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Archive for September 2013

Tasty Duck Will Bring You Luck

Sep30

Restaurant: Tasty Duck [1, 2, 3]

Location: 1039 E Valley Blvd. Ste B102. San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 572-3885

Date: September 28, 2013

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Great Duck!

_

My Hedonist food and  wine club loves the SGV. This community 20 minutes East of Downtown LA boasts a staggering array of good Chinese restaurants and Tasty Duck is one of our regular spots. Even though its intensely crowded, we shoe horned 23 people in on a busy Saturday night. Of course this meant 11-12 people at tables meant for 8-10, but what’s a little elbow in your pancake among friends?


NV Pierre Péters Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée de Réserve. Burghound 93. A stunningly elegant nose of pure floral, Granny Smith apples, spice and freshly sliced lemon complements to perfection the intense and equally pure flavors that possess excellent punch like remain delicate and ultra-refined on the balanced and persistent finish. The supporting mousse displays a very find bead and the overall impression is one of subtlety and grace. Not only is this a wonderful effort but the value it offers it beyond stunning.


Cold appetizers: Jellyfish (top left), wine chicken (top), and beef (bottom). This kind of plate is very traditional in China. The beef was my favorite, marinated, a bit salty, and smoky.


Some white Bordeaux that was beyond gone. Too bad!


The main event: Peking Duck. Not only was this delectable, with fantastic crispy skin and delicate meat, but it’s artfully arranged. We had two plates of these per table and it was a feeding frenzy!


Here are the traditional accompaniments. Excellent pancakes, hoison sauce, and scallions and apple/pear. One mystery question I must ask: why do Chinese restaurants insist on putting far too few pancakes and too little hoison sauce on the table? We had to ask for refills about four times (which they happily brought).


2006 Sine Qua Non Autrement Dit. 90 points. Very nice blueberry/strawberry nose. not hot on the nose. really nice full palate and mouthfeel with a nice mix of red and blue fruits, and integrated earthiness. did not noticably detect any heat or wood on this. certainly a bigger and different type of rose, but this bottle was nicely restrained and seemed in good balance tonight.

The best American rose I’ve yet had. Rather wonderful.


Cumin lamb. A typical specimen, but with tender flavorful lamb. Some places border on mouton.


2010 Samuel Billaud Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. Burghound 92. While there is a trace of exotic fruit to the otherwise very pure aromas of white flower, citrus, wet stone and seaweed, this offers ample Chablis character. There is an attractive succulence to the fleshy middle weight flavors that exude a fine minerality on the clean, dry, linear and overtly saline-infused finish. Like the straight Chablis, this too evidences a hint of bitterness though it should pass in time.


French style Beef. Extremely tender and delicious, almost sweet, morsels of filet.


1971 Weingut Paul Ayl Ayler Kupp Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel. Unfortunately a bit over the hill.


Some amazing Shanghai style soup dumplings. Tasty little morsels stuffed with pork and broth.


1994 Zind-Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Heimbourg Vendange Tardive. Parker 99! These wines are made in frightfully tiny quantities, and are so rich that they make Chateau d’Yquem look like an under-nourished wine. Truly the stuff of legends, these  possess 15%-18% residual sugar. All three will age for 40-50 years, but will anyone wait that long? They are “off the charts” in terms of flavor extraction, balance, quality, and the lavish quantity of extract and intensity they possess.

Wine of the night for sure!


Look who’s coming to dinner!


Crispy whole red cod with sweet and sour sauce. A really nice fish, similar to a couple weeks ago at the Shanghai place.


Bok chow and I think mushrooms, hard to tell. Mild but very pleasant.


1990 Comte Armand Pommard 1er Cru Clos des Epeneaux. Burghound 90. Still deeply colored. An expressive, dense, indeed huge nose of roasted, ever-so-slightly stewed fruit that is already showing a great deal of secondary and even tertiary development while the muscular, rich, extracted and solidly complex flavors are underpinned by a tough, firm and very prominent tannic backbone. This is a dramatic bruiser of a wine but it’s not clear that it’s ever going to harmonize as the finish is completely dominated by the structure and given that the fruit is presently much more advanced than the evolution of the tannins, it’s a tough call to say whether the fruit will be able to stand the test of time and this most recent bottle gave no cause for optimism in this regard, indeed it seemed to confirm that this is probably a lost cause. Optimists will continue to hold the ’90 Epeneaux in the cellar as it will certainly be around 30 years from now though whether it will be any more balanced than it is now is the essential question.


Some kind of crazy pork cut. Some serious fat here and the skin was a bit mushy, but the meat fell off the bone and was incredibly tender and delicious.


1970 Bodegas El Coto Rioja Coto de Imaz. Surprisingly good for such an old non-riserva Rioja.


The proverbial, “duck soup” that is the last part of “duck three ways.” Mild and pleasant with some tofu and cabbage. I can also vouch that it was served hot, as a ladleful was poured across my hand and I had to soak my thumb in ice water all night.


Their interesting take on “walnut shrimp.” The fried shrimp, sweet mayo sauce, and walnuts is supplemented with pineapple!


Part of “duck three ways”: sprouts with bits of duck meat.


Yarom chomps on the pig bone.


Scallion pancakes.


A very nice mixed fried rice.


Beef rolls with BBQ beef and cilantro. Really nice, tasted like rolled up Pho.


Sweet egg drop soup.


Eye ball surprise anyone? Actually a very unusual dish. Like egg drop soup but sweet with these big tapioca balls. Pleasant, although continuing the general trend in which Chinese desserts bat about 50.

Overall, another fantastic meal. The total damage, including tax and a whopping 30% tip was $35 a person! “Inflated” because of our multiple ducks. The service was great (for Chinese). They were very friendly and willing to serve us the dishes one at a time over a long period . This is actually fairly unusual as a lot of Chinese restaurants like to slam you out in 45 minutes by dropping everything on the table at once. The duck was first rate, as good as Peking duck gets — more or less. The other dishes were good too, with almost all of them being very well executed and not greasy.

For more Hedonist adventures or

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Yarom with the owner

Related posts:

  1. Tasty Duck Lives up to its Name
  2. Peking Duck at A-1 Chinese BBQ
  3. Mark’s Duck House
  4. Tasty Dining – Wuhan Dry Hot Pot
  5. More Mark’s Duck House
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, duck, Hedonism, Peking Duck, San Gabriel, San Gabriel California, san Gabriel valley, Tasty Duck, Valley Boulevard

Big Bottle Madness at Kali Dining

Sep27

Restaurant: Kali Dining [1, 2]

Location: 13488 W Maxella Ave Marina del Rey, CA 90292 Apt #559

Date: September 25, 2013

Cuisine: New American

Rating: Foie-tasktic

_

Independent chef Kevin Meehan (below) executes a concept he calls “hosted dinner party” via his company Kali Dining. You  sign up for a special meal and join him at a big communal table in Marina del Rey. He also happens to belong to my Hedonist group  (cooking up that same group’s start of summer blast) and so we thought we’d hit him up at his place for a wine dinner.


Our young and talented chef.


The table. Finding it is the challenge, as the location is hidden within the gargantuan Stella apartment building right in the center of the Marina. Alcohol is BYOB, which is great by me.


1998 Jacques Prieur Corton-Charlemagne. IWC 91. Very expressive leesy, oaky aromas of roasted nuts, clove, nutmeg and vanilla. At once powerful and generously textured, with pliant mineral and smoke flavors nicely framed by ripe acids. I find this quite approachable for Corton-Charlemagne, and long on the aftertaste. Seems more substantial today than it was from bottle last spring before the end of the alcoholic fermentation.

Drinking quite nicely right now.


2010 J. Hofstätter Gewürztraminer Kolbenhof. IWC 91. Deep straw-yellow. Superripe aromas of tropical fruits and sweet spices lifted by rose petal and lavender notes. Then bright, rich and focused in the mouth, with persistent flavors of ripe peach, apricot and mango. Closes with cinnamon and grapefruit nuances on the long, brisk finish. Very well done.


From my cellar: 1996 Domaine Joseph Drouhin Charmes Chambertin. Parker 92. This medium-to-dark ruby-colored wine has a fine nose of deeply ripe blackberry and cassis. On the palate, this well-concentrated, thick, complex, and harmonious wine is replete with loads of black cherries and spices. It has extremely ripe and supple tannins in its long finish.


Kevin showed me this. Unfortunately, I didn’t put anything in the image for scale, but this is about 10 inches long. The single liver of a single duck! Sometimes I feel like that!


