Noshing on the News: Ralphs Wins, Central Valley Produce, Openings and Closings

Some tasty, newsy bites:

• Central Valley produce, holla!: pluots, apriums, and cherubs are just some of the produce cross-breeds from part of California's Central Valley, Frugal Nosh's home turf. LA Times
  
  
• We found out from Eater LA that the Japanese pastry shop Fulfilled closed its doors a few days ago (June 28) for good. Owner Susumu Tsuchihashi, says that he will turn his efforts from Fulfilled's imagawa-yaki, a filled pancake-like pastry cooked on a cast aluminum grill, toward catering and special events. Eater LA
  
  
• Twitter told us about the launching of GoodBite, a new food website with contributions by L.A. cooks and food bloggers (like Steamy Kitchen's Jaden Hair, and Deb Perelman from Smitten Kitchen) as well as Paris-based David Leibovitz.
  
  
• Ralph's wins: According to an LA Times Business article, the only grocery chain to see gains recently is Kroger, the parent company behind Ralph's. Wal-Mart, Costco, and other discounters are eating into the profits of the other grocery chains. LA Times
  
  
• Love Eating L.A.'s very observant post about the new influx of Mexican restaurants in Los Angeles, commenting that "L.A. restaurateurs finally figured out that we want good margaritas accompanied by equally good food." So very true. Eating L.A.
  
  

Photo: fresh peaches from Fresno Farmers Market. Credit: Kelsey Ramos.

My Namesake Cocktail: the Ramos Fizz

What's better to cool down in the summer heat than a drink named after you?

Well, technically, the drink is named after me (as Kelsey Ramos is the real [wo]man behind the Frugal Nosh curtain), but that doesn't make it any less fun for you.

This week, Serious Eats highlighted the Ramos Fizz cocktail, created by bar owner Henry C. Ramos in 1888. The drink is adapted from the Silver Fizz - gin, lemon, sugar and seltzer, with an egg white for foam and body - by adding cream, lime juice, and a few drops of aromatic orange-flower water for extra pizazz.

See the full Serious Eats post here for the recipe and more details.

More drinks in and around LA

Follow Frugal Nosh on Twitter


Photo of Ramos Fizz used with permission by Jeff Heuer.

Have Fun with Breakfast: Pancake Art

These are a few of my favorite things: words and pancakes. Can't get much tastier than that.

The Kitchn highlights Avocado & Papaya blogger Jackie Kersh, a mom who thinks of awesome ways to ditch the Cheerios and help her kids play with their food...educationally. The Kitchn

Forget Helvetica or Times: go for the Pancake font. Serious Eats featured Eric Wagliardo's tasty new alphabet. So much more fun than those refrigerator word magnets, don't you think? Serious Eats

Integrate the Classics: Put those cool letters into your favorite traditional pancakes for a two-toned pancake effect, using advice from Real Simple. RS


Photo credit: courtesy of Jackie Kersh, at avocado & papaya.

A Penny Saved: Cheap is good, 1/2 price is better, free always wins

A penny saved is definitely a penny earned.

Here are the best deals that we've found out there, including some sweet freebies and a contest!

• At Least It's Free: Earlier this year, Frugal Nosh wrote about the pricey fritter shop Xooro. According to Eater LA, a second location is opening today on Melrose, with free churros between 5:30pm and 7:30pm. The new location boasts churros filled with exclusive flavors like banananut, macadamia, and triple chocolate, in addition to the classics: Nutella, dulce de leche, and lemon cream. www.xooro.com. Eater LA
  
  
• Twitter + Free Tacos = Yum: According to Serious East, this summer a Twittering Taco Bell truck will give away free tacos on its journey across the country. That's a good excuse to finally get a Twitter account: follow @TacoBellTruck for updates on its progress. Serious Eats
  
  
• Eater LA also found this sweet deal at Akasha, a restaurant, bar, and bakery that follows through with sustainable, local, and organic values. On Wednesdays, take 50% off wines by bottle, but know that everyday the chefs aprons are made from hemp and recycled polyester and your dishes are from farms, ranches, and fisheries that use sustainable practices. 9543 Culver Blvd., Culver City. Eater LA
  
  
• Calling All Writers: For the creatively inclined, Wahoo's Fish Tacos is holding a contest to win free Wahoo's for a year; all you have to do is come up with names for the new items on the menu: Tofu combo platter, Baja Roll meal, and a Chopped Salad plate. The coolest name wins; deadline is August 31. More details, visit orangecounty.com. Eater LA

Photo: Nutella fritter at Xooro. Photo credit: Kelsey Ramos.

Review: Bossa Nova's Brazilian fare

I didn't think there were many things I liked more than black beans and rice (blame my Cuban heritage), but this Pico Blvd. treasure gave me a new contender.

