Archive for October 2014

Trimbach Republique

Oct31

Restaurant: Republique [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Location: 624 S La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036. (310) 362-6115

Date: October 28, 2014

Cuisine: Modern Bistro French

Rating: Nice (loud) space, tasty hip food, great service

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Back to Republique again? Well, it seems in 2014 half the serious wine events are here. Possibly it’s because Sommelier Taylor Parsons is so good. In any case, tonight’s tasting is a serious vertical exploration of Trimbach Close St Hune, one of the world’s most rarefied dry Rieslings. This dinner was organized by Sage Society (and Sage’s founder, Liz Lee) for Sage Society clients. Not only did we enjoy 16 vintages of CSH, but Anne Trimbach, ambassador from the winemaker joined us.


The building is an interesting fusion of pre-war factory…


The main interior is nearly church-like. It’s been all opened up and looks great, but it’s big, tall, and covered in hard surfaces. That means loud!

Tonight our dinner was in the private room upstairs, but our appetizers began on a little table in the upstairs hall.


NV Jacquart Champagne Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru “Mesnil Expérience. 92 points. Light pale color, micro beading. Nose is acute and clean, showing very pleasant saline, schist and lemony/citrus tones. Touch of browned toast as well. Mouth feel is excellent and integrated. On the palate very defined citrus, lemon, grey stone, green apple and hard wood, some secondary weight on the back palate indicating good structure. Mouthwatering in nature, with great acid elements. An excellent value, worth seeking out.


Tart. Nueske’s Bacon. Carmelized onion, gruyere. Addictively sweet and salty.


NV Jacquart Champagne Brut Rosé Experience. 89 points. Pleasant rose champagne with strawberry aromas. It has a vibrant acidity which gives it a good refreshing quality.


Gioia Burrata Crostini. Green kadota & black mission figs, speck, some purple leaf. Burrata and cured meat is always a winner.


Tonight’s special menu (mostly listing the wines). We also had an 1992 CSH.


Anne Trimbach, ambassador for the Trimbach family presided over our dinner, offering comments on each of the wines.


We begin with Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile, which is a blend of two Grand Cru vineyards.

2007 Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile. IWC 91+. Good pale color. Rather austere on the nose, hinting at underripe pineapple, crushed stone and menthol. Dense, ripe and dry, with terrific sappiness giving a tactile quality to the dusty flavors of pineapple, grapefruit, lime, spices and stone. There’s something subtly full about this broad, very long riesling. Here, too, the acidity is nearly eight grams, and the residual sugar less than one gram. Still an infant.

agavin: acid bomb!


1997 Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile. IWC 93+. Subdued but deep aromas of white flowers and lime. Dry (just three grams per liter r.s.), deep and impressively structured. Slow to evolve but already long on personality. Very densely packed and deep. This should develop in bottle for many years. Very long, adamantly dry finish. Jean Trimbach considers this a great vintage for the Frédéric Emile, perhaps in the class of the ’83.

agavin: the best pairing with the food (of the flight). First bottle was corked, we opened a second and it was great.


1990 Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile. 94+ points. Elegant, almost rubbery nose with very delicate and nice fruit aromas. This is actually complex with tender yellow fruit, dried, elegant herbs, and pure citrus fruit. Perfect development. A palate loaded with mineral and grinded stones. Elegant and pure. Absolute balance and a tremendous grip. The acidity and finish goes on and on. Medium-fullish body.

agavin: more Boytritus and my favorite by itself.


Hamachi crudo. Oysters. Oyster gelle. Singapore curry oil. This actually paired very well. You wouldn’t think so, but it did. All three main elements (hamachi, oysters, and curry) were present and in balance.


With this flight we start up the endless progression of Clos St Hune.

2007 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune. IWC 94+. Very pale, clear color. Extremely unevolved aromas of quinine, mint, lime, white flowers and white truffle. Dense and exhilarating, with an oily texture and piquant lime and mineral flavors that saturate the palate. Wonderfully pure and stony riesling, but still a baby. Today this is all about grip. The r.s. here is just 1.7 grams per liter, according to Pierre Trimbach, who compares this wine to the superb 2001 Clos Ste. Hune.


2005 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune. IWC 93+. Subtle aromas of lime skin, peche de vigne and wet stone, with complicating notes of vanilla and mint. Denser and richer than the Frederic Emile, and a step up in concentration; shows a more glyceral texture to its peach and spice flavors. Round, mouthfilling and horizontal. Finishes dry, broad and very long, with a bracing edge of acidity. This and the Fred were picked in mid-October, and “not too late,” notes Pierre Trimbach, who is certain that these wines will shut down soon.

agavin: good, but in a slightly awkward stage.


2004 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune. IWC 95. Pale, bright yellow. Ripe pineapple, liquid stone and exotic honey on the nose, with a spicy lift that suggests an oak influence this wine does not possess. On entry, this is sweeter and creamier than the Frederic Emile, but it livens up quickly in the middle, showing powerful minerality and sharply delineated flavors of liquid stone, pineapple and citrus peel. Still, this conveys a distinctly glyceral impression that suggests more sweetness than its 5 grams of residual sugar, no doubt a function of the 20% or so botrytized berries (in contrast to the Frederic Emile, which included no botrytis). Communicates an impression of power with elegance, finishing minerally and long but not austere. Pierre Trimbach compared this wine to the estate’s great 1990. This is already showing more Rosacker terroir than riesling character. About 9,000 bottles were made from 1.5 hectares of vines.

agavin: best of the flight right now


John Dory. Leeks. Potato moussaline. Leek and CSH butter sauce. Caviar. The fish was a little dry but the potatoes and sauce were scrumptious. All that butter balanced beautifully with the acid in the wine.


2001 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune. IWC 92+. Pale color. Musky aromas of lime and powdered stone, complicated by spring flowers and a hint of marzipan. Densely packed and slightly sweet but with lively acidity framing and lifting the citrus, floral and mineral flavors. A note of baked bread gives this wine plenty of appeal today, but this still-young ’01 has the framework and grip to reward another decade of bottle aging.


2000 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune. IWC 95+. Wonderfully pure, high-pitched nose melds quinine, pineapple, crushed stone, orange zest, violet and lavender; smells like a current release. Densely packed and very rich, with seamless flavors of crushed wet stone, lichee and grapefruit complicated by notes of baked bread and honey. This is very much like licking a rock, and yet there are complicating hints of tropical fruits here too. Wonderfully classy, pure wine with a tactile, classy, very subtle and long finish. Still a baby, and compellingly vibrant for a wine from the 2000 vintage. The driest wine in this vertical tasting, at just 1.3 grams per liter of residual sugar.

agavin: my favorite of the flight


1999 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune. IWC 91+. Very pure, subtle aromas of grapefruit, minerals, lemon. Then rather unyielding on the palate, with an almost Chablis-like pepper and grapefruit pith austerity dominating today. Finishes with strong mounting acidity and lingering notes of lime and licorice. Lighter than the 2000 but perhaps more expressive today. Extremely dry at just 1.9 grams per liter r.s. Will this gain in richness with more time in bottle?

agavin: I found this too powerful/acidic.


Chicken. Chicken consume and chicken meat laced with foie gras. Diced vegetables. The broth was amazing, but by itself and in pairing. Who knew simple chicken broth could be so good. The meat itself was nice too.


Sommelier Taylor Parsons carries not a decanter of old dessert wine — but chicken broth!

Taylor does an amazing job. There were backups to every bottle (thanks Liz!). They were opened at the same time, checked. We had (identical) glasses for every pour! Each labeled with the wine and vintage. He poured himself, flawlessly and elegantly working an event pour around the table. Really, this is as good a wine service as I’ve ever seen.


1998 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune. IWC 92+. Very complex nose melds lime, mint, powdered stone, licorice and a light petrol note. Dense, rich, chewy and firm; supple and ripe but solidly structured for aging. Finishes very long and minerally. Loads of potential. (But the ’97 Clos Ste. Hune, a wine of compelling minerality, is even richer and more layered; I’ll stick with my original score of 94(+?) for the earlier wine, which I retasted in May alongside the ’98.)

agavin: our bottle might have had a little premox


1996 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune. IWC 95+. Full yellow-gold, deep for its age. Nose began with very ripe suggestions of honeycomb, toffee, maple syrup–even a suggestion of nut skin. Would inexperienced tasters have written this off as prematurely oxidized without giving it a chance to blossom with air? Ten minutes in the glass brought much more vibrant aromas of peach, Christmas spices and orange oil, and an impression of powerful acidity (ten grams per liter, if I recall correctly from my first tasting of this wine from bottle at Trimbach). Densely packed and brisk in the mouth, with lovely sweetness of stone fruit flavors complicated by minerals and a chewy saline quality. This dry, bracing wine began with a slight sour edge but the strong acidity harmonized with air. In the recorked bottle 72 hours later, the wine hummed with citrus and stone fruit flavors and showed no oxidative notes.


1995 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune. IWC 94+. Bright yellow-gold. Powerful aromas of pineapple, peach, ginger, crushed stone, botanical herbs and lemongrass, with a hint of earthiness quickly blowing off. Moderately sweet on entry, then primary and imploded in the mid-palate, thanks to bracing acidity and a mineral-driven saline quality. Tactile, palate-staining finish displays outstanding grip and length. A brilliant bottle of 1995, but others have shown clear signs of premature oxidation.


1992 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune. IWC 93. Highly complex, musky nose offers smoky, stony minerality, honey, mocha, mushroom and saline and grassy nuances. Rich and seamless, with an impression of sweetness to its grapefruit and pineapple flavors, but the wine’s fruity acidity gives it shape and life. This very supple Clos Ste. Hune is perfect right now.


Pumpkin Angolotti. Shaved Gouda. Butter sauce. Delicious sweet soft pasta pillows. Again the butter totally worked with the wine. I could have eaten three plates of theses.


Chef Walter Manzke introduced each dish.


1988 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune. IWC 93+. Good pale, bright yellow. Subdued but very pure aromas of grapefruit and orange peel and crushed stone. Then bracing and remarkably youthful in the mouth, offering highly complex flavors of peach, tarragon, licorice, herbal tea and dried flowers. Wonderfully nuanced and true to its site, and yet this uncompromisingly dry riesling comes across as extremely young today. Blind, I would have guessed this to be no more than ten years old.

agavin: my  favorites of the flight and one of my favorites of the night


1986 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune. JK 93. had a great nose. There was this dollop of what I would call pungent, mature Riesling . the dried grapefruit along with yellow citrus fruits, a healthy and appealing streak of wood, minerals and tang. The pinch in the nose was super sexy, and the palate was big with youthful acidity, although the flavor profile was on the sour side. Elaine said, ‘it tastes like grapefruit that was picked from the tree too soon,’ and she was also bothered by its ‘stemminess’ as its wood flavors were more pronounced. The wine was still quite layered with the longest acidity of the three by far. It needed a lot more time and started to come around more and more; we ran out of time before it did in the end, and Frans wisely noted that ‘in twenty years, the 1986 will still be here.’


1985 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune. IWC 94+. Pale bright yellow. Aromas of peach, grapefruit and pineapple, along with a sake-like saline quality. Compellingly youthful and juicy on the palate, with petrol and crushed stone notes lifted by mint and grapefruit zest. I’ve seen reports of advanced bottles of this vintage, but my bottle was pale in color and had plenty of positive evolution ahead of it. Impressively long and brisk on the aftertaste.


Chanterelle mushroom “outmeal.” Hazelnuts. Chef Manzke basically cooked oats in risotto style, slowly cooking them so the starch is drawn out to make them rich and gooey. Oh, there was also probably a ton of butter in there.


