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Archive for February 2015

Elite New Years

Feb27

Restaurant: Elite Restaurant [1, 2, 3]

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

Date: February 22, 2015

Cuisine: Cantonese Banquet

Rating: Elite!

_

Elite is well known as one of great LA’s top dimsum places, but less well known is how great a Cantonese banquet place it is. For Chinese New Year, my Hedonist group decided to put this to the test.


We took over one of the private rooms with two tables and a big set menu.


2004 Domaine Carneros Brut. 88 points. Outstanding! Crisp and refreshing, not sweet – right amount of ‘dry’. Very well balanced!


NV Laurent-Perrier Champagne Grand Siècle. 93 points. Rich, deep complex nose; apples, caramel, lite dough/yeast nose; a real bouquet, no pure flavors; Intense mth!, foamy bubbles, grt. long fin.–balanced, elegant, and classic.


2005 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut. AG 92-94. Bright yellow-gold. Heady floral-accented citrus and orchard fruits on the nose, with smoky mineral and floral overtones adding complexity. Velvety and chewy in texture, offering deep, juicy orange and poached pear flavors and suave honey and chamomile nuances. Blends precision with power, finishing with a distinct mineral quality and excellent persistence.


Peanuts on the table start off many a real Chinese meal.



2009 Château Le Puy Côtes de Francs Marie Cecile. 95 points. Acidity and sweetness comes together at once and balance, young but seductive, a little bit dense after 60 mins. It’s not delicious but very very good indeed, I love it…actually. Aftertaste is spicy finished but elegant, perfume, layers, dimensions, warm and beautifully dry and long….very long finished.


Suckling pig. We preordered this little fellow. He’s kinda sad, but he sure tasted great. Really just a fabulous bit of pork and cracklings. As good as any suckling pig I’ve had.


Salt and slightly sweet brown sauce for the pig.


From my cellar: 1999 Louis Jadot Corton-Charlemagne Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot. Tanzer 94+. Subtly complex, precise aromas of apple, pear, minerals, mace and nutmeg. Gripping, vibrant and dense, with compelling vinosity and strong acidity. Offers captivating inner-mouth perfume of white flowers. Almost tannic on the back end, but has the sheer buffering material to stand up to the powerful structure and acids. A brilliant wine, finishing with a wonderfully tactile quality and superb length and grip.

2011 Rhys Chardonnay Horseshoe Vineyard. AG 93+. A model of precision, finesse and delineation, the 2011 Chardonnay Horseshoe Vineyard bristles with the essence of honey, white truffle, orange peel and nectarine. The 2011 needs a few years to drop some of its baby fat, but the direction it is likely to take becomes apparent with time in the glass. Watching the wine literally become crystalline and pure with air is quite an amazing experience.


Walnut shrimp. A white guy dish, but very tasty nonetheless. This one was fairly heavily fried, with light mayo. Served very hot.


2001 Sine Qua Non Albino. Tanzer 89. Perfumed aromas of tropical fruits, honey, oatmeal and nutty oak. Sweet and silky in the mouth, with apricot, peach and nutty oak flavors along with more exotic hints of mango and pineapple. Quite oaky on the back end, with a slightly dry, cyanic edge and a flavor of toasted almond. More dominated by its wood than most recent vintages of the Sine Qua Non white blend.

agavin: unfortunately, our bottle was totally oxidized and gone 🙁


2011 DuMOL Chardonnay Chloe. Tanzer 93+. Bright yellow, a bit less lucid than the Estate, which had already been racked off its lees. Captivating, sharply delineated aromas of citrus peel, orange marmalade and iodine. Large-scaled, sweet and thick with extract; wonderfully full, plush and seamless. Ripe lemon-candy acidity frames and intensifies the wine’s citrus and stone fruit flavors. These Ritchie Vineyard vines were planted to an old Wente clone in 1972.


2010 Kongsgaard Chardonnay. Tanzer 95. Very bright yellow-gold, a bit less deep than the 2011. Expressive aromas of tangerine, hazelnutty lees and sexy oak. The palate boasts great richness and sweetness, with a wonderfully sappy character to its explosive soft citrus and stone fruit flavors. Comes across as sweeter than the 2011, but harmonious acidity gives it beautiful balance. The 2010s finished their alcohol fermentations up to 16 months after the vintage, later than the malos, noted Kongsgaard, adding that this has given them a lot of weight. But this wine finishes bright and very long, with a firm spine of acidity.


Fried fish. Like super fish and chips (minus the chips).


2011 Marcassin Pinot Noir Marcassin Vineyard. 92 points. A lot of people loved this. To me, while there was a strong ripe fruit undercurrent, the heavy heavy oaking dominated.


2004 Kistler Pinot Noir Cuvée Catherine. Josh Raynolds 93. Dark violet. Intensely aromatic nose offers powerful blackberry and plum compote aromas. Very fresh in the mouth (the pH is 3.4, Kistler says), with vibrant red and dark berry flavors and taut minerality. Dry, focused and pure on the finish, with outstanding persistence and lingering dark berry flavors. Serious pinot: a great marriage of sweet fruit and soil tones.


2009 Rex Hill Pinot Noir Willamette Valley. Josh Raynolds 88. Bright red. Spicy raspberry and red cherry aromas are complicated by lively floral and herbal qualities. Sappy and round, with sweet red fruit and candied rose flavors, supple tannins and subtle spiciness. This open-knit pinot finishes with a touch of heat.


Roast pigeon. Succulent little birds, heads and all.

From my cellar: 1995 Louis Jadot Echezeaux. Tanzer 88. Impressive deep ruby-red. Perfumed, slightly candied aromas of red berries and smoky, charred oak. Supple and sweet, but a wine of only moderate intensity. Finishes with slightly dry tannins.


2005 Dupont-Tisserandot Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Les Cazetiers. Burghound 92. A very ripe extract of black pinot fruit nose liberally laced with cassis and warm earth nuances introduces rich, full and mouth coating flavors that are equally ripe, powerful, textured and explosive on the hugely long finish. This is impressive with a real sense of volume in the mouth and clearly built to age.


Lobster! Some awesome tender lobster in garlic pepper sauce. A milder sauce than at some places, which allowed the lobster meat flavor to come through.


2003 Rosenblum Cellars Zinfandel Reserve St. Peter’s Church Vineyard.


Peking duck. Well at least the skin of the peking duck, with little folding buns, crispy shrimp chips, and green onions.


The duck was okay. Not as good as some Beijing places.


2007 Le Vieux Donjon Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Josh Raynolds 93-96. Glass-staining ruby. Highly expressive, exotically perfumed bouquet of black raspberry, potpourri, smoky minerals and anise. A smooth, silky midweight with flavors of sweet red and dark berries complicated by notes of candied flowers and zesty minerals. Really clings on the finish, with the red fruit flavors refusing to let up.


2005 Le Vieux Donjon Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Josh Raynolds 94. Deep ruby. Seductively aromatic bouquet of red and dark berries, fresh flowers and minerals, with subtle garrigue and baking spice character. A round, creamy midweight with deep, sweet raspberry and blackcurrant flavors and a finish featuring gently gripping tannins and excellent smoky persistence. More civilized and fruity than the 2006 and 2004 releases from this top producer.


Eggplant. This is the typical sizzling (Szechuan) eggplant. Great stuff. Soft without being mushy with a nice garlicky flavor.


2004 Pax Syrah The Terraces Alder Springs Vineyard. Tanzer 90+. Saturated medium ruby. Extremely unevolved nose features some exotic suggestions of apricot, peach and spice. Powerful, firmly built and superripe, with penetrating acidity and a distinct peppery element from the fermentation with the stems. Strong in tannic acidity, notes Mahle. As ripe as this is, there’s nothing heavy about it. Still, this very juicy, tight wine is distinctly edgy today and is dominated by its spine. Needs patience.


Duck meat. After we only got the skin, we were wondering what happened to the meat. It came back with the “duck sauce.”


2005 Vinedos de Mancuso Vino de la Tierra Valdejalón.


Egg shrimp. These shrimp were breaded with a special coating of duck yolk. A lot of people liked them but they were too pasty and rich for my taste.


2005 Cos d’Estournel. Parker 98. While I am not convinced the 2005 Cos d’Estournel will eclipse the compelling 2003 Cos, it is unquestionably another superb classic from proprietor Michel Reybier and his brilliant winemaker, Jean-Guillaume Prats. Made from an unusually high percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon (78%) and the balance mostly Merlot with a tiny dollop of Cabernet Franc, this superb effort requires plenty of time in the bottle. It boasts an inky/purple color as well as a glorious perfume of licorice, Asian spices, creme de cassis, blackberries, and toasty oak. This full-bodied St.-Estephe is exceptionally powerful, pure, and dense with a layered mid-palate that builds like a skyscraper. While there are massive tannins, they are remarkably velvety and well-integrated in this big, backstrapping effort that should enjoy an unusually long life. Forget it for 8-10 years, and drink it between 2017-2040.


Pea shoots. Colon sweeper! But quite nice actually.


1987 Ritchie Creek Cabernet Sauvignon. RJ 94. Rich, ripe, fruity nose, opened great, tasty, touch of pepper on the palate, long finish.

agavin: our bottle was in great shape. very nice.


Fried rice. The meat was beef satay, which is a new one and very slightly Singaporean in style, but it was good.


2010 Miner Family The Oracle. 91 points. nose of black cherry fruit, earth and a touch of cassis, more of the same on the palate, best wine tasted today at Miner, mouth filling, delicious and sweet like cherry jam preserves, medium/big body and a long finish.


Spring chicken. As in ain’t no spring chicken. But this one was. Actually, it was one of the best chicken’s I’ve had. Really perfectly tender and moist.


Singapore style noodles. While I like the usual Elite crispy noodles better, these were enjoyable too.



2011 Mollydooker Shiraz The Velvet Glove. Parker 97. Very deep purple-black in color, the 2011 Velvet Glove is chock full of ripe and spicy blackberries, fresh blueberries and creme de cassis aromas that are accented by Chinese five spice notes and hints of chocolate, vanilla and some tar. Full-bodied, it is ripe and rich with a nice line of acid and medium-firm, fine-grained tannins. Concentrated and persistent on the finish, it shows beautiful elegance and freshness and is a nicely delineated and expressive example of the varietal and its regional home. However, it needs another year or more in bottle. Drink it from 2015 to 2025+.


Fried fish. This guy had a ton of meat on him. Relatively light too for fried.


1997 Chateau Montelena Viognier Late Harvest. 85 points. Sweet, but a bit akilter.


Mango pudding. Awesome. With that silky smooth texture and mango flavor, it almost had bubblegum undertones. I ate three.


Walnut soup. Never had this before. Hot walnut soup. Yep. Not my favorite.


Another awesome Chinese feast. A lot of these dishes were stunning, like the pig and the chicken. The private room was great and we had even better than usual (for Chinese) wines. Certainly a massive and massively enjoyable blow out.

Afterward, just two blocks away, is one of my favorite foot massage places!

For more LA Chinese reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Elite Wine Night
  2. Lucky Ducky
  3. Ultimate Pizza New Years 2012
  4. Elite Dim Sum
  5. Palace of Pepper
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Elite Restaurant, hedonists, Lobster, Peking Duck, suckling pig, Wine

Shunji Super Omakase

Feb25

Restaurant: Shunji [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 12244 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064. (310) 826-4737

Date: February 20, 2015

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: First rate traditional sushi

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I’ve been meaning for some time to come back to Shunji for a mega dinner omakase and tonight finally provided the excuse. My wine friend Sam was in town with his friend Matt and so Erick and I dragged set up some serious Shunji.


Shunji, which took over for the “Mr. Cecil’s BBQ” in this oddball looking building on Pico has developed quite a reputation.

At night, Shunji offers an amazing and advanced mix of traditional and modern raw and cooked dishes.


Chef Shunji Nakao was an opening chef at Matsuhisa in the day, then opened Asanebo, then The Hump (one of my old favorites). It has quickly risen to the top of the LA Japanese scene.


From my cellar: 1985 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clavoillon. agavin 90. The wine started out old and oxidized, with a very sherry-like nose. But slowly over the next 4-5 hours it developed into this intriguing nutty ultra smooth beast that was really quite lovely. Given that this is a 30 year-old premier cru Chardonnay, pretty impressive.


Vegetable porridge. A mysterious vegetarian mix. There are clearly mushrooms here. It was mild and very Japanese.


Appetizer plate. A spread of various intriguing elements.


Colbrabi and pine-nuts.


Conch.


Fish jelly and stuffed shrimp. The jelly was really good. On the right, the purple ball was some kind of Japanese yam.


