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Eating Out Paleo: Tender Greens, Los Angeles, CA
As soon as I landed in LA, my friend drove me to Tender Greens for lunch. It was one of her favorite places and soon became one of mine too. It’s a low-key fast, but high quality, food restaurant that offers some great Paleo-friendly options. There are multiple locations in Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, and the Bay Area!
Make Your Own Bacon Cups
I had been wanting to make some bacon cups ever since one of my readers sent me a link to a company that sold some form of device for making bacon cups!
It’s a handy cup for filling up with simple salads, and it’s not only “cute” but also delicious!
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Eating Out Paleo: Gordon Ramsay at the London, West Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA
This is sadly my least favorite Gordon Ramsay restaurant (I’ve enjoyed many of his other restaurants). Although I enjoyed the chic decor and the prompt service, the steak came overcooked and dry, and the appetizer and sides were just mediocre.
Eating Out Paleo: Honey Salt, Las Vegas, NV
Meeting up with Ben Morgan (from badasspaleo.com) is always fun, and so we couldn’t leave Las Vegas without catching up over dinner. Ben picked this fantastic place off the Las Vegas strip (Honey Salt).
Eating Out Paleo: Bottega Louie, Los Angeles, CA
This is a very trendy bakery/restaurant in Downtown LA. Unfortunately, the best food here isn’t particularly Paleo-friendly (they’re known for their macaroons and pizza!), but there are still some good Paleo options available. What I loved the most about this restaurant was the beautiful modern space and open kitchen.
Eating Out Paleo: Lakeside Bar & Grill at the Radisson Hotel, Portland, OR
I woke up on Sunday morning in Portland to a weather advisory – there was a lot of ice on the roads, and they were advising everyone to stay indoors. After some debate, we decided to heed the advisory and had lunch at our hotel instead.
Eating Out Paleo: Cultured Caveman Food Cart, Portland, Oregon
No trip to Portland would be complete without a stop (or two, or three…) at Cultured Caveman!
This is an all-Paleo food cart opened by Heather and Joe (we only got to meet Heather, but she was amazing to talk to – in fact, she was so amazing that we stood in the sleet for 30 minutes chatting with her!!).
One of the best things about Cultured Caveman is that you don’t have to worry about any of the ingredients – you can eat everything off the menu (and we did just that!). Their ingredients are top notch – grass fed beef and paleo oils (like tallow, olive oil, coconut oil) – and the food is delicious (my favorite was the Ethiopian Cabbage). And they even have tasty bone broth!!
Eating Out Paleo: Sutro’s at the Cliff House, San Francisco, CA
It’s worth eating at Sutro’s at the Cliff House just for the view alone! It’s absolutely stunning – the restaurant has flour to ceiling windows facing the ocean on the tip of San Francisco. So, pick a reservation time before it gets dark – lunch or just before sunset are fantastic.
We got there just before sunset and managed to snap some amazing photos before going in to eat (the food was good too, and there are plenty of photos of the food below!).
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Eating Out Paleo: Ox Restaurant, Portland, Oregon
I picked a bad weekend to visit Portland…it’s been snowing the whole time, and it’s forecast to continue until we leave! Luckily, that hasn’t deterred us from eating at some amazing Portland restaurants.
Here’s the view of Portland in the snow from the plane.
We started at Olympic Provisions (which we ate at on our last trip to Portland) for brunch, and that’s reviewed here, and then went to Ox for dinner. (We went to Cultured Caveman twice the next day – click here for review and photos.)
For those of you from Portland, you’re probably already familiar with Ox since it won the Oregonian’s 2013 Restaurant of the Year award. And for those unfamiliar with the place, it’s a cosy upscale dinning experience that wows with flavor, freshness, and creativity. Their website calls it “Argentinian inspired Portland Food.” I think it’s just plain yumminess!
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Wicked Spoon Buffet, Las Vegas, NV – Paleo Restaurant Review
So Many Vegas Buffets
I’ve always loved buffets in Las Vegas, and I’ve been to most of the major ones over the past 7 years (many of them multiple times).
I remember loving the crab legs initially, and I would scout out the seafood buffets (like the Rio buffet back in the days when it was famous for its seafood).
Then, when the Wynn’s high-end buffet opened, it was like getting a super-charge of relatively high-class food all in one sitting. And for about a year, I would make a trip to the Wynn buffet every trip!
However, for the past few years, my taste for buffets has died down a bit (I tried the Bacchanal buffet at Caesar’s palace last September, and it was good but not amazing). That is, until I tried Wicked Spoon at the Cosmopolitan Hotel this past trip.
I loved it so much we went twice on consecutive nights! There was just a great selection of Paleo options – from bone marrow to prime rib to house-cured bacon to freshly grilled salmon to kale salads and sauteed Brussels sprouts. And most importantly, everything was amazingly delicious.
NOTE: this post has been updated with photos from a more recent 2015 visit (skip down to the bottom of the post for the new section).
What Wicked Spoon Looks Like
This is what Wicked Spoon buffet looks like walking in.
Wicked Spoon buffet is upstairs from the main Cosmopolitan casino floor, and you get to go up this beautiful escalator before turning right and going down the corridor to find Wicked Spoon.
The Amazing Food at Wicked Spoon
Review of Nom Nom Paleo: Food For Humans Book
Book Title:
Nom Nom Paleo: Food For Humans
Authors:
Michelle Tam and Henry Fong
Too Much Excitement!
