All Things Andy Gavin

Archive for Ice cream

Ghirardelli Ice Cream

Feb26

My son’s first visit to San Francisco would not have been complete without a visit to Ghirardelli‘s world-famous chocolate and ice cream factory.

The former chocolate factory looms over the old port.

How can anyone resist that kind of advertising?

Inside, we have all sorts of old timey machinery churning chocolate.

This all pretty much all for show but it looks cool anyway.

Yum. Vat of chocolate. And they hand out free Ghirardelli squares randomly too.

Some of the good stuff coming off the assembly line.

My son is a purist. He wanted chocolate ice cream with chocolate waffle cone.

I went for this peanut butter sundae. Vanilla ice cream, peanut butter sauce, chocolate sauce, chocolate peanut butter square. It was darn good, although not as decadent as the bacon sundae.

Classic hot fudge sundae with one scoop vanilla, one scoop chocolate.

At the next table they had this ape-stopper kind of thing. 6 or 8 scoops at least and lots of sauces.

All in all, some darn good stuff that pretty much killed our appetite for dinner — although we managed anyway. Plus we were well fortified for the two-hour cable car line.

For more San Fran dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: chocolate, Food and Related Products, Frozen, Ghirardelli, Ghirardelli Chocolate Company, Ice cream, Ice cream cone, Peanut butter, San Francisco, Sundae

The Bourbon Caramel Bacon Sundae

Jan22

Restaurant: Sweet Rose Creamery [1, 2]

Location: 225 26th Ave, suite 51, Santa Monica, 90402 310-260-CONE

Date: January 21, 2012

Cuisine: Homemade Ice Cream

Rating: Very REAL ice cream. And they have bacon!

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A local favorite of ours at the Brentwood Country Mart is Sweet Rose Creamery. They make real homemade ice cream using only the traditional and natural ingredients. None of those emulsifiers and artificial flavors.

The board of flavors.

My brother with his normal ice cream. Fresh mint and coffee on the left, caramel on the right.

But I’ve never been normal, check out the fourth sundae down.

The bacon sundae! Yes, it’s true. A scoop of caramel ice cream and a scoop of verve coffee ice cream with bourbon carmel sauce, candied bacon, pecan crumble and whipped cream.

The side view. This was a seriously decadent sundae. The caramel tasted pretty strongly of bourbon too, but it was the whole bacon and carmel thing that really made it. Bacon is so good with gooey sweet stuff. 10/10.

Check out the more ice cream oriented review of sweet rose.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Bacon, Bacon Sundae, Business, Dairy, Frozen, Ice cream, Santa Monica California, Sundae, whipped cream

Eating Florence – Gelateria Santa Trinita

Jul21

Restaurant: Gelateria Santa Trinita

Location: Florence, Italy

Date: June 21, 2011

Cuisine: Gelato

Rating: Awesome!

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On our first day in Florence we had walked by this Gelateria with huge lines (not far from Nove IX). And then coincidently I was talking to our wine country guide who was a definitive foodie and a Florentine native and he recommended the very same place as the best in Florence.

So on our second day we had to try it.

I mentally think of gelato as falling in two broad flavor groups. These are the “non fruits” (i.e. chocolates and cream flavors).

Some more of them, and some hybrids like cherries and cream.

Then we have the fruits.

A couple more angles on this stuff.

Yum.

I went for “creamy” this time, with pannacotta and tiramisu type flavors.

Half the group going to town.

This was indeed one of the best Gelato places we ate at on the trip, although there were certainly lots of very good ones. I asked them for a sample of their pink grapefruit too and it was totally spectacular, making me want to get a whole second cup.

As a second opinion though, my wife thought Vivoli, was more to her taste because she loved the “chocolate mousse” fluffy style flavor. In 1986 I spent five days in Florence, and I went to Vivoli at least twice on each of those, as at that age, and not having much gelato it was mind blowing. It was certainly still good, but I thought Santa Trinita was a little better personally.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: chocolate, eating-italy, Flavor, Florence, Food, Gelato, Ice cream, Italian cuisine, Italy, Santa Trinita

Eating Staggia – Pozzo dei Desideri

Jun25

Restaurant: Pozzo dei Desideri

Location: Bologna, Italy

Date: June 11, 2011

Cuisine: Tuscan

Rating: Good food, good value

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Today we drove through the mountains between Forli in Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany, then down past Florence to Staggia a small town near Siena. As this was a transitional day and we were settling into our new (temporary) home we just popped down into town for a quick local dinner.

