Archive for April 2015

Papilles – Guy Amiot

Apr29

Restaurant: Papilles

Location: 6221 Franklin Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028. (323) 871-2026

Date: April 15, 2015

Cuisine: French

Rating: Great French Fun

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My friend Walker, who is the Director of the LA Wine Department at Bonhams Auction House organized this fabulous look into the terrior of Domain Amiot Guy & Fils, a boutique Chassagne-Montrachet producer. After we all went to a nearby French restaurant (Papilles) for even more Burgundy!


The auction room at Bonhams filled with art — but in our case with tasting tables.

Walker (white shirt on the right) introduces Fabrice Amiot, scion of the Amiot wine family.

Flight 0:


We began with this nice Aligote:

2012 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Bourgogne-Aligoté. Burghound 86. A fresh, spicy and very cool nose offers up lovely aromas of pear and apple. There is good verve and the same appealing freshness to the delicious and lightly mineral-inflected flavors that terminate in a clean, dry and slightly saline finish.

agavin: I’d give it more an 89. Very crisp and nice.

Flight 1:


2012 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Macherelles. Burghound 87-90. Reduction. Here too the middle weight flavors possess an attractive texture as there is plenty of palate coating dry extract present that imparts a sappy and seductive mouth feel on the lingering finish that displays a bit more depth.

2011 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Champs-Gain. Burghound 89-92. This is aromatically similar to the Macherelles with the addition of an appealing floral element. There is good volume to the fleshy and opulent middle weight flavors that possess plenty of mouth coating dry extract, all wrapped in an intense, linear, focused and impressively long finish that is quite dry without being particularly austere. Worth considering.

2010 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Champs-Gain. Burghound 91. By contrast here the wood treatment is much less visible which allows the grapefruit, pear and rose petal scents to shine. The textured, cool and pure middle weight flavors possess a sophisticated and refined mouth feel before terminating in an intense, dry and impressively persistent finish. Good stuff.

Flight 2:


2012 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Vergers. Burghound 89-91. Here the expressive nose mixes notes of resin, white flowers, peach and apricot. There is excellent volume to the very concentrated and intense middle weight plus flavors that ooze a very fine dry extract that coats the palate and does a fine job of buffering the moderately firm acid spine on the delicious and impressively persistent finish. This isn’t elegant but I like the character and balance.

2010 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Vergers. Burghound 92. While not invisible the oak regimen here is much less prominent and allows the complex and pungent nose of petrol, citrus zest and acacia blossom aromas to have center stage. The old vines are definitely in evidence as there is a remarkable amount of palate staining dry extract that imparts a distinctly textured mouth feel to the impressively deep and persistent finish. This is worth considering.

Flight 3:


2011 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Demoiselles. Burghound 91-93. An overtly floral nose of pungent citrus, honeysuckle, pear, spice and wet stone introduces refined, pure and gorgeously intense flavors that possess fine precision and a lovely sense of vibrancy. There is a restrained mouth feel to the impeccably well-balanced and highly complex finish and this should amply reward medium-term cellaring.

2011 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Montrachet. Burghound 93-95. A discreet but not invisible application of wood frames a ripe and quite phenolic nose of both yellow and white orchard fruit where added breadth is present in an array of spice and floral elements. There is superb size, weight, punch and intensity to the big-bodied, suave and overtly powerful flavors that possess really strong underlying material, all wrapped in a superbly long finish. This is an excellent Montrachet and one of the better vintages for this wine in some time.

Flight 4:


2012 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Bourgogne. Nice and bright and young.

2012 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet Vieilles Vignes. Burghound 86-89. Reduction flattens the nose but there is good freshness and energy to the suave and attractively textured medium-bodied flavors that possess solid length but only average complexity, at least at present. Still this will need a few years to arrive at its peak so more depth may very well develop.

2012 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Clos St. Jean. 91 points. Quite light in appearance. Cherry / Chocolate (Cherry Ripe??) on the nose with some exotic spice – fennel & lemongrass. Very bold and brooding up front with rich mouth feel. Tight on the backend – stacked with dark fruit and plums with some tar on the finish. Really enjoyed this now but assume improvement.

After all that goodness we moved on to Papilles:

Small place with an open kitchen tucked away in the corner of a Thai town mini-mall!

Le menu.

French Bread.

1989 Chalone Vineyard Chardonnay.

Asparagus Salad. Cooked and raw, 63 degree duck egg. Tres francais.

2002 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet. Burghound 86. A deft hint of toast complements moderately spicy, very fresh pear and apple suffused aromas that lead to complex, precise, linear and pure if not especially dense flavors that finish on the lean side.

Chilled Asparagus Veloute. One of those nice gazpacho like soups.

From my cellar: 1999 Louis Jadot Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 89-91. Big, powerful and rich aromatics of honey, oak spice and limestone merging into intense, medium weight flavors and a penetrating, relatively fine finish. While not especially big or complex by the standards of classic Bâtard, it is quite intense with beautifully textured, luxuriant, almost opulent flavors.

agavin: nice!

Smoked Ora King Salmon. Sungold, egg yolk, pickles, rye.

2006 Camille Giroud Corton-Charlemagne. Burghound 92. Here the nose is distinctly more elegant and a bit cooler, revealing notes of ripe green fruit and wet stone that continue onto the rich, full and powerful flavors that possess plenty of size and weight and culminate in a tangy, intense and mouth coating finish that is explosive and persistent. This is a big but balanced and harmonious effort that should age well over the medium-term.

Foie-Gras. Crostinni, strawberry gel. One of those lovely terrine type classic preps for foie. yum!

1990 Williams Selyem Pinot Noir Olivet Lane Vineyard. 94 points.

1995 Domaine Robert Arnoux / Arnoux-Lachaux Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots. Burghound 90. Classic sexy nose that is both spicy and still relatively primary with solid, middle weight flavors and a lightly structured finish. This is beginning to become approachable now and while it’s pretty, it could perhaps use a bit more density. Still, an impressive, opulent effort.

agavin: kicking ass and taking names right now.

2005 Domaine de la Vougeraie Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Bel-Air. Burghound 89-92. A more elegant and high-toned nose of red and black fruit plus lovely floral notes, especially violet, leads to rich, forward and generous flavors that possess a beguiling texture on the long finish that evidences a hint of mocha. This is quite ripe yet fresh and there is so much sap that one could approach this now though it clearly has the material to improve for 6 to 8 years.

2008 Beaux Frères Pinot Noir Beaux Frères Vineyard. VM 94. Bright red. Highly perfumed, seductive bouquet of black raspberry, cherry-cola, incense and dried rose, with a slow-mounting mineral element. Lively but strikingly concentrated as well, offering incisive red fruit and floral pastille flavors underscored by intense spice and mineral qualities. Really stains the palate and finishes with superb clarity and juicy, spicy raspberry and cherry notes. Etzel told me that a tiny bit of stems were used in this year’s wine.

2007 Domaine Y. Clerget Volnay 1er Cru Clos du Verseuil.

1985 Domaine Ponsot Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Charmes. Burghound 90. This may have been ever so slightly corked and opinion was divided on this aspect. However, the richness of the flavors and sheer complexity of the finish plus the outstanding performance of all the Ponsot wines in ’85 suggest that the benefit of the doubt is in order, if not for this particular bottle then certainly for the wine itself. Tasted only once.

agavin: I think our bottle was corked too.

1989 Domaine Joseph Roty Gevrey-Chambertin.

From my cellar: 1993 Louis Jadot Bonnes Mares. Burghound 92. Earthy, deep and wonderfully fresh fruit leads to dense, solidly tannnic, beautifully delineated and focused, rich flavors of exceptional purity and length. While the finish is firm, it is by no means hard and there is excellent buffering sève all underpinned by vibrant acidity. There is plenty of wine here but this is a wine for the patient and it should live for years to come.

agavin: great again!

1993 Domaine Michel Gaunoux Pommard 1er Cru Les Rugiens. Burghound 90. I had acquired a case of this in the late ’90s and have never had a great deal of luck with it because while there was reasonably good precision and pruity to the middle weight flavors, the finish was mildly dry and not at all what I typically find with this wine. Then I was able to try a bottle at the domaine that showed appreciably better and without the dryness that my bottles displayed. While this is not a great vintage for what is often an amazing Rugiens, it does underscore that there can be significant differences. In sum, a very good but not truly excellent wine that is just now beginning to come into its own. As noted, inconsistent experiences.

1976 Domaine Tollot-Beaut Aloxe-Corton. Clean and bright, medium, medium-plus colour – a mahogany rim but clearly still a ruby-red core. From opening this was just a little monolithic on the nose; faint baked fruit and a savoury undercurrent. If you wait – over 1 hour – the nose tightens to a very nice and tight powdery red fruit impression The palate is surprisingly plush and intense – it’s hard to keep hold of the wine, as your mouth starts watering in response to the acidity. I’m very impressed by the balance here. Slowly some sweetness builds to counterbalance an edge of tartness in the finish. The tannins are still there and quite chewy. This is a surprisingly robust and healthy wine – just like the label says, this is a village wine so no real fireworks or mind-bending length.


Alaskan Halibut. Peas, carrot, fava, radish, tendrils.


2003 Vieux Donjon Chateauneuf du Pape. Parker 92-94. 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.

Sonoma lamb. Weiser potato, zucchini, confit tomato. Nice healthy chunk of lamb.


1999 Dominus Napanook Proprietary Red Wine. Parker 87. The soft, supple, easygoing 1999 Napanook (70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Cabernet Franc, 13% Merlot, and 3% Petit Verdot) exhibits cherry, earth, leather, and foresty aromas, sweet fruit, and a forward personality. It is best consumed over the next decade.


2012 Morlet Family Vineyards Pinot Noir Coteaux Nobles. Parker 93. Luc Morlet produces between 450 and 650 cases of three cuvées of Pinot Noir, all of which come from the second ridge from the Pacific Ocean in the Sonoma Coast AVA. The vineyard elevations range between 1,000 and 1,250 feet. All of them come from suitcase field selections of Pinot Noir, largely sourced from the most famous domaine in Vosne-Romanée. About one-third of the aging process is in the larger 500-liter wood pungeons, and the rest in smaller barrels. The wines are also bottled without fining or filtration. The 2012 Pinot Noir Coteaux Nobles displays meaty, spicy, clove, nutmeg and earthy notes intertwined with ripe plum and black cherry fruit, a medium to full-bodied mouthfeel, and lots of spice. Drink now-2025+.

Flat Iron Steak. Morel, asparagus tips, ramps, carrot.

Cheese plate. Fig, almonds, honey.

Chocolate Hazelnut Crisp. Delicious.

Overall, a super fun night!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Playful Playground
  2. Pate de Bourgogne
  3. Valentino – 2004 Red Burgundy
  4. The Power of Providence
  5. Burgundy at Bouchon – Faiveley
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
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Game of Thrones – Episode 43

Apr26

season-5-the-wars-to-come-copyShow: Game of Thrones

Genre: Fantasy

Watched: Episode 43 – April 26, 2015

Title: The High Sparrow

Summary: New Territory!

ANY CHARACTER HERE

I did not love The House of Black and White last week. I mean, it was fine and all — it was Game of Thrones — but that being considered it was a lackluster episode. This week makes me think that they don’t choose the names because of the focus of the show, but more for what the introduce.

NOTE: SERIOUS SPOILER WARNING. This review/discussion contains tons of spoilers about the episode and even ones crossing over from the books. It’s really my free-for-all musing given all the information at my disposal.

Arya – Even though I expected some meat on Arya’s story last week (because of the title), it seems to fall in this episode. We pick up with her inside the House of Black and White, a creepy dark space decorated with every image of the divine. She sweeps. She carries water. In the background Jaqen offers a man a bowl of “water”. Arya is frustrated with the drudgery (which evidently has been days) and confronts Jaqen — only to get a cryptic “all men must learn to serve” (in Valyrian too). She wonders which god and reminded that there is “only one true god” (we’ve heard that before!) and omits the “and his name is death.” Sure enough, the guy who drank the water lies dead on the floor and is carried off by silent acolytes.

A man must...

A man must…

Later Arya is pondering her coin when a blonde female acolyte enters and questions who she is. Arya, having learned her lesson goes with the ever popular “no one” answer, but is beaten for her trouble. They get into a fight and Jaqen materializes to stop it. The other girl was apparently trying to play “the game of faces” (which is presumably where she “becomes” someone else for a while) but Jaqen questions Arya, saying that if she is “no one,” why is “no one” surrounded by Arya Stark’s things? Arya gets the hint and goes out to the lagoon to throw away her famed stinky clothes that have miraculously survived 4 years hard use. She chucks her money and even the coin too, but can’t quite manage to throw away needle, instead burying it under a pile of rocks in the jetty (which looks to be part of the harbor of some Croatian village). After, she is back in the House and Jaqen leads her to the basement where she learns to undress and bath a corpse that has recently drunk from the poisoned water.

This was all good stuff, with a nice creepy feel and some good does of Jaqen. The issue of Arya abandoning her things (and presumably her grudges) brings us to a theme that runs through this episode (and GOT in general). “To Revenge or not to Revenge.”

Jon – Has taken up his position as Lord Commander and made Olly his steward. Stannis with Davos in tow (as usual) come for a visit. The “One True King of Westeros” wants to know if he has decided on the whole becoming Jon Stark business. Jon has desires, revenge (theme), and all that on one side and loyalty and duty (to the Night’s Watch) on the other. Having built up his honor now as a brother, having paid for it at the cost of Ygritte and her love, and his friends, he’s going to side with his oath. Stannis gives him a hard time, but being the inflexible twit that he is, probably admires Jon. I’m not a huge Stannis fan, but these interactions at the wall are far better than him lurking about in Dragonstone. Stannis also mentions that he plans to march on Winterfell and the Boltons and Davos tries to get Jon to pitch in (even thought the watch is technically neutral).

Later, Jon is presiding over the mess. Sam tells us that Maester Aemon is sick (setup) and Jon drums up some humor by appointing a latrine captain, then Thorne (in his side) as chief ranger. When he commands the odious Slynt to take some men and go restore Grayguard, a ruined castle on the wall, Slynt refuses. And refuses again and insults Jon and his authority. Taking a page from the Ned/Robb playbook Jon calls for his sword and has the men drag Slynt outside to the block. Once there Slynt begs for his life and mercy. For a moment it looks like Jon might yield, but off comes the ugly head. Good riddance.

Nope, won't miss him

Nope, won’t miss him

Margaery and Cersei – Another gorgeous aerial shot of Kings Landing shows off the budget. It looks less and less like Dubrovnik by the episode. Liters containing Cersei and Margarey roll through the streets, but the people call Marg’s name (making Cersei scowl). We roll up to the Sept of Baellor (also looking better than ever) and apparently it’s time for Margarey’s third wedding. Let’s home 3 is the charm. This seems to be the only happy wedding in Westeros history too, as the episode slams from the kiss right to the bedroom. Tommen is getting lucky at a seriously young age! How old is he? In the books he’s like 8 or 9, but maybe 15 or so here. Lucky guy as Marg is a dish. He certainly thinks so because she wraps him about her cute little finger. Their pillow talk is very nicely handled. Marg is both artfully manipulative and clearly enjoying herself as well. I’m not sure that even a kid his age would be dense enough to fall for her heavy handed manipulations as she simultaneously flatters Cersei and implies that she over mother’s him — but he eats it up.

