BY KAREN YOUNG
Gingerbread cookie with pumpkin ice cream at Umami; Hugo’s Tacos $3 breakfast burrito; Scotch pairing dinner at Saddle Peak Lodge.
LA Creamery seems to be infiltrating Los Angeles with its pints of luscious gourmet ice cream over the hill, but the 818 has been slow on the uptake, however there’s finally some waves — Olive & Thyme in Toluca Lake is now carrying pints and Umami has a new dessert item this week — pumpkin ice cream paired with Cake Monkey’s gingerbread cookies.
Cafe Bizou has some new European items on their menu — frog legs (tastes like chicken!) served over arugula with a champagne vinaigrette ($10.95) and fresh English Pollock served with spinach in a roasted shallot viniagrette ($21.95).
Valley to City expansions: The Hummus Bar in Tarzana is expanding to Santa Monica with a fast casual version — Hummus Bar Express. It replaces Yangtze at 1333 Third Street Promenade (between Arizona and Santa Monica Blvd.) in Santa Monica. Building is going quickly so it looks like it will open soon. Loteria Grill (already in Studio City, Thousand Oaks, Hollywood, Santa Monica, LAX) is going downtown to the brand new FIGat7th complex in the Financial District where the City (Target) is having a splash opening this weekend.
Saddle Peak Lodge is offering a special scotch dinner on Thursday, October 18. Chef Christopher Kufek will prepare a four-course meal paired with aged scotch from Aberlour Distillery. Joining Chef Kufek is American Scotch Master for Pernod Ricard, Richard Edwards, who will be on hand mingling with guests and answering questions. The dinner gets underway at 7pm and is $95 per person excluding tax and gratuity. The menu includes: Wild boar in a pretzel blanket with agave mustard; cereal crusted ahi tuna, walnuts powder, dill crème fraiche, orange soy reduction, grilled asparagus; mushroom stuffed rabbit saddle, confit legs tourchon, huckleberry gelée, apple chip, apple confit. For dessert, Pear beignets with crème anglaise. All the scotch pairings are aged 12to 16 years. Saddle Peak Lodge is located at 419 Cold Canyon Road in Calabasas. For reservations, call 818.222.3888.
This news bit crosses theater and food. LA Theater Works and Hugo’s are joining together for Charlayne Woodard’s one-woman show, The Nightwatcher, at the James Bridges Theater, Thursday, October 18 through Sunday, October 21. Get 2-for-the-price-of-1 tickets by using the pass code “HUGOS.” Click here for tickets.
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