1979 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune. 94 points. Nice yellow that doesn’t reveal too much age. Delicious nose of motor oil, smoked fruit and intense minerality. In the mouth this is fat yet well-defined with good underlying acidity and the same delicious notes as the nose (the motor oil gradually blows off).


1976 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune. 94 points. Pretty awesome.


1973 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune. IWC 95. Full bright gold. Subdued but not at all tired on the nose, opening slowly to reveal notes of peach syrup, musky pineapple, botanical herbs, coffee, mocha and truffle. Fat, sweet and seamless on first sip, then hugely rich but quite dry in the middle, showing more crushed stone and saline extract than fruit at this point. The chewy finish displays terrific lift and verve, thanks to strong acidity. Nearly 40 years old and still full of life.


Crispy Pork Belly. Cabbage and truffles. One rich cut of fatty pork with a nice crispy skin.

2004 Trimbach Gewurztraminer Cuvée des Seigneurs de Ribeaupierre. IWC 89+. Subtle but precise nose hints at cured meats, ginger and cinnamon. Sweet, spicy and concentrated, with penetrating cinnamon flavor and noteworthy inner-palate energy. Finishes with a youthful austerity. Not at all overly perfumed. This firmly built gewurztraminer would be perfect with many Asian cuisines.

agavin: too dry for my taste (in a dessert wine) but a good pairing.


1990 Trimbach Gewurztraminer Cuvée des Seigneurs de Ribeaupierre. 93-96 points. Honeyed nose with baked apple, cucumber peel, fresh herbs, floral notes and warm spices. Nicely dried and balanced palate with rich and pure fruit expression of pear to greenish banana. Honey, spices and liquorice. Good length finish with a bitter bite. Finely aged wine with still many years left.


Pineapple Pana Cotta. Berry sorbet. A stunning and fresh dessert. The pana cotta alone was worth the price of admission.

I’ve now been to Republique 6-7 times and the restaurant is at its best in the private room with a special tasting dinner. Walter really cooked his butt off for this one, carefully pairing each course to the wines. Downstairs, the room is very loud and there are some timing and pacing problems. We had none of these. Each course was brought by an army of 6-7 waiters and dropped elegantly in front of us. All the wine glasses had individual labels for each wine, etc.

Plus, there was the Clos St Hune itself. I have only had a few of these before, but in tasting so many in sequence the unique character of the vineyard (and winemaking) was very evident. Every single bottle was underlined by a strong — no intense — acidic backbone. But incredibly, as this white wine gain in years, past 10, then 20, then 30, toward 40, the fruit, minerality, and acid came together into better balance. Really good stuff, and very food friendly (particularly with butter!).

Sage Society knows how to put on one heck of a dinner!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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By: agavin
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The Little Door Santa Monica

Oct29

Restaurant: The Little Door Santa Monica

Location: 246 26th Street. Santa Monica CA 90402. 310-210-8064

Date: October 5, 2014

Cuisine: Vaguely French

Rating: Tasty and Cute

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The Little Door has been a midtown institution for around 20 years, and my wife and I even celebrated there the night we got engaged. Now they’ve moved west into my hood, taking over the old Villetta (and before that Chez Mimi) space across from the Brentwood Country Mart.


The patio here is lovely. It’s always been one of the cutest local spaces.


The Little Door has redecorated a bit with a tad more “rustique” (their word, not mine).



The French/Moroccan  menu.


From my cellar: 1996 Maison Roche de Bellene Chambolle-Musigny Collection Bellenum Vieilles Vignes. 92 points. A very nice mature villages.


French bread of course.


SPICY STEAMED BLACK MUSSELS IN A RAS EL HANOUT BROTH. Tomatoes, Cilantro, Garbanzo Beans and Preserved Lemon.


SPICY AHI TUNA TARTARE WITH A SHAVED FENNEL SALAD. Brioche Toast and Green Olive Tapenade.


HEIRLOOM TOTATOES, WILD ARUGULA, GORGONZOLA CHEESE AND CANDIED WALNUT. Champagne Walnut Vinaigrette.


BARTLETT PEARS, PROSCIUTTO AMERICANO, FRESH LOCAL BURRATA, CROSTINIS. Aged Balsamic reduction, basil infused extra virgin olive oil and basil chiffonade.


GRILLED MEDITERRANEAN WILD SEA BASS, TOMATO PERNOD SAUCE.


GRILLED FILET MIGNON, ROASTED CIPOLLINI ONIONS, PORT WINE DEMI-GLACE. Herbed fingerling potato frites, haricot vert, and baby carrots.


COUSCOUS “ROYALE” WITH LAMB STEW, LAMB CHOPS, CHICKEN & MERGUEZ SAUSAGE.


Chocolate Soufflé.


Various ice creams.


And sorbets.

It’s nice to have another restaurant back in the neighborhood that executes well and isn’t Italian. Brentwood and environs is overrun with Italians. Not that I don’t love Italian food, but a little variety is nice. The Little Door is situated in a lovely space and serves up tasty (if a bit expensive) fair. Interestingly, it isn’t straight french but has strong Moroccan influences, which reminds me a bit of one of my local favorites: Sam’s by the Beach.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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By: agavin
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Oceans of Wine

Oct27

Restaurant: 41 Ocean Club

Location: 1541 Ocean Avenue. Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 566 – 3870

Date: October 22, 2014

Cuisine: New American

Rating: Blast of a night

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41 Ocean is a members only private club located in a historic 1920s building on Ocean Avenue. The Hedonists took it over in classic style and we were treated like Pharoes (to quote Yarom). After dinner, the gang enjoyed cognac or ports and cigars on their balcony overlooking the ocean. A truly epic night.


Our table is lovely.


Tonight’s special menu.


An amuse of tuna tartar.


Seasonal Butternut Squash Soup served with mini cheddar biscuit. Delicious. I do love a good butternut squash dish.


Heirloom Spinach and Endive Duck Confit Salad with warm cranberry vinaigrette. A standout salad.


A beet version.


Pan Roasted Seabass. Wild mushroom risotto, lobster truffle sauce. A darn good fish, cooked to flakey perfection.


Spinach vegetarian option.


Vanilla Bean Braised Short Rib. Root vegetables, cheddar mashed potatoes. Rich, but great.


Truffled French fries. Yum!


Heirloom tomato pasta. For the vegetarians.


41 Ocean Baby Butter Cake. House-made pumpkin gelato. A really nice some sweet cake. Perfect.


1990 Pol Roger Champagne Brut Vintage (in magnum). IWC 88. Bright, lightly leesy aromas of fresh apples, minerals and spices. Fresh, spicy and intensely flavored, but quite austere, almost metallic and not yet demonstrating much personality. But firm, bright and fresh, finishing with good grip. This wine came with an excellent reputation, but I preferred both Pol Roger Rose and Blanc de Chardonnay from this superb vintage.


2004 Lebrun Servenay Champagne Exhilarante Vieilles Vignes. JG 91.


2001 J.L. Chave Sélection Hermitage Blanche. Parker 92-94. I tasted component parts of the 2001 Hermitage blanc. Aromas of acacia flowers, honeysuckle, and citrus were followed by a medium to full-bodied white with loads of glycerin as well as heady fruit and alcohol. Elegant, medium to full-bodied, and crisper, it is more obviously backward than the 2000.


From my cellar: 2003 Jean Noel Gagnard Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Caillerets. Burghound 91. As it almost always is, this is the class of these 1ers with a nose of pain grillé and spicy baked apples that precede fresh, detailed and mineral-infused flavors and a wonderfully intense and punchy finish that goes on and on. This is not quite as elegant as it usually is but it unusually refined for the vintage.


2007 Henri Boillot Corton-Charlemagne. Burghound 96. Seemingly like all of Boillot’s wines in this vintage, a strikingly pure nose of green apple, white flower and spice aromas complements perfectly the delicious, intense and stony flavors that are among the ripest in the range yet remain wonderfully vibrant and gorgeously detailed on the taut, transparent and bone dry finish that bathes the palate in dry extract. This is beautifully balanced and among the best wines of the vintage from Corton. In a word, brilliant.


From my cellar: 1997 Louis Jadot Chambertin-Clos de Bèze. IWC 94. Healthy dark red. Superripe aromas of crystallized black raspberry, rose petal, violet, iron, baking spices and meat. Huge entry, then almost painfully intense, with superb extract and great thrust. Exhilarating hints of dark berries, mint, flowers and minerals give this wine great complexity and verve. Would come across as thick if it weren’t so sharply focused. The firm tannins are buried in fruit on the extremely long, tactile finish. Should enjoy a long and spectacular evolution in bottle.


1989 Pichon-Longueville Baron. Parker 94-96. Both the 1989 and 1990 vintages exhibit opaque, dense purple colors that suggest massive wines of considerable extraction and richness. The dense, full-bodied 1989 is brilliantly made with huge, smoky, chocolatey, cassis aromas intermingled with scents of toasty oak. Well-layered, with a sweet inner-core of fruit, this awesomely endowed, backward, tannic, prodigious 1989 needs another 5-6 years of cellaring; it should last for three decades or more. It is unquestionably a great Pichon-Longueville-Baron.


2000 Leoville-Poyferre. Parker 97. The plushest, most ostentatious and dramatic of all the Leovilles in 2000, this wine is already sumptuous, displaying some nuances in its huge nose of vanilla bean, black chocolate, jammy black cherries, cassis, and graphite in a flamboyant style. Opulent, savory, rich, and full-bodied, it is a head-turning, prodigious wine and a complete contrast to the extracted behemoth of Leoville Barton and the backward, classic Leoville Las Cases. The Poyferre’s low acidity, sweet tannin and an already gorgeous mouthfeel make it a wine to drink now as well as over the next 25 or more years.


2005 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. Parker 93-95. Medium to deep garnet colour. Aromas of dark cherries, raspberry compote, cardamom, black truffles and a touch of star anise. The palate is full bodied, richly fruited with medium to high acidity and a medium+ level of grainy, slightly chewy tannins. Concentrated with a good compliment of structure to hold it up. Long peppery finish.


The club owner, Jermey brought: 1999 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage A Jacques Perrin. Parker 96-100. The recently released 1999 Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage a Jacques Perrin is closed and less expressive than the 2000, and perhaps more elegant and less weighty. Nevertheless, it is an enormously endowed effort revealing notes of licorice, blackberry and cherry fruit, melted asphalt, tapenade, truffles, and smoke. Chewy, with more minerality than most vintages of this wine possess, it requires a minimum of 6-8 years of cellaring. It should last 35-40 years.

agavin: tons of barny brett on the nose, but a gorgeous middle and finish.


2000 Domaine du Clos du Caillou Chateauneuf du Pape. Parker 91. Slightly more open and supple (which is common when you compare the same wine from these two vintages), the 2000 Chateauneuf du Pape is another mature, balanced and classic Chateauneuf that’s drinking at point. Exhibiting plenty of pepper, Asian spice, herbes de Provence and sweet cherry and raspberry fruit, it too should be consumed over the coming couple of years.


1999 Domaine de la Mordorée Lirac Cuvée de la Reine des Bois. IWC 90-93. Bright deep ruby-violet. Perfumed, very fine aromas of blackberry, cassis, black raspberry, violet and bitter chocolate. Dense, pungent and sharply delineated; intense flavors of cassis, blackberry and bitter chocolate. Finishes with big, mouthcoating tannins and strong flavors of cocoa powder and licorice. The winemaking is impeccable.