Seasonal baby squid with miso sauce and monkfish liver truffle with caviar. The truffle was amazing.


Erick brought: 1997 Bouchard Père et Fils Chevalier-Montrachet. IWC 93. Green-tinged pale color. Classy aromas of tangy grapefruit, pear eau de vie and minerals. Dense, pure, ripe and delineated; vibrant, pristine citrus, spice and stony flavors. Firm and brisk but creamy at the core, in the style of the vintage. Palate-staining finish features almost painful grip.

agavin: mature and drinking great.


Baby sea eels with a sesame paste. Amazing flavor and texture.


Notice the eyeballs at the bottom of the eels! But they seem like pasta.


Cod sperm. Yep, the white part was a kind of mousse made from cod sperm. It was pretty amazing and creamy too. This led to an entire evening of immature jokes.


Sashimi plate.


Sea Robin (houbou). A rarity and in season. I’m not sure I’ve ever had it and so fresh he was still wiggling. The meat was firm and tasty.


Big eye tuna to the right.


Then wild yellowtail and to the far right, needlefish and fried needle fish spine.


Perfect o-toro.


Here is the needlefish head and spine again.


Sam brought: 2007 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Montrachet Le Montrachet. agavin 95. Like a coiled cobra. Reduction on the nose at first, then various elements of ripe fruit. Melon. Maybe even durian or jack fruit. Uncoiled slowly through the evening, but always maintained this tropical power.


Hairy crab from Hokkaido. Served with both crab guts and a sweet vinegar sauce. Yum! Oh, and the little momotaro tomato.


Two kinds of baby eel.


Baby eel tempura with shiso!


And baby eel sashimi with a bit of ginger and cucumber. Eyeballs!


A trio of salads.


Arugula salad with a bit of citrus and gorgonzola.


Lobster salad with flowers and citrus. An incredible Montrachet pairing.


Ball of fried something. Mushroom?


Miso black cod with pickled ginger.


Fried oyster wrapped in prosciutto!


Truffle duck “risotto.” Some whole grain risotto with black truffles and fatty yummy bits of duck. This had an incredible umami “stink.”



Sam brought: 2009 Raul Pérez Rías Baixas Sketch. Parker 96. 2009 Sketch, an Albarino sourced from a parcel harvested 1-2 weeks later than all the other vineyards. It was fermented and aged (without malolactic) in two 700-liter barrels for 12 months followed by 60 days of aging in the bottle at 30 meters under the sea. It offers up an enthralling bouquet of mineral, saline, floral, tropical, and marzipan elements. Intense, complex, impeccably balanced, and remarkably lengthy, this is as good as Albarino gets.

agavin 96: This wine was too sexy for me! 🙂 It had this incredible bouquet like a top flight dry Riesling filled with both mineral and citrus/tropical elements. And it just sang on the tongue. Really pretty crazy.


Red snapper (tai).


Goldeneye snapper.


Shima-aji.


Wild yellowtail. (Kanpachi).


Wild yellowtail. (Kanpachi).


Mysterious whitefish sushi of the yummy sort.


Japanese Baracuda. A bit of char flavor.


Another slightly charred fish, the exact name of which eludes me.

The poor prawns are about to be our dinner.


Sweet shrimp (Ama-ebi). This was the body of the above dancing prawns. Soft and sweet.


The heads return both fried.


And as miso soup.


Live octopus (taco). He squeezed it and it wiggled.


Santa Barbara Sea Urchin (uni).


Look at that toro!


Toro tartar, with a soft amazing flavor.


O-toro. Perfect!


Scottish salmon. A really rich and savory piece.


Beef sukiyaki. A bit of the classic. Lots of rich brothiness.


Soup. One of those delicate Japanese soups.


Foie gras with a nice sweet glaze. Nothing to complain about here. A very nice straight up prep of the fatty liver.


A dessert spread of pineapple sorbet, chocolate mousse, and mango ice cream.


This one is the same except on the right is lime ice cream. All three were superb.


Traditional tea.


All and all Shunji is rather fantastic, joining the large repertoire of top LA sushi restaurants. This was a really great take on sushi kaiseki style dishes, combining both innovations with a solid grounding in traditional Japanese flavors and seasonal ingredients. There was some really unusual stuff too (sperm!) and it all tasted fabulous. The nigiri was also top flight, with a lot of exotic fish and at the peak of freshness. Great great stuff. When you sit at the sushi bar like this talking to the chef, you always get the best stuff too — although the restaurant was mobbed and all the great plates making their way out into the room looked amazing.

Plus our dynamite lineup of whites didn’t hurt.

For more LA sushi reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Shunji Sushi – Nonstop Nigiri
  2. Takao Top Omakase
  3. Sushi Sushi – Small Omakase
  4. Uh no, Takao again!
  5. Food as Art: Sasabune
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Foodie Club, Japanese cuisine, Shunji, Sushi, Wine

Mastro’s Ocean Club Malibu

Feb23

Restaurant: Mastro’s Ocean Club Malibu

Location: 18412 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, CA 90265. (310) 454-4357

Date: February 19, 2015

Cuisine: Steakhouse

Rating: Exactly like the other Mastro’s, but closer and with a better view!

_

I’ve been meaning to try the new Mastro’s Ocean Club since it opened as it’s all of about 10 minutes from my house. My brother’s birthday provided an excellent opportunity!


As you can see, the view is awesome — and despite Charthouse deja vu, it’s a lovely location. As usual, it’s pretty sealed up, which seems to be oddly typical on the Pacific coast (probably because of the chilly afternoon/evening breezes).


1983 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. Parker 94. A stunning wine, Pichon-Lalande’s 1983 has been gorgeous to drink for a number of years. It is one of the finest 1983s, especially for a northern Medoc. The color remains a dark ruby/purple, with slight lightening at the edge. The knock-out nose of roasted herbs, sweet, jammy black currants, and pain grille is followed by a full-bodied, gorgeously concentrated and well-proportioned wine with low acidity, plenty of glycerin, and a savory, highly extracted, fleshy mouthfeel. This has always been one of the stars of the vintage.


The yummy breads.


Three of us ordered the seafood tower. The quality of the seafood here is impeccable. There were amazing shrimp, lobsters, claws, dungeness crab (in the top, shelled), and oysters.


One of the things that really makes the Mastro’s seafood tower are the sauces. We have cocktail, a spicy mustard, and the Atomic Horseradish. They use this particular magic brand (you can buy it here). The stuff is — pardon my French — fucking awesomely potent. I’ve taken to buying it myself for home. No other horseradish is this punishing. It has a nice flavor too. I particularly like it mixed in with the cocktail sauce. It can have you literally pounding the table in pain — ahem pleasure.


Caesar salad.

1978 Château Mont-Redon Châteauneuf-du-Pape. VC 95. Gorgeous brick red with tawny rim. Sweet rich fruit, plummy, earthy, rich blackberry compote, tar and licorice spice, but fruit dominant.
Fresh and smooth, superb balance and length, finishing with a deep long resonating kiss. Loving this. Hints of sherbet zest but mostly a rich earthy compote of plummy fruit with a lightly spicy edge. Amazingly fresh and crisp for its considerable age, better than many 15 years it’s junior. I have another and will happily lay to rest for another 5-10. Drinking beautifully.


Chilean sea bass, looking forlorn by itself on the plate.


Grilled salmon.


8 oz filet.


8 oz filet oscar style. Yeah, it’s obscene. I know.


Grilled brussels sprouts. Not as good as Gjelina (with the pancetta).


Creamed corn.

This is “Gorgonzola mac & cheese!” Oh so light, oh so yummy.


And even better, the evil “king crab truffle gnocchi.” Yes that’s right. Cream, cheese, truffles, crab, potato. What could be better?


See the evil damage.


For dessert, birthday profiteroles with ice cream and whipped cream.


Chocolate covered strawberries with whipped cream.


And the super evil butter cake. About 3 sticks of butter in this baby.

Amazingly, there was still room for dessert

Overall, a great experience. I’m not sure what is Ocean Club about the ocean part other than actually being BY the ocean. Which makes it all the odder that there is an Ocean Club in Scottsdale (no ocean there). This place is pretty much a clone of the other Mastro’s foodwise, which isn’t exactly a bad thing.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. An Evening at Malibu Wines
  2. Ocean Avenue Seafood
  3. No Beef with Mastro’s
  4. Riviera Country Club – Gluttony with a View
  5. Spear your Meat
By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: birthday, Dessert, Mastro's Ocean Club Malibu, Mastros, Steak House, steakhouse, Wine

Why Lucy Why?

Feb20

324245Title: Lucy

Cast: Scarlett Johansson (Actor), Morgan Freeman (Actor), Luc Besson (Director)

Genre: Science Fiction

Watched: January 7, 2015

Summary: Dumb ^ 3

_

I loved The Fifth Element and The Professional (flaws and all), so if you add Scarlett Johansson into the mix, you’d hardly think things could go too wrong. But they do, they really do.

Lucy is just a stunningly dumb film trying to “act” like a smart one. Now, it’s not unwatchable (unless there is stock footage, a CGI australopithecine, or Morgan Freeman on screen), but it makes absolutely no sense.

The meta-premise of a woman undergoing a sort of personal Singularity could be decent, but this is combined with a watered down splash of crime thriller. Maybe Besson lost Gary Oldman’s phone number? Even this mundane part is lame with absolutely no character or character development. There is no personality to the  mumbling Chinese gangster heavy. No real threat as we know Lucy could just wave him into a coma.

Back to the premise. One of my biggest problems is the regurgitation of that lame-ass idea that “we only use 10% of our brain.” Ok. Lets even pretend this is true (it really isn’t) and that a bag of leaking untested drugs in your stomach can wake up the remaining 90%. How on earth would this give you magic powers over gravity, other people, the ability to see things around the world, alter matter, defy the laws of conservation of mass and energy and all that? Wouldn’t you just get smarter? Or more neurotic?

Combine this idiocy with an unexplained desire to film Morgan Freeman spouting nonsense about the same subject while intercut with cheesy nature footage and you have a recipe for serious cheese. French cheese I guess, like old Livarot. Stinky, but without the yummy creamy center.

There are so many stupid things about the “plotting” of this film. To get started:

  • Who shoots Richard (in broad daylight)?
  • Why is the bad guy killing some guys for the hell of it in his suite?
  • Why are they going global with this new drug before even testing it locally? (as they apparently have no idea what it does)
  • Why do they have to call someone who speaks English?
  • Why do they put the drug mule in a room for a couple of hours before sending her to the plane and why do they then kick her in the stomach?
  • How the hell is some of that first extra 10% of her brain she regains include martial arts and weapons training?
  • Why does she keep killing strangers and expecting us to think it’s okay?
  • If she can put people to sleep with the wave of an arm, why does she bother fighting them?
  • If she is willing to shoot half a dozen random strangers on her way to the hospital, why doesn’t she kill the bad guy when she has a chance? Reason: Besson wanted him to come back for a gratuitous and useless shootout that served no dramatic function.
  • What the hell was that particle system half-dissolution that happened on the plane and how did she “snap out” of it.
  • What’s up with Scarlett playing these “emotionless” SciFi characters? This is like the same roll as Under the Skin, just with less nudity and more guns.
  • And most importantly, why do we need Morgan Freeman at all? He’s a great actor, sure, but totally annoying as a lecture box.

And that’s only the first 20 minutes off the top of my head. It keeps on going.

Now, if you really wanted to make a movie about someone escalating in intelligence and reaching their own personal Singularity, that would be fine. It would be much better to put that in the context of a self-rewriting AI or someone under the influence/intervention of nano machines designed for that purpose. Possibly Alien nano machines? Combine with Prometheus! Why use this dump brain percentage bit? Why include all the impossible magic powers?

If you’ve got some total nonsense that requires the willing suspension of disbelief, also fine, but don’t rub our faces in it by continually lecturing on the subject!

Plus, when a character almost instantly becomes so powerful, you give up all the drama. Remember, drama is when you care for a character and so empathize with the tension between what they want and what the plot gives them. Emotionless protagonists with infinite powers hardly fit that bill.

Lucy was clearly written to require that shutting off 90% of our brains to watch it.

Find more book reviews here.

2014-08-02-mATHSHOT

Related posts:

  1. Oblivion Obfuscated
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  5. On Stranger Tides
By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Movies
Tagged as: Film Review, Luc Besson, Lucy, Morgan Freeman, Scarlett Johansson, Science Fiction

Tatsu – Ramen with a Soul

Feb18

Restaurant: Tatsu Ramen

Location: 2123 Sawtelle Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025. (310) 684-2889

Date: Fall, 2014

Cuisine: Japanese Ramen

Rating: Nice modernization

_

These days, Sawtelle is crawling with Ramen joints. From the uber specialized and rich Tsujita to the old school Daikokuya.


