Bob and Pat Brodsky were celebrating their 53rd wedding annivesary (!) and they invited us to join them for dinner at Scardino's, 4803 Torrance Boulevaard, Torrance 310-542-2222. It's an old favorite that, for one reason or another, they haven't visited lately.
It's situated in a strip mall and it's been there in one form or another for the past 25 years. Originally, it was a take-out place, but six years ago, the previous tenant left and they were able to buy the space that is now their dining room.
It's a smallish room, longer than it is wide, with framed posters marching down the long wall. Wooden tables and chairs, immaculate white table linen, and almost every table had a group of people - not just couples dotted around the room. Pat pointed to a big table in the back and said it was the family table. It was in use that night and people were roaring with laughter and yelling at one another in great glee all over the restaurant. It struck me momentarily as kind of a rowdy Thanksgiving dinner with all of the relatives.
They were doing a good business when we got there, but because Bob had made a reservation, we were seated immediately. The three of them decided to share a bottle of chianti and when the waiter uncorked it at the table, I asked, "Does it have to breathe or do we just wrestle it to death in the glass?" which made him laugh and say, "Yes, let it breathe."
Finally decisions had been made. Pat ordered the eggplant parmesan; Richie chicken cacciatore, Bob the "half and half" of meat ravioli and spaghetti marinara. I asked the waiter if their small Caesar salad came garnished with anchovies and his face fell, then brightened -- "No, but I can add some" in a hopeful voice. I made a horrific face and mimed crossing myself and this amused him so much that he burst out laughing, bent over our table. When we all got calm, the food began to arrive. My cappelini with meat sauce was outstanding. The chef, who arrived six years ago, has absolutely mastered meat sauce. scardinositalian.com/menu
All of it was very good and the portions were enormous. So much so that Bob was the only one of us not to ask for a doggy bag.
A bottle of chianti, a glass of pinot grigio, and four entrees came to $100 plus $20 tip. We will definitely go back and feel we're now rich -- TWO excellent Italian places from which to choose. (Charlie's, formerly Cialucci's, is the other.) Our Italian family is growing.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Gearing Up For Palm Springs
It's a mini-family reunion! Richie's brother Charlie and his wife Rosalind flew in yesterday morning from their home on Long Island. Meanwhile, my sister, Jane, and my bro-in-law Jim had driven from Galena, IL and were due in Palm Springs yesterday. Next week, Charlie, Rosalind and we are driving down to Palm Springs.
Since all of us like to eat, I compiled a list of places that we know plus a couple of new places that we don't.
Known -
Trio, 760-864-8746
707 N. Palm Canyon, PS They make a crawfish pot pie that is enormous and very good.
Sherman's Deli
401 E. Tahquitz Canyon, PS Home of the corned beef sandwich on hash browns, not bread.
Tommy Bahama's Caribbean Cafe 760-836-0188
73-595 El Paseo, Palm Desert Real island ambience and plenty of rum drinks
Rock Garden Cafe 760-327-8849
777 S. Palm Canyon,, PS Golfers breakfasting in the mornings; punk rock scene at night.
Tyler's for Sliders! 760-325-2990
149 S. Indian Canyon, PS
Tootie's BBQ 760-202-6963
703 Perez Road, Cathedral City Hey, it's bbq! And it's good!
Don and Sweet Sue's Cafe 760-770-2760
68-955 Ramon Road, Cathedral City Very much a local's place and quite cozy.
Melvyn's 760-325-2323
Ingleside Inn, 200 W. Ramon, PS Go back in time with table-side salad prep, a lot of steak choices and even more sauces.
New -
Copley's 760-327-9555
621 N. Palm Canyon, PS Dinner only and a Caesar salad with crab fritters intrigues me.
Le Vallauris 760-325-5059
385 W. Tahquitz Canyon Way, PS Wildly, roaringly expensive but the food is said to be very good. $85 for the caviar.
Lavendar Bistro 760-564-5353
78-073 Calle Barcelona, La Quinta Very good word of mouth on this one.
Spenser's 760-327-3446
700 W. Baristo Road, PS The chef grows his own herbs and vegetables and is very much into garden-to-table cooking
Blue Coyote 760-327-1196
445 N. Palm Canyon, PS Said to have good margaritas - pitcher, $30; single drink, $9 but the food got booed pretty good. Drinks only is what I'll recommend.