This joint is in the center of this one horse town.

It has a big menu of typical Tuscan fare and very reasonable prices.

This being the heart of Chianti we chose a local Chianti Classico. This was probably about an 89 point wine, but it had some decent age on it making it fairly nice.

It was old enough that they decanted it.

In this modern age, the old adage, “don’t order seafood in the country,” no longer applies. This was billed as Zuppe di Mare. There wasn’t a lot of “soup” but it was tasty with a hearty garlic tomato sauce and various and mysterious shellfish.

Torte of Zucchini in a Pecorino sauce.

One of the MOST typical of pasta dishes, Pappardelle Cinghiale (wild boar ragu) with olives. The Cinghiale is the local hairy wild boar of tuscany. Click here for some pictures of this delightful creature.

This is a big wide fresh pasta with pomodoro and pecorino.

Gnocci with pecorino, tomato, and arugula.

The omnipresent insalata misto.

And another Tuscan classic, the block of beef. This is a fillet in balsamic sauce.

Notice how it’s served rare. Really rare. Tuscans don’t believe in cooking their beef. It was tasty though. Leaner and a bit tougher than an American filet, but full of flavor.

Overall the place was very good for just being a casual inexpensive local spot. We did however run an odd service quirk when they brought out a second steak a full hour after everyone else got their food (they had forgotten the order). Unlike in America they didn’t want to pull it from the bill (although it was only about 10 euro) and instead insisted on boxing it up for us.

Then we walked across the street for gelato. The place was humming at 11pm, packed with kids.

The didn’t have a lot of flavors, but they are all artisanal and very good.

Some various gelato cakes too.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: beef, Bologna, Chianti, Dessert, eating-italy, Emilia Romagna, Emilia–Romagna, Gelato, Ice cream, Italy, pasta, Pecorino, Pozzo dei desideri, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Siena, Steak, Toscana (wine), Tuscany, vegetarian, Wild boar

Eating Milano Marittima – Lo Sporting

Jun20

Restaurant: Lo Sporting

Location: Milano Marittima, Italy

Date: June 9, 2011

Cuisine: Trendy Italian

Rating: Decent food, but overpriced

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One of the cool things about the beach town of Cervia / Milano Marittima is that there are a lot of shops and restaurants on a lovely tree lined promenade stretching through town.

Notice how the old Italian Stone Pines grow right through the shops!

We stopped for lunch at a likely looking place called Lo Sporting.

The menu was huge, but I only photoed the part that was relevant. Really we had wanted pizza, and the place had the world “pizzeria” on the sign, but when we sat down they told us that the pizza oven was only available in the evening!

So it had to be pasta. My young son got this garginelli pomodoro.

Grilled tuna in balsamic sauce. They were surprisingly cold, and very rare. The sauce was tasty but I think it might have been better with warm fish and cold sauce.

Spaghetti pomodoro.

Mixed fish. On the left tuna in balsamic, in the back sepia (cuttlefish) in a vinegary sauce, and in the front right some white fish — possibly sardine fillets — marinated. This was all very tasty.

Lightly breaded shrimp and octopus skewers. I didn’t try it, but it was reportedly excellent.

Mozzarella salad.

Afterward we went across the street for some gelato. I often find in Italy that the gelato is much better than the restaurant desserts.

This is hazelnut and bacio (hazelnut chocolate with liqueur).

Coconut and pineapple.

Some chocolate being spooned in. Some of these places have 3-5 different chocolates to chose from!

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Cervia, Dessert, eating-italy, fish, Gelato, Ice cream, Italian cuisine, Italy, Milano Marittima, pasta, Pizza, Restaurant, Sauce

Crafty Little Lunch

Jun03

Restaurant: Craft

Location: 10100 Constellation Blvd. Century City, Ca. 90067. 310-279-4180

Date: May 26, 2011

Cuisine: Farmer’s Market California

Rating: Nice little power lunch

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I was meeting a friend in Century City at the Annenberg Space for Photography (which I hadn’t even known existed), and we decided to catch lunch at nearby Craft. I’ve eaten dinner a couple times here before and thought it a very good “New California” style restaurant using a sort of large American tapas style. I think they may have ditched this format (at least the lunch menu shows no evidence of it). This seems to happen a lot and really bums me out as I completely and utterly prefer the small-plates style to the appetizer/entree dinosaur.

The menu. We both went for the little $30 “power lunch.” Craft is right in the heart of Century City with all the lawyers and CAA, so it’s obviously a spot for those putting lunch on the expense account.