1990 Francesco Rinaldi e Figli Barolo Le Brunate. Parker 96. The 1990 Barolo Riserva Brunate is very much a mirror image of the vintage; fat, rich and opulent, with gorgeous inner perfume and superb balance. It is awfully hard to pick a favorite here, as both wines are drop-dead gorgeous. Wow! Despite the wine’s huge fruit the tannins and structure remain formidable, and this is one case where the 1990 may very well age at the same pace as the 1989. In fact, this is one of the few 1990s that comes across as needing more time! In any event, the 1990 Barolo Riserva Brunate is a monumental, towering wine from one of Barolo’s icon producers. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2025.

Very, very nice.


Kumamoto Oyster with a bit of ham and yuzu. Nice combo of briny, salty, and sour.


2001 Azienda Bricco Rocche (Ceretto) Barolo Brunate. 92 points. Impressive nose of flowers (roses?) and vanilla and cedar, with notes of tobacco and wild berries. Aromatics are wonderfully rich and complex, but still elegant and subtle. Hard to pinpoint everything. On the palate, there is a very strong new oak character which, along with the hefty tannins, dominates right out of the bottle. Very tight and woody up front. But the wine softens and opens up nicely with time in the decanter and glass, alowing some delicate cherry (and chocolate?) flavors to shine through, along with hints of earth and smoke. Medium-full bodied with medium acidity, excellent structure, a bold, yet silky mouthfeel, and a nice, long, well-defined finish. Obviously this wine is still quite young. It seems as if there is a lot burried underneath the wood and tannins which can’t yet properly be expressed. The potential is there. Give it time.


A summer salad of gazpacho sorbet, black garlic, tomatoes, and hamachi. A tomato water consume is poured over.


Very fresh and bright.


Lana, never one to hold back, brings: 2006 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Bolgheri Superiore Ornellaia. Parker 97. The 2006 Ornellaia (magnum) is a massive, towering masterpiece. There is awesome depth and richness to be found in the glass. Flowers, minerals, tar smoke and dark fruit are all woven in an intricate fabric of almost indescribable elegance and power. Tonight the 2006 Ornellaia is absolutely moving in its beauty and expressiveness. Vintage 2006 will go down as one of the all-time greats in Tuscany, and Bolgheri in particular, as all of that region’s benchmark wines are spectacular. The 2006 shows the intensity of the small berries that were harvested that year, with exceptional concentration, acidity and freshness, qualities that are precious and exceedingly rare when they are found in a single wine. In 2006 the final blend is 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot. Simply put, the 2006 Ornellaia is a must-have bottle. Anticipated maturity: 2016-2031.

Awesome! (albeit a bit young)


Yummy rosemary bread.


And lots of butter (on request).


2010 Achaval Ferrer Quimera. Parker 91. The 2010 Quimera is a blend of 27% Malbec and 24% Cabernet Sauvignon alongside Petit Verdot and Merlot, raised in 40% French new oak for 14 months, the remainder one year old. It has a complex, almost “mulchy” bouquet: one that evokes undergrowth and tertiary aromas that are well-defined and cerebral. The palate is medium-bodied with fine, slightly chewy tannins surrounding a core of blackberry laced with licorice and a hint of star anise. The finish is focused and taut, bestowed with an extremely fresh citric finish. Old World meets New – with style. Drink 2014-2022.


1999 S. Anderson Cabernet Sauvignon SAV. 90 points. Nice balanced wine with mellowed tannins, dark fruits and some green pepper. I generally don’t prefer any green pepper notes, but this was still good.


Risotto with parmesan crisps and pesto drizzle. I’m a risotto whore and this didn’t disappoint.


1998 Chateau d’Yquem. Parker 95. The 1998 Yquem (95 points) is a great success. Made in an elegant style, it is not a blockbuster such as 1990, 1989, and 1988. It is well-delineated, with wonderfully sweet aromas of creme brulee, pineapples, apricots, and white flowers. Medium to full-bodied, it is not as sweet as the biggest/richest Yquem vintages, but it is gorgeously pure, precise, and strikingly complex. Already approachable, it should evolve for 30-50 years … without a doubt.


Foie gras with fennel and eggplant in a sweet sauce. An unbelievable pairing with Lana’s big bottle of Chateau D’Yquem!


2007 Azelia Barolo Margheria. IWC 94. Deep red. Very ripe aromas of cherry, strawberry, licorice, smoke and mocha. Sweet, plush and seamless, with terrific concentration to the red fruit and mineral flavors. This wonderfully round 2007 saturates the entire palate without leaving any impression of heaviness. The wine’s superripe finishing flavors of dark berries are leavened by excellent mineral lift. A superb showing, but I’d wait at least five or six years before pulling the cork.


2007 Fattoria Le Pupille (Elisabetta Geppetti) Saffredi Maremma Toscana IGT. IWC 91. (a blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and alicante Dark ruby. Light red berry and plum aromas along with riper coffee and dark chocolate nuances. Dense and rich but nicely focused, with a creamy texture to the black cherry, dried herb and milk chocolate flavors. Puts on considerable weight in the glass and displays a seductive floral quality on the long finish. Harmonious acidity gives this concentrated blend a light touch and an overall impression of refinement.


Duck breast with beet sauce and crispy beets. Lovely. The crisps were very salty which paired nicely with the sweetish meat.


2004 Araujo Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard. IWC 94. (includes about 3% each cabernet franc and petit verdot) Saturated ruby-red. Highly nuanced, Graves-like aromas of black plum, raspberry, warm stones, tobacco, minerals and nutty oak. Sweet, suave and wonderfully fine-grained wine with a fleshiness given shape by harmonious acidity. A step up in intensity from the ’03 bottling, with the petit verdot component adding aromatic character and structure. Finishes with lingering sweet notes of cherry and currant.


Lana brought this homemade baklava in that a friend made.


I just have to show the big bottle again.


Panna cotta with berries. Sweet and simple. The custard was quite firm.

As usual, Chef Kevin whipped up another fabulous feast, better than most modern American restaurants are doing in LA. And we doused it with a crazy volume of wine. The foie gras / d’Yquem pairing was a standout — a classic for a reason!

For more Hedonist meals click here.

For more LA reviews click here.


The view out the apartment window.

Related posts:

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  5. Wine on the Beach
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Barolo, BYOB, Corton-Charlemagne, Dessert, hedonists, Kali Dining, Marina del Rey California, Wine

Pixelvolt Interview

Sep25

Periodically I was asked by Pixelvolt to answer a few interview questions.

Check them out here for the latest in Indie Game News!

I’m also posting the interview here for posterity:

Pixelvolt: Many enjoyed the Crash Bandicoot trilogy more than Super Mario 64 or DK64. How do you think the Crash Bandicoot franchise did against Nintendo’s heavy hitter platformers?

Andy: Crash Bandicoot was in development during the same period as Mario 64. We started in 1994 and first saw our rival at E3 in May of 1996, only 3 months before we shipped. Basically that meant that Mario had no influence on us (although it was to later inform Jak & Daxter). Doing platforming in 3D was hard, and both games took different approaches. Our aim was to try and bring the Donkey Kong Country style gameplay into 3D as faithfully as possible. Mario went for more open puzzle solving and exploration (Miyamoto called it a garden or sandbox). I personally like ours better because it’s more straightforward to play with less thinking involved (more twitching). I don’t like my platform games to involve too much thinking – I do plenty of that at work.

Pixelvolt: Were there any N64, GCN, or Xbox games that you enjoyed playing?

Andy: My favorite N64 games were Goldeneye, Zelda, and Banjo-Kazooie.

Pixelvolt: Do you have a personal favorite out of the Crash Bandicoot games?

Andy: Crash 2. It’s better technically than Crash 1, has a bigger more flexible move set, and the play is very balanced. It’s hard but not brutal. Crash 3 is great too, but I think it relies a little too much on gimmick levels (jet skiing, flying, etc).

Pixelvolt: Naughty Dog has always been great at pushing the limits of hardware. Can you give us some details from the development of the Crash series and the Jak series and just how far things were pushed – and how they were pushed?

Andy: Crash 1 was all about forging into the unknown. Everything was new. The gameplay was totally new. We had no model for how to do it in 3D, and it took 6 months of unplayable test levels before we developed some that were actually fun. On the technical side, the sheer volume of data was overwhelming for the computers of the time (1994-6). We had to do all the tool processing on big Silicon Graphics workstations. I actually had 8 gigs of memory in my desktop machine by fall 1996! Imagine that, the memory alone cost $75,000! With Jak, the seamless loading was hard. We had been heading in this direction with Crash, which featured a very sophisticated streaming system and extremely short load times (3-4 seconds!), but with Jak & Daxter, we had this early mandate to eliminate loading entirely. It was hard but very cool in a subtle way. Very few games do it even now.

crash_bandicoot1

Pixelvolt: Was it hard to leave Crash Bandicoot behind, and do you think there is a chance that Naughty Dog will save Crash from his most recent outings and produce another game?

