Good Gracious: Gratitude in San Diego

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This article is the first in a series on San Diego experiences. From dining to adventure sports and stellar stays, if it’s time for a break from the City of Angeles, San Diego is just a short drive away.

Los Angeles diners may have grown accustomed to enjoying gratitude: Cafe Gratitude has several outposts in the LA area including Larchmont and Venice, not to mention upscale vegan Mexican cuisine at the elegant Gracias Madre. Now San Diego’s trendy Little Italy area has it’s own Gratitude, a sleek, bright, modern space with a glassed-in kitchen, white tile, retro lighting, and of course, cool vegan fare, served in style.

Above, Cafe Gratitude’s take on soul food, with a health-conscious twist.   “Resolved” features Louisiana red beans and dirty rice, seared blackened tempeh, smashed maple garnet yams, Cajun spiced collards, barbecue sauce and a gluten-free jalapeno biscuit. Beautifully spiced and by far lighter than traditional soul food preparation, it’s a robust and satisfying dish.

Below, a simple but incredibly flavorful dish, and honestly among my favorites on the menu: “Comforted.” Simple doesn’t mean dull. Just taste the organic roasted garnet yams, rosemary, potatoes and delicious dipping sauces: spicy cashew nacho cheese or coconut mint chutney. The mint is not to be missed.

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Beverages here are another of my favorite parts of any gratitude experience, and on a sunny afternoon in San Diego, these were especially appreciated. Yes, there are quality beers and wines, but we went with the supremely refreshing “Elevated”: rose water lemonade with agave, sparkling water, and a drop of beet juice; and the house-made ginger kombucha, “Gutsy.”

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The salads are unsurprisingly pretty terrific, too. I had the autumn grain salad, “Gracious.” This large and crisp garden dish features shredded radicchio, sun-dried tomato pistachio pesto, roasted butternut squash, olives, crumbled cashew feta, garbanzo beans, capers, sweet garlic almonds, brazil nut parmesan, golden balsamic reduction, and quinoa.

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We did save room for another splendid beverage: we split a mint chip shake for dessert, which is a must. “Cool” is made with cashew coconut ice cream, almond milk, mint, vitamineral green powder, cacao nibs, and vanilla bean. Even though you’re dining in Little Italy, you’ll be ever so glad you choose it over a cannoli, promise.

San Diego’s Cafe Gratitude is located at 1980 Kettner Blvd., a few blocks from the sea and in the heart of Little Italy.

Baby, It’s Cool Here at 118 Degrees

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118 Degrees, the new hip and healthy dining spot in Tarzana serves nothing but raw vegan food. No dairy, no cooking, just plant-based deliciousness including fruit, nuts, seeds, veggies, and sprouted grains.

But don’t go thinking the idea is better than the execution. From organic beers to amazing desserts, no matter what your standard food default (yes, even In n’ Out) diners will find themselves enjoying incredibly drool-worthy as well as good-for-you dishes.

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Chef Jenny Ross co-owns the establishment with Sharyn Wynters, and both women share a strong belief in the health properties of the food they serve.

The restaurant hews completely to living food, all of it prepared at 118 degrees or lower. As our charming server Kelly noted, “Warm entrees and soups come warm at 118 degrees out of the dehydrator. Our fried avocado is not actually fried, it’s sliced, rolled in ground flax seeds, and warmed in the dehydrator until it’s crunchy.”

One of the first things that Wynters and Ross did when taking over the existing restaurant space was removing the stoves and the microwaves. They’ve also redesigned the dining area into an airy, vibrantly green indoor space and large outdoor patio, with antique mirrors, succulent plants, and soft faux “grass” covering benches.

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But what you really want to know about is the food, right? Dairy free, soy free, wheat free – and packed with flavor. We started with an appetizer, the house made Cheese and Crackers.

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The house-made cheeses were terrific: pistachio pesto, chipotle cheese and tahini cheese. Each was soft, spreadable, and delicately spiced, and came served with house bread, crackers and cucumber. We tried kamut bread and carrot crackers. The carrot crackers, crisp and sweet, were my favorite.

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Above and below are what were to us, the restaurant’s signature dishes. The exceptional flavors and beautiful presentations were a delight. Above: pistachio pesto stuffed mushrooms. Below, cucumber salad with cucumber, corn, sprouted quinoa and tahini cheese served with a light zingy lemon vinaigrette.