1997 Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino Poggio Alle Mura. Parker 88. The deep ruby/purple-colored 1997 Brunello di Montalcino Poggio Alle Mura displays an international bouquet of red and black fruits, wood, licorice, and earth. There is excellent depth and ripeness, but this monolithic Brunello lacks heart and soul. The long finish reveals moderate tannin. Let’s see what develops.


2005 Araujo Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard. Parker 98. There are 2,600 cases of the 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard. As I indicated last year, this is a fabulous effort that manages to conceal its 100% new French oak aging. Its dense ruby/purple color is followed by beautiful aromas of blueberries, black currants, acacia flowers, licorice, and spice. The tannins are softer than I remember, but this is certainly one of the vintage’s most extraordinary wines. Full-bodied with a seamless integration of tannin, acidity, alcohol, and wood, it is exceptionally pure and full as well as impeccably balanced. The impression is one of elegance allied with substantial flavor authority. It can be drunk now or cellared for 25+ years.


2005 Maybach Materium. Parker 96. Named after the super-luxury car of the same name, the extraordinary 2005 Materium (614 cases) has more in common with a first-growth like Chateau Margaux than a Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. It boasts a deep ruby/purple color along with a striking bouquet of blue and black fruits intermingled with acacia flowers, lead pencil shavings, and licorice, excellent fruit, medium to full body, substantial but sweet tannins, and compelling harmony among its acidity, alcohol, tannin, and extract. This sensational 2005 eclipses even the brilliant 2004. It should easily last 25 or more years.


1987 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Stags Leap District. 90 points. Tasted way younger than it was. But mature and delicious.


2004 Shafer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select. Parker 98+. The Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select has been one of Napa’s true first-growths since the early 1990s. The 2004 exhibits a dense opaque purple color along with spectacular, almost surreal levels of fruit that are never heavy, overripe or flawed. Its beautiful notes of creme de cassis, licorice and subtle oak (this cuvee spends 32 months in 100% new French barrels), skyscraper-like texture and extraordinarily long finish are all superb. This is a great wine from a great family who has done everything necessary to produce a world-class wine that can compete with any wine made from the Cabernet Sauvignon grape. You can’t say enough positives about the Shafers. Drink this 2004 Hillside Select over the next 20-25 years, although it could be even more stupendous in 40-50 years.


2001 Joseph Phelps Insignia Proprietary Red Wine. Parker 98-99. Still a young wine at age 12, the 2001 Insignia exhibits a dense purple color along with a sweet bouquet of camphor, blackberries, cassis, incense and spring flowers. Full-bodied, rich and heady with sweet tannin, stunning concentration and a fabulous finish, this remarkable Insignia has 25 or more years of life ahead of it.



2004 Hundred Acre Vineyard Shiraz Ancient Way. 93 points. Huge Aussie syrah. Beautiful nose, with lovely secondary baking notes to match impressive fruit levels. Touch of VA in a good way. On the palate the grapes are overripe and extracted, but still a lot to like. Touch of funk. Acids are present but overwhelmed by fruit and alcohol (which is well integrated but present). Fruit is big but lush, not jammie like many big ausies.. Long smooth finish.



2005 Hundred Acre Vineyard Ark. Parker 98. The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Ark Vineyard (the debut vintage of this cuvee) reveals an inky/blue/purple color as well as a sumptuous nose of loamy soil, licorice, graphite, espresso, sweet blackberries, and forest floor. It is a gorgeously proportioned, full-bodied effort with plenty of minerality as well as definition. Already accessible, this big wine should evolve for two decades.


2002 Sean Thackrey Orion Syrah. Parker 96-100. A riveting example of Syrah is the 2002 Orion. It boasts a black/purple color with more mint and blackberry notes intermixed with exotic floral characteristics. With great intensity, full body, multiple dimensions, and superb purity as well as length, this blockbuster is incredibly well-balanced/harmonious. It should drink reasonably well young, yet keep for 12-15 years.



2003 Two Hands Shiraz Ares. Parker 98. One of the most expensive offerings in this portfolio is the 2003 Shiraz Ares, a 230-case cuvee that flirts with perfection. A selection of the best lots of Bella’s Garden, it is a kinky, but fabulous Shiraz fashioned from very old vines, and aged in 100% new French oak (which is barely noticeable given the wine’s concentration). An opaque purple color is accompanied by a flamboyant, riveting bouquet of roasted meats, blackberry liqueur, charcoal, and white flowers. Full-bodied and voluptuous with amazing purity, concentration, and texture, this sensational Australian red should drink well for 15-20 years.


2005 Colgin Cariad Proprietary Red Wine. Parker 100. Performing even better than when I originally tasted it (scored 96+ at that time), the 2005 is composed of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc and 9% Petit Verdot. The first vintage where Allison Tauziet had complete control after Mark Aubert left to pursue his own wine venture, the 2005 continues to grow in stature and complexity. It exhibits an opaque purple color, a youthful style (it tastes like a 2-3 year old wine) and abundant notes of black fruits, acacia flowers, espresso, white chocolate, crushed rock and licorice. Full-bodied and velvety textured with fabulous concentration, high but sweet tannin and a 60+ second finish, it needs 4-5 more years of cellaring and should age effortlessly over the following 25-30 years.



1964 Justino Henriques Madeira Malmsey.


2003 Guiraud. Parker 90. Tasted as part of a vertical held at the chateau. This is certainly one of the better wines from the Sauternes 2003 vintage: with fat mango and marmalade aromas on the nose that actually ebb, leaving room for attractive orange blossom scents. The palate is well-balanced with a smooth vanilla opening that demonstrates the precociousness of the vintage, while the exotic finish is nicely handled with hints of almond and peach lingering on the aftertaste. Fine.

Overall, an extremely fun night. Everything was great from service, to atmosphere, to food, to oh-so-much wine!

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

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By: agavin
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Szechuan Everywhere

Oct23

Restaurant: Chuan’s

Location: 5807 Rosemead Blvd. Temple City, CA 91780. (626) 677-6667

Date: October 21, 2014 and January 4 & 12, 2016 and March 6, 2016

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Great flavors, not ultra hot

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I love me some Szechuan, and surprisingly, so do a lot of others because Szechuan places have become all the rage lately. This is a composite meal built from 2 Hedonists dinners and several casual lunches.


Chuan’s is the latest Chinese chain to open a Southern California output, like Meizhou Dongpo in the Century City Mall.


The interior is actually styled and casual but cute. They have a private room too which we ate in.






The menu is super glitzy with big clear pictures of every dish (oh so helpful!). This is the 2014 edition, as it has changed slightly since then.


Spicy peanuts. With celery. These do have a mild kick.
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Vinegar peanuts. King of like a tangy Kung Pao without the meat!
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Cold appetizer plate. Cured beef, beef tripe, and firm tofu.


Coated Lima Beans. Delicious actually. A kind of sweet and salty vibe.

Chuan’s didn’t offer liquor on our first visit, and we couldn’t bring ours in really either. But they did have this (non-alcoholic) Sour Plum Juice that was quite delicious. It had a smokey rich flavor. Really smokey — the most like bacon of any juice I’ve ever had.

Cold eggplant with preserved green chilies. A bit funny looking, but pretty damn good, and that’s even with this being the style of steamed eggplant I usually don’t like. The chilies were excellent.
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Spicy avocado. Never had this one. Maybe a Cal/Chinese hybrid, but pretty good.


Chopped Chicken with Fresh Peppercorns. The menu version had a lot more peppercorns. This is always a good dish, and this example was no exception. There was the “boney chicken bits” problem, but, hey, this is authentic Chinese food. It wasn’t that hot.


Bean Jelly with Preserved Soybean and Peppers. A fabulous dish (even if the bean jelly noodles were a bit thick) as it had a delicious tangy, salty, hot flavor that was nicely in balance.

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Another Bean jelly. There are two versions of this dish, with slightly different sauces on the menu. Very slippery!


Dan Dan Noodles. The Szechuan classic. Both times we came for dinner the dan dan was a tad bland, although the noodle texture was nice.

Here they are mixed up. On my several lunch visit (pictured) the dan dan was great, with a lovely complex nutty undertone. Small portion though (perfect for 1-2 people).


Chengdu Sour and Spicy Vermicelli. A bit more flavor than the Dan Dan, but still maybe a little bland on the first visit. On the second dinner visit this had been punched up with a lot more sauce (below).

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And this version was great, with that sour/numbing vibe.


Chili slathered Pork Dumplings. These were great. Better than Chengdu Taste, not as good as this mall food (lol).


Sweet and Sour Herba Houttuyniae. Never heard of this herbal green. But it was delicious.

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Sesame lettuce. A really nice salad, with a very strong sesame dressing.


Crispy Duck Drenched in Oil. The name about sums it up. This had a nice pastrami-like tea-smoked flavor.


Ma Po Tofu. A delicious take on the classic. This version had a nice tang, great texture, and a bit of heat. It didn’t really have enough peppercorn numbness for my taste, but it was still probably the dish of the night in October 2014. In March 2016, it was a little salty and the tofu a little soft.

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Combination fried rice. Solid fried rice.


Fish with Pickled Cabbage from Hometown. The “green chili” version of the boiled fish dish typical in Szechuan. This one was moderately mild. Fine, but not exciting.


Cherry Braised Pork. Fatty, but absolutely delicious. Like melt-in-the-mouth bacon cubes.

Fish filets boiled in chili sauce. The classic Chungking dish. Not bad at all. Nice soft/fresh filets of fish.


Boiled Beef with Chilis. This was a hotly debated dish at the table. I thought it was very tasty, although on the mild side. Some others didn’t love it.


The sauce was incredibly delicious over rice. Have a bit of chili oil!

Shredded chicken and glass noodle with chilies. This third boiled chili dish was fabulous with soft strips of boneless chicken and glass noodles buried in all that red.

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Dry cooked string beans with potatoes. The classic Szechuan green beans + french fries in spicy sauce!

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Corn with pork belly. Insanely good. The lardon-like pork served as the fat in place of the butter and made for one tasty corn dish!
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Suicide potatoes. Sliced potatoes with a fabulous spicy Szechuan rub. Fairly spicy for this meal, but not really that hot on an absolute scale.
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Eggplant. A version of the garlic eggplant dishes, this one with soy beans. Quite tasty, if mild.


Special Lobster. This wasn’t on the menu, and it cost a bundle, but it was absolutely scrumptious — although the meat was a bit hard to get at.

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Chili crab. Great Szechuan dry-pot like vegetables below, and fried crab that was cooked until the shell is soft.


Kung Pao Shrimp Balls. AKA Kung Pao Shrimp. Nice pungent ginger/scallion flavor. Not that hot either but tasty.

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Squid with chilies. Nice chew and flavor. Just a touch of fishiness.

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Fried scallops. Spice in the batter, and VERY fried, with a nice tempura crunch. A little like the Nobu tempura popcorn shrimp.

Dry spicy fried chicken with chilies. Also a classic Szechuan dish. The chicken had ALL the bone bits. Almost every piece was filled with bone. Despite this, or perhaps owing to this, the taste was amazing. You just crunch through the bone and it tasted great with chili aromatics, fat, and a bit of numbing Szechuan peppercorn.


Crispy Beef. Basically, chicken fried steak nuggets! Probably really should have been a lamb dish traditionally, but was beef here. Tasty though. The meat was soft and flavorful. So soft, and so pare, that we were joking about it not being beef.


And the pepper/peanut mix fun to pick at.

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Twice cooked pork with buns. Super tender flavorful meat with soft buns. Awesome combination too. Really tasty together.
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Cumin lamb. The classic, but a very good version with tender lamb.

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Chicken with green chilis. A bit of heat here, and a different style of chili heat than most of the dishes with their red chilies.
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Shredded potatoes. Fine, although I’ve had better versions of this dish.


