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Los Angeles Times
31-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Coachella 2025 food lineup is stacked with heavy hitters. Here are the spots to visit
It's not just residents and local bands emptying out of Los Angeles and trekking to Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival this year. Some of the region's best restaurants and chefs are joining them too. Fans will fly in from all over the globe for the three-day festival that's set to take over Indio's Empire Polo Club from April 11-13 and April 18-20, with superstar headliners Lady Gaga, Charli XCX and Megan Thee Stallion performing alongside rising acts. Now in its 24th year, the festival's food and beverage program has come to garner nearly as much attention as the musical lineup, and even a general admission ticket grants access to numerous food halls, immersive drinking dens and culinary activations. A tented food bazaar with views of the Outdoor Stage, Indio Central Market returns with 15 concepts, including Roy Choi's newest taqueria Tacos Por Vida, home to one of the best al pastor tacos in L.A., alongside Kogi, Choi's long-running food truck that weaves Korean influence with street food favorites, resulting in dishes like loaded Korean barbecue nachos. In the same structure, you'll also find Florentine-style sandwiches on fresh-baked schiacciata bread at All'Antico Vinaio; combo plates with vibrant blue jasmine rice and yellow curry at Farmhouse Thai Kitchen; plant-based pizza at Forever Pie; Philadelphia-style rolled ice cream from Happy Ice and creamy scoops from McConnell's Fine Ice Cream; and when it's time to refuel, head to Indio-based Everbloom Coffee for a caffeine boost or #Juicebae to restore with alkaline, cold-pressed juices. General admission guests should also seek out Pizza Remix, a pop-up from Postmates and Prince St. Pizza, for limited slices inspired by local restaurants. Blending elements of a pizza parlor with a recording studio, the centrally located space will feature a retro photo booth and serve unique cocktails along with two remixed slices. One option is made in collaboration with the Boiling Crab and dressed with the seafood chain's signature Whole She-Bang sauce, mozzarella, shrimp and smoked sausage; a second slice from East Hollywood's Bridgetown Roti is topped with honey jerk chicken, mango masala and smoked mozzarella. Clandestine speakeasies provide an oasis away from the low desert's punishing afternoon sun, including a new concept from New York City's Please Don't Tell called Mixteca, with agave cocktails that festivalgoers can preview ahead of the bar's West Village debut. For those who prefer to skip the booze, look out for the New Bar and its candy-apple-red storefront. The festival's official nonalcoholic partner will be mixing up spirit-free craft cocktails and pouring nonalcoholic beer, wine and ready-to-drink options at the Terrace GA and 12 Peaks VIP areas, with magic hour portraits offered every evening at the Terrace location. Plant-based attendees can find Monty's Good Burger and Good Boy Matcha by Monty's in Terrace North. Nearby, L.A.-based chef Eric Greenspan will oversee a trio of concepts serving grilled cheese sandwiches, pulled pork sliders and carnitas-loaded fries. And if you want to get messy with a Cajun seafood boil, head to the Boiling Crab in Terrace South. For a quick and affordable bite, try Phoenix-based Lovebite Dumplings, a Gen Z- and woman-owned operation. Aside from freshly poured brews, the Craft Beer Barn is hosting returning vendors as well as newcomers, including Fat Sal's with its massive sandwiches, Mano Po for Filipino favorites, the Goat Mafia's legendary birria and the Cabin, an immersive cocktail den from Houston Hospitality's Mark and Jonnie Houston. VIP festivalgoers will gain access to even more culinary experiences, including caviar-crowned chicken nuggets from Le Burger by Camphor and Wagyu and uni-topped delights from Chubby Club in the 12 Peaks VIP area. Choose between Sicilian-style slices at Prince St. Pizza or Neapolitan pies at Ronan, order a hot dog or sausage topped with Japanese ingredients from Indio-based Sumo Dog or, for something lighter, look to Alfalfa for salads, Sweetfin for poke bowls, Oakberry Acai for acai bowls and smoothies or an espresso pick-me-up from Menotti's. The VIP Rose Garden will once again play host to the Outstanding in the Field dinner series that spotlights a roster of noteworthy chefs who will prepare unique four-course, family-style feasts each evening at sunset, complete with an Aperol spritz welcome cocktail and optional wine pairings throughout. Los Angeles chef Diego Argoti will helm the Saturday dinner on weekend one; most recently Argoti served as chef-in-residence at recently shuttered Poltergeist in Echo Park, a restaurant critic Bill Addison called 'the most manic, unchecked and wildly envisioned cooking in Los Angeles.' 'For me, food has always been about connection,' said Argoti. 'Just like music, it brings people together, sparks conversation and creates lasting memories.' For weekend two, Outstanding in the Field will invite Eric Greenspan, the newly announced chef behind Hollywood's forthcoming Tesla diner; Wolfgang Puck's son and protégé Byron Lazaroff-Puck; and Danielle and Alessandro Zecca of Highland Park's Mexican-Italian restaurant Amiga Amore into its open-air kitchen. Additional vendors setting up in the blooming VIP Rose Garden include Birrieria Michi, Korean gastropub Inssal and Koreatown smashburger bar Love Hour, plus Clink Wine Bar, an L.A. natural wine club offering organic, biodynamic and hand-harvested wines to festivalgoers. Festivalgoers camping on-site won't go hungry this year either. Dave's Hot Chicken is bringing its newly minted food truck to the grounds, and will be joined by Five03 Pupusas, Monty's Good Burger and its plant-based hot dog counterpart Monty's Dog House, as well as Yeastie Boy's with bagel sandwiches.