So next up Tom not so subtly tries to suggest to his mother that she might be happier in Casterly Rock. Which leads to Cersei storming back to Margaery, but the old queen is playing it close to her vest in a controlled manner. She talks nice to Marg as the younger girl not so subtly reminds her that she is a dowager now. You can feel the anger seething under her skin.

Margaery-and-Tommen-Official-HBO

Gasp, a drama free wedding!

Later the High Septon (which we clearly saw marring Marg and Tom) is at Littlefinger’s whorehouse picking from various naked versions of the seven when the sparrows (including unrecognizable Lancel) storm in and haul him out naked into the street. It’s painful to watch as the fat pale dude is whipped through the streets.

Once dressed again (thank the seven), he loses no time in protesting to the small council. Which generates an amusing line when he tries to address Qyburn who says of his name “doesn’t matter.” But Cersei and the crew (other than the lecherous Pycelle) take him to task for getting into trouble anyway.

Jonathan-Pryce-as-the-High-Sparrow_-photo-Macall-B.-Polay_HBO

Mild but not meek

Cersei, the disgusting Meryn Trant in tow, decides to size up this new faction by visiting the “High Sparrow” in his lair (which is a poor house). The barefoot man, played by veteran character actor, Jonathan Pryce (Keira Knightley’s dad in Pirates!), does a good job of playing the role as ultra humble. Cersei must be up to something in her “plot against Marg” as she plays along.

The doctor's laboratory!

The doctor’s laboratory!

Finally, she visits Qyburn in his lab. The place is delightfully Frankenstein, and the ex-Maester is in the process of doing in a rat. In the background is a big body under a sheet. Presumably the mountain. Cersei has him send a letter to Littlefinger. After she leaves the body gets to twitching. Kitsch, but fun.

The Boltons – Ride into a Winterfell that is under heavy reconstruction. Ravens in cages are been brought in, and Reek can be seen pathetically mucking out the yard. As part of the classic Bolton decoration a set of flayed bodies are hauled up on ropes, including a woman. Ramsay and Roose dine together, with Reek serving. Ramsay reveals that he flayed some Northern lord who wouldn’t pay his taxes and Roose suggests that given the size of the north, and their loss of Tywin’s support (due to his death), they really ought to adopt a somewhat more congenial style. To that effect, he has arranged a marriage for the new heir.

Sansa and Littlefinger – As they look down on yet another big vista, this time Moat Cailin. Seems they are heading north (as I suspected). This is all new territory. Littlefinger says they are going home and Sansa instantly puts two and two together about the marriage proposal and realizes it’s her. She is appalled at the idea of the Boltons (who did, after all, murder Robb and Cat). But Peter is ultra slick this time, saying he won’t force her, but she should consider taking charge of her fate and getting her revenge on her terms (revenge theme again). Sansa thinks for the moment, steels herself and agrees. This is a defining moment for her as a character, really taking charge (somewhat, for she is still a pawn of LF) and is very well handled.

Heading in new directions

Heading in new directions

Brienne and Pod – Look on. Brienne doesn’t need to follow, she knows where they are going and plans to sneak on by. She and Pod share some good bonding by the fire, exchanging more of their backgrounds and origin stories. Pod explains how he was sent to Tyrion and she explains how she met Renly and why she loved him (because he was always kind to her). Pod expresses his admiration and Brienne volunteers to start teaching him combat. Brienne comments that there is “nothing more hateful than failing to proect the one you love” and we know she’s thinking of her revenge on Stannis (the show even transitions over to him) so this counts as more revenge theme!

But in my threaded narrative, back to Sansa and Littlefinger and the Boltons – Sansa arrives in Winterfell. Home at last, but oh how things have changed. The Boltons have spruced things up for their guests. The flayed corpses are gone (but the hooks remain). Roose, Ramsay, and Roose’s fat frey wife are all lined up to welcome them. Sansa plays along as she is introduced to Ramsay. Behind them Ramsay’s mistresses look on. When she’s shown to her room the serving lady lets her know “the north remembers.”

A charming family

A charming family

As she wanders around the castle, Reek keeps a secretive eye on her. We are in entirely new territory here and I can only speculate on how the threads the show is setting up will combine with the action in ADOD in this new alternative version. Clearly Stannis is on the way, as is Brienne. Clearly Theon/Reek will have some role to play in the chaos that will ensue. I suspect he’ll have some kind of partial redemption. Although who knows? GRRM and D&D might kill him (or anyone) off. This all must be tough on Sansa, but she has really come a long way and play along admirably.

Ramsay too is playing a role, because we know what kind of a whackjob he is. He tells Littlefinger he “will never hurt her.” And that’s in his nature? Roose joins them and Peter assures the elder Bolton she is a virgin. The pragmatic Roose couldn’t care less about that. He’s interested in Littlefinger’s plans and why after getting so much support from the Lannisters he’s turning against them now (and he doesn’t know the 90% of it!). As usual, LF’s true motives are fairly inscrutable. I can’t help but think he wants to sow even more chaos in the north and somehow pick up the pieces. But he suggests the Eerie and the North team up again. That message comes from Cersei and Roose has read it — he’s not a terribly trusting soul, as he wants to read it.

Tyrion and Varys – roll their giant wheel house up to Volantis and we are treated to even more giant panning city shots. This season is going nuts with these gorgeous views of Martin’s world. Volantis seems to include a giant bridge like the Ponte Vecchio with shops and buildings piled on top. This was actually a frequent site in early modernity (15-18th centuries). Paris and London both had them. The shot that rolls up over it is amazing. Tyrion, bored out of his gourd in the carriage, and sporting his new hood and beard look, drags a reluctant Varys out in search of a brothel. The presence of slaves is observed, and even Robb Stark’s late wife commented on it back in season 2-3. Here they apparently tattoo slaves with a descriptive mark, like a shovel for ditch diggers. They run into an Asian priestess of the Lord of Light on their way. She babbles about “the night is dark and full of terrors” and the like. She refers to “stone men” and Tyrion comments on this, drawing the connection to gray scale (Shireen’s disease, which was introduced last episode). Yep, they didn’t cut that!

Conleth-Hill-as-Varys-and-Peter-Dinklage-as-Tyrion-Lannister-_-photo-Helen-Sloan_HBO33

Hoodie time!

Ty does manage to find a whore house — of course, this is GOT and there are two in this episode alone! But unknownst to Tyrion and knownst to us, Jorah is lurking around — very drunk. There is even a whore dressed as Dany in blue and with a white wig. Tyrion talks to a lonely lady of the night and does a good job overcoming her initial skepticism of him, but when she goes to take him back to her room he can’t do it. This does incite some funny lines like “no one is more surprised. What am I going to do with all my free time?” So he wanders out to piss out the window (he loves a good vertical piss). Jorah sneaks up behind him with a rope, lassoes him and drags him off “for the queen.” This is an apparent acceleration of events in the books. Given the probable absence of some of the other (Dornish) traveling parties in ADOD it makes some sense. I’m sure they will run into a bit of trouble on their way to Meereen. Plus, this is now Tyrion’s second dwarfnapping!

Margaery-smiles-S5E3-Official-HBO

Never too much Margaery

All in all, a great episode. Compared to last week in particular, a ton of stuff happened in this episode. Just look how long the description above is. We pushed into exciting new territory with the Sansa/Bolton thread. For the first time ever I’m really wondering what is going to happen. And while we didn’t have any Dany or Jamie (Not so sad to skip a week on Dany’s slightly anoying Meereen plot), the remaining threads  felt quite substantial: Arya, Sansa/Bolton, and Cersei/Marg. Even the wall had a bit of a shocker. All great stuff.

The show is really upping the visual ante too. Nearly every locale gets some giant combined real and CGI view and they look totally gorgeous.

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or all my Game of Thrones posts or episode reviews:

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

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

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

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

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

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

HBO’s official videos for the episode:

Related posts:

  1. Game of Thrones – Episode 37
  2. Game of Thrones – Episode 35
  3. Game of Thrones – Episode 33
  4. Game of Thrones – Episode 32
  5. Game of Thrones – Episode 31
By: agavin
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From Russia with Love

Apr24

Tonight David, our Hedonist brother (and Yarom’s actual brother) is hosting a home-cooked Russian feast prepared by fellow Hedonist Ilana.


On the right is ChefIlana, and on the left our co-host Kimberly.


Here Ilana and David’s daughter slave away in the kitchen.


Handmade dumplings!


And frying, always a staple.


1996 Henriot Champagne Cuvée des Enchanteleurs Brut. JG 95. Blend of chardonnay and pinot noir, all from grand cru vineyards; L0909920608) 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. I’d still hold this.


NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. Pale orange. High-pitched red berry, orange zest and jasmine aromas, with suave mineral and smoky lees notes adding complexity. Spicy and precise on the palate, showing very good punch to its strawberry and bitter cherry flavors. Opens up smoothly with air and picks up a bitter rhubarb quality that lingers onto the long, tightly focused finish. This bottling showed more brawny character than many past renditions of this cuvée, but with no lack of vivacity.


The appetizer spread being assembled.


From my cellar: 1990 Louis Jadot Bâtard-Montrachet. 90 points. Surprisingly young and fresh. Took a few minutes to open up, but very good when it did.


2007 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Bougros. Burghound 92-95. Here too there is a very subtle influence of wood that frames ripe yet elegant and impressively pure aromas of citrus, spice hints, tidal pool and oyster shell notes, all of which are picked up by the highly complex and deep big-bodied flavors that are incredibly intense and quite unusually for Bougros, possess ‘hot knife through butter’ cut and delineation. An atypically elegant effort for the appellation.

Sardine toast. Marinated fish, pumpernickel toasts, marinated radish and parsley. These had a delightful vinegary tang to them and the various textures harmonized. Crunchy radish, smooth fish, etc.


2001 Henri Boillot Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clos de la Mouchère. Burghound 92. This cuts like a knife with an incredibly pure, positively crystalline minerality that defines and characterizes this wine from the nose to the powerfully long finish. Elegant, fine and understated fruit framed by the barest hint of wood spice leads to wonderfully detailed, medium weight, extremely rich flavors plus a finish that goes on and on. This is an extremely impressive effort.


2009 Rhys Chardonnay Alpine Vineyard. VM 93. The 2009 Chardonnay Alpine Vineyard is the most vibrant, mineral-laced of these 2009 Chardonnays. Clean, mineral notes frame the fruit all the way through to the vibrant, pointed finish. This is a terrific effort from Rhys. Bright citrus and crushed rocks frame the finish. The 2007, which I tasted alongside it, has aged gracefully.

agavin: not a bad Cal Chard at all. Burgundian, and with some real acid.


Salmon roe and crepes. Uh, yum.


2012 Peter Michael Chardonnay La Carrière. VM 93. Hazy yellow. Powerful, seductively perfumed aromas of Meyer lemon, orange pith and pear, with an undercurrent of smoky minerals and iodine. Chewy, penetrating pear skin and bitter citrus zest flavors gain flesh with air while maintaining impressive energy and focus, with a hint of ginger emerging on the back half. Finishes pure and focused, with repeating notes of iodine and smoke.

agavin: flabby, not enough acid or backbone.


Blini with creme fraiche and Russian caviar. A classic, and for a reason.


Pickles. Oh so Russian.


Tomatoes.

From my cellar: 1993 Louis Jadot Bonnes Mares. Burghound 92. Earthy, deep and wonderfully fresh fruit leads to dense, solidly tannnic, beautifully delineated and focused, rich flavors of exceptional purity and length. While the finish is firm, it is by no means hard and there is excellent buffering sève all underpinned by vibrant acidity. There is plenty of wine here but this is a wine for the patient and it should live for years to come.

agavin: our bottles was killing it (very good).


Beef rolls in mushroom sauce. These delightful rolls feature soft beef inside and a heavy mushroom cream sauce. They were delicious.


1974 Ridge Lytton Springs. 90 points. Great bottle. The nose is beguiling, showing fruitcake, sweet raspberries, spice and aged tobacco. Complex, integrated and simply riveting on the palate. The raspberry fruit is sweet and abundant and supported by nice acid levels. Similar flavors as aromas with the addition of some cedar. It’s nicely integrated, long and in no danger of falling apart anytime soon. The alcohol weighs in at 13.3%. I wish a lot more Zin were made like that. A real treat to try. Solid A-.

agavin: Tired, but not bad for a 41 year old Zin.


Borscht. What would a Russian feast be without Borscht? This was an awesome one with a heavy beef stock, tender chunks of meat, rich beat, onion, flavor and a healthy blob of sour creme. I couldn’t help but notice some resemblance to the Afghan Aush soup.


Pirogies. Bun like fellows stuffed with egg and seasonings. At this point, as we EACH worked our way through one of those giant soup bowls and a couple of these buns we were beginning to feel a tad full!


Potato pancakes. It’s just feeling more and more like a Jewish holiday.


1982 Château Gloria. VM 87. Dark red. Plum, mocha, meat and leather; grew distinctly gamier and more rustic as it opened in the glass. Sweet, fat and broad, with lovely texture and palate presence. Finishes with fine tannins and persistent sweet fruit.

agavin: in good shape.


Dumplings stuffed with potato and covered in butter.


Beef Stroganoff but using the dumplings as the noodles. Awesome! Best Beef Stroganoff I’ve ever had.


Cole slaw.



2006 Saxum Syrah James Berry Vineyard Bone Rock. Parker 96-100. No wimpy wine, the 2006 Bone Rock James Berry Vineyard (76% Syrah, 18% Mourvedre, and 6% Grenache) has over 16% alcohol. It possesses phenomenal texture, stunning purity, and remarkable freshness, which, again, is attributable to the limestone soils as well as the proprietor’s brilliant hands-off winemaking philosophy. A complex perfume of roasted meats, black fruits, spring flowers, charcoal, and spice is followed by a wine of enormous richness (yet it is neither overweight nor heavy). Beautiful freshness permeates the wine’s black fruit flavors and full-bodied power and length. The finish lasts for nearly a minute. This 2006 should evolve for 12-15+ years.

agavin: over 17% alcohol probably, and as extracted as Welshes Grape Juice!


Russian pastry. Sweet heavy pastry with raisons and cherries.


Dairy free cookies.


Some of the ladies had enough wine and vodka and started dancing.


The audience.

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By: agavin
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Sauvage Republique

Apr22

Restaurant: Republique [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

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

Date: April 10, 2015

Cuisine: Modern Bistro French

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

_

Back to Republique again? I was just there last night!! Well, it seems in 2014 half the serious wine events are here. Possibly it’s because Sommelier Taylor Parsons is so good. In any case, today is Sauvages annual “Grand Cru Lunch.” How could I resist more great Burgundy?


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

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


Our lunch is in the back half, where is just ever so much less loud. We have this big table in the middle of an even bigger room.


