Rock N’ Roll Vegetarian

Posted on by Diversions LA

 

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The high energy atmosphere of the Hard Rock Cafe outpost at Hollywood and Highland has a lot to recommend it: great drinks, a realistic wax Elton John on loan from Mme. Tussaud’s Wax Museum next door, and a buzzy scene – particularly on Halloween weekend – of birthday celebrants, families, tourists, and hipsters slightly out of their element. Add a friendly, fun staff, and now, a tasty vegetarian menu, and you might just want to rock out here more often.

In October, the chain tested a limited-time veg menu for National Vegetarian Month. In the LA area, the Hollywood Hard Rock is offering a tweaked version of the same menu to stay. In short: you no longer have to dine on just fries and onion rings here if you’re not a carnivore.

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Our favorite item was the you-can’t-eat-just-one Cauliflower Wings, fried and fabulous breaded cauliflower that stands in very well indeed for conventional buffalo chicken wings. A close second: Ratatouille Flatbread, a crispy flatbread topped with grilled tomato, onions, zucchini, and eggplant, some romano and mozzarella, and garlic aioli.

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Vegans have an option too, an aromatic Fennel, Beet & Orange Salad, with plenty of nice, thick fennel curls, roasted beets, orange, mint, cilantro, and spring greens in a nicely tart lime and cumin vinaigrette. Mint and fennel are a nice match.

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The breaded cauliflower burger is a nice variation on a traditional veggie burger. Taking up a juicy position on a Brioche bun, you’ll find the patty itself to be a mix of well spiced cauliflower, egg, goat cheese,and garlic topped with Jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, and garlic aoli. And you can still have those Hard Rock fries as your side.

An additional salad – Pico de Callo Quinoa Arugula Salad features shaved brussel sprouts, spicy pecans, and Feta cheese. A larger portion of the ratatouille veggies that grace the flatbread are present in a Grilled Ratatouille Wrap dressed with Siracha mayo on a tortilla.

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All these tasty dishes go quite well indeed with the drinks menu, which is extensive.  For those eschewing alcohol, there’s the Wascally Wabbit, a mix of carrot, apple, and orange juice with ginger and Orgeat. The Very Veggie ‘Tini might please James Bond, a nice blend of cucumber, red onion, mint and lime juice shaken with Greek yogurt and Tito’s Vodka. Our favorites were the fresh-fruit drinks that come in their own collectible Mason jars. You turn in your glass and take a receipt to the gift shop emerging with a boxed excuse to try these drinks at home. Pineapple, mango, and apple versions with a variety of top flight alcohol components from tequila to rye whiskey are available. My personal favorites: the  Blackberry Bramble made with fresh muddled blackberries, gin, peach puree, homemade lemonade and raspberry liqueur.; and the wonderfully fresh pineapple and rum.

And how can you beat the heady din and sense of fun at Hard Rock? We were there Halloween weekend, when costumed mermaids and super heroes sat at adjoining tables and the music was of course, nonstop. Fun to join the party with plenty of tasty veg items to munch and carefully curated craft cocktails to drink.

  • Genie Davis; photos: Jack Burke

 

So, veg diners, keep on rockin’ in the free world – Hard Rock definitely rocks out with fun, tasty, vegetarian fare.

The menu is currently available in the Los Angeles area at Hard Rock Hollywood, located right on the Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Blvd. Park in the Hollywood and Highland complex.

A Taste of Honey: Still Sweet

Posted on by Diversions LA

 

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A Taste of Honey, now at the Odyssey Theatre through November 27th is a deeply felt revival of a 1958 classic. Directed by Kim Rubenstein, the once shocking Shelagh Delaney play is in firm hands, with innovative staging and a terrific cast.

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On paper the play sound like a sad but pulpy tale. Teenage Jo (Kestrel Leah) is left by her mother Helen (Sarah Underwood) when the latter runs off with her latest paramour,  uncouth but moneyed Peter (Eric Hunicutt). Left unattended, Jo has an affair with a handsome black sailor Jimmie (Gerard Joseph), becomes pregnant, and with both mother and lover MIA, invites a tender, caring gay friend, Geoff (Leland Montgomery) to live with her. He’s ready to help her raise her baby until mama, rejected by her lover, decides to move back in.

