Wednesdays at Handsome Coffee

Residents downtown have had the inside scoop for what's going on at Handsome Coffee every Wednesday from 5-8 p.m when The Produce Project sets up the most beautiful gathering of produce in a glorious edit of all the best of the best from the Santa Monica Farmer's Market. Remember this post when we talked about going to SMFM? The ladies of Produce Project also source directly from additional farmers and ranchers to add to their carefully curated selection for you to shop from. Raw dairy items are available here, clean meats, and fertilized eggs also.

My favorite offering from The Produce Project is their "Market Baskets" which contain balanced samplings of everything for you to enjoy through the week. How convenient! Oh and they make the most special gifts. Everyone we have given one to is just giddy by how pretty it's presentation is and then by how absolutely divine the produce tastes. It's so fun to be surprised by what you'd probably never pick out on your own (like mouse melons or finger limes) and then wonder how you lived this long without any of it. These baskets even include a few simple recipe ideas and tell you which farm every item comes from. Pretty perfect, right?

Photos: Tara Maxey

Handsome Coffee turns these Wednesdays into a gourmet event by including Guerrilla Tacos (they have a food truck now!) and Sweet Clementine's Popsicles (ask about featuring them at your next party with spiked pops). Oh, yes, and the most refined and sophisticated coffee of all time. They don't even offer sugar, they want to control that cup that you drink in all of it's perfection. Don't go ruining it with sugar. 

Let me tell you something, this sugar loving coffee drinker appreciates a Handsome cup of sugarless coffee. The milk is skillfully heated to a particular level which creates a rich sweet creamy foam and I just don't miss the sugar. Oh.... and their ice coffee..... it's brewed for 24 hours and is so smooth and layered. I honestly wouldn't spoil that brew in any way. Heresy. I can't believe I'm saying that, I love sugar. Anyway, give it a try for yourself and let us know what you think. Ring up some friends this Wednesday and have yourselves a casual, affordable, and deliciously enjoyable fine night out.


Handsome Coffee:  582 Mateo St. in the Downtown LA Arts District

"Market Baskets" from The Produce Project can be picked up on Wednesdays at Handsome or you can order them by contacting hungry@theproduceproject.com. They offer two sizes, one at $45 and the other at $65

A Special Night at Yamashiro Farmer's Market

For the last 3 years, our food truck has been parked at the stunning Yamashiro Farmer's Market every Thursday night in the spring and summer. Stationed in the Hollywood Hills, you can watch the sunset over the city (on a clear night you can see Catalina)and listen to music (there's always a live band) as you drink wine and purchase produce and eat off of a few different food trucks.

As with all of our food truck stops (Monday at Silverlake Wine, Tuesdays at Everson Royce and, in the summer, every other Friday at Barnsdall), our truck always changes. YOu get count on lasagna cupcakes, but the flavors vary. 

That's our friend Bonnie Tsang there with some Turkey Mole Nachos. It was Mexican Night on the truck and our Ceviche and Wet Burritos always are the first entrees to sell out.

If you're not familiar with Bonnie, she's an expert I Phone photographer (among other things), and she is teaching a class at Poketo coming up, check it out here.

Last Thursday was a special evening because Matt did a cooking demo with Phil Mc Grath's produce. Remember when we hosted a dinner off his farm here? His heirloom tomatoes are unsurpassed so Matt talked about how you don't need to do too much to make them into an impressive Panzanella Salad. Phil had brought some organic (his enitre farm is organic) micro corn that Matt couldn't resist adding to the salad as well. Why follow rules when so many treasures are in front of you?

You may ask why Matt is not wearing one of his many Hedley and Bennett aprons. He gave his to Phil there who couldn't believe an apron could look so good and be so functional. You can get one for yourself at Poketo.

Photos: Tara Maxey

This recipe is so easy that you can have your kids do the heavy work! 


PANZANELLA SALAD


1 lb assorted varieties of heirloom tomatoes 

1/4 medium red onion, shaved thin (on mandolin or sliced)

1/2 cucumber, sliced

5 leaves basil, torn into small pieces

2-3 slices thick crusty bread drizzles with salt, pepper, and olive oil

1 clove garlic

2 oz balsamic vinegar

2 oz extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste


• combine tomatoes, onion, cucumber and basil in a bowl and season with salt and pepper, set aside to marinate

• in a hot pan or grill, char the bread so that each side is toasted (a little char is okay), then rub the raw garlic clove on the bread vigorously

• dice the bread into one inch squares

• now add balsamic vinegar to the tomatoes and toss, then add the olive oil and mix again.

• just before serving, gently toss in the bread croutons 

• top with buratta or fresh mozzarella or shaved parmesean cheese

and feel free to add Mc Grath Farm's micro corn or diced avocado or crispy bacon or prosciutto even!