A close up of our table and below our menu:

Flight 0: Whites


2004 Brewer-Clifton Chardonnay Melville Vineyard. 90 points. This wine is very traditional for this winery. Not huge nose, but fragrance of lite melons and honeysuckle. Straw hue. Cold, it is closed, but as it warms, it starts to open with notes of melon, cream and sweet pineapple– but not acidic. It also has some effervescence, and a clean, Stoney finish. Some vanilla and hay and a little stone fruit.


2010 Domaine Billaud-Simon Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. Burghound 94. A reserved yet classic Chablis nose that is ultra-fresh, pure and elegant with the hallmark floral and stone notes of a fine Montée de Tonnerre complement well the rich, dense and impressively well-detailed flavors that culminate in a mineral-inflected and driving finish. A wine of harmony and balance that should age well plus it offers so much Chablis character that this would be almost impossible to miss blind. In sum, one to buy.

agavin: I have 6 bottles of this stuff in my cellar.


2008 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. Burghound 96. Here too the elegance of the nose is simply stunning with a layered and perfumed aromatic profile trimmed in an almost invisible touch of oak that allows it to ooze Chablis character and in particular, a fine minerality that continues onto the impressively concentrated and palate staining flavors that possess striking precision on the explosively long and bone dry finish. This is a great Les Clos that will make old bones.


The famous bread.

Flight 1:

It should be noted that Sauvage lunches always have the lunch itself arranged into (usually 4) flights of food with wine flights matched by the organizer (in this case, Kirk). They are not blind.


1971 Louis Latour Romanée St. Vivant Les Quatre Journaux. agavin 93. Surprisingly fresh. Lots of fruit. Very mature, but a nice singing finish.


1974 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée St. Vivant. agavin 87. Brown and tired. Tea like. Got a bit better with a few minutes and was enjoyable.


From my cellar: 1985 Domaine Jean Grivot Echezeaux. agavin 92. Round, mature, and delicious. A very nice well balanced Ech with considerable fruit and power.


1995 Domaine Joseph Roty Charmes-Chambertin Très Vieilles Vignes. Tanzer 96. Similar deep ruby-red. Pure perfume on the nose: cassis, kirsch, violet, licorice, tobacco, game. Like a rare liqueur whose formula is locked up in the heads of two monks. Great volume and sweetness in the mouth; fruit saturates the entire palate and anything else it can reach. Really extraordinarily concentrated. These grapes were picked with near-14% potential alcohol; the yield, according to Roty, was about 28 hectoliters per hectare, not particularly low for these ancient vines planted in 1881. Fabulous brooding fruit on the finish, along with suave, superripe tannins. Another dimension of concentration and texture.


Rhode Island Black Bass. A perfectly nice bit of fish “juiced” up by the bacon based sauce.

Flight 2:


2001 Faiveley Mazis-Chambertin. Burghound 92. A moderately pitched nose that exhibits only traces of secondary nuances also features notes of cool red berry fruit, earth and a hint of the classic Mazis sauvage character that continues onto the delicious, well-detailed and intense middle weight flavors that exude a fine minerality on the mildly austere but not dry finish. There is a bit of unabsorbed wood that is present on the finish though it’s not enough to really detract from the overall sense of harmony. While this could easily be enjoyed now, for my taste there is just enough unresolved structure to warrant allowing this to continue to age for another 5 or so years.


2002 J. Rochioli Pinot Noir West Block. Burghound 90. An expressive nose of violets and ripe black cherry introduces complex, elegant and sweet medium full flavors that coat the palate with ample dry extract, culminating in a sappy, persistent and generous finish underpinned by firm and ripe tannins. This is clearly a ripe effort yet the finish displays only the barest trace of warmth. Lovely stuff and recommended.

agavin: one of the better New World pinots I’ve had, very Burgundian.


2002 Faiveley Chambertin-Clos de Bèze. Burghound 92-94. Dramatically earthy, spicy and sappy black pinot fruit beautifully frame the dense, intense, superbly complex flavors that are supported by ripe, solid, firm tannins and incredible length. As good as several of the preceding wines are, there is a class and presence here that only the Musigny possesses and this is extremely impressive and built for the long haul.


2004 Domaine Méo-Camuzet Clos Vougeot. Burghound 90-2. This too displays more than a trace of wood with very floral and unusually high-toned red pinot fruit aromas nuanced by hints of iron, underbrush and earth that lead to sweet, round and again unusually supple and forward flavors that are textured, punchy and vibrant and finish with excellent length and precision. While there is a touch of the youthful finishing austerity that a typical Clos de Vougeot often displays, this is more forward and expressive than normal.

agavin: green on the nose, green on the palette. Disgusting really, I couldn’t handle it.


Stinging Nettle Cavatelli. Same pasta as last night, but with an oxtail ragu, cheese, and a bit of bone marrow. This pasta was a “10.” A really rich tasty concoction of goodness.

Flight 3:


1996 Louis Jadot Clos Vougeot. Tanzer 92+. Deep, bright red-ruby. Complex, wild aromas of raw crushed blueberry, violet, raw meat and iron. Intense, primal flavors of crunchy berries and powdered stone. Integrated acidity gives the fruit an urgent quality. Quite powerfully structured for aging. Very long and bright on the back end, with tannins nicely supported by extract.


1996 Domaine Robert Jayer-Gilles Echezeaux du Dessus. Tanzer 93+. Deep, bright ruby-red. Explosive nose combines dark berries, kirsch, violet, spice and smoked meat. Sweet, sappy and large-scaled, but with great delineation of flavor for a wine of this size. Like a solid today, and quite backward. Finishes with substantial but silky tannins and a whiplash of fruit. Along with the example from Emmanuel Rouget, this is as impressive an Echezeaux as I’ve tasted from 1996.


2001 Domaine du Clos de Tart Clos de Tart. Burghound 95. I have been in love with this wine since I first encountered it in barrel and it seems only to have gotten better and better. An elegant, pure and refined nose of earth, coffee, spice and intensely perfumed black cherries combine with focused, tautly muscular, remarkably complex and precise full-bodied, sweet and palate staining flavors that seem to go on and on. But the quality that impresses me the most is the dazzling combination of finesse and power, all wrapped in a finish of near perfect harmony and balance. This should be capable of aging well for at least two decades. A great wine that is not as dense or monumental as the ’05 but this is finer. Multiple, and consistent, notes.


2000 Dominique Laurent Bonnes Mares. Tanzer 92-5. Ruby-red. Confectionery aromas of tiny wild fruits, minerals and smoke; the Chambolle character dominates today, whereas last year the ’99 Bonnes-Mares was more Morey. Sappy, sweet and quite refined; an extremely pure wine that already exudes compelling inner-mouth perfume. Finishes with firm tannins and superb fruit intensity and persistence. Tasted from only 100% new oak, as this wine had not yet been racked into a second new barrel. A wine of extravagant sweetness, and the best in the cave on this day.


Sonoma Duck Leg Confit. A rather perfect and meaty duck leg with a great sauce, over a bit of nice oatmeal with some blueberries. A stunning wine pairing too.

Flight 4:


1990 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Ruchottes-Chambertin Clos des Ruchottes. Burghound 91. The classic truffle-infused Ruchottes nose is missing though the usual game, subtle earth and spice notes are present with remarkably rich, full, broad-scaled flavors that offer lovely balance and fine length. Many ’90s are overly ripe and over the top but this remains balanced and really quite pure and understated if not particularly dense. In sum, this is an attractive and satisfying effort that is just now coming into its own.


1990 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Musigny Cuvée Vieilles Vignes. Burghound 89. As long time readers know, I have never thought very highly of this wine and I have had on the order of 3 cases of it without ever finding one that I thought was very good, let alone great. This would include a bottle that was air expressed directly from the domaine so my objections have nothing to do with storage, provenance or shipping. However, the bottle in this tasting displayed the best fruit/acid/tannin balance of any ’90 VV that I’ve yet had and while I would stop well short of according it the accolades that it once received in abundance, it didn’t not display the green finishing tannins and overtly advanced aromas that its predecessors have. In short, a wine of moderate promise and while by no means great, at least acceptable in the context of the extremely high standards of this wine and this vintage.


1995 Domaine Philippe Charlopin-Parizot Clos St. Denis. No reviews. Woah!


1995 Dominique Laurent Romanée St. Vivant. 90 points. Typical pinot noir aroma but sense of inbalance. Hint of barnyard but does blow away. Sour oak juice! Mouth puckering dryness from the acid. Does not resemble my previous RSV experience which was warm. Light bodied and smooth tannins. Spicy with bitter pears, chempaka and granny smith apples. Medium finish.


Cheese.

Finish:


2001 Marc Colin et Fils Corton-Charlemagne. agavin 90. A nice Corton Charlie drinking in a good spot.


Expresso. Needed after a wine lunch.


My notes on the wines.


Chef Walter Manzke pays us a visit.


Wine director / Somm Taylor Parsons handled this event himself and did a superlative job.

Enough wine for a Friday afternoon?

This was probably the best Suavages lunch I’ve attended, and that’s saying a lot as these are very fun events.

While the food wasn’t as extensive as the previous night, our three non-cheese courses were still fabulous. The pasta and duck in particular were killer. I generally like the private room, but this big downstairs space was cavernous and comfortable — although at night it would be too loud. Each course was brought by an army of 6-7 waiters and dropped elegantly in front of us.

As usual Taylor did an amazing job with the wine service. My only regret is that we had just four glasses each and so had to dump the previous flights.

An overall fabulous afternoon.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Kirk juggled the credit cards

Related posts:

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By: agavin
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Elitist Buns

Apr20

Back to Elite with the Hedonists for a three table, private room, order half the menu afternoon of craziness!

132C1880

 

By: agavin
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Game of Thrones – Episode 42

Apr19

season-5-the-wars-to-come-copyShow: Game of Thrones

Genre: Fantasy

Watched: Episode 42 – April 19, 2015

Title: The House of Black and White

Summary: A connector episode

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Last week we were off to a great start for season 5, and I approached this week with a sense of excitement, particularly as the title promised some good Arya time.

Arya – So, like the episode, we can start with everyone’s favorite killer Stark. She enters through the legs of the Titan of Bravos into some quite epic shots of the city. Not only does it look like Venice, it had me wondering if it was actually filmed there. But I suspect this is a collage of various Croatian towns, particularly given all that grey Croatian limestone in evidence. But there are cool canals and a whole host of wide views to show of the show’s ever increasing budget. A far cry from Season 1’s fairly tight control of the camera. The captain of her ship rows her straight up to the House of Black and White, a massive thing with yin-yang doors. I loved the way it sits right on the quay like The Church of San Giorgio Maggiore (one of Palladio’s gorgeous constructions). A few knocks draws out a grim faced, dark skinned monk who rejects her inquiry after Jaqen H’ghar. Rebuked Arya waits for at least a day and a night and another day, through rain and shine, reciting her death list. And while some of us may wonder why no one enters or leaves the house during this time, eventually she tosses her coin into the water and heads off.

 

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Much later in the episode, we find her hunting pigeons, a return to her old ways from Flea Bottom. This time she skewers one effortlessly. A girl walks by with the costume we know she will later assume and she is set upon by a trio of thugs, but her calm stance and embrace of death scare the off. The monk watches and she follows him back to the House of Black and White — where he transforms into Jaqen. Now in the books Jaqen doesn’t make a reappearance, but I’m happy to see him because he was a fabulous character, and in the context of TV it makes sense to reuse rather than introduce when you can. His line is perfect, “I am no one, and that is who you must become.”

Now, while I liked the look of Bravos and Jaqen’s reappearance, I can’t help but feel “cheated” by the small dash of Arya we received in this titular episode. As they have for some time they are likely to stretch her story out in small chunks through the season.

House_of_Black_and_White

Brienne and Pod – Dine at another of those typical Irish Pub Inns. The pretty bar maid clearly notices Pod, a nod to his “special talents.” And what a coincidence, Littlefinger and Sansa are at the same place! Pod recognizes both of them and Brienne, in typical straight up fashion, confronts them and offers her service to Sansa. Sansa, having continued to study Littlefinger’s modus operandi is cautious. Peter tries to undermine Brienne’s “qualifications” and it becomes clear to her that she not only isn’t going to win Sansa over but is in danger herself, so she flees, knocking aside Littlefinger’s guards. I loved her calm attempt to disrupt and free the horses as she and Pod flee the inn. We get a brief horse chase where Brienne’s riding skills are shown off as she ditches her pursuit. Brienne circles to look for Pod. Who, however, manages to lead most of the guards off one way and then loses his own horse in the river. A guard nearly cuts him down but Brienne sweeps in and takes out a pair of them. She then orders Pod up. Pod suggests that maybe her quest is over, but Brienne has set aside her melancholy and is determined to follow Sansa.

podrick-and-brienne-season-5-episode-2

At the Wall – Shireen is teaching Gilly to read while Sam does his own research. This is a nice repurposing of a likable character and provides opportunity to explain Grayscale (the weird disease that Shireen has) a bit more. Apparently Gilly had two sisters with it and it took over their whole body and made them like animals. This is clearly a setup for what Tyrion will encounter. Her mother then chases out Sam and Gilly and warns her against the Wildlings. There is absolutely zero to like about Lady Selyse.

Meanwhile, Stannis takes Jon to task for making him look like a fool, but uncharacteristically, is pretty lenient because he really wants Jon to kneel and become Jon Stark so he can rule the north for Stannis. But as Jon later explains to Sam, he can’t break his vows. As Davos setup before it’s election time and Ser Allister Thorne (aka Thorne in Jon’s backside) is the lead contender. Maester Aemon calls for candidates and speeches and Slynt speaks for Thorne while someone else speaks for the Commander of the Shadow Tower (total filler). Sam steps up to speak eloquently for Jon, proposing him and making a good case while slamming Slynt (we all love to had that loser). The vote results in a tie, which the Maester breaks in favor of Jon with his own vote. Nicely done.

Game-of-Thrones-Season-5-Episode-1-Picture-Kit_Harington-Jon-Snow-Stephen-Dillane-Stannis-Baratheon-Liam-Cunningham-Davos-Seaworth-800x533

Jaime (and Bronn) – is summoned by Cersei to examine a cobra-shaped “letter” with Marcella’s pendant in it. Cersei is just all rage, almost spitting as she talks. Jaime offers to “make it right” by going down to Dorne and getting Marcella. Again as alterations from the books, this follows the essential line (Cersei’s attempt to “rescue” Marcella) while at the same time giving existing characters more to do. Characters like…

Bronn who is playing finance to his ugly bride-to-be Lollys in front of a large and lovely CGI manor. He plays her well (as she isn’t the brightest) and alludes to the mortality of Lollys’ annoying older sister. But Jaime is there waiting for him with a document breaking off his marriage and a request/order that Bronn “tag along” with him to Dorne in exchange for the BBD. I’m glad to see Bronn included, as in the books he disappears and he is far too witty a character to lose.

juego-de-tronos-game-of-thrones-5x02-07

Dorne – In what is clearly Southern Spain, the Prince of Dorne sits VERY stiffly on his ebony and ivory throne. Ellaria Sand bursts in (past huge guard, Areo Hotah) to take the role of Arianne (deleted daughter) in arguing for vengeance against the Lannisters for Oberyn’s untimely head smushing. This is pretty cut and dry 2 point argument with Ellaria playing the hawk and Doran forced to take the side of caution, for he has to balance the well being of his kingdom. Like Cersei, Ellaria is almost foaming at the mouth. The gardens (and we do catch a glimpse or two of Marcella) are lovely and formal.