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That Geoff’s character even existed as a serious and admirable member of the cast was shocking in 1958, now it hardly stands out. What does remain vigorous and noteworthy is the sharp and pointed dialog,  and the show’s equally-groundbreaking-at-the-time breaking of the 4th wall, as characters address the audience, and here interact with a live trio on set.

The music and the lighting here adds a quality of hip, slightly surreal, and intrinsically contemporary gravitas to the production, which is very much rooted to it’s setting in the U.K., and it’s time period.

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Yes, the story is the stuff of melodrama and neither the sexual orientation nor race of the characters are cutting edge today. All the same, this is a story of tragedy, loss, birth, death, and the potential, perhaps lost, for redemption. That makes it classic, rather than dated; and the Odyssey’s production is a fine showcase for the play. Directing and performances are both top rate, adding new lustre to an old jewel.

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The Odyssey Theatre is located at 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd. on the west side. Performances run 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays (also 8 p.m. some Wednesdays and Thursdays) through Nov. 27th.

 

 

 

Deborah Brown: Careful What You Wish For – The Sexual Tension is Palpable

Posted on by Diversions LA

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Now at the Jason Vass Gallery, Deborah Brown’s Careful What You Wish For is a sensual experience that’s both tactile and emotionally connective.

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Above, “Our Little Secret.”

Gallerist Vass says of Brown “She was someone I’ve admired for a long time. I knew I would be showing her when I first opened. I knew she would be an artist that I would have here.”

As a side note, due to the demolition of the 6th Street Bridge, the Jason Vass Gallery recently reopened – this is just the show to get crowds to see that 6th Street, up to the river, is driveable again.

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Above, “My Man”

“I’ve always been interested in identity,”  the artist says. “I used to work with things concerning culture, plastic, the facade, the veneer of things.”

Today she goes deeper, taking viewers straight to the skin.

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“I finally gave myself permission to explore my body as a battle ground in a way, an attraction and a repulsive quality,” Brown attests.

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Above, left, “Bat Out of Heaven,” right, “You Might Get Burned”

“The work embraced sexuality. It is about female desire and the struggle…how I reconcile my desire, am I okay with that, is a woman attractive if she is sexually powerful,” Brown explains.

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“The stereotype for women is being submissive,” Brown muses.

There is nothing submissive here. This is bold, seductive work that is as powerful in the materials chosen, the forms, the rigorous intent, as it is in subject matter. Above, “Do I Fulfill Your Expectations.”

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Below, the artist and her work.

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“It’s playful and it’s painful, too,” she says of the exhibition. “It’s not just trying to be clever. There’s a sadness. It glorifies and it breaks down at the same time.”

UK-based but American born, Brown’s work is universal, not so much of a specific location, but bred of an intense desire to create images that excite intellectually, spiritually, and physically.

Gone is the idea of a patriarchal sexuality. In it’s place is a female appropriation of male-driven images that through that appropriation changes the meaning of these forms.

This exhibition is Brown’s first stateside since 1996, and follows her recent inclusion in an exhibition at the Royal Academy in London.

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Above, “I Only Wanted a Little”

While there are photographs in the show, including her oldest work in this subject area, a sensual and frightening image of a beautifully naked woman with bees as her garment,  Brown is first and foremost a sculptor. “I was always a sculptor. The photography started with the the bees piece, and it has become more important because I can do things with it as a medium that I can’t do with sculpture.”

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Above,  “Where Do We Go from Here?”

“Anything is game for me at this point. If it’s going to say what I meant it to say, I feel like that is what is consistent, not the medium that I use.”

Brown’s expression thematically, is, in short, powerful enough to carry a wide range of mediums.

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“It isn’t the material which is important,” Brown stresses. “Not whether or not it is polymer, clay, wood, a photograph, resin, leather, or aluminum. I work in all of those.”

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Above: “Bat Out of Heaven,” below, “Wanna Ride?”

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Regardless of the medium Brown employs there is a palpable, excuse the phrasing, even throbbing, sensuality to her work here. You can touch it, sense it, visualize it. Viewers will long to caress, to absorb, to get the same type of sensation one gets from static electricity simply by studying this work.

“I’m tapping into a raw place. It is not political work. It’s deeply personal. That’s where I believe the energy came from, from that experience, that personal experience.”