Special Seafood Dry Hot Pot. Like a Wuhan dish, a mix of dry hot shrimp, potatoes, veggies, fish balls, and the like.
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Fried pumpkin and bean cakes. Greasy, but pretty good for fried Chinese desserts. These had that mochi like consistency with the bean paste inside. VERY fried and greasy.
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Overall, Chuan’s was extremely tasty. The service was great, and they seemed to use fairly high quality ingredients, on par with Szechuan Impression and better than at Chengdu Taste. The flavors were good too and there is a lot of variety on the menu. But it isn’t that spicy. Really, afterward I was thinking it was about right because the through the night burn was fairly mild, but during, I missed that searing/numbing heat that is found at the hottest examples of Szechuan cuisine. Most dishes were well executed. Almost no bombs. Weakest probably was the fish filets, dan dan (both evening visits — although they have been great at lunch), and maybe the duck (a lot of others liked the duck), but there were a lot of very strong dishes too: Ma Po Tofu, dumplings, the meats, Lobster, dan dan (second visit), shredded chicken with noodles.

On our second dinner the young lady above helped us out and she did a great job. We ordered in flights and she kept everything straight and changed out the plates fast.

Chuan’s is one of my favorite Szechuan places for a combination of atmosphere, service, and dish execution. It’s not as “home style” as one like Cui Hau Lou, but they use very good ingredients and I never get the MSG headache.

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The Ladies Room included this amusing public service notice!

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During our March 2016 visit it was close to Chinese New Year and there was a show given by this character in costume — actually pretty cool and certainly mysteriously Chinese.
Afterward (on our October 2014 visit) we went around the corner in the minimall to Guppy’s a strange kitchy Taiwanese place for some shave ice.


Taro/Red Been Shave Ice. This, by the way, is the “to go” a size smaller than the small!


Strawberry shave ice with mango ice cream. This is a small! Notice the cup of sweetened condensed milk on the table, in case it isn’t sweet enough!


Taro, Red Bean, Strawberry, Banana, Shave Ice with Mango ice cream. This gives a better sense of the scale of these monsters!

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

 

For our March 6, 2016 dinner at Chuan’s we brought wine (they had no liquor license when we first came). They did charge $15 corkage. Here is the lineup of mostly sweet stuff.

NV Paul Bara Coteaux Champenois Grand Cru Bouzy Rouge. 92 points. Nice rose.

NV Jean Josselin Champagne Brut Cordon Royal. 92 points.

From my cellar: 2008 Pierre Morey Meursault Les Terres Blanches. 92 points. Bright yellow. A musky quality blew off to reveal strong nutty notes of macadamia and almond, plus a whiff of iodiney oyster shell. Densely packed, tactile and serious but with a light touch. More rocks and flowers than primary fruit here. A precise, persistent, rather grown-up style of Meursault, and serious for village wine.

2013 Desparada Sauvignon Blanc Borealis.1.E4 McGinley Vineyard. VM 88. The 2013 Sauvignon Blanc Borealis.1.E.4 is an intriguing wine made in amphora. Lemon, grapefruit and white flowers meld together in a bright, nicely balanced wine. The 2013 was made from McGinley Vineyard. As so often happens wines made in amphora, the vessel and elevage dominate the wine’s personality. It will be interesting to see where future vintages go.

2012 Herman Story Tomboy. VM 89. Lemon oil, white flowers, mint and jasmine meld together in the 2012 Viognier Tomboy. Floral notes add lift in an oily, textured Viognier built on raciness and persistence. The 100% new French oak is evident, but nicely balanced at the same time. The 2011 spent 12 months in 100% new French oak.

agavin: too heavy for my taste.

F.X. Pichler Riesling Smaragd Dürnsteiner Hollerin (don’t remember vintage). VM 93. Medium green-yellow. Dark wet slate dominates the nose initially, with mandarin orange, vineyard peach and anise coming up with aeration. The fruit is sweeter and more opulent in the mouth than the nose suggests, but limey acidity gives shape and lift. Salty minerals linger on the very long finish. This already offers outstanding drinking pleasure, but will continue to improve and should hold well until 2014.

2002 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Spätlese. VM 92. A bouquet of lily and narcissus is both sweet and musky. A coulis of red raspberry and molten minerals flows over the palate, but the sheer intensity here is matched by an elegance and lightness of touch. You might say this has the concentration of other recent vintages of Brucke Spatlese but not the weight, a perfect illustration of Donnhoff’s characterization of 2002 as “playful and light even though dense. ” The balance of acid and sugar is perfect, so that the sweetness drops away completely in the back. Red fruit, citrus and devilishly diverse expressions of salt and stones hang around for a lot longer than you can wait before taking the next sip. 2 stars.

agavin: I thought this might have been 5% corked, very light.

2005 Weingut Keller Westhofener Morstein Riesling Auslese. 91 points. A light, almost Spatlese style, but very nice.

2005 Dönnhoff Schloßböckelheimer Felsenberg Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel. VM 92. Pale golden yellow. Musky peach, a floral nuance and a hint of licorice on the nose.Smoke and honey give way to a spicy acidity on the palate. Well-balanced, vivid auslese, showing an almost salty minerality on the finish.

agavin: 94 points. We thought this was awesome.

From my cellar: 2000 Trimbach Pinot Gris Sélection de Grains Nobles. VM 93. Bright medium gold. Superripe aromas of apricot jam, exotic spices, honey and tobacco; just misses the clarity of the best SGN bottlings from this producer. Very dense but not hugely unctuous thanks to firm, perfectly integrated acidity. Sappy, vibrant and very long on the aftertaste.

1999 Domaine Philippe Delesvaux Coteaux du Layon Sélection de Grains Nobles. 94 points. Served lightly chilled as a mid afternoon refresher. Medium amber color, delicate botrytis aromas and flavor notes of apricot, honey, pineapple, brown sugar, and a hint of oranges. This seemed a little less intense than I remember the prior bottles being but it had a delicate, crisp feel that I found delightful on this occasion. Perfectly balanced with a lingering finish, really a delicious drink.. Served lightly chilled as a mid afternoon refresher. Medium amber color, delicate botrytis aromas and flavor notes of apricot, honey, pineapple, brown sugar, and a hint of oranges. This seemed a little less intense than I remember the prior bottles being but it had a delicate, crisp feel that I found delightful on this occasion. Perfectly balanced with a lingering finish, really a delicious drink.

1988 Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey. VM 91. Good pale color. Fresh, flinty aromas of apple, fresh herbs and dried fruits. Very rich and pliant in the mouth, with a strong resiny/spicy flavor. Strong for the vintage, and very well balanced. Quite powerful and long on the finish, with complex flavors of honey, earth and tobacco.

2011 Herman Story Syrah Nuts and Bolts. VM 93. A vivid, multi-dimensional wine the 2011 Syrah Nuts & Bolts bursts from the glass with the essence of blackberry jam, melted road tar, graphite, incense and licorice, all in a rich, broad-shouldered style that is immensely appealing. Vibrant mineral notes underpin an exciting, full-throttle Syrah loaded with personality. This may be one of the very finest Herman Story wines I have ever tasted. Readers will want to give the 2011 at least a few hours of air, as the wine really needs time to open up.

2007 Alban Vineyards Syrah Reva Alban Estate Vineyard. VM 94. Inky purple. Black and blue fruits on the nose and in the mouth, with smoke and Indian spice nuances adding complexity. Densely packed and forceful, with building notes of candied licorice and mocha. This very rich, seamless wine shows very good energy in the mid-palate. A candied violet quality comes up on the finish, which clings with impressive tenacity.

Related posts:

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By: agavin
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Ramen is all the Rage

Oct21

Restaurant: Daikokuya Santa Monica

Location: 2208 Sawtelle Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90064. (310) 575-4999

Date: October 13, 2014

Cuisine: Japanese Ramen

Rating: First rate noodles

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In LA (and possibly elsewhere), ramen has just exploded. It’s gone from this obscure specialty and grad student food to multiple streets with multiple ramen joints each with hour long lines!


Sawtelle is the undisputed Asian lunch spot on the Westside and Daikokuya, despite being “below Olympic,” slumming with the likes of Starbucks and Panda Express, always has a long line.


Inside it’s Tokyo kitch, but cute for sure. The menu is simple, with just 3 main ramen types (normal, spicy miso, and dipping noodle) and a bunch of bowls.


The table has the usual accents: pickled ginger, garlic, ground pepper.


Cabbage salad. This will set you back $1. Tasty enough, but needed more dressing.


Gyoza. The classic pork and cabbage dumpling, pan fried. Seriously fried in this case. Plenty of green onion. These were good. Quite good.

Daikoku Ramen. The classic pork broth Hakataka ramen. Fatty pork. Bamboo shoots. Bean sprouts. Green onion.


You can see all the usual ingredients. Egg. I added garlic and pickled red ginger. A nicely done classic ramen. Not quite as flavorful as the spicy miso below, but with good salty yum.


Spicy miso ramen. This variant on the straight up classic has all the works inside, the green onion, the bork belly cuts, the sprouts, the special egg, etc. The sauce is like miso soup with a bit of kick. It’s not super spicy, but just about right. The heat, salt, and spice add up and do clear the sinuses.


The noodles are thin and nicely al dente. I jazzed it up with ginger and garlic. A lot of garlic.


The broth is pretty delicious. Rich, but not mega rich like Tsujita (more on that later). I really wanted to keep drinking after I picked out all the bits, but I knew that if I did, the salt (and perhaps garlic) factor would really hit me later. As it was I developed a fairly serious case of heartburn (not unexpected, but worth it).

Overall, this was some solid and traditional ramen. Very good. I need to try the regular one and the dipping noodles. I doubt the latter is as good as at Tsujita, it would be hard to remember, but the regular and miso ramen are different beasts, not neccesarily better or worse, just a bit different.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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By: agavin
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Yanbian Nights

Oct17

Restaurant: Yanbian Restaurant [1, 2]

Location: 4251 W 3rd St. Los Angeles, CA 90004. (213) 383-5959

Date: October 15, 2014

Cuisine: Yanbian Chinese

Rating: Great food, incredible deal!

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Yanbian is an autonomous prefecture in the borderlands between China and Korea. But like any place, it has its own regional cuisine, and LA, being rich in Asian culture has at least one restaurant specializing in the area. My Hedonist group has been going here 1-2 times a year forever, but this is my second visit.


This Koreatown hole-in-the-wall might not look like much, but the food is excellent and they did a great job handling our oversized party.


2007 Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Clos Häuserer. 91 points. Nice dry riesling.


No restaurant with Korean influences would be without the Kimchee!


And this other spicy vegetable (left) and crunchy celery (right). Pretty tasty for celery.


Close up of the spicy stuff.


This mild crunchy marinated vegetable.


2012 Dönnhoff Norheimer Kirschheck Riesling Spätlese. IWC 89. A subtle honeysuckle aroma blends with hyacinth and lime on the nose. Polished peachy fruit and a refined minerality drift across the palate. Delicate and eminently drinkable.

agavin: I thought this went very well with a lot of the spicy food.


Spicy chicken feet. Ick.


Walnut shrimp. With their light fluffy fry and a nice hint of mustard in the sauce these were some great walnut shrimp.


From my cellar: 1996 Louis Jadot Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques. IWC 91-94. Very saturated red-ruby. Bright, sweet black raspberry and cassis nose. Very sweet and intensely flavored, but bracing acidity gives the wine great dynamism and cut. Really explosive in the mouth. Very long, vibrant finish. Grand cru quality.


Sweet and sour pork. Sticky sweet and very fried this looks hideous but tastes great.