Bread.

“Wild Mache, pistachio & raisin.” Really great little salad. The greens had a nice peppery quality, complemented nicely by the light dressing and the sweetness of the raisins.

“Rabbit tortellini, pecorino & baby onion.” Very nice little pasta too, in that buttery tortellini school. Inside was some good solid chunks of rabbit meat. The sauce was basically butter, cream, pecorino and onion.

“Sea Bream, leeks, fennel & watermelon radish.” The sauce was on the side as my friend preferred.

The leeks, fennel & watermelon radish.

The dessert menu.

Expresso.

“Ricotta cheesecake, poached cherries.” A slightly new format of an old classic.

“Profiteroles, mint chip ice cream & chocolate.” This should have been delicious, but for some reason it was muted. The pastries were really good, like a Beard Papa cookie shell, but the ice cream, while creamy, didn’t taste enough like mint. Not like the powerful mint leaf flavor of say Sweet Rose Creamery. The chocolate too was a bit muted.

Overall, this was a nice little lunch. I’ll have to go back for dinner again, although if they totally abandoned the small plates I’m bummed.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beard Papa, California, Century City, Century City Los Angeles, Cooking, Craft, Craft Los Angeles, Dessert, Ice cream, lunch, pasta, Power Lunch, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Salad

Palisades Yogurt Shoppe

May14

Restaurant: Yogurt Shoppe

Location: 873 Swarthmore Ave, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272. 310-459-0088

Date: Friday May 13, 2011!

Cuisine: Frozen Yogurt

Rating: Yummy & Popular.

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Recently a new frozen yogurt place opened in the heart of the Pacific Palisades Village. This is a popular and welcome addition to our little community, which has suffered a bit of a drought of unoccupied storefronts since the recent recession began (much of this is due to the apparently asinine landlord on Swathmore who refuses to rent out half the storefronts).

The frontage. You should have seen this 10 minutes before as school let out and the place was swamped with kids.

The have a great little format. You choose a cup, and then fill it up yourself from any combination of the ten soft-serve machines.

Then self load up from the extensive topping bar. Here are various fruit, cool “mango poppers” mochi balls, chocolate chips, snowcaps, bits of various candy bars etc.

Even more toppings. Lots of common candy types (including my favorite, skittles), nuts, sprinkles, and more.

Then an extensive wet topping selection, including hot fudge, caramel, and marshmallow sauce.

My son went simple. With tasty fat-free vanilla (which didn’t taste fat-free), strawberries, bannas, snowcaps, and sprinkles (aka jimmies to use East Coasters).

I jazzed mine up a bit more, with cookies and cream and dulce de leche yogurt, various candles, mochi, and caramel sauce. The mango poppers were cool, little Ikura (salmon roe sushi) look-alike orange balls that exploded mango in the mouth. I also discovered that Skittles when frozen and VERY hard on the teeth. But they’re still my favorite standard packaged candy.

For more high quality Westside dessert, check out Sweet Rose Creamery.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Business, Cooking, Dessert, Frozen yogurt, Ice cream, Pacific Palisades Los Angeles, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Snacks, Yogurt Shoppe

Chili Addiction – The Heartstopper

May12

Restaurant: Chili Addiction

Location: 408 N La Cienega Blvd. (323) 203-1793

Date: May 7, 2011

Cuisine: Comfort Food

Rating: Tasty!

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Last Saturday a good friend of mine had a bunch of people over for a BBQ. He got all his food from Chili Addiction, a comfort food joint over in West Hollywood. This is not a complete review, although the place is good. I just wanted to show my evil creation.

Two HUGE sausages (the dark one is Italian, the light Jalapeno & Cheddar), over a bun, smothered in some kind of spicy meat chili (I don’t know which exact flavor).

Then I added some of their “mellow yellow” homemade mustard, some “lethal injection” Habenero sauce, ad a ton of cheddar cheese. Oh the arteries!

Rolling back a second, the dogs on the grill.

Chili addiction also makes homemade ice cream. It’s not bad, but nowhere near as good as their chili and dogs, or Sweet Rose Creamery (review) for that matter. The mint had the fake green, and wasn’t real mint leaves. It wasn’t bad or anything, but not super either. The vanilla was better, a very tasty french vanilla, probably a 7/10.

This homemade tiramisu baked by another guest on the other hand was a 10/10.

