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Leeya's: The best cookies EVER

Through the power of Facebook, I have reconnected with most of my extended family. For Thai people, that entails quite a bit of people, since your close family friends are all considered your family. Thankfully, most of my Thai family doesn't play Spamville or WoWistoocomplicatedforme Wars, or else my Facebook news feed would just be a big load of useless information.

One night a few weeks ago I was catching up with my cousin Paw. Turns out that she ended up going to culinary school here in the US. After a few years of managing restaurants she moved back to Bangkok to open a cookie bakery. Her Facebook wall now started making more sense, as this explained why half of it consisted of pictures of people eating cookies. I just figured it was some sort of inside joke.

Anyway, I started whining that I didn't want to go all the way to Bangkok for cookies. Paw just laughed and said that if I really wanted cookies she would send some to me. 

Yesterday, I met my new mailman. He was holding an airmail package from Thailand. He also speaks fluent Thai. Did I mention that he's a middle-aged white guy? He speaks better Thai than I do...

 

Actual ripped open the package for me and revealed two boxes of Leeya's cookies. Note Cousin Paw's slogan: "You just can't put them down!" Oh really. We'll see, Cousin Paw, we'll see. 

 

No preservatives! Why wouldn't you want to eat them fresh anyway? If you want a cookie that can sit in your pantry forever, get some Oreos.

 

The cookies are awesome! They are the perfect texture of being crunchy but not tooth chippingly hard. For the fruit flavored cookies, there are actually little bits of fruit in the dough. The combination of the dough and fruit creates a very interesting mouthfeel which we both enjoyed. I would buy these by the crate if I lived in Bangkok. Hmm... maybe Cousin Paw will let me open a franchise in the US.

 

The kiwi cookie in the middle is my favorite. I love the light green hue of the cookie with the bits of kiwi in it. Yummers.

 

Guess I'll have to go visit Cousin Paw for my next batch. If you find yourself in Bangkok, Thailand and need some jawesome cookies, give the bakery a ring at 083-1977-332!    

Review: La Islita

Do you like seafood?

Do you like Mexican food?

If so, stop reading right now and go to La Islita. RIGHT NOW. Come back and read this later.

Still here? Just got back from eating there? Okay. Here we go:

HOLY CRAP.

One of my Mexican friends has been trying to get me to go to one of their other locations for years, but we've never found the time. I feel really stupid not having gone for this long... I could have been eating this food for a long time now. 

The location in Citrus Heights is their third location and I'm sure will be just as successful as the other two.

This is the exterior. Check out all the signs with various specials written on them. Note that they have pozole and menudo EVERY DAY. That's dedication.

 

Upon entering we encountered one of the owners, Juan. This guy rocks! He knew it was our first time in his restaurant and gave us a five minute crash course:

• Traditional Mexican seafood restaurant
• These are mostly his family's recipes
• His chef is crazy brilliant and turns out some crazy good dishes
• His chef is from a different part of Mexico and they have heated discussions about whose interpretation of certain dishes is the best... but the diner benefits as all the good stuff makes it onto the menu regardless  
• The best selling dish is the house special shrimp (I forget the exact name)
• The next best selling dish is his langostinos preparation
• He's very glad we're there to enjoy their food
• He imports his favorite hot sauce from Mexico and calls it the "anti Tapatio"

Sure enough, his favorite sauce was on the table, staring down the Tapatio all "what are you looking at, ese?"

 
 

So we sat down and got ready for some crazy good food. We were rewarded... greatly.

Instead of chips and salsa, La Islita serves a shrimp ceviche with tostadas. I would have paid for this as an entree at any other restaurant. Juan says next time he will bring us chips and salsa as his chef has a special blend of salsa based on a recipe he brought from his hometown. I can't wait.

 
 

While ordering, Juan mentioned that they serve his mama's pozole and menudo every day. For those of you that do not consume these two wonderful soups (you should), most restaurants will only make these on the weekends as they are reputed to be wonderful hangover cures. It makes sense, as a lot of work goes into making this stuff and if not enough people order it you've wasted a lot of time.