Tatsu does things a bit differently, with a sleek updated look and modernized take on the classics.


They even have ipad based ordering, down to minute customizations!


The modern interior.


Chashu bun. Sweet BBQ pork in a peking duck style bun with lettuce and green onion and mayo-like sauce. Really really tasty. Good stuff.


Chashu rice. More or less the same pork on rice.


Soul Ramen. Their signature ramen! Homemade Tonkotsu broth, black garlic oil and sweet umami sauce. Served with ground beef and a choice of pork, chicken or tofu.


Bold ramen. Their most popular ramen! Homemade Tonkotsu broth with 11 bold ingredients. Not for the timid! Served with seasoned soft-boiled egg & a choice of pork, chicken or tofu. A real tasty zesty sauce (not hot).


Red ramen. Homemade Tonkotsu broth spiked with our sweet and savory red sauce. Served with ground beef.


Ground beef. This extra side of ground beef showed off the flavors naked. Certainly a really tasty soft meat with a bit of a kick and a hint of sweetness.


Kurobuta Pork Chashu. The usual fatty pork.

All-natural Chicken Breast. The California alternative to fatty pork.


Seasoned Soft-Boiled Egg.


Garlic! There are whole garlic bulbs on the table.


And a press.


Plus nori strips and other seasonings.

Overall, I was impressed. Tatsu is a bit lighter than some ramens (Tsujita, here’s looking at you — even if the dipping ramen is to die for). But the flavors here are bold, fresh, and tasty. Good stuff, particularly if you are an old hat and want to jazz it up. Plus, if you had vegetarians or the like they can join you: Hippy Ramen + tofu!

For more LA dining reviews click here.


Some friendly folk at the communal table passed us this mysterious confection:


Green tea kitkat. Kinda pasty. Not nearly as good as the original (which isn’t that great).


So we had to clear the taste by heading across the street to Beard Papa for cream puffs, like this original with vanilla creme.


And this cookie shell with caramel creme. The caramel creme tasted exactly like butterscotch pudding.

Related posts:

  1. Ramen is all the Rage
  2. Tsujita LA – Artisan Noodles
  3. Quick Eats: Sunnin
  4. Hedonists Noodle over Hoy-Ka
  5. Hawaiian Noodle Bar
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Beard Papa, Garlic, Japanese cuisine, kitkat, noodles, ramen, Sawtelle Boulevard, Tatsu Ramen, Tonkotsu

Lofty Heights

Feb16

Restaurant: Daniel Benhaim

Location: Downtown LA

Date: February 12, 2015

Cuisine: Modern

Rating: Awesome

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Adam, one of our Hedonist regulars, likes to organize high end dinners.


This particular one is game meat themed, and hosted in a DTLA loft.



The chef is Daniel Benhaim. He managed this amazing meal for 15 handling the kitchen all by himself with the help of two talented servers.


The loft is in a sketchy area, but has access to a giant roof with an amazing view of the city!


Tonight’s menu.

It should be noted that the wine service (haha) for this event was chaotic in the least. Things were opened and grabbed in a giant amiable free-for-all. I’ve tried to order them here, but they weren’t.


NV Jacques Selosse Champagne Brut Initiale. IWC 92. Bright gold. An exotically perfumed bouquet evokes dried pear, honey, lemon curd, truffle and candied ginger. On the palate, intense mineral-accented orchard and pit fruit flavors pick up smokiness and nuttiness with air. Finishes smooth and extremely long, with subtle smokiness, a brown butter quality and a whiplash of minerality.


2000 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru La Forest. IWC 93+. Pale green-tinged straw. Reticent but ripe and highly nuanced nose combines peach, nectarine, lime, lemon skin, nuts and an intriguing, soil-inflected vegetal/smoky quality. Very dry, taut and reserved yet already rich and mouthfilling, with the ripe fruit notes perfectly supported by a flavor of liquid stone. A wine of great energy, finishing with explosive length and powerful minerality. Grand cru size and cut.

agavin: Our bottle was unfortunately premoxed.


2008 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. Burghound 94. A more elegant as well as more refined but also much more reserved nose of white flower and salt water aromas is very much in keeping with the equally refined, pure and silky middle weight flavors that possess excellent detail and precision on the textured and seductive finish that displays grand cru level persistence. This is not quite as rich as the Butteaux but it’s finer as the chiseled flavors are flat out gorgeous. In a word, stunning.

agavin: great, although young and tight at first.


Foie Gras Torchon. Pickled Mustard. Hibiscus Jam. Beet Cured Apple. Mangalitsa Sourdough.

A really nice with with a very interesting blend of the rich, sweet, and tangy/sharp. Not your usual sweet-only foie pairing.


1999 Olivier Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Champs Canet. 91 points.


2004 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne. Burghound 93. Green apple, white pear and hint of crushed herb are framed by gentle notes of pain grillé that combine with huge and unbelievably intense flavors blessed with phenomenal power and length. This has that “wow” factor as the flavors are both palate staining and almost painfully intense and the finale is like a block of stone.

agavin: I thought this had a bit of that annoying green flavor that ruins the 04 reds.


2012 Albert Grivault Meursault 1er Cru Clos des Perrières. 97 agavin. A stunner, particularly given how young it is. Rich, but already in balance with a soaring quality. Very MP too.


2004 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Réserve. RR 93. Floral and herbal elements around a core of ripe white fruited flavours; rich and creamy-textured, brings a ripe Meursault to mind with great balance and a sense of purity to the flavours. Lovely stuff.


Bison Tartar. Wood Sorrel. Toasted Walnut. Kefir. Salted Blackberry. Anise Vinaigrette.

I love tartar in general, and this didn’t disappoint. The blend of flavors was both complex and harmonious. The vibe is a bit similar to the Korean/Japanese type tartars like at Totoraku or this K-BBQ.


1945 Remoissenet Père et Fils Vosne-Romanée. 93 agavin. Surprisingly young and fresh. Really great for a while. A lot of Remoissenet wines are off balance, not this one.


Amanda brought: 1971 Marey-Monge (Domaine de la Romanée-Conti) Romanée St. Vivant. 94 points. It must first be noted that this bottle had a Marey-Monge cork instead of a DRC cork. None of us were totally sure what was standard in that year. Marey-Monge owned the vineyards and leased them to DRC. They made their own wine through 1966 I think, then 67-71 was DRC, and 72-87 was even more DRC control, but stilled leased, then in 1988 DRC bought the parcels and did a bunch of replanted and the like. The person who brought it offered full disclosure. We concluded that it tasted like RSV, and approximately the right age. It was very good, even though it had a light touch of corking. Quite powerful in some ways with a ton of complexity. Very enjoyable.

Thanks Amanda!


2001 Domaine Joseph Roty Charmes-Chambertin Très Vieilles Vignes. Burghound 94. As big as a Chambertin with the intensity and sheer flavor authority to match. Sumptuously, even lavishly oaked yet it carries its oak as though it were nothing and there is no doubt that this will absorb the wood completely as there is a mind boggling amount of mid-palate sap and punch and it completely coats the mouth and the persistence is exemplary. The structure is completely buried beneath all the sap and while this should be approachable after a decade, it will drink well for another two. Another great Roty Charmes in a very long line of them. If you can find a few bottles, don’t miss them. In short, this is very classy juice.

agavin: a great wine, drink great


1998 Marcassin Pinot Noir Blue-Slide Ridge Vineyard. IWC 91. Full red. Slightly high-toned aromas of plum, nuts and dried fruits; like the Three Sisters, this could use more freshness. Then sweet, lush and silky in the mouth, with more weight and ripeness than the Three Sisters. Showed a fresh raspberry flavor as it opened in the glass, but this pinot, too, could use a bit more verve. Best on the very long finish, which features fine, even tannins.


From my cellar: 1989 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle. RR95+. The nose was fabulous, full of sweet, black fruits, garrigue, spice, pepper, game, chocolate, minerals and bread aromas. The palate was rich and hearty, more limited and square than its nose, although there was nice citrus and leather smack to its gamy finish.

agavin: a little closed at first it stirred and really opened up after a bit.


Mangalitsa Ragu. Dark Chocolate Tagliatelle. Fiore Sardo. Mollica.

Chef Benhaim likes to blend unusual flavors and he shows a real talent for keeping the flavors in balance. This was a great and very interesting pasta.


1998 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. Parker 92-96. This wine performed even better than my high accolades in issue #131 suggested. The 1998 Chateauneuf du Pape is the greatest effort produced since Beaucastel’s 1989 and 1990. It reveals more accessibility, no doubt because the final blend included more Grenache than normal. Its dense purple color is followed by sweet aromas of blackberries, licorice, new saddle leather, and earth. There is superb concentration, full body, low acidity, and high tannin, but it is surprisingly drinkable for such a young Beaucastel. Ideally, it needs another 3-4 years of cellaring, and should keep for 25-30 years.

agavin: our bottle was corked 🙁


Erick brought: 1999 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage A Jacques Perrin. Parker 96-100. The 1999 Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage a Jacques Perrin appears to be a legend. Made from a classic blend of 60% Mourvedre, 20% Grenache, 10% Syrah, and 10% Counoise, this limited production (5,000 bottles) cuvee exhibits perfect equilibrium, but needs a decade of cellaring. It would be a shame to drink it before that. The opaque black/purple color is accompanied by aromas of roasted meats, smoke, truffles, cured olives, and intense blackberry and espresso-infused cherry fruit. Leather notes also emerge on the palate. The wine boasts immense body, massive richness, and formidable levels of extract and tannin. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2040.

agavin: probably WOTN, big, brooding and awesome.


2007 Pierre Usseglio Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de Mon Aieul. Parker 100. There are 1,800 cases of the 2007 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee du Mon Aieul (100% tank-aged Grenache). It represents an awesome naked/virginal expression of Grenache from three vineyard parcels planted in sand, clay, and limestone soils. After tasting this wine on five separate occasions, I can state with certainty, it has the most saturated color of any Mon Aieul produced to date. Moreover, its perfume of blueberry liqueur, black raspberries, licorice, roasted meat juices, and lavender is incredible. Full-bodied power, a multilayered mouthfeel, tremendous purity, and awesome concentration put this wine in a class by itself. This sensational Chateauneuf du Pape is still very young, and 3-4 years of cellaring is required. It should be a modern day legend and last for nearly two decades.

agavin: big, bold, full of great fruit without overpowering.


1998 Delas Freres Hermitage les Bessards. Parker 96. The 1998 Hermitage Les Bessards reveals licorice, coffee, cassis, minerals, smoke, and meat scents, full body, great depth, teeth-coating tannin, and a persistent, sweet, well-delineated, 45-second finish. It will be at its peak between 2007-2035.


2003 Vieux Donjon Chateauneuf du Pape. Parker 92-95. The powerful 2003 Chateauneuf du Pape comes closest in character to the 1990 (which is still drinking beautifully). Its dark ruby/plum/purple color is followed by sweet aromas of resiny pine forest interwoven with creme de cassis, black cherries, melted licorice, and smoky herbs. In the mouth, gamy, meaty flavors emerge along with black currants, cherries, and a hint of the sushi wrapper called nori. Full, rich, and moderately tannic, this 2003 requires another 1-3 years of bottle age, and should keep for 12-15 years.


Duck Wellington. Smoked Carrot. Vadouvan. Raison d’etre.

Another ambitious dish executed fabulously, particularly given the challenge of being a single chef with 15 plates. The meat was perfectly cooked. The pastry wasn’t soggy, and the very interesting curry sauce really livened up this sometimes heavy type of dish.


1998 Pavie. Parker 95-96. A 50-year wine, this opaque purple-colored offering exhibits a strong, precise nose of black fruits, liquid minerals, smoke, and graphite. Extremely full-bodied, yet brilliantly delineated, powerful, and awesomely concentrated, it boasts a fabulous mid-palate as well as a finish that lasts for nearly a minute. This vin de garde requires 5-6 years of cellaring. A tour de force in winemaking, it has the potential to be the most profound Pavie ever produced, except for its two successors. Anticipated maturity: 2006-2045.

agavin: Pavie two nights in a row!


1983 Mount Mary Cabernets. 90 points online, but our bottle was over the hill, thin and a bit cloudy. A shame.


1975 Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Martha’s Vineyard. View from cellar 97+. The 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon Martha’s Vineyard is quite pretty and powerful, but also a bit forward, while the 1975 impresses for its pure depth and richness, both remarkable for a wine that is nearly 40 years old!

agavin: Really impressive and full of rich fruit.