My favorite part about Bossa Nova was its yucca flour: a grainy, corn-meal type flour, richly flavored with the flavor of roasted garlic. The flour is served on the side for you to mix in with the rice and black beans to give it a subtle garlic flavor, though the beans and rice themselves are deliciously far from needing more flavor added to them.

My dish, the fresh boneless chicken breast "on fire" (just with added spices to give it a kick, but not spicy enough to make you think twice), included two thinly-pound chicken breasts with generous portions of white rice, black beans, fresh tomato salsa, and the yucca flour, as well as some fried plantains, for $10.49.

My friend ordered the Pesto Verde pizza, made with homemade pesto sauce, smothered in mozzarella cheese, then topped with sundried tomatoes, leeks, grilled red onions, and sauteed shrimp ($10.79; plenty for leftovers). Those who are anti-seafood can be reassured: my friend (more Bossa Nova savvy than I) also recommended the lasagna, which comes in the vegetable, chicken, or traditional (made with ground beef) varieties.

If your dish doesn't include them, I would highly recommend ordering a side of the fried plantains ($3.49), which are gently sweet and not greasily crunchy, because they truly are an essential part of South American food culture.

At lunchtime when we went, the service was attentive and friendly, filling up our drinks often and answering my inquisitive questions. There is inside and patio seating both in the front and back of the restaurant and the restaurant's free parking lot is across the street (walk with a buddy - it's a little bit dark and creepy).

Bossa Nova is an affordable, classy-yet-laid-back restaurant, perfect for lots of family members or a romantic date (to prove it, on our visit, we were flanked on either side by both types of parties).

Bossa Nova
10982 W. Pico Blvd.
Open 7 days a week, 11am-4am
310-441-0404
www.bossafood.com

Photos: on the left, Bossa Nova's Pesto Verde Pizza; on the right, its chicken breast on fire. Credit: Kelsey Ramos.

Pizza Hut renaming itself "The Hut"

A little news bite from our friends at Serious Eats that we thought was interesting:

In response to economic times when people are less likely to spend money on junk food, Pizza Hut is rebranding itself to "The Hut," offering new all-natural multigrain pizzas, lasagnas and chicken wings.

Design blog IDSGN reports that the renaming is in response to a need for a new brand name. Pizza Hut CMO Brian Niccol quoted on BrandWeek:

"We're also introducing another vocabulary word with Pizza Hut, which is 'The Hut.' That ties in nicely with (today's) texting generation...As we expand our online and mobile businesses, 'The Hut' is the perfect icon for our mobile generation."

What are your thoughts on Pizza Hut's cool new name? Will it make you want to eat more pizza? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Happy Father's Day: Father's Fudge Recipe, Lost Dad Found, Recipes for Dinner, Dad's Day Car Shows

If you remember, Frugal Nosh was inspired by my own father (see the About Us page) and this day honors him and other dads like him! Don't forget to call your fathers (or spend time with them today and everyday) to show them how much you appreciate them.

To celebrate this special Father's Day (which is still special despite the Hallmark triteness), here are some fun things to check out in the food and news sphere:

• From The Kitchn, Dana Velden shares with us her father's handmade fudge recipe, written in his own handwriting (with an illustration to boot), and fond memories of her favorite times with him: in the kitchen while he cooked. The Kitchn
  
  
• Not food related, but definitely worthy of reading: a heartwarming LA Times story about a prodigal father found after being lost for 12 years, living on the streets in LA. Happy Father's Day indeed. LA Times
  
  
• Is Dad craving some backyard grilling time? Smitten Kitchen gives us a great recipe for Horseradish Potato Salad to accompany those burgers and hot dogs. Yum. Smitten Kitchen
  
  
• Need more ideas for what to cook Dad today? Check out Chew On That's blog post for ideas on Father's Day picnics, brunches and recipes. Chew On That
  
  
• If you are looking for things to do with a car-loving dad on Father's Day, check out the LA Times Up to Speed blog post (written by your own Frugal Nosh aka Kelsey), about car shows around the LA area to take dear old Dad. Up to Speed
  
  
• Spending Father's Day without your father? Perhaps you can relate to the LA Times' Daily Mirror blog post today, about a grieving daughter's lifted spirit. Daily Mirror
  

I love you, Dad!

