animal

You're "foie'd up!" exclaimed our waiter. We were at the trendy downtown Los Angeles restaurant, animal. Our waiter, who resembled a young Paul Giamatti, was commenting on the abundance of foie gras in half of the dishes we chose to try that evening.

We didn't plan to have so much foie gras for dinner, but Chefs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo created a menu that used the ingredient in so many creative ways, we couldn't order just one. Better yet, the chefs' use of different parts of the animal is astonishingly unique that I wonder what inspired their dishes. They pair unlikely ingredients with proteins: think lamb neck served with fava beans and daikon, or consider veal brains with apple sauce.

Because of all of this, we couldn't cling to a salad for safety. In celebrating animal, we decided to order exactly what they wanted us to order...the wild.

Take a look:

poutine with oxtail gravy and cheddar cheese

bone marrow topped with chimichurri and caramelized onions

foie gras loco moco, with quail egg, spam and hamburger meat

foie gras, biscuit and maple sausage gravy

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Teeth Cracking Eye of Round Roast

I hosted my first holiday dinner this year. While I've had a high batting average on new dishes, this particular dinner was not a hit.

Without doing much research on different cuts of meat, I took a trip to Costco beforehand and bought a six-pound hunk of eye of round roast. For those who don't know, the eye of round roast is taken from the cow's upper hind leg where there is a lot of muscle. As a result, the meat is tough, and doesn't have the same marble as you'd see from a softer cut (such as a rib eye). This is what makes the cut less desirable, and thus, less expensive.

And what you save on price, you pay in embarrassment. Even though I marinated the beef for 28 hours and left it medium rare, it remained tough enough to break a few plastic forks and stress my guests' jaws from chewing--an unfortunate result given all the hard work put into the dish. I couldn't help but apologize for the cut and pour more wine in their glasses.

My guests did enjoy the taste, which was a result of the marinade and seasoning. Here's what I did:

1) Mix 1 cup of vegetable oil, 1 cup of whiskey, fresh thyme and dried basil. Marinade the beef in this for about 24 hours.

2) Pat the beef dry and lightly season it with salt and paprika. Heavily coat it with black pepper.

3) Cover the meat with bacon, then roast in your oven to your desired finish.

Give it a try. Just don't buy the eye of round roast.

Happy holidays, everyone.

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Bite of Brussels

I made my first visit to Brussels, Belgium, and, of course, I ate my way through the city. Here's a tour of what Brussels had to offer. Vegetarians, beware.

Lapin a la gueuze (rabbit in Brussels beer)

Mussels with white wine, onion and celery

Steak tartare

Lamb shoulder with beans and potatoes

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