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Okay, maybe there were a few other “signature dishes,” these taken solidly from the entree portions of the menu. Below, “fried” avocado tacos. Beautifully spiced, light, and yet completely satisfying, the house-made flax wrap tortillas are filled with tahini cheese and “fried”avocado, cucumber, baby mixed greens, and spicy tomatillo salsa.

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Below: the sign says it all. Co-owner Sharyn Wynters tells us she has been on a journey with raw food cuisine for forty years. Which may explain why she appears to be in her late thirties: her body is thriving. “I had cancer at age 25, and my whole cure was enzymes and raw food long before it was fashionable. I traveled around the world looking for this type of food,” she reports. “Ten years ago I went to what was then Jenny’s 118 Degrees restaurant in Costa Mesa. I was eating the coconut ceviche, which is an incredible dish, and I became friends with Jenny. We met again, speaking at various events about healthy foods together.”

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Finally, Wynters, who is a skilled natureopath, says everything fell into place. “Last March I said, let’s have a restaurant in Los Angeles. I wanted it to be in my own neighborhood, Tarzana, to be of service to the community.”

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Above:  Wynters’ favorite on the menu, the raw lasagna. The lightest and yet incredibly robust lasagna you may have ever eaten. Ingredients: layered zucchini, tomato, macadamia creamy ricotta and sweet basil marinara, with basil cheese and marinated portobello mushrooms.

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It’s fortunate that the main courses are not heavy, because the desserts are incredible and beg to be tried. Healthy desserts? But, yes. The fudge brownie, strawberry cheesecake, and chocolate banana butter pie made with almond butter use only the healthiest yet sweet-tooth-satisfying ingredients. “Cacao, avocado, coconut nectar, and crusts made of hemp seeds, walnut and coconut,” are some of the ingredients that Wynters describes.

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We noted an absence of several tried and true vegan raw food elements such as cashew cheese and agave in  the dishes, and asked about that. According to Wynters, they only use pepitas, walnuts, pistachio, and macademia nuts, no cashews or peanuts due to the possibility of fungus or chemicals in those nuts. Impurities in agave also rule it out.

With a supreme attention to detail and health – and most importantly of all, perhaps, to our readers, flavor – 118 degrees should be no degree at all away from your next dining experience.

The restaurant is located at 18636 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana, CA 91356

  • Genie Davis, all photos: Jack Burke

Zachary Aronson at Stone Malone Gallery

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What’s pyrography? It’s wood burning, it’s art, it’s the sweet-smelling creation of artist Zach Aronson now on view for one week only on Melrose at the Stone Malone Gallery. Friday and Saturday night there’s live music, too, so go on down and be sure to inhale – the redwood creations are as fragrant as they are cool.

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“Metamorphosis is the title of the show, and it really is just that for me. I’m really exploring in my work,” Aronson says.

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“I like the idea that I’m changing the medium I’m working with. I’m turning wood to ash with fire – without adding any new elements,” he asserts.

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“Fire is traditionally a destructive element, but I’m creating with it, not destroying,” he continues.

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“Each work is drawn from life using an open flame. I do portraits on the spot. It’s relatively fast work,” he explains.

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Sometimes, Aronson goes for a complete, rather than partial portrait image, but he says he prefers the partials for now, that their nature is more evocative.

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Viewers will find Aronson’s work haunting. There is something profoundly moving about these artistic “scars” reshaping the wood, creating a very life like portrait in an unusual medium.

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Aaronson’s work with wood originated from necessity. “One night I couldn’t find any paper to draw on, so I salvaged a scrap piece of lumber and decided to draw on it instead. The first time was with graphite, and soon afterwards charcoal. I came to the realization that charcoal is simply burnt wood, and tried using a flame as a drawing implement. Over time I became more skilled with this medium and came to prefer drawing with fire.”

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His large-scale work is surprisingly intricate and revealing. With such detailed portraits shaped on wood panels, the wood takes on an aspect of skin. These could be the faces of giants, impressions realistically superimposed. The pyrographic technique provides a layer of softness in the work, and in the scarring of the wood to create the portraits, a three-dimensional aspect that draws the viewer. Aaronson describes his art as “Portraits focused around ideas of identity and anonymity, and how these concepts influence who we are, both as individuals and as a culture.” However they’re described, it’s not just the size of the pieces that make it hard to look away.

Stone Malone is located at 7619 1/2 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90046, the show runs through Saturday night.

  • Genie Davis; all photos: Jack Burke

The Chinatown Art Scene: March Edition

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Chinatown has more cool art than dim sum these days. Last Saturday night, the opening receptions for a bevy of terrific shows filled Chung King Road with art lovers. There was a live band in the plaza, and the red paper lanterns glowed overhead, but the real events were inside a quartet of great galleries.