Noshing on the News: Free Cupcakes, Free Kogi, and Ice Cream galore

June brings some tasty treats our way. Free things first:

• Look for several famous L.A. trucks (Kogi, Pink's, and Sprinkles among them) handing out 500 free treats on Sunday deployed by Fox Searchlight to promote its new film, 500 Days of Summer. Eating L.A. and Eater LA
  
  
• If you couldn't get enough of the tasty freebies, check out Say Cheese cafe in Silver Lake on June 27 between 11am and 2pm, when they will host a free Soul Cups cupcake tasting. Flavors include Pound 'O Butter, Muddy Water Chocolate, Peanut Butter Cup, and Peppermint. Eater LA
  
  
• Just like ABC prepares new viewers for "Lost" with the catch-up episodes, Chicago Sun-Times is preparing us for National Ice Cream Month (July) with its history of ice cream, storage tips, and ice cream terms (do you know the difference between premium and regular ice cream? Me either.) Sun-Times
  
  
• And while we're on the subject, what exactly is Superman ice cream? Serious Eats writer Erin Zimmer gives us the scoop. Serious Eats
  
  
• But don't get too excited about your desserts: Nestle Toll House voluntarily recalled its refrigerated cookie dough due to risk of contamination with E. coli, a bacterium that causes food-borne illnesses. That means you should probably refrain from eating raw cookie dough for a while... FDA
  

Photo: Kogi BBQ tacos. Photo credit: Kelsey Ramos.

Free Donuts for All: Happy National Doughnut Day!

Free donuts on National Doughnut Day? Count us in.

Dunkin' Donuts is offering a free doughnut with the purchase of a beverage, but Krispy Kreme's offer is even better: a free doughnut. No purchase required.

According to the article at the Money Central blog at MSN.com: "National Doughnut Day honors women volunteers with the Salvation Army who cooked doughnuts in huts on the battlefields of France during World War I. Legend has it that sometimes doughnuts were cooked in the helmets of soldiers." The article also offers recipes to make your own donuts at home.

Check and make sure that your local Krispy Kreme and Dunkin' Donuts is participating in the giveaway...and then go celebrate.

Frugal Nosh Needs Your Help at 3BuckBites.com!

Dear FrugalNosh readers,

I need your help with my 3BuckBites contest!

As most of you know, I am one of the Los Angeles Dictators (basically: food writer) for CitySearch's 3BuckBites.com, a website that finds delicious food items all over the United States for $3.99 or less. Since the Dictators are not paid, each week we have contests for great food prizes.

For this week's contest, we have to get other people - friends, family, YOU - to submit "bites" to the website form, http://3buckbites.com before June 11.

The blurbs just have to be 100 words or less describing the food in an interesting, fun, witty way with at least one good quality photograph of the food (and one of the restaurant doesn't hurt either). Look at the website for examples.

This is also a great opportunity to link to your own blog or get your name out there in the photography and food writing world - many of my FrugalNosh visitors find me at 3BuckBites first.

IMPORTANT: You must write my name (Kelsey Ramos or FrugalNosh) in your snazzy description of the food, so it can be counted toward my points: it won't be published with my name but just needs to be tallied.

Please help FrugalNosh out! Take a good pic of the next food $3.99 or under that you eat and write a quick little 50-word description. Easy. See more details below.

Thank you!

Kelsey aka FrugalNosh

Contest goes like this:

- Encourage your friends and folks to submit their bites to 3bb and have them include your name in the ‘why I like it’ textbox (tacked on at the end is fine) so I can keep track of referrals (it won’t be published on the site).
- Every submission that’s published (has a decent photo, a cute writeup, whatever) counts toward your tally!
- Dictator with the highest tally by June 11 gets requisite fame and fortune. If the competition is close, there will be runner-up prizes as well.
- Straightforward, right? On you go!

Noshing on the News: National Doughnut Day, Healthy Ice Cream, First LEED-Certified Starbucks

Doughnuts are in the air...all over the nation. Some doughnuty-infused news goodness for you today:

• National Doughnut Day today: LA Times' Elina Shatkin honors a day Homer Simpson would rejoice about with her list of the Best Doughnuts in L.A. On the list are Randy's Donuts in Inglewood and Westwood's own Stan's Corner Donut Shoppe. The Guide
  
  
• Some pretty photos and cute ideas for Five Outdoor Breakfasts. The Kitchn
  
  
• The first LEED-certified Starbucks location in Seattle is right down the street from the first-ever Pike Place Starbucks. Serious Eats writes: "Starbucks thinks it will bring us back to nature, giving us the appearance we're in a lazy Northeastern town while deceiving us with LED lighting and specialty hand driers," yet points out some pluses about the famous coffee chain as well. Serious Eats
  
  
• Ice Cream as Health Food?: What the Atlantic thinks of calcium-infused ice cream, part of the new functional food phenomenon. The Atlantic Food Channel
  
  
• In his recent review, LA Weekly's Jonathan Gold seemed to like the new Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill, located inside L.A. Live. LAW
  

Review: Whole Foods Pizza-by-the-Slice

I used to believe the best part about Whole Foods was its free samples littering the store – after all, college students can’t really resist anything free.

