BOKADO MARKET-BRASSERIE...NEW KID ON THE BLOCK

BOKADO MARKET-BRASSERIE
NEW KID ON THE BLOCK

While tooling around town today, Richard and I decided to try the new brasserie on Ventura Blvd. in our little Studio City, Calif. hamlet.

It's name: Bokado Market-Brasserie (Bokado is Spanish for little tastes or something like that) --

Anyway, the restaurant is a Spanish influenced brasserie with an elegant, but simply designed room and a large outdoor patio with a canopy of umbrellas surrounded by a lovely array of potted plants. Inside there’s a long bar with its own tapas menu on a blackboard which includes a paella on Tues. and Thurs. Two long bar-height tables with tall chairs for a communal eating experience are set up end-to-end in the middle of the room, and regular restaurant tables line the front window overlooking the patio and blvd.

The lunch menu is diverse – Richard had the burrata panini, with handmade burrata cheese, serrano ham, tomato, basil, tons of garlic and market greens... My taste buds did a happy flamenco when I had a bite! The sandwich came with terrific skinny, string french fries and fresh, homemade ketchup.

I had their ‘classic’ Caesar salad with chicken, though I take issue with the ‘classic’ adjective since the salad had no anchovies which is a traditional ingredient and the original salad never had chicken, but I digress. This version of a ‘classic’ Caesar was pretty good, even though the tender, moist chicken was cold and when I touched the plate it was apparent it just came out of the refrigerator. I prefer my Caesar with those anchovies and the chicken hot off the grill. So, as good as it was, it still was a miss for me.

One of the side dishes for lunch or dinner on the menu is mac & cheese with manchego - a Spanish cheese that I can't wait to try -- hopefully after I lose 100 pounds.

Dinners include a variety of salads: from a Jess salad comprised of oxnard, strawberries, Asian pears, romaine, croutons and grilled chicken to an heirloom beet salad with triple cream cheese and market greens. Soups include onion soup gratinee with caramelized onions and manchego crustini (I really have to try that when it’s not 100 degrees outside)… then there are crab cakes, steamed mussels in pernod with saffron & fennel and a cheese tasting -- all appetizers. Among the entrees is a selection of certified angus steaks (a petite filet, a NY strip, and a rib eye) with a choice of sauces from bearnaise to chimuchurri to maytag blue cheese. For fish lovers, there are scallops with a vegie relish, squash and charred calarmari (ok, my taste memory is dragging me out the door and back to the restaurant to try this dish), seared Alaskan halibut in a bed of white bean cassoulet with a jamon serrano (basically a Spanish prosciutto), a few other fish and chicken dishes, lamb and pork chops and sides of creamed spinach, potato gratinee, wild mushrooms, broccoli parmesan with bacon, market vegies and those hand cut fries among them.

There's also a 'deli' counter with artisan cheeses and all kinds of breads/baguettes.

I really liked this place.



Bokado Market-Brasserie
12345 Ventura Blvd.
Studio City, CA 91604
818-752-9222

laloggia@earthlink.net

CA DEL SOLE...IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

CA DEL SOLE

IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Ca’ Del Sole has long been one of my favorite neighborhood restaurants. Located in a little Mediterranean-style building with washed ‘mustard’ colored stucco walls and pots of geraniums on the outside walls, this is an Italian restaurant with a Tuscan flare. The main dining rooms are chic and inviting with displayed Italian pottery, beautiful framed landscapes and comfortable booths with crisp linen. The separate bar/cocktail lounge is a cozy place to meet friends for a drink and hang out long past ‘dinner time’ while snacking on such delights as ahi tuna tartare or fried calamari, shrimp, zucchini, vegetable tortelli or beef carpaccio with shaved parmesan and capers or maybe just sipping a perfect vodka martini or sharing a bottle of Barolo.

I love the food here. A few favorites are the mezzelune pumpkin ravioli, with butter, sage and parmesan cheese. It’s a dish I actually crave. The pasticcio chicken lasagna, béchamel, light tomato sauce with mushroom and cheese crust is a dish about which poets could write sonnets. And for those summer nights when you want something light there’s the Milanese breaded chicken breast with baby arugula (my favorite ‘green’) onions and tomatoes.

But I’m writing about this favorite restaurant not because of its lovely inviting décor or my usual favorite dishes. I’m here to tell you about it’s recently redecorated walled-in garden patio with it’s pretty potted plants and large trees brimming with clusters of little white lights bunched together to look like twinkling grapes dripping from the branches. Along the garden wall the tables have been encased in romantic cabanas with a rich salmon-colored fabric outlining the tent and white sheers draped and knotted for a dramatic accent. In the cocktail area of the patio, the wall has new elegant pillowed chaises which give new meaning to the definition of cocktail lounge.

Recently Richard and I were there for lunch. While sitting in a garden cabana which blocked the sun yet allowed the gentle breeze to filter through, we were transported to a charming villa patio in Tuscany. I had one of the piadina grigliata, a thin crust bread topped with prosciutto di parma, burrata (a king among cheeses) and arugula (I love that arugula!). Delizioso! Other piadina grigliata (a sort of pizza) toppings are cured salmon with goat cheese and watercress; seared ahi tuna, caramelized onion, black olives, capers and curly endive; and roasted wild mushrooms with arugula. Richard had the scaloppini pollo, a sauteed chicken scaloppini with fresh tomatoes, basil, watercress and Belgian endive. I love this chicken dish so much that my husband learned to make it for me so I could have it at home whenever I want.

So, if you’re in the neighborhood and want some truly good Italian food AND charming ambience, I highly recommend Ca’ Del Sole.

4100 Cahuenga Blvd.
Toluca Lake CA 91602
818-985-4669
www.cadelsole.com