Category Archives: McCall’s Los Feliz

Trio of Sliders + Beet and Romesco with Sauce Gribiche

This is actually a meal I made a few months back but failed to post. It was my mom and dad’s anniversary (back in March- eek, time flies!), and when I asked them what they’d like me to cook for them, they responded with a surprising, “sliders,” having enjoyed some mini burgers I’d made for them a couple of years back.

Wanting to mix things up a bit, I opted to make a trio of sliders- an Asian-inspired salmon slider, a traditional American-style burger and a Greek-style lamb one made with McCall’s Meat and Fish Company’s beautiful lamb Merguez sausage which I simply cut out of the casing and formed into patties. In fact, I got all of my protein at McCall’s since proprietor Nathan always has the freshest, tastiest meat and seafood along with his willingness to answer questions and give helpful advice. It’s a win-win. Continue reading

Meat ‘n Potatoes!

This dinner is from a couple of months ago, and I’ve been eager to share it with you, so here it is!

Our friends Henry and Jenn came over for dinner, and I know Henry loves his meat and potatoes and Jenn loves pretty much all food (like me!) so I decided to pick up some beef from McCall’s (yes, I realize I’m beginning to sound like their spokesperson but their meat/seafood is THE BEST!). I saw some Flintsones-sized bone-in rib eyes so I snatched those up, then went to the Farmer’s Market for some Yukon Gold potatoes and other veggies.

First of all, check out these babies. I mean, c’mon:

Here’s what we had:

The Girl + The Fig dried fig compote, goat cheese from the Cheese Store of Silverlake and some pepper water table crackers. The cheese was pretty dry and chalky, which was a tad disappointing.


Mixed green salad with heirloom tomatoes and fresh corn:

White on Rice Couple’s Todd’s amazing, incredible, life-altering Potatoes Au Gratin. I’m not overexaggreating. He and Diane were nice enough to invite my sister and me over for dinner a few months ago and they served this to us and let me tell you- it’s CRACK! It only has six ingredients, but Todd’s signature “break the crust” method keeps the potatoes tender and creamy while the top gets golden brown. We ate a pretty nice chunk out of it but still had some leftover; I’d take a spoon and eat it cold right out of the tupperware every day for the next four days. Not even kidding. It’s THAT good. Who needs chocolate or other such silliness if you have this?! Check out his step-by-step instructions on the method here so you can make it this weekend. Heck, make it today. NOW.

Here are those two, fat rib eye steaks, seared to get a nice brown crust and cooked to medium rare. They were delicious and the four of us polished it all off, easily. I think personally, I prefer a cut where there aren’t as many ribbons of fat- I know I know- it’s the best part but I guess I’m more of a filet mignon, skirt or flank steak girl myself. It was indulgent and delicious regardless. I only wish I would have plated the dramatic steaks in a more, er, dramatic fashion. Should’ve used my giant cutting board, but we were all so hungry I think we just wanted to eat!

Plum and almond tart. My plum tree literally exploded with plums this summer so I had plums coming out of my…um, front yard. This was one of the last things I made; I think I’m good on plums for awhile now! We served it with caramel gelato.

A wonderful time was had by all and once again, McCall’s didn’t let me down with the high quality meat they sold me for this dinner. Another thing that’s great about McCall’s is the husband-wife team of Nathan McCall and Karen Yoo are happy to answer any questions you have about their product, recommend ways to cook or order something in advance if you have a special request. “Enthusiastic” wouldn’t begin to describe how both come across about their business- you can see the commitment to quality, customer service and a joy and love for food/cooking in their faces. They rock!

Here’s what our dinner table looked like just before we sat down to eat. I’ll spare you the “after” photo!

More to come…..

Slow Roasted Tomato & Goat Cheese Crostini + Arctic Char With Lentils


The main subject of this post is the fish, so let’s get the crostini out of the way, shall we?

This appetizer is simple to slap together, but it does take a bit of planning since the cherry tomatoes take about 2 hours to slow roast. Just cut each tomato in half lengthwise and toss in a bowl with a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper and thyme; lay them cut side up on a baking sheet. Top each with a thin slice of garlic, and roast at 275 for 2-3 hours until they start to shrivel up and most of the moisture from the tomato is gone. Smear some goat cheese on slices of toasted baguette and top each slice with some of the tomatoes. You can drizzle a bit of balsamic glaze over the top if you like. Eat with wine, or champagne, or just…eat.

Ok, now on to the main event!

My food-blogger-brother-from-another-mother Dylan has been telling me about McCall’s Meat & Fish Company in Los Feliz for months. I’ve read about it on blogs and have heard they carry amazingly high-quality meat and fish, all picked and cut by the two proprietors. After reading Dylan’s love letter to McCall’s, I couldn’t put it off any longer and made my way to the small shop on Hillhurst, and came home bearing two beautiful, perfectly trimmed and shiny pieces of arctic char. I’ll add that it took me awhile to decide what to buy, since McCall’s also had grass-fed Argentinian beef, gorgeous thick-cut bone-in pork chops, glimmering pearly-white sea scallops and fatty, sashimi-grade hamachi, to name a few. I felt the way Carrie Bradshaw must feel while perusing the shoe department at Barney’s, although I did resist the urge to bend down and tell one particularly handsome rib-eye steak, “Hello, lover,” because that would have been, um, weird.
Fish that fresh begs you to not screw with it, so I just sprinkled on a bit of sea salt and black pepper and seared it in a smokin’ hot pan to get the skin nice and crispy. I brushed the thinnest coat of a dijon and clover honey mix before finishing it off in the oven. Here it is, in all it’s glory, sitting on a bed of lentils, asparagus and spinach:

It was incredibly moist, flaky and oozing with good fish fat and the skin was basically like fish bacon- yuuumy. J and I just kind of looked at each other like, holy cow, but didn’t want to stop eating in order to talk, so we just kept eating. The quality of McCall’s fish is leaps and bounds higher than even that of Whole Foods, and we won’t insult them by mentioning any other grocery stores since those aren’t even in the same class.

My only regret is that I didn’t visit McCall’s sooner and am eager to try the rest of their meat and seafood. If you haven’t been yet, run and see what goodies they have today. It changes based on what’s fresh and seasonal, so you know whatever you bring home will be delicious.