Two cooks talk about loss and recovery. Plus, our summer cook-along with \u201cChef That!\u201d Also, advice on cooking for dogs and eating with dogs, taquito comfort and fan-service restaurants (or what Day 1 was like at the Tesla Diner). I\u2019m Laurie Ochoa, general manager of L.A. Times Food, with this week\u2019s Tasting Notes.<\/p>\n
Kitchen dreams <\/p>\n
Michelle Huneven in her Altadena kitchen before it was destroyed along with the rest of her home in the Eaton fire. <\/p>\n
(Shelby Moore\/For The Times)<\/p>\n
The most beautiful kitchen I ever cooked in was far from perfect. It was built into one of six Pasadena apartments that in the 1920s had been carved out of a Victorian mansion designed by Frederick Roehrig<\/b>, the architect behind Old Town Pasadena\u2019s Hotel Green<\/b> and its surviving annex, Castle Green<\/b><\/a>. <\/p>\n The dining room and kitchen had once been a grand parlor room with a fireplace at one end and most of the original wood details still on the walls and ceiling. The kitchen\u2019s counter curved with the arc of several windows set into the bend of one wall, with soft sunlight filtering in through the greenery planted outside. <\/p>\n But the stove, relocated and updated since the days Jonathan Gold<\/b><\/a> and I occupied that apartment, was a finicky old thing. And the counter, so attractively placed, was too low for serious cooking. Our backs would often ache if there were too many vegetables to chop or dishes to wash. <\/p>\n It was a dreamy kitchen, but it wasn\u2019t a dream kitchen. And yet, we made some of our happiest meals there.<\/p>\n There are cooks I know who have had dream kitchens, spaces that were designed just for them and functioned according to their specific cooking needs.<\/p>\n Ruth Reichl<\/b>, author and former restaurant critic and editor, says she designed<\/a> her U-shaped kitchen to fit her body and the open floor plan of the home she and her husband, Michael Singer,<\/b> share in New York\u2019s Columbia County. With expansive views of the upper Hudson Valley, it\u2019s inviting but also intimate in its footprint; no more than two or three steps are required to reach most of her appliances and tools. During parties, Reichl is easily able to roll out pie dough while catching up with early-arriving guests and there is lots of counter space around the U for setting out platters of food that always tempt some hungry person before it\u2019s officially time to eat.<\/p>\n Closer to home, I was lucky enough to be invited many times to the Altadena home of Michelle Huneven<\/b>, novelist<\/a> and food writer (often for this paper<\/a>), and Jim Potter,<\/b> an attorney specializing in environmental law and an accomplished bread baker. From big, crowded Seders at Passover to weekday soup meals, always with something wonderfully sweet at the end, I watched their modest cooking space expand and evolve into a beautiful, functional and comfortable modern space with a dining table at the center of the room that allowed guests to watch the interplay of two excellent cooks at work.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a little 1,000-square-foot house, and when Jim and I married, that was fine for a while,\u201d Huneven said recently in the Times Test Kitchen. \u201cThen he began to bake bread. And very shortly, everything in my little kitchen was covered with bread glue. I was like, \u2018We need a bigger kitchen.\u2019 Before we knew it, we\u2019d designed a great big freestanding kitchen. I\u2019m short, so in the place of overhead cabinets, we had windows out to our garden. He had his breadmaking area; I had my cooking area. We each had a sink. He had his own oven. And he had his own dishwasher. Praise the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n Cookbook author Molly Baz<\/b>\u2018s dream kitchen in Altadena was one I never saw in person but I interacted with it virtually through her \u201cHit the Kitch<\/b>\u201d video series<\/a> and Instagram feed<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cMy home kitchen was also my place of work,\u201d Baz said, sitting alongside Huneven in the Times Test Kitchen. \u201cMy husband, [Ben Willett<\/b>], designed the space as the heart of the home. It was an expansive space that was a hanging-out living room, lounge, bar, kitchen, all in this one large room. We designed the kitchen very intentionally to be the anchor of like everything I do, the place where I would shoot my cookbooks and all of my content, where I would develop all of my recipes. So we decided to do it all butter-colored, and it was just this beautiful monochromatic, creamy butter-yellow-colored dream<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Food personality Molly Baz in her butter-yellow Altadena kitchen before her house was destroyed by the Eaton fire.<\/p>\n (PEDEN + MUNK)<\/p>\n As you\u2019ve undoubtedly surmised by now, both Huneven and Baz lost their Altadena homes \u2014 and their dream kitchens \u2014 in the Eaton fire.