Andy: Naughty Dog doesn’t own all the rights to Crash; Activision owns most of them, so it’s difficult for that to happen just from a legal perspective. Still, a fan can always hope.

Pixelvolt: What were some of the immediate allowances that were enjoyed most when switching from Crash to Jak?

Andy: No one would ever call the PS2 an “easy” machine to program for, but there were certain niceties compared to the PS1. Z buffering was a big one. On the PS1, you had to sort all your polygons and make sure they didn’t overlap. The PS1 really freaked out when polygons stretched off (or into the screen). Another more amorphous advantage was the huge step up in raw processing power, which made it possible to stop worrying about individual lines of logic (as much).

crash racing image

Pixelvolt: How did it feel among your video game peers when CTR: Crash Team Racing was being developed? With Mario Kart 64 having thought up the kart racer genre, was it awkward? Many gamers enjoyed CTR much more than MK64; how did this reaction make everyone feel after it was released?

Andy: Obviously, CTR owes a big debt to Mario Kart, even if the graphics are better looking and more detailed – but I also think – and this is one of the game’s big triumphs, that the handling and gameplay we achieved was really first rate. The combination of steering, power sliding, powerups, and the like was really very, very fun (not that Mario Kart 64 and Diddy Kong Racing weren’t too).

Pixelvolt: What do you and ND think of the current state of Crash Bandicoot. Since Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, almost all the fans agree that the quality has skydived; what do you and the original development team think of the situation?

Andy: I try not to look at anything Crash related after Crash Bash. It’s all kind of sad because even the basic art design isn’t “correct” with the standards of the Crash character.

Pixelvolt: Did you learn anything from video game development that is assisting with your writing at all?

Andy: As a serial creator (having made over a dozen major video games), it was interesting how similar the process was to any other complex creative project. Video games and novel writing are both very iterative and detail oriented. They use a lot of the same mental muscles.

Pixelvolt: What do you plan on doing next? Do you plan to do anything in addition to writing?

Andy: I just finished up adapting Untimed (my time travel novel) as a screenplay. And I’ve got three different new novels in the works. The one I’m working on at the moment is background notes for an epic fantasy series. I’m trying to create an entire extremely detailed world so that’s a lot of fun.

jak and daxter image

Pixelvolt: Do you ever think you’d consider returning to game development?

Andy: I might someday. I have a cool dungeon crawler idea I’ve wanted to do for years. But right now, I still get to build worlds, characters, and general IP. I can do it faster and without as much stress. I miss the sheer exposure the games got as the whole business is on a much bigger scale than publishing. I’m immensely proud of all my games, but I also think Untimed is as good a novel as my favorite, Crash 2 is a game. Hint, hint. Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink. Buy, read.

Pixelvolt: What were your thoughts on Jason Rubin and THQ? I know a lot of ND/THQ fans thought he did a great job, despite everything working out the way that it did.

Andy: Jason had a real uphill battle there and very little time to fight it. He’s one of the most talented people I know, so I have to imagine that he did as good a job as humanly possible.

Pixelvolt: Tell us about your books. You’ve been a huge reader for quite some time. When did you decide you were going to leave the gaming industry and pursue writing full time?

Andy: I’m a lifelong creator and explorer of worlds. As far back as first grade, I remember spending most of the school day in one day dream or another. I had a huge notebook stuffed with drawings, story bits, and concepts for an elaborate Sci-Fi/Fantasy world I cobbled together from bits of Star Wars, Narnia, and Battlestar Galactica. By fourth or fifth grade, not only was I losing myself in every fantasy or Sci-Fi novel I could, but I was building Dungeons & Dragons castles and caverns on paper. Then from 1980 on the computer. Over the following decades, I wrote dozens of stories and created and published over a dozen video games all set in alternative universes. And as an avid reader (over 10,000 novels and who knows how many non-fiction volumes), it was no surprise that I eventually decided to write some books of my own.

Pixelvolt: Would you ever consider having any movies or games made based off your books? If so, would you oversee any of the development?

Andy: Uh, big yes. As I mentioned, I just finished adapting Untimed into a screenplay. That was a lot of fun and took far longer than I thought, including at least six major drafts. Untimed is a focused story of about the right scope for the big screen, and it’s fairly short (75,000 words), but I still had to cut at least a quarter out of the novel and learn to adapt the story telling to the new strictly audio-visual medium. Now I just need to figure out how to sell it and get it produced. Haha. Film, unlike novels, is a very collaborative medium.

gsm_169_lastofus_vr_ps3_060413_80_640

Pixelvolt: What are you currently playing?

Andy: I’m still playing a bit of WoW. I have on and off since launch and used to be a serious raider in the Vanilla, BC, and Lich King eras. I played The Last of Us when it came out from start to finish and that was hands down the best story-based game I’ve ever played. Really, really emotional and intense. My two games of the moment are really different: the new Mickey Mouse Castle of Illusion with my five year-old (I loved the Genesis original) and Bioshock Infinite. That’s an awesome game too. The control and character isn’t quite as good as TLOU, but it’s really engaging, and I’m totally drawn in by the 1912 alternate America and its in-depth and surprisingly accurate depiction. Speaking of 1912, my first novel, The Darkening Dream, is a fantasy set in 1913, so if any of you are curious, think Bioshock Infinite, minus the floating city and plus a 900-year-old vampire, crazy Egyptian gods, and some nasty succubus on preacher action.

This interview was originally posted here.

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By: agavin
Comments (22)
Posted in: Games
Tagged as: Andy Gavin, Crash Bandicoot, Jak, Jak & Daxter, Jason Rubin, Mario, Mario Kart, Naughty Dog, Pixelvolt, Silicon Graphics

Spice Up Your Life Szechuan Style

Sep23

Restaurant: Cui Hua Lou [1, 2, 3]

Location: 920 E Garvey Ave. Monterey Park, CA 91755. 626-288-2218

Date: September 20, 2013

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Awesome!

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Chinese food is incredible regional, and we are blessed in SoCal with a lot of very specific restaurants (mostly in the San Gabriel Valley). Yarom (the leader of my Hedonist group) invited me out to try some spicy Szechuan and a totally undiscovered place he found while wandering around. We love Szechuan for its spicy/smoky flavors. This is a cuisine that packs a real punch and is one of my favorites in China.


The storefront, as usual, isn’t much to look at.


A menu with fairly literal translations.


And the usual minimalist decor.


1999 Joseph Phelps Sauvignon Blanc. IWC 87. Expressive, floral aroma combines melon, grapefruit, mint, licorice and fresh herbs. Supple yet tangy and firm, with nicely focused flavors of lemon, grapefruit, licorice and fresh herbs. Slightly elevated alcohol leavened by brisk acidity. Nice combination of texture and brightness.


Seaweed with chilies. Very pleasant, with a firmness and just a bit of heat.


Jellyfish heads and cucumber. More a texture dish, but it had a bit of a vinegary tang.


2011 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett. IWC88. Aromas of passion fruit and nut oil. The creamy tropical fruits flavors are light, well-balanced and elegant. Certainly fun to drink.


Cured beef shank. Like Chinese pastrami, with a bit of a smokey flavor.


Shredded stomach with scallion. Pork stomach really. I’m not an offal fan, but this was as good as stomach gets.


2007 Lamborghini (La Fiorita) Era Umbria IGT. 88 points. Good dark fruit and cherries on the nose. Significant fruit in the taste along with some herbal notes and good acidity. Medium length with some good tannins at the later part. May need more time to develop.


Stewed lamb in casserole (house special #1).


Inside the hot pot. This stuff was awesome. Probably the best dish (of many). Tasty tender lamb and this amazing hot chili sauce that really had a nice flavor.


Skewers of lamb on the left and Chinese hot dog on the right. Both were rubbed with cumin, making the lamb classic cumin lamb. The sausages were amazing, like sweetish hotdogs rubbed in cumin.


Some more skewers, lamb and chicken wing.


2009 Kongsgaard Syrah. Parker 97. The 2009 Syrah Hudson Vineyard is simply breathtaking. White flowers, spices, savory herbs, licorice, graphite and new leather are some of the many nuances that add complexity to a core of deeply expressive dark fruit. The 2009 impresses for its stunning textural elegance and sheer brilliance.


Cured beef shank in sesame bun. Basically Chinese pastrami sandwich!


Sweet and sour fish. Nice tender Tilapia with a flavorful sweet sauce.


1996 Lanessan. Parker 88. A sleeper of the vintage, Lanessan’s 1996 boasts an impressively saturated dark ruby/purple color, and knock-out aromatics of melted chocolate, asphalt, and cassis. Deep, rich, and medium-bodied, with excellent concentration and purity, this impressively-endowed, flavorful, well-structured wine should be at its finest between 2004-2016.