Designer and Actual mentioned that they had never tried pozole. Juan couldn't let this one slide and brought out a bowl of pozole for them to share. I am a pozole veteran and this was easily the best pozole I have ever had. The broth was nice and thick but not greasy, something you can only accomplish by carefully cooking a bunch of high collagen animal parts. The hominy was very flavorful and the perfect texture. We could have ended our meal here and it would have been one of the best meals we've had this year.

Turns out, Actual has had pozole before. Just not pozole this good. Designer, as with many other things, is now ruined on pozole forever as her first was impossibly good. I'm not kidding. I've had at least 200 different pozoles in the US and Mexico and this was the best one. We didn't try their menudo but I'm going to guess it's just as good. 

Also, while the pozole contains all of the usual pozole ingredients (Google it), Juan's kitchen will serve you what I call a "gringo-style" serving of pozole that is all hominy and meat and doesn't contain any scary animal parts that you aren't expecting. 

Like all of our favorite restauranteurs, Juan at La Islita realizes that he needs to let you try all of their best dishes, as you will get hooked and dream about them until you come back and order some more. Mission accomplished.

 
 

Next up, a dozen oysters. At La Islita, you can order them plain or "preparado". Now, their oysters are extremely fresh and are spectacular on their own. The "prep" version adds octopus and shrimp ceviche. Juan only uses Gulf and Mexican shrimp, and you can totally tell by the splendid texture and flavor of these shrimp. We couldn't even hazard a guess as to how they prepare their octopus, but it was tender and delicious.  Spectacular doesn't even begin to describe these. A fancypants restaurant could serve ONE of these to me and I would be impressed. A whole dozen for $20? Good lord.  

 

This is a closeup of Designer's first oyster, which she deemed the prom queen of the bunch.

 

And now, the best shrimp dish on Earth. They start with butterflied but unpeeled shrimp that are deep fried for ten seconds then cooked in their crazy good mystery sauce. The ten second deep fry means you can eat these peel-on. The shells after the flash fry are like soft shell crab shells. And they taste FANTASTIC. If you don't like the texture of the shells, you can peel them off and the shrimp still taste awesome. But, as Juan said to us, "you can get a version of this with peeled shrimp anywhere else; if you want the special version where you can eat the shells, you come here."

Actual says that that shell-on, the texture is just like popcorn shrimp.

 

Last up, the superstar of the meal. Remember what I said about smart restauranteurs that give you samples of their best stuff to make sure you get addicted? THIS WAS IT. These are whole roasted langostinos that are split in half then covered in the best sauce I've had as long as I can remember. You suck the combination of the sauce and the natural langostino juice off each piece then eat the tail. Simply phenomenal. I'm coming back for a full order of these as soon as possible. And no, none of you can share. GET YOUR OWN.

I felt luxuriously gluttonous after this dish. If you know me, you know just how hard that is to accomplish.

 
    

RUN, DON'T WALK TO THIS PLACE. This is easily one of the best restaurants in Northern California, along with the other two locations.

Here are the girls with Juan. Sorry for the blurry picture, but after 4381 shots on one charge my battery grip finally died, so I had to take an iPhone picture like I used to way at the beginning of this blog.  The guy in the hat is the International Mexican Chef of Mystery. Juan, I don't know what you pay this guy, but he's totally worth it.

 
 

GO THERE NOW!!!

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A very Chomple Valentine's Day at Ella

After last year's decidedly mundane Valentine's Day dinner where we got severely underwhelmed at another downtown Sacramento restaurant, I decided to book the hottest table in town... last October. Ella called me once to secure the reservation with a credit card, then called me a few days ago to make sure I was coming. I know you guys are in demand, but come on, you already have me by the plastic.

Sorry for the low light pics... the pictures from tonight look like the crap pictures I used to post on here that were taken with my cameraphone. We're going back to do a proper review later, but we definitely were not going to disrupt everyone else's dinner with loud shutter clicks and bouncing the flash off the ceiling.