Ellaria-Sand-Areo-Hotah-Game-of-Thrones

Tyion and Varys – Ride in a very large carriage and exchange their usual witty dialog. This is a total filler scene, and brief at that, merely informing us they are under way and headed toward Volantis. There are some good jokes though, like Tyrion’s liquid diet and “best part of her for the best part of me” (you had to be there). Tyrion continues to wallow, musing about Shae and the fact that he wouldn’t leave because of his zeal for the “game.” In one of those typical GOT transitions they mention that Cersei has offered a Lordship for his head…

Cersei – Gets a present of a dwarf head (kinda sad), but alas, it is the wrong little person. Qyburn however is happy to take it for his experiments. They then head into the ever Smaller Council. Kevan has joined, along with the buffoons Mace Tyrell and Pycelle. Unlike the other 3, however, Kevan isn’t going to curry favor with Cersei and expects to be asked directly by the king for his service. He tells Cersei point blank that she has no power (certainly true in name). She certainly isn’t used to being questioned like that by anyone other than her father.

Dany – Has a long and drawn out Meereen storyline. Following up on the Sons of the Harpy killing an Unsullied last episode, Dario leads Grey Worm and some Unsullied to a house that seems empty, but then with the usual Dario panache he stabs the wall and finds a traitor. Dany hears out her council on the matter. Many advise executing him, but she goes with Barristan’s measured opinion to give him a trial. However, the young freed slave busts into the guy’s cell and kills him (publicly).

1429224912_nathalie-emmanuel-emilia-clarke-zoomSigh. We’ve seen this before, and in this very show. It’s the same dilemma that Robb Stark faced in mid Season 3 when he executed Karstark for killing the boys. And Dany has essentially the same “fair” solution, to execute (literally) justice in an impartial manner. But this earns her no friends. The freed slaves riot and threaten her. I loved the way the Unsullied covered her in an umbrella of shields and we get some more nice wide shots of the CGI composite that turns part of Dubrovnik? into Meereen (might be some other spot in Croatia, they film in Split too).

Dejected at this political blunder, she goes back to her apartment and balcony to find a giant Drogon lurking on the roof. When she reaches out to his glorious reptilian CGI-ness, he flies off, leaving her to feel abandoned.

Game-of-Thrones-502-3-600x338

All in all, not the greatest episode. Mostly connector stuff, and too little of Arya, Tyrion, and other favorites. Not too much happens, and what does is in the more boring storylines like Dany stuck-forever-in-Meeren Targaryen. The Brienne/Pos/Sansa stuff was fine, as was what little Arya we did get. I’m sure the episode will be “fine” taken in the context of the whole season, particularly when I go to rewatch it all together, but right now it’s just setting up for better. However, the episode does LOOK great, with lots and lots of big wide shots of the world — and Drogon.

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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]

Some of HBO’s inside the episode clips:

Related posts:

  1. Game of Thrones – Episode 37
  2. Game of Thrones – Episode 35
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  5. Game of Thrones – Episode 40
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Republique of Vosne

Apr17

Restaurant: Republique [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

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

Date: April 9, 2015

Cuisine: Modern Bistro French

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

_

Back to Republique again? Well, it seems in 2014 half the serious wine events are here. Possibly it’s because Sommelier Taylor Parsons is so good. In any case, tonight’s special dinner is an exploration of my favorite wine sub region,Vosne-Romanée and Flagey-Echézeaux. This dinner was organized by Dan Perrelli of the Wine Hotel.


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



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

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

Flight 0: Champagne


1996 Alfred Gratien Champagne Brut Millésimé. AG 94. The 1996 Brut Millesime shows why this vintage is so highly regarded. Everything is in the right place. Rich, voluptuous, yet also structured, the 1996 impresses for its superb overall balance. There is lovely complexity in the glass, but none of the aggression found in some wines. A soft, gracious finish laced with a totally refined mousse rounds things out in style. The 1996 is 65% Chardonnay, 18% Pinot Noir and 17% Pinot Meunier.

agavin: nice oxidized notes.


NV Doyard Champagne Cuvée Vendémiaire Brut.


Here is our host Dan, who combines an eerie resemblance to George R. R. Martin with a deep voice and an equally deep wine knowledge.


Fresh oysters.


Tonight’s menu.

Flight 1: Replacing Expectations with Experience


2012 Forey Père et Fils Vosne-Romanée. Burghound 89. A very spicy nose is comprised of mostly black pinot fruit that is also cut with plenty of earth, plum and floral notes. Once again there is a completely different texture to the velvety, pure and relatively refined medium weight flavors that possess good mid-palate concentration, all wrapped in a slightly austere and beautifully persistent finish. This is also recommended as it’s a fine Vosne villages that should repay 7 to 9 years of cellar time.

agavin: very young, almost with a bit of cherry lifesaver


2011 Jérôme Chezeaux Vosne-Romanée. AG 87. The 2011 Vosne-Romanée comes across as a bit wild and rough around the edges, with less density and fruit than is typically the case. Today, the 2011 is dark and brooding. Hints of smoke, earthiness and tobacco add nuance to the dark fruit, while firm tannins support the finish.

agavin: had a vegetal green character that I really didn’t like. I even thought it might be corked.


2010 Cecile Tremblay Vosne-Romanée Vieilles Vignes. Burghound 91. An exuberantly spicy nose of both red and black cherry liqueur aromas leads to suave and silky medium-bodied flavors that are blessed with plenty of sappy dry extract that coats the mouth. Once again there is a lovely mouth feel due to the extremely fine-grained tannins and while this is not the most complex of these villages level wines, the sense of harmony and outstanding length make up for it. This is also worth looking at carefully.

agavin: Fabulous. Tasted like a nice 1re cru. Very vosne.


Turbot with chanterelle mushrooms. Supposedly line caught in the English channel. A very lovely bone in fish.

Flight 2: Vintage Characteristics and Terroir


2010 J. Confuron-Cotetidot Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots. Burghound 91-4. Again, reduction is present but not enough to totally diminish the appeal of the spice notes that continue onto the rich, intense and remarkably vibrant flavors that also possess excellent volume along with an abundance of dry extract that confers a velvety texture to the linear and austere finish. It is a very good thing that there is so much sap because this is especially firmly structured and will need every bit of 15 years or so to fully resolved the underlying tannins.


2009 J. Confuron-Cotetidot Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots. Burghound 91-3. A highly spiced and very Vosne nose offers up cassis and black raspberry aromas that precede the very seductive, concentrated and mouth coating flavors that are suave, indeed even silky yet culminate in a firm, powerful and balanced finish.


2008 J. Confuron-Cotetidot Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots. Burghound 92. A notably ripe and ultra fresh nose of spiced black cherry and cocoa powder nuances combine with more typical hints of soy and anise that also are reflected by the rich, full-bodied and relatively supple flavors that are blessed by concentrated mid-palate but the long, palate staining and youthfully austere finish tightens up immediately to become very firm. Patience will be required.


Pig’s Head, frisee, lardons, duck egg, and lentils. A sort of breakfast-style dish, and rich rich all around. The pork (wherever it came from on the animal) was rich and delicious. Particularly smothered in egg yolk and laced with lardons.


Fresh baked bread and normandy butter. I had to skip, passover and all.

Flight 3: Style in Middle Age


2000 Domaine Jean Grivot Echezeaux (from magnum). Burghound 92. Ripe, rich and spicy with crushed black fruit flavors that display good power, impressive length and simply outstanding precision and focus. This has an element of the floral quality of the Beaux Monts but there purity of expression here is stunning and this displays wonderful density for the vintage. Complex, subtle and very classy.

agavin: great for about 20 minutes, really great, then started to close down a bit.


1998 Domaine Robert Arnoux / Arnoux-Lachaux Echezeaux. Burghound 89. A mildly toasty note detracts slightly from the otherwise expressive, fresh and mature nose of spice and some secondary fruit aromas. There is good verve and detail to the middle weight flavors that offer reasonably good depth and length on the ever-so-slightly astringent finish. I would advise drinking this over the next 5 to 10 years as it risks drying out if cellared too long. Tasted only once recently.


1998 Forey Père et Fils Echezeaux. AG 89+. Medium-deep red. Expressive aromas of plum, cherry, coffee, spices and mint. Supple and sweet but firmly built; already displays enticing inner-mouth aromas. Less forbidding and more elegantly styled than most of these ’98s but still rather unforthcoming and tannic on the end. Is it long enough for outstanding?


Cavatelli, four story hill farm avian poularde. The chicken here is some kind of special milk fed chicken. Awesome dish.

Flight 4: Cru Classification & Vintage are no Guarantee of Longevity and Age is no Guarantee of Enjoyment


2007 Domaine Jean Grivot Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots. AG 92. Captivating, fruit-driven aromas of cherry, raspberry, minerals and cocoa powder lifted by rose petal. At once sweet, pure and penetrating, with excellent vinosity and energy. Quite refined and suave on the back end, where the late-arriving tannins give the sappy fruit a chance to expand and linger. As sexy as this is now, I’d give it three or four years in the cellar as it’s still a bit hardened by CO2.

agavin: young but good.


1996 Domaine Robert Arnoux / Arnoux-Lachaux Vosne-Romanée. Burghound 88. Bright and spicy, somewhat earthy fruit aromas introduce racy and moderately structured flavors that have enough richness and sweetness to buffer the tannins. With food, this is easily approachable today but it will continue to positively evolve for another 3 to perhaps 5 years. A lovely effort at this level. Consistent notes.

agavin: good, but the 96 Suchots was better


1996 Domaine Robert Arnoux / Arnoux-Lachaux Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots. AG 92+. Fresh, deep red-ruby color. Sappy, higher-pitched, very complex aromas of cassis, raspberry, minerals and game. Terrific concentration and freshness, but slow to open in the glass. Thick but lively; a floral note contributes to the wine’s impression of brightness. Finishes very long and subtle, with a burst of dark berries. Premier cru with the palate presence and nobility of a grand cru.


1973 Joseph Drouhin Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts. agavin 92. Popped and poured. Surprisingly fresh and delicious, although certainly an old Burg.


Risotto, Oregon morel mushrooms. A classic rich and buttery risotto and a fabulous pairing.

Flight 5: Five Decades of Similar Geology, Three Classifications


2012 Domaine Bruno Clavelier Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Brulees Vieilles Vignes. Burghound 91-3. A strikingly complex nose features notes of Vosne spice, black cherry, plum and sandalwood. There is first-rate intensity and verve to the beautifully well-detailed medium weight flavors that display plenty of minerality and dry extract on the firm and austere finish that delivers marvelous length. This is also an exercise in harmony allied with finesse.


1991 Domaine Bruno Clavelier Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Brulees Vieilles Vignes. Much more mature.


1964 Charles Noellat Romanée St. Vivant. Burghound 91. Heavy bricking to the core. Upper register aromas of ripe secondary aromas cut with really lovely oriental spice nuances and hints of sous bois, earth, leather and truffle that introduce fully mature, velvety and utterly delicious older burg flavors and a finish of sneaky persistence. As pretty as this is, there is real grace and style underneath the spice veneer and while it must be noted that the flavors are now in gentle decline, I very much like the overall package. That said, it’s time to drink up. Another recent bottle with ullage of ~ 5 cm was almost as good but was exhibiting a somewhat curious nose of celery and peat-infused aromas. Otherwise, the flavors were consistent with the first bottle.

agavin: our bottle was sadly pretty gone, very brown, like tea. Not much fruit.


Beef, sauce bercy. The sauce is made from bone marrow, and there were little bits of bone marrow on top. This was a super rich, soft, beefy slab.

Flight 6: Another Geology, Another Wine Entirely

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1995 Domaine Jean Gros Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Clos des Réas. Burghound 88. Tasted blind and immediately identified as a lower level Vosne 1er because the nose is wonderfully spicy and if not particularly elegant, then certainly expressive and pretty. The flavors are nicely complex and offer good authority and a certain beguiling velvety texture, which helps to smooth out the otherwise rough tannins. This could be drunk now or held for a few more years.


1971 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche. Burghound 95. Classic and very ripe mature burg fruit intermingles with a wonderful array of spices, especially anise and soy all of which are framed by a touch of caramel. The flavors are extremely rich, sweet and wonderfully concentrated with a deep, very sweet essence of pinot finish that still retains glimpses of its former power. The tannins are fully resolved and the finish is nothing but pure silk and velvet. Tasted many times and while there is some bottle variation, well-stored bottles are consistently marvelous.

agavin: long long finish and a lot of fruit (considering the 44 years!)


Consomme, four story hill farm avian poularde, foie gras.

With the actual soup added. Delicious stuff. Moist and tender meat, and the fat from the warm foie distributed into the broth in an amazing fashion.

Flight 7: Bonus


1961 Palmer. Parker 99. The 1961 Palmer has long been considered to be a legend from this vintage, and its reputation is well-deserved. The wine is at its apogee, with an extraordinary, sweet, complex nose with aromas of flowers, cassis, toast, and minerals. It is intensely concentrated, offering a cascade of lavishly ripe, full-bodied, opulent fruit, soft tannins, and a voluptuous finish. This is a decadent Palmer, unparalleled since in quality with the exception of 1983 and 1989.

agavin: great stuff, even if I had the sediment at the end of the bottle.


Chef Walter Manzke pays us a visit.


Wine director / Somm Taylor Parsons handled this event himself and did a superlative job.

I’ve now been to Republique 7-8 times and the restaurant is at its best in the private room with a special tasting dinner. Walter really cooked his butt off for this one, carefully pairing each course to the wines. Downstairs, the room is very loud and there are some timing and pacing problems. We had none of these. Each course was brought by an army of 6-7 waiters and dropped elegantly in front of us. All the wine glasses had individual labels for each wine, etc.

I was extremely impressed with Dan’s dinner series (this was my first). Like Liz at Sage Society he got the very best out of Walter’s already great cooking, and he brought an interesting and intellectual set of Vosne’s. Very interesting flights, and he was quite knowledgable. We had 5 straight hours of wine discussion too! Very nice people as well. An overall great evening.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Vive la République
  2. Third Republique
  3. Republique of Jadot
  4. Endless Republique
  5. Trimbach Republique
By: agavin
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Posted in: Food
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Untimed Bundle For Sale!

Apr15

StoryBundle has just launched a new collection of indie Fantasy and Science Fiction titles including my time travel novel Untimed and 8 other awesome books!

Is there a common theme to these masterpieces? Why yes, they all survived the ImmerseOrDie Challenge!