Potstickers. These are typical Chinese dumplings.


The tasty spicy sauce for the dumplings.


Shoestring potatoes. Like fried shaved potato. Kinda delicious.


2012 Stonegate.


Pork  hock. Tender porky goodness.


Mountain potatoes and eggplant. Hot and savory.


It’s autumn, so fried pumpkin is in order. This wads pretty scrumptious with this heavy but fluffy fry.


2006 Kendall-Jackson Cabernet Sauvignon Highland Estates Trace Ridge. 92 points. Fabulous nose.. Solid finish.. Great wine.


Duck. Heavy but oh so tasty.


Mushrooms. Yummy.


Greens and tofu. Colon sweeper, but with a nice earthy flavor.


2011 Double Diamond (Schrader) Cabernet Sauvignon Bomber X. 90 points. Big & bold, lots of fruit and a little tannin. This wine could wait awhile.


Cumin lamb. Spicy and tasty.


Spicy fried chicken. This is one of those dry Hunan/Szechuan style dishes. Hot and delicious.


Potato “pizza”. A kind of giant latke with a spicy sauce.


Cabbage and pork. This had a fermented vinegar flavor.


2006 Alban Vineyards Syrah Reva Alban Estate Vineyard. IWC 94+. Glass-staining purple. Blackberry, boysenberry and licorice pastille on the nose, with mounting spice and floral notes and a strong wallop of cracked pepper. Deeply pitched black and blue fruit flavors expand with air and pick up strong spicecake and candied flower notes, along with velvety tannins. More backward than the Lorraine today, and showing a darker profile. The finish completely stains the palate and lingers with intense floral and spicy persistence. This is still a baby.


Spicy pork. See those peppers? They are real Szechuan peppers and they left the mouth and face numb!


And the sauce was great for soaking this “purple rice.” What makes it purple, I’m not sure. Some kind of bean?


Glass noodles. There is pork and celery in here. These were delicious.


Egg with tomatoes. Slightly sweet, a kind of Chinese omelet.


2001 Pride Mountain Vineyards Petite Sirah. 85 points. Our bottle seemed corked.


Purple fried rice. Anyone want a wafer thin mint?

Overall, Yanbian was great fun, great food, and all of the above was $30 a person! Including tax and a 35% tip! Wow! It’s really really good, and we had so many dishes I was full for the next 12 hours. People carted home some of this stuff.

More crazy Hedonist adventures or
LA dining reviews click here.

 

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By: agavin
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Outlander – Real Men Wear Kilts

Oct15

outlander-book-coverTitle: Outlander

Author: Diana Gabaldon

Genre: Time Travel Romance

Length: 642 pages

Read: October 3-13, 2014

Summary: long but good

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I’ve been meaning to read Outlander for years. Part time travel, part historical fiction, big best seller… it’s also fundamentally a Romance (cough). This last gave me pause, but finally, after checking out the show (to be reviewed later) I bit the bullet.

It’s funny how bestselling series drive against the current of writing “shoulds.” This book is long. It’s detailed. The protagonist is often adrift without clear “motivation” or “agency.” The prose can be highly redundant. There are countless scenes that don’t serve the spine of the plot.

But these “problems” also help make for a good read, and a good read it is. Fundamentally this is a novel about interesting, and well developed (if sometimes problematic) characters, caught in an unusual and fascinating blend of setting and situation.

What girl doesn't dream of a man in a kilt?

Back when men could wear skirts and still be real men

Setup: It’s 1945 and Claire Randall is a happily married nurse. On holiday in Scotland  with her husband, a circle of ancient stones mysteriously teleports her to 1743. Stuck there, she meets and falls in love with sexy highlander Jaime Fraser against the backdrop of the coming Jacobite rising.

This sounds fairly trite, and it is, but the historical detailing of 18th century Scotland is very well done. The author clearly did her research, and she builds a cast of interesting characters and a rather fascinating world on the edge of war. There is an intrinsic tension between Claire’s two lives. Her modern husband isn’t a bad guy at all, even if he lacks Jaime’s manly-man energy. But she finds herself in this new place and in love — so what does she do? This dilemma provides for most of the conflict during the first two thirds of the novel.

Let’s back up and discuss prose and voice. Gabaldon is a good writer. Her prose is energetic and descriptive, often erudite. The voice is completely first person from Claire’s POV. She has an engaging, if a bit overly clinical viewpoint. I had small problems with repetition. Gabaldon often repeats words a sentence later without reason of parallelism and has a tendency to elaborate on a point more than necessary. This is a book where a great deal of the subtext is in the text. Claire spells it out. Sometimes twice. Sometimes thrice. This, by the way, is another of those writing “shoulds.” You’re not supposed to “tell,” but “show” (imply). That’s “better writing.” But as far as I can tell, bestsellers don’t tend to be subtle.

There is a lot of Scottish accented dialog in this book, and it’s very well handled.

Claire’s POV is generally excellent, but it does result in a few issues. Occasionally (particularly in the later part of the novel) some events occur “off screen” (when she isn’t there). Gabaldon then results to gratuitous retellings where other characters relate the event to her in unlikely detail. Occasionally, a briefer recounting leads to some reader confusion. Claire is also hyper aware and overly clinical. As the author likes to handhold us through her thought process, it sometimes feels like exactly this, author handholding rather than genuine cognition. This leads to one of my bigger “motivational gripes” with this generally excellent novel, that Claire often feels fairly selfish and overly analytic. Particularly in the middle of the novel, Claire is nominally still plotting to head back to the future, but this tell feels incongruous with the emotions the author  has her “show” toward Jaime.

Crumbling castles and sweeping mountains make for a juicy setting

Crumbling castles and sweeping mountains make for a juicy setting

As I mentioned, the historical details are good. The attitudes of the 18th century men and women are well handled and relatively free of anachronism. Things are properly grungy, sexist, and occasionally brutish. It is occasionally a little odd that Claire herself is not terribly discomforted by this. She points out plenty of good stuff, particularly having to do with justice, medicine, and punishment, but she doesn’t really seem to miss toilets, showers, medical care, comfortable clothes, or well preserved food. Perhaps her life as a nurse during WWII was grungy enough to prepare her. She occasionally mentions discomforts flipply, but less than I’d imagine. She never really complains (or seems to suffer) with regard to food, sleeping in haystacks, or walking barefoot across the chilly Scottish moors.

The time travel element is very light SciFi/Fantasy in this first novel at least, but is used to good effect. There is no mumbo-jumbo explanation to gum things up.

Claire and Jaime's situation -- and relationship -- really is pretty sexy

Claire and Jaime’s situation — and relationship — really is pretty sexy

Being a romance, and a fairly erotic one, this is also a novel full of sex. Jaime and Claire go at it like rabbits — and things are often fairly explicit, at least in a literary way. I have no problem with most of this, as it’s actually pretty hot, and I imagine that for many women it’s insanely hot (see, word repeated deliberately for effect!). But there are aspects to the sexuality in this novel that are weird. Two huge ones (spoiler alert):

1) In the middle, after Claire disobeys him, Jaime “punishes” her by strapping her bare ass (to put it bluntly). To tell the truth, his reasoning is perfectly typical by 18th century standards, but comes off as a bit twisted by ours. And some readers will be bothered by the otherwise very spunky Claire’s fairly rapid absolution of her wife-beating lover. In fact, it’s clear that Gabaldon has a bit of a “thing” for corporal punishment as it’s a constant theme in the book. Jaime goes way overboard to emphasize how much hiding her turned him on.

2) More disturbingly, Gabaldon probably isn’t the biggest fan of Homosexuality. The novel’s villain (Black Jack) is not only gay, but she goes to great lengths to integrate his evil tendencies and his sexual proclivities. Otherwise, he’s actually a rather excellent villain, but she goes big time overboard in Jaime’s recounting of the intensely odd and twisted “final hours” between Jaime and the menacing Black Jack. It’s pretty darn nasty and twisted. This, along with a retelling of an older encounter between Jaime and a gay Duke feels like an overzealous attempt to demonize… to quote the novel: “poofters.”

Overall, this is an excellent novel. None are perfect, and it’s engaging throughout. The place/time is vividly depicted, and the characters are boldly executed. Both stay with you — which is no small feat for any author.

For more book reviews, click here.

Claire never offers her opinion on Haggis

Claire never offers her opinion on Haggis

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From Noodles to Fish

Oct13

Restaurant: Sushi Tsujita

Location: 2006 Sawtelle Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025. 310.231.1177

Date: October 9, 2014

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: Classic Fish

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One of the busiest and yummiest spots on the busy Sawtelle Blvd is Tsujita Artisan Noodles (and annex), which  serve up an insanely rich and delicious porky ramen. The owner, Takehiro Tsujita, was cooked up a third place just down the street — well actually cooked isn’t the right word since this is a high end, omakase focused, traditional sushi joint helmed by chef Shigeru Kato.


Sushi Tsujita specializes in traditional sushi preparations that involve a lot of subtle salting, curing, and marinating.


The interior has been jazzed up since its previous engagement as Orris.


2000 Bouchard Père et Fils Chevalier-Montrachet La Cabotte. Burghound 95. While discreet, there is a trace of wood that sits atop the ever-so-mildly exotic fruit and wonderfully layered aromas that are still admirably fresh even though they now display some mature notes. The exceptionally rich and overtly muscular flavors are quite forward though powerful as a still firm and prominent acid spine keeps everything in perfect balance on the magnificently persistent finish. This is classy juice that is knocking on the door of its prime drinkability.

agavin: our bottle was unfortunately badly premoxed


Stewed motomara tomato.


A bit of everything. Persimmon with tofu (back in the sub-dish). Sea pike cooked with sake, soy sauce, & ginger (back left). Shrimp cooked with sake and black cod roe (front left). Oyster & baby abalone (front). Ginko nuts. Crispy rice (center back).


Steamed Abalone with mizuna mustard greens. Marinated with bonito broth.


Dobin-mushi. Matsutake mushroom, sea eel, chicken, mitsuba, ginko nuts, sudachi.

Very Japanese, this soup is in a little teapot with the cup (and yuzu) on top.


First one pours out and drinks the light dashi broth.


Then one can pick out the eel, shrimp, chicken and the like.


Sashimi. Nodo kuro (black sea perch), blue fin tuna, tai.


Snapper (tai).


Kinmedai (golden eye snapper).


Grouper (hata).


Scallop with truffle.

1995 Robert Ampeau & Fils Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. 92 points. Tis is medium gold. Nose is very ripe fruit and honey, but not boytritis. Sweet and satiny and weighty, acid is failing. Finishes with baked apples and pastry.


Steamed golden snapper head. With silky tofu. This was rather delicious, and was dipped in a light sauce zested with green onion and daikon.


Ginger. Chunks of very strong and tasty ginger.


Egg with eggplant caviar. Gooey!


Sea robin. (Hobo).


Sea pike? (sanma). It can be hard to remember which fish is which.


Chu-toro.


O-Toro. Awesome.


Kanpachi (amberjack).


Waygu beef. Delicious and melt in the mouth.


Halibut.


A pretty double course.


King crab (kani).


Salmon roe (ikura) and sea urchin (uni). Fabulous.


Sweet shrimp (ebi). The heads were still moving.


But not after being turned into shrimp head miso!


Mackerel (saba).


Sea bass (suzuki). Marinated in kelp.


Egg (tamago).


Melon for dessert.


And roasted tea.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Tsujita, but the meal proved to be quite interesting. Absolutely first rate sushi, and of a somewhat different ilk than most of the less cured or particularly heavy vinegar style places (like Sushi Zo). It wasn’t cheap, offering omakase in the $120, $150, and $180 ranges (above is more or less a $180), but this is pretty comparable to other top sushi houses in LA. It’s also on my favorite lunch street, giving Kiriko some competition in the serious sushi world.