<\/p>\n \u201cWe evacuated to a friend\u2019s house about 4:30 in the morning with another couple who lived much closer to Eaton Canyon,\u201d Huneven said. \u201cWhen they learned that their house had burned, I found that so shocking that I just sat there with my hands over my mouth for about, I don\u2019t know, 15 minutes. I just couldn\u2019t absorb it. Then, at about 8 o\u2019clock, Jim decided to drive up to our house. He later told me he\u2019d known even before he drove up because he controlled the sprinklers and the solar panels from his phone, and nothing was responding. When he called me to say it was gone, he sent a picture of the house on the corner still burning with flames coming out of the windows, not a fire truck in sight<\/a>. I was preconditioned for the loss, because I\u2019d already reacted to one home burning down. I didn\u2019t cry until 48 hours later.\u201d <\/p>\n Baz\u2019s story is similar. \u201cI evacuated earlier, at 7:30 p.m., because some friends and neighbors had seen the fire, and it was creeping closer and closer,\u201d she said. \u201cWe never got a notice, but we decided, let\u2019s get out of here. Throughout the night, we were refreshing our phones, watching the map get populated with new homes that had burned. But the whole night, I was under the impression that my house had somehow by the grace of God gotten skipped because of this map. In the morning, my husband wanted to go to the house just to triple check and so, he got in the car and drove nervously up there. I got a call about 30 minutes later and he was just in tears. He was like, \u2018There\u2019s nothing left.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n Huneven, whose newest, highly praised novel<\/a>, \u201cBug Hollow<\/b>,\u201d is anchored in Altadena<\/a>, her longtime home, and Baz, who came to Altadena from Brooklyn in 2020 and started the mayo\/sando sauce brand<\/a> Ayoh!<\/b> last year, are both terrific cooks with very different styles. When Baz came into the Times Test Kitchen to record a video demonstration<\/a> of the highly craveable pistachio halva chocolate chunk cookie recipe<\/a> she created for her second cook book \u201cMore Is More,<\/b>\u201d I thought Huneven and Baz might want to meet each other. During their conversation about their experiences of loss and recovery,<\/a> recorded by video producer Mark E. Potts,<\/b> they immediately found things in common. <\/p>\n Molly Baz and Michelle Huneven in conversation at the Los Angeles Times Test Kitchen.<\/p>\n (Catherine Dzilenski \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the things that I wanted in the kitchen was a sofa,\u201d Huneven said, \u201cso we had this beautiful, long window seat with big welted cushions. Every morning we would wake up and drink our tea and coffee there with the dog and look out into the garden and get ready for the day.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe also had a sitting area where we would start the day,\u201d Baz said. \u201cWe had a built-in couch that my husband designed, the first coffee table he ever made, and a chaise longue, which didn\u2019t really have a use until I had my son 10 months ago. It became the perfect place to nurse. I would have my coffee and nurse him on the chaise longue every morning. It was just kind of a perfect place.\u201d<\/p>\n After the fire, neither Huneven nor Baz felt much like cooking.<\/p>\n \u201cI rebelled,\u201d Huneven said. \u201cI didn\u2019t cook for two months. Or, rather, I cooked like two dinners, and it was the same dinner where I stuck a bunch of cherry tomatoes on a sheet pan, boiled some pasta and that was it, with maybe some burrata. I don\u2019t even remember how we ate. I mean, I say I wasn\u2019t traumatized, but it really was a blur.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t cook for a while either,\u201d Baz said. \u201cI got back into the kitchen to finish a recipe I was working on the day of the fire. It was a savory egg quiche, but treated like a burnt Basque cheesecake, cooked at a really high heat, a crustless quiche. I thought about taking it with me when we evacuated, but I expected I\u2019d be back the next day. One of the the last things I said before I left was, \u2018Damn, I just wish the quiche was a little more burnt.\u2019 Because I had this vision of a really burnished exterior. And so later the quiche got burnt. Once I pulled myself together enough to think about food, that\u2019s the next thing I made. It was really comforting and cathartic. I made everyone leave the kitchen and was like, \u2018I\u2019m cooking. I need to be alone.\u2019 So it was a bit of a therapy session for myself. And yeah, the quiche was delicious.\u201d<\/p>\n Molly Baz with a just-baked batch of her pistachio brown butter and halva chocolate chunk cookies at the Los Angeles Times Test Kitchen.<\/p>\n (Catherine Dzilenski \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n Both Baz and Huneven are now living in different rental homes in Echo Park while they figure out the logistics of rebuilding.<\/p>\n \u201cSo much of cooking is a graceful dance,\u201d Baz said, \u201cand I felt so ungraceful for the first three weeks that it made me not want to cook. I\u2019ve gotten over that hump, and I think I\u2019m regaining my muscle memory in this new space now. I feel like I can cook and not fumble around.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe moved into a completely empty house, nothing in the drawers. We had a couple of camping pans that had been in the trunk of our our truck. But one of the things that was so amazing is that we landed in a sea of generosity. I\u2019m not wearing any clothes that I bought. They\u2019re all gifts. And people furnished our kitchen with a house-warming party, but it was really a kitchen warming. <\/p>\n \u201cThe incredible kindness and generosity of people, that\u2019s a gift I never anticipated,\u201d Huneven continued. \u201cIt\u2019s also really lessened the trauma. Because, you know, it\u2019s stuff, and it can be replaced. Houses can be rebuilt. Somebody said to me, \u2018This is the worst thing that\u2019s ever happened to you.