The premise of the ImmerseOrDie challenge is simple. Every morning, the host, Jefferson Smith, gets on his treadmill, opens a new indie fantasy or science fiction ebook, and starts his morning walk. Any book that holds his attention for the duration of that forty minute stroll gets labeled a survivor. But getting there isn’t easy. Every time he reads something that breaks his immersion in the story — bad grammar, inconsistent worldbuilding, illogical character behaviors, etc. — the book earns a red flag, called a WTF. If he finds three WTFs before he finishes his walk, the clock stops, the book closes, and he ruminates on what went wrong. Whether it survives or not though, he writes up a report about his reading experience and about what sorts of things he might have learned from it, and then share that with all the folks who follow his stream. (You can read more about the IOD and see all the archived reports here.)

How has that worked out so far? Well, as anyone who has tried to sample the firehose of indie publishing can confirm, few of the titles being released these days meet even basic professional production standards. So it should come as no surprise that by the time he was ready to submit this collection to StoryBundle, he had read 114 titles, of which only 13 had survived that basic probe.

But this StoryBundle is not just about being clean enough to squeak past his forty-minute guard dogs. After surviving the first round, those thirteen survivors were then run through a second gauntlet as well. To survive that round, they had to do more than simply avoid WTF triggers. They had to grab his attention and hold it, and then deliver a complete and satisfying story. Not just clean production, but an entertaining read. And not just for forty minutes either, but for the entire book.

What he had left with at the end of that second round was the collection of books you see here today, snatched right out of the fury of that indie firehose. These were not written by established writers who are diversifying their revenue streams, but by truly unknown writers who happen to have game. In his view, these are the writers waiting in the wings for their big breaks. And he (and I) are hoping this StoryBundle just might be the break they’ve been waiting for.

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So after all that, it is now my great pleasure to introduce the champions. But rather than just regurgitate the usual marketing blurbs to describe them, he’ll tell you both about the books and what it was in those first forty minutes that pulled him in.

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Century of Sand, by Christopher Ruz (Fantasy)

An old warrior rescues a young girl from the clutches of an evil wizard and then flees with her into exile. It’s a desperate bid to find something—anything—that can put the world right again, and hopefully, undo whatever darkness has been done to the girl. His daughter.

For Century, it was the setting. I was intrigued enough by the premise of an old warrior on the run with an uncooperative girl-mute in tow, but it was the oppressive landscape that captivated me. The heat and sand and dehydration were almost palpable—enough to make the drama of the army that pursued them almost secondary.

(Read the full IOD Report.)
Crimson Son
Crimson Son, by Russ Linton (SF)

In a world where government-manufactured super-heroes have replaced war and terrorism as the world’s greatest threats – and it’s only source of salvation – there’s only one thing that sucks worse than having no powers at all. And that’s being the powerless son of the greatest hero of them all, and a prisoner inside the family fortress of solitude. For his own protection, you understand. Well, Spencer Harrington, son of the Crimson Mask, has had enough. He’s tired of playing by dad’s rules, and this time, he’s going to do things his way.

Here it began with the premise. Lots of people have tackled superhero fiction before, but taking the POV of an un-super child in a dysfunctional super-family had me hooked from the beginning. What’s not to love when you first realize that the teen protagonist is being held prisoner—not by some archvillain, but by his own super-father, who has trapped him in the family fortress of solitude? But it takes more than just premise, and I was ultimately sold by Linton’s empathetic handling of the opening situation. Rather than focusing on heroics, this starts out in a very relatable way, hooking us with hints of the fraying family dynamic before anything super-powered even gets onto the stage.

(Read the full IOD Report.)
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The Improbable Rise of Singularity Girl, by Bryce Anderson (SF)

A scientist’s life is thrown into chaos when a grad student’s suicide turns out to be more than it seemed, and ends up triggering a singularity breakthrough in AI computing. What follows is a tour-de-force adventure in politics, technology, and human achievement, with some epic smack-down battles to top it all off.

Most AI stories make what I think is a mistake, having scientists set out to create something sentient that later gets away from them. As a computer scientist myself, however, I have never been able to buy that whole “sentience by intentional design” gambit. If we don’t understand how human consciousness works, how can we ever expect to build an artificial one on purpose? But Anderson’s approach seemed at once so brilliant and so obvious that I was immediately hooked. Why hadn’t anybody ever taken this angle before? I don’t want to ruin the story for you, so let me just say that the AI in Singularity Girl doesn’t begin with some hyper-clever act of scientific creation—it begins with a simple suicide.

(Read the full IOD Report.)
journeyman
The Journeyman, by Michael Alan Peck (Fantasy)

To Paul Reid, life as a homeless teen seems pretty bleak. But it turns out that was nothing compared to being dead. After an untimely accident takes him out of the world, Paul finds himself locked in a battle between the forces of light and dark – a battle that dark appears to be winning. And light seems too apathetic to care.

The first appeal for me with Journeyman was the absolute economy of scenes, and how brilliantly they supported each other to introduce a rich and believable cast of characters. As a result, Peck was able to get to the main crisis very quickly, but at no time did I ever feel that he was rushing. The second appeal was the premise. Lots of writers have tackled the “life after death” story, but this was something fresh. Not just a battle between the forces of Good and Evil, which Evil appears to be winning, but one in which Good doesn’t even seem to give a damn? Count me in.

(Read the full IOD Report.)
tinker
Mad Tinker’s Daughter, by JS Morin (Fantasy)

In a dual reality, where people live free on one side, but are enslaved by aliens on the other, a young woman and her crew of renegades have formed a resistance of sorts. Armed with the bits of tech they can either steal or reverse-engineer, these few hope to change the world – both worlds – for the better. Or die trying.

Tinker is built on an unusual twist. I understood right from the outset that something odd was going on. Pairs of characters seemed to be “twinned” in some fashion, but the nature of how that worked was doled out slowly, and that worked as a lure that kept pulling me further and further into the adventure. It’s a delicate balancing act for an author to try keeping something as fundamental as “how reality works” as a mystery from the reader, and still not alienate them from the story, but Morin manages to do just that. And by the time things had slowly unfolded into not one, but two steampunk worlds, each with a rich and well-lived-in feel to it, I was hooked.

(Read the full IOD Report.)
pay
Pay Me, Bug!, by Christopher Wright (SF)

If you miss Firefly, this is the kind of book that’s gonna ease your goram aches and lamentations, for a spell. Join Grif Vindh and the space-faring crew of the Fool’s Errand as they try to pull off the greatest heist in history. Again.

One of the harder things to put into a story is a believable sense of history between the characters, but Wright makes it seem easy. I was immediately drawn to the sense of camaraderie between the captain and his crew in this rollicking space adventure. At once easy and familiar with each other, but also professional and competent at their jobs, I instantly wanted to be a part of the good natured banter that passed among these freelance rogues. Beginning on page one, I felt like I was back on board the Serenity, and that feeling never went away.

(Read the full IOD Report.)
analog-sm
Strictly Analog, by Richard Levesque (SF)

In a decaying world where even your pet ferret has a live-to-net video feed, some problems require a guy who couldn’t leave a bit-trace if he tried. In that case, you go to Lomax. Ex-military, tough as nails… And strictly analog.

The 1st person POV is something that I see over and over again on my treadmill, but it almost always ends up with a bad case of what I call “Galloping ‘I’ disease”—those interminable paragraphs full of “I did this,” “I did that,” “I went here,” and “I went there.” When every fifth word is “I,” it can be hard to hear the story for all the echoing that’s going on in your head. But not so here. Levesque skillfully avoided that “I”-trap. He then sold me completely on the reality of his future LA when it was revealed that he and all his neighbors lived in illegally converted We-Store storage lockers, putting a totally unexpected spin on the notion of the self-storage industry. Details like this are what raise an SF story up out of the usual mire of recycled tropes and convince me that the author has something new to offer. And when I got all that in the first five pages, I couldn’t wait to see what else was in store.

(Read the full IOD Report.)
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Untimed, by Andy Gavin (SF)

Charlie is a young man who’s been entirely forgettable for as long as he can remember, but on his 16th birthday he suddenly learns the reason why: he and his family are unstuck in time. But before he learns what that means, his father disappears. In a desperate bid to find him and finally get some answers, Charlie follows a strange man into a dark alley. And emerges into 18th century London.

Some rare books can hook you with the very first line. Not just intrigue you, but hook you—convince you not only that the story will be interesting, but that the writer knows what he’s doing and that your precious spare time is in good hands. And that’s what happened for me here.

My mother loves me and all, it’s just that she can’t remember my name.

As soon as I read that one sentence, I knew this was going to be a good story. I didn’t know yet if it would be well edited, but story-wise, this was a writer’s opening, with an entire novella hiding behind it. So when the protagonist went on to reveal that his entire family was somehow “unstuck in time,” I was on board with both feet and my steamer trunk already packed for the journey.

(Read the full IOD Report.)
Untimed-sm
Brotherhood of Delinquents, by Jefferson Smith (Fantasy)

For me as a writer, premise is everything. If I can’t find an interesting situation to explore, I can’t stay interested in the project long enough to write it. But for Brotherhood, I wanted to do more than just tackle an intriguing premise. I also wanted to tackle a challenging audience—one that most authors have given up on as a focus: teenage boys.
When I was really young, I read things like The Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, Danny Dunn, and The Three Investigators. But once I’d reached my teens, it seemed that those sorts of buddy-based adventure stories had all dried up. There certainly weren’t any in the fantasy genre. What had happened to the stories full of mystery and sleuthing, secret tunnels, codes, and boys being smarter than the adults around them? Those had been the hallmarks of boyish fascination that had made a die-hard reader of me, but as a teen I couldn’t find them anywhere. Eventually I moved on to more grown-up stories, but in the back of my mind, that vacuum has always stood out as a beacon to me. Fantasy adventure buddy-fiction for teen boys. All I had to do was find a way to take all the stuff I’d loved as a kid, put it all together, and then flip the conventions upside down.
Thus was born the premise for Brotherhood of Delinquents. Take a group of boys who don’t know or like each other, and who are generally perceived as useless wastrels by the adults around them, and put them in the middle of a mystery that the adults aren’t even aware of yet. Add in a dash of secret clubs, hidden passages, and a sense of swash-buckling adventure, and we’re off to the races.
I can’t point you at what other people have said about it yet, because Brotherhood is making its publishing debut in this StoryBundle. But all the fancy punditry in the world means little to me on this one. If there’s a boy in your life who hasn’t been able to find books that hold his interest, show him Brotherhood of Delinquents. I’ll be happy to stand by his judgment. After all, I wrote it for him. – Jefferson Smith

Sounds like a great collection, right? Well it is, and I hope you’ll join us over at StoryBundle.com to show your support for indie writing. And can I ask for a favor? Please consider sharing this announcement. If you or your friends have ever complained about the tide of low-quality books that swamp the indie byways, this is your one-stop opportunity to set the record straight. There really are some great books out there in indie-land.

And here are nine of them to prove it.  Get it before May 10!

Related posts:

  1. Untimed but not Unbundled
  2. Untimed officially for Sale!
  3. Untimed for sale at B&N and iTunes
  4. Untimed – Two Novels, Two Drafts!
  5. Book Review: XVI (read sexteen)
By: agavin
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Posted in: Untimed
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Game of Thrones – Episode 41

Apr12

season-5-the-wars-to-come-copyShow: Game of Thrones

Genre: Fantasy

Watched: Episode 41 – April 12, 2015

Title: The Wars to Come

Summary: Great start

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Over the last month I did a complete rewatch of seasons 1-4 on Blu-ray in order to “prepare” for season 5. So not only am I fully up on my lore, but in watching the series back to back like that I came to a new appreciation for the scope and craftsmanship of it. Really, that’s the best way to watch it. Bumps that jar when watching week to week smooth out, like the occasional absence of certain storylines for a episodes. It’s no big deal if Arya misses an episode to show at the beginning of the next, it’s only an hour — far from the feel of a two week absence. Nuances and setups in one episode that pay out a few later are far more obvious.

Anyway, on to the eagerly awaited Season 5. This will be an interesting one, both because it may catch up and partially pass the novels and because it has the luxury to restructure around the enormous problems created by the way Martin split A Feast of Crows and A Dance with Dragons (which I talk about here). The show will be restoring the proper chronological order he so grievously botched — and as far as I can tell stripping out and merging some of the boring, seemingly irrelevant, or extraneous storylines (Theon’s uncles, I’m looking at you!).

Cersei flashback – The opening of each season is the only episode to feature content before the titles. This time around it’s the famous “Cersei Flashback,” showing her visit to a witch as a child. Interestingly, this represents the first flashback in the series. We didn’t get Rhaegar at the Trident, but we have Cersei. Undoubtedly this is because of the important Cersei arc this season, represented in the books by her introduction as a POV character in AFOC. The filmed version is appropriately storybook, although the witch looks a little like Osha. The prophecy itself is excellently creepy, as I do love a good prophecy. “You shall never wed the prince, but you will marry a king” and the like.

Cersei was young? And just as arogant

Cersei was young? And just as arogant

Or the video of the actual prophecy:

Titles – It’s worth noting a few things about the titles. Ironically, Lannisters dominate the lead credits and it is about 10 people in before we encounter a living Stark. We also have Winterfell, no longer smoking, but crowned with the Bolton flayed man, and back to Pentos for the first time since season 1.

Regular Cersei in Kings Landing – presumably reminiscing about the witch’s words. The show had definitely notched up the budget as the view up to the Sept of Dubrovnik (I mean, Baelor) is gorgeous. All the courtiers including sleeveless Margaery watch her ascend to morn her father. Jaime though is inside. This is the second time they’ve met in the sept over a dead family member. He tries to draw them together to fight for what is theirs but she drives a wedge in, bitching about Tyrion and his own actions. Clearly she knows he let Tyrion free. We will miss Charles Dance, and he looks splendid with his creepy eye stones.

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Not always so great to be the queen

The funeral, or wake or whatever is a dull affair. Reflecting Cersei’s new role as POV character, even if the show treats these more casually than the books, we hear Loras drone on. Margaery cavorts with Tommen, Pycell intrudes annoyingly. Her uncle Kevan is there (we haven’t seen him in a while), and Lancel, looking unrecognizable as a Sparrow (mendicant monk). He approaches Cersei, and when shoved off, finds her later at the window. Boy, even his voice sounds different. I like the reminder of the medieval importance of monasticism, even if the series hasn’t previously emphasized this possible world element. Lancel alludes to the boar, confirming what we suspected in Robert’s death, and to justice. It almost feels like a threat. dum dum dum.

Tyrells – Loras is getting it on with Oliver, who I think is that pimp who works for Littlefinger. GOT of thrones sure loves its boy flesh. And apparently so does Margaery as she busts in to find Loras. Not the least surprised, she does take the time to admire Oliver at length. We are reminded that it’s unlikely Cersei will now marry Loras, and that will leave the Queen Reagent in town to harass Marg — but the youngest rose in the garden seems to have plans.

Game-Of-Thrones-The-Wars-to-Come-Season-5-Episode-1-06

until there comes another, younger and more beautiful, to cast you down

Tyrion – Our favorite LP is enjoying a long crate hole view of Pentos, and an arrival in Illyrio’s splendid Croatian mansion. I wish Pentos looked a little less like Kings Landing, but it does look good. Varys is there to great Tyrion as he rolls out of his box. No Illyrio. This, of course, is a major departure from the books, but I can only look forward to lots of Varys/Tyrion verbal sparring. Ty starts out the season looking a little worse for the wear. Shaggy, bearded, drunk and still searching for the decanter.