New York Times
27-03-2025
- General
- New York Times
Our Ultimate Guide to Making Ice Cream
It's surprisingly easy, and unsurprisingly so satisfying. Let Melissa Clark show you how. Angie Mosier for The New York Times Published March 27, 2025 Updated March 27, 2025 [This article was originally published on June 22, 2017.] Without ice cream, summer wouldn't be nearly as sweet, and nothing compares to the homemade kind. Not only is it better tasting and textured, it's also endlessly customizable. You can control the flavors and sugar content, swap in nut milks, increase the number of eggs or lose them altogether. And best of all, it's not that difficult to make. We'll walk through four essential base recipes, prime for customization — custard, Philadelphia-style, nondairy and no-churn — and look at flavorings, mix-ins and toppings, to elevate how you make a summer favorite. For custard bases, you will need a medium saucepan , preferably a heavy-duty one to keep the custard's temperature even, without any egg-curdling hot spots. A fine mesh strainer or sieve will help you strain any coagulated egg bits from custard bases, and a heatproof rubber spatula is great for stirring the bases, and for scraping them out of the pot. If you plan to make no-churn ice cream, you will need an electric mixer or immersion blender for beating air into the base, and a food processor or blender for whipping the frozen custard into fluffy ice cream. And, while you don't need an ice cream maker, it does yield the best results. Wirecutter, a product recommendation site owned by The New York Times Company, has guides for picking the best ice cream makers , immersion blenders and food processors . Ice cream makers turn a liquid base into the light, creamy treat we all know and love by churning air into it as it freezes. A paddle pulls the mixture away from the machine's cold sides, breaking up ice crystals along the way. Several models yield results, though some do a better job than others. Depending on your needs, you may look to a self-refrigerating model, one that relies on a freezer bowl or one that uses ice and rock salt. Karsten Moran for The New York Times This style is the easiest option for making ice cream. You don't need to prefreeze a bowl or add any rock salt or ice: Just turn on the compressor, and it will do the rest. It also churns the smoothest, silkiest ice cream — even if you're using a low-fat base. Size and price are the downsides here. Compressor machines are bigger than many microwave ovens and about five times as heavy. Many models need to be set on the counter, undisturbed, for at least 12 hours before use. Otherwise, you risk disturbing the coolant in the machine. They are also too heavy to move around much: You will need to give them a more-or-less permanent place in the your kitchen, at least during ice cream season. And, in terms of price, reliable brands cost upward of several hundred dollars. Good for: Dedicated ice-cream makers. Enthusiastic home cooks. Not good for: People on a budget. Karsten Moran for The New York Times These models require a good amount of planning and freezer space. They feature a pre-frozen bowl that works in conjunction with a motorized base. (KitchenAid makes a version of the bowl, above, to be paired with its stand mixer.) But, the bowl requires at least a day in the freezer, making them less than ideal for spontaneous cravings, unless, of course, you can keep the bowl in your freezer full time. Over all, these machines work reasonably well and aren't too expensive. But the ice cream churned in them won't ever be as smooth as what you'd make in a self-refrigerating unit because they cannot maintain as cold a temperature. Once you start churning on your counter, the bowl begins losing its chill. Good for: People in small spaces. People on a budget. Not good for: Frequent ice cream makers. People with overstuffed freezers. These often-sloppy models are best used outside. Some old-fashioned, hand-cranked machines rely on rock salt, ice and water, which can be an arm-fatiguing endeavor. There are electric versions of these contraptions, but they are no less messy. Good for: When you need a lot of ice cream. (These machines can hold six quarts, as opposed to the one to two quarts most others hold.) Old-fashioned fun. Not good for: Those who hate a mess. People with tired arms, if considering the hand-cranked models. Ice cream starts with a base. Consider it a blank canvas made from any combination of cream, milk, sugar and, often, eggs, ready to be flavored or studded with mix-ins. These days, there are plenty of options whether you consume dairy or hate the thought of it, have an ice cream maker or don't. Here are four styles — custard, Philadelphia-style, nondairy and no-churn — plus recipes for each. Sometimes called French-style, this base includes eggs, making it, by definition, a custard. Some particularly thick custards will use only heavy cream as the dairy element, but most classic recipes call for a combination of whole milk and heavy cream to balance the richness of the egg yolks. The eggs act as emulsifiers, giving this style a velvety feel and warding off ice crystals. And you can adjust the amount of egg to suit your taste: Less will result in a lighter base, more will make it luscious and very creamy. A classic ratio is 2 egg yolks for every cup of dairy. Karsten Moran for The New York Times First, you'll need to temper the base: Heat the cream-milk mixture in a saucepan over medium heat until it is