Beef tendon Xing Ziang Style. Unusual but pleasant texture in a tasty spicy sauce.


Potato with chili. Basically shredded potato with a slight vinegar and oil tang.


2011 Joh Jos Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese. Parker 94. A yeasty, smoky prickle as well as the effect of dissolved CO2 causes the nose to wrinkle from a glass of Prum’s 2011 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese A.P. #18, but behind that are heliotrope and lily-of-the-valley along with ripe apple, pear and melons that in turn inform a delicate, subtly creamy palate of striking transparency to stony, crystalline, alkaline and smoky black tea and liquid floral nuances. This shimmers and excites even as it soothes in a lingering, uplifting, glowing finish. It will certainly merit attention for the better part of a half century.


Kung Pao Chicken. One of the best versions of this classic dish I’ve ever had. Lots of very flavorful Szechuan peppers.


1999 Guiraud. Parker 90. Tasted as part of a vertical held at the chateau. There is a sense of conservatism to the Guiraud 1999, but it still retains attractive scents of dried honey, marmalade and a touch of chlorine. The palate is actually better than the nose, with a lovely seam of acidity and effervescent marmalade and quince-tinged fruit that is very precise toward the long finish. The ’99 should be looked back on as a success in an oft-forgotten vintage.


Pork XO sauce fried noodle.


You mix it up like this and there is lots of pleasant heat to go with the al dente noodles.


Check out that chili oil left in the bowl!


Twice cooked pork. Another fabulous dish. The pork had some heat and sweetness, with a whole lot of flavor.


Ma Po Tofu. One of my favorite dishes. This classic Szechuan dish was the spiciest of the night. The pleasant soft tofu is just on fire. The name literally translated as “Pocked Marked Old Lady Face Tofu” which is quite amusing.


Fried corn. Slightly sweet and passed for a dessert. But afterward,  we went down the street to a shaved ice place, which I’ll blog about seperately.

In conclusion, Cui Hua Lou, while apparently totally undiscovered, offers up some fabulous traditional Szechuan fare. If you like spicy, this place was really very good. Cheap too as this feast, including tax and tip, set us back $21 a person!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

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By: agavin
Comments (6)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Cui Hua Lou, hedonists, Hot Sauce, Joh. Jos. Prüm, lamb, Ma Po Tofu, Monterey Park, san Gabriel valley, Sichuan, Szechuan, Szechuan Chinese, Szechuan Pepper

Tsujita LA – Artisan Noodles

Sep20

Restaurant: Tsujita LA

Location: 2057 Sawtelle Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025. Tel. 310-231-7373 Fax. 310-231-7375

Date: September 5, 2013 (original) and August 8, 2014 (annex)

Cuisine: Japanese Ramen

Rating: Really, really tasty

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For a year I’ve been noticing this “artisan noodle” join on Sawtelle with the huge line, so I figured I needed to try it.


At lunch they have a simple menu with basically two dishes (both will be pictured below).


On the table are the condiments. Various pickled ginger and the like.


Char Sui Tsukemen. This is a version of Tsukemen, which is basically noodles with a dipping sauce/soup (below). The noodles above are served along with super fatty (but super tasty) sliced BBQ pork.


Here is the “soup.” It’s a flavorful, almost curry-like pork broth. There is a pickled egg in there too (ajitama). You take the noodles above and dip them in the soup then eat. It coats them thickly. Delicious. You can dip the pork too.

The Tsukemen was a new thing for me, and I have to say I love it. I wrote this 10 days after trying it and I crave it so much I’ve returned at least once a month for over a year!


Or add condiments if you like. Seaweed on the right. Green onion on top. Bamboo shoots and wood ear mushroom on the right.


Spicy tuna don. A bowl of rice with said tuna.


This is Hakata Nagahama Tonkotsu Ramen, the other dish (you can order variants). It’s a rice pork broth slowly simmered for 60 hours. Thin ramen, boiled egg, and various condiments go in. I used to get this stuff at 2am in Fukuoka with my former boss. Yum! One of the best ramen types. I like to jazz it up with the red pickled ginger. It’s excellent on a cold day.


Tsujita is so popular they opened another location right across the street, called the “Annex.” This, somewhat mysteriously, offers a slightly different take on porky ramen.


Two versions of it here. With char sui pork, egg, sprouts, and onions.


And with peppers. This is a good ramen, but it just doesn’t have that incredible luscious porkiness of the dipping noodles (Tsukemen) at the original.

Tsujita really is all about the Tsukemen dipping noodles. This just isn’t quite like regular ramen and has an intense pork quality that is really mind bogglingly good. No wonder there are huge lines! They need to change up the single song they play (loudly) though. It was great the first 3 times, but the 30th?

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Boiled egg, Fukuoka, Japanese cuisine, Noodle, noodles, pork, ramen, Sawtelle Boulevard, Tonkotsu ramen, Tsujita LA, Tsukemen

Sometimes You Want to Get Crabs

Sep18

Restaurant: Seafood Village

Location: 684 W Garvey Ave. Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 289-0088

Date: September 15, 2013

Cuisine: Chiu Chow Chinese

Rating: quite tasty!

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Chinese food is incredible regional, and we are blessed in SoCal with a lot of very specific resteraunts (mostly in the San Gabriel Valley). This time, my Hedonist group has head out for some Chiu Chow (also Chaozhou) which is a Southern Chinese style originating in Eastern Guangdong province. This is a fairly ingredient driven Chinese regional cuisine that often features seafood. It has a relationship to Cantonese and is often found in Singaporean cooking (as many Teochew people settled there).

Seafood Village is regarded as one of the best Chiu Chow places in California. It has the usual glamorous SGV exterior.


And interior. But hardly the PF Chang tourist crowd!


Starting off with a little champagne.


Peanuts are traditional on the table in China. I suppose that the allergic are just put out of their misery quickly.


1998 Château Monbousquet Blanc. 91 points. Straw, lemon grass, mineral nose; earthy, lemon grass, mineral palate; medium finish. A very pleasant white Bordeaux with mineral flavors.


A typical cold appetizer platter. In the center, jellyfish. Starting with the top and heading clockwise: roast duck, cuttlefish, pork gut, fried tofu (yummy), pork stomach, and pork knuckle.


In case you want to spice it up!


2008 Cold Heaven Viognier. 90 points.


And it’s worth noting this interesting feature of authentic Chinese restaurants. After you eat a lot of some dish, they will “replate” or “consolidate” it into a smaller dish to preserve premium table space.


2005 Wittmann Westhofener Morstein Riesling Trocken. This was a more or less dry riesling, and quite nice.


This is what most people come here for, the house special Chiu Chow Style Crab (Dungeness). This is basically battered crab, fried with chilies and lots of garlic. I’ve also heard this called “Causeway Style.” Good stuff with lots of flavor. You end up sucking out the meat mostly.


2012 Recuerdo Torrontés. 88 Points. A very floral light white made by Jose, one our very own Hedonists!


One of are party wasn’t into “weird stuff” and ordered themselves some orange chicken. Go figure. It was fine, but nothing special.


From my cellar, 1970 Gros Frère et Sœur Vosne-Romanée. 92 points. It was still very much alive and drinking quite beautifully. A veritable chameleon in the glass, the aromas kept changing every time I brought the glass to my nose. First sour cherries, then papaya, then raspberries, then red clay, then lemon rind, then caramel — it was intoxicating. The palate, on the other hand, was a bit simple and one-dimensional, but I thought the nose more than made up for it. A lovely wine! My favorite of the night — being a Burghound!


Special Turtle Soup. This is a very pleasant broth with lots of umani flavor.


And in case you wondered f it was authentic enough, check out the chicken foot!


2000 Araujo Estate Syrah Eisele Vineyard. IWC 89. Full ruby-red. Rich, smoky aromas of plum, blackberry, bitter chocolate, smoked meat, minerals, tobacco and licorice. Sweet, lush, chocolatey and seamless; a distinctly warm-climate syrah with exotic notes of roasted berries. But there’s also lovely lift from the blackberry and violet notes. Finishes firmly tannic, oaky and long, with notes of spice and bitter chocolate.


Chilies with ground pork. I’ve never seen Jalepenos per se in China, but they do have lots of peppers. Regardless, this was a fabulous dish as the pork was cooked in a great black bean sauce and the combination of the mild heat and the slightly sweet meat was wonderful.


