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Elite Dim Sum

Apr29

Location: 700 S Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 282-9998

Date: April 8, September 22, October 29, 2014, April 18, 2015, August 22, 2015, February 21, 2022, and many other times

Cuisine: Cantonese Dimsum

Rating: 31337

This post is a composite of several trips to Elite (necessary to get a true handle on its greatness). These include two 2015 Hedonist blowout brunches (with wine) and several with my brother (who is also a dimsum fiend).

Elite is clearly one of the top 2-3 dimsum places in the SGV (and hence all of Southern California). Many of our group think it’s the best one. Everything is made to order.

Elite is at the top of many people’s list.

The interior is upscale, but hardly the most modern. There are tanks hidden in the corner and they serve upscale Cantonese banquet in the evening.

Yay pictures!

A controversial thing about Elite is that they charge for sauce. $0.75 for the mustard on the left and $3 for the XO. The restaurant is so cheap, it hardly matters.

Spicy jellyfish. Not bad at all.

Chicken feet in house sauce. Not my thing, but some like it.

Har Gow (Crystal shrimp). Excellent versions of the standard.

Pork Shui-Mai. Also great versions of the classic.

Dumpling. Not sure which dumpling this was, but it had a blend of shrimp and veggies and other yummies all fried together inside.

Scallop Dumpling. This was one of the best scallop dumplings I’ve had. There are all sorts of trefy goodies in there.

Meat and Mushroom dumpling. Another cool shape. Delicious too.

Shark’s fin and red clam dumpling. Hopefully no actual sharkfin (feel bad for those finless sharks). However, this was a delightfully clammy dumpling.

Dumpling. This one had peanuts and some other seafood bits inside.

Fried shrimp dumpling. There is a mild white sauce behind. This dumpling had an interesting coconut flavor to the interior.

Shanghai Style Steamed Bun. We love XLB, and these particular examples were awesome. My brother and I snarfed a tin each on at least 2 trips.

“Free” Sauces. A sweet one on the left (for duck and the like) and the XLB sauce on the right.

Tofu wrap. Mostly vegetables wrapped in bean curd. Hot and soft and delicious.

Shrimp with chow fun roll. Basically one of the chow fun “slimes” cut into a cut roll.

Spinach pancake?

Golden Corn BBQ Pork Rice Noodle. Historically in our family we called these “slime.” This was some excellent slime.

Shrimp Rice Noodle. One of the most classic of the “slimes.” An excellent one too.

Crispy Shrimp Rice Noodle. I’ve never had a “slime” like this before. There was a big shrimp in here sort of Chinese tempura fried. Delicious.

Shredded Pork Rice Noodle. Not the best of the set.

Elite BBQ Pork Bun. Like a jelly donut, just filled instead with porky goodness!

The bun interiors.

Baked chicken bun. Delicious slightly sweet crunchy exterior top filled with chopped seasoned chicken meat.

Fried Meat Stuff Dumpling. With a title like that, I had to order. This was the chewy fried rice coating with sweet ground meat paste inside. Kinda delicious except it was fairly hollow (not enough filling).

Baked BBQ pork dumpling. Little flakey. pastry triangles stuffed with the usual red BBQ pork.

Fried shrimp ball with almond. This is the usual shrimp cake but coated in almond. It really added a nice texture. Quite fun.

Beef ball.

Macau style pork belly. What it looks like!

Chicken wings.

House Roasted Duck. The duck does not suck. In fact, it was great. There was that usual authentic Chinese bone factor, but the taste was first rate.

Spare Ribs. The fatty creepy-looking spare ribs.

Beef short rib in pepper sauce. Like a bulgolgi pepper-steak.

Pork “leg” with lotus root and peanuts. “leg” turned out to mean feet. Ick.

Soy sauce chicken. The usual mild and tender chicken.

Chinese Broccoli.

Some other slightly different green.

Buddhas delight.

Spicy mushroom caps. Just mushrooms in brown sauce. Didn’t seem spicy.

Sticky Rice Lotus Leaf Wrap. Also excellent. Full of goodies.

The rice interior.

Salty Fish Fried Rice. Not for everyone, but quite delicious to my taste (very umami).

Elite fried rice. A bit of everything.

Seafood Chow Mein. Those crispy little noodles I love soaked in a seafood sauce. Great noodle dish.

Beef chow mein. Excellent, although I liked the seafood a bit better.

Salt and pepper prawns. Eat them shell and all giant prawns. Yum.

The Lobster Noodle was only $16. Unfortunately, it was the weakest dish. The meat itself was okay, but the sauce was bland and the noodles over cooked. We barely ate the noodles (although we did finish the lobster).

Durian bun. One of the best Durian buns I’ve had. With a really creamy mushy (banana texture) interior with that weird but yummy Durian flavor (rotten bananas with pineapple and petrol?)

Macau Egg Tart. Nice custard pies. Just a smidgen inferior to Shanghai #1’s version, but still fabulous.

Milk Buns. Filled with almond creme filling. Scrumptious.

A custard filled bun.

Almond milk pastry. Under that pastry shell is a sweet almond soup.

All in all, Elite really lives up to the name, serving some seriously tasty classic Cantonese Dimsum. They also have a great banquet menu for evenings. Some of the set banquets even go up to $2800 (a table?) and involve all sorts of epic dishes like suckling pig with foie gras!

A large percentage of my fiends who go to dimsum think it’s the best in the SGV. I personally think it’s about tied with King Hua. Certainly Elite, King Hua, and Lunasia are at the top, and there is a tier slightly below including Sea Harbor and maybe Shi Hai.

For more Chinese dining reviews click here.

On our April 18, 2015 brunch we had three tables in a private room and a lot of wine. Since it’s pointless to “pair” it, I’ll just list the bottles.

NV Angéline Godel Champagne.

1998 Deutz Champagne Blanc de Blancs. JG 92+. Tart and crisp. Clean and refreshing but not a lot of subtle aged champagne flavors poking out.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Réserve. VM 90. Light, bright gold. Fresh red berries, orange zest and white flowers on the perfumed nose. Juicy and precise, offering energetic redcurrant and blood orange flavors that show good concentration and a supple texture. A mineral nuance adds bite to the finish, with the floral note echoing.

NV Taittinger Champagne La Française Brut. Burghound 88. An overtly yeasty nose speaks of apple and a hint of petrol. There is good verve to the delicious if only moderately complex flavors that are underpinned by a medium level of effervescence on the clean and reasonably dry finish. This is one of those wines that has no faults but no major attributes either.

1996 Kistler Chardonnay Dutton Ranch. VM 94. Green-gold. Extraordinarily penetrating, musky, Burgundian aromas are a cross between Chassagne truffle and herbs and Meursault roasted grain and toasted nuts (and the structure is akin to that of a Puligny). Great purity and intensity of fruit in the mouth; sharply focused and restrained today, with near-perfect fruit/acid balance. Finishes with terrific grip and palate-staining persistence.

2013 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Chardonnay Karia. 87 points. Aromatic nose with barrel notes and lemon. Medium weight textured palate emulates the bouquet, fairly pure fruit leads to a medium plus finish. Very toasty but fruit has some elegance.

2012 Bedrock Wine Co. Heritage Compagni Portis. VM 91. Melon, white pears, green pears, mint and jasmine lift out of the glass in the 2012 White Compagni Portis Heritage, which emerges from a site planted in 1954. This crisp, beautifully aromatic white field blend is an excellent choice for drinking over the next few years.

2011 Liquid Farm Chardonnay Golden Slope. VM 92. Light yellow-gold. Heady, complex scents of poached pear, lemon curd, toasty lees and iodine, with a bright floral quality gaining strength with air. Sappy, penetrating orchard fruit and candied ginger flavors stain the palate, with notes of anise, honey and smoky minerals contributing complexity. Powerful yet lithe chardonnay with superb finishing focus and spicy persistence. I’d bet on this wine as a cellar candidate.

2012 Liquid Farm Chardonnay White Hill. VM 92. The 2012 Chardonnay White Hill is bright, focused and tightly wound. Lemon peel, crushed rocks, pear and smoke jump from the glass as the 2012 shows off its energetic personality. The style is focused and taut, especially with the style of the Sta. Rita Hills. Imagine a Chablis like sense of energy with the depth and radiance of California. If that sounds like an appealing combination, well, it is! the 2012 was done mostly in neutral oak, with some of the wine seeing only stainless steel.

2012 Henri Boillot Puligny-Montrachet. Burghound 89. Here too there is enough reduction to push what appears to be ripe fruit to the background. The pure and well-detailed middle weight flavors possess a highly seductive mouth feel along with lovely balance and excellent persistence for a villages level wine. The class of a fine Puligny is very much in evidence and this is worth your attention.