This is Actual shortly after sitting down. She's waiting for the Pierre Morlet champagne that comes with their Valentine's Day prix fixe.

 
 

This is their Valentine's Day prix fixe menu. The only choice you have for the entire meal is whether you want the wine pairing. To me, this is the way it's supposed to be. I want the chef to show me what his idea of a romantic meal is. If I wanted to design my own meal I would have gone to Mongolian BBQ.

 
 

Bread and butter. Both were just ok. When even Outback Steakhouse can serve fresh baked bread and a unique butter concoction, it has always befuddled me why truly great restaurants like Ella skimp on this part. 

 

First course: "Dungeness crab crepe, fines herbes creme fraiche, sterling caviar, brown butter hollandaise". The crepe was perfect. Ella, promote the guy that makes these, he's way too skilled to be standing around making crepes for this dish. The crab inside was obviously very fresh and tasted spectacular. The real star of the dish was the hollandaise sauce. Seriously. I could have downed an entire bowl of this stuff. Actual said it was as good as her brother's hollandaise, a feat which has never been accomplished until now. As her brother is now a vegan, we may be having to go to Ella from now on when the hollandaise cravings hit.

 

Second course: "Fettuccine forestiere wild and tame mushrooms, parmesan cream, candied garlic". This was great but not stupendous like the other dishes. The fettuccine was obviously boiled in water without enough salt or EVOO and was bland by itself. I didn't miss the flavor coming from the pasta itself, but Actual (who is actually Italian) said it threw off the entire dish for her. The parmesan cream/foam was a pretty cool trick. It delivered the huge dairy/cheesy flavor of an alfredo without any of the heavy richness that would have been overbearing in this dish. 

 

Third course: "Slow roasted Creekstone Farms beef tenderloin, Nantes carrot puree, black trumpet mushrooms, sauce Bordelaise". This dish elicited an "Oh my GOD" from Actual and a "HOLY F**K" from me. Dear reader, this is Chomple's first superstar dish for 2010. I wish this was on their regular menu so I could go back and get it whenever I wanted. 

The beef itself is roasted in some secret way that I wish I could convince them to train me on. The inside of the beef tasted like it was braised, while at the same time, somehow they got a nice roasted crust on the outside. Flavor wise, the Creekstone Farms beef had the hugest beefy flavor I've ever experienced from cows raised on corn. Knife not required on this one.

You may remember Nantes carrots from the dish I made for my family's Christmas dinner. Nantes carrots are much sweeter than normal carrots and have a unique texture. Ella used these for the puree under the beef which was a fantastic pairing. They also didn't make the mistake of adding sugar to the puree and left the carrots at their normal sweetness level which is plenty for a savory dish.

The black trumpet mushrooms were wonderful. Actual commented that she's only ever had Asian preparations of trumpet mushrooms which are mainly salty, whereas the chefs at Ella were very gentle in their treatment of the mushrooms and they tasted almost smoky when paired with the Bordelaise sauce.

 
 

Me in between the beef course and dessert. I still look kind of dazed from how good the beef course was.

 
 

What's a Valentine's Day dinner without dessert? The menu described our last course as "Chocolate Napoleon, orange chocolate mousse, white chocolate ice cream, citrus coulis". I can't even find the words to describe this dessert, other than to say that I never eat desserts, and I considered eating the entire thing.

Actual's tasting notes say that the citrus coulis was snappy and fruity, the white chocolate ice cream was fantastically creamy, and the orange chocolate mousse in the Napoleon hit new heights of intense chocolate flavor. 

My notes on this one aren't that detailed. They consist of a bunch of swear words followed by "GOOD".

 
 

Finally, here's Actual's reaction to the bill. Just kidding... we knew how much it was going to be. We suggest you go on a normal day which will cost you a lot less and let you actually order off the menu. Still, if you want a guarantee that your Valentine's Day meal will leave you dazed in food happiness, this is your choice for next year.

