![]() ![]() It has to be this bread, or there will be no sandwiches. The catch? You can get them only about once a month, when Tovar gets torpedo-shaped loaves of bread flown in from Guadalajara. Lonches: If you’re looking for a truly great sandwich, head to Primera Taza Coffee House across from Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Heights, where co-owner Chuy Tovar and his wife, Rosalinda Hernandez, are making lonches. SIGN UP for Jonathan Gold’s Counter Intelligence dining newsletter > Which is why this apartment chocolate factory is called LetterPress in the first place. When they’re not making chocolate, they’re also docents at the International Printing Museum in Carson. The pair make about 60 bars a day - not bad, considering that Corey has an e-commerce day job, and that David spent 17 years as a graphic designer. David, who spends a lot of time at origin, finds and brings back fermented cocoa beans, then roasts them and grinds them in LetterPress’ “main nerve” - the couple’s laundry room. Founded in 2014, the company produces micro-batches of single origin chocolate, with beans sourced from mostly Central and South America. In that cramped space, the couple operates its minuscule bean-to-bar chocolate factory, making outstanding bars in the kitchen, laundry room and living room. LetterPress Chocolate: David and Corey Menkes run LetterPress Chocolate out of their two-bedroom, 900-square-foot, second-floor apartment in Cheviot Hills. It is exactly what you want to be snacking on when the Negronis arrive. ![]() But Angelo Auriana’s farinata at downtown L.A.’s new Officine Brera is pretty spectacular, softer than it is crunchy, with a vague tartness from what I imagine is slightly fermented batter and served from a wheeled cart barely big enough to hold the heavy metal pan. Could it be because the best versions in Italy tend to involve both a wood oven and a pan as big around as a truck tire? Hard to say. Neither the moist, puddingy kind with a lightly crisped crust nor the slightly drier kind with a more profound crunch. ![]() Farinata should be easy enough to make - the classic ingredients include not much beyond chickpea flour, water, olive oil and salt - but for some reason it isn’t. Sending equipment and expertise on site, our goal is to make the best chocolate in the world, in a fully sustainable and transparent way.Farinata: The focaccia is great and the fritters are justly renowned, but the most popular street food in Genoa, Italy, is probably farinata: a warm slice of a massive crepe, nearly identical to the socca you find in Nice, France. We’ve begun the process of selecting farms we truly believe in – not just buying cacao, but actually investing with them and taking an active role in cultivation. We’re always looking for new ways to help farmers and small co-ops out, and with us, you can help too! We pay a premium to the farmers to encourage them to keep growing fantastic, lower-yielding and delicate cacao, rather than tearing out and planting bulk over-productive commodity cacao or other crops. We travel to meet farmers in person at the source – Peru, Guatemala, Belize, Dominican Republic, and beyond. To that end, we source and roast cacao beans that are truly exceptional – not only in flavor, but featuring a truly ethical, sustainable supply chain. Our goal is to forge direct relationships with farmers and co-ops who feature truly exceptional cacao, to pay a premium and help raise the quality of life. Founded in 2014 in Los Angeles, LetterPress Chocolate is a small batch bean to bar chocolate company which features single-origin, and in many cases single-project cacao from around the world. ![]()
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