At The Good Luck Gallery, running through April 2nd, the imaginative found-art sculptures of Willard Hill dance across shelves and tables. Tenessee resident Hill worked in restaurants in his hometown of Manchester from the age of 17 to 63. Twenty years ago, he began creating sculptures crafted from others’ detritus. Today, retired, he shows no sign of stopping. A flood of creativity pours from his hands and heart.

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Hill uses foil, hangars, plastic bags, tooth picks, and cotton balls, among other commonplace discards, shaping them into ingenious and charming sculptures that tell beautifully realized stories.F23C9777

The pieces are lighthearted, but poignant. There’s a yearning in the figures, a longing for movement. F23C9776

A carnival of imaginative figures dance, pull carts, ride horse drawn conveyances, sing around a piano. There’s an immediacy and intimacy to his work that makes these figures spring to life. A viewer could imagine these pieces inhabiting a living world of their own when the lights go out and the gallery closes. F23C9773

Hill has crafted a world that’s colorful, bright, and slightly surreal. His use of found objects adds to the power of his pieces. He’s crafted so much from so little. This quintessential outsider artist has made literally thousands of pieces. The sheer scope of his work is astounding, the emotion captured in each piece literally shines.F23C9769

A very different show awaits viewers at the Charlie James Gallery. On display through April 9th, artist Guy Richards Smit presents A Mountain of Skulls and Not One I Recognize, a series he completed in just under a year. “I just constantly have a need to comment on things, even on the most basic image, like that of a skull,” Smit remarks.

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Smit has crafted a mock newspaper with headlines that amusingly mock current events, public figures, and social cliches. Brilliantly satirical, and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, Smit is a force to be reckoned with, read, and watched.

His skull series was created as a response to a trip to Bohemia and a visit to a church made of skulls and bones when he was in his 20s. “I could imagine each skull having had a fight with a landlord or a lover. I’ve held onto to those images. Sometimes my captions are mundane, and some have bigger messages.”F23C9751His skulls feature captions that describe human types and behaviors. Each skull, like each person, is unique – in color, shape, and physical characteristics. The works, created in watercolor and gouache, are as haunting – a treatise on the ephemeral quality of life – as they are amusing. F23C9750

At Coagula Curatorial , the first solo show by New York based artist Emma Sulkowicz, Self Portrait, is a riveting portrait of the artist as – a sculpture.

The 23-year-old artist will be taking her place on a platform during regular gallery hours for the first three weeks of the show, which runs through April 3rd. The experience of communing with artist, sculpture, and 3D printed replica is quite profound. What dimension do we exist in?

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Above, Sulkowicz herself is on display, positioned on a pedestal and answering questions posed by viewers.

Below, In-Action Figure, a 3D-printed replica of the artist representing her past experience with the media, flattening her image.

 

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On opening night, viewers were able to interact with the artist, and ask her questions on just about any subject they liked. Except those that objectified her.F23C9740

Objectifying questions could be posted to Emmatron, a life-size, and life-like sculpture on an adjoining pedestal. Viewers interact with Emmatron through an app,  programmed so that the sculptural figure can answer a series of pre-set questions. F23C9733

At the Gregorio Escalante Gallery, perfect, minute, rotating doll house displays take viewers into a world of madness, survival, and whimsy – all at the same time. Running through March 27th, Michael Criley’s “Dr. Awkward’s Clinical Findings on the Back Wards,” plunges viewers down an Alice-in-Wonderland rabbit hole of sanity and insanity.

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Criley was inspired by closed state mental hospitals in Lima, Ohio, and Weston, West Virginia. His mixed media creations tell the dark tale of a doctor and his abandoned patients. Abandon all hope, ye who enter here. But not the ability to laugh, relate, and connect.

 

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An imaginary doctor’s insane dissertation on insanity, the mechanical gizmos here are madly magical.

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Containing equal parts of whimsy and terror, the miniatures, collages, sculptures, and dioramas of Criley’s work will have viewers thinking a long time. Or perhaps it’s time to stop thinking, lest your mind play any number of tricks that lead you to an urban legend of a mental hospital gone mad. F23C9704 F23C9702 F23C9697 F23C9696

Provocative, fascinating, and different indeed – those are the four exhibitions that opened fresh last weekend. Hold the egg rolls – order instead a quadruple helping of awesome art in DTLA’s Chinatown gallery row.

  • Genie Davis, All photos: Jack Burke