Small plates skyrocket in consumer popularity

Jewelry, iPods, that new key-lime flavored gum. The best things come in small packages.

Joining those esteemed ranks is the small plates menu, evidenced in the food industry’s growing appreciation for it. Los Angeles is proudly participating in the trend.

Small plates, referring to small portions of food served with much variety, first entered American culture as an adoption of foreign food. Restaurants like the much-lauded Playa, serving traditional Latin tapas, appeared around the city.

Then, love began pouring in for various Middle Eastern restaurants serving meze-style food prepared with yogurt, lemon, olive and parsley flavors.

Other restaurants followed suit, grounded not in ethnic roots but in new American flavors. Lazy Ox Canteen, in Little Tokyo, maintains a long chalkboard list of vegetable small plates that includes caramelized cauliflower with chili and mint. There’s also grilled cabbage — an underrated version of the leafy vegetable. With a reasonably priced lunchtime menu, there’s no excuse to ignore your greens.

Small plates are also a fun option at home. Spanish croquetas, essentially “loaded” mashed potatoes — pork, beans, cheese and all — fried into a ball and dipped in a creamy red pepper sauce, make for great hits at dinner parties. The texture, at once crispy and gooey, is one reason for praise.

Planning a menu for my own small plates party, I thought of a version of my own croquetas — the traditionally Jewish salmon ones that I used to beg my grandmother to make. These croquettes are different from the loaded mashed potato croquetas, but the comfort-food factor is the same.

Throwing together an evening of small plates at home is much easier than you would probably think. For instance, you might have noticed the baby artichokes in the markets lately.

With a circumference no larger than that of a golf ball, they are meant to be enjoyed as small bites. Clean them, salt them, steam them and you quickly have a wonderful addition to your menu.

And the most innovative chefs know presentation can elevate a great meal. Look at José Andrés at The Bazaar, where he serves little steak-and-cheese buns on monkey figurines.

As you’ll likely find yourself without simian serving ware, you can use a variety of other items waiting for clever usage. If you’re looking to get unconventional, start with soup in a shot glass.

Some foods are best enjoyed as just a single taste. After thoroughly rinsing the glasses of errant vodka, fill them with a spicy avocado soup — puréed avocado with coconut milk and chilis. A whole bowl of the soup might overwhelm the palette — serrano pepper can pack an awfully powerful punch — but throwing back a quick sip gently warms up your taste buds.

Chilled soups like this one are often the simplest to make, usually requiring no cooking of the ingredients. Gazpacho, with refreshing tomato and generous chunks of cucumber, is another great option.

People often discuss the act — and the art — of eating as a journey. This is especially true concerning the act of eating small plates in which, over the course of a single meal, you can travel to the seas of the Mediterranean, a tiny noodle shop in Seoul and a Northern Californian farm.

That’s possible at a restaurant like Beverly Hills’ Erbe Matte, where you can enjoy small plates of clam-and-tomato soup, Korean sweet-potato noodles and beet-and-apple salad.

And as a means of portion control, the small plate style is a smart strategy to embrace. On top of that, the small plate style especially encourages a communal experience that can make merely good eating great.

These dishes are meant to be shared, and shared generously. After all, while our plates are shrinking, our appetites are not.

 

Bernard Leed is a junior majoring in narrative studies. His column “Amuse-Bouche” runs Wednesdays.