2010 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc. VM 91-4. Pale straw-yellow. Lemon, chamomile, vanilla, ginger and a faint lactic nuance on the restrained, minerally nose. Pliant and sweet in the mouth, offering good concentration and fat to the vinous lemon, guava and grapefruit flavors. Very minerally on the long finish, showing lingering notes of peach, vanilla and coconut. This should age splendidly and will probably be at its best between 2020 and 2035.

From my cellar: 2010 Domaine de Saint-Just Saumur Chateau Brézé – Clos David. 90 points. A geeky dry Chenin I wanted to try with dimsum. Turned out to work well, bright and floral at the same time. Peach and pear.

1999 Bert Simon Serriger Herrenberg Riesling Auslese. 93 points. Medium yellow in color. Lovely aromas of sweet summer orchard pit fruit compote, lemon-grass, flint, hint of petrol and honeysuckle. A thick, viscous palate shows good depth to the quite cooked yellow fruits, creamy vanilla poached pears and minerals on a long and sweet finish.

2009 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese. VM 93. Exotic bouquet of passion fruit and mango, lifted by fine floral nuances. The wine’s luscious peach pit flavor and velvety texture are given shape and verve by a finely chiseled minerality. Dense yet airy, this spatlese boasts great refinement and stunning length. One of the stars of the vintage.

2013 Dönnhoff Norheimer Kirschheck Riesling Spätlese. VM 91. Brilliant aromas and flavors of apple, cherry blossom and oyster shell enlivened by herbal spices. At once dense and juicy, with finely chiseled acidity refreshing the palate. This delicate, well-balanced Riesling finishes in its own pure and invigorating style. While this is often my favorite Spätlese at this estate, my nod this year goes to the Hermannshöhle.

2006 Louis Guntrum Niersteiner Rehbach Riesling Spätlese. 85 points.

2010 Domaine Joseph Roty Marsannay. Burghound 88. Moderate wood still allows the ripe aromas of black cherry, cassis and a hint of underbrush to show through. There is a lovely vibrancy to the cool and delicious flavors that possess solid depth and length in the context of the appellation. This should drink well early on if desired yet reward mid-term cellaring as well.

1976 Bonneau du Martray Corton. 93 points. Very mature, but with a good bit of fruit and all sorts of secondary and tertiary complexity.

2012 Freestone (Joseph Phelps) Pinot Noir Freestone Vineyards. Burghound 89. There is a trace of menthol to the notably ripe aromas of essence of black cherry and plum scents. The medium-bodied and solidly well-concentrated flavors possess a lush and very round mouth feel before terminating in a dusty and generously proportioned finish. The supporting tannins are well-integrated and while there isn’t great depth at present the underlying material is such that more should develop with a few years of bottle age.

2012 Bedrock Wine Co. Zinfandel Old Vine. VM 90. Vivid ruby. Pungent, high-pitched aromas of cherry skin, raspberry, licorice and lavender, with a bright mineral topnote. Juicy and incisive, with sappy dark berry and bitter cherry flavors. Supple tannins add grip to the spicy, floral finish.

Supervising the remains. The two of us ate EVERYTHING pictured above!

A sign of of the authentic Chinese kitchen

By: agavin
Comments (7)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Cantonese cuisine, China, Chinese cuisine, dimsum, Elite Restaurant, Har Gow, hedonists, Hong Kong, Monterey Park, Monterey Park California, XO sauce

Game of Thrones – Episode 34

Apr27

Game of Thrones

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Watched: Episode 34 – April 27, 2014

Title: Oathkeeper

Summary: Good stuff

ANY CHARACTER HERE

All the best swords have names, and so it is with this episode. This isn’t at first glance a flashy episode full of big events, but it is a pivotal one in which changes set in motion by recent events take clear new turns. As usual, I’ll break down the threads into their sub plots for discussion.

Dany – The translator girl is teaching Grey Worm the common tongue, which is really an excuse for a bit of characterization. And this week’s Dany section is as much about Grey Worm, slavery, and Dany’s relationship to the institution than about her per se. Next, Grey Worm and other Unsullied break into the sewers of Meeren and creep through to ferment a slave rebellion. As usual with huge events like this, it’s told in anemic TV style. Slaves plotting. Grey Worm giving them a speech about freedom. A master being ambushed in the streets, then before we know it, the Masters are in change and Dany is in charge of the city (which looks suspiciously like Dubrovnik again – that Croatian limestone is very obvious). The CGI shots of the ziggurats and the sprawling city are pretty awesome. Dany doesn’t go easy on the Masters either. The scope of these shots elevate the whole thing and help us forget the slapdash fall of the city. As we pan back, a giant dragon banner covers the enormous harpy.

Conquering is like cake on a TV budget

Sansa – Is on the boat with Littlefinger. Apparently, they’re heading toward the Eerie and his upcoming nuptials to crazy Lysa. The show, as I predicted, is MUCH more obvious about the plotting. Littlefinger confesses to his involvement in Joff’s death, discusses the poison necklace and alludes to his allies. But what’s more interesting are the continuing reveals with regard to his cynical political philosophy. His strategy of long sighted planning, risk taking, and unpredictable grand ambition is quite interesting.

Margery – Talks more in that garden we’ve seen a hundred times before (it’s in Trestino Croatia, I’ve been there). In post-modern fashion, Olena jokes about her repetitious strolls – which make sense given that 9/10 times we’ve seen her it’s here. Again, being MUCH more straightforward, Olena all but confesses to murdering Joff. Then she gives Marg more advice about taking control of Tommen. This seems more for the audience’s benefit, as Marg has proven an exceptional handler in the past.

She visits Tommen in the night (how she got around the Kingsguard we’ll never know). Just as her tailored approach worked for Joff, she takes on a new soft style that has Tommen quickly eating out of her hand. For a 32 year-old, they manage to make her engagement to this 10 year-old boy seem only medium perverse.

Plus, Ser Pounce makes his on screen debut!

Will number three be the one?

Jaime – Has the most complex arc this episode (particularly given the title). He is still practicing out by the sea with Bronn, and getting better too. Bronn pulls off one of his most excellent signature moves and uses Jaime’s own gold hand to beat him with. But perhaps even better is how he guilt trips Jaime about his obligations to Tyrion.

So Jaime drags himself down to the dungeon so they can exchange droll remarks. The dialog is first rate as usual. We are reminded about Sansa, so later when Cersei summons Jaime. The points of conflict are clear: Jaime swore an oath to protect Sansa. Cersei loathes the girl and is convinced she helped kill Joff. Jaime thinks Tyrion innocent. Cersei has only blind hated. In this moment, Jaime realizes his old world is dead.

At least I still have my leather coat

So he brings Brienne in and regifts her the gift worth regifting: his sword made from Ice, and charges her to find Sansa and keep her safe (plus, she gets bonus armor and Pod as her new squire). This rolls into her departure, in what is an emotional scene. They name the sword Oathkeeper (bringing a tear to my geek eye) and part. Both actors do a fabulous job. The complicated love, respect, and vast unsaidness hangs palpably between them.

Your horse is ready, sir… I mean, ma’am

Jon – Back at Castle Black, Jon is teaching some new recruits. One of them looks a lot like Locke (the dude who chopped off Jaime’s hand), which isn’t a coincidence, as it is Locke, come to ferret out the location of Bran. This is a nice complexity (winding together plots) that isn’t in the books. Jon continues to spar verbally with Thorne and his toady Slynt, but doesn’t rise to the bait. Sam frets about Gilly. But Jon is given permission to recruit for his Craster raid (even if Thorne’s motives are black). This whole adventure isn’t in the books either. He gives a speech, but his charisma is a bit lacking. Even so, his friends (and the evil Locke) join.

Jon Snow never bothered me anyway

Bran – At Craster’s the mutineers are doing a good job proving their vileness. Their leader drinks from Mormont’s skull (poor guy) while his men gang rape Craster’s “wives.” Those poor girls went from the frying pan to the fire. When an old one brings in a baby boy, they go into a religious frenzy about offering him to the gods. The guy isn’t exactly Mother Theresa, so he’s all for it. Somehow, the thugs also captured Ghost, who Jon Snow doesn’t seem to be stressing about. This feels in contrast to the books — and Jon is a Warg after all — so it doesn’t make too much sense.

But Bran’s more up on his Wolf side, because when he hears the baby in the woods (left out as White Walker Snack), he saddles up inside Summer, finds Ghost, and gets the wolf caught. Then himself and his companions. So much for either Meera’s tracking OR fighting skills!

And Bran isn’t exactly a pillar of strength under interrogation because he soon spills his identity to the loathsome group. This whole section is new, but as it also ties together two threads and gives Bran something interesting to do, I’m all for it.