Creamy goodness.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Cheese, chili, Chili Adiction, Comfort food, Cooking, Food, Home, Hot Dogs, Hot Sauce, Ice cream, Mint, mustard, Seasonings

Ford’s Filling Station

May03

Restaurant: Ford’s Filling Station

Location: 9531 Culver Blvd, Culver City. 310-202-1470

Date: April 28, 2011

Cuisine: Gastropub

Rating: Always great for lunch.

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It was a gorgeous day (again) in LA, so I headed out to find another good lunch spot with outside dining. We ended up in Culver City with its rather large selection of good lunch spots and specifically at Ford’s Filling Station, which is run by Benjamin Ford, son of Han Solo. The place has been around awhile but before this he had another place in Beverly Hills which was very good — but I can’t remember the name.

Notice the “pig country” sign. They offer on the menu a 8 person minimum whole pig dinner with a whole roast pig!

Outside, there are two different patios. In general, Culver city has a lot of outside dining which is nice. For some mysterious reason LA restaurants often lack al fresco. This makes no sense given our weather.

The menu.

“Bacon wrapped dates, stuffed with cheese.” Um yum! I love this dish, and I’ve had it at many places (like recently at Upstairs 2). These were as good as any, showing off the sweet and salty.

“Shrimp Curry, jasmine rice, marash pepper and applewood smoked bacon.” Also a really great dish. Very similar to the one I had at Gladstones. The bacon made it even better.

Sliced serrano peppers in has you want to spice it up.

“Pulled Pork Panini, melted gouda and spicy pepper relish.” The beans were awesome too, with a nice smoky porcine flavor.

A close up of the sandwich itself. I had expected something like a North Carolina pulled pork sandwich. That’s kinda tangy. This was more the succulent roast pork with cheese. Yum.

The dessert menu.

“Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich, chocolate chip cookie and mint chocolate-chip ice cream.” The ice cream was great, very similar to the mint ice cream I had at Sweet Rose Creamery, tasting as it did of fresh mint leaves. The fudge was good too. The cookie needed more butter, it was a little dry. Not bad, and the overall dessert was still very good, but with a really awesome cookie, it could have been… really awesome.

Inside, the stripped down old-school culver city building provides a nice deconstructed interior. I’ve never been here at night but I bet it’s a good watering hole.

Another good Culver City place is Fraiche, here for review.

By: agavin
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Ice Cream & Coffee

Apr24

Restaurant: Sweet Rose Creamery [1, 2]

Location: 225 26th Ave, suite 51, Santa Monica, 90402 310-260-CONE

Date: April 17, 2011

Cuisine: Homemade Ice Cream

Rating: Very REAL ice cream.

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We were at the Brentwood Country Mart and I noticed this creamery I had wanted to try for a while. They make real homemade ice cream using only the traditional and natural ingredients. None of those emulsifiers and artificial flavors.

The board of flavors.

There aren’t a lot of flavors, but those they have are ver good.

There is even “Caffe Luxxe” coffee ice cream (we’ll see the coffee itself in a second).

This is salted carmel and mint chocolate chip. The carmel was delicious, sweet, carmely, and the fleur de salt on top a perfect contrast. The mint tasted entirely like cream and REAL mint leaves, not that artificial stuff. The chips were nice and rich. The mint in particular reminded me of my Mom’s homemade ice cream from when I was a kid.

My son demanded, “I want chocolate!” so here it is. Rich and creamy.

Caffe Luxxe coffee ice cream underneath coconut lime sorbet. The mix was odd. The coffee was good, but the coconut lime was amazing. It tasted lime Tom Yum Gum (the Thai soup).

Salted Caramel (again).

Then, since it was right here, a quick stop at LAs best coffee place. They have 3 branches actually, all in Santa Monica / Brentwood.

The masters at work.

And the incredible result. These capachinos don’t even taste like normal coffee. The milk is so expertly foamed that it seemlessly blends in to make a completely silky uniform texture. Not a hint of bitterness.

Luxxe also carries Mararons from Paulettes!

Or check out a second look at sweet rose, featuring the bacon sundae!

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Caffe Luxxe, cappuccino, coffee, Creamery, Expresso, Flavor, Food and Related Products, Frozen, Ice cream, Mentha, Mint Chocolate Chip, Santa Monica California, Sweet Rose

January in Paradise Cove

Feb20

Restaurant: Paradise Cove

Location: 28128 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, California 90265. 310-457-2503

Date: Jan 16, 2011

Cuisine: American

Summary: Great place to spend the day. Food is fine but hardly inspired.