2009 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave St. Joseph. IWC 93. Opaque ruby. Expansive, seductive aromas of blackberry and blueberry preserves, cherry pit and fresh flowers, plus a sexy incense note and a touch of licorice. Stains the palate with dark berry and spicecake flavors, with smoky minerality adding cut to the back end. Blends depth and vivacity smoothly, finishing with outstanding clarity and lingering sweetness.


Sautéed jellyfish heads with asparagus. Not bad — for jellyfish.


2011 Luisi Barbera d’Asti. 82 points. I didn’t try it, as I’m not much of a Barbera fan. Works occasionally with pizza.


Rock fish steamed with ginger and garlic. This was a lovely fish and the meat was perfectly done and very succulent.


2009 Orma Toscana IGT. IWC 92. Fully saturated ruby-purple. Sexy aromas of ripe dark plum, Asian spices, licorice and cocoa powder, with a floral quality adding lift and freshness. At once suave and penetrating, with very good energy and definition to the flavors of sweet red cherry, dark plum, mocha and fresh herbs. In a distinctly ripe style, but with a vibrant, long finish thanks to harmonious acidity. The sweet, broad tannins show a distinct chocolatey ripeness.


Duck with mushrooms. It’s hard to tell them apart (the duck has bones) as the heavy gravy gives it all a brown sheen. This dish might look a bit sketchy, but it tastes great with a rich heady earthiness to the sauce and a pleasant spongey texture to the woody mushrooms.


2011 Vigilance Petite Sirah. I didn’t try this either.


Special Chiu Chow Style “lettuce”. Evidently a classic. It head a bit of a porky taste so there must have been something in there with the veggies. Not bad.


2008 chin chin syrah. Another wine by Jose.


Beans, lotus root, and oxtail. Interesting mix of flavors and textures. The meat was fatty of  course, but full of flavor.


Clearly someone had too much pork gut.


2007 Lillian Winery Syrah. IWC 94. Opaque purple. A kaleidoscopic bouquet evokes black raspberry, cola, incense and olive tapenade, with a sexy floral quality that gains power with aeration. Lush, palate-staining dark berry preserve flavors are complemented by exotic spice and violet pastille qualities and are lifted by zesty minerality. Gains weight with air but retains its energy, finishing spicy, smoky and with outstanding persistence. Readers should also seek out Maggie Harrison’s excellent Antica Terra pinot noirs from Oregon.


House Special Chiu Chow Style Pan Fried Noodles. There are also shrimp, pork, mushrooms, and sprouts in here.


This might not seem like the most sophisticated dish, but the sauce was really really good with the tender noodles. I used to get a similar dish as a kid and found not not only delicious, but deeply nostalgic.


This Vin Santo was a rather wonderful sticky of the passito/Sherry PX variety. Oddly, it’s from Greece (Santorini) — doesn’t matter, as it’s very good.


Taro with Ginko dessert. God only knows what the white stuff was. There were grapes and ginko nuts, blobs of taro, and a gelatinous mass that that was supposedly snow fungus. The net effect was sweet and vaguely chewy. I think it’s a Chiu Chow speciality.


Jose brought some (apparently) 19th century Madeira in this little flask. It was good. Caramelized, complex, and well… like good Maderia.


Almost mochi filled with red bean, mung bean, egg custard, and taro. Not as good as true ice cream mochi, but enjoyable the same.

Overall, an incredibly fun evening as usual. We even went next door afterward to overwhelm the minimall’s $15 an hour foot massage place, which is always great except that Yarom got screwed since we had one person more than they had masseuses. These Chinese outings are great fun with really interesting, tasty, and reasonable food.

The Seafood Village staff treated us great, bringing the dishes one at a time, and being extremely friendly and helpful — if occasionally confounded by our lack of Mandarin (or perhaps they spoke the Chiu Chow dialect, I wouldn’t know). Great fun.

We were also joined (see below) by Chef Kaz Oyama of the amazing Totoraku, who is now an honorary Hedonist, and he took it seriously by consuming his fair share of libations.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

This dinner included Chef Kaz from the the amazing beef joint, Totoraku! (right)

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By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chaozhou, China, Chui Chow, crab, hedonists, san Gabriel valley, Seafood, Shellfish, Singapore

Seoul Sausage Kingdom

Sep16

Restaurant: Seoul Sausage Co.

Location: 11313 Mississippi Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90025. (310) 477-7739

Date: September 20, 2013

Cuisine: Korean… sorta

Rating: Tasty!

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LA is a funny kind of foodie town, being divided into both wildly experimental cuisine, classic ethnic, and a not-so-in-the-closet love affair with fast food. And let’s not forget Asian fusion. One of the current trends seems to be updating classic American fast foods with crazy cross-cultural insertions. This is nowhere more obvious than in the rash of new gourmet food trucks that offer things like “kalbi tacos” and “Thai shrimp burgers.”


Seoul Sausage Co. has a storefront, but it’s very much in this vein, offering up a tiny menu of fat and flavor driven Korean/American hybrid dishes.


This is a tiny place affording only counter service.


The short little menu.


Some of the rice balls waiting to be re-heated.


The sandwich makes for easy take-away.


Kalbi Sausage. Handmade Korean BBQ beef sausage w/ garpic jalapeno aioli and kimchi relish. This was a pretty delicious “hot dog.” The sausage was succulent and flavorful and the aioli added a nice brightness.


A pair of balls and their sauce. These balls are like vaguely Asian Arincini (a similar Italian food consisting of deep fried rice balls — it may even date from the Roman Empire!).


On the left, the Lil’ Osaka Ball. Japanese curry rice ball w/ ground kalbi and potatoes served w/ shoga siracha mayo.

On the right, Flaming Ball. Cheesy kimchi fried rice w/ spicy pork served w/ DMZ sauce (garlic jalepeno kimchi siracha aioli).

Neither was actually hot (by my standards). Both were tasty,  a bit mild, and I liked the Osaka Ball better (it tasted like Japanese brown curry).


Next door is Blockheads, a shaved ice joint.


I experimented with this classic sweet ice (shaved frozen sweetened condensed milk) and chocolate, almonds, and brownies. I should have gone with Mango or some other fruit version.

Sawtelle has morphed in recent years into a rather excellent lunch destination, offering up a bevy of yummy (and quick) eats. There is a lot of traditional Japanese and Korean, plus these newer more experimental places.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: bbq, Fast food, Japanese curry, Kalbi, Sausage, Sawtelle, Seoul Sausage Co., Spam

Water Grill Santa Monica

Sep13

Restaurant: Water Grill [1, 2]

Location: 1401 Ocean Ave. Santa Monica. 310-394-5669

Date: July 27 & August 11, 2013

Cuisine: Seafood

Rating: Nice upgrade, if a tad pricey

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Years ago, Ocean Avenue Seafood was a staple on our “quick dinner” rotation, particularly before movies and the like. It served up classic San Francisco style seafood. But recently, was feeling a little long in the tooth, having not been updated in (as far as I know) nearly two decades. This year the owners rebooted it as a Westside branch of their downtown Water Grill, which itself has gotten drastic revamps in recent years (having once been very formal — albeit excellent — and now is much more casual).


The interior has the same layout, but got a new “hard surfaces” redo in keeping with the times.


They served up yummy hot bread quickly, although the staff kept us waiting for 20-25 minutes before visiting for either drinks or food orders (the waiter later made up for this by comping dessert).


The menu has been updated with a more contemporary flair.

2001 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne. Burghound 89. A lovely mix of green apple, melon and muscat notes are followed by relatively big and still quite tight and fresh middle weight, taut, muscular flavors of considerable tension and breed. The minerality is almost pungent it’s so strong and this finishes firm but with fine richness and palate coating sap.


Heirloom tomato salad. Avocado, watercress and blue poppy seed dressing.


A “custom” raw plate with a half-dozen oyster sampler, four wild jump mexican white shrimp and a whole uni (sea urchin). The sauces include classic cocktail, horseradish, lemon, and mignonette as well as a new slightly sweet Japanese-style sauce that is kin to sunomono marinade.


A close up of the uni.


And a seafood tower (for 2 people) with an assortment of fresh raw bar seafood.


A softshell crab salad special.


Wild Alaskan Sablefish (black cod) with lobster and oyster mushrooms, port wine reduction.


Lobster roll, classic New England style. There is also an option for Connecticut style (with butter instead of mayo). This was a great lobster roll, and I’ve had plenty of ’em (being a favorite of mine).


And here it is, the Connecticut style! I liked the New England a bit better.


Classic fish and chips.


The dessert menu, in this case on the house as they took awhile to get to us at the beginning.


Banana Chocolate Sundae with chocolate covered corn flakes.


Coconut panna cotta with passionfruit and chili. This was right up my alley, very much like one of those weird (but I love them) Chinese custards. Nice rich coconut flavor and a little bit of kick.

