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Boston Globe
27-05-2025
- General
- Boston Globe
Fresh mint stars in bulgur, pea, and noodle spring recipes
Toasted Bulgur With Tomato and Mint Makes 4 servings The Armenian bulgur salad called eetch is reminiscent of tabbouleh, but it's grain-centric rather than herb-forward. It inspired this tomatoey bulgur side. We build flavor into the dish in a couple of ways. We toast the bulgur—make sure to use coarse bulgur, not fine—to accentuate its sweet, wheaty notes. Then we brown the tomato paste for deeper color and greater flavor intensity. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up To make this more substantial, we like to stir blanched green beans into the finished bulgur and finish it with any or all of the optional garnishes. Advertisement 1½ cups coarse bulgur 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 1 medium red bell pepper or 2 medium wax peppers, stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped 3 medium garlic cloves, minced Kosher salt and ground black pepper ¼ cup tomato paste 1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper or sweet paprika Advertisement ¾ cup lightly packed fresh mint or fresh flat-leaf parsley or a combination, finely chopped Optional garnish: Pomegranate molasses, or finely chopped walnuts, or crumbled feta cheese, or a combination In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, toast the bulgur, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside. In the same pan now set over medium-high heat, warm the oil until shimmering. Add the bell pepper, garlic, ¾ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon black pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 2 minutes. Add the tomato paste and Aleppo pepper, then cook, stirring, until the paste browns and slightly sticks to the pan, 1 to 3 minutes. Stir in the bulgur, then add 2¼ cups water. Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce to medium-low, and cook without stirring until the bulgur has absorbed the liquid, 15 to 18 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Transfer the bulgur mixture to a wide, shallow bowl and cool until warm, about 5 minutes. Stir in the mint, then taste and season with salt and black pepper. Garnish with the molasses, walnuts, and/or feta, if using. Serve warm or at room temperature. Charred Snap Peas With Radishes, Mint, and Lemon Joe Murphy Charred Snap Peas With Radishes, Mint, and Lemon Makes 4 servings Peas and mint are a classic combination. In a recipe from their book Bestia: Italian Recipes Created in the Heart of L.A, Ori Menashe and Genevieve Gergis, chef/owners of Bestia restaurant in Los Angeles, opt for sweet, crisp sugar snap peas instead of English peas, and they cook them quickly in a hot skillet before finishing them with a generous amount of fresh mint. We do the same, but also add sliced radishes for peppery notes and vibrant color, as well as a dose of lemon juice to perk up the flavors. This is a perfect side for just about any type of grilled or roasted meat or fish. Advertisement Don't forget to remove the fibrous string, if present, from the snap peas. Stringless varieties of snap peas need only to have their stem ends trimmed. 1 tablespoon grape-seed or other neutral oil 3 medium garlic cloves, smashed and peeled 1 pound sugar snap peas, trimmed, strings removed, if present Kosher salt and ground black pepper 3 radishes, trimmed and thinly sliced into rounds ½ cup lightly packed fresh mint, torn, divided 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest, plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice Flaky sea salt, to serve (optional) In a 12-inch cast-iron or other heavyweight skillet set over medium-high heat, combine the oil and garlic. Cook, occasionally turning the garlic, until the cloves are golden brown and fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the snap peas and a pinch each of salt and pepper; cook, stirring often, until the peas are charred in spots, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Remove and discard the garlic, then stir in the radishes, half of the mint, and the lemon juice. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a serving dish, then sprinkle with the lemon zest, remaining mint, and flaky salt (if using). Cambodian-Style Rice Noodle Salad With Shrimp, Cucumber, and Herbs Connie Miller Cambodian-Style Rice Noodle Salad With Shrimp, Cucumber and Herbs Makes 4 to 6 servings This noodle salad is a version of one we tasted in Cambodia. Vegetables, herbs, and chopped peanuts add tons of color and texture to tender rice vermicelli noodles. We like the salad best with a combination of cilantro, mint, and basil, but it's still delicious made with only one herb. And if you like, omit the shrimp or substitute 2 cups shredded cooked chicken. Advertisement Cambodia is famous for its Kampot pepper—here we use a generous measure of ground black pepper plus a fresh chili to add multilayered spiciness to the savory-sweet dressing. Don't bypass the step of rinsing the noodles; it prevents them from sticking together and overcooking. It also cools them down quickly for the salad. If your noodles are long, use scissors to cut them down to a manageable size. 8 ounces rice vermicelli 1 English cucumber, halved lengthwise, seeded, and