This is work that is kinetic, absorbing, magnetic, and above all stimulating. It turns on the mind more than the body. And that’s just the way Brown likes it.

The Jason Vass Gallery is located at 1452 E 6th St, Los Angeles. Brown will be exhibiting into December.

  • Genie Davis; Photos: Jack Burke

 

Sausal – El Segundo’s Exciting Mexican Dining Experience

Posted on by Diversions LA

 

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Sausal offers a quintessentially Mexican menu, one that uses stylish recipes and exceptional incredients to create a nuevo rancho cuisine that stands out – in the South Bay and in the Los Angeles dining scene.

Named for the Spanish ranch that its El Segundo location was once a part of – back in the days when California was still a part of Mexico – the restaurant offers a superior blend of Mexican and Spanish culture and cuisine. It also ties in a classic American taste, making dinner there a unique and memorable experience.

We’ve dined there twice: in March and late this summer, both times experiencing a pulsating fusion of flavors in a relaxed, yet beautifully burnished restaurant with an outdoor patio and glass fronted kitchen. A fireplace that is open from both sides dominates the center of the room.

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Chef Anne Conness describes her menu as one that “celebrates the bold flavors of Mexican cuisine in combination with the elemental flavors of Spain” while it “revels in contemporary bounty.” Translation: traditional flavors and recipes are updated with flare.

That flare begins with the craft cocktail menu – and a strong beer and wine selection, too. Upcoming November 16th, there will be a 4-beer/4-course pairing courtesy of the cutting edge brewery, The Breuery, out of Placentia. Having recently tasted their raspberry sour, this is an evening to put on the calendar.

 

But back to those cocktails. The Future Fix made with Rittenhouse Rye, has a range of flavors going for it, from spicy to sweet, salty to sour. It’s a perfect fusion of all-American rye with chili, agave nectar, salt, and citrus, fusion cuisine in a glass.

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Equally potent and a fine mix of flavors is the light and delicious house margarita. House made Sangria is also a stand out. Interestingly, consulting pastry chef Natasha MacAller is behind the creation of some of these cocktails.

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Of course the star here is the food itself, which does not disappoint. Traditional house-made guacamole is fresh and flavorful, accented with tomatillo salsa.

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The Fresh Ceviche Mixto is revelatory, from the spicy yellow habanero salsa to the crisp celery and sweet corn that add heft to flavors of cumin, lime, cilantro and citrus. The fish itself: perfectly prepared shrimp, calamari, lingcod, and ahi.

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One of the keys to dining here is the way in which Conness takes traditional recipes and renders her version of them with extra layers of flavor – the Arroz con Pollo is served with chicken thighs and rice cooked with achiote, a bright red fruit that grows in Latin America. Added in are tomatoes, scallions and mushrooms.

Slow cooked on the hearth, the Smoked Pork Tamale Pie is topped with a dark mole, jack cheese, pico de gallo, and green onions. It’s the ideal blend of a comforting, home-cooked meal and cutting edge cuisine, a marriage that’s smooth and sultry.

We loved the small — you’ll want more than one — Calabasitas Vegan Taco, crafted from guajillo-roasted pattypan squash and carrots, topped with a fragrant and heady mix of avocado, cilantro, cashew crema, habanero yellow salsa, and chia seeds.

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We topped off our meals with dessert and one last drink. The Spanish Sticky Date Cake with Pecans is topped with vanilla ice cream, and once again it is the mix of flavors and textures that makes this sweet treat a standout. Naturally, our favorite was a chocolate-lovers choice, the Chocolate & Piloncillo Caramel Pudding. Textures are again key here, and go hand in hand with the two powerful but well matched flavors. Served along side is a chocolate chip cookie.

That last drink? Make it a Prickly Pear Caipirinha, a near perfect take on the Brazillian cocktail made with Cachaca rum. Prickly pear, lime cubes, grenadine, and mint are a sophisticated adult dessert in themselves.

At lunch, it’s easy to take in a variety of tastes with a choice of one taco, small soup of the day or chicken pozole (a signature of the restaurant), and choice of small salad. Other salads and specials abound, and the patio in particular gets busy on pleasant SoCal days.

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El Segundo may no longer be known as “Sausal,” but it may very well become known for it’s restaurant namesake. Another winner from Conness, who is also behind Tin Roof Bistro and Simmzy’s in Manhattan Beach.