Overall, while the delta between Ocean Avenue Seafood and Water Grill are at some level superficial, I’m pleased with the change. I could care less about the new louder interior, but the menu is larger with more of a fusion flare. This nicely updates it and elevates it over the fairly common (in Santa Monica) raw bar food. It remains pricey, as it was before, but the dishes were very tasty.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Dessert, Lobster roll, Ocean Avenue Seafood, Restaurant Review, Santa Monica, Water Grill, watergrill

JiRaffe Burgundy Blowout!

Sep11

Restaurant: JiRaffe [1, 2]

Location: 502 Santa Monica Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90401. 310.917.6671

Date: September 9, 2013

Cuisine: French American

Rating: Santa Monica Classic

ANY CHARACTER HERE

My Hedonist group has been mixing up our format a bit, and tonight we aren’t just checking out a restaurant (the excellent New-French Jiraffe) but putting together an exclusive “high end” Burgundy night. Each guest was required to bring at least one great bottle of red Burgundy, the bar being set at DRC, Leroy, Jayer, Roumier, Vogue and the like. Everyone really stepped up and brought a phenomenal array of wine. Also, what started at a mere 10 people rapidly expanded to 20 people at two tables. As such, we were crammed into a fairly narrow zone upstairs and given the dynamic and back and forth nature of these events it was a real zoo.

This was hands down the most chaotic of our dinners yet, besting out even the insane Totoraku event last spring.

We begin with a few openers:


NV Billecart-Salmon Rose. Parker 90. The NV Brut Rose is a pretty, gracious wine. Freshly cut roses, red berries and spices take shape nicely in the glass as the wine shows off its understated, timeless personality. Billecart-Salmon’s NV Brut Rose is a reliably tasty wine.


1990 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut La Grande Dame. IWC 96. Rich, multidimensional, highly aromatic nose of pear, red berries, apple, honey, toast and spice. Extremely rich and concentrated, with its medium to full body leavened by bright citrus notes and compelling minerality. Great inner-mouth aromas. Conveys an impression of powerful yet remarkably fine raw materials. The spicy finish offers exceptional persistence and richness.


2009 Domaine Michel Niellon Chevalier-Montrachet. Burghound 94. Here mild reduction doesn’t materially diminish the appeal of the more elegant if ever-so-slightly less complex aromas that feature notes of stone, lemon zest, acacia blossom and spiced pear. There is superb intensity and simply gorgeous detail to the mineral-driven and impeccably well-balanced flavors and explosive finale. Still, as good as this is and it is indeed exceptional, the superior complexity of the Bâtard gives it the barest of edges in 2009.


A bonus bottle from my cellar: 2002 Louis Jadot Corton-Charlemagne Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot. Burghound 93. It’s interesting but this is much more feminine and rounder in style than the Le Charlemagne with its distinctly masculine character. This is not as powerful but it’s more elegant with precise, delineated and pure flavors that also enjoy ample amounts of dry extract and awe-inspiring length.

Then the first round of food:


The amuse, a mushroom cream cappuccino. Very tasty, almost truffle flavored and very rich.

Hugo’s Caramelized French Onion Soup. grilled filet of beef, gruyere, crispy ciabatta.

Dungeness Crab Cake. confit yellow squash, vadouvan vinaigrette, mango emulsion, triple blanched garlic pistachio cream.


“Roasted Organic Beet Salad, organic beets, carmelized walnuts, dried cherries, goat cheese cream, banyuls-ginger vinaigrette.” This dish has become ubiquitous, but I suspect JiRaffe was one of the earliest to offer it on their menu (it might have been an 80s Wolfgang Puck invention, but I’m not sure). This particularly implementation has always been one of the best I’ve ever had. The sweet of the beets pairing beautifully with the sharpness of the goat cheese, and the chewy crunch of the walnut/cherry combo adding to the effect.

Sautéed Wild Pacific shrimp salad “Scampi Style”. Maggie’s Farms baby arugula, white beans, shaved fennel,
golden beets, olive lemon vinaigrette.

Sweet corn ravioli with Mascarpone. Ricotta and Reggiano parmesan cheese, rock shrimp, sugar snap peas, truffle corn emulsion.

Because of the enormous number of wines, I’m not “pairing” them with the food pictures like normal but listing all the red Burgundy in bulk . This was a very chaotic event and the drinking order was willy nilly. Sheer pandemonium really.


This bottle had long ago lost its label, but we knew from the cork that it was a 1983 Haegelen Jayer grand cru, probably (by the nose) an Echezeaux. Regardless, it was rather wonderful.


1981 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée St. Vivant. 92 points. Dried tawny/rose color, dried roses in the nose. Touch of earth, flash of sweet beet fruit, dash of acidity left.


1990 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Echezeaux. Burghound 91. Intense, ripe and slightly roasted black fruit nose with developing complexity that leads to rich, full-bodied, rounded, sweet flavors underpinned by big tannins and the wine finishes with grand cru quality length. This is quite big and certainly dramatic but for all its richness and power, it’s not an elegant wine per se. All of that said, it’s still a relatively youthful wine and could be drunk now with pleasure or held for a few more years to fully round out the finish.


2007 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Echezeaux. Burghound 90. A spicy, expressive and expansive nose of red berry fruit, distinct vegetal nuances, freshly sliced fennel and obvious earth notes that transfer over to the detailed, balanced and energetic flavors that possess excellent transparency on the vibrant and mouth coating finish. There is a lingering inner mouth perfume here that makes this quite seductive. Not surprisingly, this changed rather dramatically in the hour that I had to evaluate the ’07s and the seemingly lighter weight flavors put on noticeable flesh though the nose slowly closed in on itself.


1986 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Grands-Echezeaux. Burghound 87. There is still some fresh fruit here though the nose is now largely given over to secondary aromas though only hints of sous bois followed by flavors that offer good if not excellent richness and the finish still has enough structure to suggest that another 5 years is in order for this to completely smooth out. This is really quite good though hardly great and it’s especially good in the context of the vintage.

I have to say, by my taste this was by far the best “Ech” of the evening.


1969 Charles Vienot Richebourg. Burghound 93. Beautifully complex with a classic aged burg nose of earth¡ damp leaves and traces of sous bois (but no barnyard aromas) followed by classy¡ full¡ precise¡ remarkably fresh flavors offering excellent richness, complexity and length. A beautiful ’69 that is still drinking well. An impressive showing.


1995 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Richebourg. Burghound 93. This too is reserved and restrained with an almost completely closed nose that reveals only glimpses of fresh black fruit even after extended aeration. The flavors however are rich and offer excellent detail and are underpinned by dense yet ripe tannins and good extract. I very much like the style of this though it is clearly for the patient and I suspect this will always have a rather strict personality. This has put on a bit of weight and a bit of richness since the big Richebourg tasting in ’01 and appears to be better balanced than the prior bottle but otherwise, it is quite similar.


2004 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Richebourg. Burghound 93. This is in the same stylistic camp as the GrandsEchézeaux as it is surprisingly understated and subtle with an intensely floral nose of red and black fruit aromas that are nuanced and beautifully elegant, merging seamlessly into linear, reserved, indeed almost brooding flavors that are as once supple yet precise and detailed, all wrapped in a powerful and muscular finish that delivers striking length. This is a really interesting wine because it’s a wine of contrasts yet it works because there is a gorgeous combination of finesse and power and again, I really like the sense of drive and energy here as well as the first rate balance. A terrific ’04.


From my cellar: 1988 Domaine Leroy Clos Vougeot. Burghound 93. This has changed substantially since my last review and has become a well-aged though not tired ’88. The nose now displays ample amounts of sous bois with good spiced earth and leather that leads to excellent power and richness on the solidly well-focused¡ intense and well-balanced finish that displays just a hint of astringency on the otherwise superbly long finish. This is drinking perfectly well now and should continue to do so for years to come even though I would not expect any further upside development.

To my taste one of the best wines of the night. It tasted like strawberry jam!


1996 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Bonnes Mares. Burghound 91. Dense and intense black fruit with plenty of character is followed by rich, big, tannic flavors that are robust, indeed almost rustic. This displays lots of backbone if not much finesse with a nice note of finishing complexity. In short, the ’96 Bonnes Mares delivers solid if not truly exceptional quality in a package that will age for many years to come.


1988 Domaine G. Roumier / Christophe Roumier Bonnes Mares. Burghound 91. Mild bricking. A deep, rich and earthy mix of some primary but now mostly secondary fruit that leads to big, dense and intense flavors blessed with plenty of complexity all the while displaying solid balance as the tannins are relatively integrated on the long finish. To be sure, there remains substantial structure to be resolved but there is solid buffering extract and this fine sense of balance continues into the powerful finish. While certainly a very fine effort, it’s not quite at the level of the Vieilles Vignes. For my preferences, this is now beginning to drink well and as it is unlikely to improve further, I would be drinking up over the next decade.