Hodor has better common sense

White Walkers – Now what gets really interesting here is the last scene, where a white walker, carrying the baby, brings him out to some kind of frozen citadel and a ring of icicles and an ice altar. There, another walker turns the baby’s eyes blue. What this all means, we have no idea, but it’s the first we’ve seen of the Walkers in some time, and a glimpse into their magics the book never reveals. Hell, I’ve read them three times and the difference between Wraiths, Walkers, and Cold Hands is still totally unclear.

Anyway, I thought it a great episode. The Wall and beyond part was interesting, but the Jaime section was really good. Oathkeeper!

If you liked this post, follow me at:

My novels: The Darkening Dream and Untimed

or all my Game of Thrones posts or episode reviews:

Season 1: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]

Season 2: [11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20]

Season 3: [21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30]

Season 4: [31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40]

Season 5: [41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50]

Season 6: [51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57]

Oh, and you have to watch this “Let it GOT” (Frozen GOT mashup!):

By: agavin
Comments (4)

Posted in: Television

Tagged as: A Song of Ice and Fire, Episode 34, Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin, HBO, List of A Song of Ice and Fire characters, Season 4, Season 4 Episode 4, Television

Oxymoron? – Upscale Street Food

Apr25

Restaurant: Nha Hang Ngon

Location: Hanoi

Date: March 27, 2014

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Great Upscale Street Food

Our third city in Vietnam is bustling Hanoi — and I mean bustling. This city has the pounding pulse of a jack rabbit on speed.

Our investigations brought us to Nha Hang Ngon which is a small chain of upscale street food (again!).

The setting is a cool old colonial courtyard house.

If anything, this menu is even bigger than some of the others!

Crispy pork and shrimp spring rolls. These were the best fried rolls I had on the trip. Fabulous.

A fresh spring roll variant, I think with roast pork and crab. Also great.

Fried pork wontons. Delicious, but tasted of fry (big surprise!)

Egg pancake stuffed with shrimp. This was rolled with vegetables in rice paper too.

An accidental order was this duck soup, which was a sort of egg drop.

Beef Pho. A more classic beef pho with noodles, beef, herbs, etc.

Green papaya salad. These fresh Vietnamese salads are incredibly delicious.

Salad with shrimp and fiddler crab.

Green salad. Sort of a western version. No dressing was apparent.

Coconut and shrimp salad. Somehow that shaved stuff is from the coconut tree. I don’t know what part.

Vietnamese BBQ Beef (Nha Trang Style). This apparently is a classic. The beef was tender and tasty. There is an incredibly salty fish salt and optional french bread to put it on.

Steak frites. I thought this was a Banh Mi, but it ended up being a pan fried filet mignon and fries. Not bad though.

And it came with bread, and various dipping sauces. The orange one was hot (and good).

Grilled sea-bass in banana leaf. A nice grilled fish.

Fried squid. What passes for calamari here. Pretty good though.

Shrimp. I don’t remember what kind but they were extremely tasty.

Vermicelli with shrimp. Delicious, as most Vietnamese noodle dishes are.

Wide rice noodles with beef.

Pad Vietnam. I made up the name, but this dish is essentially Pad Thai. It was delicious. You still the ingredients together. We ordered it twice.

Taro Sticky Sweet Soup with coconut milk. The concept is weird, but it was pretty delicious.

Jelly, water chestnut-tapioca pearls and coconut milk. A bit strange, but pleasant enough.

Fresh persimmon? Very interesting complex flavor, like an apple pie.

bundles of noodles

This place was great and we had a fun time. The food wasn’t quite as on point as at the other two upscale street food restaurants we found, but they have a monster menu and it was super tasty.

Apparently the woman is a famous Vietnamese model. Evidently she likes the place too.

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: eating-vietnam, hanoi, Street Food, Vietnam, Vietnamese cuisine

Hedonists go to Beijing

Apr22

Restaurant: Beijing Resteraunt

Location: 250 W Valley Blvd. Ste B2. San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 570-8598

Date: April 20 & Sept 7, 2014 & May 30, 2015 & March 3, 2019

Cuisine: Beijing Style Chinese

Rating: Really tasty

Ah, the riches of the SGV (San Gabriel Valley), so many delicious Chinese regional cuisines to chose from. Tonight’s entry is Beijing Restaurant, in the very same minimall as Shanghai #1.

Boiled peanuts are a traditional opener all across China.

From my cellar: 1994 Ulrich Langguth Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Auslese. 92 points. Tons of petrol, still sweet, but not too sweet. A great wine with this food.

Cold cabbage salad (3/3/19). Like Chinese coleslaw, quite delicious actually and very refreshing.

Cold cucumber salad (3/3/19). Not quite as good as the cabbage salad, but very good, with a cucumber cilantro taste.

Cold garlic pork (3/3/19). Slices of roast pork and a garlic sauce.

Shredded potato. Cold. The “mild” version of this dish. Like vinegar potato sticks.

Squirrel fish (3/3/19). Fried whole fish with tangy sweet and sour sauce. Nice.

Fried sweet garlic fish. I used to get this dish as a kid at a restaurant called Szechuan in DC. I don’t think it’s actually a Schezuan dish, but it Beijing’s version was delicious. Like fish and chips in goopy sweet sauce. Doesn’t sound so great, but it is.

Lobster (3/3/19). Lobster with garlic in a light breading. Tasty.

2005 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel. 92 points. This was beautiful and in a great spot. An expressive nose that struck a fine balance between expressive floral notes, vibrant fruit, and chalk. On the palate the wine exploded in the mid-palate with a melange of stone & tropical fruits with a long mineral driven finish. Outstanding, my favorite Riesling of the night.

Meat pancakes. Sort of like a scallion pancake (and there are scallions inside).

But also one of those delicious Chinese meat patties (pork or beef?). Oily and scrumptious.

Leek pie. The vegetarian variant.

1990 Zind-Humbrecht Tokay Pinot Gris Vieilles Vignes. 90 points. Medium yellow in color this seems to be an off bottle. Very earthy on the nose, maybe too much so. Very dry. Not a terrible wine but not what this wine should be.

Peking duck (3/3/19). The meat carved in that style with a bit of skin on each piece. Pancakes and the usual scallions, cucumber, and hoisin. A very solid duck. Not as good as in Beijing, but very good.

Duck meat in soy sauce (3/3/19). Also with the duck came this Shanghai-esque dish with various duck meat in a sweet soy sauce. Lots of gamey duck taste. Delicious.

Eggs and pork. This has to be a homestyle dish. Scrambled eggs, pork, in a sweet and sour sauce. In fact, it tasted like great hot and soul soup. Really, really fabulous. Not fancy, just fabulous.

Eggs and tomato. Again, the vegetarian variant.

2012 Loosen Bros. Riesling. 84 points. Too sweet for me. Nose is full of flowery notes and little bit of honey. Short finish.

Cumin lamb. A fine version of this typical Western Chinese dish.

2012 Weingut Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Berg Roseneck Riesling Spätlese. IWC 94. Seductive aromas of mango, banana, sweet herbs and honey. Rich, spicy tropical fruit flavors show a vague hint of botrytis and creamy depth. Certainly a touch on the sweet side, but nicely balanced and intriguingly long, this is one of the best spatleses of the vintage.

Lamb blintzes. I don’t know what else to call them. Inside the panfried crepe was a lamb version of that ground meat yummy stuff.

Meat pies. A different shaped take on the same basic ingredients, in this case pork and leeks, like in a potsticker. This has a higher meat to dough ratio and the thick skin holds in the yummy juices, so is one of the best.

Dry hot pot. This wasn’t actually ours, they just put it on our table by accident for a second.

Dry hot pot (3/3/19). You can pick what goes in here. I added bean curd, luncheon meat, wood ear mushroom, lotus root, etc. It had a great flavor and nice crisp textures.

2012 A.J. Adam Hofberg Riesling Kabinett. IWC 89. Fresh bouquet of pear, apple blossom and lemon zest. Delicately sweet on the palate, with a nice interplay of apricot and luscious citricity. Lip-smacking elegance on an appealing finish. A textbook kabinett.

Schezuan chicken. A drier peanut free kung pao. Might sometimes be called twice cooked. This had a LOT of taste, and both red Schezuan peppers (heaven facing?) and Schezuan peppercorns — for that tongue numbing effect.

Kung Pao Chicken. A more straight up version with softer meat chunks and the peanuts.

Cumin Lamb. With cilantro and onion. Really tasty dish.

Meat balls and cabbage (3/3/19). Not sure I’ve had this exact variant before. Meatballs were slightly sweet. I enjoyed it, as I usually like Chinese cabbage dishes and this was even better with the meat balls.

Soy sauce fried rice. Very tasty, with shrimp, egg, and bits of a spam like stuff in there.