Food Revolution Day

Photos: Tara Maxey

We love Jamie Oliver and his Food Revolution which is a movement that earnestly promotes eating local, fresh produce and works to teach kids how to cook healthy. In honor of Food Revolution Day, our Food Truck parked at The Gene Autry Farmer's Market today, and Matt showed a group of families how to make a salad dressing in less than three minutes... so why ever buy it in a bottle? Collect your fresh produce from your farmer's market, and then whip it up it! Here's how:

• PUT TOGETHER A BOWL OF GREENS

• PUT TOGETHER ANOTHER BOWL OF "GOODIES", here Matt used sliced apples, pitted cherries, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, fresh peas, pumpkin seeds and herbs, but just use whatever you think is "good"!

• NOW FOR THE GARLIC MUSTARD DRESSING: 

In a small bowl, juice one lemon over one tablespoon dijon mustard 

Then "grate" 1/2 clove garlic on a microplane into the bowl or crush in a garlic press

Take a whisk to the small bowl and then slowly start to drizzle in about 2 oz Olive Oil as you whisk briskly (or you can just place it all in a jar and shake, shake, shake!) 

Add salt and pepper to taste, whisk or shake again 

• PLATE IT ALL TOGETHER:

Toss your delicious dressing with the Mixed Greens and also with the "Goodies", then plate Greens first, with the "Goodies" over it, making it high and pretty, like the shape of a pyramid. Add some cheese, here we added fresh Ricotta and ta-da! Done.

Support School Gardens

A couple of months ago we were approached to team up on a fundraiser for a high school garden. A high school what? Oh, I needed to hear more, so much more. It turns out that this school in Pasadena, John Muir High, not only educated David Lee Roth (class of '72) and Rodney King (Class of '87) but it currently has an operating edible garden that supports it's lunch program and a CSA. Get this, kids work the land here, creating a local food system and receive credit for PE. What?! I LOVE it, all of it! We scheduled a site visit and were blown away by how expansive the garden was so we knew we needed to go big and bring our Food Truck and invite as many people as possible to help raise money for this important program.

We brought in our most esteemed captain, Duane, to direct students who were assigned the task of serving guests during dinner service. They were all so excited and took a lot of pride in what they were doing. 

One of the kids, Malik, had a lot of fun helping Matt and Migs cook the dinner's 5 courses off our truck. All these students loved vegetables, a testament of what the experience of working in an urban garden has given them.

Photos: Tara Maxey

Wouldn't it be wonderful if more schools adopted a program like this? I think so too, but with fundamental aspects of our public school system being aggressively slashed, money for an urban garden is not going to emerge from our government. Programs like this depend on volunteers and the charitable donations of the community. The future of our food system relies on our youth valuing where it inherently comes from and understanding why organic farming is so critical to the health of our land. When you are asked to support a program like this, please do, not just for the kid who is asking but for our entire society as a whole.

The Salon on Eater LA

See full Eater LA post here.

Emily Henderson Styles Some Lasagna Cupcakes

I have long loved Emily Henderson's blog and have learned much from it in designing our new office so when Joy introduced us I was star struck. I still have never seen her HGTV show but I have read much of her blog. It contains approachable guidelines for busy people who have a vision for what they want for their house (or office) and just need a little direction from a professional. She styled a  shoot for Glitter Guide and we threw in some par-tay food. It had some Ban-Do action going on with hot pink and gold and indigo. So  much fun!

Photos: David Tsay

Wit & Whimsy with Anthology Magazine

In February we were asked, along with our very creative friends at Casa de Perrin, to host a whimsical shoot in The Salon, with the talented Max Wanger behind the camera, for Anthology Magazine. Any excuse to hang with these peeps, we are down. And as for Anthology Magazine, it is a lush, unpretentious pictorial journal that feels more like a merry design book for your coffee table. We were honored to be a part of such a deliciously colorful project.  The day of the shoot, we served breakfast for dinner as Andrea Arria-Devoe asked us lots us questions like, "Did you name this tasting room 'The Salon' to communicate that you would be hosting gatherings of different local artists?" 


Wow, I wanted to say, yes! But that wasn't the truth, the truth was that the space had been a beauty salon and the beauty salon was exactly next door to our kitchen and this beauty salon was rarely, if ever, open, and we wanted it. Bad. 


We'd all ponder over what, if acquired, we'd do with "the beauty salon" and these musings grew so active that we shortened the reference down to just "the salon". What if we turned the salon into a walk-in? Hey, the salon would make a great prep room! What about putting all our dry storage in the salon? Things like that until one day it was available. On a whim, after a very busy wedding weekend of making the standard chicken and steak that brides and mother's of the brides always tend to favor, Matt and I looked at each other and wildly announced, "Let's turn the salon into a tasting room and make whatever we want!"


And so we did. 