Later, when Tyrion has cleaned up and put on some snazzy new Pentos-style robes, changing up his look for the first time in a while, Varys just comes out and reveals his Targaryen sympathies and pitches Tyrion on going to Mereen with him to meet Dany. In this respect, the show continues to be more obvious than the POV obscured novels. I really think that’s for the best, particularly for those that haven’t read them.

Game-Of-Thrones-The-Wars-to-Come-Season-5-Episode-1-02

Only wine and a piss pot for weeks

 

Dany – Her POV opens with a big budget pull down of the Harpy of Meeren. Quite a nice looking shot in an episode full of them. It’s big crash below leads us to a random Unsullied (later revealed to be named White Rat). At first I wondered if they recast Grey Worm, but fortunately not. Rat makes an unscheduled trip in a brothel to be coddled in a motherly fashion by one of the whores and has his throat cut by a very creepy gold masked dude — a Son of the Harpy we soon learn.

Barristan is a bit dull on his own, and continues this trend as he stands with Dany while she learns about White Rat’s untimely demise. Grey Worm goes to arm and has another of his little moments with Missandei — but he doesn’t show her the warmth she wants.

Later, Unsullied march the streets looking for these rebels while Dario returns with the young master from Yunkai. Apparently the city has been retaken and the new leaders want the fighting pits reopened. We know from the previews that this will happen, but Dany drags her feet, never a fan of slave fighting. Dario is, as he grew up in the pits Conan-style. We learn this while regaled with his naked butt, adding to the episodes already considerable bun-factor. He councils her that she needs to show strength — and dragons.

Dancing might be ill-advised

Dancing might be ill-advised

A quick trip down to the basement to check up on the babies find their timeout hasn’t done them much good, the dragons are feisty and fire breathing and Dany quickly retreats. These big highly animated dragons are a far cry for the occasionally shown chickens of season 1-2!

Sansa and Littlefinger – watch with Lord Royce as Robin “practices” his swordplay. The little lord hits like a girl — no surprise. Littlefinger gets a message and leaves Robin in Royce’s care. He says he’s heading back to the Fingers (his home), but…

Brienne and Pod – make camp. Bri is disgusted with herself at letting Arya get away and tries to fire Pod — who has no idea what do without a gig, meanwhile a carriage passes, ironically with… Sansa and Littlefinger again.

The new partners in conspiracy disgust who to trust as Peter tutors Dark Sansa in his wily ways. He doesn’t say exactly where he’s going, only west and far, but presumably it’s to the north. We shall see.

Sansa sure is learning fast

Sansa sure is learning fast

Jon at Castle Black – Apparently Jon has forgiven the boy who shot Ygritte because he’s training him in the courtyard. We see Gilly is still there, with Sam, and so is a somewhat recovered Ser Alister and his crony Slynt. Sam’s dialog serves to inform us of the upcoming election for Lord Commander. The Red Lady Melisandre shows up to summon him to Stannis, who is atop the wall. The ride up includes a very sexy upshot of the elevator. More dollars spent well. The lady asks Jon if he is a virgin — good thing he’s not. Stannis and Davos stand on the edge showing off the CGI. Stannis has a fair offer to the wildlings, fight for him and he’ll give them land and freedom. Jon only needs to convince Mance.

Jon tries his powers of persuasion on Mance. I didn’t totally understand fully why Stannis’ deal wasn’t acceptable. Yeah, Mance doesn’t want his people to die fighting in Stannis’ foreign wars,  but it still seems a reasonable offer given the circumstances. Still, he digs in — and Jon admires him — but it’s the pyre for him because Melisandre has a hard on for burning kings. He walks to his fate nobly, if sporting a significant gut. It’s slightly disturbing as he twitches from the heat and everyone watches, including Stannis’ wife and daughter and Gilly. Jon can’t take it and grabs a bow and shoots him through the heart. An admirable act, particularly as Stannis isn’t exactly Mr. Understanding. I saw no hint of Mel’s body switching magic, so maybe Mance really is dead in this version. If not, it’ll be a surprise after and a trick to explain.

Chilly at the top

Chilly at the top

All in all, a great episode, with a lot going on. Like most first episodes of a season, this is reestablishing where we are and the new order. Now while this is a show that really changes things up, there is even more new stuff this year. We have Cersei “unfettered” and Marg on the rise. We have Ty on a new continent. Sansa teamed with Littlefinger and Jon dealing with a new balance on the wall. Dany’s situation isn’t that different, but is at least sans Jorah.

I expected us to see Dorne this episode, but I guess it will show next week. Clearly Arya will as the title is “The House of Black and White.” Yay! No Theon and the Boltons either. Can’t wait.

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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]

and some HBO commentary on the episode:

Related posts:

  1. Game of Thrones – Season 2 Episode 1 Clips
  2. Game of Thrones – Episode 19
  3. Game of Thrones – Episode 37
  4. Game of Thrones – Episode 36
  5. Game of Thrones – Episode 35
By: agavin
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Farewell New Bay

Apr10

Restaurant: New Bay Seafood [1, 2, 3]

Location: 203 West Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA. (626) 872-6677

Date: April 8, 2014

Cuisine: Cantonese / Chiu Chow Chinese

Rating: Some of the best Cantonese I’ve had!

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New Bay Seafood has been one of our go to spots for several years for really high quality Cantonese and really excellent service. Unfortunately it seems that they are a little too pricey for the crazy cost competitive SGV restaurant scene and are closing their doors — which is a real shame. Still, we had to go back one last time really blow it out.


The front is classic SGV.

The interior is typical of Inland Empire Chinese restaurants.


We had a private room (there are several). Gotta love that wine bucket.


The owner shows off our giant Alaskan King Crab. He was alive here, about 7 minutes later he was in our stomachs!


Various sauces. The red one is vinegar chili. The orange one sweet “duck” sauce. There is sauce, soy and wasabi, and hoisin sauce at the bottom.


1993 Kalin Cellars Chardonnay Cuvée LD. VM 92. Pale green-gold color. Knockout nose of orange blossom, minerals, apple and hazelnut. Thick, rich and uncompromisingly dry; already showing superb inner-mouth perfume of orange oil, apple, flowers and spices. Brisk but harmonious acids frame the deep flavors perfectly and contribute to the impression of strong structure. Finishes quite powerful and long. “This wine was still totally dumb six months ago,” notes winemaker Terry Leighton, who won’t release a wine until it ready for its close-up. Leighton’s LD bottling is from a north-facing slope, while the LV vines face south.

agavin: Our bottle was in great shape, with a good bit of vanilla still alive.


Steamed Alaskan King Crab. The meat was incredibly succulent and sweet, plus easy to get out.


From my cellar: 1998 Domaine des Chezeaux Griotte-Chambertin. Burghound 92. A touch of wood frames bright, earthy fruit and the initial hints of secondary development followed by supple, forward, intensely rich and mouth coating flavors that possess really beautiful balance. This finishes with both elegance and fine intensity. I very much like this.

agavin: a bit of funk at first, but blew off in 10 minutes.


Whole suckling pig. Another winner of a dish, with a soft porcine quality to the meat and a nice crunch to the skin. Just the right amount of fat.


From my cellar: 2005 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clavoillon. Burghound 91. A discreet touch of pain grillé and reduction frames fresh and exotic aromas of peach, melon and mango that continue onto the round, rich and concentrated flavors that possess real texture due to the solid dry extract on the mouth coating and solidly long finish. This is notably better than it usually is.

agavin: This is the second bottle of 2000s Leflaive Clav I’ve opened recently (the other being a 2006) and both were advanced (on the way to premox). What is it with the premox curse?


Geoduck! Tastes like giant clam, looks like something else.


Geoduck clam sashimi. Incredibly fresh, with that bit of crunchy chew.


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Geoduck clam salt and pepper style. Like the Chinese version of those clam strips I used to love when we’d visit New England as a kid!


2008 Aubert Pinot Noir Reuling Vineyard. Burghound 76. A super ripe nose featuring notes of menthol, melted vinyl and blackberry jam leads to rich, suave and impressive constituted broad-shouldered flavors that culminate in an edgy, hot and short if mouth coating finish. This is almost painful due to the poor balance and finishing heat.

Parker 93. The 2008 Pinot Noir Reuling Vineyard is a bigger, richer, denser wine exhibiting a medium ruby color as well as notes of forest floor, fresh mushrooms, raspberries, black currants and spring flowers. With excellent depth and richness, it is best drunk over the next 5-6 years.

We also had a 2006, which I forgot to photo:

2006 Aubert Pinot Noir UV Vineyard. Burghound 82. An extremely ripe nose sports ample amounts of menthol and cough syrup character along with a mix of red and blue fruit aromas that have a mildly cooked quality to them that introduce exceptionally rich, round and concentrated big-bodied flavors that culminate in a bitter, clipped and short finish. It’s difficult to see much in the way of future development here.

Parker 92+. Extremely promising, the closed 2006 Pinot Noir UV Vineyard boasts earthy, raspberry, red and black currant notes intermixed with subtle background oak, smoke, and charcoal. The tannins seem to creep up in the finish, something I did not notice last year. The most structured of these Pinots, it requires another 1-2 years of bottle age, and should last for 4-5 years.

agavin: clearly, Burghound is not a fan of these, truth is, neither was I. Parker liked them better, but hey, he doesn’t even really like Pinot. And as a matter of fact, they didn’t taste like pinot noir at all. A bunch of folk liked them, those who like their pinot to taste like Syrah 🙂 I would have given them a higher score than 76 or 85, but not much.


Squab. Super tasty little gamey birds.


2000 Dirler-Cade Gewurztraminer Saering. VM 87-90. Slightly reduced aromas of cinnamon and char. Rather densely packed and tight, with slightly sweet fruit and notes of citrus skin and clove. Tricky to assess today.


Steamed Dungeness crab. Good stuff and perfect with a nice Gewurtz.


2003 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese. VM 91. The bouquet blossoms in a floral way that seems typical for the 2003 vintage here, as is this wine’s imposingly creamy texture. Elegance, lift, clarity, refinement and florality characterize the flavors throughout. In another reflection of the vintage, the essential fruit here is quince rather than apple, tinged with bittersweet vanilla and flowers and a subtle hint of white raisin. Ethereal fruit, flowers and wet stone really cling in the finish.


Cheese lobster. There is actually a bit of cheese mixed in with all that fry. And, yeah, it’s pretty darned fried, but it was really tasty. The lobster itself was succulent and not over done and it was easy to access big chunks of it. We had a pretty obscene amount of this, two of these plates!


2008 Rhys Pinot Noir Horseshoe Vineyard. Burghound 95. An exceptionally densely fruited nose that is intensely floral and nuanced with stone, spice and soft earth hints complements to perfection the impressively concentrated medium weight plus flavors that brim with dry extract such that the very firm tannins are rendered almost invisible at present though I suspect that they will become more visible as the baby fat recedes. This broad-scaled effort should age for up to a decade and last several more. Magnificent.

agavin: Meadows clearly does like this new world pinot. I found it better than the Auberts (which didn’t taste like pinot).


Garlic Santa Barbara Prawn. These almost lobster like shrimp were cooked so well the entire shell was edible. Mine had row too and it was scrumptious.


2012 Failla Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast. VM 89. Medium red. Slightly high-toned aromas of cranberry, cherry and licorice. Spicy and intense, with good lift and sap to the red berry flavors. Good brisk, persistent, varietally expressive pinot. Jordan produced 2,000 cases of this blend.


Crab steamed egg. Bits of the giant crab meat, guts, and eggs steamed into an omelet.


You can see the layer of crab at the bottom. This had a really nice complex “crabby” flavor.


2000 DuMOL Syrah Eddie’s Patch. vm 92. Full, bright medium ruby. Musky, varietally expressive aromas of raspberry, licorice, pepper, spices, gunflint and exotic hints of apricot and mango. Sweet, silky and concentrated, with lovely inner-mouth aromatic quality. A satisfyingly mouthfilling, suave syrah that finishes with lovely ripeness and sweet tannins. Here’s a 2000 that shows thorough flavor development and terrific depth.


Roast goose. Wow, was this a tasty bird. It was so succulent, moist, and fatty. Just melted in your mouth.


2008 Neyen Espiritu de Apalta. 92 points. A very nice Chilean wine…nicely balanced. Carmenere/Cab…deep color, chewy, strong dark fruit – cassis, currants.


Ma Po Tofu. I love Ma Po in general, but this was one of those “southern” variants on the dish where it didn’t have any of the heat or numbing factor of the real Szechuan original. Tasty actually, but not the powerhouse I crave.


2006 Château Destieux. 88 points. From an assemblage of 66% Merlot, 16% Cabernet Sauvignon and 16% Cabernet Franc, the wine offers red and black fruit, stone, earth and coffee scents. Medium/full bodied, soft in texture, the wine ends with black raspberry and licorice notes.


Sweet and sour BBQ pork chops. Like the fancier more meat version of a Panda Express sweet and sour pork ball! But actually pretty darn tasty.


2010 Luca Malbec. VM 91. Good ruby-red. Crushed dark berries and chocolatey oak on the nose, lifted by a mineral element. Sweet, velvety and inviting, with harmonious acidity and underlying minerality enlivening the dark berry, coffee bean and chocolate flavors. Very rich and sweet without being too much. Still, I’d drink this very showy wine on the young side.


Cabbage with preserved shrimp. Cabbage and other vegetables with little dried shrimp. It had a distinct “shrimpy” taste.


2008 Charles Smith Syrah Royal City. 94 points. Wow, great concentration & ripeness, but wonderful balance, too.

Sautéed greens (Ong Choy). A top flight version of the Southern Chinese style greens. Lots of garlicky goodness. An excellent colon sweeper.


2005 Clos de l’Oratoire Chateauneuf du Pape les Choregies. Parker 91-4. The top cuvee, the 2005 Chateauneuf du Pape Les Choregies, a blend of 60% Grenache, 25% Syrah, and 15% Mourvedre, with the Grenache aged in tank and the other components aged in barrel, is superb with its dense purple color and a big, sweet nose of black raspberries, black currants, and a touch of pain grille as well as licorice and flowers. It is full-bodied, powerful, and multi-dimensional, a top-notch effort that should drink well young because of the silky tannins but age for 10-15+ years.


Special fried King Crab. Big chunks of succulent crab meat with a really tasty garlic fry.


2005 Domaine du Vieux Telegraphe Chateauneuf du Pape. Parker 95. One of the most age-worthy cuvees in the appellation, Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe’s 2005 Châteauneuf du Pape was gorgeous on this occasion, showing classic iodine, seaweed and peppery herbs intermixed with layers of sweet currant, plum and blackberry fruits. Full-bodied, powerful and ripe, with a still youthful profile, this beauty won’t hit full maturity for another 3-4 years, and should hold for a decade or more after that.


Roast BBQ chicken. I’m not that much of a chicken fan, but this was a darn tasty one. The meat was moist and perfectly cooked. Too bad we were so full.