Pork dumplings. These aren’t the lightest or most elegant dumpling I’ve ever had, but with a little vinegar they were pretty delicious.

Crystal shrimp. This hot pot contained all sorts of Schezuan pepper goodness, cabbage, and…

These flavorful little shrimp. The sauce was awesome over rice too.

2006 Clarendon Hills Grenache Old Vines Romas. IWC 94. Vivid ruby. Exotic Asian spices and smoky minerals accent fresh raspberry and boysenberry on the nose; shows more perfumed anise, patchouli and vanilla notes with aeration. Sweet black raspberry and cherry-vanilla flavors are sharpened by tangy minerals but betray no rough edges. This really stains the palate, leaving deep dark berry liqueur and candied floral notes behind, eventually. This is irresistible now.

Lamb burger. Roast lamb on a weird Western Chinese bread. The meat was tasty, the bread kinda heavy.

Shrimp and Spam. The same shrimp, and the yummy spam-like stuff in a dry hot pot.

Spareribs. Tasty hot cumin laced fried pork ribs.

Pork Noodles. The noodles were a little heavy and pan fried, but it was certainly tasty. Green beans, garlic, and pork round it out.

Cabbage and egg? Another homestyle dish of cabbage, egg, pork, mushrooms, and maybe even some spam. Really tasty tough.

Toothpick lamb. Another lamb dish, very similar to the skewers.

Cabbage. I have to say, this was probably the best cabbage dish I’ve ever had. How can a vegetable this humble be so tasty? Maybe it was the porky soy sauce.

Broccoli with garlic. Pretty straight up.

Eggplant in garlic sauce (3/3/19). A nice version of this dish. Not the spicy kind, which I prefer slightly, but still good.

String beans (3/3/19). Always like this dish. Solid version, some crunch on the beans.

Ma Po Tofu. Always one of my favorite dishes. This version had that numbing delicious schezuan flavor. It wasn’t super hot though.

Xia Xia Noodles. You mix all the stuff together and…

This savory concoction emerges. The sauce is a sort of sweet and tangy meat sauce.

Roast Mutton. Delicious fatty cuts of BBQ lamb (mutton being older sheep) with a spicy powder. Quite rich and flavorful.

Crispy beef. The pure form of this classic beef and celery dish.

Crispy potatoes. Like chinese potato sticks! Nice and very crispy.

Vermicelli. This was a nice savory dish with bits of pork and a silken texture to the noodles.

Some gelato by me on 3/3/19:

Noce e Heath Gelato – trying out my new Northern Italian Walnut I decided it needed something else, and something sweet, so Heath bar seemed to fit the bill — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #walnut #noce #HeathBar #heath #toffee

Danish Lakrids Licorice Gelato – I haven’t made this in 2 years and wanted to update the recipe. Polarizing, but surprisingly addictive — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #lakrids licorice #LoveItOrHateIt

Apricot Aperol Sorbetto – This is an old RnR favorite but I haven’t made it a while. Apricots from Avignon — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #sorbetto #apricot #aperol

Overall, I was very impressed with Beijing Restaurant. My first two feasts here ran $27 and $24 each with tax and a huge tip. The third was $38, but we ordered 12 dishes for 4 people! It wasn’t fancy, but nearly every dish was incredibly tasty. Really good fun. The cuisine has a western feel, lots of Schezuan elements and dishes. I love that stuff. It’s also breadier, or doughier than many other areas of China.

For more LA Chinese reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beijing Resteraunt, BYOG, Chinese cuisine, Gelato, hedonists, San Gabriel, San Gabriel California

Game of Thrones – Episode 33

Apr20

Game of Thrones

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Watched: Episode 33 – April 20, 2014

Title: Breaker of Chains

Summary: Good stuff

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Last week left us on the edge of our seats, either saddened at the loss of our favorite villain, or cackling in glee. Unlike the previous three seasons where the show really takes a while to get going, this time around we almost opened with huge events. Now let’s see how the pieces sort out. This is episode that covers a lot of threads, and none in great depth.

Sansa – Joff leers at us in death, blood seeping from his nose. Cersei screams accusations at Tyrion and Sansa is pulled away from the wedding by Ser Dontos. Last week, it wasn’t even until the second viewing that I noticed this significant little bit. As Tywin orders the city on lockdown, Dontos rushes her away, into the streets, through Dubrovnik (achem, Kings Landing) to the port and a waiting row boat. Then, covered by a convenient and sudden fog, out to a ship and up to… Littlefinger. You kinda had to know that where Kings Landing assassination is concerned, LF is likely to be involved. Poor Dontos earns a crossbow in the heart for his troubles and Sansa a lecture on the reality of her position. Poor girl. She just can’t help but be the pawn.

Even her funeral wear sports cleavage

Marg and Olena – chat in their favorite botanical garden. Olena tries to put a good spin on it — well she ought to, as she certainly had some hand in it. I liked the humanness that Marg displays here. Sometimes she comes off as cold and manipulative, but I don’t really think that’s (entirely) her.

Cersei – Attends the body of Joffery in the sept, laid out much as Lord Arryn was with the weird eye stones. Tywin, ever the opportunist, uses the chance to give Tommen (looking a lot older) a rather truth but manipulative lecture on the nature of kingship. As grandfather and the new boy king leave, Jaime enters and comforts his sister. They kiss, she pushes him away (after a bit), and he grows angry and takes her (only partially against her will) right there. Rather unsavory business, and I’m not sure how I feel about it.

The family that sleeps together stays together

Arya and the Hound – There seems to be a pissing theme this week, as the hound is watering the plants while she dines on radishes. Apparently, he’s heard of the Second Sons (led by the late Meero). A farmer and his daughter show up and Arya charms them and earns them a meal. It’s quite amusing to see the hound in a domestic situation, as he certainly isn’t big on the blessing before the meal. But the man offers him a job and he takes it — but next up he’s robbing them of their silver and dragging a furious Arya out of there. He may not be deliberately cruel, but apparently his code is “flexible.”

Code Smode

Sam and Gilly – After a quick survey of the sordid men in black, we’re treated to another of those charming Sam and Gilly scenes. Their “courtship” is kinda cute, as they clearly both have a thing for each other, but are unable to really get down to business. Sam decides that leaving her in the castle with a hundred former rapers is a bad idea so smuggles her out to Mole Town to live with some whores in a total sh**thole. I think she knows he means well, but sigh…

Davos and Stannis – have out the only conversation they ever seem to have, where Davos cautions against anything having to do with the Red Lady and Stannis argues he has no choice. Davos then visits Stannis’ daughter (the one with the grayscale face) and while taking in a reading lesson comes upon an idea. Somehow he plans to use the iron bank to try to help Stannis.

Certainly fun to watch this fellow

Oberyn – is back in the brothel (lots of them this week) getting it on with Ellaria Sand and several whores of both sexes. He amuses us with a speech on bisexuality. Really, the writing of GOT has a slightly Shakespearean quality, as characters love a good soliloquy. This amusement is interrupted by Tywin, who sure knows how to turn a bad situation to his advantage. He skillfully feels out Oberyn as he recruits him as a judge in Tyrion’s trial and as a small council member.

Tyrion – is visited in prison by his squire Pod. The poor guys is rather likeable and Tyrion, despite his captivity (again) is in fine form as usual. They exchange facts and set the stage for his coming trial. Damned by Cersei, his wife missing, three judges in Tywin’s pocket. It doesn’t look good. He does right by Pod, continuing to make him the most likable of Lannisters.

Ygrite – and the wildlings raid a village up by the wall. The poor villagers don’t have a chance. She shoots a bunch. Giantsbane slices. And the Thenns prepare to roast up a few for supper.

John – When word of the attach reaches Castle Black, John and the other senior Crows aren’t fooled into attacking. They are too few men. But when his friends return from Crasters, revealing that some of the rebel Crows are holed up there and will betray their weakness to Mance and the Wildings, they may have to move to action.

Tastes like chicken

Dany – Approaches Meeren by way of the Dalmatian coast. She parks her big CG army in from of the lovely big CG city (nice pyramids and love that harpy gate). And here comes more pissing. The city sends out a champion and we’re treated to the cock-cam view of him pissing at Dany’s army. Dario gets the honor of fighting, and pulls a Bronn by stabbing the horsing and beheading the rider. Dany then gives a surprisingly effective speech to the slaves, made all the more so by being in Valyrian. This technique of using the subtitled foreign tongue is highly effective. It almost brought a tear to my eye. If it’d been in English the speech would have been cheesy. Of and the music helped. Liked the catapults and the barrels smashing against those walls of Dubrovnik.

He won the pissing contest

Overall, not a big centerpiece episode, but an enjoyable one nonetheless. Things are in motion again after last week stirred up the pot.