hot enough to melt the sugar, but not at the point of boiling. Once it's there, add a small amount of the mixture to the beaten yolks, whisking them constantly as you pour. This raises their temperature, making them less likely to curdle when added to the hot dairy. Pour the warmed yolks into the dairy mixture and stir over low heat, paying attention to the bottom and sides of the pot, which are often hotter than the center and more likely to overheat. Use a wooden spoon or a heatproof spatula to stir the custard as it thickens, but don't use a whisk. Whisking holds the risk of beating too much air into your custard. If that happens, the mixture will become too frothy, and you won't be able to tell when it has thickened. The froth also interferes with a slow, steady cooking. The custard is ready when it's thick enough to coat the spoon you're using. (You'll want to use a wooden or regular spoon: It's more dependable, especially if your spatula is nonstick, which may let the custard run right off.) The custard should leave a visible stripe when you run your finger through it, and the mixture should reach 170 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. When it has thickened, immediately strain the custard through a fine mesh sieve to remove any bits that might have curdled. An eggless base, often referred to as Philadelphia-style or American-style ice cream, lacks the added fat of egg yolks, making it lighter than a custard. Their absence makes the base easier to prepare, and, without the eggy heaviness, lets any added flavorings shine through. Karsten Moran for The New York Times But there is a downside to leaving out the yolks: This style can freeze rock solid and develop ice crystals. To improve the texture, many recipes call for adding liquid sugar and a small amount of alcohol, both of which deter ice crystals and help keep the ice cream from freezing into something unscoopable. Making ice cream without traditional dairy is tricky because of the fat content and flavor of alternative milks. Almond milk, which has the mildest flavor of all nut milks, doesn't have enough fat to make an ice cream truly creamy. Coconut cream has a wonderfully high fat content, but using it alone will lend an obvious coconut flavor. Karsten Moran for The New York Times This all-purpose base uses a formula that is part coconut cream and part cashew or hemp milk. Both milks are relatively mild and high in fat, and both blend well into an ice cream base. Of the two, hemp milk, which has a slightly higher fat content, is preferable, though it can be hard to find. Feel free to use either in our recipe. When shopping for coconut cream, which is generally sold in cans, note that it is higher in fat than coconut milk. If you can't find it, substitute full-fat coconut milk (but not low-fat coconut milk). Never use coconut nondairy creamers, which are full of additives that can muddy the flavor. For smooth, creamy no-churn ice cream, this is our method of choice: Whip the mixture over an ice bath until thick, about five minutes, then spoon it into ice-cube trays. Once frozen, the ice cubes will be processed in a blender with milk, creating a creamy soft-serve-style ice cream. This is best served right out of the blender, but, if you want to make it ahead of time, freeze it in a sealed container, then take it out of the freezer 20 minutes before serving. If you don't have a blender, or ice-cube trays, there are still paths to smooth, satisfying soft serve: Bag-in-a-bag method: Fill a large freezer bag with ice and ¼ cup rock salt. (If you don't have rock salt, you can use ¾ cup of kosher salt.) Fill a smaller freezer bag with 1 cup of the chilled custard, leaving no excess air. Place the sealed custard bag inside the bag of ice, and seal. Shake gently until the custard begins to harden. You can check on it as you go: You want it to start coming together, but not freeze solid. Carefully transfer the custard bag to the freezer, or into a sealed container and then into the freezer. Freeze until firm. To avoid a leaking mess, consider double-bagging everything, and don't shake too vigorously. Freeze-and-stir method: Choose a deep baking dish, and place it in a roomy freezer. (A metal cake or loaf pan works nicely: The more surface area, the faster the ice cream will freeze.) Fill the dish with your base. Let freeze, uncovered for 30 to 45 minutes, depending on how deep the mixture is. As it starts to freeze near the edges, use a whisk to beat it vigorously. You want to break up as many ice crystals as you can. Then smooth it out, and return it to the freezer. Continue this process, stirring vigorously every 20 to 30 minutes, for another two or three hours. Once it has frozen, transfer it to a sealed container. All Bases: If making vanilla ice cream, slice 2 vanilla beans in half lengthwise and scrape down the sides. Add seeds and pods. For coffee ice cream, add ½ cup whole coffee beans ground coarsely in a grinder or food processor. For green tea, add ¼ cup green tea leaves to the cold cream and milk mixture. Steep off the heat for 30 minutes before straining. Chill, or freeze, if making the no-churn version. Custard: In a food processor, pulse together 1 cup clean and dry mint or basil leaves with ⅔ cup granulated sugar until pulverized and bright green. Use herb sugar instead of plain sugar to make the base. Let custard steep off the heat for 30 minutes before straining. Chill. Philadelphia-Style and No-Churn: In a food processor, pulse together 1 cup of clean