Off-Ramp

UPDATE: K2 Charges for Water

By John Rabe | Sept. 7, 2010

... more on new restaurant K2 (at 3916 W. Sunset) charging for filtered water ...

I checked with Mark Peel, the owner/chef of Campanile, Tar Pit, and The Point, who offered some good background and a tip.

First, he disputes my assertion that most good restaurants in town filter the water they serve customers, because, he says, DWP water out of the tap tastes just fine IF you do one thing.

Mark, who says he's one of 3 people in LA who actually read the report DWP sends to water customers, notes that LA's water exceeds federal water quality levels. But the reason it doesn't taste as good out of the tap as, say, New York's fabled Catskillsian tap water ... is because it's not cold out of the tap. Chill it, and you'll like it.

Two stories:

-- Years ago, Mark got fed up paying the bill for water cooler water, so he filled the big 5-gallon jug with tap water. He did it for a year. Nobody noticed.

-- 22 years ago, when LaBrea Bakery started, everybody said, "You can't make good bread here! Not like New York! The water's no good! You'll be sorry!" (All of which is eerily reminiscent of what they said about starting a local news radio station. -- Ed.) But they used water straight from the tap. The trick, he says, was that they chilled it to the proper temperature to slow fermentation, just like Gotham's bakeries warm their tap water a little in the winter. And, he says, LaBrea Bakery breads are better than New York's. (The best bread and pastrami. Now we just need a decent baseball team. -- Ed.)

By the way, I'm very pleased to announce that, starting this weekend, Mark will be joining Off-Ramp for a regular food segment. The first one airs this weekend. This augments our regular food reporting, which includes the Eat-LA/Off-Ramp Collaboration.

Silverlake Wine Immortalizes Bermudez-Rabe's ... and a vocabulary test

By John Rabe | Sept. 7, 2010

It is not my habit to publicize an Off-Ramp sponsor in such an unseemly fashion, but Silverlake Wine's co-owner George Cossette has achieved a first, I believe, in the wine blurb world by immortalizing my husband, Julian Bermudez, and me.

Check out the description of Mount Eden Vineyards "Saratoga Cuvee" Santa Cruz Mountains 2006:

Mount Eden Vineyards is one of the great, old school, boutique wineries. It hasn't grown to Brobdingnagian proportions, or sold out its founding principles. And, the wines are good and age worthy. This is a Cabernet based wine using some estate fruit and some fruit sourced from other, surrounding vineyards.The intention is to make a wine that can be drunk upon release and still reflect the Santa Cruz Mountains terroir. It is elegant and soft. It feels like a well aged wine from another time. Have this with a grilled sirloin, broccoli rabe and julienned Bermuda onions.

(Bold mine.) In the text, there are coded references to Julian, me ... and our dogs, Irish terriers (terroir meaning earth, terrier meaning charming little SOB that digs up herb gardens, destroys fig trees, and barks all day).

Yes, I'm in my pajamas, in our bungalow, with Connor. (Trivia points to the linguist who identifies what's special about that sentence.)

New restaurant K2 charges for water?

By John Rabe | Sept. 7, 2010

Am I late to the party? Is this old hat?

As we sauntered around Sunset Junction Saturday night, we passed the new restaurant K2 (at 3916 W. Sunset) and perused the menu posted in the window.

They charge a buck for water because it's filtered? Are you kidding???!!! Who do they think they are, the DWP? I thought most good restaurants already filter their water, but don't charge for it (except in overall pricing, of course, which includes overhead).

I can't help but feel they want someone to blog about this and create a tempest in a waterglass, but heck, I'll bite. Feel free to register your outrage below.

The company doesn't seem to be charging for water at their sister restaurant Kokomo. The new restaurant hasn't fared well on Yelp so far -- seems like the kitchen wasn't really ready.

Meantime, I'm checking with a few folks for reaction and will post the results.