Grubtrotters

With Jenny out of town on business, I found myself on a date with a pretty young girl the other night in Santa Monica.

Her name is Sophia, and she wanted some ice cream.

We were at the Third Street Promenade, which actually doesn’t have as many ice cream options as you might figure.

I suggested Angelato. It features more than 100 flavors, including Lemon Lime Burst, Vanilla Mango Marble and Pecan Mud Slide.

But according to her mom, Sophia almost always gives gelato a thumbs-down. It just isn’t really ice cream to her. Quite the perceptive 4½-year-old. This meant Angelato had to pass the Sophia Taste Test if we were going to cap the date with dessert.

Fortunately for us, Angelato offered her favorite flavor: Pink Bubble Gum. After a sample spoon, Sophia flashed a thumbs-up, and we were in business. I opted for the pistachio, my baseline for gelato judging.

This wasn’t the greatest gelato I had ever tried, but it was pretty darn good. I will be back to check out more of their flavors. Almond Avalanche and Chocolate Peanut Butter are at the top of my list. The Raspberry Blackberry Sorbetto also looks intriguing.

And next time, I guess I need to bring Jenny if I know what’s good for me.

Sophia with Pink Bubble Gum.

301 Arizona Ave., Santa Monica 90401. 310-656-9999. Cash only.

Business gained steam for Venice-based Platine Cookies in 2004 after being featured on the Food Network. We keep missing that “Food Finds” episode, but we just had the pleasure of tasting some goodies prepared by chef Jamie Cantor, so life is good.

Freshness is one of Platine’s calling cards, and that was evident from bite one. Everything is a custom job, so budget five days into your thinking to account for preparation, baking and delivery.

Platine also distinguishes itself by putting a new tweak on old recipes. Its so-called Signature Cookie is an updated version of the old-fashioned oatmeal raisin cookie. It includes rolled oats, zante currants, granola, chocolate chips and walnuts. The chocolate in all the varieties had a subtle but appealing taste to it. Not too sweet but still plenty of substance and body.

Cantor, a veteran of the French Laundry, also does original designs for parties and special occasions in addition to the regular lineup of brownies, snickerdoodles and rugelach. Here are some more insights in her own words:

Victor: What is your most popular item?

Jamie:  Our most popular item on our website is the Platinum Deluxe Tin — two dozen cookies and a half dozen brownies. I think people like it because it gives a little taste of a lot of things — four cookie flavors and the brownies.
Our most popular cookie is our “Chocolate Gingersnap.” I am always surprised by that one. I really like it, but it isn’t my favorite one. I think people really enjoy it because it is a great example of what we do: a sophisticated twist on old favorites. So it reminds people of the gingersnaps that they ate as a kid. But the fresh ginger and freshly ground dry spices, as well as the extra brut cocoa powder and chocolate chips, add a little twist that makes the cookie more interesting to an adult palate.

Victor: What has been the most unusual request?
Jamie: Speaking of adult palates, sometimes people ask for cookies for a “mature audience.” But we don’t do those, so we have never gotten the details of those types of unusual requests. So since we don’t take those types of requests, they haven’t been that unusual. One couple asked about doing a cookie with a picture of their son’s face on it. We get a lot of corporate orders, so sometimes they are more challenging than unusual. We did some cookies for people who worked on the movie “Hot Rod.”
It was really a fun challenge, and I think the cookies came out amazingly! (If I do say so myself.)

Victor: What has been the craziest order ever received?
Jamie:  For us, crazy would have to be size. Last year we made over 3,500 custom packages for a major department store. Each package contained a custom teddy bear with a chocolate chip cookie, which was placed in a cellophane bag and hand-tied with a satin ribbon. Then the packages were grouped in different sized orders and sent to the stores all over the western U.S. This was crazy in terms of the size and logistics of the entire order, not really the teddy bears.

Victor: What kind of boost did The Food Network program provide?
Jamie: Huge. It completely changed the shape of our business. I was just making cookies and selling them locally to gourmet food stores in Los Angeles and doing a little bit of shipping. Platine was not my full-time job.  I was trading work hours at a bakery where I worked so that I could use their commercial ovens. Most orders were placed by phone or e-mail, and we didn’t have a website. The day that I got the phone call from the production company I went online and secured platinecookies.com as well as our toll free number.