2003 Domaine G. Roumier / Christophe Roumier Bonnes Mares. Burghound 88. Ample wood sets off very ripe aromas of spiced plum, mocha and subtle coffee that lead to big, rich and powerful flavors that display a muscular, taut and extremely intense profile culminating in a ripe and long finish where another touch of wood resurfaces. This is not particularly elegant though it is lush, generous and mouth coating. The ’03 Bonnes Mares will undoubtedly age even though it remains very ’03 in style and character. In short, this is perfectly good if particular.


2008 Domaine G. Roumier / Christophe Roumier Bonnes Mares. Burghound 93. A background touch of wood spice surrounds red berry fruit, plum and floral notes that include violet and rose, animale and soil tones that continue on the earth-inflected, rich, sappy and moderately concentrated but gorgeously balanced flavors that possess real character and excellent power on the impressively long and youthfully austere finish. This has both style and personality but what really distinguishes it is how complete it is.


2002 Domaine du Clos de Tart Clos de Tart. Burghound 93. The generous wood this displayed from cask has begun to integrate and no longer sticks out on the expressive and extremely ripe black fruit and plum suffused nose that is nuanced by hints of torrefaction¡ earth and coffee. The supple¡ delicious¡ round and textured full-bodied flavors are notably robust and underpinned by very firm tannins as well as loads of buffering extract. This is a powerful yet detailed wine that does seem to carry its alcohol well with only a trace of finishing warmth. In sum¡ this is a borderline massive and unbelievably long wine that bathes the palate in sappy extract though note that it is so youthful that it will require ample cellar time to arrive at its apogee especially in magnum format.


1996 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru. Burghound 91. Initially, this was extremely tight and reserved with subtle pinot fruit and raspberry hints that are incredibly youthful and primary for what is now an 8 year old wine. With air however, the aromas and flavors expand and deepen, eventually revealing elegant, pure and rich flavors of lovely detail and complexity if not necessarily great density or concentration. This is clearly very classy juice with prominent acidity and a slightly edgy, almost punchy finish though it is by no means harsh. I would be inclined to wait until at least until 2008 to open the next bottle and more likely until 2010.


1998 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Musigny Cuvée Vieilles Vignes. Burghound 94. This is just now beginning to display hints of secondary development though the essential thrust of the nose remains ripe aromas of red and black pinot fruit that is nuanced with hints of violets and anise plus a fascinating array of spices. This remains mildly austere on the palate though much less so than it was in its true youth with plenty of soil and mineral-inflected nuances to the impressively dense and powerful yet classy flavors that deliver simply huge length. As classic Musigny always is¡ this delivers an incredible combination of power and grace. While this can certainly be approached now with pleasure¡ for my taste I would still be inclined to cellar this for another 5 to 8 years first.


1996 Domaine Leroy Chambertin. Burghound 94. An elegant, pure and intoxicatingly complex nose offers up a fantastic array of spices and earth/crushed herb undertones that evidence the barest hint of secondary notes that lead to still completely primary and impressively concentrated, indeed even thick flavors that are powerful, focused and astonishingly long. This is quite simply stunning with terrific amounts of dry extract that completely drenches the palate, which is a good thing because this is a firmly structured effort that is still some years away from being ready to go. A Chambertin of finesse.


1990 Domaine Jean Tardy et Fils Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Boudots. Burghound 87. This offers the classic Boudots profile of Vosne spice and Nuits character and is already drinking well. This too has a definite wood element to it but the wine has the body and extract to better handle it. Still, this is best drunk sooner than later.


1990 Comte Armand Pommard 1er Cru Clos des Epeneaux. Burghound 88. Still deeply colored. An expressive, dense, indeed huge nose of roasted, ever-so-slightly stewed fruit that is already showing a great deal of secondary and even tertiary development while the muscular, rich, extracted and solidly complex flavors are underpinned by a tough, firm and very prominent tannic backbone. This is a dramatic bruiser of a wine but it’s not clear that it’s ever going to harmonize as the finish is completely dominated by the structure and given that the fruit is presently much more advanced than the evolution of the tannins, it’s a tough call to say whether the fruit will be able to stand the test of time and this most recent bottle gave no cause for optimism in this regard, indeed it seemed to confirm that this is probably a lost cause. Optimists will continue to hold the ’90 Epeneaux in the cellar as it will certainly be around 30 years from now though whether it will be any more balanced than it is now is the essential question.

And the entrees:


Seafood risotto milanaise. rock shrimp, fresh Dungeness crab, bay scallops, calamar, Lobster reduction.


“New Zealand Lamb Rack, yellowfin potato samosas, vegetable moussaka, thyme-scented lamb jus.” The lamb itself was delicious, exactly what you’d want. The jus perfect as well. My only complaint was the samosas which were very bland, tasting only of potato. I’m not such a plain starch fan. They were okay soaked in the jus, but I would have preferred a strong curry flavor or something.


Prime Caramelized Pork Chop. Cheiftian long grain wild rice, smoked bacon, Spiced-apple chutney, and aged cider sauce.

Now a cheese course, inserted just to give us some more drinking time:


2010 Domaine Guy Roulot Meursault Les Vireuils. Burghound 89-91. This is aromatically similar if a bit more elegant and with a touch more floral character as well. There is excellent energy to the detailed and ultra-precise flavors that seemed to be extracted directly from liquid stone. This doesn’t quite have the breadth and complexity of the Narvaux but this is finer.


Cheese and ham plate. Good stuff.

Then on to the sweets:


A tasty old Barsac, the label being too damaged for me to identify at this stage.


Chocolate Truffle Cake. Tahitian Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with Chocolate and Raspberry sauce.


Meyer Lemon Soufflé. With sautéed blackberry sauce and blackberry sorbet.


Crème Brulée. Tahitian Vanilla served with fresh baked cookies of the day.


Sticky Toffee Pudding. Candied walnuts, vanilla ice cream, and toffee sauce.


Overall, this night had arguably the best wine of any Hedonist event I’ve been too yet. Certainly to my taste. So much Burgundy it was overwhelming, and not just that, so much fabulous Burgundy! Wow. Wow. Wow.

And the food was great too. Jiraffe has a very good kitchen. We could have used to have more (smaller) courses. There was plenty of food, but it wasn’t on the table long enough for the wines, but this was a function of how we ordered. The service was also very friendly and attentive.

But our Hedonist free-for-all style is nearly unmanageable with this many people (20) and this many wines (25). While we had more than enough grape juice, it was a chaotic whirlwind and you had to remain very attentive to try all the things you wanted. For much of the evening I had 9 glasses in front of me!

Still, so much fun!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Perhaps a little too much fun was being had!

Related posts:

  1. Burgundy at Bouchon – Faiveley
  2. Burgundy at Bouchon – Jadot
  3. Burgundy Vintage Chart
  4. Phong Dinh – Hedonists go Vietnamese
  5. JiRaffe is no Joke
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Burgundy, Burgundy wine, French Cuisine, hedonists, JiRaffe, Wine

Agora – The More Things Stay the Same

Sep09

Agora http://movie-trailer.comTitle: Agora

Cast: Rachel Weisz (Actor), Max Minghella (Actor), Alejandro Amenábar (Director)

Genre: Historical Drama

Watched:  August 31, 2013

Summary: Things haven’t changed

_

That this movie got made at all is fairly amazing — and in a totally different way and polar opposite from the vacuous crap oft spewing out of Hollywood (Hansel & Gretel I’m looking at you!).

Agora is set during the tumultuous decades at the end of the 4th and early 5th century AD. It centers around the riots in the Egyptian city of Alexandria between various sects and factions. Between government and mob. Between pragmatists and fundamentalists. Sound familiar? It should. The same sort of thing is occurring today, 1600 years later. The period in the film, known as late antiquity, is an important one, because the order of the modern word was forged in these fires. Yet, most people, including a fair sprinkling of my Ivy League friends, know almost nothing about it. The average American would be lucky to know this is the same Alexandria that hosted the affairs of Cleopatra — over 400 years earlier. They might not distinguish these sandal wearers from the spear toting Spartans of 300 — but that battle occurred 900 years before this one! The ancient world is not one moment, but a vast progression of political and social evolution — all informing our own world.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbuEhwselE0]

Back to 400 AD and Alexandria. The city was a peculiar and important experiment. Founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC on the shores of the Mediterranean at the Nile delta, it was one of the most cosmopolitan in the world, being the poster child for the very idea of Hellenism and the its questioning and philosophic spirit. Perfect, no, but this is the city that housed the Great Library (which desired to obtain a copy of every work written by man) and taught and nurtured 700 years worth of scholars of all faiths. The Hebrew bible was translated here from Aramaic into Greek.