2001 Hundred Acre Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. Parker 92-98. No idea which bottling this was. Too bad for them they stick the important information on the back instead of the front where it should be! Parker says of the regular bottling: may be the Le Pin of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a lascivious, powerful, smoky sex pot of great fruit intensity, purity, and voluptuousness. The texture is unctuous, the fruit level remarkable, and the wine gloriously pure, rich, and bursting with black currant and sweet cherry fruit as well as nicely integrated, toasty French oak. It will drink well for 15+ years. This exciting debut effort possesses an individualistic, distinctive style … all to the credit of this brash newcomer, a tightly-spaced vineyard situated on the Silverado Trail, north of St. Helena, near the Rombauer Vineyard. This is an impressive effort fashioned by Philippe Melka, who believes this site has “unlimited potential.”


Venison Loin. Celery Root. Maitake. Eucalyptus Bordelaise.

The meat was flavorful, tender, and perfectly cooked. It was a little cold though, probably owing to the logistics of the dinner.


From my cellar: 2011 Veyder-Malberg Riesling Bruck. 96 points. First beautiful straw chablis like color, nose of oil can like and lead pencil, the finish is very long smooth and lasting for over a minute. Awesome wine.

agavin: I actually opened this at the beginning, but I put it here because it paired so well with the bright citrus in the key lime pie.


Key Lime Sorbet. Buckwheat Graham. Coconut Custard.

Awesome dessert. Full of bright bright citrus flavors. Basically a deconstructed Key Lime Pie. Awesome and paired best with the remains of the Bruck (above).


Thanks Dave for bringing this bruiser.

1988 Chateau d’Yquem. Parker 98-99. The 1988 d’Yquem has an incredibly profound nose of orange marmalade, dried apricots, honeycomb, musk and dried pineapple with hints of marzipan and crystallized ginger. The palate is seamless with a great line of crisp acid cutting through the densely packed dried tropical fruit and honeyed flavour layers. The finish just goes on and on.

agavin: oh, yeah! Hehe, still have 2 bottles of this baby in my cellar. At least one of them I’ve had since the mid 90s.


Milk Chocolate Cake. Olive Oil. Coffee Meringue. Dulce de Leche.

Another great dessert, mixing textures (soft, crunchy, gooey) and temperatures (warm, cool, room temp).


Overall, this was another awesome night. The food was fabulous. For being only two servers and one cook, the staff did an amazing job. Now we could have used a Somm, as the wine was a total free-for-all, but we had so many bottles that it wasn’t a stressful frenzy.

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

  1. Friday Night Heights – Shabbat Dinner
  2. Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the Sun
  3. Lucky Ducky
  4. How many Saddles to Peak?
  5. Memorial Day Pig
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Adam Fleischman, Daniel Benhaim, Dessert, Downtown Los Angeles, DTLA, hedonists, popup, Wine

Spear your Meat

Feb13

Restaurant: Spear Steak & Seafood House

Location:800 W 6th St, Ste 100. Los Angeles, CA 90017. (213) 688-3000

Date: February 12, 2015

Cuisine: Steakhouse

Rating: Surprisingly good

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After the success of last month’s “Foodie Club instigated by Will” dinner, we wanted to do another one in February. We even selected and booked Chi Spacca, the Mozza Italian steakhouse, but at the very last minute (hours before) we tripped up on their “no more than 1 bottle per 2 people” policy. So I’m going to “dis” them here because these policies are obnoxious. They can charge corkage if they like (absolutely no more than $50 a bottle and flat per bottle), but bottle limits are offensive. We open and serve own bottles plus order and tip big too.

So screw them, their loss.


So at the last minute we relocated to Speak Steak and Seafood House downtown. Will knows the owner and THEY welcomed us in, had no bottle limit, and didn’t even charge corkage!


This is one of those sleek modern semi-corporate restaurants.


The menu is large and modern which I was happy about. I’m not a steakhouse fan and really not a fan of old school steakhouse.


Or semiprivate room. We buttoned up the wall to cut down on the noise from the big room. The service was awesome. They weren’t really set up for our type of wine dinner but they really tried. They dug up 4-5 glasses each and dragged in a little wine table for us.

I went through the menu and ordered up a storm family style in 4-5 waves. We even ordered the main meats family style getting a variety (David handled that course). Walker and I (more Walker) divided the wines (we had at least 6-10 unopened ones too as backups/options) into loose flights too.

The staff did a great job bringing out the food in waves too.

Flight 1: Whites


From my cellar: 2007 Benanti Etna Bianco Superiore Pietramarina. IWC 90. Straw-gold. Spicy minerals and apricot on the nose, with herbal and almond nuances. Rich and ripe on entry, then fresher and lighter in the middle thanks to high but harmonious acids, with intense minty white fruit flavors. Finishes long, with a strong saline note and a fusel whiff.


Erick brought: 2007 Domaine Marc Morey & Fils Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Referts. 92 points. This lovely négoce wine from Marc Morey never fails. Very fine fruit with lime, peaces and a hand full of minerals.


Larry brought: 1999 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. AG 94. Raveneau’s 1999 Chablis Montée de Tonnerre is in a marvelous spot right now. Petrol, smoke, slate, apricot pit and wild flowers are some of the many notes that grace the palate in an utterly vivid, vibrant Chablis endowed with magnificent purity and pedigree. At fifteen years of age, the 1999 Montée de Tonnerre still has a lot to say. What a beautiful wine!

agavin: sadly our bottle was a bit premoxed.


From my cellar: 2000 Etienne Sauzet Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 93. Intense honeysuckle, fresh sliced peach and pear notes with flavors that are not quite as robust and powerful as the Combettes yet finer and more complex. This delivers exciting intensity and a degree of persistence that borders on the astonishing. The Combettes is perhaps grander but this is finer – it’s simply a question of preference, not quality.


Kusshi and Kumamoto oysters.

Uni Toast. roasted seaweed, triple créme, truffle salt. This was pretty awesome with both the rich Santa Barbara uni flavor and a kind of creamy underpinning from the triple créme.

Hokkaido Scallops. yuzu pepper, smoked salt, ponzu sauce, olive oil. A nice bright dish that is cousin to the proper version that sushi chefs serve.

Yellowtail Ceviche. fresno chile, cucumber, coconut-lime sauce.

I’m not actually sure this was the above dish and not one of their other sashimi-style dishes. It was just okay, the weakest of the set.


Butter Lettuce Wedge. Creamy bleu, minced herbs, bacon brittle, tomato, pickled shallot. A pretty awesome wedge, mostly because of the great dressing.

Quinoa Kale Salad. red quinoa, grilled apricot, pistachio, aged goat cheese, honey-olive oil vinaigrette. Slightly sweet and mild.

Flight 2: Italian


Walker brought: 1944 Borgogne Barolo Reserva. 95 points. Amazing. 71 years old. Mussolini was still alive when this wine was made! We decanted for an hour. The nose was incredible, and it had a soft burgundian vibe with lots of fruit.


Emil/Will brought: 1978 Castello di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva Il Poggio. 92 points. Powerful and old-fashioned, rustic and polished at once. Complex nose of ancient fruit, tar and leather; real weight on the palate, very long and resonant finish. The nose got better and better. Tons of fruit.

Roasted Bone Marrow. smoked salt, veal jus. Bone marrow isn’t my thing, but this was a good version.

Snow Crab Beignets. bacon powder, old bay remoulade. The description is accurate, like a crab donut, awesome.

BBQ Pork Belly & Shrimp. crispy prosciutto, white bean puree, cilantro. The shrimp were tasty but the pork belly was amazing. Really tender and flavorful, not too fatty.

Flight 3: Old Bordeaux


Erick brought: 1970 Château Mouton Rothschild. IWC 94. Bright red with an amber rim. Captivating nose of dark plum, blackcurrant, oak, coffee, cocoa and flowers. Juicy, sweet and suave on entry, then brightly focused in its red fruit and black flavors complicated by cedar and citrus. Finishes with flinty, saline nuances and very suave tannins. This outstanding wine is perfectly balanced and light on its feet, still very young and capable of a very long life. It might disappoint those looking for a blockbuster, but I love its overall sense of refinement. An essence of claret.

agavin: our bottle was fabulous


Walker brought: 1982 Château Gruaud Larose. IWC 96. Bright red with a pale rim. The still-closed nose reluctantly releases aromas of red cherry, sweet spices, aromatic herbs and coffee. Dense, rich and fleshy, with ripe red cherry, tobacco and forest floor flavors given shape by harmonious acidity and smooth tannins. The very long, slightly chewy finish shows a peppery chocolatey persistence. This is developing at a snail’s space and might last another three or four decades in a cold cellar, but while its tannic structure is noble and impressive, I’d probably want to check in on it again in five years’ time to see how the fruit is holding up.

agavin: our bottle of this was fabulous too. Mature, but has decades left in it.


Char Siu Barbecue Duck Flatbread. smoked mozzarella, passion fruit emulsion, scallion sesame. Fabulous pizza with a richness and a sweet and savory vibe.

Roasted Pork Banh Mi Flatbread. pickled vegetables, jalapeño.

Whole Broiled Prawns. lobster butter, garlic. Pretty good big shrimp.


Seafood pasta. Shrimp, mussels, manilla clams, diver scallops,  uni cream sauce. This was a bit controversial. The noodles were actually a ramen egg noodle. They were made very soggy by the rich dish. That being said, it tasted great and the seafood was very fresh. It also was deathly bad with the red wine, but that’s uni. Overall we enjoyed it.

Flight 4: 2000 Bordeaux


David brought: 2000 Pavie. Parker 97-100. I tasted this wine twice during the 2000 horizontals, then I actually popped the cork and drank a half-bottle of it. This wine remains, for me, one of the compelling success stories for proprietor Gerard Perse. An extraordinary effort made from a blend of 60% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon from the limestone soils that dominate this very distinctive terroir, the 2000 Pavie has moved out of the closed, dormant, broodingly backward stage into an adolescent period where one can see its extraordinary vibrancy, and great complexity as well as potential. It boasts an unctuous display of rich, cedar box-infused cassis fruit and liquid minerality. The tannins have sweetened, yet the wine has thirty years of longevity and potential evolution. A beautiful wine of great mass as well as elegance, it is good to see the extraordinary efforts that Gerard Perse and his team have made confirmed in this prodigious wine. A legend now … a legend for the future.


Will brought: 2000 La Mondotte. Parker 98+. In two tastings this garagiste wine performed as if it were one of the wines of the vintage. Proprietor Stefan von Neipperg continues to lavish abundant attention on La Mondotte (as he does with all his estates), and the 2000 (80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc) boasts an inky/blue/purple color in addition to gorgeous aromas of graphite, caramel, toast, blackberries, and creme de cassis. A floral component also emerges as the wine sits in the glass. Extremely dense, full-bodied, and built for another twenty years of cellaring, I thought it would be close to full maturity, but it appears to need another 4-5 years of bottle age. It should age effortlessly for 2-3 decades.

Tomahawk Pork Chop 22oz. double cut, vietnamese bbq. Really nice pork chop.

Short Rib Osso Bucco. 72 hour, roasted garlic potatoes, horseradish gremolata. Great rich meat.

Colorado Lamb Shank. 48 hour, chermoulah, heirloom carrots. A fabulous bit of lamb.


Black Garlic Spare Ribs. tobacco onions, vinegar slaw. My favorite, it was very nicely spiced and I don’t like plain meat.


Tomahawk Rib Chop. prime, dry aged 30 days. 42 ounces.


For me this is just steak, others loved it.

Flight 5: Sledgehammers


Emil brought: 2008 Oasi Degli Angeli Kurni. Parker 85. The 2008 Marche Rosso Kurni is quite unusual in this vintage. The wine comes across as rather compact in its fruit, which accentuates the sweetness of the fruit and the French oak. In a blind tasting the 2008 could easily be mistaken for a sweet red dessert wine. Let’s hope 2008 turns out be an anomaly for one of the Marche’s most famous reds.


Pork Belly Farro.


Uni Risotto. A little mild, but with so many other flavors and dishes it was under heavy competition.


Duck Confit Mac & Cheese. Nice, but could have been even cheesier!


Double Cooked Fries. Good fries and I liked the green chimichuri like sauce.


Grilled Broccolini.


Herb Roasted Cauliflower.



David brought: 2010 Sine Qua Non Syrah Five Shooter. Parker 98+. The 2010 Syrah Five Shooter is straight up gorgeous. A massive wine that somehow holds everything together, it offers a wild array of cassis, blackberry, white chocolate, underbrush and pepper that flows to a full-bodied, layered Syrah that has masses of fine tannin and enough substance to evolve for decades. A blend of 85% Syrah, 5% Grenache, 3% Petite Sirah, 5% Roussanne and 2% Viognier that was fermented with 20% whole cluster and aged 22 months in 59% new French oak, it opens up beautifully in the glass and should be decanted if drinking anytime soon.


