A Chic LA Caterer's European Food Tour

Saehee Cho is the force behind fashion-favorite catering company, SOO_N Food. When she's not providing artful eats for stylish weddings, store openings, lookbooks (yup, her dishes are that pretty) and other events packed with the city's best dressed, she's got to find time to get inspired. Most recently, that included a family trip to Croatia, France, and Germany. Thankfully, she's sharing her mouth-watering images, as well as what she learned on the food-filled journey, with us. We could all learn a few new dining concepts by perusing some of the simple, fresh, and flavorful dishes these regions do best.

Croatia

In Croatia I'm reminded of geography — the long tapering coastline and the Adriatic Sea which is so much a part of the making and unmaking and remaking of this amazing place. I'm also reminded of history, Croatia's complicated identity reflected in the cuisine. I feel time and cultures in layers and the sense that food is best when it has the narrative of history to shape its flavors into actual meaning. This is what I love about food in relation to travel; it's a small entry point into something unknowable to me. I don't pretend to understand anything about Croatia based on eating the food but for me, it's a sincere and honest way to partake in it.

Cups, bottles, tiny blackberries, peppers, and garlic at Green Market in Split.

A perfect little beet salad with sheep's cheese and the ubiquitous Croatian olive oil that I can eat by the spoonful.

A classic fisherman's stew in Dalmatia. I can't get over the plentitude of cheap and gorgeous seafood in Croatia. There is something so beautiful about chunky, coarse vegetables, shellfish, and big hunks of fish.

Germany

Moving northwest to the border region between Germany and France we eat sausage and drink beer at nearly every meal and love it. We eat pale weißwurst served in its own broth and pork knuckles so soft you can eat it with a spoon. I drink radler for the first time and eat sauerkraut by the bowlful and asked for more.  

Spätzle, schnitzel, sausages, and sauerkraut in Heidelberg.

An easy late night snack and perhaps the only thing available past midnight in Heidelberg — we ate our fill of doner kebob sandwiches.

Weisswurst and a big doughy pretzel at Vetter's Alt in Heidelberg.

France

We cross into France, taking an easy train to Strasbourg, the largest city in Alsace. I leaf through cookbooks with line drawing instructions at a flea market, buy pain d'epices in Petite France, and pause for a short time at the a park along the slow moving River Ill. On our last day in Europe, we go big and drink two bottles of the best riesling I have ever had and eat our fill of unpasteurized cheeses with boiled potatoes and long oily strips of cured meat.

In Strasbourg we had a near ridiculous parade of cheeses.  I loved how dramatic this melted raclette from La Cloche à Fromage felt, especially paired with unpretentious boiled potatoes. 

Alsatian cheeses with various pickles and pâté — all made in house — from Cloche å Fromage in Strasbourg.

I have a deep love for canned fish. I love dipping bread into that oily sardine juice or squeezing lemon over a beautiful white anchovy. I was happy to bring these beauties home with me.