thinly sliced into half moons 1 medium shallot, halved and thinly sliced Kosher salt and ground black pepper 1 cup roasted peanuts, finely chopped 6 tablespoons lime juice 1 Fresno or Thai chili, stemmed, seeded, and minced 3 tablespoons fish sauce 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar 1 pound cooked shrimp, roughly chopped 1½ cups chopped fresh cilantro, mint, and/or basil Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook until tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain in a colander, then rinse under running cold water, tossing, until fully cooled. Drain again. Use kitchen shears to snip the noodles in several places to cut them into shorter lengths. Transfer to a large bowl; set aside. In the colander, toss the cucumber and shallot with 1 teaspoon salt. Let drain in the sink for about 5 minutes. In a small bowl, stir together the peanuts, lime juice, chili, fish sauce, sugar, and 2 teaspoons pepper. Add the cucumber-shallot mixture, shrimp, and cilantro to the bowl with the noodles. Add the dressing and toss well. Advertisement Christopher Kimball is the founder of Milk Street, home to a magazine, school, and radio and television shows. Globe readers get 12 weeks of complete digital access, plus two issues of Milk Street print magazine, for just $1. Go to Send comments to
Forbes
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
From Truck Bagels To Sidewalk Oysters, Food Is Culture In Los Angeles
Chef Avner Levi opened Cento Raw Bar with co-hosts Sophia Ziskin and Celia Babini. Food culture and entertainment culture and lifestyle culture constantly intersect in Los Angeles. So on the night of Saturday, May 10, after spotting scenester hospitality players like Joey Rubin, Sebastian Puga and Charlotte Lansbury during The Blaze's beautifully enveloping Cercle performance at the Los Angeles Convention Center, it was time to head to the West Adams neighborhood for the opening party of chef Avner Levi's Cento Raw Bar. Shucked oysters and trays of cigarettes kept things lively outside while co-host Sophia Ziskin (the DJ/model who kissed The Dare on-stage at the Grammys) made the rounds. Guests including Emma Chamberlain (whose Chamberlain Coffee collaborated with Kendall Jenner's 818 Tequila on an espresso martini that's been served at restaurants including Elephante), Ori Menashe and Genevieve Gergis (the culinary power couple who previously employed Levi at Bestia) and Kate Burr (who is now debuting Bar Benjamin with Ben Hundreds and Jared Meisler) also circulated at the Carvingblock-produced party. Cento Raw Bar, which is the sister property of Cento Pasta Bar and has a dreamscape design from Brandon Miradi that wouldn't be out of place near the Balearic Sea, should be a nice staycation destination for those who typically summer on Melrose instead of Mallorca. After popping by Cento Raw Bar's party, it was time for a brisk stroll to Damn, I Miss Paris, a sultry West Adams cocktail bar owned by celebrity stylist/creative director Jason Bolden. The room and the velvet booths were packed as guests ate pomme frites and sipped Vesper martinis. Damn, I Miss Paris previously had an Oscars night Revolve x Forward afterparty co-hosted by Halle Berry, Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union. Feel free to make a mess with the 13 Hour Drip Fit, a collaboration between Chain and Arby's. Anyway, this feels like an appropriate moment in Los Angeles for Chain, the nostalgia-loving food pop-up series and festival creator co-founded by B.J. Novak, to announce its new collaboration with Arby's. It's called the 13 Hour Drip Fit and it's a stylish red-striped button-down and shorts combo. Chain wants you to think of this outfit, which is made entirely of napkins, as an oversized barbecue bib. You can wear it when you're trying the new Arby's 13-hour smoked brisket sandwich and six-hour pulled pork sandwich, both of which are topped with AC Barbeque sauce. Anthony Anderson and Cedric Entertainer are the smoked-meat-loving forces behind AC Barbeque, which has also just opened its own restaurant in Century City. In many ways, food is the culture in Los Angeles. So this week, Yeastie Boys Bagels is collaborating with Netflix's Nobody Wants This on a special menu of bagel sandwiches. This two-day activation, at the Yeastie Boys Brentwood truck (11940 San Vicente Blvd.) on Saturday, May 17, and at the Studio City truck (12073 Ventura Place) on Sunday, May 18, is part of Netflix's FYSEE LA festival. 'Yeastie Boys has been the backdrop of a lot of dope L.A.-based productions over the years,' Evan Fox, founder of Yeastie Boys Bagels, says in a statement. 'But I have to say, the amount of attention and reach from being on Nobody Wants This was in a league of its own. It's a testament to how much it has resonated with people. I'm proud to have played a small part and I'm stoked to run it back to celebrate the show, its fans and LA food and street culture. On wheels.' Yeastie Boys serves up sandwiches like The Hot Rabbi for its collaboration with Netflix. The two-day menu will include sandwiches like the Hot Rabbi with soft scrambled eggs, American cheese and avocado on a toasted everything bagel. The Hot Rabbi is finished with Brave honey habanero hot sauce. Brave, not incidentally, is a brand started by fashion models.