The cult statue of Serapis -- like almost all the cult statues, torn down during these unfortunate years

The cult statue of Serapis — like almost all the cult statues, torn down during these unfortunate years

Agora is not a perfect movie by any stretch, but it does an impressive job of bringing to life the grandeur, sadness, and dust of this ancient place. With superb costumes and by combining grand and detailed sets with judicious CG / Model aerial shots it’s one of the best looking depictions of the ancient world I’ve  seen. It also does a great job with the substance, if not the detail of the history. The central figure is the female philosopher Hypatia, about whom relatively little is known. Her scientific role is a bit extrapolated, but the political situation is fairly faithful. In just a couple of decades Christianity goes from being a minor (and illegal) cult to the one and only state religion of the aging Roman Empire. It is at the hands of men like Saint Cyril of Alexandria (the villain of the film) that established the theological/political principle of religious intolerance that poisons our world today.

Prior to this, men of all nations did their fair (and more) share of killing, usually over political and economic objectives. But in the polyglot world of antiquity, variation of belief was usually taken as a given, separate and outside the world of pragmatic gain (which generally took precedence).

agora04

Hypatia teaches philosophy (science and mathematics). She was known for her worlds on conical surfaces.

People constantly ask me (knowing I’m a Roman history buff) “how did Rome fall?” Well, when you watch how Cyril maneuvers the liberal Imperial Prefect Orestes you find one of the answers to this complex question. This moment, which appears roughly fairly faithful to historical sources , is about as brilliant a bit of political manipulation as the world has ever witnessed. Cyril, preaching from his pulpit, reads to assembled politicians from the bible, outlining his fundamentalist agenda, and then segueing into a question of faith, forces his opponents — in front of the mob — to kneel and declare their faith to the book (held aloft by him!). But what are they kneeling to? The power of God or the ambition of man?

For more Film reviews, click here.

These sets are pretty spectacular

These sets are pretty spectacular

Related posts:

  1. The Pillars of Hercules
By: agavin
Comments (7)
Posted in: History, Movies
Tagged as: Agora, Alejandro Amenábar, Alexandria, Hypatia, late antiquity, Max Minghella, Rachel Weisz

Eating England – The Square

Sep06

Restaurant: The Square

Location: 6-10 Bruton Street. Mayfair, London, W1J 6PU. +44 (0) 20 7495 7100

Date: July 15, 2013

Cuisine: Modern French/Italian

Rating: Thoroughly Enjoyable

_

While in London I failed to secure any reservations at the city’s three 3 Michelin star restaurants (sadly, the Fat Duck wait list didn’t pan out), but I did hit up “The Square” which has 2 stars and was a recommendation (and a great one at that) of my wine friend Martin Buchanan who arranged the evening and brought a couple of lovely bottles. I had met Martin earlier this year at a blow out Melisse dinner and this proved to be another great evening — if slightly less damaging to the liver (at Melisse 5 of us drank 9 bottles!).


The square is located on a side street in fashionable (and expensive) Mayfair.


Tonight’s tasting.


And a modified pescatarian version.


We begin with the amuses. Classic french cheese puffs.


Fois gras cone.


A tomato mushroom “toast.”


Squid ink “chips.”


And a non inky version.


2005 Domaine Leflaive Meursault 1er Cru Sous le Dos d’Âne. IWC 90. Light yellow color. Sweet aromas of soft citrus fruits and nutty, vanillin oak. Ripe and harmonious, with sweet fruit flavors of orange and peach. Offers an attractive sugar/acid balance. My only early question mark concerns the wine’s slightly hard edge on the finish, and a hint of alcoholic warmth. But there’s also some minerality from the rocky soil here.

This had a very “oxidized” style, which at the moment was drinking nicely, like a much older wine — 10 or 15 years older! — although I have no idea how it will hold up in the long run.


Tartare of English Rose Veal with Violet Artichokes, Black Radish and Summer Truffle.


Bocconcini Mozzarella with Olive, Capers, Romero Peppers, and White Balsamic.


Sauté of Scottish Langoustine Tails with Parmesan Gnocchi and an Emulsion of Potato and Truffle. Very tasty!


Heirloom Tomatoes with Sheep’s Curd, Olive Oil, and Pea Shoots.


Lasagne of Dorset Crab with a Cappuccino of Shellfish and Champagne Foam.


Warm Salad of Potato with Truffle and Summer Beetroots.


1995 Bernard Faurie Hermitage Blanc. Martin brought this wine. It’s so rare and unusual that it’s not even listed on Cellartracker. It was drinking very nicely, showing the caramel complexity of a mature age-worthy white.


Roast Foe Gras with New Season Cherries and Pistachio Granola.


Hand Rolled Macaroni with Artichoke, New Seasons Girolles and Runner Beans.


Roast Monkfish with Girolles, Tomato, Basil Gnocchetti and Garlic.


Roast Fillet of Sea Bass with Girolles, Tomato, Basil Gnocchetti and Garlic.


2000 Domaine Ghislaine Barthod / Barthod-Noëllat Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Fuées. Burghound 88. Another gift from Martin. Finesse to burn here with outstanding elegance and purity. Very Chambolle in character with a pronounced minerality and the tannins have an almost chalky quality to them. The length here is excellent and this displays a certain vibrancy if not the same degree of richness as the Beaux Bruns.


Loin of Lamb with White Auergine Puree, Olives, Artichokes and Balsamic.


Croustillant of Girolles with Bay Milk Puree and Fresh Almond.


Tasting of Thymtamarre.


The associated bread.


1989 Forster Jesuitengarten Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese. Another wine from Martin. A lovely sticky. Like apricot nectar.


Brillat-Savarin Cheesecake with English Gooseberries and Elderflower Sorbet.


Apricot Souffle with Camomile Ice Cream.


And the added sauce.


Echoing the amuses are the Petit Fours. These are like super chocolate truffle rice crispy balls.


And a neat little “arrangement” of bon bons!

This was another great meal. The Square isn’t doing anything too radical, but it is delivering really excellent haut cuisine. There is a deft marriage here of both French and Italian techniques, which combined with a use of fresh English ingredients serves up a unique take on modern gastronomic cuisine. Every dish was approachable and well executed without any “failed experiments.” Service was also first rate. The wine list was good but pricey (no surprise for a London 2 star).

For more English dining reviews click here.

The glasses (filled with red Burgundy) each made a cool reflection pattern on the table

Related posts:

  1. Eating England – Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons
  2. Eating Florence – La Cantinetta Antinori
  3. Eating Florence – Caffe Pitti
  4. Eating Gaiole – Lo Sfizio di Bianchi
  5. Eating Siena – Trattoria Pepei
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: England, Food, London, Mayfair, Michelin, Restaurant Review, The Square, Wine

Untimed on the Cheap

Sep02

The E-Book versions of Untimed will be only $0.99 cents from Monday, September 2 through Friday the 13th! Take the plunge, it’s certainly a great deal.

Buy it on Amazon!

Tweet, share, like, follow, blog and grab a copy of my book. The trailer can be found here.

About Untimed

Charlie’s the kind of boy that no one notices. Hell, his own mother can’t remember his name. So when a mysterious clockwork man tries to kill him in modern day Philadelphia, and they tumble through a hole into 1725 London, Charlie realizes even the laws of time don’t take him seriously. Still, this isn’t all bad. Who needs school when you can learn about history first hand, like from Ben Franklin himself. And there’s this girl… Yvaine… another time traveler. All good. Except for the rules: boys only travel into the past and girls only into the future. And the baggage: Yvaine’s got a baby boy and more than her share of ex-boyfriends. Still, even if they screw up history — like accidentally let the founding father be killed — they can just time travel and fix it, right? But the future they return to is nothing like Charlie remembers. To set things right, he and his scrappy new girlfriend will have to race across the centuries, battling murderous machines from the future, jealous lovers, reluctant parents, and time itself.

“A masterful storyteller, Gavin builds a solid plot with believable characters.” — Kirkus
_
“Adventure, chemistry… and roller coaster plot are sure to appeal.” — Publishers Weekly
_
“Like science class in Las Vegas!” — FantasyLiterature.com

Buy Sample Characters Reviews Reviewer Info

20-Tyburn

Related posts:

  1. Untimed for Cheap!
  2. Untimed – $1.99 this week!
  3. Untimed starred in Publishers Weekly!
  4. Untimed Book Trailer
  5. Untimed officially for Sale!
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Untimed
Tagged as: Andy Gavin, E-book, sale, Time travel, Untimed
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