Key lime pie. Great key lime pie.


Chocolate hazelnut mouse. Rich and tasty.


Bread pudding. Our least favorite. Nothing wrong with it, but we were very full.


Above is the damage. Seven guys too, and think about the amount of food we had — particularly given we had two of many of the dishes! Spear was incredibly reasonable too. This feast came out to only $110 a person after tax and before tip! The service was awesome too. They weren’t really trained for our kind of dinner, but they really tried and handled it with great attitude and aplomb.

Food was surprisingly excellent. Only a couple of dishes weren’t great, like the fish sashimi. I loved the breath and variety of the menu. Execution was first rate. Personally I like this place way better than almost all of the steakhouses I’ve been too because it isn’t all about just a slab of beef on your plate.

Company and wines were fabulous, this is turning into a really first rate dinner series.

For more big Foodie Club dinners, click here.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Totoraku Double Meat Madness
  2. Lasagne Bolognese Minus the Meat
  3. Pistola with a Bang
  4. No Beef with Mastro’s
  5. Steak in the Blind
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Corkage, Dessert, Foodie Club, Meat, Steak, Steak House, steakhouse, Will C, Wine

Jupiter Ascending – All in the Script

Feb11

Jupiter_Ascending-267973304-large-2Title: Jupiter Ascending

Cast: Mila Kunis (Actor), Channing Tatum (Actor), Sean Bean (Actor) The Wachowskis (Writer/Directors)

Genre: Science Fiction / Space Opera

Watched: January 10, 2015

Summary: Awesome but flawed

_

While original film works of Science Fiction are not as rare as original High Fantasy, they are still rare indeed. So even after critics panned Jupiter Ascending, I saw it anyway. I’m glad I did, and so should you. First of all, you have to support any filmmaker or studio willing to talk bold risks on new IP. Unless you’re looking forward to Transformers 19, the seventh Spiderman reboot, and Stratego: Aliens vs. Napoleon.

Let’s first discuss the good things. Bear in mind that Jupiter is a SciFi fairytale. It’s not “hard SciFi” at all, but more derived from a sort of amalgam of classic Space Opera, Star Wars, and geek chic. The same stew out of which Avatar and many big budget video games are born, it’s no coincidence that it’s the brainchild of the same creative team as the Matrix.

Jupiter is stunning to look at even by 2015 standards. The vistas are wide, the camera angles bold, the set, creature, ship, and costume design artful and detailed. The film takes good advantage of 3D and its soundscape. Michael Giacchino’s sound track is fabulous. Space Opera classic really. The “feel” of the film, which includes the look, the sound, and the “mythology” is worth the price of admission alone to anyone serious about Speculative Fiction.

Look at the scope!

Look at the visual scope! The detail too is gorgeous.

The acting is solid. Probably even good if you consider some of the writing problems. Kunis is excellent, even if her dialog is at times awful (and sometimes good). Tatum is fine but a little stiff. Sean Bean is… well Boromir and Ned Stark. Many of the side actors are very good. All three Abrasax siblings are excellent. Balem (Eddie Redmayne) borders on the comically melodramatic, but delivers quite a riveting performance (which might have been even better without the forte part of his whole piano/forte routine). Even his sycophant Chicanery Night (love those names) is fabulous.

The action sequences are extended and highly creative. Yeah, they’re a little too long and like all big epics today, the film would have been better served spending more time on character — but the choreography is amazing. These are 3D to the max. I don’t just mean the 3D glasses type of 3D but that the action takes place in three dimensional space in a highly innovative way.

The visuals are amazing, as are little tech details all through the film

The visuals are amazing, as are little tech details all through the film

I loved the mythology. This isn’t hard SciFi, so it’s not “plausible” in any way, shape, or form. We have FTL, warp gates, mass defying transformations, tractor beams, crazy mixtures of nanotech and steampunk. Still, it has a great feel. There is real scope here, a sense of the (space) operatic. The visuals support this with giant vistas of docking ships and planets overgrown with city and surrounded by artificial habitat rings. To the untutored kids those must just look cool. As a reader of decades of SciFi, it’s homage to Asimov, Clarke and Niven. There is an overriding moral theme, not perfectly executed, but one that puts the human race in full jeopardy. Slightly evocative of the Matrix (go figure) this time humans are slated as commodities ground up for rejuv juice (and more) instead of turned into batteries. This version made more sense than in the Matrix. Ultimately the premise is a bit less “new” than the Matrix, more traditional Space Opera, but the sad thing is that despite the incredible number of loosely SciFi films out there, ones that rival the scope of good SciFi novels are exceedingly rare.

The tech wizardry built into the civilization is amazing too. The production team sure hasn’t lost its knack for that. Things like the device that “phases out a circle of solid matter” (who knows what you call that?) or all the little artifacts, huds, and controls are awesome geek stuff.

Now on to the problems.

Mostly, it comes down to script flaws, and they aren’t even in big concept, but in execution. First of all, we have a fish out of water female protagonist experiencing this bigger world. Great! But the script botches it in several ways. 1) We get reveals into the world behind the curtain (the magic world) before she does. Big no no. We should have seen it all from her eyes. 2) Her dialog is mediocre with a mix of great lines and stinkers. (3) While her basic character is good, her arc minimalist, and her decisions poor. She falls for Titus’ BS? Almost falls for Balem’s after that? Come on. She’s also fairly passive / damsel in distress with Caine doing all the heavy lifting (literally and figuratively). He should have done that at the beginning, been her guide, but then she needed to come into her own. There isn’t even a good touch of death or mentor figure (ala Morpheus). The first Matrix follows proper heroic arcing. Jupiter evokes classic style movie, it should have kept the protagonist’s story spine closer to home. She is mostly buffeted by events, and only at the end makes a rather weak Act 2/3 transitional choice. The final ending choice is also lame. Returning to scrubbing toilets is failing to make a proper synthesis of the A and B stories (thesis and antithesis).

Caine too doesn’t have enough character. He needed some kind of edge or complexity. Their romance is far too perfunctory. Sure, he’s a hunk and rescues her. Sure she’s a gorgeous Ukrainian princess. But they just fall for each other completely without much real interaction.

These are symptoms of the broader writing problem. There are so many elements jammed in here: complex world, action, romance, villains, more action, moral theme, a touch of humor, and even more action, that none of them get proper time for development. It’s not even that long a film, around two hours, and it moves at a breakneck pace, packing in the scenes and settings. But there’s too much action and far, far too little character development. Even cheeky Guardians of the Galaxy with its ridiculous wooden villain has more development — and certainly more chemistry going on between the team. I think it’s a rare case where the film would have been better being longer. An extra 30-40 minutes all focused on character (and a lot of structural rewrites) would have gone a long way.

Sigh. I still really really enjoyed this film. More than Guardians actually. I loved the whole atmosphere. And I don’t really understand why the critics maligned it so — or maybe they just don’t understand the grand sense of wonder that is at the core of the genre. Clearly the Wachowskis do, so flaws and all I bless them for it. But as usual, it could have been so much more. Didn’t some producer ask where the arc is?

Find more movie reviews here.

Jupiter-Ascending

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By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Movies
Tagged as: Channing Tatum, Douglas Booth, Eddie Redmayne, Jupiter Ascending, Jupiter Ascending Critique, Jupiter Ascending Review, Mila Kunis, Movie Review, Science Fiction, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Script Structure, Sean Bean, The Wachowskis

Oliverio 10x10x10

Feb09

Restaurant: Oliverio [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 9400 W Olympic Blvd. Beverly Hills, CA 90212. (310) 407-7791

Date: January 6, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Awesome Food & Wine

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Like I do, Foodie Club co-founder Erick arranges his own mega dinner for his birthday, this year at the fabulous Oliverio in the Avalon Hotel. He went all out and got the chef to “whip” up a massive 10 course tasting menu. Plus, he and I brought about 20 wines together to serve as a palette for the evening. We ended up going through 10 for 10 people.


The atmosphere at Oliverio is tres LA. They have sexy poolside dining, but this being a “wintery” evening, we at inside.


Our big table.


My friend Liz at a previous dinner with master chef Mirko Paderno. If you want to read more about his background find it in this post.


The bread service. A like the crispy things!


From my cellar: 2012 Giovanni Almondo Roero Arneis Vigne Sparse. AG 88. Almondo’s 2012 Roero Arneis Vigne Sparse is brighter and more focused than the Bricco delle Ciliegie. Lemon, green pear, jasmine and crushed rocks inform a crisp white to drink over the next year or two.


Yellowfin tuna tartare with quail egg and crispy polenta chips. You could almost pretend it was beef. A little bit of a kick too.


From my cellar: 2010 Venica & Venica Malvasia. AG 88. The 2010 Malvasia is an attractive white, but I am not sure Venica has decided what road to take with their Malvasia, an aromatic grape with a strong personality. You either have to let Malvasia rip or try to reign it in, but this particular wine is made in a middle of the road style that does neither. It shows good varietal character, but lacks personality.


Vegetarian cannelloni (A). the (A) signifies an alternative substitute, in this case vegetarian.


From my cellar: 1994 Robert Ampeau & Fils Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. 91 points. Dark golden. Deep fragrance of honey and herbs. Very intense honey, textured. Long and delicious, slightly of wood.


Cauliflower soufflé parmigiano fondue black winter truffle. Yum! Love this dish.

Because we have a seared foie course coming I brought a serious straight up Sauternes to compliment.

From my cellar: 2001 Château Suduiraut. IWC 95. Medium yellow-gold. Flamboyantly ripe, complex nose combines pineapple, apricot, toffee, clove and vanilla. Hugely sweet and rich, with deep, powerful flavors of honey, marzipan and toffee. A major mouthful of wine, with great lingering sweetness. Today, this makes the Rieussec seem almost polite by comparison.

agavin: great wine. young, sweet, and no off notes at all.


Seared hudson valley foie gras with roasted squash and parmigiano fondue. I thought it would be funny to get Erick his candle with his foie! Good stuff, and a real slab of the fatty liver.


Squash ravioli parmigiano fondue (A).


From my cellar: 1993 Pieve Santa Restituta (Gaja) Brunello di Montalcino Sugarille. IWC 95. Denser ruby-garnet than the above. More concentrated aromas of black cherry confitura, black pepper, herbs and spices, plus some very Medoc-like licorice and resin scents. Full body. Powerfully structured, with rich, minerally fruit, but less velvety today than the above. Potent and crisp on the finish. Superb for the vintage.


Homeade ricotta cheese cavatelli pasta with braised veal sugo. Some serious meaty winter pasta. I love the bitey texture on these cavatelli.


Homeade ricotta cheese cavatelli eggplant & candied tomato (A).


1995 Coche-Dury Auxey-Duresses. 91 points. A Coche-dury red? I’ve never had one, and this was a very nice mature bright berry red burg that drank like a premier cru (it’s a villages).


Black winter truffle risotto with morel mushrooms.


1990 Joseph Drouhin Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Hauts-Doix. 90 points. Took a few minutes to open up, but was good when it did.


John dory filet in a delicate seafood broth.


1995 Gros Frère et Sœur Clos Vougeot Musigni. 93 points. Another consistent Showing. Needs about 30 mins to open up. No need to decant though. Full on red fruit nose, very open and in a way delicate though. Well aged and maybe past its peak but a beautiful wine. The only wrong is that it tails off a cliff in the end and lacks vitality. We would suggest to drink now.


Hudson valley duck leg confit. A huge portion. Rich and delicious with a great jus.


Branzino with white italian beans & tuscan cabbage (A).


From my cellar: 1990 Domenico Clerico Barolo Ciabot Mentin Ginestra. AG 95. The 1990 Barolo Ciabot Mentin Ginestra has developed a bit since I last tasted it about two years ago. Here the fruit is decidedly richer and more opulent than the 1990, but the early signs of maturity have also set in with slightly more advanced notes of coffee beans, mint and violets. The finish is long, powerful and utterly convincing.


Kagoshima a5 wagyu beef. Heavy and rich. I couldn’t have eaten  another bite.


Porcini mushroom soufflé (A).


2001 Camus Pere & Fils Charmes-Chambertin. 88 points. Garnet with a touch of bricking at the rim. The nose is soft and smoky, delicate and showing some age. Living up to its name, it’s a charming wine; subtle and soft with fresh strawberry fruit and a touch of dried meat on the finish.


Selection of fine italian cheese. Gorgonzola, parmesan, brie. I loved the gorgonzola with the honey.


Bread for the cheese.