For more LA sushi reviews click here.

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By: agavin
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Even more Shanghai Dimsum

Oct10

I went back again to Shanghai #1 for dimsum and have chronicled even more delectables…

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By: agavin
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Via Veneto

Oct08

Restaurant: Via Veneto

Location: 3009 Main St. Santa Monica, CA 90405. (310) 399-1843

Date: April 13, 2014

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Excellent contemporary Italian

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LA is overflowing with Italian restaurants, but there is tremendous range in quality (and price). From old fashioned “red sauce” places to modernist takes like Il Grano. Via Veneto is in that high middle ground were it serves Italian (not exactly Italian American) up with panache.


2011 Bruno Giacosa Roero Arneis. 89 points. White peach, white flowers and minerals. Fresh with a hint of effervescence. Straightforward but enjoyable.

They do get a strike for having not only a $30 corkage (which I can stomach) but a 1 bottle policy. This forced me to buy this decent bottle from the list — but I had to pay a $60 markup for it!


Bread and olives.

CAPRESE CON BUFALA LAZIALE. buffalo mozzarella from “Lazio”, heirloom tomatoes, basil, olive oil.


Caprese with Burrata. Because Burrata always makes everything better!

TARTARA DI MANZO AL COLTELLO. knife cut prime beef filet tartare prepared to order, Pantelleria caper, house special dressing.

MELANZANE ALLA PARMIGIANA. farmers market eggplant, parmigiana style. Not exactly a traditional shape, more like involtini.

INSALATINA DI ARAGOSTA E QUINOA CON MENTA E LIMONE. lobster and quinoa salad, min and citrus vinaigrette. They do love this cylindrical shape. This was a pleasant salad, but the quinoa dominated (i.e. it was hard to really taste the lobster).

RUCOLA SELVATICA, RADICCHIO TREVIGIANO E REGGIANO. wild arugula, treviso radicchio, parmigiano reggiano.


From my cellar: 1990 Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo Vigna Cicala. 94 points. Such a beautiful intense nose of tar, rose petals, leather…wow. Medium structured with great balance. Long and delish.

RAVIOLI DI VITELLO AI PORCINI. home made veal ravioli, porcini mushroom tomato sauce.

FETTUCCINE AL SUGO DI COSTINE DI MAIALE DELLA MONNA. home made fettuccine with slowly braised baby back pork ribs ragout, tomato sauce. Basically a porky Bolognese.


Pumpkin Ravioli. In butter and sage. Apparently very good, but no amareto cookie inside (that’s traditional).

RISOTTO AL ROSMARINO CON SPEZZATINO DI CINGLIALE. rosemary risotto with braised wild boar. It’s hard to pass up cingliale (boar), and this is a good reason why!

AGNELLO IN CROSTA. pan roasted rack of Sonoma lamb in a crust of fine herbs. Nice!


Mediterranean sea bass, simply grilled.


Some sides: beats and broccolini.


More sides: spinach and roasted potatoes.


The dessert menu.


Chocolate tart.


Profiteroles, stuffed with pastry cream.


Panna cotta with nutella. The hazelnut aspect was subtle, but this was delicious.


Crema di amaretto. A layered thing with lady fingers, this had that delicious complex secondary vibe going that I love from good Italian desserts. That’s why I occasionally make my own uber Tiramisu.

Overall, Via Veneto has a great kitchen. As this category of high end Italian Italians in LA goes, this is a very good one. All the food is extremely tasty. Service was good. It’s dark (not a problem) and a little loud. My biggest ding goes for a strict corkage policy of $30 and one bottle. That’s pretty steep, they could do without the bottle limit for those of us who want to work to empty our cellars.

Oh, and if you’re curious how this compares to the “real thing” I have about 50 write ups from Northern and Central Italy here!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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By: agavin
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Diablo 3 – from Good to Great

Oct06

Diablo 3 was very good out of the gate. I played extensively and farmed the endgame for 2-3 months during the sumer of 2012 — even clearing Inferno before it was nerfed. But my interest dropped off around the time the Monster Power patch released and I stopped playing until Reaper of Souls (the expansion). Now I’ve been addicted ever since. Blizzard is the only “big” game company I know that really continues to “fix” a big game long after release (fully online games tune over time as well). Diablo 3 had problems, and over the course of 2 years, without changing the fundamental gameplay, Blizzard managed to transform a good game into a great one.

reaper_of_souls_blizzard_by_bpsola-d6ln8ar

Infernal Wall

Almost all of Diablo 3‘s problems centered around the endgame. Broadly, there were two main problems: the “gear/progress disconnect ” and the “Inferno Wall.” I discussed these both back at the time, but simply put, as originally designed, the endgame consisted of a single difficulty mode: Inferno, chopped into roughly 3 sub-difficulties (Act I, Act II, and Act III/IV). Because of the relatively small number of gradients it was just HARD. Brutally hard. And as the ONLY route at first to progress was gear, this whole problem was made worse by…

The Great Gear Disconnect

Basically, in Vanilla D3 you never got any gear you could use. Gear was so randomized, and so stingy, and the requirements of Inferno so steep and class specific, that even the Legendary drops you got were basically useless. Probably, they were useless to anyone, but certainly they were to your class. This all meant you had to buy them on the new “all player all world” Gold or Real Money auction houses. That meant that only gold was really useful — which is pretty boring. You were left feeling that to progress you had to either spend real money or grind mindlessly for gold ad nauseam.

If we establish the premise that in a “progress” oriented game, the player will pursue the activity which offers the best rewards, Vanilla D3 favored gold farming — super boring. There was no sense of direct progress from clearing actual content. I’m going to discuss Blizzard’s modifications and point out how they modified player incentive.

It should also be noted that Nephalem Glory buff really encouraged playing in 1-2 hour stints, which is kind of long.

Difficult Adjusts

The first thing Blizzard changed, and quite rapidly, was to adjust the difficulty down a bit. They also increased the relative power of Legendaries (initially they were pretty lame). These modifications helped a tiny bit, slightly incentivizing gear as good Legendaries could sometime sell well on the Auction House. Sometimes.

Paragon for the Win

Next up, they added a new “leveling at max level” system called Paragon. Basically, your earned experience leveled a separate Paragon Level that gave you small stat increases. There were 100 Paragon levels with steep experience brackets. It certainly took many hours per, and grew and grew and grew such that reaching high levels was only for the insane. Still, this system was a huge improvement. At least you “got” something for playing other than gold and the small increased attack and survivability actually felt like slow progress. In a month or so of casual play I only leveled to Paragon 7, which helped a little to power up my character.

Paragon further incentivized players to actually clear content, although the huge disconnect still existed.

Monster Power

Next Blizzard introduced “Monster Power”, essentially a difficulty slider within Inferno where you could adjust monster difficulty commensurate with gold/magic find bonuses. This more or less solved the Infernal Wall problem and moved things to the now familiar choice: “munch through monsters fast and easy” or “live on the edge, where a tough pack might be the end.” Progress then consisted of getting enough better gear to notch the difficulty up. This change evened out the difficulty in the various acts, allowing you to play a broader range of content disconnected from its difficulty (before you had to play the Act you could clear).

It should also be noted that Blizzard fixed tons of minor tuning and introduced Infernal Machines, a method to construct really difficult portals and fight Uber-bosses.

Gear 2.0

These early changes (in the Spring/Summer of 2012) helped, and pretty much fixed the difficulty problems. Still, for nearly two years, the relationship between gear and play was totally broken. You bought progress on the Auction House and that was it. Blizzard’s great Real Money AH experiment was (at least for players) a failure.

So they shut it down.

While patch 2.0 dropped just before the Reaper of Souls Expansion, I’m going to discuss both together because level 60 play on patch 2.0 forms an irrelevant (and brief) historical window.

Blizzard changed the whole gear system. The Auction House went away and instead gear was no longer fully randomized. All the affixes became at least relevant to your spec. They rearranged them into primary and secondary. Certain types of gear gained specific reliable affixes or special powers (still), but basically almost all drops became at least usable, and perhaps 1 in 10 well rolled for what they were. It’s hard to overestimate how important this was.

Before, you’d look at a legendary drop casually and 99% of the time it was for another class, or contained totally nonsensical stats (like Intelligence on a Barbarian Weapon),  now it was mostly usable, if not ideal. They also redid lots of special power affixes and set bonuses and introduced lots of new Legendaries. I’ll discuss later how this affected things.

This drastically altered player motivation. Progress became much closer related to how many Legendaries you got. It was no longer purchased on the now non-existent AH, but earned in game by clearing mobs.

Enchanting Fun

The Mystic, a new craftsman who enchants and transmogrifies was also important. You can select one affix per item to permanently change, re-rolling it again and again to make it perfect. This substantially improves the odds that a piece of gear is well rolled. It need only be well rolled in all but one slot. You can replace the worst slot, and with sufficient gold, fix it.

storremojligheteranpassa_967674

Hop to 70

Reaper of Souls raised the level cap to 70. This short little grind, only a few hours basically served to invalidate the old 1.0 level 60 gear and start a new clean gear grind. Which was fine.

Extra Content

They also added a fifth act. It’s fine. It brings in more level variety. Great. Not a big deal, but fine.

They added a new class. I haven’t played him. If I make a new character I will. Again, something cool, and good for the really serious Altaholic, but not game-changing.

malthael-fight

Torment is the New Inferno

Blizzard also simplified the old difficulty system of mode + monster power into a single mode slider with the top difficulty levels being labeled Torment I, Torment II, etc. (up to T6). It’s not really much different, and still gives that choice of how hard vs. how much reward.

difficulty

Story versus Grind

One of the weird things about Vanilla D3 endgame play was that you constantly ran “sections” of it’s long campaign mode again and again to grind for better gear and experience (after Paragon). This always felt odd and only certain maps really made for good grinding. With ROS, Blizzard introduced a new Adventure Mode that allowed for hopping around anywhere in the world and earning XP bonuses from randomly generated “Bounties” sliced all through the map. This chunked up gameplay into smaller 5 minute chunks (or 15-20 if you pounded out the 5 bounty meta reward) and made the process of just killing monsters without skipping through dialog you had heard 100 times much more streamlined.

The also added a new mode, Rifts, where a special token (earned completing bounties) could be used to open a special monster heavy randomly generated monster free-for-all. 1-4 players race through this collection of 1-7 maps clearing. Once you’ve cleared enough a mini-boss pops up and gives you more goodies, XP, and Shards. Rifts featured a Legendary drop bonus.

All this served to mix up player motivation and encourage you to clear bounties or rifts all over the world. Increased drop rates for multiplayer encouraged that as well.

5_Ember_c

Shard It or Make It

With the auction houses gone, players need to grind out their gear IN the game — which is better. Shards, which are mostly collected from rift runs, can be spent at the Shard Vendor to get a chance at a Legendary in a specific slot. The odds are low, but reasonable, so basically, this allows you to accelerate the acquisition of a good piece in the slot where you need it most. Overall, it’s a huge boon and makes the Random Number Generator less frustrating.

In Vanilla, the Blacksmith and crafting in general felt useless. The odds of getting a decent piece out of him were so low as to be pathetic. But in 2.0, many crafted items are fairly competitive. Sure if you want a great roll you might have to craft 20 of them, but before it was probably 200.