We had a few months to put together the website and figure out some of the other expansion issues. It was a great learning experience.  The show airs about once a year, so it is always a nice little rush of business when it airs, and it is funny to watch now and see how much we have grown!

Platine Cookies: 1-877-866-0696, chef@platinecookies.com

We enjoyed Kung Fu Panda over the weekend but must respectfully disagree with one of the key points of the film. Sometimes — usually when sautéing — there is a secret ingredient:

Trader Joe’s Balsamic Vinaigrette.

All you need is a generous splash in the late going.

Eating at Green T. House Living on the outskirts of Beijing is like participating in an avant garde performance art piece. It was truly a unique dining experience. Everything from the setting to the decor to the presentation to the taste of the food surprised me. A friend of mine described it as the restaurant equivalent of the Kubrick film ”Eyes Wide Shut.”

Located in a suburban setting in the high-end Wen Yu River quarter of the city, the restaurant sits behind huge concrete walls in a large glass and concrete compound inspired by the Zhanguo period. A serene, white pebble courtyard the size of a football field leads up to the restaurant, giving you the feeling that you’re in the desert or on the moon, but definitely not in Beijing.

Inside, you’re greeted by trippy, ethereal music, a video wall resembling a shape-shifting Rorschach test, fat Chinese lanterns, lanky candelabras atop a baroque desk, daybeds and lots of white space sparsely decorated with works of contemporary art and about three massive tables. The place is like a Zen temple on acid.

Green T. Living is the brainchild of JinR, a musician, artist, interior designer and tea-master. This woman’s mind must be brilliantly twisted. She has a kitschy sense of humor, designing Ming-style chairs and a table in clear, Phillipe Starck-style plexiglass. Downstairs, the ceiling is made from hanging twigs, and the bathrooms are impossible to find behind a wall of mirrors. Web-like structures sit atop chairs. There is a mannequin and an underground concrete tunnel. Don’t ask. I should probably stop trying to describe it because you really have to experience this place and its wonderful oddities for yourself.

Pictures were not allowed, but I snuck a few anyway and didn’t get caught this time. Oh, yes, and there was food, too. Dishes with names such as “Erotic Dance By Six Mushrooms Around a Lonely Chestnut.” OK. I didn’t try that one. But I did have the delicious pork and fennel dumplings with a gingery vinegar spring sauce, which was served with an artistic looking twig. I have never used such long chopsticks, but you need them because everything about this place screams space, and the person sitting next to you feels ridiculously far away. I also tried the pear crostini with nuts, goat cheese and honey mustard. That was served with a live goldfish swimming in a wine glass.

There was also a lamb dish served with tea and cilantro and my favorite, the curly chicken with crispy Sichuan pepper. The peppercorns in this dish tingled so much my tongue went numb. Curly little funnel-cake like croutons were sprinkled throughout to cool the heat. Bizarre but good. The whole experience ended with a lovely tea ceremony. I was in Beijing for business, but if you’re heading there for the Olympics in August, give yourself some time to check this place out. It’s not exactly traditional China as you may have imagined it, but it may just be the epitome of new China — full of creativity and vibrancy and its own quirky way of doing things. –Jenny

If you like bacon as much as we do, you might enjoy these clips we found on YouTube:

Comedian Jim Gaffigan devotes his entire spot on Letterman to riffing on bacon.

Bacon: A musical tribute.

Who: LAMILL Coffee Boutique.

Where: 1636 Silver Lake Blvd., Los Angeles 90026.

When: 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Tuesday June 24.

Why: Six-month anniversary of opening in Silver Lake.

What: Coffee made from beans grown in a special region of Rwanda.

Karma: A percentage of proceeds from Tuesday’s event will go toward providing bicycles to workers in Rwanda’s coffee mills.