 
 

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Review: A Southern Komfort Cafe

We're really not on a barbecue kick here at Chomple, I swear. We just keep ending up at barbecue places. Like magic.

Honestly, we should have eaten at A Southern Komfort Cafe a long time ago. We pass it every single day on our commute. Unfortunately, their location is in the middle of a stretch of Auburn Road with such poorly timed lights that we've rarely stopped anywhere in there because of fears that we may actually be trapped there forever. 

Traffic lights be damned, we finally went.

Having been featured on not one but two news channels, I expected the place to be full of people, but it wasn't. That's a complete shame. Where were the rest of you eating dinner? I'm guessing somewhere entirely not as yummy.

Shame on you. More for me. Then again, I think these guys can make plenty for everyone.

This is their menu wall. This is proper decor for a neighborhood barbecue and soul food place. Note the lineup of best barbecue in Citrus Heights certificates. They deserve all of these.

 
  

We were lucky enough to show up on Fish Fry-Day. Catfish, red snapper, and tilapia are on offer. We would take advantage of our good luck.

 
 

This is my plate of soul. Clockwise from the upper left:

• Louisiana hot link sausage. Really spicy! Just like I like it. Now would be a good time to mention that their sauce is FANTASTIC. Sweet at first, with a building bite. There's a reason their website is www.itmustbethesauce.com, although... it's not JUST the sauce. The meat is pretty spectacular too.
• Pork spareribs. By a longshot the best ribs we've had in a while. We're not sure how they cook their ribs, but the meat itself had a ton of flavor. With their sauce on it these ribs become out of this world. Unlike most ribs these days, they have not been cooked to death. "Fall of the bone" ribs aren't really a positive quality. If you've cooked ribs to the point that the meat falls off the bone, the meat is probably mushy and has lost most of its porky texture. The ribs at A Southern Komfort Cafe are cooked just right.
• Collard greens. Tender and savory, not overly salty or fatty. Good, and good for you. Better for you than most collard greens which seem to be less greens and more pork delivery device. If you're eating greens, they're probably a side dish to some pork, you don't need more pork in your greens!
• Spicy rice. I have to have my daily rice!

 

A closeup of the ribs. I want to lick my screen right now. Designer Girlfriend could not join us for dinner as she was cramming for an ARE exam, so we brought her some ribs. According to her, these are spot on for ribs she used to eat as a child at a local restaurant, and she had never been able to recreate the experience until now. The best kind of food experience evokes an intense childhood memory.

 

Actual's plate. Tr-tip on the left, mashed potatoes and gravy on the right . The tri-tip was less tender than others but see my previous comment about the sad tendency of barbecue places to cook things to death; this stuff had great texture and a ton of flavor. And, of course, their stupendous sauce on top.

The mashed potatoes were described by Actual as "almost as good as my brother's". That's high praise. His mashed potatoes are pretty breathtaking.

 
   

Actual's second side dish was a bowl of black eyed peas. Deliciously salty and smoky. I could eat a half gallon of these in one sitting, I suspect.

 
 

Around this time a plate of fresh cornbread came out. We had earlier ordered garlic bread as they had run out of cornbread, but they decided to bake us a fresh batch. It was so good. Not too sweet, not too soft, just right.

 
 

Last item to arrive was Actual's fish. Cornmeal battered red snapper, straight out of the fryer. Crunchy on the outside, tender and steaming hot on the inside. Like all southern style fried fish, served with the proper and really only allowable condiment: Crystal hot sauce. They do soul food by the book here.

 

Finally, our leftovers box. You know what I always say about how your leftovers from a great restaurant will look better than your actual food from a just ok restaurant?

 

If you like ribs or fried fish and live anywhere near A Southern Komfort Cafe you need to go right now. It's not very often that I feel truly stupid for waiting so long to go to a restaurant. I feel that way today. That's ok though, I have plenty of chances to make up for it, one luscious rib at a time.

Note: they are cash only

  

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