Sunday morning rolled around, January 16, and the temperature was in the 80s. The hardships of Southern California — so what to do? Go to the beach!

We headed up the Malibu coast to Paradise Cove. This joint isn’t my usual fare food wise, but they are superbly located in a quant beachy cove in Malibu, and they have tables on the beach and public chaises on the sand. A word of warning: if you go on a nice day, be prepared to wait. Sometimes as much as two hours for an outside table!

“Pineapple, Tequila, Mojito.” Gimmicky, yes. Tasty yes. I did wish the “glass” was bigger, really not that much volume had been hollowed out.

“New England Clam Chowder.” I was a sucker for Clam Chowder long before I went to Boston for grad school, and I still am. This was a respectable contender in the arena. Not amazing, but lots of cream and butter.

“Fish and Chips,” for the boy (2 years old). He was highly preferential to the chips.

“Veggie Burger and fries.”

“Iced Seafood Sampler.” This was me. The concept is good, the execution wasn’t perfect. Certainly edible, and the fish was fresh. It was soaked fairly liberally in what seemed to be Italian dressing — not sure what I thought of that — and it isn’t the most exciting specimens. Small scallops, frozen king crab, octopus. Still, I enjoyed it.

Cocktail sauce and louis dressing.

“Strawberry ice-cream,” came with the kid’s fish and chips. My son was much appreciative.

This is what you really come for. Umbrellaed and available chaise chairs.

On a gorgeous beach!

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Brunch, Clam, Clam chowder, Cooking, Dessert, Fish and Chips, Food, Ice cream, Malibu California, Mojito, New England, Paradise Cove, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, reviews, side dish, Southern California, vegetarian, veggie burger

La Cachette Bistro part deux et trois

Jan27

Restaurant: La Cachette Bistro [1, 2]

Location: 1733 Ocean AveSanta Monica, CA 90401(310) 434-9509

Date: January 15, 2011 & December 7, 2011

Cuisine: (Cal) French

Rating: Great food, good value for what you get.

Movie night, and off to La Cachette Bistro for some good French fare. Commentator’s note, that unfortunately as of January 2012 La Cachette Bistro seems to be closed Santa Monica rents are obviously not healthy for our restaurant business.

The menu. They changed it up a little since we were last here (HERE FOR PREVIOUS REVIEW). Now there are a range of “French Tapas,” which are kinda like Spanish topics but… well, more French.

“Roasted Organic Beet Tower with Feta Cheese, Avocado, Tomato, Goat Cheese Raviolini and Cumin Dressing.”

“House Smoked Salmon Plate with Corn Blini, Sour Cream and Onions.”

“Salted Cod Croquettes with Rouille.” These are a traditional Spanish dish (despite the French Tapas claim). They weren’t bad at all, but they weren’t in the same league as The Bazaar’s version (REVIEW HERE).

“Stuffed Dates with Gorgonzola and Crispy Prosciutto.” Can’t go too wrong here. The sweetness of the dates, and the salty cheese and crunchy salty bacon. Yum.

Frisse salad with egg and lardons.

Steak Tartar. I’ve become very attached to the good old spiced raw beef in the last two years or so. This was a good one.

“Wild Mushroom Risotto with Truffle Oil, Parmesan Cheese and Mushroom Sauce.” Very mushroomy. A bit of butter, but not super rich.

“New Zealand Lamb Chops, with Horseradish, Mint, Peas and Bacon.”

What would a bistro be without bistro fries.

Cod in a cream sauce, with squash blossoms stuffed with ratatouille.

Classic boulibase. Safron garlic tomato broth with mixed seafood. Toasts with garlic mayo.

Side of steamed broccoli.

Cassolette, the classic white beans, sausage, and lamb stew. Exactly as it should be, rich, meaty, and beany.

Mostly variants of traditional bistro desserts, which is a good thing.

“Profiteroles With Vanilla Ice Cream, Dark Chocolate Sauce And Almonds.” Classic Profiteroles. The chocolate sauce here is perfect, combined with the pastry, ice cream. Umm good.

“Warm Dark Chocolate Chip “Divine” Cake With Whipped Cream.” The cake was fine, but they need to upgrade the ice cream. it didn’t seem rich and creamy enough.

“Tahitian Vanilla And Orange Blossom Crème Brulee.” I love a good creme brulee. This one is good, with a nice hint of orange. It could have been a bit more custardy, and Sam’s by the Beach (REVIEW HERE) does a better brulee, but it’s still good.