2000 Chapoutier Chateauneuf du Pape Barbe Rac. Parker 95. There are approximately 500 cases of this wine. It is a large-scaled Chateauneuf du Pape that represents the antithesis of La Bernardine. This wine has been spectacular, and I have been a frequent buyer and consumer of this wine since the first vintage Michel Chapoutier made, 1989.


Mixed fried rice.



1989 Thumbs up Our Way Riesling. 94 points. Not even listed in Cellar tracker, this was great stuff, to be confused with a 25 year old dessert riesling from Germany.


Overall, this was an amazing dinner. The food was just awesome. So many delectable Cantonese dishes. We had great wine and fabulous service. One of the amazing things about New Bay is how flexible their service is. They even partially consented to bringing out the seafood first (Chinese restaurants have their own “order” that does not comply with wine progression). Or mostly consented as the chef snuck out the suckling pig early (it’s supposed to be by Chinese thinking).

It was pricey, on the order of $200 all in, making it the most expensive (per person) Chinese meal I’ve ever eaten in the states, but we had all sorts of mega expensive ingredients (giant crab, geoduck, other crab, lobster, goose, suckling pig, etc). Such a shame New Bay is closing up shop. It will be missed.

Afterward, we walked next door to the awesome Sabu Dessert and get some light fluffy “snow.” If you haven’t tried Taiwanese style snow, you are really missing out. This one above was coconut snow, passionfruit sauce, with egg pudding, almond jelly, and blackberries. Yum!

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

  1. New Bay Seafood
  2. Feasting Lunasia
  3. Phong Dinh – Hedonists go Vietnamese
  4. Cantonese Pig Out!
  5. Lucky Ducky
By: agavin
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Hot Pot Hot Pot

Apr08

Restaurant: Hot Pot Hot Pot

Location: 120 S Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 282-1089

Date: June 20, 2015

Cuisine: Mongolian Hot Pot

Rating: Shabu Shabu’s evil good cousin!

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Hot Pot is one of those Chinese comfort foods that American’s usually know nothing about.


These places are mobbed, and there are a lot of them. Basically, it’s throw lots of things in a pot of boiling broth and cook it table side. Similar to Shabu Shabu — and this is hardly a surprise as the Japanese got the idea from the Chinese during WWII (when they occupied big chunks of China).








The menu is enormous and full of pictures.


Each table has a hot pot burner.


Our half and half with house original broth and house spicy broth. All sorts of stuff is floating and in the broth, but everyone decided they liked the spicy a lot better.

While we wait for this to heat, we sample a few appetizers.


Seasoned jellyfish.


Scallion Crispy Pancake. Good stuff.


Lamb dumplings. Awesome, if a touch mushy and very (temperature) hot.


Pork dumplings. Oink!


Lamb fried rice. We loved this enough to order 3-4 orders.


Shrimp fried rice. Good too.


The hot pot ingredients come on these cute little trays. This is about half of what we ordered! As you can see from the menu there are a lot of choices. All of these items are eaten by cooking them to the desired amount in the boiling broth of your choice.

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They have four sauces you can combine to make up your sauce. A sesame one, a darker more punchy one, a hot one, and a tangy plum type one. No one in our group was a skilled sauce maker, which is a kind of black art.


First up are the meats.

Pork belly. Pretty much bacon. You start with the meats to fatten up the broth.


Sliced beef.


USDA Prime Angus beef. A ricer cut.


Sliced lamb. The Mongolian classic.


Pork skin. Really sucked up the juices, but an odd texture.


Beef meatball. Great. The other table also had the lamb meatball which was even better.


Spam. Yeah, sounds kinda crazy but it was awesome.


Shrimp. Sort of a waste all boiled up.


Squid. A giant cuttlefish or squid.


Jumbo Scallop. These were good.


Fish dumpling. Good but a bit fishy.


Two kinds of fish ball.


Soft tofu. I love this stuff. Hard to get out of the pot though.


Fried tofu and a glimpse of the lamb meatball.


Melon?


Water chestnuts or bamboo.


Enoki mushrooms.


Oyster mushrooms.


Maitake Mushroom.


Squash.


Cabbage and corn.


Some kind of green.


Pea tips.


A-Choy.


Udon noodles.


Mongolian Noodle.


The pot in full action. Bear in mind that 8 or so people are sharing this — quite the chaotic endeavor.


Chicken fried noodle. In case the rice wasn’t enough carbs.


The aftermath.

The wine situation was so fluid that I made no attempt to pair it with anything in this report. It’s all just listed here.


2001 Château Monbousquet Blanc. VM 90. Aromas of grapefruit and spicy, vanillin oak. Chewy and bright, with peach, grapefruit, mint and floral flavors enlivened by fresh acidity. Finishes lively and long, with subtle notes of lime and honeysuckle and a tactile, saline quality. Shows no sign of the 13.7% alcohol. Much higher in acidity than the 2000 version, a year when acid levels were compromised by rain two days prior to the harvest. This was bottled in January of this year, eight months later than previous vintages owing to the stronger structure of the wine.


2006 Chateau St. Jean Chardonnay Sonoma County. 86 points. I get bananas and tropical fruit on the nose. Maybe pineapple. A bit of pear on the palate.


2011 Bedrock Wine Co. Chardonnay.


From my cellar: 1994 Ulrich Langguth Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Auslese. 85 points. This bottle was very bretty and not the best I’ve opened.


2011 Sea Smoke Pinot Noir Southing. 91 points. Nose is all candied red fruit. Ripe cherries and a little bit of cola, with zippy acidity and a bit of new oak across the finish. Good concentration, so will go strong for a while. I expect that this will be doing just fine in 5-6 years, but it’s a fantastic bottle worth drinking right now.


2009 Domaine Denis Mortet Gevrey-Chambertin. BH 89-90. An earthy and very ripe nose of extract of black berry fruit aromas merges into very suave, rich and opulently textured medium-bodied flavors that brim with dry extract that easily buffers the relatively fine tannins, indeed this is much finer than most Gevrey villages wines.


2011 Sine Qua Non Syrah Dark Blossom. VM 96. The 2011 Syrah Dark Blossom is dark, mysterious and wonderfully inviting. Black fruit, savory herbs, leather and spice meld together in a deep, dense wine that is constantly changing in the glass. Savory overtones add intrigue. The firm, muscular 2011 tannins are going to need time to soften. Readers lucky enough to find the 2011 can look forward to years of thrilling drinking.


2002 Bond Matriarch. VM 92. Good full medium ruby. Dark plum, truffle and buttery oak on the nose. Suave and fine-grained, with enticing flavors of plum and black raspberry. A plump, sexy wine with a long, slow-building finish featuring very fine tannins. This shows a firmer structure than the very good 2001. In fact, this seems more refined, as well as more of a real wine rather than simply a blend made up of declassified fruit, than previous vintages of The Matriarch.



2012 Dark Hundred.


2010 Les Vins de Vienne (Cuilleron Gaillard Villard) Cornas Les Barcillants. VM 90. Inky ruby. Sexy aromas of dark fruit compote and vanilla, with complicating notes of smoked meat, olive and floral oil. Creamy, palate-staining black and blue fruit flavors show very good depth and pick up spiciness with air. Dusty tannins come on late and give grip to a spicy, focused finish that repeats the smoky note.


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


2012 Bodegas Los Toneles Cabernet Sauvignon Export Selection La Pradera.


2010 Tenuta Valdipiatta Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.


2008 Sine Qua Non Roussanne Jinete Bajo Vin de Paille. VM 95. Deep gold. A highly aromatic, pungent bouquet of orange marmalade, apricot nectar and yellow plum, with exotic honey and spice notes. Lush and creamy in texture, with deeply concentrated, sweet pit and tropical fruit flavors and a strong note of candied citrus. There’s surprising energy and lift to the finish, which leaves juicy peach and orange notes behind. I’d serve this as a dessert, by itself. This clocks in at 11.8% alcohol, with 240 g/l of residual sugar.


From my cellar: 1989 Chateau Gilette Creme de Tete. Parker 93+. I actually prefer the aromas of the 1989 Chateau Gilette Creme de Tete to those of the 1990. The nose is initially taciturn but then it unfurls with engaging scents of aniseed, beeswax, smoke and lychee. The palate has a spicy entry, almost Alsace-like in style, with light honeyed notes, curry powder and cumin. The finish feels dry, although in fact there would be around 110 grams per liter of sugar. This has great potential, although personally I would suggest it needs at least another 5 to 6 years in bottle.


2012 Inniskillin Vidal Icewine Niagara Peninsula VQA. 92 points.

Overall, this was cheap, yummy, and fun eats. Like a more flavorful giant group shabu shabu with lots and lots of options. Totally Chinese!

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

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  3. Forget the Duck Soup, More Meat!
  4. Cantonese Pig Out!
  5. Shin Beijing Cubed
By: agavin
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Spicy City!

Apr06

Restaurant: Spicy City

Location: 140 W Valley Blvd. Ste 208. San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 280-0186

Date: March 31, April 29, & May 18, 2015

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Awesome and authentic, spicy!

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Szechuan is one of my obsessions and fellow Foodie Club founder Erick recommended Spicy City as one of his favorites — he should know too as he’s spent a lot of time in China, including Chengdu.


Spicy City is upstairs in one of those gigantic SGV mall plazas which seem to have been teleported from Asia.


Certainly not filled with tourists. We were the only non-Asians in there.

Stylish SGV decor.

They have the cold Szechuan/Hunan style apps on display.

The menu is enormous and filled with Szechuan classics — and pictures.

Sour and spicy glass noodles (they call it “hot and sour powder”). I love the contrast here of sour and hot numbing flavors. Spicy City uses a good amount of Szechuan peppercorn too. Yum!

Dan Dan noodles. Have to do it. First time at a Szechuan place, I measure them by the classics.


Stirred up, these were good Dan Dan. Not quite as good as Lucky Noodle King, but great anyway. The more you eat them, the more addictive they are.


Ma Po Tofu. Great Ma Po. Not the best I’ve ever had, but very good. Plenty of heat.


Lamb Chop with pepper. What doesn’t have pepper here? This was basically like cumin lamb chops. Really tasty — and really fried.


Cumin lamb. The classic spicy cumin crusted lamb. The cumin flavors were a bit strong here.


Chungking style hot pot. Various meats boiled with Szechuan peppercorns, chili oil, sprouts and whatnot. When they say various, they mean various. There was bee, fish filets, chicken, a delicious spam-like thing, and even pig intestines and tripe. We picked out the gross bits, but this had a nice numbing flavor.

Shredded pork with Beijing brown sauce. Pretty much says it all, but very nice version of this dish. Quite succulent.

Bubble pepper squid. No idea about the name, but this was hot!

Sizzling rabbit with chilies. Despite the annoying bits of bone on the meat, this rabbit was delicious with all sorts of spicy goodness.

Chungking style fish. A lightly breaded, cumin crusted whole fresh fish burried in potatoes, lotus root, and cauliflower. Delicious!

Fish filets and tofu in chili sauce. A classic, and delicious, with plenty of numbing peppercorns.

Spicy chicken. The aromatic variety of super fried Szechuan chicken.

Kung Pao Shrimp. Not that spicy, with that thick fry on the shrimp, but pretty delicious.

Braised Pork with fermented vegetables. A kind of thick bacon that was very tender, a touch dry, with a weird cabbage underneath. Not bad actually, very meaty.

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All in all, Spicy City was really good with a lot of heat — particularly a lot of Szechuan Peppercorn, which I love. Feel the burn!

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Century City Heat
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  3. Waterloo & City
  4. Waterloo & City – Fat=Flavour
  5. Waterloo & City is Victorious
By: agavin
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Dirty Dozen Ride Again

Apr03

Restaurant: Del Frisco’s Grille

Location: 1551 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 395-7333

Date: April 1, 2015

Cuisine: Commercial Steakhouse

Rating: Food was decent, service excellent

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Last year my Hedonist group started up a new concept, a sort of club within a club of high end blind tasting diners. The deal is everyone brings a bottle (and backups) blind. We eat drink and try to guess at what they are. The group is know as the “Dirty Dozen” (although we crept up to 14 tonight). Oh, and we have an official Dirty Dozen T-shirt which is required attire.

The wine rules tonight were 2005 or older, $200+, and 95+ from a serious wine reviewer. There was a little cheating on the age, but these were all great wines.


Here you can see the gang assembled in full regalia.

It should be noted that all the red wines tonight were served blind with the reveal at the end of the meal. The champagnes, whites, and dessert wine were not blind.

Flight 0: Champagne


NV Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut. VM 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. Things have definitely begun to turn around for this bottling, which had been lagging behind the winery’s vintage offerings for some time.


Ron brought (bonus): 2005 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne. VM 94. Bright yellow. Vibrant pear and melon aromas are complicated by suggestions of ginger, brioche and smoky minerals. Dry, smoky and precise, offering intense orchard and pit fruit flavors that gain weight with aeration. A dusty mineral quality adds focus and lift to the long, penetrating, floral finish. There’s a Burgundian thing going on here that’s quite intriguing.

agavin: bright, structured, and very nice


Some of the blind bottles getting ready.


Glasses ready to go.

Flight 1: Amuses

Remember, we didn’t know the wines until the end of the dinner.


Larry brought: 1997 Guigal Cote Rotie la Turque. Parker 96. The dense purple-colored, profound 1997 Cote Rotie La Turque (5-7% Viognier added to the blend) offers creme de cassis, licorice, and espresso aromas as well as notions of melted asphalt. Compared to La Mouline, it has additional layers as well as structure, sweet tannin, and exhilarating levels of opulence and ripe fruit. Anticipated maturity: now-2018.

result: #2 favorite of the night by vote

agavin: One of my two favorite wines of the night. Great perfume and complexity. Slightly more brick color, long finish. Thought maybe a Syrah or older Bord.

LEC: light color, improving, cooler, Burg? Rhone? 92-94


Dr Dave brought: 2003 Montrose. Parker 99. A candidate for a perfect score, the 2003 Montrose has been a superstar since the first time I tasted it in barrel. Showing no signs of weakening, it is an amazing wine from this fabulous terroir. It boasts a deep blue/purple color as well as a stunning perfume of blueberries, black currants, blackberries, licorice and camphor. Dense, full-bodied and rich with an unctuous texture, well-integrated, melted tannins, and a long, heady finish, this big, brawny, super-intense, gorgeous 2003 is just beginning to enter its plateau of full maturity. It should remain there for at least two decades.

result: #3 favorite of the night by vote

agavin: med purple. young, but with fabulous poise and balance. Guessed it was a young Bordeaux.

LEC: nice, decent finish, good balance, very pretty Bord? 93


2007 Staglin Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. Parker 96. The sensational 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate (their 25th anniversary selection) may be the best wine Staglin has ever made. Tasting like a classic Margaux or St.-Julien, it offers up notes of new saddle leather, cedar, spice box, black currants, black cherries and hints of graphite and wood. This full-bodied, intense 2007 is still extremely young, but it is beautifully proportioned with a seamless integration of all the component parts. A brilliant effort, it admirably reflects its appellation. Moreover, it should drink beautifully over the next 20-25 years.

agavin: deep purple. so extracted and powerful it tasted like grape-coconut juice. Was sure this was new world.