Note: piss count was 3 tonight.

If you liked this post, follow me at:

My novels: The Darkening Dream and Untimed

or all my Game of Thrones posts or episode reviews:

Season 1: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]

Season 2: [11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20]

Season 3: [21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30]

Season 4: [31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40]

Season 5: [41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50]

Season 6: [51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57]

HBO’s official inside the episode:

By: agavin
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Posted in: Television

Tagged as: A Song of Ice Fire, Episode 33, Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin, HBO, List of A Song of Ice and Fire characters, Season 4, Season 4 Episode 3, Television, Tyrion, World of A Song of Ice and Fire

Adventures in Street Food

Apr18

Restaurant: Morning Glory Street Food Restaurant

Location: Hoi An

Date: March 25, 2014

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Super Yum

Everyone always talks about how great the street food is in Vietnam.

Things like crab fritters that have been sitting out for hours in the heat and humidity.

Or miscellaneous stuff waiting to assemble.

Our tasty maggot air dried meats.

Well, those of us who aren’t quite THAT adventurous (or don’t fancy a reasonable chance at several days glued to the toilet) might consider stepping up to $10-15 a person and the glory that is Morning Glory Street Food, a more “upscale” rendering of the classics.

The local beer. They don’t really like to sell you anything else. You can ask, but you’ll earn a snarl.

White Rose Dumplings. Famous soft steamed rice flour dumplings filled with ground shrimp. As promised, these are lighter than the traditional Chinese (Har Gow) variety.

Barbecued Pork with Rice Paper. Marinated BBQ pork with peanut sauce, fresh herbs, star fruit, and green banana.

As usual with these dishes, you roll up a spring roll.

Cao Lau noodles with marinated pork. The “classic” Hoi An dish with Japanese, Chinese, and French influences. Thick, homemade rice noodles with tender marinated pork, fresh herbs, and croutons in a light brother.

Not quite as good as the version we had the night before, but still delicious.

Banh Mi with Hoi An Sausage and marinated pork. A local version of the classic Vietnamese sandwich.

Fresh Mackerel in Banana Leaf. Cubes of marinated fresh mackerel with chopped wood-ear mushrooms, mung bean vermicelli, fresh turmeric and spices wrapped in banana leaves and chargrilled.

Very interesting AND tasty.

Chicken with ginger sauce. Stir fried chicken with ginger, onions and celery. Sort of like a Chinese American dish.

Papaya Salad with Sesame Beef. Shredded green papaya and fresh herbs topped with crispy dried roasted sesame beef. These “salads” the Vietnamese make are amazing.

Roast Duck Leg served with five space and shallot dressing and sticky rice. Yum!

Smoky eggplant with minced pork. I’m not usually a big fan of this kind of “mushy” eggplant, but this was great.

Prawn Curry. Five elements: sweet, sour, hot, bitter, and salty. Prawns, eggplant, poatoes, onions, lime leaves, lemongrass, and coconut milk.

Overall, this might have been the best meal we had in Vietnam, certainly in the top 2-3. While the cuisine isn’t “fancy” the combination of ingredients and fresh flavors came together in a spectacular way.

For more Vietnam dining reviews, click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: dumpling, eating-vietnam, Hoi An, Street Food, Vietnam

Eating Hoi An – Riverside

Apr15

Restaurant: Anantara Hotel

Location: Hoi An

Date: March 25, 2014

Cuisine: International

Rating: Great Location

Our second hotel, in the scenic “ancient city” of Hoi An is the Anantara Hotel (a great hotel in general). Like most resort hotels, it features a buffet breakfast.

The second floor setting is amazing. A lovely breeze blows off the river beyond.

Various (semi) exotic juices.

Including this one I’ve never tried.

Lots of fresh fruit. Vietnam is a very wet and green place, and full of silty rivers, which means its fabulous farmland.

Fresh rambutans.

And Dragonfruit!

Not your everyday fruit salad.

The bananas here are little, but tasty.

Fresh yogurts.

Salad.

Cheese.

Cold cuts.

Packaged yogurts.

Cereal.

Pad Thai. On different days, this was different noodles and the like.

Congee again, and the requisite toppings.

Chicken.

bacon (two kinds).

Baked beans again, I guess for the Brits. And chicken sausage.

Pork sausage and pancakes.

An omelet bar.

Pickled vegetables (very good actually).

The Pho station! It’s never too early for Pho.

Here is the result.

Oh, and being a former French colony, Vietnam has great pastries.

And coffee.

Overall, this was a pleasant breakfast. If we hadn’t just come from the amazing Saigon Intercontinental one, it might even be great.

For more Vietnam dining reviews, click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Asia, eating-vietnam, Hoi An, Travel and Tourism, Vietnam

Game of Thrones – Episode 32

Apr13

Game of Thrones

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Watched: Episode 32 – April 13, 2014

Title: The Lion and the Rose

Summary: Martin has a thing for Weddings

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Episode 2 of the season takes a moment (or two) to fill in the characters left out of the premier before moving on to the royal wedding. We’ve been leading up to this “blessed event” for some time, so lets see how it stacks up compared to its predecessor, the infamous “Red Wedding.”

As usual, I’ll break down the episode into threads by character. Although this gets a little tricky in king’s landing.

Theon – The episode opens with Ramsay Snow (aka the Bastard of Bolton) hunting down an attractive girl through the forest. He’s joined by hounds, one of his bedwarmers with bow and arrow, and Theon, looking more than a little worse for wear (like a guy with a bad crack problem). The hunter girl shoots the other (is it the girl she was with in season 3?) and Ramsay sicks the hounds on the victim. As if we didn’t know he was a nut before…

There could be worse looking huntresses

Next, his father, Roose Bolton returns to the Dreadfort. As a nice nod to his story about the fat wife, we see her too. Turns out the guy who chopped off Jaime’s hand is a friend of the bastard — go figure. In conference Ramsay shows off Theon, now christened Reek. It’s gratifying that the show continues to unravel the books bizarre chronology into a more linear fashion. These reveals occur in book five, but are pulled forward to what is essentially the second half of book 3. George R’s expedient (at the time) choice to place character before chronology never really worked for me, so it’s good to see it back in order. But poor Reek.

Ty – dines with Jaime. If we have the dwarf and the cripple, where is the “mother of madness?” Jaime confesses he can’t fight and Ty sets him up with Bronn on a fishing platform near Dubrovnik. In any case, as both Bronn and Jaime are so much fun, they continue the sport together, which makes for a fine scene. This is a notable change from the book, which features the tongueless Paine as Jaime’s silent sparring partner. I’ve heard this has to do as much with that actor being ill 🙁 as with the writing per se. Still, Bronn is played so well, we won’t complain.

One of my favorite couples

Ty wanders the gardens with Varys (good to see the spider) and the eunuch tells him Shae has been seen by Cersei’s spies. They are apparently heading toward a wedding gift ceremony and Ty gives Joff a history book, but Joff, ever the twerp, uses his father’s gift, the other Valarian steel sword, to chop up the book: so it begins.

Ty tries to send Shae away. To get her to take him serious he has to play the butthead, even though he doesn’t want to. Shae is definitely much more developed than in the books.

Melisandre – is up to her usual tricks, burning a collection of Stannis’ relatives alive for heresy while his queen gloats on. They segue into discussion about Stannis’ daughter and then lady Mel visits the girl.

Not sure where the Mel/Stannis thing is going — AND I’ve read the books 2-3 times!

Bran – gets a very brief snippet, which isn’t too surprising given that he basically takes at least a 1,000 page leave of absence in the books. We are treated to some wolf cam and a bunch of trippy visions that work for me.

The Wedding – forms the bulk of this episode, at least half the screen time. The marriage itself, grand Sept wedding that it is, goes off smoothly enough. Marg somehow has imported a hairdresser from Versailles, as she’s sporting Marie Antoinette hair.

The style worked until the guillotine!

The transition from ceremony to reception includes another cute talk between Tywin and Lady Olena. Good fun as always, but not as amusing as their first.

Then on to the reception itself. As the production stated, this is a BIG scene. Virtually every character in King’s landing is there — and the sets look gorgeous. There are all sorts of nods going on. Loras and Oberyn. Cersei and several others. And no small share of threats. The royal pavilion seems rather Moorish in style, but despite the opulence, Joff is bored.

Nothing like a bored homicidal maniac at a party. Joff interrupts the eating and drinking to bring in a troop of dwarves playing the 5 (mostly) defeated kings. This little number, besides filling the air with tension thick enough to cut, is pretty medieval. Dwarf fools and performances were common enough, as was their bawdy irreverence. Tyrion does a bit to feed the fires of hatred between him and his uncle, but the lion’s share (haha) goes to Joff. The mad boy just won’t let it go. He heaps it on and on and on. Marg tries to diffuse it, at least twice, but I’ve been in this sort of situation myself (not at a royal wedding). It’s hard to stop that train once it gets going.