It was a given to name it "The Salon", anything else felt awkward after months of pining after it as such. We opened the space with a gallery show from Autumn de Wilde. Upwards of 100 people were served bubbly, compliments of Silverlake Wine, as well as twelve different tray passed appetizers all complimenting Autumn's theme of Blood and Earth. The following day during this Anthology shoot, with Autumn's gorgeous yet unusual photos expertly attached to smooth, freshly painted white walls by a mysterious fellow who packed a discreet black leather tool belt over his low slung jeans and, as word on the street has it, hangs all of Bansky's work (I asked him about this, he gave up nothing), Andrea just assumed, naturally, that because our intention with the space was to promote art and bring in various culinary artisans to team up with that the name was purely literal. 


"No," I admitted, laughing at myself for missing something so obvious. "No." 


She asked again to confirm. I shook my head with mirth, but as she enthusiastically scribbled in her notebook I realized, my nerves suddenly frayed, that this oversight would be a significant part of the Anthology article, and indeed, she opened with it.


So I give pause because now we are about to turn another nearby closed store we have obtained, a bike shop this time, into an office. As we predictably go about naming this space, you guessed it, "The Bike Shop", I ask myself, "What are the unmistakable cultural implications behind a bike shop that relate to a bustling catering office?" 


My mind is blank. 


Bike. Office. Peddle. Desk. I'm not making any connections. Is my poor brain really that foggy? Please let me know if I'm missing something before I'm taken off guard by someone with a pen. 


In the mean time, we are ready to launch a series of pairings in The Salon, the first being on June 28, with Handsome Coffee and YEAH Rentals. We'll tell you all about it with pictures because we have Max shooting again. It will be a blast. And we will not be serving chicken or steak.


More to come on upcoming events at The Salon, which Webster defines as "a hall for exhibition of art" and/or "an assemblage of notables". It is our aim to live up to those descriptions.

**Many thanks to  Anthology's Creative Director Meg Matteo Ilasco, for featuring us in your beautiful magazine.

What Do We Do With 'Em?

Thursday's Truck Stop in Details

Max Wanger's Three Day Workshop

Last week we did lunch drop-offs for Feet First, a photography workshop with Max Wanger and Blog Shop. Our pals at Yeah Rentals and Shark Pig share an office with Max and Bri so they came out for grub too. For one of the days we served pasta off our new Taco Cart! We had choices of Fresh Raviolis and Cavatelli and Linguini and you choose the sauce, all made right there in front of everyone. It was lots of fun!


These adorable photos were from student's twitter feed: 


@crystal_jean 
@aloarowa 
@wrp3 
@whit_chamberlin 
& YEAH Rental's lovely wife @thelittlestblog

We Love Jamie Lee Curtis

This last week, Jamie Lee Curtis hired our truck as a present for her NCIS crew. She is a gracious gal and enthusiastic supporter of our Lasagna Cupcakes™. She sends them out, gives them out and continues to hook us up with full-service parties. The 200 person crew of NCIS are not the only people to experience her abundant generosity, we are too.


NCIS on CBS Tuesdays at 8/7c

photo by: Todd on Mig's IPhone

It's All In The Family

photo of me and my pops by: George Simian

Inventory

photo: Autumn de Wilde

Rue's Holiday Table

Make Cavatelli at home, see recipe here.

photos by Jasmine Star

Painting Pasta

poster by: quaillanepress

Black Betty Hits the Westside

Last Sunday Migs, Peter and I worked the Good Food Fest over in Santa Monica which was so much fun because nobody knew what a Lasagna Cupcake was over on the west side. "Lasagna what? Is it sweet?"

Lasagna Cupcake™, no it is not sweet. It is formed with hand made pasta using organic eggs. If you haven't had one, you must. They're delicious.

The vegetables for the Farmer's Market Salad were from Phil Mc Grath's Farm who did a speech addressing the question, "Can organic farming feed the world?"

"Duh!" says Phil, "It did for only like 10,000 years!"

Love Phil and the synchronicity of serving the produce he takes such pride in growing while watching people waiting to hear him speak. Love how Santa Monica had recycling bins everywhere. Loved being a part of the 30 year celebration of Santa Monica Farmer's Market because we love Santa Monica Farmer's Market and we will be there tomorrow and every Wednesday for the next 30 years.

photos: Beata Bernina

Rainbow Pasta

At long last, after much nagging (by me of course, I'm the nag), the boys in the kitchen have started to color our pasta! There's green (spinach), pink (beet), and orange (tomato). This green one below is a mushroom Lasagna Cupcake™ and fyi, it's delectable. 

Angeleno Magazine's 9th Annual Restaurant Awards

Last weekend Matt and Taz served up some Lasagna Cupcakes™ at the Fairmont Hotel for their 9th annual restaurant awards called "Live and Dine In LA". We were invited because our truck, Black Betty, was named "Best Brunch". Our friends George and Beata went around sampling the food and snapping some really fun shots. Here are a few:

photos by George Simian

Oprah Makes Us Feel Good About Ourselves

Let me just tell ya, a comment like that, from a wonder woman such as she, really makes our hearts go pitter-patter with pride for our little guys.

Momma says...