Homemade limoncello. This was the smoothest most pleasant limoncello I’ve had. I lovely nose of lemon rind too.


Nutella chocolate mousse with raspberries. I couldn’t really taste the nutella myself.

Erick with his lovely wife Amanda

Overall, this was another knock out meal. The food was fantastic. Each dish was really fabulous and very generous with the truffles, foie and the like. Mirko Paderno is a top top Italian chef, one of the best in town (and LA has very good Italian). The wines were also wonderful, with a lot of good variety.

LA dining reviews click here.

More crazy Foodie Club meals.

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By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Beverly Hills, California

Valentino – 2007 White Burgundy part 1

Feb06

Restaurant: Valentino Santa Monica [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 3115 Pico Blvd  Santa Monica, CA 90405. (310) 829-4313

Date: February 3, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Fabulous!

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This dinner is the first part of the annual White Burgundy Premox test series, hosted by Burg-meister Don Cornwell. This dinner covers 2007 Chablis, Meursault, and Corton Charlemagne. 2005 White Burgundy Dinner series Part 1 can be found here. You can also read about last year’s 2004 Red Burgundy dinner and 2006 White Burgundy tasting.

2007 was a vintage was cool and acidic, but with promise in reds.

This particular dinner is at Valentino, which has been a mainstay of the LA fine dining scene for decades. I first started coming here in about 1995 and it was a mind blowing change from the usual trattoria and red-sauce style Italians. Valentino is much closer to Michelin 2 star restaurant in Italy, although not as modernist as some of those are in recent years. If food in Italy turns you on, check out my Eating Italy segment.


Our private room. Notice the large table with a lot of space. This is important when you have 29 glasses a person!


Notice the awesome array of glasses in the background. Only about half of them are visible. Few restaurants can handle this sort of thing, as they need over 400 stems of the same type and a dedicated Sommelier with sufficient experience and skill. Ours tonight handled the whole wine service with extreme professionalism and personality.

Tonight’s special menu.

Flight 0: Champagne

1996 Henriot Champagne Cuvée des Enchanteleurs Brut. IWC 94. Vivid yellow-gold. Kaleidoscopic aromas of citrus fruits, poached pear, mango, lees and licorice, with slow-building florality. Supple, palate-coating orchard and exotic fruit flavors are complicated by notes of herbs and buttered toast, with a smoky quality in the background. Seems younger than it did last year, showing excellent finishing clarity and persistent smoke and spice character. This really won’t let go of the palate, which is fine by me.

agavin: We had two 750ml bottles of this and I only tasted the first. It was a bit oxidized and short, and leaned heavily on the acidity. Supposedly the second bottle was better.


Fresh oysters.


Diamonds of Mushroom Polenta. I’m not a polenta fan.


Arancinette of Seafood. These are very pleasant fried rice balls with a hint of seafood.


Taleggio Flatbread and Black Truffles. This was very nice and cheesy with a bit of an almost blue cheese flavor.


A word about tonight’s format. Every bottle was served blind, except we were aware of what flight it was and what was in the flight, just not of which wine was which. The reveal was held until the end of the entire evening so that we could vote on favorite wines without bias.

Personally, I’d prefer a reveal halfway through each flight for a number of reasons. True, this would compromise the voting a bit, but that’s not super important to me. I’d prefer to be able to taste the wines both not knowing which was which and knowing, so that I can continue to build up my subjective memory for each house style. I also find it very difficult to remember back across multiple flights for “best” comparisons. I took notes and marked my favorites of each flight and compared those, but I’m not even really sure it’s fare to compare a Chablis to a Corton.

Flight 1: Chablis


2007 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot. Burghound 94. It seems that each succeeding wine is more aromatically elegant than the prior wine and again, the nose here is incredibly pure, layered, airy, indeed almost lacy with perfumed notes of dried white roses, salt water, oyster shell and iodine that complement to perfection the classy, refined and textured flavors brimming with both minerality and dry extract that buffers the firm acid spine on the strikingly long finish. This is not as powerful as the Montée de Tonnerre but it’s finer, in fact to the point that the Raveneau Blanchots is a wine of finesse, indeed even delicacy in 2007. In a word, wonderful.

agavin: my favorite of the flight. a little reduced at first, blew off. Then nice nose. lots of minerals and tons of acid on the finish with some real zingy weight.


2007 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. Burghound 95. An equally elegant but ever-so-slightly more complex nose that is also ripe, pure and airy complements perfectly the rich, supple and beautifully intense palate staining and mouth coating broad-shouldered flavors brimming with intensity and oyster shell nuances on the penetrating, delineated, austere and gorgeously precise finish. The underlying sense of tension here is palpable and this too has so much dry extract that it will require the better part of a decade to fully mature. A classic Les Clos.

agavin: nose a little less at first, but still nice. Long acid on the finish, a little hotter than the Blanchots.


2007 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. Burghound 93. This offers a step up in aromatic elegance with acacia blossom, quinine, citrus peel and sea shore aromas that are framed by a gentle touch of wood, which is also reflected by the intense, powerful and quite serious big-bodied flavors that ooze dry extract that confers a silky and sappy mouth feel to the seductive and long finish. Still, this will require at least 6 to 8 years to really be at its best and it should live for years after that.

agavin: white flower on the nose? palette reserved at first. short finish of sour apple.


2007 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Valmur. Burghound 94. An extremely deft dash of wood is barely noticeable and merges seamlessly with highly complex if discreet aromas of limestone, lemon, oyster shell, sea breeze and white flowers. This is a big, powerful and incredibly precise wine with magnificent flavor authority and seemingly endless reserves of sappy extract. Tightly wound and still very youthful but the extract buffers the intense acidity and completely coats and stains the palate on the hugely long and intense finish. A knockout Valmur.

agavin: our only corked bottle. disgusting unfortunately.


2007 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Valmur. Burghound 94. Here the nose is every bit as elegant if not more so but it’s distinctly cooler and somehow more distant yet the strong Chablis character is immediately evident as the nose is a classic combination of green fruit, warm stone, iodine and distilled extract of sea water and this intense saline quality continues onto the equally cool, brilliantly defined and stunningly well balanced flavors that are crystalline in their purity on the driving finish. This does a slow but steady build in intensity from the mid-palate on back and the length is flat out amazing.

agavin:  sulfur and porta potty on the nose at first. reduction on the palette, but not unpleasant with a soft acid finish. Opened up and some of that reduction blew off later.


From my cellar: 2007 Dauvissat-Camus Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. RJ wine 93. Light medium lemon yellow color; nutty, ripe lemon, light lanolin, tart apple nose; tasty, complex, very tart apple, mineral, almond, light hazelnut palate with medium acidity; could use 3 years yet; medium-plus finish 93+ points.

agavin: darker in color than most of the  flight. reserved minerality and apple juice on the nose. acidic apple on the palette.


2007 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses. Burghound 94. Initially this is still restrained but after only 10 minutes or so it becomes quite expressive with a nose that is airy, ripe, elegant and strikingly pure as it combines plenty of Chablis character that includes sea breeze, citrus and green fruit aromas that precede the delineated and equally pure flavors of stunning depth and intensity, all wrapped in a hugely long finish. Like the nose, the minerality seems subdued at first yet arrives in a real rush on the finale. A genuinely great wine that is a study in harmony and grace as well as one that should age effortlessly for many years. I have advanced the suggested drinking window by one year as this can already be drunk with pleasure even though it is still on the way up. In a word, stunning.

agavin: darker color then most in the flight. white flowers or stone fruits on the nose. rich on the palette with a somewhat heavy long finish.


2007 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. Burghound 96. I had a chance to retaste this side by side with its 2008 counterpart and the ’07 matches the brilliant quality albeit in a different style due to the vintage characteristics. As such, I am raising my rating slightly. An aggregator is how I would describe this nose as the range of aromas and subtle nuances is genuinely amazing with a purity of expression that is nothing short of riveting with the classic assertive mineral reduction character that suffuses the character of this wine from the incredibly detailed nose to the wonderfully long, palate staining finish. The big, rich, powerful, detail and superbly focused flavors are supported by a very firm acid backbone that confers a bone dry quality to the finish that I could still taste hours later. In brief, at the moment this is more extract of Kimmeridgian stone than wine but it’s breathtakingly good. Don’t miss it.

agavin: very bright color. reduction and rubber on the nose. palette was reduced but pleasant, with a soft acid finish.


From my cellar: 2007 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses. Burghound 95. This is every bit as elegant as the Valmur with nuanced, highly layered, discreet and very pure aromas of understated green fruit and almost pungent tidal pool aromas that are followed by rounded, focused and incredibly complex flavors displaying notes of warm stone and oyster shell. The texture and mouth feel of this are positively seductive as the finish is a liaison of richness and delicacy with that silky yet explosive finish that all the great examples of Preuses seem to possess. A wine of crystalline purity that is pure silk and class. A don’t miss Fèvre ’07.

agavin: completely closed on the nose at first, opened after some time to white flowers and spearmint. Nice green apple taste. Long balanced soft acid apple finish.


Crudo di pesce with salmon, ahi tuna, yellow tail with citrus and colatura. This was a lovely salad with very nice fish and a great sweet and citrus quality to it.

Flight 2: Meursault

This flight included all the Meursaults that were not Perrieres.


2007 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières. Burghound 93. By contrast with the expressiveness of the Goutte d’Or, this is much more reserved and with a different aromatic profile more given to seductive and slightly exotic spices, citrus blossom and orange peel that leads to classy, rich, full and naturally sweet palate coating flavors as the dry extract is every bit as impressive. Like all of the Lafon ’07s, it is the impeccable balance that really sets these wines apart and the Genevrières is a wine of perfect harmony, particularly on the linear and explosive finish.

agavin: detergent on the nose to start. sweet taste with a hint of banana. rice nice finish.


2007 Domaine Roulot Meursault 1er Cru Les Poruzots. Burghound 90-92. A mildly rustic green fruit and roasted nut nose slides into big, rich, powerful and robust full-bodied flavors that possess impressive size and volume before culminating in a tautly muscled, mouth coating and palate staining finish. This is no model of elegance but there is no doubting the intensity and flavor authority.

agavin: nose closed at first. Rich palette with searing (good) finish.


2007 Domaine Roulot Meursault 1er Cru Charmes. Burghound 92. This too is extremely fresh, bright and pure with superb elegance on the restrained nose of acacia blossom, hazelnut and brioche that merges seamlessly into detailed, textured and silky medium-bodied flavors that are not as dense as those of the Poruzots or as refined as those of the Bouchères yet there is more depth and length. In short, overall this is a more complete wine of lovely harmony.

agavin: weird nose at first. Reduction and green apple on the palette. Weird odd finish too.


2007 Coche-Dury Meursault. IWC 92. Bright, pale yellow. Tangy aromas of orange, peach and spices. Broad and lively, with intense fruit lifted by a near-perfect sugar/acid balance. Finishes with excellent cut. This is awfully good for a wine from seven-year-old vines.

agavin: tons of stone fruit on the nose. Rich, reduced taste with strong notes of sour peach. Long soft acid finish. My favorite of the flight.


2007 Coche-Dury Meursault Les Rougeots. Burghound 92. A beautifully fresh, perfumed and intensely floral nose also speaks of citrus and hazelnut nuances that give way to delicious, round and intense medium-bodied flavors that possess excellent detail on the impressively long and impeccably well-balanced finish. However the aspect that really sets this apart from most villages-level wine is the excellent complexity. Overall, this seductively textured effort is still on the way up and I would be inclined to give it another 3 to 4 years of cellar time first.

agavin: fruit and acid on the nose. A rich balanced palette and a long finish.


2007 Hospices de Beaune Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières Cuvée Baudot Jean-Marc Roulot. 91 points. Very pretty but reserved nose. Nice acidity framing a bit of sweet oak. Light and pretty. Quite good.

agavin: more reserved on the nose but with a rich middle.


Pan Seared Scallops with Sweet Pea Sauce and Couscous. The scallop itself was nice but I found the couscous and pea sauce to be fairly flavorless.

Flight 3: Meursault Perrieres


2007 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. Burghound 93. A bit of unintegrated SO2 does not impede the expressiveness of the ultra elegant citrus-infused nose of mostly floral notes that merges into spicy, pure and strikingly detailed flavors that possess excellent size and weight plus plenty of dry extract on the punchy, long and serious finish that seems to be constructed of liquid rock. Like the Genevrières, this is an explosive yet fine wine that exhibits a discreet, but unmistakable, sense of class and grace.

agavin: one of my favorites of the flight. reserved on the nose at first. Lots of stone fruits on the palette and a great long finish. Really a zingy wine once opened.


