Here I Stand

Here I Stand

Friday, January 28, 2011

True Food Kitchen

This week has been restaurant week here in Newport Beach, where many select and fine dining establishments showcase their talent at discounted and reasonable prices. Unfortunately, with my MBA courses starting up again, and some other factors contributing, I was only able to make it out to one of the featured restaurants.

We picked True Food Kitchen based on their menu posted on the Restaurant week's home page - though in truth, almost all of the featured restaurants had very appealing fare. Located in Fashion Island, True Food Kitchen had all the potential to be uppity and snooty,, but the staff and environment gave it a very laid back, karma type atmosphere. It struck me as similar to a restaurant at a day spa – not that I have been to a day spa or anything, but if one had a restaurant, it would be like True Food Kitchen. Everything about the place is organic, soothing, and and just well, nice. Thats not to say that you don't get the standard small dog carrying Newport Beach socialite crowd, but given the location, that is hardly avoidable.

The food was excellent. True food was one of the only places in Restaurant week that offered specialty drinks as part of the fare. The Hangover Rx was great – coconut milk, orange juice and pineapple juice, while the Medicine man had too much straight soda water for me to enjoy it.

For appetizers we had the hummus and the caramelized onion tart. Both were excellent, and clearly made with freshest ingredients southern California has to offer. For lunch there was the chicken chopped salad, which offered an exquisite combination of flavors in its chicken, cheeses, dates and cranberries. I haven't been much of a chopped salad fan until recently, and this salad is one of the reasons why I started to like them. The Steak tacos were good. Well cooked and full of flavor, but I didn't take too well to the flour tortilla shells. Maybe I'm not used to organic foods, or the specific flavors of them, but I always thought that the shell was meant to augment the flavor of the taco, not overpower it. Overall, they were just too... flour-ey I guess.

For deserts we tried the apple crisp and the Chocolate Banana Tart. The apple crisp came out warm and delicious, but it is hard to mess up an apple crisp. The ice cream a la mode was interesting though, with a subtle mocha flavor that really complemented the crisp. The chocolate banana tart was incredible – caramelized bananas on a chocolate cookie with a type of whipped cream topping was more than I ever expected from a health food billed restaurant.

The staff was very friendly and accommodating, and helped us out with the vast choices of karma-riffic food. There is a very laid back feel to the place, but with a subtle elegance that gives the entire establishment a very nice environment – if a tad pretentious... but what chic place in Newport is not?

I think it comes out a bit on the pricey side, but you definitely get what you pay for. This will be a place we return to sooner rather than later.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Carlos Slim - Worlds Wealthiest Man

By Michelle Caruso-Cabrera
Carlos Slim, the world's wealthiest man, is bullish on Mexico and says he is staying in the country despite the dramatic rise in violence. A mansion that he bought in New York is too big to live in—it's purely for investment.
Carlos Slim
In a wide-ranging interview, the telecom magnate put to rest rumors about a large mining acquisition, explained his rationale for buying nearly $200 million in New York real estate, and also why he is not making the pledge to give away half his wealth like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.
A wave of violence has left more than 30,000 dead in three years in the Latin American country, as President Felipe Calderon wages an all-out war against the country's drug cartels. As a result, Mexican executives living near the US border are said to be moving to places like Texas and Florida.
Slim says he is not one of them. Instead, he is investing heavily in Mexico by purchasing real estate and spinning off two companies just this month that are newly listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange.

In fact, he says those choosing not to invest in Mexico are making a big mistake: They will lose. "If they are already here, they will lose market share. If they are not here they will lose a very big market. We are 110-112 million people, and growing the economy," Slim says.
On donating half his fortune to charity like billionaires Buffett and Gates are doing, Slim says it's the wrong way to resolve the world's problems.
"What we need to do as businessmen, is to help to solve the problems, the social problems," he explains. "To fight poverty, but not by charity."
In addition, he says donating the money to charity will result in huge tax deductions, depriving governments of much-needed tax revenue.
"I think it will be a big mistake that companies like Microsoft [MSFT  28.3525    -0.1175  (-0.41%)   ] , Apple [AAPL  332.68    -6.16  (-1.82%)   ] —the leaders of the world in technology—be sold by the founders to put the cash to fund charities. They shouldn't. It is more important that they continue manage the companies."
As for his recent purchase of a mansion on Fifth Avenue in New York for $44 million, he scoffed at the notion that someone would live there, suggesting that it was too big because it has at least eight floors. Instead, he is going to turn it into several apartments and perhaps lease part of the building to a restaurant at the street level.
Slim himself lives in a modest home in Mexico City and says he doesn't like owning homes outside the country because they are too much of a headache. He says he would rather stay in a hotel.
Slim said rumors that he wants to buy the Fresnillo mining company, listed in London, are completely untrue. Slim already has a mining company, Minera Frisco, that he just spun off and listed on the Mexican stock exchange this month. Its products include zinc, silver, and gold.
He is very pleased with his investment in The New York Times [NYT  10.74    0.66  (+6.55%)   ] he says, and is not interested in buying the company the way Rupert Murdoch bought Wall Street Journal owner Dow Jones. Slim owns 10 million shares and lent the company $250 million with a 14 percent interest rate in late 2009.
He is making $35 million in interest payments alone every year. Plus, he received warrants giving him the rights to 15.9 million shares.
"It was a financial investment. We made a convertible bond, a bond with warrants. We are very happy with the formula," he says.
Slim added, "We are not asking them how the business is going. We are looking from the outside. What they are going to do? What are their plans? We are not asking about that. We know that they are doing a good job."
The next goal for his telecom companies is broadband penetration levels of up to 70 percent in Latin America. The number currently stands at less than 20 percent. Now that wireless penetration is nearing 100 percent or more (because some people have more than one phone), the next step is providing internet connections via smart phones on a large scale.