Overpowered Feels Good

One of the other things that dropping the AH did was to allow Blizzard to adjust the balance. Before, weird extra affixes like Gold Find and the like had to be kept carefully in check, because earning gold too fast would draw too many players in. Now, gold showers down all over the place and if you want to stack it, fine. Which brings us to the new modes of endgame progress. The higher Torment levels (T4-6) are calibrated such that no normal build really cuts it. You have to go overpowered. The difference is just in which way you go overpowered.

Typically, the various strategies lie in some combination of 1 or more sets and a couple of build variants. For example, as a Barbarian there are a couple set builds that start to “break the game” like Leapquake and Raekors/Vile. But they don’t really break the game. They are needed to progress at the higher torments. Leapquake for example combines the Strength of the Earth bonuses that allow each Leap to also spawn an Earthquake with Lut Socks, which allows for 3 Leaps per cooldown. Stack Cooldown Reduction, align all your elemental damage to one element and stack that, and you can boost your damage through the roof. To clear T6, you have to do just that. Access to this many set items requires a serious play investment. Getting really well rolled pieces in each slot even more.

Really, it’s kinda brilliant.

blizzcon-2013-diablo-iii-reaper-of-souls-gameplay-systems-panel-34

The New Paragon

Paragon too got a nice retuning. Instead of a brutal climb to 100, with small predetermined gains, it became a more or less endless grind to (?) 800 or beyond. Each level takes roughly an hour. Each gives you a point that applies toward all your characters (encouraging alts) that can be spent on one of 16 stats in groups of 4. At first glance these seem like very small gains but by the time you reach the Paragon 200-400 range you have enough points to round out or adjust certain rare stats or ones your gear lacks. Don’t have enough Movement Speed on your gear? Put some points in it. Your build favors Cooldown Resist? Paragon helps. Need more healing and toughness? Go for it.

This also adjusts player motivation by incentivizing experience and making even a session with no useful drops (most of the time at high level) feel at least somewhat useful.

Greater Rifts and Legendary Gems

By the time patch 2.1 rolled around, many serious players (like myself) were farming Torment VI (T6) without too much trouble. So Blizzard added a new rift mode called Greater Rifts which allows for a kind of infinite rift progression. Rifts are ranked 1-100 in ascending difficulty. Much like regular rifts you kill monsters to unlock a boss, but in this case it’s under 15 minute time pressure. If you succeed you may upgrade your “key” to a higher level. If you choose not to progress, or fail, you can minorly upgrade the new Legendary Gems (which are pretty badass). Your chance of upgrades is related to the level of rift so that it is only really possible to upgrade your gems to roughly the level you can complete. The whole idea of Greater Rifts is fairly cool, but I feel they suffer from a number of motivational problems:

  • Your starting rift level is based on an annoying “kill a bunch of enemies” trial that often under ranks you, meaning you must slog through 2-3 low level rifts to reach the right level to test your skills.
  • The XP/Gold/Legendary rewards are FAR FAR inferior to just running regular rifts. Following the principle that players will go where the rewards are, this means that you need to run Greater Rifts to upgrade your gems, but they are not otherwise the best choice.
  • The luck of the map is a huge factor. If there is a high density of blue/yellow packs it is MUCH easier to clear in time. Some combinations of enemies are far more annoying and time consuming than others.
  • The time pressure can be very tight at high levels. This means you have to rush rush rush. That may test a certain skill, but I find it less fun then doing things at my own pace.
  • In multiplayer, the key system is very idiosyncratic and often leads to getting stuck in a rift alone or with less people than you intended. If it’s alone, but you had party members, you don’t get your NPC companion or the ability to change to solo gear (I run different gear solo) and it’s an automatic loss.

Overall, I’m not in love with Greater Rifts as a main focus of late endgame progression. However, many of these problems could be easily fixed. For example, if you could select your starting level from any level you have already beaten.

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Conclusion

Blizzard has constantly tried to “fix” player motivation in the game to encourage broad balanced play. They experimented with some new ideas like the Auction House, and it failed, so they scrapped it and built a new gear system that better motivated serious and continual play. They seem to still be doing this. It’s an unusual commitment for a game that isn’t subscription or pay-to-play based. Most classic big games are just made, possibly patched to fix drastic bugs, and then left to run their course. Diablo 3, on the other hand, like WOW and other MMOs, is a sort of living evolving thing.

WOW Endgame series: Vanilla, Burning Crusade, Lich King, Cataclysm, and Pandaria.
or read about Mists of Pandaria leveling.
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Steak in the Blind

Oct03

Restaurant: Taylor’s Steakhouse

Location: 3361 West 8th St., Los Angeles, CA 90005. (213) 382-8449

Date: October 1, 2014

Cuisine: Steakhouse

Rating: Old School

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About a month ago my Hedonist group started up a new concept, a sort of club within a club of high end blind tasting diners. The deal is everyone brings a bottle (and backups) blind. We eat drink and try to guess at what they are. The group is know as the “Dirty Dozen” (for being 12). Oh, and we have an official Dirty Dozen T-shirt which is required attire.


Tonight is actually the second “meeting”, but I couldn’t make the first. Both time’s it’s been at Taylor’s Steakhouse, oddly located in Korea Town. Except when Taylor’s was founded in 1955, there was no K-Town!


Everything about this place is like a time warp.


Look at the interior. Notice the red leather booths. The fancy glass. The woodwork.


The leather padded bar.


From my cellar: 2007 Lur-Saluces “Y”. Parker 94. The 2007 Ygrec has a light, fragrant nose with apple-blossom, pink grapefruit, citrus lemon and just a touch of cold granite. Good definition. The palate is bright and lively, a lot of energy packed into this Ygrec, with citrus lemon, green apple, a touch of lemongrass, very harmonious and smooth towards the finish that display superb persistency, a hint of fiery lemongrass lingering in the mouth.

agavin: for those that don’t know, this is the secret dry wine of Chateau d’Yquem, world’s most renowned maker of sweet wine.


Our table and old school thrones are located in the private room.

A note about the wines before jumping in. We organized them randomly into four flights of three, all served blind. We discussed each flight and opened them at the end of the flight before moving onto the next. This worked pretty well. It eliminated the free-for-all madness and shortened the time between tasting and finding out, so you could connect the taste with the information. This is important, because it’s hard at the end of the evening to remember back to the first wines. I had labeled the bottles with people’s names so we could tell them apart. Next time, we should use numbers or letters to eliminate the “Andy likes French” type biases. But some label is needed. We also might try out having one person (maybe even a “guest”) look at the wines and organize them into coherent flights.


From my cellar: 1986 Gruaud Larose. Parker 96-97. the dense, garnet/purple-colored 1986 Gruaud-Larose is evolving at a glacier pace. The wine still has mammoth structure, tremendous reserves of fruit and concentration, and a finish that lasts close to a minute. The wine is massive, very impressively constituted, with still some mouth-searing tannin to shed. Decanting of one to two hours in advance seems to soften it a bit, but this is a wine that seems to be almost immortal in terms of its longevity. It is a great Medoc classic, and certainly one of the most magnificent Gruaud-Larose ever made.


Avi brought: 2002 D R Stephens Cabernet Sauvignon Moose Valley Vineyard. Parker 90. A sleeper of the vintage, this 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon Moose Valley Vineyard appears to have reached full maturity. It offers an attractive, jammy nose of red and black currants, damp earth, roasted espresso, cedar and spice box. Medium to full-bodied, lush and seductive with low acidity, ripe tannin and a fleshy, round, opulent mouthfeel, it will offer plenty of pleasure for 6-7 more years.


Kirk brought: 1999 Miani Friuli Merlot. AG 97. The 1999 Merlot marries power to elegance in a style that foreshadows the wines of recent years. This is simply an awesome bottle of wine, that’s all there is to it. Everything is right there in the glass; inner perfume, ripeness and complexity all come together in a profound Merlot of the highest level. This three-dimensional Merlot should continue to drink beautifully for at least another decade, perhaps longer. The 1999 is the first wine that shows a more enlightened approach to vinification, and it is marvelous juice.

agavin: really a pretty profound “new Italian.”


Chilled Jumbo Prawns. Pretty typical. The shrimp were okay. They tasted a little frozen and the cocktail sauce was weak.


The Molly dinner salad. Wedge of iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, onions, blue cheese. I was pleasantly surprised by this salad. It was DROWNING in blue cheese dressing, which actually, I like. It would have been even better with bacon though.


Casear salad. House-made caesar dressing. I didn’t try it, but visually it looks like a decent caesar.

Onion rings. Classic, and fabulous.


House-made potato chips. Nice and crunchy, although maybe could have used more salt.


Stewart brought: 1982 Château Smith Haut Lafitte. Classic bordeaux nose with tons of earth in the beginning. After some decanting as the earth notes die down nice soft dark fruits emerge and provide balance. Medium body with firm acidity and mellowed tannins. Definitely has more years left. Deep purple with only light bricking. Overall very nice and enjoyable.


Yarom brought: 1984 Heitz Cabernet Sauvignon Martha’s Vineyard. Parker 92. With coaxing, a surprisingly tight bouquet offers up damp, woodsy aromas intermixed with scents of mint and ripe cassis. Full-bodied, firm, and admirably concentrated, with a wonderful layered palate, this impressively-endowed wine requires another 4-5 years of cellaring. The wine may be going through a closed stage of development as this bottle was less impressive than past tastings.


Arnie brought: 2002 Paul Hobbs Cabernet Sauvignon. Parker 91-94. It is obvious Paul Hobbs prefers the influence of Taransaud cooperage on his Bordeaux varietals because they tend to give the wines a chocolatey character, and that is seen in the 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa (3,120 cases), a Cabernet Sauvignon with terrific concentration, remarkable opulence, and layers of cassis- and licorice-infused tobacco leaf notes that just cascade over the palate with an unctuous texture. The wealth of fruit and concentration hides some relatively serious tannin in this large-scaled wine.


Culotte. The most tender cut of top sirloin. Only two per steer. Pretty darn good straight up steak. Thick and tender like a filet. One huge block of meat too, with no gristle. The baked potato was very good too. I mean, it’s still a classic baked potato, but it was a good one.


Prime rib with mashed potatoes and creamed spinach. I heard it was great.


With baked potato.


Bone in something and spinach.


Spencer steak. Black and blue. A well-marbled cut, marinated and seasoned. With mashed potatoes and peppercorn sauce. Black and blue means raw in the center and burn on the outside.


Bone in rib-eye. That green sprig, that’s Taylor’s for salad.


John brought: 1998 La Mission Haut Brion. Parker 98. A candidate for the wine of the vintage from this somewhat forgotten year, consumers should be seeking out wines from the Right Bank and Graves as 1998 was a great vintage in those appellations. La Mission’s 1998 exhibits a healthy, opaque blue/purple color with no lightening at the edge. Thirty minutes of aeration brings forth a sensational bouquet of chocolate, cedar, truffles, graphite, blackberries, cassis and incense. La Mission’s so-called scorched earth/charcoal/hot rocks characteristic has not yet appeared. Full-bodied with superb purity, a multilayered texture, sweet tannin, good acidity and a fabulously long finish, this great, young La Mission-Haut-Brion’s finest days are yet to come.


Trish brought: 2004 Angelo Gaja Sperss. Parker 96. Gaja’s 2004 Langhe Sperss is an infant. Still incredibly primary, it exudes the essence of Serralunga black fruits, smoke and tar. The new oak is still very evident here and the wine seems to be at an awkward phase of its development. Still, it offers stunning concentration as well as length, with soft, caressing tannins that frame the fruit all the way to the long finish. This wine is in need of serious bottle age and may very well merit a higher score once it emerges from its temporary period of dormancy.


