Sweetsalt Food Shop

Sweetsalt Food Shop is one of those places you keep your eye on for months, finally stop in and then kick yourself for not making it in when you first heard of it. Opened last January by husband and wife team Alex Eusebio (Top Chef contestant season 5) and Sara Mann, Sweetsalt is an adorable shop that serves sandwiches, salads, soup and baked goods with an unpretentious French flair. I stopped in on a weekend morning; while there is no breakfast menu, per se, many of the sandwiches work perfectly for starting off your day.


Serrano ham & fig sandwich ($9): crusty bread, salty ham, sweet fig preserves and brie to bring it all together. I was incredibly happy while eating this sandwich and it's been a long time since I've had that blissful feeling. Swoon. The salad was fresh and had a slightly tangy dressing that seemed to be Dijon mustard based. I was stuffed from finishing the sandwich, but I ate as much of the salad as I could.


Eggnog macaron ($1.50): I have started a slow courtship with macarons (I am unsure yet if I can't live without them or not), so I've been ordering them when they're around. Chewy and without an overwhelming eggnog flavor, their version was a light end to an indulgent breakfast.

I want to try so much more on their menu, such as: lavender duck sandwich (lavender as an ingredient intrigues me), Sweetsalt BLT (with pears!) and grapefruit truffle salad (pancetta, wild mushrooms, and a citrus-truffle vinaigrette warrant irresistible investigation). Add the fact that they have espresso and tea? You're going to see me eating and reading leisurely here through the winter, for sure.

You can read LA Weekly's Squid Ink interview with Alex Eusebio here.

Sweetsalt Food Shop
10218 1/2 Riverside Drive
Toluca Lake, CA 91602
(818) 509-7790

Salami and Cheese Sandwich

I made a salami and cheese sandwich last night, but it fell a bit apart when I sliced it and was not photo-ready. I ended up eating it standing in the kitchen, which was very satisfying and no fuss. Tonight, I was too tired to go out to forage for food; instead, I made another salami sandwich, but made it a double-decker, so it'd be more filling. I added thin layers of jarred artichoke spread, but it was a misstep because wet ingredients in sandwiches require key placement to avoid soggy bread. I did not make good layering choices, so the bottom bread slice was mushy and not so fab.

I have never been into double-decker sandwiches as they involve much more bread than I care for. Not sure what came over me tonight (I guess I was feeling experimental), but I couldn't finish the sandwich. I know, I am so weak sauce. On another note, It's going to be a low-impact weekend. I have been theorizing the bad air quality (due to the fires) has done a number on me. I've had a sore throat since yesterday and felt very foggy and tired today. Maybe some homemade soup is in the near future?

Weekend Cooking

We had plans to go to the Hollywood Bowl for the second time (we later determined it would be the last visit for this year due to traffic and other stress), so I whipped up some meatball sandwiches. This photo was right before I draped some provolone on the sandwich and wrapped it up.



The meatballs were made of ground beef, a bit of ground pork, grated parm, breadcrumbs, oregano, garlic, an egg and salt and pepper. I cooked them in a pan and let them simmer in a sauced made of canned tomato sauce, garlic and oregano. The sandwiches were deemed a resounding success by Charles!

My lunch today was spaghetti tossed with cauliflower, garlic and grated parm. The first half of the cauliflower was roasted in an oven the other day, but today I was too impatient and opted for pan cooking. I have to admit the cauliflower is better roasted, but a) my kitchen gets pretty hot when the oven's at 400 degrees for half an hour and b) I usually burn the garlic and it never makes it off the baking sheet. Using the pan method did, however, keep the garlic slightly toasty and still edible, thus I was able to incorporate it into the spaghetti.



Now, I'm just drinking Bud Light and watching Kiss of the Dragon (you show them, Jet Li!) before the weekend forlornly comes to a close.