and dry mint or basil leaves with ½ cup granulated sugar until pulverized and bright green. Use herb sugar instead of plain sugar to make the base. Steep off the heat for 30 minutes before straining. Chill, or freeze, if making no-churn version. Nondairy: In a blender, combine 1 cup clean and dry mint or basil leaves with coconut cream and hemp milk. Use herb cream and milk to make the base; let steep for 30 minutes off the heat before straining. Chill. Custard: Break a 4-inch-long cinnamon stick (preferably a fragrant variety like Ceylon or canela) in a food processor. Add ⅔ cup granulated sugar and pulse until finely ground. Use cinnamon sugar instead of plain sugar to make the base. Steep off the heat for 30 minutes before straining. Chill. Philadelphia-Style, Nondairy and No-Churn: Break a 4-inch-long cinnamon stick (preferably a fragrant variety like Ceylon or canela) into a food processor. Add ½ cup granulated sugar and pulse until finely ground. Use cinnamon sugar instead of plain sugar to make the base. Steep off the heat for 30 minutes before straining. Chill, or freeze, if making the no-churn version. Custard: In a food processor, pulse together zest of 3 lemons or limes with ⅔ cup granulated sugar until smooth and brightly colored. Use citrus sugar instead of plain sugar to make the base. Let custard steep off the heat for 30 minutes before straining. Stir in the juice and zest of 1 lemon or lime. Chill. Philadelphia-Style: In a food processor, pulse together the zest of 3 lemons or limes with ½ cup granulated sugar until smooth and brightly colored. Use citrus sugar instead of plain sugar to make the base. Steep off the heat for 30 minutes before straining, and stir in the juice of 1 lemon or lime. Chill. Nondairy: In a food processor, pulse together zest of 3 lemons or limes with ⅔ cup granulated sugar until smooth and brightly colored. Use citrus sugar instead of plain sugar to make the base. Let custard steep off the heat for 30 minutes before straining. Stir in the juice and zest of 1 lemon or lime. Chill. No-Churn: In a food processor, pulse together zest of 3 lemons or limes with ½ cup granulated sugar until smooth and brightly colored. Use citrus sugar instead of plain sugar to make the base. Let custard steep off the heat for 30 minutes before straining; freeze. When pulsing cubes; pulse in juice of 1 lemon or lime, and 2 tablespoon milk. Your ice cream's sweetness — and what's used to achieve it — is yet another variable. Don't feel limited to using granulated sugar alone. Brown sugar, maple syrup and honey are just a few of the sweeteners you can use to taste, and just another way to make your ice cream base your own. There's no right or wrong way here, so feel free to experiment. Karsten Moran for The New York Times There are two ways to sweeten your ice cream: solid and liquid sugar. Solid sugars — granulated, brown and maple — are more prone to crystallization. They must be dissolved into the liquid mixture before churning. Liquid sugars — like corn syrup, trimoline, honey, agave, maple syrup and molasses — help prevent crystallization. For the best texture, many recipes call for combining granulated sugar, which has the cleanest-tasting sweetness, with a liquid sugar — especially when eggs aren't used in the base. Adding sugar to your ice cream base is all about taste. How sweet do you like it? Once you've hit the perfect sweetness, go a bit further. You'll want to make the base slightly sweeter because freezing will dull its sweetness. Keep in mind that the amount of each sweetener needed will vary. For example, honey or agave are far sweeter than corn syrup, so where you would use ½ cup of corn syrup, you would need only ⅓ cup honey or agave. Whatever the recipe, add sugar tentatively, tasting as you go. Granulated sugar: The most neutral sweetener, with a pure, clean flavor that lets other flavors shine. Brown sugar: Different brown sugars will add a mineral, molasses flavor. Light brown, dark brown, demerara, turbinado and muscovado all have slightly different tastes. Maple sugar: This will lend a maple flavor to your ice cream, but, unlike maple syrup, it must first be dissolved into hot liquid. It carries a similar level of sweetness to light brown sugar and can be used interchangeably. Corn syrup: This has a relatively neutral flavor that is less sweet than sugar, with a very slight metallic taste. It's what you'll need for most ice cream recipes, though the dark variety can be used in chocolate ice creams. Trimoline: This liquid sugar is made from sugar beets and/or sugar cane, and is sweeter and more cleanly flavored than corn syrup. It's worth seeking out if you want to take your eggless ice creams to the next level. Use a little less if substituting it for corn syrup in a recipe. Honey: Sweeter than corn syrup, honey has a pronounced, floral complexity. Use it only when you want the intensity of its flavor. It goes well with ice creams infused with herbs, vanilla, nuts, bourbon, rum and spices. Agave: Similar to honey in its degree of sweetness, it has a more caramelized flavor with a slight tangy bitterness. It goes well with banana, peanut butter and other nut pastes, and spices. Maple syrup: This, too, will lend a maple flavor to your ice cream, which is especially nice when making ice cream with toasted nuts or spices. To make maple ice cream, some professionals advise reducing the syrup to concentrate its flavor. Bring it to a simmer over medium heat and let it cook down by a third. Let cool and use