In the end… well we get to an end, for some. Certainly not all the doves in that pie made it…

All in all a great episode, fairly focused as it goes (at least in the second half), and centered around Tyrion (who is such a delight on screen). Unfortunately for me, I was so busy taking notes I didn’t get to enjoy it — which is why I’ll just have to watch it again.

Another excellent review of this episode here.

If you liked this post, follow me at:

My novels: The Darkening Dream and Untimed

or all my Game of Thrones posts or episode reviews:

Season 1: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]

Season 2: [11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20]

Season 3: [21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30]

Season 4: [31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40]

Season 5: [41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50]

Season 6: [51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57]

HBO’s official Inside the Episode:

By: agavin
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Posted in: Television

Tagged as: Emilia Clarke, Episode 32, Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin, HBO, Jaime, List of A Song of Ice and Fire characters, Peter Dinklage, Season 4, Season 4 Episode 32, Television, World of A Song of Ice and Fire

Burgundy at Providence

Apr10

Restaurant: Providence [1, 2]

Location: 5955 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038. (323) 460-4170

Date: April 9, 2014

Cuisine: Cal French

Rating: Awesome food

After the joyous chaos that was the last Hedonist epic Burgundy Dinner at Jiraffe, our fearless leader Yarom was under some pressure to reign things into a more manageable format with food more in keeping with the stellar wines (Jiraffe has very good food, but we just ordered 2 courses ala cart for 25+ wines!). So that lead us to Providence, which along with Melisse is one of LA’s best upscale restaurants.

This time we have a custom pre-arranged menu and a private room, plus only 12 people. All good things, as when you get more than 12 people it is hard to pour a single bottle of wine around (plus more than 12-14 wines is a little out of control).

And, we had our own full time Somm. We sure kept him busy as he was working furiously and non-stop from the moment we arrived until the end. Dealing with 12-14 wines, 150+ glasses, and all the associated management and pouring is a lot of work!

1978 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon. 97 RJ Wine. Light medium apricot gold color; beeswax, tart lemon, baked citrus, honey nose; tasty, gorgeous, medium bodied, rich, tart lemon, tart kumquat, mineral, tart apricot palate with great balance; long finish.

agavin: I found the wine to have an oxidized (mature) character. I was skeptical at first, but it REALLY grew on me. A great (very) mature Champagne. I wouldn’t hold though!

Our first amuse was a bit of “dark and stormy” jelly. Basically the rum cocktail in new form.

Scallop “taco.” This spicy leaf (nasturtium, a bit like shiso) contained a mixture of scallop and some grain. It was scrumptious. As Yarom puts it: “a 10!”.

Creme fresh with salmon crisps. The crisps are actually salmon skin. The Ikurka (salmon eggs) were incredibly fresh too.

Bacon pea soup. This little cappuccino was incredibly delicious. Super creamy it tasted strongly of bacon. Yummy little peas were in the bottom.

2005 Louis Latour Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 92. Compared to the opulence of the typical Criots, this is discreet to the point of being subtle but the aromatic breadth here is really quite impressive and is set of by a deft touch of wood and hints of anise and clove that can also be found on the rich, full and powerful flavors that possess plenty of mid-palate fat and dry extract yet the finish is clean, pure and well balanced. Often wines this big and ripe come across as heavy but this one isn’t.

agavin: Our bottle was badly premoxed. Tasted like dry sherry.

2005 Domaine Ramonet Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 91. An exotic, indeed even tropical fruit nose is trimmed in ample wood toast that introduces rich, full, forward and sweet flavors that possess excellent depth and density yet perhaps not quite the elegance and precision that I’m used to seeing with this wine. To be sure, it could just be an early stage and that this will tighten up with time in bottle but it’s unusually accessible at present. The benefit of the doubt is offered as the track record is too good not to do so.

agavin: What a difference. This had that strong reductive quality that I love in good white Burgundies. A young wine, but a nice long finish too.

Wild fluke (rhode island). Egg yolk emulsified with dashi, black truffle, crispy rice, cucumber.

Delicious. Lots of different ingredients, but when you got them all together it really sang with strong unami notes.

Fancy salt and butter. There was also an amazing bacon bread (not pictured).

2003 Louis Latour Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 92. This too is quite aromatically expressive and while this is no model of finesse either, both the aromatic and flavor profiles possess stunning complexity and in contrast to most big, sappy and muscular white, this manages to retain an unusually fine sense of balance and delivers a palate staining finish. It’s dramatic but there’s substance behind the size and weight.

agavin: Sorry Louis, 1 for 3. This bottle was also badly Premoxed.

2005 Morey-Blanc Montrachet. 93 ponts agavin. Much, much better than the Latour below this was too young, and a bit coiled tight, but a tasty wine with a long acid finish and a good bit of reduction.

2005 Louis Latour Montrachet. Burghound 94. Aromatically this resembles the Corton-Charlemagne with its backward, cool and reserved nose that offers a bit of everything including spice, brioche, brown butter, acacia blossom, pear, peach and even a hint of the exotic that introduces full-bodied, serious, textured, powerful and sleekly muscled flavors that are both classy and stylish, all wrapped in a hugely long finish. A dramatic and impressive Monty that will require ample patience as it’s not open for business today.

agavin: This bottle was in solid shape, and tasty enough, but truth be told, both the Ramonet Batard and the Morey Blanc were better wines.

Santa Barbara spot prawn. Spring greens, prawn jus, fennel. Yum. The prawn was perfectly cooked and the reddish (tomato, garlic?) sauce delicious. The salad factor was nice too.

1993 Domaine Ponsot Clos de la Roche Vieilles Vignes. Burghound 87. Despite this wine’s vaunted reputation, I have frankly never understood what all the excitement is about. It displays muted, earthy, somewhat dull fruit followed by medium weight, slightly woody flavors (though not new wood) underpinned by supple tannins and barely average length. To be sure, there is nothing wrong with the wine, it just fails to scale the heights achieved by many of the great Ponsot Clos de la Roche vintages of the past.

agavin: I agree with Meadows. This was an enjoyable (and probably slightly past prime) wine, but it was a bit a-kilter, a hair cloudy, with a little bitterness on the finish.

1997 Hubert Lignier Clos de la Roche. Burghound 91. A very ripe but not roasted nose of spicy red pinot fruit trimmed in subtle earth and underbrush notes leads to elegant and moderately powerful flavors that deliver much better than average delineation than is typically found in this vintage. This is not an espeically big or dense wine yet there is a lovely inner force and though the flavors have not quite arrived at their peak, neither are they too far off. I would hold for another 2 to 3 years and drink this over the ensuing 5 to 8.

agavin: A much nicer CDLR. This was young even, ripe, with still a bit of oak on it. Long singing fruit finish.

Risotto. Wild mushrooms, parmesan. This was a very mild risotto, and went very well with the wine. I actually thought it was the weakest dish, but it was still great, the food was just really on point tonight and it could have used a cheesier quality.

Live the fun!

1988 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Bonnes Mares. Burghound 87. Quite elegant and pure pinot aromas that don’t offer a great deal of complexity and the flavors are supple, rounded and while there is no astringency, there isn’t a great deal of Bonnes Mares character either. There is good balance and acceptable length but it is surprisingly light and forward for both the vintage and the appellation. Drinking well now.

agavin: Despite Meadow’s reserved rating, this was a really tasty wine. Lots of fruit and while it had powerful tannins, it didn’t have that coiled austere quality that so many 88s have.

1994 Domaine Leroy Clos Vougeot. RJ Wine 92. Slightly lighter medium red color with pale edges; focused, cherry nose; light medium bodied tart red fruit with sap; medium finish.

agavin: We loved this wine. It had that Leroy thing. Long, long finish, and lots of complexity. Pale strawberries. Really nice.

Wild Alaskan Halibut (Sitka). Turnip, jalapeno, puffed rice. A mild dish, but wonderfully cooked and the buttery sauce really made it delicious.

From my cellar: 1983 Domaine Clair-Daü Bonnes Mares. John Kapon 94. The 1983 Clair Dau Bonnes Mares was excellent, and another solid 1983, which I have been enjoying here and there over the past couple years. Black licorice dominated initially, opening up into nutty, Burgundian fruit. The flavors were also licorice, and the wine was fleshy and tasty with a nice finish, in a good spot and a good showing for this oft forgotten vintage in Burgundy.

agavin: I’m biased, as it was my wine and older (which I like), but this was clearly WOTN for me. I’m glad too because I have 4 more bottles. It really sung. Long, long berry finish.

