Craftmanship

This video on how ink is made has nothing to do with food but is somehow reminiscent of everything beautiful in the kitchen. 

Napa Comes to Silverlake

When Matt and I went to Napa last week, we brought back with us a pig and lots of produce from Hudson Ranch to feature at Silverlake Wine. If you missed out on this menu that got a shout out in LA Times' Daily Dish, I am very sorry.

Photos: Beata Bernina

I Phones + Drinks

I have not used a cell phone in over a year. I don't like them. Then I saw friends doing these crazy photo things with I Phones and I just had to have one. Last night I went a little nuts during an impromptu drink making "Research and Development" for all. I posted each photo on Twitter which went to Facebook, then I had social media remorse early this morning and went to erase them all but instead put them together and reposted them here because ya just can't get enough of a good drink.

Chocolate Isn't Just For Dessert

Last week, on our trip to Hudson Ranch, our friend Autumn took these photos with her polaroid camera using a rarefied film she calls "chocolate polaroid" which otherwise would simply give an old-timey impression but primed with the name, I just think of beautiful images dipped in melted truffles. Aren't they so pretty?  

photos: Autumn de Wilde

Guest Post on Oh Joy

We Will Not Steal From Thomas Keller

On our whirlwind trip to Napa, where we stayed for one night at Hudson Ranch and then skeedaddled back on home, Matt and I had to get a good look at the mecca of all restaurants and the symbol of the dream and orthodox that any serious chef aspires to possess.... Thomas Keller's French Laundry. No, we did not eat there, they were closed for lunch for the record, but we did drag Autumn with us to be a weird food groupie and scope out the place. She's easy going and was game, and if she was bewildered by the mad excitement Matt and I displayed over this location, she certainly didn't show it.

Keller has a garden which stands directly across the street from his restaurant on a valuable patch of land that could otherwise host a four star hotel. There were no fences to keep us out, so we wandered around it's inspiring grounds, each aisle purposefully labeled, and when it's gardeners paid no mind, we felt that maybe this was Keller's intention. If you can't acquire dinner reservations, at least you could snap up an heirloom tomato. Even a chicken coop was out in the open with kale growing inside for a mid afternoon snack. What I'd do to taste those eggs, but it's funny because I did nothing and let them be in their unlocked coop. There was just something so reverent about this public/private garden that quietly asked you not to sully any of it up. 

We came, we went, and we left the tomatoes, as well as everything else, for dinner service.

An Overview of Our Whirlwind Trip to Napa

Last week Matt and I were invited to visit Hudson Ranch to forage for our Sunday Tasting at Silverlake Wine. We invited our friend, an enthusiastic foodie and music/fashion/celebrity photographer Autumn de Wilde to come along. The three of us didn't really know what to expect, but Lee Hudson made it perfectly clear once we got there and he showed us his pigs. "Let's get on the phone and see if (Silverlake Wine) wants to buy one."

"I'll buy one," Matt proclaimed, cutting to the chase, and taking Lee a bit off guard like he does anyone who has never tasted his food and experienced his talent. How could this sloppily dressed kid with the backwards hat and clipboard take anything seriously, especially business and fine dining?

We've all asked this question (yes, even me nearly five years ago when I first met him in the restaurant where we both worked), and we all have been surprised and a bit awestruck at just how gifted Matt is at both of these skills. As much as I try to get him to leave his hat at home and put his clipboard down, it is his vision and actions that matter most in defining him and today, for those who made reservations, it will be plated for tasting as Lee himself, down from Napa, pours from his own divine vintages that will then be available for sale at Silverlake Wine. 

A special day today, indeed.

SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM OUR TRIP TO NAPA:

One.  The most candied tomato I have ever tasted. I owe Lee some  money because I picked a number I can not recall from the vine and  shoved them in my mouth, one after the other, after the other, fearing that I may never taste anything so sweet and so accessible again.

Two.  Autumn with her bad ass medium format film camera. She shoots film. Only. She is an artist who isn't known for shooting food but will start to be after the processing is done from this trip.

Three.  Matt, with his hat and his clipboard.

Four.  Grapes growing at Hudson Ranch where 30 wineries source from. This massive private ranch employs incredibly talented and dedicated farmers who patiently answered our questions and supplied the most useful advice, "Anyone can have a garden, all you need is a plastic bucket, some dirt, and water."

Thank you Lee and Christine for graciously putting us up in "The Dog House" and allowing us to explore your treasured Napa farm whose sustainable and ethical operations should be industry standard. 