it to taste instead of regular maple syrup. Molasses: A thick sweetener with a deep, earthy, mineral flavor that can also be slightly bitter. It pairs well with ginger (think gingerbread). Use this sparingly, in combination with milder sweeteners. Mixing nuts, candy and other goodies into your ice cream more evenly distributes them than just putting them on top. Add ½ cup to 1 cup during the last minute of churning. Just about any of these items could also be used as a topping, but isn't a mix-in just more fun? Nuts: You can add raw, toasted or candied nuts to your ice cream: Just be sure to chop them a bit before adding. Coconut flakes or thinly sliced nuts also work well. Almonds, cashews, peanuts, pecans, pistachios and walnuts are all classics. Walnuts offer the softest texture and taste great toasted. It's all right to use salted nuts, but remember that those will salt your ice cream. Chocolate: Chunks of chocolate are wonderful in most flavors of ice cream. You can incorporate chunks, chips or, better yet, mini chips. It all depends on how much texture you like. Another option is shaved chocolate, which you can make by running a chocolate bar over a grater. And you need not stick to bittersweet: Look for butterscotch or white chocolate as well. Candy: For the sweet-toothed, candy takes ice cream to another level. Classic ice-cream candies include chopped peanut butter cups, Heath bar bits, toffee bits, chopped peppermint patties, malted milk balls, mini marshmallows. Small pieces of cookie dough are also great, but it's safest to use an eggless dough. Sauces: Anything from chocolate fudge sauce to marshmallow fluff to dulce de leche to strawberry jam can be swirled into your ice cream with a spatula after churning. Don't overmix. You want the swirl in sauce to remain distinct from the base, giving you appealing veins of gooey richness amid the cream. Making ice cream doesn't need to be complicated: The greatest challenge is keeping ice crystals from forming, and even that doesn't need to be too hard. Keeping in mind a few techniques can help you achieve a creamy texture worthy of an ice-cream parlor from your own kitchen. No matter what kind of ice cream maker you use, be sure to get the custard as cold as possible before adding it to the machine. If you're using a self-refrigerating model, always chill the bowl before adding the custard. (You can probably do this by turning a switch on your machine; check the manual.) And when using a freezer-bowl model, always take the bowl out of the freezer just before churning; you don't want to give it any chance to warm up. If you can make the custard the day before churning, an overnight rest in the refrigerator is ideal. The longer ice cream is churned, the more air is whipped into it. The more air, the fluffier and less rich it's going to be. For a rich base, churn for the minimal amount of time, making sure the custard and machine are as cold as possible. For an airy base, churn slightly longer. Remember that the ice cream will firm up in the freezer and shouldn't be completely frozen in the machine. When it looks like soft serve, it's done. If you've churned and churned and your ice cream is not coming together, it almost always means you didn't start with a cold enough base. Your ice cream will look slightly thick but not thick enough. While this won't occur with a compressor (self-refrigerating) machine, which chills as it churns, it can often happen with a freezer-bowl machine. In this case, you don't want to keep churning and hoping for the best. The freezer bowl will get only warmer. You'll need to refreeze the bowl before trying again. Pour the ice cream into a container and put it in the fridge until the bowl is ready, then rechurn. Once you have your ice cream, storing and serving are your next — and final — considerations. How long you can keep your ice cream frozen depends on its variety and how cold your freezer is. Stored properly, most ice creams will last anywhere from week to a month. There are several good ways to store ice cream. Loaf or cake pans covered tightly in plastic wrap work well for one to two days. Metal ones are best for recipes that require fast freezing because they get cold quickly. Plastic bags provide a better seal. (Tip: You can peel back the plastic bag and easily cut the ice cream into chunks.) You can also use any sealed container, glass or plastic, as long as the ice cream fits snugly within. Whatever you choose, freeze your ice cream immediately so that it can cool quickly and evenly. If you notice your ice cream crystallizing, but the flavor is still good, let it melt in the refrigerator so it remains cold, then rechurn it in your ice cream maker. That will restore its texture at least for another few days. It's best to temper your ice cream before serving, that is, let it soften either in the refrigerator or at room temperature, so its texture becomes supple and silky and it becomes easier to scoop. A pint of ice cream will need 5 to 10 minutes at room temperature or anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour in the fridge to soften. Larger containers of ice cream will take a little longer to temper. If you need to cheat a bit of the softening time, you can run your ice cream scoop (if it's metal) under hot water for several seconds. This will heat up the metal and help it cut through the ice cream. Wirecutter, a product recommendation site owned by The New York Times Company, has suggestions for choosing the best ice cream scoop .