Los Angeles Times
27-02-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
How Ülëw Coffee and Juice was inspired by Guatemala, bus treks and hustling in L.A. kitchens
In a Boyle Heights mini mall, just a few blocks from the iconic Sears building, Ülëw Coffee and Juice offers drinks and food in a space that has been carefully put together to feel like a small bit of Guatemala. Its walls and tables are adorned with Indigenous art and huipil textiles and fabrics and the cafe serves as a cultural hub, run by community leaders who are eager to make an impact on the Chapin community in Los Angeles. 'We're here to create a space for Guate food, people, music and art,' said co-owner Jefri Lindo. 'We never imagined that we would have this. We came here with nothing. We knew no one, but this community has embraced us with open arms.' Before he became co-owner of Ülëw, Lindo spent years traversing the city on buses, working in restaurants in hopes of surviving and thriving in a new country. He was 14 years old and only spoke K'iche' and Spanish when he came to L.A. from Chichicastenango, Guatemala. He enrolled at Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights, eager to study but also needing to work to sustain himself. As a freshman, he hopped on a bus at Whittier Boulevard and Soto Street for a two-hour ride to Westwood, where he applied for work and found a dishwasher position at a Persian restaurant, he said. The days were long and he got very little sleep, studying and commuting to work on the Westside. But he felt bolstered by educators who saw his potential. 'My teachers played a huge role in shaping me and pushing me to be great,' Lindo said. 'They knew I worked late, others extended my deadlines for assignments.' Eventually, he was hired at another eatery where he worked his way up from dishwasher to prep cook, then a line cook. In 2019, Lindo found work at Bestia, the trendy downtown restaurant. He knew little about it until he walked through the doors. 'The name Bestia stood out to me on Google Maps and so I went to see what it was about,' he said. He flourished there, working his way up to house expeditor, acting as the key liaison between the kitchen and dining room. (Think the character Cousin in the FX series 'The Bear.') Later he also worked at its sister restaurant Bavel and credits the restaurants for giving him a chance to gain skills and success. 'The way they run hospitality and their attention to detail, it's a whole new world,' he said. At Saffy's, a Middle Eastern Restaurant on the corner of Fountain Avenue and North Catalina Street, Lindo continued to work as a front of the house expeditor. He also met Michaela Zholovnik, a former accountant who became a line cook and would later become his romantic and business partner. In the summer of 2023, Lindo and Zholovnik, along with Lindo's mother, Rosa Gonzalez, and uncle Elvis Gonzalez, got together and started looking for new business opportunities. They each shared a strong background working in coffee shops and kitchens and wanted to provide the community with healthy alternatives. 'Fast food was everywhere,' Rosa Gonzalez said. 'We thought about what we could offer.' Like her son, Rosa Gonzalez had worked for years in restaurants — including at Urth Caffé in the Arts District as a prep cook. Elvis Gonzalez also worked at Urth Caffé in Melrose as a dishwasher before being promoted to barista — a position that reminded him of earlier years of his life in Guatemala. 'I grew up being fond of coffee,' he said. 'I understood how to make it with love.' After they settled on the idea of selling natural fruit and vegetable juices, they set up shop with a secondhand generator, a Breville juicer, a canopy, table and their daily produce near the Sears building on the busy intersection of Olympic Boulevard and Soto Street. They called the pop-up Nature's Nectar. It had a 'no-frills' approach but came from a deep desire to nourish the community. 'We chose the intersection because of its heavy traffic,' Lindo said. 'We wanted to help people heading to work early or graveyard shift workers heading home.' Two customers were particularly special: Elisa Hoyos and Leo Abularach of Picaresca Barra de Cafe in Boyle Heights, which was on the same block as the juice stand. Lindo remembers meeting the couple and trying their delicious coffee with his family after long days. 