I was really excited when Michelle from Nom Nom Paleo sent me her new cookbook. Who wouldn’t be excited to find a large red box on their doorstep 🙂
And my excitement continued when I opened the book, since – in addition to pages upon pages of recipes and yummy photos – there were also super-cool illustrations of Michelle and her family (including her kids, Big O and Little O, and her husband, Henry).
My Favorite Chapter
This book is filled with over 100 delicious recipes, but my favorite chapter is definitely the very first one, which is entitled “Building Blocks,” since most of the recipes in this chapter can be used to enhance other recipes or dishes. There are recipes for Dukkah (an Egyptian spice blend), Magic Mushroom Powder, her famous Paleo Sriracha sauce, Macadamia Nut “Ricotta”, Bacon Aioli, and a ton more!
The 5 Things That Made My Paleo/Gluten-Free Wedding a Success
Weddings are Tough!
If you’ve ever planned any large party or event, then you’ll know just how tough it can be.
There are so many moving parts to organize, so many different people to please, and always some last minute glitches! So just imagine when you also have to add in Paleo/Gluten-Free/Dietary Restrictions into the mix!
From the start, Jeremy and I were worried about the food at our wedding, and we found a caterer months before we did anything else (I wrote about our wedding menu just before the wedding in this post)!
Our caterer (Joshua Charles) was fantastic, but all sorts of other food and drink issues come up nearer the time (should we serve a cake, what about desserts, what oils should the food be cooked in, was there enough variety for everyone, what party favors would our guests like, what alcohols should we serve, should we serve soda???). And this was outside of the technical issues we encountered with our RSVP website (we wanted to go high tech) or our uncertainty as to whether the taxi service would be able to drop people at the location or our last minute decision to install a dance floor into the courtyard (and yes, the police did stop by for a friendly chat with me about the noise!).
It would have been easy just to give up on my diet for one day, but this was the biggest opportunity I had for demonstrating to my closest family and friends just how fantastic Paleo food is and can make them feel! And it turned out to be not difficult at all because we paid attention to the five areas below.
Is Sesame Oil Paleo?
What is Sesame Oil?
Sesame oil has been around for thousands of years and is one of the oldest cultivated oil crops (dating back 4000 years to Babylon and Assyria).
Its distinctive and flagrant flavors make it one of the most popular oils in Asian cooking – you’ll be hard pressed to find an Asian family without a bottle of sesame oil sitting among their cooking oils!
As with most cooking oils, there are many types of sesame oil resulting from different processing techniques. The most common 2 types are:
- Toasted Sesame Oil. This is the type of sesame oil most commonly used in East Asian cooking. To make the oil, the sesame seeds are first toasted (which imparts a rich flavor as well as a dark brown color to the oil) before the oil is extracted from the seeds. Extraction can be done through various methods (including with chemical solvents at high temperatures or with expeller presses at cooler temperatures), and you should check with the manufacturer of your sesame oil to determine what method they use.
- Raw Cold-Pressed Sesame Oil. In the United States, raw cold-pressed sesame seed oil has become increasingly popular. This type of oil starts with the raw sesame seed (no toasting occurs), and the oil is extracted at low-temperatures using high pressure. The lower temperatures that the sesame seed is kept at during the entire process ensures that less of the oil is oxidized. This typically results in a pale yellow oil (less fragrant than the toasted sesame oil).
Is Sesame Oil Paleo?
Quick Answer: No (but ok in small amounts occasionally)
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Eating Out Paleo – The Restaurant at Meadowood, Napa, CA
How Great Food Can Inspire and Will Keep on Giving
I was already a bit apprehensive when we started the long drive to Napa. Making a reservation at Meadowood had been one of those spur-of-the-moment you-only-live-once sort of decisions when you hand over your credit card, close your eyes, and hope everything turns out ok.
I was hoping to be wow’d but deep down, I was already prepared for disappointment. I’d eaten at some of the top restaurants in the country already (including four 3-michelin star ones and some crazy-cheap but amazing hole-in-the-walls). So how could Meadowood deliver me an awesome experience to make it worth the hefty price-tag?
When we arrived grumpy at having sat for 2 hours in traffic, they completely brushed aside the fact that we were almost half an hour late and instead seated us immediately. The dinner had been in celebration of my birthday (which we had told them), and the director of the restaurant greeted us with this personalized card.
I was touched, but really, the true inspirations came with the food (you can see the full menu below).
The Aftermath
It’s hard to describe how ingenious combinations of fresh and local ingredients can change my life, but it did.
I was so moved, I stopped by Whole Foods on my drive home and bought some fresh carrots to marinade in champagne. LOL
Then I proceeded to sign up for the Science & Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science course offered by Harvard on EDX. I know, I’m a geek, but the experience left me with a huge thirst for more. More flavors, More experiments, More creations, More knowledge about my food.
Most restaurant meals typically leave me with only a passion for napping. Meadowood left me with a passion for life!
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Is Walnut Oil Paleo?
What is Walnut Oil?
Walnut oil is a lightly colored and slightly nutty-flavored cooking oil. It’s often used on salads to give it a slightly nutty taste. However, unrefined walnut oil is generally not used for pan-frying due to its low smoke point (320F or 160C). The oil is also reported to turn bitter when heated (which makes them not all that appetizing).
Is Walnut Oil Paleo?
Quick Answer: No (but ok in small amounts occasionally).
Explanation:
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