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Lifestyle
- Yahoo
$7.50 Coles, Woolworths item Aussies can't stop buying: 'This is a must'
When you're on a health kick and trying to eat clean, it can sometimes be tricky to make lunch and dinner exciting. But before you give up and reach for that juicy burger, you should know about a cult sweet and spicy treat that has been hailed a "secret weapon" for healthy eating. Foodies are using Capilano Hot Chilli Honey to take an already viral lunch to the next level - and it's created an online storm. In fact, it's caused such a sensation that the $7.50 grocery item has been flying off supermarket shelves. The shopping stampede started with a viral recipe - dubbed the 'healthy girl bowl' - a cottage cheese, sweet potato and beef concoction that has wowed healthy eaters thanks to its high-protein content and macro-friendly ingredients. Those in the know have taken the bowl to the next level with the addition of Capilano Hot Chilli Honey, with popular Australian food blogger Danielle Mitchell one of those leading the charge. RELATED: 🍔 Aussies stunned by $5.50 Woolworths item: 'Spot on' 🐔 Red Rooster's 'wild' $6 new menu item causes a frenzy: 'Super light, crispy crunchy' 🍦 Coles, Woolies debut cult US dessert for $10: 'Absolute pleasure to eat' A video shared to her 395k followers - where Danielle showed how the honey brought the healthy bowl recipe 'all together' - quickly racked up more than 1.4 million views online. 'I first saw the recipe on TikTok, going viral overseas and I hadn't seen anyone in Australia give it a go yet,' Danielle tells Yahoo Lifestyle. 'Curiosity got the better of me, I needed to try it for myself. I knew what a beef and sweet potato bowl tasted like but adding honey? That was something I had never heard of or experienced, I had to try it for myself.' And Danielle, a nutritionist, was surprised at the taste. 'I was actually shocked,' she tells Yahoo Lifestyle. 'It wasn't supposed to work but it did exactly that. 'The hot honey elevated the dish, adding a unique flavour that balances sweetness with a subtle but impactful heat. Added with the cottage cheese, it creates a blend similar to a sweet chilli Philadelphia-style dip. 'The perfect mix of sweet and savoury, not only does the hot honey introduce a bold, flavourful twist but it also brings the added benefits of honey's natural properties, making the viral healthy girl bowl both a delicious and health-conscious choice.' Danielle isn't the only one to credit the sauce as a secret weapon for healthy eating. Food blogger Vanessa is another who's tried the healthy girl bowl with a dash of hot honey on top. 'I think I've found my current hyperfixation,' she tells her followers in her recipe video which has garnered more than 48k views. She called the addition of hot honey a 'game changer', telling one fan it was 'optional' but 'soooo good'. Last year, Australian influencer Renee May also shared a video in which she used Capilano Hot Chilli Honey to elevate her healthy lunch after the birth of her baby. Renee demonstrates how she layers two Cruskits with half a pot of cottage cheese and a whole tin of Sirena chilli tuna before turning to the Capilano Hot Chilli Honey to make her "go-to" healthy lunch. 'This is a must. It's the chilli honey and I just put a little bit on,' she explains. 'It looks like a dog's breakfast but I promise it's the most amazing high-protein meal,' she concluded. Australian-made and owned, Capilano was started in 1953 by brothers Tim and Bert Smith. They have long supported local beekeepers and continue to do so today. Capilano Hot Chilli Honey, made by expert honey blender Peter Underwood, combines premium Australian floral honey with fiery habanero chilli for a bold, sweet-heat kick. It is available at leading supermarkets like Coles and Woolworths nationwide - but with demand at an all-time high, shoppers are being encouraged to check stock levels to avoid disappointment.
Los Angeles Times
01-03-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
The best places to eat and drink this month, according to our food writers
Clockwise from top left: dumplings from Good Alley, pasta from Marea, an ice cream sundae from Liu's Creamery, a sandwich from Lodge Bread and a breakfast plate from Clark Street March 1, 2025 3 AM PT It's awards season and our restaurant scene deserves recognition. Weeks of catastrophic wildfires were particularly devastating to local restaurants and food businesses, with many damaged or destroyed and contending with loss of business and smaller staffs as a result. But those challenges haven't discouraged chefs and restaurateurs from stepping up to provide continuous aid to those affected, including free community meals, fundraisers for wildfire relief and initiatives to help displaced fire victims replace home kitchen equipment. And new spots continue to open, keeping our dining scene as fresh and exciting as ever. In Koreatown, a Hong Kong-inspired cafe launched a small-batch creamery next door. In downtown L.A., new vendors are switching things up at Smorgasburg L.A.'s weekly market. Recent debuts also include a pair of New York-founded restaurants landing in splashy West Coast digs and the expansion of a handful of locally renowned pastry shops. If you want to stick to tried-and-true staples, you can't go wrong with a family-owned chicken pot pie institution, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year, or San Gabriel Valley spots specializing in rou jia mo, the world's oldest sandwich, which hails from the Shaanxi province in China. Here are 25 places to add to your dining schedule this month, including a vegan Filipino bakery in Long Beach, budget-friendly charcoal-grilled skewers in Torrance and a new seafood restaurant on Melrose. No