2007 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Charmes. Burghound 94. This is more expressive and a bit riper with ultra pure aromas of peach, apricot, pear and spiced white peach leading to ripe, concentrated and superbly precise flavors that display plenty of mid-palate fat and ample minerality that this part of Charmes always seems to impart to the wines and overall, this is a stunningly harmonious wine of finesse.

agavin: nothing on the nose at first and perhaps a bit advanced on the palette


2007 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. Burghound 95. Despite several years of bottle age, this remains backward, tight and not revealing much aromatically beyond wonderfully pure white flower, pear and spice aromas. The rich, full and strikingly powerful flavors possess superb depth of dry extract and huge length on the detailed, focused, beautifully balanced and penetrating finish that seems to be extracted directly from liquid rock. This very classy effort is a potentially great Perrières as everything necessary is here and this should age extremely well. The word Zen comes to mind.

agavin: reduction and peach on the nose. Peach flavor with a medium finish.


2007 Domaine Roulot Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. Burghound 94. A very subtle trace of wood frames a green fruit and high-toned spiced floral nose that is still tight and reserved but ultra pure with detailed, stony and gorgeously vibrant middle weight flavors that possess a pungent limestone character and this finishes with a palate staining finale of stunning length. Like the best examples of Roulot’s Perrières, the ’07 is a wine of impeccable balance and perfect harmony of expression.

agavin: voted the wine of the night by most people. Tons of stone fruits on a crazy good nose. A bit of reduction on the palette at first, but tons of weight too and a crazy good finish.


2007 Domaine Matrot Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. Burghound 94. As it almost always is, this is the class of the Matrot cellar with discreet wood framing a reserved but ultra elegant, airy and exceptionally pure white flower and pungent limestone nose that marries seamlessly into fine, precise and intensely stony flavors that finish bone dry and with a vaguely saline quality on the cuts-like-a-knife finale. This is built to age and should provide at least 6 to 8 years of upside development. Highly recommended.

agavin: apple cider, apple cider, apple cider. Smelled and tasted like alcoholic dry Martinellis. Probably a bit advanced. Some sherry notes too after a while.


2007 Bouchard Père et Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. Burghound 94. A less expressive but even more complex nose features acacia blossom, pear and citrus aromas nuanced by an almost pungent minerality that continues onto the pure, detailed and almost painfully intense flavors that possess serious delineation on the notably ripe and sappy finish. I was knocked out by this textbook Perrières. Highly recommended.

agavin: reduction and stone fruits.


2007 Coche-Dury Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. Burghound 94. Mild reduction initially reduces the expressiveness of the otherwise fresh and impressively complex lemon, stone and acacia blossom-infused nose that leads to equally complex and beautifully delineated middle weight flavors that ooze a fine minerality before culminating in an overtly austere but explosive, linear and compact finish of superb length. While this could of course be drunk now, for my taste it is still much too young. However, if you’re going to try one out of curiosity, I would strongly advise decanting it for at least 30 minutes first as the flavors take their timing opening up. Tasted twice recently with one bottle being a bit more forward than the one described above.

agavin: we all guessed it was the coche MP because there was so much of that characteristic reduction. Potty on the nose at first, but blew off. Reduction on the palette too. Only beginning to shake off 2 hours later. But nice nonetheless.


Maine Lobster Risotto. Always a favorite. A very nice risotto, although not cheesy. Last year we had two portions, we could have used that this time!

Flight 4: Corton Charlemagne


2007 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne. Burghound 96. A cool, airy, complex and gorgeously elegant nose is more restrained than these Puligny-based grands crus while offering up notes of green apple, pain grillé, stone and very subtle spice notes that merge into rich, full and impressively powerful flavors that possess perhaps the best dry extract levels of any wine in the range as they really stain the palate on the intense, long and bone dry finish that seems to have no end. There isn’t quite as much overall depth here as in the Montrachet but otherwise, this succeeds in going to toe to toe, which is not small feat given how good the prior wine is.

agavin: kinda lot with a long searing finish


2007 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Corton-Charlemagne. Burghound 94. A barely perceptible touch of SO2 does not overtly mar the airy, ultra fresh and impressively refined nose of white flower, citrus, green apple and wet stone and it is this pungent minerality that is really on display with the intense, detailed and tight big-bodied and well-muscled flavors that positively brim with a distinct salinity that is more in keeping with a classic Chablis than a classic Corton-Charlemagne. Still, this is a brilliant effort by any measure and the finish is like a vinous bomb. In sum, this is a dramatic but balanced wine that should age well for many years to come.

agavin: very reduced on the nose with some weight and a long finish


2007 Faiveley Corton-Charlemagne. Burghound 91-94. Subtle wood sets off more elegant aromas of green apple, floral and wet stone notes that are also reflected by the rich, intense and impressively powerful big-bodied flavors that seem extracted from liquid rock, all wrapped in a palate staining and driving finish. Another aspect worth noting is that this is often a distinctly oaky Corton-Charlemagne but in 2007, thanks to the policy of reducing the wood influence, the oak influence is much more moderate if not invisible.

agavin: reduced at first, with some malo and real weight in the middle, then lingered


2007 Louis Jadot Corton-Charlemagne. Burghound 94. A strikingly complex nose that possess excellent breadth to the ripe, pure and airy aromas of white flower, spice, green apple and subtle pear aromas that complement to perfection the big-bodied, rich and mouth coating flavors built on a base of fine minerality, all wrapped in a sappy and mouth coating finish that oozes dry extract. This is really a lovely effort with a chiseled and driving finale of superb persistence though note that while patience will be required, there is sufficient mid-palate sap that the finishing austerity is not forbidding. A “wow” wine.

agavin: perhaps a little advanced, but drinking nicely now. hot with strong apple qualities.


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.

agavin: also probably advanced. sherry and apples. Apple brandy? hot on the finish.


2007 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne. Burghound 93. A wonderfully elegant, pure and high-toned nose that is quite floral with a pronounced citrus influence to the green apple and wet stone notes that border on a mineral-reduction character, which continues onto the detailed and equally pure flavors that possess a cuts-like-a-knife linearity on the bone dry and palate staining finish. This is like sucking on pebbles and while the flavors are distinctly austere at present, the balance is impeccable and this should make for a first-rate vintage for this wine in time. Note however that patience will be required.

agavin: very pale color. Long acidic finish.


2007 Simon Bize Corton-Charlemagne. Burghound 91-94. A deft touch of wood sets off an even more restrained and more elegant nose that is ultra pure and though reserved, aromas of green fruit and white flower nuanced by hints of spice and orange peel can be found. And the purity and transparency of the nose continues onto the muscular and big-bodied flavors that offer up minerality to burn on the very firm and gorgeously long finish. This is a block of stone and it will require the better part of a decade’s worth of patience for the full potential of this beauty to fully express itself. In a word, brilliant.

agavin: Tropical nose, maybe some advanced notes? tropical fruits on the palette. An oddball in the flight as this was so tropical.


2007 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Corton-Charlemagne. Burghound 92-95. A highly complex lemon and orange peel, white flower and green apple nose introduces substantially bigger and richer if less refined broad-shouldered flavors that are quite dense and I like the mouth feel before the flavors slide away into a notably dry, intense, extended and punchy finish. This is a big wine with plenty of extract that really stains the palate.

agavin: great wine. Rich, powerful, long. Extremely Corton Charlie. One you keep coming back to. my (and many others’) favorite of the flight.


Pan Roasted Napa Quail with Pancetta and Sage. The Quail itself was tasty, as was the jus. The asparagus didn’t go with white burgundy and the dish was a bit of work to eat because of the bones.

Flight  5: Dessert


1971 Chateau d’Yquem. Parker 97. Served from an ex-chateau bottle. I have always stood by the 1971 Chateau d’Yquem as being one of the most seriously underrated vintages of that decade. I feel completely vindicated in this view as I batted away the 1967 Yquem when tasted at the chateau and entranced its audience. This great Yquem was born during 10 days from October 6, when warm and humid conditions caused an outbreak of botrytis. It was a small crop of just 228 barrels. Slightly deeper in color than the 1982 Yquem tasted alongside, it is blessed with a truly spellbinding nose that has such energy and frisson that you don’t know where to look. You can detect Mirabelle, ripe Satsumas, citrus peel and beeswax. The palate is vibrant, animated and simply electrifies the mouth upon entry. The 1971 has immense concentration, while the almost Tokaji Aszu-like finish is beautifully poised. This is simply an outstanding Yquem that shows absolutely no sign of reaching the end of its drinking plateau.

agavin: awesome! Really all you could expect in a fully mature D’Yquem. Like apricot nectar.


Seasonal Fruit Tart with Gelato. This was a pleasant traditional dessert.


Above is the flight list.


And the full array of revealed bottles.


That’s more or less one person’s glasses!

There is a lot to say about this tasting. First of all, Valentino did a good job as usual. The wine service was impeccable, and this is a difficult task (pouring lots of big blind flights). Overall service is absolutely first rate. It’s a large quiet room, and the staff was highly attentive. The food was solid, although not as good as last year. The decor and food are a tad dated now, very very 90s — and not even as good as I remember back in the 90s.

2007 as a vintage was quite good. We had one corked bottle and 3-4 advanced bottles. No totally premoxed bottles like with 2005. The vintage character is very acidic, with a high frequency of green apple. Chablis remains tight. The richer wines, particularly Meursault Perrieres were very impressive. Some really nice wines there.

The top six wines of the night by group ranking/voting were:

1. Roulot MP
2. Bouchard MP
3. Ringer No. 1 — Coche-Dury Meursault AOC [Chaumes de Perrieres]
4. Colin-Morey MP
5. Coche-Dury Meursault Rougeots
6 (tie). Coche-Dury MP
6 (tie) Faiveley Corton Ch

Don’s reviews of each wine can be found here.

Other big tasting dinners from this dinner series:

2006 White Burgundy

2004 Red Burgundy

2005 White Burgundy part 1

2005 White Burgundy part 2

2005 White Burgundy part 3

Flight  6: Second Dinner

After the main event, a bunch of us were still hungry and so we bought a bottle of Red Burgundy from the Valentino wine list and ubered over to Ramen-ya down the street.



1993 Marc Rougeot-Dupin Richebourg. 90 points agavin. This wine was incredibly reasonable on the Valentino wine list and so we bought a bottle “to go.” Very strange Richebourg, all meaty and funky with a gamey bloody quality. I liked it though, and it was getting better over an hour in the glass. Well worth the price of admission.


Pork potstickers. Yum!


Fried chicken cartilage. That triangle-shaped bit in the chicken breast — fried!


Spicy beef tendon. Tasty!


Miso soup.


Shoyu-Ramen soy sauce soup ramen with roast pork, bean sprouts & bamboo shoots and wontons.


Fried rice.


A shoyu broth.


Fried chicken egg rice.


Kimchee fried rice.


Seafood fried rice.

This all certainly qualified for “late night fatty carbs”!!

Related posts:

  1. Valentino – 2006 White Burgundy
  2. Valentino – 2004 Red Burgundy
  3. Valentino – 2005 White Burg part 2!
  4. Burgundy at Bouchon – Faiveley
  5. Burgundy at Bouchon – Jadot
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: 2007 White Burgundy, Chablis, Corton-Charlemagne, Italian cuisine, Los Angeles, Meursault, Valentino, Wine

Gwang Yang – Beeftastic

Feb04

Restaurant: Gwang Yang Korean BBQ

Location: 3435 Wilshire Blvd. Ste 123. Los Angeles, CA 90010. (213) 385-5600

Date: February 2, 2015

Cuisine: Korean BBQ

Rating: Very good high end KBBQ, if a little pricy

_

The K-town Korean BBQ places have been growing increasingly high end of late. I recently tried out Madang 621 and now my Hedonist gang has descended on the new Gwang Yang.


Located in one of these high-rise plazas across the street from the every popular Boiling Crab. The sign claims someone thinks it’s the best restaurant in Seoul.


The interior is sleek, with a whole lot of glass caged private rooms. We took two! Sort of. The Hedonists had one an loosely associated non-wine foodie group had another.




The menu.


NV Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut. IWC 90. Light gold. Musky orchard fruits and dried fig on the mineral-accented nose. Fleshy and broad on the palate, offering smoky pear and nectarine flavors and a hint of honey. Finishes on a gently spicy note, with very good cling and a touch of bitter lemon pith.

No Korean place could look at itself in the mirror without banchan, the little (often) pickled sides placed on the table and infinity refilled. Gwang Yang has only four, all classic.

Kimchi. The most classic of the classics.


Potato salad. Sweet. Actually pretty good.