But after a trip to Fresno’s Whole Foods location, I swore my loyalty instead to the freshly-made, hearth-baked, thin-crust pizzas, sold whole or by the slice ($2.99/slice). The margherita pizza with whole slices of fresh tomato, gooey mozzarella, and thinly sliced basil was the perfect size for a light lunch; even after all those free samples.

Before you run to your neighborhood Whole Foods and lament that yours doesn't sell it by the slice, know that all stores are slightly different. Some sell slice-pizza priced by pound instead, which ends up costing about the same as a fixed price slice. Other locations don't have pizza but include a build-your-own burrito (Chipotle-style) or a fresh-made sandwich bar.

In any case, most all of those food counters are good deals for a quick and filling snack or meal, and in all of my experiences at the Whole Foods stores, it boasts unbeatable service and high-quality, fresh products.

See also: 3BuckBites.com review.

Photos: Margherita Pizza; the pizza being fired up in the hearth-oven. Photo credit: Kelsey Ramos.

Review: Fresh Corn Grill

Fresh Corn Grill is one of those places you hear about and never stop going back. My friend Liz told me about it (and her friend Kristine had told her about it) and I, in turn, told my parents. Sometimes I just crave the comfort of pho or ramen or giant burritos, but sometimes I just want something fresh and light (and grilled.)

Fresh Corn Grill to the rescue.

With its healthy grilled fare - chicken, salmon, shrimp, skirt steak, vegetables - in every dish combination, it is possible to leave after eating feeling healthily full.

My favorite is the Fresh Corn Grilled Salad, a concoction of grilled corn, zucchini, asparagus, scallions, tomato and fresh avocado, tossed with a light house vinaigrette (plenty of flavor and not oily.) All of the vegetables have been legitimately grilled - as confirmed by evidence of the charcoal marks on each little vegetable nibble.

At $10.95 before adding grilled chicken or steak, the price for the salad is a little steep for Frugal Nosh's tastes, but the portions are large enough to share and still satisfy your hunger.

The little restaurant is overshadowed by the Coffee Bean next door, but almost conveniently so: the just-right amount of customers breezing in and out picking up to-go fresh salads and vegetable bowls would be overwhelming if the place was more popular. There are plenty of little tables for eating in.

The Fresh Corn Vegetable Bowl ($9.95) is served with the same grilled vegetables over basmati or wild brown rice, with a choice of an asian BBQ sauce or a lightly sweet ginger curry sauce. Grilled meat or seafood can be added to any dish for an extra cost.

And you must try the Raspberry Lemonade ($2.75), made with fresh lemonade and real raspberries, served in a large cup (see photo below).

Fresh Corn Grill
1510 Westwood Blvd (at Ohio), Los Angeles
Monday-Friday 11am-9pm; Saturday 11:30am-9pm
310-470-0414
Street parking on the parallel street east of Westwood
www.freshcorngrill.com

Photo credits: Fresh Corn Grilled Salad; Fresh Corn Grill exterior; Raspberry Lemonade - all by Kelsey Ramos.

3BuckBites.com: Dango from Sawtelle's Nijiya Market

I recently wrote about the Japanese treat, dango, at Njijiya Market on Sawtelle. My short review of it recently appeared on another of my favorite sites: 3BuckBites.com.

3BuckBites writers find cheap food for food lovers near you. I am one of the Dictators (a.k.a. regular food writers), who are concentrated mostly in big cities across the United States but also in surrounding areas as well. Check it out for more delicious, frugal finds.

Review: Tommy Tacos (aka "Buck Fifty's")

Even the deafening popularity of Kogi BBQ’s famous little trucks cannot eclipse the fame of the underdog: Tommy Taco.

The little taco shack buried among Westwood’s chains is most notably referred to as “Buck Fifty’s” by UCLA Bruins in memory of its good ol’ days of giant $1.50 burritos and no-sign-out-front status. Now it boasts a TV screen menu and an official sign (along with higher prices), but its late-night hours and greasy Mexican food still impresses its devoted fans.

Grab some napkins with your “Tommy Taco”, stuffed with meat, pico de gallo, cheese, sour cream, and tasty fresh avocado. The little shack also offers its traditional 8" and 12" burritos packed with meat, beans, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, etc., as well as its most popular food for drunk college students: the dream fries (basically a plate of fatty, cheesy death: bacon or carne asada, guacamole, cheese, salsa, sour cream, enchilada sauce). Most orders come with chips and salsa.

As it is not a true restaurant, there is limited seating at the counter out front so it isn't the ideal place for large groups who want to eat there. However, for late-night snacks and affordable Mexican food, Tommy Tacos/Buck Fifty's is a shack you will want to haunt.

(See also the review at 3BuckBites.com!)

Tommy Taco
970 Gayley Ave, Los Angeles (Westwood)
Mon/Wed: 10am-2am; T/Th/Fri: 10am-3am;
Sat: 11am-3am; Sun: 11am-2am
310-824-4114