matching places! Try changing or resetting your filters Showing Places Koreatown Ice cream $ The team behind perennially popular Liu's Cafe has another hit with Liu's Creamery next door. The small-batch creamery is overseen by pastry chef Isabell Manibusan, and the menu includes a seasonal sorbet (currently with pear and ginger) and Philadelphia-style rolled ice cream modeled after popular Asian desserts and flavor profiles, including a pineapple cake sundae and the Night Market special with Taiwan milk ice cream, candied-sesame peanut powder, house cilantro oil and fresh cilantro. Customers can also build their own sundaes with house-made toppings including granola, cured egg yolk, chile crisp and butter cookie crumbles. Read about the new creamery from Long Hospitality. Route Details Beverly Hills Bakery $ The Middle Eastern-inspired bakery has expanded to a new location in Beverly Hills, offering a full espresso program, toasts, loafs, Jerusalem bagels, sandwiches, salads and pastries, plus market items including hummus, tuna salad and dough starter. A Pasadena location is expected to open by the end of the year. Read about the new bakery in Beverly Hills. Route Details Arcadia American $ Juan Valerio Garcia took over Moffett's Family Restaurant & Chicken Pie Shoppe in 2023 after working at the restaurant for decades, first as a dishwasher and eventually a cook. The Arcadia diner will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year and its nostalgic spirit remains the same since Garcia and his family took the reins. The famed chicken pot pie is still rich with gravy, but now diners can choose between white or dark meat, or order pies filled with turkey or tri-tip and beef gravy, all served alongside whipped potatoes and steamed vegetables. Daily specials have been added, ranging from meatloaf on Monday to baby back ribs on Saturday. Columnist Jenn Harris says the restaurant is just as comforting as when she went during her childhood. Read about the comforting pot pies at Moffett's. Route 1409 S. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia, California 91007 Route Details Harbor Gateway Bakery $ After opening a pop-up bakery in Noga, Israel, partners Lee Begim and Avi Sabag moved to Los Angeles, where Begim's family lived, six months after Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The couple planned on opening a restaurant, but much like their short-lived bakery in Israel, those plans didn't pan out. In September, Begim and Sabag were able to secure the use of a production company and their Noga Bread pop-up has found a semipermanent home at the Enclave in Torrance, where you'll find fresh focaccia topped with pesto, whipped ricotta and caramelized leeks; date-caramel sticky buns; lamb mergeuz-filled croissants and a host of rotating breads and pastries offered every Wednesday and Saturday. A forthcoming bakery and cafe is set to open in downtown San Pedro later this year. Read about the twice-weekly bakery pop-up in Torrance. Route Details Chinese American $$ Columnist Jenn Harris reviews one of the most ambitious reopenings in the San Gabriel Valley with Panda Inn, from Andrew Cherng and his father, chef Ming-Tsai Cherng, who first opened the Panda Inn on Foothill Boulevard in 1973. The new digs feature an upscale dining room, private rooms, a full bar and sushi bar, but the Chinese American menu feels nostalgic with dishes such as orange chicken and beef and broccoli, plus new dishes from executive chef Aiguo Yang that bridge influence across Yangzhou, China; Taipei, Taiwan; and Yokohama, Japan. Harris suggests focusing on one aspect of the restaurant's expansive menu — either the Yangzhou specialties, sushi or Chinese American staples — for best results. Read about the recently renovated Panda Inn. Route Details Long Beach Filipino Vegan Bakery $ After years of pop-ups, the Filipino-influenced vegan bakery from partners Kym Estrada and Arvin Torres has landed in a permanent space along Long Beach's 4th Street corridor, serving classic buko pie, pandesal, bitsu-bitsu and ensaymadas, as well as unique creations including ube pop-tarts and pandan cinnamon buns, plus coffee sourced from the Philippines by Los Alamitos-based Teofilo. Just down the street from artisanal panadería Gusto Bread, San & Wolves regularly sells out of by the end of the day. Read about Long Beach's new vegan bakery. Route Details Downtown L.A. Eclectic $$ By Danielle Dorsey A host of new vendors joined the lineup at Smorgasburg L.A. for 2025 and will pop up at the free open-air market held at the Row DTLA every Sunday this year, including a boba stand that blends Taiwanese and Chinese bubble tea with Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Indo-Fijian ingredients; Back Yard Jerk for Caribbean staples; withBee, offering cuisines that span West African, the Caribbean and Southern cuisines; and Filipino barbecue pop-up Full Send BBQ. Read about the 2025 Smorgasburg vendors. Route Details Mexican $ By Danielle Dorsey In the semirural community of Muscoy, tucked behind an auto body shop, is a taquería that boasts a specialty from Mexico's Laguna region. The stand from Francisco Salinas and Vanessa Sánchez serves cabrito, or spit-roasted baby goat, in soft tacos, grilled flautas or consomé, as well as an offal sausage with baby goat organs called machitos that are also roasted on the spike. Food editor Daniel Hernandez discovered the stand as part of his investigation into Southern California's pararetes culture, which brings the traditions of Western Mexico to rural pockets with raw goat's milk spiked with cane sugar alcohol and other ingredients. The taco stand is approximately 90 minutes outside of L.A. and regularly sells out by mid-morning. Read about the cabrito and machitos specialist in Muscoy. Route Details Culver City Mediterranean $$ Celebrity chef and humanitarian José Andrés has brought a new location of his long-running Washington, D.C., restaurant to the Shay Hotel in Culver City. Lobby-level Zaytinya serves an array of mezze and large-format plates that draw inspiration from Lebanese, Greek and Turkish cuisines, including spice-rubbed lamb leg kebabs and bone marrow kibbeh, with a full bar available, including Mediterranean wines. On the rooftop and adjacent to the pool, you'll find Butterfly, modeled after Andrés' D.C. restaurant Oyamel with an L.A.