2003 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Richebourg. Burghound 93. This too is very aromatically reserved with only glimpses of spicy and exotic perfume that speak of very ripe, even slightly surmature crushed berries, plum and spice because even though the nose is reticent, the intensity of the fruit is magnificent. The flavors are opulent and sumptuously proportioned with massive amounts of sap and dry extract that completely stains and coats the palate before exploding on the hugely long finish. Yes, this is a big, indeed enormous wine but one that never loses its sense of balance and the velvety backend largely buffers the very firm tannins. There is not necessarily great complexity yet but this is the one wine in the range that could easily surprise to the upside as the raw material here is exceptional and while the style is clearly particular relative to what it normally delivers, it has that “wow’ factor.

Bonus bottle from Larry: 1999 Faiveley Chambertin-Clos de Bèze. Burghound 93. Big, spicy and intense aromas are presently framed by more oak than this wine usually displays young yet there is such impressive density of both fruit and flavors that it should absorb it over the next couple of years. That niggle noted, this is very classy juice with terrific complexity, breed and excellent length. As such, while this should drink relatively early for a Clos de Bèze, the balance and overall harmony are such that I suspect this will live for a long time.

agavin: Meadows was pretty on here.

Liberty Farms duck (sonoma county). Zuckerman farms colossal asparagus, almond, morels. Wow, this was a great dish. Some of the best duck I’ve had (other than really good Peking duck) in a long time. Paired fabulously too.

Bonus bottle from Yarom: 1970 Château Bellevue Sauternes. 90 points. Very nice, very mature dessert juice.

Chocolate Marquise. Chocolate sorbet, candied nibs, creme chantilly. Seriously tasty. Chocolate, icing, and the powdery stuff added a nice bit of crunch.

Passion fruit jellies and peanut butter and jelly (strawberry?) macarons. They tasted like awesome PB&J.

Overall, a first rate evening. On of our best fancy Hedonist events yet as it was intimate and under control. The company and conversation were great.

The wines varied a bit from solid to spectacular. The way to really hit it in Burgundy is to go: great vintage, great producer, great vineyard, but because of the sky high cost, most of these wines hit on only 1 or 2 of these axises. Still, some of them were really lovely wines. Next time we should try Burghound score of 94+ and 1999 or older (for red).

The food was pretty awesome. I was skeptical before coming, as we didn’t have a ton of courses (last time I was here I had 12-16), but it ended up being enough food and really really delicious. The kitchen totally nailed it. Every dish was delicious. They also really took care of us. The private room was great, the Somm was great, table service was great. Rock on Providence!

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Allen Meadows, Bâtard-Montrachet, Bonnes Mares, Burgundy, Burgundy wine, hedonists, Montrachet, Providence, Richebourg, Wine

Better than Tangiers

Apr08

Restaurant: Tagine

Location: 132 N Robertson Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90211. (310) 360-7535

Date: June 20, 2014

Cuisine: Modern Moroccan

Rating: Tasty and on point

After a couple of weeks eating up Vietnam, Tagine makes my return to the LA dining scene for a “last minute” informal Hedonist gathering.

The restaurant takes traditional Moroccan cuisine, and instead of serving it up in a theatrical family style manner converts it to more modern plated dishes.

From my cellar: 2012 Comte Abbatucci Ajaccio Vieilles Vignes Faustine Blanc. agavin 90 points. Very pale straw color, faint hint of green. Sweet citrus nose. Maybe some white flowers. Lots and lots of crisp acid with a slight stoney bitterness of the medium long finish. Drank with homemade pesto Genovese. At its best with the food.

A series of delicious amuses. Goat cheese and date on a spoon, a pastry with some meat filling and a lovely soup.

Bastilla. A light layer of phyllo with Cornish hen and scrambled eggs sprinkled with saffron and powdered sugar. This is one of the Moroccan classics, and the flavors in this modernist mille-feuille take on it were awesome. I still kinda like the crispy pastry texture of the original, but this was good.

Marie-Pierre Manciat Mâcon Les Morizottes. Bright bright acid. Not a bad wine, but also not really the level of Chard I usually drink.

Black tiger shrimp. Herb-crusted tiger shrimp, served with sautéed vegetables and shitake mushroom. Not the biggest shrimp in the world, but delicious!

Farmer’s market beet salad. Diced red beets and shallots, marinated in house vinaigrette. Is what it is. Good beets.

Tomato and cucumber tartar. Diced Israeli cucumbers, tomatoes, and shallots in house vinaigrette. Topped with a scoop of lemon sorbet and fresh raspberries. This was nice, a fancy version of the classic Middle Eastern salad. Still, it’s basically marinated cucumbers and tomatoes.

The bread. Lol. Shot glass bread.

2003 Martinelli Pinot Noir Russian River Valley. 89 points. Not bad at all for a new world pinot. Still pretty oaked.

Sea bass tagine. Roasted pan sea bass with fingerling potatoes and sauteed mixed peppers, topped with a lemon sauce.

Vegetarian cous cous. By all reports delicious.

Farm raised lemon chicken couscous. Marinated chicken with preserved lemon, served with couscous.

From my cellar: 1999 Mastroberardino Taurasi Radici Riserva. 91 points. Fascinating, feral nose of wet fur and smokey dark Aglianico fruit. On the palate, brambly raspberry and earthy fruit with substantial tannins that soften after an hour or so. Virtually no sediment, and no sign that this is at all over the hill – still deep purple with a tiny trace of amber at the edge. Continually interesting, more rustic than refined, but not in a bad way. Delicious and well-matched with hearty food.

Lamb honey sauce tagine. Marinated lamb fore shank, finished with dates and prunes, served with couscous. Delicious, sweet and savory. Since I love sweet meat, this was great.

1992 Elderton Shiraz Single Vineyard Command. 92 points. Very nice. Still alot of fruit and oak, but turning earthy. Not a ton of spice, but drinking a bit more like a bordeaux, although alot more fruit and tasting younger than a similar age bordeaux. Best of the night (not that we had too many wines).

Colonial couscous. Quefta, lamb and chicken, served with mixed veggies and couscous.

Chocolate soup. Served with vanilla ice cream and baklava. Here the “soup” is being poured over the ice cream.

And a close up of the light crispy baklava.

The soup was delicious. It tasted like a great chocolate milkshake.

And we finished with some mint tea.

All in all, a fun evening and a tasty restaurant. They are a little pricey and “foo foo” for Moroccan, but it’s nice to try these flavors from a kitchen that is more on point. I’d be curious to see how the chef did at the same dishes in the traditional form factor.

(oh yeah, and the title refers not to a restaurant per se, but the fact that my one day in Morocco taught be that the city of Tangiers sucks — or at least their hostile “guides” do)

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: couscous, Fish and Seafood, hedonists, Moroccan Cuisine, Salad, shrimp, Tagine, Tajine, Wine

Game of Thrones – Episode 31

Apr06

Game of Thrones

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Watched: Episode 31 – April 6, 2014

Title: Two Swords

Summary: Excellent opening

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Here we are again at Game of Thrones season. The “previously scenes” always give one a clue what’s coming, and this time it reached all over the place to odds and ends, sometimes from a season or two ago (like Dontos) or the Ice setup for what’s about to come with this episode. Watching with my wife, who HAS read the books (years ago) and seen every episode, but still needed a “reminder” lecture on the background, it was ever more evident to me how gigantic the scope of this world and series is.

The episode is named “Two Swords” and it opens with Ice (which we haven’t seen in more than two years) pulled from its sheath and reforged into two new swords. Definitely symbolic of the “end” of the Stark line, and depressing enough as Tywin gloats over it.

As usual, I’ll break down the episode into threads by character. This gets a little tricky in king’s landing.

Jaime – is back in King’s Landing, but more out of his element than ever. He’s shaved and cleaned up, impressive again in King’s Guard regalia, but also gaunt and haunted. Tywin offers him a new sword (we don’t se that the other goes to Joff, or maybe that’s later) and they argue about his future. He clings to the idea of the King’s Guard and Tywin wants him back at Casterly Rock. Truth is, Tywin is fairly gracious in yielding to Jaime’s stubborn position — for him. This just begins the assault on Jaime’s naive assumption that he can resume his normal life. Twice people (his father and Joff) comment on the luck of one handed swordsmen.

Nothing like a sword in the good hand and a gold hand on the stump

In his next scene he is fitted with an awkward looking gold hand by Qyburn (being setup for his future roles). Cersei is there and they too argue over his future. He moves to resume their incestuous romance, but she rebukes him hard. From her point of view he left her. From his, events were beyond his control. The dialog is top notch as usual. Loras is referred to as a Pillowbiter, an amusing British slang. Next up it’ll be Featherspitter.