Since all of us like to eat, I compiled a list of places that we know plus a couple of new places that we don't.
Known -
Trio, 760-864-8746
707 N. Palm Canyon, PS They make a crawfish pot pie that is enormous and very good.
Sherman's Deli
401 E. Tahquitz Canyon, PS Home of the corned beef sandwich on hash browns, not bread.
Tommy Bahama's Caribbean Cafe 760-836-0188
73-595 El Paseo, Palm Desert Real island ambience and plenty of rum drinks
Rock Garden Cafe 760-327-8849
777 S. Palm Canyon,, PS Golfers breakfasting in the mornings; punk rock scene at night.
Tyler's for Sliders! 760-325-2990
149 S. Indian Canyon, PS
Tootie's BBQ 760-202-6963
703 Perez Road, Cathedral City Hey, it's bbq! And it's good!
Don and Sweet Sue's Cafe 760-770-2760
68-955 Ramon Road, Cathedral City Very much a local's place and quite cozy.
Melvyn's 760-325-2323
Ingleside Inn, 200 W. Ramon, PS Go back in time with table-side salad prep, a lot of steak choices and even more sauces.
New -
Copley's 760-327-9555
621 N. Palm Canyon, PS Dinner only and a Caesar salad with crab fritters intrigues me.
Le Vallauris 760-325-5059
385 W. Tahquitz Canyon Way, PS Wildly, roaringly expensive but the food is said to be very good. $85 for the caviar.
Lavendar Bistro 760-564-5353
78-073 Calle Barcelona, La Quinta Very good word of mouth on this one.
Spenser's 760-327-3446
700 W. Baristo Road, PS The chef grows his own herbs and vegetables and is very much into garden-to-table cooking
Blue Coyote 760-327-1196
445 N. Palm Canyon, PS Said to have good margaritas - pitcher, $30; single drink, $9 but the food got booed pretty good. Drinks only is what I'll recommend.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Three People/Three Books
"George Harrison, Living in the Material World" by Olivia Harrison Abrams Publishing 398 pages $40
This is basically a scrapbook of old photos, a paragraph or two of lauditory memories of Harrison by family, friends and bandmates and photos of his handwritten lyrics; guitar chords on scraps of paper. If you're a Beatle fan, you'll probably enjoy it. I'm still puzzling over this: "Each person has to find for himself a way for inner realization. I still believe that's the only reason we're on this planet. It's like going to school again: each soul is potentially divine and the goal is to manifest that divinity. Everything else is secondary." George Harrison
"Real Girl Next Door" by Denise Richards Gallery Books 277 pages $26
Richards presents herself as a well-raised, independent girly girl. Interestingly she never said a word about ex-husband Charlie Sheen's alleged drug problems. Must have been a pretty strong injunction, lol.
Almost all of the acknowledgements contain the phrase "you were always there for me." Well, we know what that means - she's a taker. Run!
"Transition, The Story of How I Became a Man" by Chaz Bono with Billie Fitzpatrick Dutton 245 pages $25.95
Chastity Bono (until he legally changed it) was born female, in every aspect including plumbing. He writes that he remembers being at an all lesbian barbecue and felt two steps removed from the group. He wrote that he is not a femme lesbian, not a jock lesbian, not even a stone butch "despite my mannish shoes and clothing." It turns out that, in his mind if nowhere else, he is a man trapped in a woman's body.
While rare, this is common enough to have a DSM IV label of "gender identity disorder." In theory, I can understand this disorder, but in reality, I really don't understand it. To be programmed as one sex from birth and treated accordingly only to discover you are the opposite sex? Frankly, it seems unlikely to me. But what do I know? The world is full of unlikely things!
This is basically a scrapbook of old photos, a paragraph or two of lauditory memories of Harrison by family, friends and bandmates and photos of his handwritten lyrics; guitar chords on scraps of paper. If you're a Beatle fan, you'll probably enjoy it. I'm still puzzling over this: "Each person has to find for himself a way for inner realization. I still believe that's the only reason we're on this planet. It's like going to school again: each soul is potentially divine and the goal is to manifest that divinity. Everything else is secondary." George Harrison
"Real Girl Next Door" by Denise Richards Gallery Books 277 pages $26
Richards presents herself as a well-raised, independent girly girl. Interestingly she never said a word about ex-husband Charlie Sheen's alleged drug problems. Must have been a pretty strong injunction, lol.