'Buying coffee from Picaresca always felt like the last win of the day, our reward for our hard work,' Lindo said. Similarly, Abularach and Hoyos visited the stand to pick up juices, a gesture of community support. One slow afternoon in October 2023, as Rosa Gonzalez helmed the juicing stand alone, Abularach shared Picaresca's plans to relocate by year's end and offered their location at a mini-mall on Soto Street. 'Each day I'd ask from the heart that the universe give us a place,' she said. She believed Abularach's proposition was part of that manifestation and a blessing and shared the news with her son. Picaresca moved to a new Boyle Heights location at the end of 2023 and Nature's Nectar halted street operations and opened their new coffee and juice bar in January 2024. 'The special thing is that we got what we wished for,' Rosa Gonzalez said. 'I am happy because I have Jefri alongside me, he is the one who has been at the forefront of making this happen, giving us ideas to grow more, representing our culture and Guatemala.' 'I want people who speak K'iche' to feel at home,' said Lindo, adding that the business honors Indigenous values instilled by his mother. 'She's been a huge influence in the way we've maintained connection to our roots,' said Lindo. In October, they expanded by adding dining tables and bar seating adorned with colorful upholstery and a sacred altar dedicated to Mother Earth in gratitude for their success. They also work closely with ceramist Bianca Elena Ramirez, who custom-makes their coffee mugs, intentionally painting them with symbols that represent sacred elements. As for the coffee menu, Gonzalez is especially proud of the Ülëw latte made with homemade ginger root syrup, cinnamon and oat milk. The first sip invokes warmth and his hope is for customers to be taken back to a specific time of ease and comfort, he said. 'Here we serve coffee with a touch of memories that allow us to feel at home,' Gonzalez said. On Chapin Sundays, an event curated to toast the Guatemalan community, Lindo's tía, Deborah Xon, provides her culinary expertise. Meats are fired over an Argentinian-style grill and served with a Guateño feast of shucos, chuchitos, tamales and, of course, coffee. Lindo tears up when asked about the shop's success, but he also smiles. 'This is great pride and privilege,' he said. 'This is what we came to do, make our own rules and represent Guatemala.' Tejeda is a freelance writer based in East Los Angeles who frequently writes about businesses owned by people of color.
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Where Cento Pasta Bar Chef Avner Levi Likes to Eat
Born and bred in L.A., Avner Levi trained under chefs Steve Samson and Ori Menashe and helped open Bestia before launching his pasta pop-up in Downtown's Mignon Wine Bar. After his inventive pastas found a following, in late 2021, he gave Cento Pasta Bar a permanent home in West Adams, where it's become a cozy neighborhood standout. His next concept, Cento Raw Bar, is opening next door this winter — and will serve snacks, raw dishes and small plates, meant to be enjoyed in waves, in a design-centric atmosphere. Here's where the native Angeleno eats in his own time. Lawry's 'The Prime Rib at Lawry's has been my go-to guilty pleasure for years now. I appreciate their consistency and no-frills approach. The vibe is just right — not too busy — and the service is always on point. I love to sit at the bar and enjoy it with a tequila on the rocks in peace.' Starts at $53, 100 La Cienega Blvd., Beverly Hills, Pa Ord Noodle '[I get them with] no liver, extra tripe. I love this dish so much I used to skip class in college to satisfy my cravings for it. The roast duck salad is also out of this world, but everything on the menu is a hit. You'll leave full, happy, with a serious caffeine buzz from the Thai tea.' $14, 5301 Sunset Blvd. #8, East Hollywood, 323-461-3945 Crazy Fish 'Crazy Fish is probably the longest-running restaurant in my rotation. My family and I have been going there since the '90s, so there's an element of nostalgia there, but we still order it once a week and the quality has remained the same.' $14 per roll, 9174 W. Olympic Blvd., Beverly Hills,