Pork For Tomorrow

When we were invited to Hudson Ranch last week and learned that Chez Panisse sourced their pork from there, we knew we had to go. Their heritage breed pigs nibbled at our pants and snorted in our faces. For us city folk, it was fascinating to see how agile they were in their rocky terrain, ceaselessly searching for acorns and roots. The mama of many of them was 740 pounds and tame enough to hold eye contact. These were all kind beasts, which rendered us solemn as we prepared to take one home, not alive, for our Silverlake Wine Tasting. For those of you who eat pork, this is the most humane way to do so and a standard we should all insist upon by way of our purchasing power so as to end corporate meat processing plants that dominate this country's food industry (see expanded description here).

Eggs For Tomorrow

We took home several cartons of eggs from these beautiful heritage chickens of Hudson Ranch for our Silverlake Wine Tasting tomorrow. I collected a bunch of them myself, still warm after just having been laid in their nests. 

Vegetables For Tomorrow

If you didn't already know, Matt and I went to Napa last week with our friend Autumn to explore a farm growing produce the old fashioned way. No, they are not certified organic, but they operate as if they are. Everything we tasted on this scenic farm was exceptional, and you will be able to experience it all for yourself cooked up in a special tasting menu tomorrow at Silverlake Wine. See the menu here.

Three Little Piggies

Eating Well At Silverlake Wine

Carrot Melon Soup

PUREE: 


One ripe cantaloup melon + refrigerate


SAUTEE IN OLIVE OIL:


4 shallots, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
6 jumbo carrots, peeled + chopped
salt + pepper
•Sautee until caramelized


ADD:


•1/2 c white wine to deglaze. Cook until carrots absorb liquid.
•Now add 2 cups water + let come to a simmer.


PUREE:


•Puree carrot mixture + refrigerate.
•Once both the carrot mixture and the melon mixture are both cold, combine + serve. 
•Garnish with basil and a mild olive oil.

Makes Ya Wanna Open A Restaurant

Our friends Heather + Learka sent us over this Taschen book and I can't tear myself away from it. So beautiful. See more here.

Our Regular Food Truck Night Gets A Shout Out

Breakfast Pizza

Thanks Dad For This Week's Fall Produce

My Dad used to be in the Hell's Angeles, now he is in the Heirloom Angels (or something like that?)! This week he went along with Matt for his farm pick-up because we are GEARING UP for our Mc Grath Farms Dinner tomorrow where we will be serving a Five Course Plated Tasting Menu (plus appetizers!) in the middle of a pumpkin patch in Mc Grath's Farm in Camarillo off of our Food Truck! Matt pulled from the dirt a bunch of beautiful curry squash, green onions, heirloom carrots, black kale, red frill mustards greens, yellow san marzano tomatoes, purple haricot vert, wild rocket argula, escarole, lima beans, strawberries and melons! 


Stand back, we're gonna have heat and amazing produce to cook up tomorrow. Our own Beata Bernina and George Simian will be photographing everything. It's gonna be a blast!!

Photos: Beata Bernina

We Have Two George's

We have two George's on our team. George Simian who generously photographs us and what we're doing (ah-hem, he's an award winning photography teacher- check out his amazing classes at Samy's and UCLA), and George Uch who, like many of us at Heirloom, wears a few hats. If he's not in the kitchen, it's because we are stealing him away in the office to do things like convert our MACs (RIP Steve Jobs) into PCs so we can operate Quick Books. Is that even possible? It is if George is on your team. "Heck Yea!!!" 

Why is George working in your kitchen if he's this amazing IT guy you may ask because we sure do. Well he really likes cooking. On his day off he roasted a whole fish and shared it not with his wife (who he loves very much but she's a vegetarian), rather he came in and gave it to us, emotionally thanking Matt for teaching him how to fillet and consequently bringing us all to tears (see photos below taken by our other George). 

George is always a bright light as he enthusiastically learns new kitchen skills and patiently answers all of our computer demands. In his own words he's just "making everybody feel comfortable".


Career for life George. Life.

photos: George Simian

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Steve Jobs got fired from Apple and created Pixar whose first movie was Toy Story. Then Apple hired him back and he made the I Mac et al. 


He professed to not give customers what they want but to present them with what they'll need. 


His philosophy can be applied to all professions.


Read his commencement address to Stanford University here.

It's A Pizza Party In The Kitchen

"How about making some pizza today?" I asked Matt. So he mixed up some 00 flour and fresh yeast and honey and maple and came up with a dough elastic and soft -not quite crisp- and covered in big bubbles. Perfect. He made calzones also, why not? The whole office, Sabrina and KRoq and Tal and Kelsey, got in on the act too because making pizza should always be a party.