Almost all of the acknowledgements contain the phrase "you were always there for me." Well, we know what that means - she's a taker. Run!
"Transition, The Story of How I Became a Man" by Chaz Bono with Billie Fitzpatrick Dutton 245 pages $25.95
Chastity Bono (until he legally changed it) was born female, in every aspect including plumbing. He writes that he remembers being at an all lesbian barbecue and felt two steps removed from the group. He wrote that he is not a femme lesbian, not a jock lesbian, not even a stone butch "despite my mannish shoes and clothing." It turns out that, in his mind if nowhere else, he is a man trapped in a woman's body.
While rare, this is common enough to have a DSM IV label of "gender identity disorder." In theory, I can understand this disorder, but in reality, I really don't understand it. To be programmed as one sex from birth and treated accordingly only to discover you are the opposite sex? Frankly, it seems unlikely to me. But what do I know? The world is full of unlikely things!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
The Road to Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions... and Don't You Forget It!
One of the dinners that we like here at home is a big slice of ham and a baked sweet potato. Richie, during an unnanounced raid on the supermarket, brought home the ham slice. Forgetting to get a sweet potato.
At that same moment, Bon Appetit arrived and I came across a recipe that sounded good. All I needed was the sweet potato.
WHITE SWEET POTATOES WITH MIRIN AND HONEY
2 large white sweet potatoes - I bought a "regular" one as I have never seen a white sweet potato in my entire life. But I did see a white beet once, at Melvyn's, Palm Springs
1/2 cup mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine)
2 T honey
1 T distilled white vinegar
2 teas. corn oil
2 T sweet butter
Pre-heat the oven to 450. Put an oven-proof pan in to heat up. Poke holes in the potatoes and either nuke'em in the microwave or bake them. While that's going on, whisk the mirin, honey, vinegar together in a bowl big enough to hold the peeled, sliced sweet potatoes. Cut them in 1 - 1 1/2 rounds and toss the rounds in the sauce.
Carefully take the very hot pan out of the oven, and lay out the sweet potato rounds. Put in the leftover sauce. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until the sauce has carmalized and flip them over and cook another 5 to 7 minutes.
Put the roasted potatoes in a serving dish, add 2 T water to the now-empty pan and scrape up the burned bits. Add the butter and swirl it and pour this sauce over the sweet potatoes.
"How was it?" you ask? Damned if I know -- I misread "sweet Japanese rice wine" and thought the recipe called for regular Chinese rice wine VINEGARD.
So we had baked sweet potatoes after all ...
At that same moment, Bon Appetit arrived and I came across a recipe that sounded good. All I needed was the sweet potato.
WHITE SWEET POTATOES WITH MIRIN AND HONEY
2 large white sweet potatoes - I bought a "regular" one as I have never seen a white sweet potato in my entire life. But I did see a white beet once, at Melvyn's, Palm Springs
1/2 cup mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine)
2 T honey
1 T distilled white vinegar
2 teas. corn oil
2 T sweet butter
Pre-heat the oven to 450. Put an oven-proof pan in to heat up. Poke holes in the potatoes and either nuke'em in the microwave or bake them. While that's going on, whisk the mirin, honey, vinegar together in a bowl big enough to hold the peeled, sliced sweet potatoes. Cut them in 1 - 1 1/2 rounds and toss the rounds in the sauce.
Carefully take the very hot pan out of the oven, and lay out the sweet potato rounds. Put in the leftover sauce. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until the sauce has carmalized and flip them over and cook another 5 to 7 minutes.
Put the roasted potatoes in a serving dish, add 2 T water to the now-empty pan and scrape up the burned bits. Add the butter and swirl it and pour this sauce over the sweet potatoes.
"How was it?" you ask? Damned if I know -- I misread "sweet Japanese rice wine" and thought the recipe called for regular Chinese rice wine VINEGARD.
So we had baked sweet potatoes after all ...
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Well, Ah Do Declare!
Bon Appetit arrived yesterday, crowing that "The South" is now America's new food capital. This is certainly a debatable subject to anyone who lives elsewhere. They included recipes for deviled eggs that incorporate such toppings as: sliced pimento or bacon and scallion or trout caviar or pickled okra or simply dusted with paprika.