\u2019 And I\u2019m like, \u2018No, it\u2019s not.\u2019 You know, the loss of people that I\u2019ve loved, some bad breakups in my youth. Now those were bad. This was bad too, but it\u2019s not the worst thing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe lost all of the physical things,\u201d Baz said, agreeing with Huneven. \u201cBut it highlights what you do have, which is your relationships and your community. And that becomes the most important thing in the world. My friends and my family, the people who are holding me together in all of this, are everything to me right now. All of the bulls\u2014 just washes away. You learn and understand like that living is actually about humanity and people. The rest can burn down, and you\u2019re going to be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n Newsletter <\/p>\n You\u2019re reading Tasting Notes<\/p>\n Our L.A. Times restaurant experts share insights and off-the-cuff takes on where they\u2019re eating right now.<\/p>\n Enter email address <\/p>\n Sign Me Up <\/p>\n You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. <\/p>\n Summer cook-along Andrew and Michelle Mu\u00f1oz with beef ribs, beef rib tacos, and salsa outside the Los Angeles Times Test Kitchen.<\/p>\n (Catherine Dzilenski \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n Baz is just one of the cooks and chefs who have been to the Times Test Kitchen in recent weeks to meet our \u201cChef That!\u201d<\/b> challenge: Come up with a recipe that demonstrates chef skills and creativity but is still simple enough for an average home cook to make. Our \u201cChef That!\u201d video series<\/a> is ongoing, but this Sunday we\u2019re publishing a special cook-along recipe section<\/a> full of summer recipes from the chef series plus a few from cookbook authors in our \u201cBook to Cook\u201d<\/b> video series. Among the recipes to look for, home-oven-cooked beef ribs<\/a> with outdoor smoker flavor from Andrew <\/b>and Michelle Mu\u00f1oz<\/b> of Moo\u2019s Craft Barbecue<\/b>, spicy cold mung bean noodles<\/a> from 88 Club\u2019s Mei Lin, Hailee Catalano<\/b>\u2018s \u201cmean, green\u201d turkey sandwich<\/a>, the egg salad sando<\/b><\/a> that Father\u2019s Office<\/b> founder Sang Yoon<\/b> serves at his Helm\u2019s Bakery<\/b> complex in Culver City and an incredible grapefruit cream pie<\/a> from Quarter Sheets<\/b>\u2019 dessert guru Hannah Ziskin<\/b>.<\/p>\n Dog days Photographer Anne Fishbein\u2019s bull terrier Ivy with dog food made from recipes by writers Carolynn Carre\u00f1o and Michelle Huneven.<\/p>\n (Anne Fishbein \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n Los Angeles, says senior Food editor Danielle Dorsey<\/b>, is ranked the nation\u2019s most popular city to own a dog. It\u2019s also a very good city for eating out with a dog. Dorsey put together a guide to the best dog-friendly patios to take your pup<\/a> as part of our \u201cDog Days of Summer<\/a>\u201d collaboration with our features team. Regular contributor Carolynn Carre\u00f1o <\/b>explored the evolution toward human-grade dog food<\/a> over the last 15 years and provides a recipe for Rufus hash,<\/a> a raw dog food blend she used to make for her late dog, Rufus. It\u2019s made with ground beef, turkey or chicken, organ meat, bone meal, steamed broccoli and steamed sweet potato. Novelist Michelle Huneven (see story above) also shares her recipe for the homemade hash <\/a>she feeds her rescue dog, Tatty Jane. Like Carre\u00f1o, she uses ground meat and broccoli (or spinach) but also includes peas, brown or white rice, fish oil or sardines, finely ground baked eggshells for bone health and, for the antioxidants, frozen-fresh cranberries. <\/p>\n The comfort of taquitos Chef Wes Avila, left, with his father, Jose Luis Avila, in Pico Rivera in 2025.<\/p>\n (Wes Avila)<\/p>\n Chef Wes Avila<\/b>\u2018s father, Jose Luis Avila,<\/b> is a legal resident of the U.S. But he felt so fearful of being caught up in the ICE raids happening all over California that after more than 50 years in this country he recently moved to Mexico. Avila told Food reporter<\/a> Stephanie Breijo<\/b> that when he\u2019s missing his father he makes a version of the Durango-style caldillo<\/a>, or stew, that his father used to cook. <\/p>\n \u201cIt connects me to him,\u201d said Avila, who leads the kitchens at MXO<\/b> and Ka\u2019teen<\/b>. \u201cI talk to him every other day. We have a very close relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n And when he\u2019s missing his mother, who died in 1995, he makes beef taquitos<\/a>, which he thinks was her favorite dish \u2014 or at least, he says, \u201cour favorite dish for her to make when my brother, my sister and I were kids.\u201d He shared recipes for both dishes.<\/p>\n Also … The lunch line at One Piece Cafe in Little Tokyo.<\/p>\n (Myung J. Chun\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n The Tesla Diner.<\/p>\n (Lauren Ng \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/jaZIxm8nTCo\/hqdefault.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n