There Is No Escaping Cottage Cheese
or the influence of Utah's Mormon food culture
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Los Angeles is still fighting the wild fires and recovery is going to be a long road. I highly encourage those who can afford to, to donate directly to the GoFundMe campaigns of people and families who have been displaced by the fires. And please continue to support local restaurants! Restaurants in Asheville, NC are particularly struggling after hurricane Helene and could use some extra support, too.
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Hello! This time of year, even in Los Angeles, is a big of a struggle for deeply flavorful veggies. I tend to lean heavily on cabbage (as do many restaurants) and I recently had a “center cut” cabbage steak at Kismet’s excellent steakhouse pop-up that I cannot stop thinking about.
I am not always a fan of the slab-of-vegetable as a steak concept — I still have yet to each a cauliflower “steak” that isn’t completely devoid of flavor once you get past the surface — but this cabbage steak was tender, caramelized, and had an impressive and delicious char.
Kismet of course had more traditional steak options, but it was. a very thoughtful and hearty vegetarian centerpiece, something that is incredibly rare at any steakhouse concept. Best of all, it still paired well with the more traditional steakhouse sides like crispy onion rings, fluffy rolls, and several potato formats.
After I got home from that meal, as I was scrolling through Instagram instead of sleeping (oops), the algorithm somehow understood I had cabbage on the brain and surfaced this delightful cabbage-devoted account:
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Today’s newsletter dives into:
— Utah Mormon culture’s influence on food goes mainstream
— A greens powder that actually makes sense
— The most genius McDonald’s collab
— Why there is no escaping cottage cheese (and two new cottage cheese products)
— The era of the comeback product
— The thing that food influencers do that annoys me the most
— The best salad in Los Angeles right now
— Two cookbooks I cannot wait to cook from