More proof of the power of food to bring two souls together. The LA food bloggers behind Oishii Eats and Eat Drink & Be Merry, met and fell in love over food and just got engaged. They detailed their food courtship (with lots of lovely photos) and announced the happy news on their blogs today. Congrats and best wishes to them. We asked whether these two food lovers will keep their blogs separate or join forces like we did. And apparently they are planning a joint blog and other food ventures. Our Chicago writer/foodie friends Claire Bidwell Smith and Greg Boose also got engaged recently and launched a joint blog called She Wrote, He Wrote, where they each detail their shared meals and experiences from their separate points of view. Couples that blog together stay together. At least, that’s the plan. – Jenny

I have a new story up on Dinela.com called “An LA Carnivore’s Guide to Veggie Dining.” The biggest delight in writing the piece was the wonderful meal I experienced at Madeleine Bistro in Tarzana. Run by husband and wife team David and Molly Anderson, Madeleine serves fine, animal-free cuisine. Sound like an oxymoron? I was shocked by how tasty and filling the food was. David Anderson is a bit of a vegan genius. A veteran of five-star restaurants, he was the only student in his culinary school class to get an A in butchering, although he temporarily lost his voice from the stress.

My favorites were the artistically presented beet tartar, the grilled lemon rosemary seitan and the chocolate souffle. Don’t ask me how he does the souffle without any eggs or milk. Like I said, he’s a genius. If you’re looking for something a little less fancy, he also makes comfort food, including a surprisingly delicious veggie version of the Big Mac for lunch. I brought the leftovers home to Victor, who is the biggest fan of Fogo de Chao’s all-you-can-eat Brazilian steakhouse that I know. He devoured the vegan cuisine and licked his fingers.

If you can’t imagine driving to the Valley for a vegan meal, then wait six months. The Andersons are currently securing financing and looking for a space in West Hollywood to launch a new vegan restaurant by the end of the year. The new place will be “bigger, with a bar, more of a scene kind of place,” says co-owner Molly Anderson. It will also have a new name.

The Andersons have no plans to close Madeleine, but they are considering making it a more casual restaurant to fit with its Valley setting. Whole Foods is opening up nearby, and Yoga Works is coming in across the street. So they want to capitalize on the post-yoga crowd. Right now, hungry yogis sporting Hard Tail and mats may feel out of place at a fancy restaurant with tablecloths.

As a fledgling yoga teacher who worries about the environment, I’m trying to incorporate more vegetarian meals into my diet. Madeleine makes that easy. When the food is this good, you don’t miss the meat. We swear. – Jenny

Madeleine Bistro, 18621 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana; 818-758-6971.

Not that we’re cracking any kind of huge mystery here, but you know one of the reasons Communism flopped was because nobody had any choices. That’s why we love the spirit of the DeTox-ReTox promotion at the Avalon Hotel in Beverly Hills. Every Sunday this summer from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., its blue on blue poolside lounge will offer selections to either keep the Saturday night party raging or ease your pain. (Our favorite hangover description is from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” courtesy of Lou Grant: Did you ever feel so sick you’d have to rally to die?) The options:

DeTox Drinks

Mixed berry smoothie with bee pollen ($8).

Sparkling pomegranate lemonade ($6).

Pitcher of cucumber/lemon water ($3).

ReTox Drinks

Build your own Bloody Marys ($14).

Mimosas & mixers ($14).

DeTox Menu ($8 each)

BBQ brisket sliders

Thai chicken with cucumber cream

Fingerling-ricotta baked tater

Crab and corn hushpuppies

Spicy beef rice wraps

ReTox Menu ($8 each)

Tuna sashimi & pina-soy colada

Scallop ceviche

Salmon BLT flatbread

Duck and apricot strudel

Chicken and vegetable pot pie

No doubt that sometimes a greasy burger is the perfect hangover cure, but trust us when we tell you that those spicy beef wraps (above, right) can provide just as much comfort with 38 times the taste. And if you can eat them in a swanky, modern spot in the sun, so much the better.–Victor.

Avalon Beverly Hills, 9400 W. Olympic Blvd., Beverly Hills 90212

Which country has the best food?

A. Italy

B. France

C. China

D. Japan

E. Djibouti