Larry brought: 1983 La Mission Haut Brion. Parker 90. This was the first vintage made under the administration of Jean Delmas. The most notable and dramatic change made at La Mission-Haut-Brion since 1983 became a more refined, polished, sophisticated style without the pure mass of older vintages, but also without the excesses of tannin and volatile acidity that sometimes plagued ancient vintages. The 1983, a very good vintage in the southern Medoc and Graves, is a relatively lightweight La Mission (particularly compared to the 1982) that is fully mature. Complex notes of smoked herbs, cigar tobacco, black currants, sweet cherries, damp earth and spice box jump from the glass of this dark garnet-colored wine. Medium-bodied with silky tannins, well-integrated, low acidity and abundant perfume, this fully mature 1983 should be consumed over the next decade.

agavin: this was voted wine of night (although close with the CNDP below)


The sides are equally old school. Fresh grilled Texas sweet onions.


Mushroom bordelaise. It was okay. Nothing like Cut’s amazing version though.


Sauteed fresh mushrooms.


Robin brought: 2003 La Mondotte. Parker 96. A killer wine (I’m so sorry I didn’t buy any), the 2003 La Mondotte is clearly one of the superstars of the vintage. An intriguing perfume of licorice, Asian soy, black currant jam, ripe cherries and subtle toast emerges from this extravagantly rich, voluptuously textured, opulent, full-bodied St.-Emilion. Just coming in to full maturity, it is pure, rich and full. Drink it over the next decade or more.


Dave brought: 2007 Robert Foley Vineyards Claret. Parker 98. The extraordinary 2007 Claret, which is a Cabernet Sauvignon-based wine, displays inky notes of lead pencil shavings, pen ink, creme de cassis, blackberry, incense, and licorice. The wine is super-pure and super-rich, an extraordinarily full-bodied powerhouse of a Cabernet Sauvignon that should evolve for 15 or more years. Its sweetness of tannin and headiness already make it accessible.


Adam brought: 1998 Les Cailloux (Lucien et Andre Brunel) Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Centenaire. Parker 97-100. The 1998 Cuvee Centenaire is an awesome Chateauneuf du Pape. Made from extremely old vines, this is the essence of both Chateauneuf du Pape and the Grenache grape. The wine boasts a deep ruby/purple color as well as an extraordinary bouquet of melted, jammy black cherry, raspberry, and currant fruit mixed with pepper and spice box. In the mouth, it is rich, full-bodied, and unctuously-textured, with extraordinary purity, and laser-like definition for a wine of such massive concentration and depth. The finish lasts for nearly a minute. This spectacular, youthful, amazingly accessible offering is a tour de force in winemaking, and a tribute to just how great Chateauneuf du Pape can be.

agavin: a really great wine, and more or less tied in my mind for WOTN.


Red velvet cake. Cream cheese icing.


Key lime pie. Actually a fabulous piece of key lime pie. As Yarom put it, “a 10!”


Chocolate cake.


Creme brule. Very nice custard.


Cheesecake. Also very straight up and very good.

Overall, this was an incredibly fun night with some really good wines. Our room and the blind format worked out great.

As to Taylor’s and the food? I was pleasantly surprised, although not blown away. The atmosphere is fun in a retro way. The service is friendly but nothing on par with a more modern higher end steakhouse. The food is really old school. The salads were pretty good and the steaks themselves actually quite fabulous. But I’m not a huge steak fan and the extras just aren’t nearly as yummy as at a place like Mastros or even Boa or STK. Because for me, it’s not all about the meat (in fact, at a place like Mastros I drown the meat Oscar style in creamed seafood), I’m not as jazzed. The desserts were first rate though. But I like those new-style over-the-top sides like “king crab truffle gnocchi”, “Gorgonzola mac & cheese” and “lobster mashers.”

Oh, but it is about 50-60% of the price. Our per person tab, including tax and tip, was $85! Mastros could be twice that.

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

The back of our required club T-shirt

 

Related posts:

  1. First Growths First
  2. Big and Bold on the Beach
  3. Wine on the Beach
  4. Hedonists at STK again!
  5. Totoraku Double Meat Madness
By: agavin
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Cantonese Pig Out!

Oct01

Restaurant: Capital Seafood

Location: 755 W Garvey Ave. Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 282-3318

Date: September 28, 2014

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Great Banquet

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The Cantonese banquet is a long standing tradition, and many of the big San Gabriel Valley Cantonese places do both a dimsum brunch and ornate banquet services.


Capital Seafood is no exception, hailing from the glory days of cheesy 80sMonterey Park build outs. Look at the faux Louis XVI decor!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mitl4ZBjFvI]

Tonight our little private banquet was located just adjacent to a huge wedding in the main room. Play the above video for a sample of the 100 decibel festivities.


Our “room” was actually just a corner of the big space that had been screened off… literally with Chinese folding screens.


From my cellar: 2009 Domaine Bruno Clair Bourgogne Rosé Marsannay. 89 points. The 2009 Marsannay Rose is a serious wine. It shows plenty of intensity and generosity, I only wish the aromatics were a little more focused.


Boiled peanuts.


Candied Walnuts.


From my cellar: 1996 Maison Roche de Bellene Chambolle-Musigny Vieilles Vignes. 92 points.


Suckling pig. Special ordered, with pickled cucumber and jellyfish. The pork was some of the best roast pork I’ve had. It was incredibly succulent with crispy skin.


The right hand sauce is a slightly sweet sauce, similar to that used with Peking duck.


2007 Domaine Marc Morey & Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Chenevottes. Burghound 92. Very mild reduction combines with notes of lemon, straw and orange peel that introduce intense, delicious and well-delineated middle weight flavors where the citrus influence really comes up on the very dry and energetic finish. I quite like this but it is more suited to those who enjoy nervous whites with ample acid support.


Shrimp and tofu. The little white puffs are fried soft tofu. The shrimp are whole giant prawns fried with salt and peppery. They were quite delicious, cooked to a tender level where the shells caramelized and were soft and edible.


1999 Prager Chardonnay Smaragd. 88 points. Botrytized chardonnay from the Wachau. Weird. I love Bodenstein’s wines, but this is strange.


Fried giant clam. Two parks of the geoduck giant clam: body and neck. Basically fried clam strips Chinese style, but plenty tasty.


2005 Moraga Vineyards. 93 points. Sensational sauvignon blanc in the stye of a great Smith – Haut Lafite.


We saw them serving this crazy dish at the wedding and just had to try it.


Lobster salad! (with dry ice)


The fresh lobster meat is mixed with melon, mayo, and flying fish eggs. The overall concoction was pleasant enough but oddly sweet, and the cloying sauce hid the delicate meat.


XO sauce. This fermented, slightly spicy, sauce is rather famous — and expensive.


2003 Emrich-Schönleber Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Spätlese. IWC 90. Aromas and flavors of blueberry, blackberry and honey combine here with woodsmoke, black tea, nut oil and subtly stony nuances. The wine is rich and full, with its slight sense of heat enhancing the effect of distilled fruit concentration and smoky pungency. The finishing effect is long and noticeably sweet.


Fried bullfrog. Chunks of bullfrog are deep fried with garlic. Super tasty, although there were a lot of bones to pick out.


2012 Robert Mondavi Winery Pinot Noir Clone 777. 93 points. Clean and sparse. Sharp but not bitter. Nice oak finish.


Steamed egg. I thought this was tofu, but it’s apparently just egg.


The custard-light-fluffy thing was really quite awesome, with a nice richness and a bit of umami from the soy.


2005 Brewer-Clifton Pinot Noir Melville Vineyard. IWC 91. Light red. Spicy strawberry and blood orange aromas are further enlivened by white pepper and a light kiss of fresh rose. Then broader and deeper in the mouth, offering ripe cherry and raspberry preserve flavors, with the orange quality repeating. Nicely balances richness and energy and finishes with impressive clarity and grip. This has serious presence and concentration, but leans more to elegance than to sheer power. Greg Brewer, who believes that “the human aspect is the most important and influential part of the concept of terroir,” told me that the goal of Brewer-Clifton is to “minimize that aspect by staying as neutral as possible: same corks, same yeasts, same wood and so on. By keeping execution homogeneous we emphasize individuality, especially vineyard character.”


Braised duck. The meat was good, but the heavy brown gravy didn’t taste very Chinese and wasn’t my thing.


2004 Roger Sabon Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Prestige. IWC 93. Deep ruby. Lush raspberry and cherry preserves on the nose, with hints of candied plum, espresso, flowers and dark chocolate. An impressively rich Chateauneuf, with powerful dark fruit flavors perked up by refreshing mineral lift on the back and nicely supported by supple tannins. Rich and chewy on the finish, with lingering notes of smoke, meat and cherry liqueur. Serious stuff, and in need of cellaring.


Caramelized fish. This fried Chilean Sea Bass with mushrooms, ginger, and garlic was pretty amazing. There was a ton of flavor.


2001 Les Cailloux (Lucien et André Brunel) Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Centenaire. IWC 96. Dark red. Incredible nose melds plum, spicecake, woodsmoke, mocha, earth, minerals and dried herbs; this covers all the major Chateauneuf du Pape food groups. Like liquid silk in the mouth, but with powerful underlying spine. A saline, superconcentrated wine that coats every millimeter of the palate with explosively rich, insinuating flavor yet does not come across as extreme or over the top. In fact, this is almost understated today, with a wonderfully long, elegant finish. A wine to chew on as much as to drink.


French style beef. A sort of peppered filet mignon. Very yummy and went well with the heavier red wines.


1999 M. Chapoutier Côte-Rôtie La Mordorée. Parker 95. Chapoutier’s La Mordoree cuvee is produced from 75-80-year old Syrah vines planted in both the Cote Blonde and Cote Brune, aged in 100% new oak casks, and bottled with neither fining nor filtration. The 1999 Cote Rotie La Mordoree is the finest he has produced since the 1991 (two bottles drunk over the last six months confirm this fabulous wine’s potential as it is just now beginning to emerge from a cloak of tannin). The 1999 has closed down since its pre-bottling tasting. The color is an inky purple, and the wine is dense and powerful, with notes of smoky blackberries, creosote, and espresso. Concentrated flavors reveal high levels of tannin (surprising in view of last year’s report), and a rich, long, 45-second finish. This impressive 1999 will take longer to reach its plateau of drinkability than I thought last year.


Scallop and egg fried rice.


2003 Cayuse Syrah en Cerise. Parker 90. The dark fruit-scented 2003 Syrah En Cerise Vineyard is medium-bodied, displays outstanding depth of fruit, and possesses appealing mouthfeel. Spicy blackberries make up its expressive, pure, deep, and long flavor profile. It should be enjoyed over the next 4-5 years.


Salty fish fried rice. A little different. Salty, but good.


Pea tendrils. In case your “system” is feeling clogged.


2007 Zilliken (Forstmeister Geltz) Saarburger Rausch Riesling Auslese. IWC 92. Pale golden yellow. Ripe peach, guava and chamomile on the nose, complicated by a hint of brown spice botrytis. Luscious citrus fruits with cool minerality refresh the palate. In spite of the wine’s weight, a spicy elegance dominates the finish.


Mango pudding and coconut jelly. The mango pudding was insanely good. It had a light jiggly quality and a flavorful intensity. The mellow sweetness of the other jelly was also very pleasant.

Overall, Capital did a great job and this was one of those fun and interesting banquet meals filled with different flavors. Not every dish was perfect (duck, I’m looking at you), but it was still a great meal and the pig was outstanding.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

  1. Feasting Lunasia
  2. Elite Dim Sum
  3. Spice Up Your Life Szechuan Style
  4. Banqueting at Shanghai #1
  5. Sea Harbor Dim Sum
By: agavin
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Andy Gavin

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