good girl dinette on kcet depatures' series on highland park

(click on the image to view the interview)

kcet departures highlights our very own highland park. starting with a band of tongva people called the hahamog'na, the series goes on to chronicle the arts and crafts movement in the area; the construction of the arroyo seco parkway and its role in changing highland park from suburb to inner city; the rise of the chicana/o movement and mural art in the 60s & 70s; the concurrent responses to the economic inequalities of 80's & 90's: the emergence of gang culture and a politically-charged music and art scene that fought against the anti-immigrant, anti-poor policies of the time; and, in the final installment, highland park's current incarnation (good girl dinette is included in this segment).

i hear a lot of people talk about how much highland park has changed over the years. what i like best about what juan devis has done with this series is the way he's shown the continuity of highland park's spirit over the span of 100+ years. it's always been a vibrant, complex, and dynamic community filled with leftist artist-types - my kind of people.

bitter in the mouth: a dinner with monique truong

novelist monique truong is coming to los angeles and good girl dinette. here's your chance to meet the author and dine on a menu inspired by her latest novel bitter in the mouth.

tuesday, november 1, 2011

7:00 pm

$35 per person

rsvp: http://monique-truong.eventbrite.com/

menu, circa 1970s

first
chicken (or tofu) farci

shallots, lemongrass

then
seared beef (or shitake) with watercress

black pepper, garlic, maggi

last
williams pear jelly

brandy, ginger liqueur, moscato d'asti

Bitter in the Mouth is the second novel from 2010 Guggenheim Fellow and New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award winner Monique Truong. Her first novel, The Book of Salt, was a New York Times Notable Fiction Book. In Bitter in the Mouth, protagonist Linda Hammerick has many secrets including the fact that she has synesthesia—she tastes the words that she hears and speaks. With equal parts humor and poignancy, Truong evokes how profoundly individual our experiences of the world can be and how we learn all too quickly to suppress our differences in order to fit in to social norms. - Ladies Home Journal Book Club

the new york times spotlights second-generation restaurateurs

(click to jump to article, photo by axel koester for the new york times)

earlier this year steven stern of the new york times and i had a conversation about my childhood growing up in my aunts and uncles' restaurants. the above is the result of that chat.

good girl goes to the movies: the dinette transforms into concession stand for the los angeles asian pacific film festival

this saturday and sunday, good girl dinette will be set up shop at the directors' guild of america to feed the hungry masses at 2011's los angeles asian pacific film festival.

(click to go to film festival site)

concession menu

drinks

iced coffee 2

iced jasmine tea 2

savories

mini-curry pot pies 3

roasted oyster mushroom baguettes 5

charred pork baguettes 5

galangal chicken baguettes 5

sweets

chocolate cake 3

maple coconut bread pudding 3

good girl dinette in bon appetit

with kat and hilary, checking out andrew knowlton's article in the march issue (click on photo to read more).

do-good wednesday: re-lighting highand park's historic signs

(images courtesy of future studios)

do-good wednesday is back (february 16) and this time eric and clayton are donating their tips to help re-light the historic signs of figueroa street. amy inouye of future studios and north figueroa assocation are the organizers of this project. (click on the signs to read about the project)

step out for a bite to eat this wednesday and show your pride and support for our bit of paradise!

tet vigil

my sister and i are seated on the floor, each with a candle in front of us. mom demonstrates first. holding the folded triangle flaps over a flame, she melts the cellophane, then presses the two flaps together to seal the candy square. she watches us as we replicate her moves and produce two more sealed squares. she gives an approving nod and returns to the stove where my aunt is watching over a pot of tinned condensed milk and butter. we sit on the floor for hours burning our thumbs on molten cellophane. in a few hours our cousins sleeping in the other room will wake and take the caramels to town for new year's day.