And later, when he and Brienne look down on Sansa, the giant female knight (looking even more awkward in her “finery”) takes him to task. Who is he? The old Jaime who didn’t take anything seriously? Or the man that went back for Brienne?

Tyrion – is also on edge. Interestingly we don’t have a scene between the brothers, but he has been tasked with greeting the party from Dorne come for the royal wedding (Joff and Marg). But the prince of Dorne isn’t there, sending instead his younger brother Oberyn (the Red Viper). Of course, this gives opportunity to end up in a brothel, presumably one of Littlefinger’s (who, along with Varys, Stannis, Bran, and the Ironborn, is one of the few characters who does NOT make an appearance in this episode). Oberyn has a great introduction, in typical Thrones Brothel style involving a good deal of nudity and some clear bisexuality (which if it was in the books was pretty subtle). He’s certainly fun as he gives some obnoxious Lannister men a bit of a MadMax quandary. This is mostly introduction, as afterward he and Tyrion talk, mostly to inform the audience of the Dorne position on things. Oh, and Ty as usual has great lines like “I partook, but now I’m married.”

Oberyn’s “friend”, BTW is a veteran of that other great HBO historical epic: Rome.

Oh dear, I’m sorry my family slaughtered yours

We continue to be updated on Tyrion’s precarious position. He tries to sooth Sansa (still reeling from the death of her mother and brother) and at the same time keep Shae happy. It isn’t working, and when Shae comes on to him hard he rebukes her (playing off the later interchange between Jaime and Cersei). This is new material from the books and is helping set up where Shae is going as a character. To good effect, as I never really bought that part of the otherwise amazing 3rd novel.

His tryst (even if avoided) is clearly taken in by one of Cersei’s annoying spies.

Dany – gets in a little R&R with her (now) giant CG dragons. Seems they’re getting a little unruly. I guess they weren’t properly cage trained. Jorah marches in and we are reintroduced to her host: Jorah, Dario, Barristan, the translator girl, Grey Worm, etc. This new Eric Bana Lookalike Dario sure is different from last year’s sensual interpretation. The scope on these shots seems big, although Dany’s countryside looks… well Croatian.

Later, marching toward Maureen, Dany and crew (an enormous CG snake of an army) discover a crucified girl pointing at Maureen. Just one of thousands. Really, we don’t get what Dany is exactly up to, as she seems to be heading anywhere but back to Westerous.

Pass the draco-biscuits please

Sansa – Is probably in one of the toughest positions, most notably because she doesn’t have a lot of options. Oh, and it is worth mentioning that her table table is made of Pietra dura and has a great view of the Adriatic. When Tryion tries to sooth her, he’s as witty as every: “She wanted to have me executed, but I admired her.” and “Prayer can be helpful, I hear.” Later, after being spied on by Jaime and Brienne she flees and runs into Ser Dontos, who she rescued forever again from Joff’s sadism. He volunteers his loyalty.

Ygritte – is back in the no mans land near the Wall and jousting verbally with Tormund Giantsbane. He gives her a hard time about now killing Jon, then a group of Thenns show up. They’re huge and scarred, with lots of manly attitude and a taste for human flesh. All in all icky.

Sam and Jon are back at Castle Black – but no one seems to take the Wildling threat seriously when Jon tries to warn them. In fact, he ends up being tried for the death of the Halfhand. We are reminded that Jonas Slynt is now up at the wall and that Measter Aeogon rules. Plus great lines like “none of us are free, we are all men of the Night’s Watch.”

I’ve done plenty wrong

The Tyrells – are plotting talking, and generally being good fun. Plus, behind them is a hilarious statue of Joff “slaying” a boar.

Ayra – the show likes to end with Arya, and that is no accident. She’s a fan favorite for a reason. Now, following the murder of her brother and mother, she’s in a grim place. The Hound intends to sell her to her Aunt for cash. And at least he isn’t interested in selling her back with his former masters. There’s is a bleak spot of the middle of the country (Riverlands?) and there are more than a fair share of corpses. On finding an Inn filled with Lannister soldiers, an amusing combo of their mutual stubborn sides leads them inside. What follows is quite fun. Sandor doesn’t give a shit (pardon my French) and he’s willing to drive straight on through even if it means a dozen bodies. But, amusing enough, it’s not him that we focus on, instead everything comes to life as Arya does. Boy, I have to go watch that scene again (and I knew what was coming).

Oh, and how weird was Poliver’s monologue about torture?

You going to die for some chickens? Someone is!

Overall, a great start to the season. This is a typical early GOT episode in that it focuses on the big peices and establishing the position of each of the MANY characters. Usually, it’s a few weeks before they really move. Not so much this time if I have my crystal ball ready.

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or all my Game of Thrones posts or episode reviews:

Season 1: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]

Season 2: [11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20]

Season 3: [21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30]

Season 4: [31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40]

Season 5: [41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50]

Season 6: [51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57]

HBO’s official Inside the Episode:

By: agavin

Posted in: Television

Tagged as: A Song of Ice and Fire, Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin, HBO, List of A Song of Ice and Fire characters, Season 4, Season 4 Episode 1, Season 4 Episode 31, Television, World of A Song of Ice and Fire

Eating Hoi An – Brothers Cafe

Apr05

Restaurant: Brother’s Cafe

Location: Hoi An

Date: March 24, 2014

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Great setting, Great food

We move on from Saigon to Hoi An, a small “ancient” city in the middle of Vietnam’s long coast. Hoi An is know for, among other things, its excellent food.

The oddly named Brother’s Cafe isn’t really a cafe, but a large riverside restaurant located in this scenic colonial style building.

With a rather picturesque garden and riverside seating.

The menu, like most in Vietnam, is epic.

Cao Lou. This is the quintessential Hoi An dish, noodles with a bit of saffron, pork, various vegetables, and a delicious savory “sauce.” This was the best version of this spectacular dish we had on the trip. Apparently you can only really get it in Hoi An, as unless the sauce is made from the local well water, it isn’t “real Cao Lou.”

Hoi An deep fried spring rolls. Delicious and crispy.

Vietnamese pancake with shrimp and pork. Sort of like a Vietnamese omelet.

As you can see, it was eaten rolled with vegetables in rice paper.

Tofu with minced pork in spicy sauce. This is the Vietnamese version of Ma Po tofu, one of my favorite Chinese dishes. It was good, although not terribly spicy like this amazing version. The Chinese have been in Vietnam for over a thousand years and certainly left their mark.

Roasted boneless duck. Yum.

Prawn curry, lemongrass, eggplant, and coconut milk. Very tasty, but not enough shrimp.

Red snapper steamed with ginger and vegetables.

Banana flambé with chocolate sauce. I don’t do bananas, but I was told they were good.

Creme Caramel. Mysteriously, this seems to be a popular (in fact omnipresent) Vietnamese dessert. No complaints here as I love the stuff.

Brother’s was an upscale place, kinda “expensive” for Vietnam (maybe $30 a person). The food, however, was great, as was the atmosphere. Certainly a great start to our couple of days in Hoi An.

For more Vietnam dining reviews, click here.

This pond came with a very loud (and charming) invisible frog

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Brother's Cafe, eating-vietnam, Hoi An, Vietnam, Vietnamese cuisine

Enter the Mandarin

Apr03

Restaurant: Mandarin

Location: Saigon

Date: March 23, 2014

Cuisine: Vietnamese / Cantonese

Rating: solid

Our second night in Saigon lead us to this upscale Vietnamese / Cantonese placed called “Mandarin” (like the lame fake villain in Iron Man III).

The dining room is lovely. And another menu the size of Texas:

Fresh spring rolls with shrimp and pork. Not as good as some, these had a slight medicinal taste (some herb?).

Or maybe it was the slightly strange plum sauce.

Pan fried rice pancakes with shrimp mouse. The mouse was the standard Chinese (and Vietnamese shrimp ball material). Fairly mild.

Slightly spicy fish sauce.

Fried soft-shell crabs with da lat lemon sauce. Good and crunchy.

Special king prawn. This guy was huge, and pretty, but a bit of a disappointment as the meat was bland.

Tea to clean the fingers.

Salty beef in bamboo. It was on fire, which is always cool.

And tasted pretty good.

Sticky rice in lotus leaf. Certainly lovely presentation. The rice itself was good, pretty typical.

Roasted duck Mandarin style. We had thought this might be Peking duck, but no, it was this boneless duck in a sweet lemony sauce. Like lemon chicken but duck. Still tasty.

Grilled eggplant with onion.

Mandarin was solid, but nothing amazing. And it was considerably more expensive than most Vietnamese places. Certainly it was interesting, offering a lovely setting and serving up a hybrid Vietnamese and Cantonese cuisine.

For more Vietnam dining reviews, click here.