That is not a deviled egg in my book. A deviled egg is yolk and mayonnaise and pepped up with a generous amount of Colman's mustard.
However: this did catch my eye. A "shrimp cocktail" made with cauliflower instead of shrimp. Here's how you do it:
POOR MAN'S "SHRIMP" COCKTAIL
1 cup dry shrimp boil seasoning (Old Bay or Zatarian)
pinch of kosher salt
2 yellow onions, quartered
6 garlic cloves
3 lemons, halved
2 1 lb. heads of cauliflower, cored and trimmed into 2 in. florets
Cocktail sauce of your choice
Combine the crab boil, onions, garlic and salt in 6 qts. of water. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. Then fish out the onions, garlic and lemon quarters with a slotted spoon and add the cauliflower. Turn off the heat, put a lid on your pot and let it sit until the cauliflower is tender.
Drain well, spread it out on a cookie sheet and let it cool to room temperature. Serve with cocktail sauce on the side.
This would be great for people who have seafood allergies. And kind, too -- it would let them know what something that might kill them really tastes like!
That is not a deviled egg in my book. A deviled egg is yolk and mayonnaise and pepped up with a generous amount of Colman's mustard.
However: this did catch my eye. A "shrimp cocktail" made with cauliflower instead of shrimp. Here's how you do it:
POOR MAN'S "SHRIMP" COCKTAIL
1 cup dry shrimp boil seasoning (Old Bay or Zatarian)
pinch of kosher salt
2 yellow onions, quartered
6 garlic cloves
3 lemons, halved
2 1 lb. heads of cauliflower, cored and trimmed into 2 in. florets
Cocktail sauce of your choice
Combine the crab boil, onions, garlic and salt in 6 qts. of water. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. Then fish out the onions, garlic and lemon quarters with a slotted spoon and add the cauliflower. Turn off the heat, put a lid on your pot and let it sit until the cauliflower is tender.
Drain well, spread it out on a cookie sheet and let it cool to room temperature. Serve with cocktail sauce on the side.
This would be great for people who have seafood allergies. And kind, too -- it would let them know what something that might kill them really tastes like!
Monday, January 23, 2012
Can I Get a Witness?!
A man who has no moral compass in his private life is unlikely to have one in his public life.
Right, Newt?
FYI, I am a registered Republican.
Right, Newt?
FYI, I am a registered Republican.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Sleepy Sunday
The skies are grey and overcast; we were warned of possible showers all day long. Richie has informed me that at 12 noon, he will be settled in his Superbowl Sunday Big Daddy recliner and unavailable for even minor chores. He is going to watch football. Period, end of story.
If you are not a football fan, and you live out here, I recommend a Web site that covers a fascinating situation here in Redondo Beach. We have an enormous electricity producing plant, mostly called "the AED," which is almost in the Pacific Ocean which has, for the past four years, been a bone of contention between the residents in that area and all the rest of us. What might that be? you wonder aloud. The rest of us would welcome a desalinazation facility. The tree huggers and NIMBYs in that district want it torn down for more housing (and more traffic) and "perhaps a pretty little park."
The irony of the pro salts (so to speak) is that AES is sitting on what was once a very productive sea salt mine back in 1880! It's a very interesting read, complete with Indian artifacts, early settlers and their tales -- one woman owned the salt mine twice. She got lucky in choice of husbands, shall we say.
oldsaltlake.org It's a great day for research!
If you are not a football fan, and you live out here, I recommend a Web site that covers a fascinating situation here in Redondo Beach. We have an enormous electricity producing plant, mostly called "the AED," which is almost in the Pacific Ocean which has, for the past four years, been a bone of contention between the residents in that area and all the rest of us. What might that be? you wonder aloud. The rest of us would welcome a desalinazation facility. The tree huggers and NIMBYs in that district want it torn down for more housing (and more traffic) and "perhaps a pretty little park."
The irony of the pro salts (so to speak) is that AES is sitting on what was once a very productive sea salt mine back in 1880! It's a very interesting read, complete with Indian artifacts, early settlers and their tales -- one woman owned the salt mine twice. She got lucky in choice of husbands, shall we say.
oldsaltlake.org It's a great day for research!
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