blossoms stuffed with Buratta + Ricotta + Chives

 topped with Smoky Mozzarella Fondue

Yellow San Marzano Tomatoes filled with Squash + Goat Cheese + Sunflower Seed Puree

First Course

Charred Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho

with marjoram + basil

Second Course

Carrots Three Ways

Shaved Raw Purple Carrots, Cumin Roasted Orange Carrots, + Pickled Whole Golden Carrots with House-made Ricotta, Pumpkin Seeds + Red Frill Mustard Greens

Third Course

Beet Raviolo 

stuffed with Dill, House-Made Fromage Blanc + A Molten Farm Fresh Egg Yolk atop House-Made Lamb Chorizo, Roasted Baby Beets, Brown Butter + White Balsamic Sauce

Fourth Course

Branzino Fagioli

with Cassoulet of Purple Haricot Verts, Lime Beans, Tongues of Fire, + Flagolett Beans

Fifth Course

Slow Roasted Domestic Lamb Breast

with Potato + Sunchoke Risotto, Red Wine Sauce, + Pee Wee Potato Chips

Dessert

Pumpkin Brioche Bread Pudding

with Spicy Custard layered with Chocolate Ganache atop a Chocolate Sable with Maple Moose and Chocolate Crumble