2000 Weingut Max Ferd. Richter Mülheimer Sonnenlay Riesling Kabinett. 89 points. A nice mix of acidity and sweetness.


Korean glass noodles. Vaguely sweet, I like these.


Seasoned Korean Spinach.

From my cellar: 2003 Weingut Graben-Gritsch Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Schön. 89 points. Nose of lychee pineapple lemon, creamy lemon and peach on the palate. Bright acidity medium finish with a bit of an herby quality.

agavin: Korean food can be a hard wine match and I wanted some white to start. This mildly aged Gruner hit the spot. It’s complex and almost herby/spicy fruit allows it to handle the pervasive Korean red chili.


Korean salad.


2011 Kistler Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast. 92 points. The wine has a beautiful garnet color, light in the glass with almost no legs. The nose was light with hints of fruit and minerals. A light fruity taste that is tart and not sweet and a smooth texture. The finish is long and the wine really improved with air and I probably opened this years to soon. A very nice Pinot.

agavin: there was a tiny touch of “funny” to our bottle, may have blown off later.


A spicy bean and seaweed salad. Quite nice.


2012 Seven of Hearts Pinot Noir Curmudgeon Cuvée Armstrong Vineyard. IWC 92. Dark red. Delicate, focused aromas of red berries, potpourri and Asian spices, with a bright mineral nuance adding lift. Fresh and lively on the palate, offering tangy raspberry and strawberry flavors that show very good energy, lift and cut. A fresh, elegant, weightless pinot that finishes with very good energy and drive and silky tannins. This racy, balanced wine puts on weight with air but maintains a sense of elegance and restraint.


Gwang Yang Bulgogi. Gangnam Style. Do your best horse trot dance. This is the famous marinated beef without bones.


It’s just grilled up straight in a big pile.


Some accompaniments. Garlic, pepper, and a fermented miso bean paste that I really loved — not too different than natto.


2008 Rhys Alesia Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast. IWC 91. Vivid red. Strawberry, raspberry and spicecake on the nose, with a sexy sandalwood quality. In a distinctly vibrant style, with the sexy spice and red berry qualities following through in the mouth. Sappy and fine-grained wine, finishing on a suave note of candied flowers. This will be the last vintage for this wine.


American Kobe Yukhwoe. Korean style beef tartar. Green stuff. With both heat and a bit of sweetness and an intense texture invoking the slimy with a bit of crunch. Really wonderful.


2012 Morin Pere et fils Pinot Noir Vin de Pays d’Oc. 85 points. Light fruity pinot young and bright. Don’t expect a Burgundy. Perfect with light meals and cheese.


Yook Jeon. Beef pancake. With green onion salad.


1980 Château Trotanoy. 92 points. Starts off a bit strange and quite unpleasant with a big cheesy whiff and some strong volatility on the nose. A big shake in the decanter and it improves immeasurably. There are notes of black olive, leather and there’s a pleasant floral perfume. In the mouth it is lightly creamy and there is cassis fruit sweetness. Tannins are chewy on the finish and it is fresh and vibrant.

agavin: ours was a little stirred up and cloudy, but was surprisingly decent for such a shitty old vintage.


Gwang Yang Bulgogi. LA Style. More marinated and sweeter than the Gangnam style. We all liked this better. You eat it cooked on the grill.


2000 Monbousquet. Parker 93. Although still youthful, I do not think the 2000 Monbousquet will develop much more complexity. It is a seductive, rich, generously endowed effort revealing plenty of spice box, herb, black currant, kirsch, espresso, and toasty oak characteristics in a decidedly modern, but opulent, fleshy style. Enjoy this endearing, long, velvety-textured St.-Emilion over the next decade.

agavin: great wine, although more like a big Cal Cab than a Bord, and very young. Tons of round fruit though.


Prime YangNyeom-Galbi. Marinated Prime Beef Short Ribs.


Grilled up as usual. When cooked, these were tender, fatty, free of bone, and absolutely scrumptious. Clearly my favorite. Others were split between liking these and the LA Style Bulgogi best.


1989 Couly-Dutheil Chinon La Baronnie Madeleine. 91 points. Fresh, but dry and dusty in that Cab Franc way.


Dolsot Bibimbap. Hot stone Bibimbap. Vegetables and egg over rice in a hot stone pot.


You dump in some hot sauce and mix it all up. Great stuff.


From my cellar: 1996 Paul Jaboulet Aine Hermitage la Chapelle. Parker 92. The 1996 Hermitage La Chapelle is immensely impressive. The acidity is high. The color is black/purple, and the wine is extremely concentrated, but unevolved and impossible to penetrate. It could turn out like the 1983 and never develop as well as its early promise suggests. Nevertheless, it is a massive effort with extraordinary concentration, but the high acidity requires a minimum of 10 years of cellaring.

agavin: Most of us thought this the WOTN. Just a really nice solid mature (but not old) Syrah. Tons of ripe fruit.


Pa Jeon. Assorted seafood and veggie pancake. Like Korean okonomiyaki.


2009 Chapoutier Hermitage la Sizeranne. Parker 90-94. For starters, there are 1,627 cases of the 2009 Ermitage Monier de la Sizeranne. Lots of peppery, meaty notes are found in this dense purple-colored 2009 along with sweet tannin, a full-bodied, layered mouthfeel and outstanding purity. Three to five years of cellaring will be beneficial, and the wine should keep for two decades.

agavin: a baby. Clearly a great Syrah, but a total baby.


An extra order of LA style (so you can seek it cooked).


Red rice. Red beans and rice.


2012 Charles Krug Winery (Peter Mondavi Family) Cabernet Sauvignon. 89 points. Nose: Medium expressiveness, kirsch, black berry, and cassis. Palate: Full bodied, sweet dark fruit attack, decent balance, starts strong up front and dissipates quickly from the mid-palate thru the back-end. Clean and smooth from front to back just lacks mid-palate density. Finish: Medium length dominated by subtle, but tasty, dark fruit and spice. For a Napa Cabernet you pretty much get what you pay for here.


Buljip Saeng Samgyepsal. Samgyepsal-sliced Kuro Pork Belly.


It’s grilled up with onions and kimchi.


Reducing.


And reducing.


Finally the fatty bits can be eaten inside these big lettuce pieces.


2006 Carlisle Zinfandel Pietro’s Ranch. IWC 92. Deep ruby. Explosive blackberry and candied raspberry aromas are complicated by rose, violet and lavender. Juicy and fresh, with vibrant dark berry flavors, silky texture and a big jolt of baking spices on the back end. Impressively fresh, pure and sappy zinfandel with outstanding finishing lift and thrust.


Eundaeku Jeongsik. Grilled black cod with spices and potatoes. Really good stuff. The cod was super flavorful and tender.


A kind of sweet roasted cold tea. Kinda yummy actually.


Here is about a third of our private room.

Overall, Gwang Yang did serve up some of the best K-BBQ I’ve had — and we had a LOT of food. It wasn’t cheap though, as the Korean places down the food chain are often very reasonable. Although it should be noted that while our table was $110 a head all in, the non-wine group in the next room over hit only $50-60. Of course they didn’t waddle out like we did.


And, lacking dessert, we waddled across the street to this interesting dessert stand.



The options basically involve a small set of ingredients, mostly the “True Milk Ice Cream.” As far as I can tell, it’s not cream at all, but ice milk, ice cream’s less creamy cousin.


And a lot of fresh honeycomb.


Honeymee. True milk ice cream and fresh honeycomb.


Dear. True milk ice cream, Ghiradelli chocolate sauce, and sprinkles of French sea salt.

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

  1. Shin Beijing Cubed
  2. Madang 621- Beef++
  3. Where in the world is Yanbian?
  4. Better than Tangiers
  5. Lucky Ducky
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: beef, Gwang Yang, hedonists, Honeymee, Korean BBQ, Korean cuisine, pork, Wine

Say Hi to Shi Hai

Feb02

Restaurant: Shi Hai

Location: 1412 S Garfield Ave. Alhambra, CA 91801. (626) 282-3888

Date: January 26, 2015

Cuisine: Cantonese Dimsum

Rating: Fun dishes, good, but dumpling skins too thick

_

My quest to try all the great dimsum houses in the LA area (mostly the San Gabriel Valley) continues with newcomer Shi Hai.


The name apparently means “sea world.” Hopefully no “blackfish” served here. 🙂


I brought only a 100mm macro lens and so capturing the dining room was a challenge. It’s sort of SGV  high style 2015. This substantial wine nook betrays the recent Chinese interest in wine — even if all that Bordeaux and Cal Cab clashes hideously with the food!


Another nice pretty menu.


The usual tea.


We didn’t actually have to ask for mustard, and when we asked for water and soy sauce and vinegar we got 2 out of 3 on the first try! This is A+ service for an authentic dimsum house, some places you ask 3-4 times per item.


Shrimp dumpling (Har gow). The filling was good, but this dish betrayed Shi Hai’s biggest problem, their thick sticky shells. Getting these puppies out of the steamer intact was nigh on impossible so you ended up with a filling and a pile of shredded skin on your plate.


Shrimp and Bean Sprout Leaves Dumpling. I never find these “veggie” type ones as good as the meatier varieties. This also had the sticky skin problem too.


Surf clam and crab egg shrimp dumpling. I liked both the way these looked and the ocean flavors.


Octopus dumpling. Content-wise, this may have been just a Har Gow in disguise, dressed up as little octopi. But they sure are cute.


Shanghai juicy pork bun. Always a favorite. These weren’t the best XLB I’ve ever had, but they were tasty just the same. Here the dough thickness was reasonably in check.


Crispy cruller rice noodle. This is only the second time I’ve had the rice crepes with something friend inside (the first being at Elite). Weird, but it works, combining the soft and sticky textures with the crunchy. The thing inside was basically a tempura shrimp.


Baked BBQ Pork Bun. The flavors were good, but these felt a tiny bit soggy.


Roast Suckling Pigeon. This succulent little roast fowl is ironically paired with… Pringles! Despite that, it was a tasty little game bird. The skin was nice and crisp and the meat had a dark gamey quality I really liked.


The pigeon was served with mayo and salt.


Heads up! — shows of the 100mm lens to nice effect.


Sticky rice with lotus leaf.


The inside was a little wet, but the sausage was good.


Shi Hai Dan Dan Noodles. Now this is a little odd at a Cantonese place, but maybe it’s a nod to the popularity of Szechuan.


Either way, while it looked kind of wet, the flavors were deep, with a lot of sesame and that pleasant medium numb from real Schezuan peppercorn. I love this stuff.


Steamed sweet bun. How could anybody resist these little piggies? They were filled with some kind of dark taro/sweet bean mixture. No pork involved as far as I can tell.

Overall, Shi Hai was good but not great. I’d put it in the second tier of SGV dimsum underneath Elite, King Hua, and Sea Harbor, but in line with Lunasia and Shanghai #1 Seafood. It absolutely blows away what Downtown and Westside places I’ve tried, and is certainly a worthy destination. Shi Hai also has an interesting menu, and I’d like to go back and try another round or two of dishes. If only they tuned up their dumpling shells to be lighter and less gummy they’d be great.

It should also be noted that it’s just a short wander across the street for some excellent snow afterward!

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

The build out might be new, but it retains a modernized version of the old 80s Monterey Park Style — cove overload!

 

Related posts:

  1. Lunasia Dim Sum
  2. Elite Dim Sum
  3. Sea Harbor Dim Sum
  4. More Awesome Dimsum – King Hua
  5. Din Tai Fung Dumpling House
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: California, Chinese cuisine, Dandan noodles, dimsum, Monterey Park, san Gabriel valley, SGV, Shi Hai

Game of Thrones Season 5 Trailer

Feb01

HBO was showing a nice long juicy Season 5 trailer on the big screen and it’s leaked to the internet.

This one is a good one, and certainly draws together the plot threads from books 4 and 5 in a more coherent and appealing way than the novels pitched, at least in summary. Interesting how, as usual, the show is more explicit about major currents than George R R is himself, for example the clearly implied allegiance of Varys (to Dany and “the realm”) and his sending Tyrion after her (which was so frustratingly CENSORED in book 5).

If you liked this post, follow me at:

My novels: The Darkening Dream and Untimed

or all my Game of Thrones posts or episode reviews:

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

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

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

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

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

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


game-of-thrones-season-5-spoilers

Related posts:

  1. Game of Thrones – Season 2 Trailer
  2. Game of Thrones Season 4 Trailer
  3. Game of Thrones – Season 2 Episode 1 Clips
  4. Game of Thrones – Season 2 CGI
  5. Game of Thrones Season 4 Preview
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Television
Tagged as: a game of thrones, Game of Thrones, Game of Thrones (TV series), HBO, World of A Song of Ice and Fire
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