-inspired menu featuring queso fundido, tacos, ceviche and salads, plus house cocktails such as the signature Salt Air Margarita. Read about José Andrés' new Culver City restaurant and rooftop bar. Route Details Get our weekly Tasting Notes newsletter for reviews, news and more. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
15-02-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
This Taiwanese cafe was already line-worthy. Now there's a whimsical next-door ice cream parlor
Most days the line for Liu's Cafe stretches down a block of Koreatown, guests queuing for fresh dumplings, noodle bowls and pastries at the Taiwanese and Chinese restaurant and tea shop. But lately, a line's been forming for something new next door: a Taiwanese-influenced ice cream parlor from the same team, where cilantro syrup helps replicate night-market flavors and nearly every component is made from scratch. Liu's Cafe Creamery, the latest project from Long Hospitality, churns small batches of fresh ice cream and garnishes it with sweet and savory toppings: five-spice caramel, house-cured egg yolk, the cafe's signature chile crisp, candied sesame peanuts and beyond. Nearly everything is made in-house, including granola, syrups and butter cookie crumbles, with pastry chef Isabell Manibusan leading the charge. 'We were kind of throwing around ideas and went, 'Maybe an ice cream shop?'' Manibusan said. 'And I went: That would actually be really fun for me, because I've always dreamed of opening an ice cream shop.' Manibusan already knew her way around from-scratch ice creams and sorbets — including at Long Hospitality's modern Korean restaurant Danbi, one of the L.A. Times' 101 Best Restaurants in the city. But at Liu's Cafe Creamery, Manibusan was charged with matching the vibe and flavors of the group's more casual, adjacent cafe, where she also oversees whimsical pastries such as egg tarts, matcha pineapple buns and almond toast with osmanthus syrup. At the no-signage creamery, she started by conceptualizing the bases: Manibusan makes multiple varieties but usually opts for a classic Philadelphia-style ice cream base where milk, sugar and cream (and no eggs) are churned with additional flavors until it all reaches a cold, smooth consistency. The signature Taiwan-milk ice cream's base involves evaporated milk, condensed milk and whole milk — and for those with sensitive stomachs, Lactaid is available for purchase at 25 cents. For a flavor like the honey toast, Manibusan wanted an eggier, richer flavor, so she uses a custard base before adding house-baked brioche crumb and honey. The herbal, fragrant oolong is made using the same oolong tea served in the cafe, while a secret-menu flavor — the popular tea egg — replicates the aged-egg treat by adding classic braising spices, soy sauce and black tea into the ice cream base, then tops it with shaved house-cured egg yolk. The seasonal sorbet, currently a ginger-and-pear number, will rotate more frequently. There are build-your-own sundae options, but the house specials remain the most popular and riff on classic flavor combinations. 'Pineapple cake is super symbolic of Taiwan,' Manibusan said. 'It's like the No. 1 souvenir that people would think of when they visit Taiwan, so I wanted to translate that into our sundae.' It uses house pineapple jam, cookie crumble and a cookie version of a classic flaky pineapple cake. This flavor alone takes three days to make. The night-market special, another sundae, mimics a sweet-savory dessert of rolled crepe filled with ice cream, one often found at street stalls with cilantro and large shards of peanut brittle, but here it is reimagined as a kind of sundae with Taiwan milk ice cream drizzled with house cilantro oil, sprinkled with candied-sesame peanut powder and finished with a colorful chiffonade of fresh cilantro. Co-owner Patrick Liu oversaw the aesthetic of the new ice cream parlor, which opened in late 2024, hunting for vintage furniture and antique books that would lend a more homey feel to this concept. He and the rest of the Long Hospitality group wanted a more homespun design for this space, filling shelves with knickknacks. From a stack of cinderblocks, a Marshall speaker pumps out tunes to a space that feels a little like a grandmother's living room. 'We'd been eyeing this space for a little while, because we wanted to expand the cafe, but we weren't sure if we wanted to do an extension of the dining space or a whole new concept,' Liu said of converting the former hookah bar. 'We kind of settled on: Let's try something new.' But the new ice cream shop also doubles as an expansion of the bakery and prep space for the Michelin-recognized Liu's Cafe; the team hopes it will facilitate eventual dinner service at the cafe next door. They also plan on adding new sundaes and floats to the menu, and as they approach summer, to expand hours of operation beyond weekend service. Manibusan is especially looking forward to incorporating some of her warm pastries served at the cafe with her new ice creams for combinations no one's experienced yet. Liu's Cafe Creamery is located at 3915 1/2 W. 6th St. in Los Angeles, open Friday to Sunday from noon to 3:30 p.m. and from 6 to 10 p.m.