LEC: warmer, sweet, 90-91 CA?


Cheesesteak Eggrolls. Sweet & Spicy Chili Sauce, Honey Mustard. These are kinda low-brow, but I liked them.


Ahi Tacos. Tuna Tartare, Avocado, Spicy Citrus Mayo.


Deviled Eggs. Truffle-Chive Vinaigrette. Hmmm. Just deviled eggs.


Grilled Artichoke. Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette, Parmesan, Black Pepper Aioli.

Flight 2: Flatbreads


L.E.C. brought: 1989 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche. Burghound 94. For two decades this very much seemed stuck in a time capsule as it was evolving glacially but just in the last few years full maturity has finally arrived. The hallmark spice of a great La Tâche is present in spades with outstanding aromatic complexity that includes plenty of secondary fruit development but at this point, no sous bois. There is excellent concentration to the velvety and wonderfully rich flavors that display the same wonderful depth of the nose, all wrapped in a mouth coating, delicious and hugely long finish.

agavin: our bottle was weird and funky, with lots of soy sauce and bandaid. Not very pleasant. More on that later. Totally didn’t guess this was even a Burgundy or Pinot it was so weird.

LEC: LEC?, Burg, balanced? 95 (3) maybe less than #8 & #4 after a while in the glass


Robin brought: 2007 Peter Michael Winery Les Pavots Proprietary Red Wine. Parker 97. The 2007 Les Pavots, a Bordeaux varietal blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Cabernet Franc, 10% Merlot, and 3% Petit Verdot, is brilliant. Its opaque purple color is accompanied by gorgeously complex aromas of melted chocolate, espresso roast, blackberries, and cassis. Full-bodied with a superb texture, a subtle note of oak, and fabulous concentration, it is more reminiscent of a Right Bank Bordeaux than one expects with this much Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend. A thirty-year wine, its impeccable balance and the sweetness of its tannins make it accessible already.

agavin: deep purple and coconut flavored. New world.

LEC: a bit muted, young sweet, a bit short, really improved in the glass, 93


John brought: 1997 Henschke Shiraz Hill of Grace. 94 points. Fruity nose with cherry, mulberry, blackcurrant with eucalyptus giving way to secondary and tertiary characteristics – vanilla, cloves and nutmeg as well as cedar and cigar box. In the mouth it has a muted attack but then there is a gloriously rich explosion of fruit on the mid palate with beautifully integrated tannins and a long warm finish revealing spices. Wolfed down with rib roast beef and veg. Very nice.

agavin: medium ruby, funky nose. bandaid finish, but strangely pretty decent — sorta. Had no idea if it was older new world or Bord.

LEC: warm and soft, 91


Yarom brought: 2003 Schrader Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard T6. Parker 99. Virtually perfect, the 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon T6 Beckstoffer To- Kalon Vineyard offers up an awesome display of fragrant creosote, white chocolate, blackberries, cassis, cedarwood and incense. Full-bodied with a multidimensional mouthfeel, excellent opulence and layers of fruit, it possesses stunning purity and richness, a phenomenally fragrant nose (the most aromatic of all these Schrader Cabs), and a long finish. The tannins suggest another 3-4 years of cellaring will be beneficial. It should keep for 20+ years.

agavin: deep purple. Long and nice new world.

LEC: sweet balanced, 92


Pesto Chicken. Mozzarella, Roma Tomatoes, Parmesan, Blue Cheese. I liked the blue cheese vibe.

Why is it that restaurants feel the need to call “fancy” pizza flatbread?


Wild Mushroom. Fontina Cheese, Caramelized Onions, Baby Arugula. This was the softest flavors of the bunch, earthy.


Pepperoni & Sausage. Mozzarella, Fresh Tomato, Parmesan. As Yarom put it: “a 10.” It really was quite a good take on the classic.

Flight 3: Soup & Salads


Arnie brought: 2005 Verite La Muse. Parker 98. A blend of 87% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc and 2% Malbec (3% from the Alexander Valley Mountain Estate, 49% from Chalk Hill and 48% from Knight’s Valley), exhibits a Bordeaux-like personality. Thick, viscous and rich with great elegance, tremendous purity and intensity as well as a full-bodied sweetness, it offers notes of caramel, mocha, coffee roast, black cherries and black currants. This supple, velvety-textured, opulent 2005 is accessible now and capable of lasting another 20-25 years.

agavin: deep purple. Couldn’t decide if this was young Bord or a very smooth new world.

LEC: nice fruit but mature 92


Kirk brought: 1994 Harlan Estate Proprietary Red Wine. Parker 100! What can I say about the 1994? I have tasted the wine for three consecutive years, and each time it satisfied all of my requirements for perfection. The opaque purple color is followed by spectacular aromatics that soar from the glass, offering up celestial levels of black currants, minerals, smoked herbs, cedar wood, coffee, and pain grille. In the mouth, this seamless legend reveals full body, and exquisite layers of phenomenally pure and rich fruit, followed by a 40+ second finish. While accessible, the 1994 begs for another 5-7 years of cellaring. It should easily last for 30+ years. Every possible jagged edge – acidity, alcohol, tannin, and wood – is brilliantly intertwined in what seems like a diaphanous format. What is so extraordinary about this large-scaled wine, with its dazzling display of aromatics and prodigious flavors and depth, is that it offers no hint of heaviness or coarseness. Harlan’s 1994 comes close to immortality in the glass.

agavin: clearly, 94 Harlan is the perfect salad wine 🙂 Delicious and grapey, but a touch hot (alcoholic) on the finish.

LEC: nice, light, younger 91


Avi brought: 1989 Pichon-Longueville Baron. Parker 95-96. Both the 1989 and 1990 vintages exhibit opaque, dense purple colors that suggest massive wines of considerable extraction and richness. The dense, full-bodied 1989 is brilliantly made with huge, smoky, chocolatey, cassis aromas intermingled with scents of toasty oak. Well-layered, with a sweet inner-core of fruit, this awesomely endowed, backward, tannic, prodigious 1989 needs another 5-6 years of cellaring; it should last for three decades or more. It is unquestionably a great Pichon-Longueville-Baron.

agavin: med purple. Weird nose, a bit of soy sauce. Rich finish, but odd. No idea, sorta flawed. In retrospect (knowing what it is), a bad bottle, as I’ve had many great bottles of this.

LEC: mature complex notes, 94


Ron brought (bonus): 2007 Jean et Sébastien Dauvissat Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses. Burghound 91-93. This too displays a nose that frames the citrus blossom, spice and intense sea shore aromas in noticeable but not dominant wood that gives way to the delicious, serious and admirably pure medium plus bodied flavors that possess excellent punch and length on the very dry finish. This is impressively intense and palate staining and should age beautifully.

agavin: reductive, but good.


Andy brought (bonus): 2006 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clavoillon. Burghound 91. Here too there is very subtle wood highlighting an airy, ripe and expressive nose featuring orchard fruit and citrus blossom aromas and continues onto the detailed, punchy and admirably vibrant medium-bodied flavors that finish with moderate dryness and very good length. Again, fine quality here but not up to that of the 2005.

agavin: our bottle was advanced and tasted like apple juice


Iceberg Lettuce Wedge. Bacon, Tomato, Blue Cheese Dressing. Not a bad wedge.


Chopped Caesar Salad. Chopped Crisp Romaine, Parmesan, Garlic Croutons, Anchovy-Garlic Dressing.


Corn Chowder. Crabmeat, Smoked Bacon Bits & Fingerling Potato ChipsBasil & Garlic Aioli.

Flight 4: Meat!


Erick brought: 1982 Gruaud Larose. Parker 98. A massive wine that is clearly of first-growth quality in this vintage, the 1982 Gruaud Larose remains a youngster. A broodingly dense, thick, unctuously textured, inky/plum/garnet/purple color offers up scents of beef blood, steak tartare, cassis, herbs, tobacco, and underbrush. One of the most concentrated wines of the vintage (as well as one of the most concentrated Bordeaux’s I have ever tasted), it is a huge, full-bodied, weighty, rich wine whose tannins are getting silkier and silkier. It appears set for another 30-40 years of life. This behemoth is a singularly profound example of Gruaud Larose that continues to justify its legendary status. Anticipated maturity: now-2050.

result: WOTN! #1 So Bordeaux I declared I’d shave my butt if it wasn’t. Pencil. Rich. Classic fully mature Bordeaux.

LEC: mature, complex, balanced 97


Andy brought: 1989 Vega Sicilia Unico. Parker 98. The 1989 Unico is dark ruby-colored with a complex nose exhibiting the effects of extended aging. Plush and spicy on the palate, it has ample layered fruit and a very long finish. The 1989 Unico, a blend of 80% Tinto Fino and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon picked early from 30th September, has a gorgeous, minty bouquet with blackberry, a touch of blueberry, crushed violets and a little strawberry jam. It blossoms with aeration in the glass. The palate is smooth and rounded on the entry: caressing and voluminous in the mouth. The fruit is very pure with notes of strawberry, Tiptree raspberry jam, marmalade and quince. It has great weight towards the finish with orange cordial and a hint of mango.

agavin: I knew this was the Unico as it was the only wine that tasted like its blend (or Spanish). But I knew there was a Unico in here because I brought it. Fabulous interesting nose. Long complex finish. I really liked it, tied with the 97 La Turque as my favorite.

LEC: sweet mature fruit, 94


Warren brought: 2006 Schrader Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer George III Vineyard. Parker 95. The 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer George III Vineyard offers an extraordinary bouquet of creme de cassis, scorched earth, and burning embers as well as full-bodied power, velvety tannins, and exceptional density and richness. This superb wine exhibits layered extravagance and sweet tannins, a rarity in this vintage. It is already drinking well.

agavin: purple. Oaky, grapey, huge.

LEC: big, dark 94


Ron brought: 1978 Cos d’Estournel. Parker. Very highly regarded by the chateau, I have found the 1978 to be very good, but not as graceful or as well balanced as the 1979. It is dark ruby with a moderately intense bouquet of herbs, black cherries, spice, oak, and leather. On the palate, the wine is medium to full bodied, with a dusty tannic texture.

agavin: Dark ruby. Big complex, slight funk. Guessed it was old Bord.

LEC: mature, 95


Filet trio. Three 4 ounce filets. Oscar style (Bernaise and crabmeat), with peppercorn sauce, and blue cheese crusted. Since I only like my steak smothered in sauce, this was my style.


Tomahawk steak. Ribeye with a long bone. Some thought it a bit tough, some loved it.


Bone in filet.


Regular filet.


Ribeye.


Asparagus.


Wild mushrooms. In a nice mushroom sauce.


Truffled mac & cheese. Wonderfully creamy and decadent.


Mashed potatoes. With bits of asparagus inside. Quite good.


Parmesan Frites. Good stuff.

Flight 5: Dessert


Kirk brought (bonus): 1967 Climens. 92 points. Beautiful light amber color. Bright and sweet yellow pit fruits, apricot, yellow peach, a hint of red fruits, light tea, crème brulee and sweet spices. Polished palate, medium concentration, cool red tea and pit fruit driven palate impression, mineral, good acidity and lovely long clean finish. This is cleaner and purer but don’t possess the power and complexity of the 67 D’Yquem. A great aperitif for my palate rather than a great dessert wine.

agavin: Like pineapple liqueur!


Coconut Cream Pie. White Chocolate Shavings. Lots of whipped cream.


Lemon Doberge Cake. Six Layers, Lemon Buttercream Icing, Lemon Glaze. I LOVED this cake. Pretty much the perfect lemon cake. Sansa would love it too.


Nutella Bread Pudding. Coffee Ice Cream, Caramel Sauce. Yum!


Warm Chocolate Cake. Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, Raspberry Sauce. Did not suck!


April fools! L.E.C. really stuffed this wine in the La Tache bottle.

1999 Domaine Ponsot Chapelle-Chambertin. Burghound 94. A ripe, fresh and highly complex nose features a mix of both primary and secondary dark berry fruit scents along with plenty of Gevrey-style earth and discreet spice nuances. There is excellent intensity to the relatively broad-shouldered flavors that possess fine volume and very solid mid-palate concentration before culminating in a firmly structured, mineral-driven, serious and overtly austere finish. This is very impressive but note that to my taste it is still at least 5 years too early to be popping any corks on this beauty.

Wine: Erick won for the second dinner in a row with his top grade 80s Bordeaux. Sick that the 82 GL cost $12 a bottle at release in 1984-85!

People really stepped up and the overall wine quality was very good tonight. They were all (mostly) big Bordeaux varietals, which suited the food (except the salad). The age range varied considerably, but the quality was very high across the board.

As usual, blind tasting is revealing because people really had no idea about many of the wines, other than it being fairly easy to spot the Bordeaux vs New World wines. A few of the older New Worlds were non obvious.

Some people clearly prefer the “sluts” (the big extracted younger wines) and some people like more maturity and finesse (I’m in the later camp). Since most of the preferred wines were technically quiet balanced, this is just a personal preference.

We asked everyone to guess which wine they brought (before revealing):

John 10 (picked harlan, but really brought #9 hill of grace — I think)
Avi 2 (correct)
Kirk 4 (picked 03 schrader, but really brought #10 harlan)
Adam 3 (guessed verite, but brought #7 07 stagland)
Warren 3 (guessed verite, brought #5 06 schrader)
David 6 (correct)
Ron 13 (82 GL, but brought #11 78 cos)
Yarom 5 (guessed 06 schrader, but brought #4 03 schrader — so actually kinda close)
Larry 14 (guessed la tache / ponsot charmes, but brought #12 97 la turque)
LEC 14 (correct)
Andy 1 (correct)
Eric 13 (correct)
Robin 6 (guessed 03 montrose but brought #8 07 pavots)
Arnie 5 (guessed 06 schrader, but brought #3 02 verite)

Food: The food was solid. I had low expectations and they exceeded them. Not amazing or anything, but we ordered well. The flatbreads were quite good. Some of the sides very good, and the desserts excellent.

Service: Was overall excellent, WAY WAY exceeding expectations. The room was fabulous and we had dedicated and very attentive staff. Things took a little while, but they handled it really well.

Del Frisco’s did a great job with the fundamentals of the wine service tonight, particularly given that this was a more elaborate and technical dinner than they are probably used to. They had PLENTY of stems ready, enough to give us new ones for every wine and they managed the timing of this well. The coordination of the blind pouring was solid too with real problems. Perhaps pour size was slightly uneven but the wines got all the way around in good form.

They opened all the bottles right before serving them. This has its plusses and minuses. It does present consistent treatment, but given the huge disparity in airing needs, didn’t maximize each wine — and on the final flight led to some delay because of cork issues.

Because everyone brings their wine blind there is a need to organize the flights. This was a bit random, but that’s mostly our fault for not designating someone to do it as very few restaurants have staff with the technical knowledge and experience to really do this.

Overall I’d call it a 9 for service and an 11 for effort.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

  1. Steak in the Blind
  2. Big and Bold on the Beach
  3. Oceans of Wine
  4. Hedonists at STK
  5. Is that a Pistola in your pocket?
By: agavin
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Petros Greek Feast

Apr01

Restaurant: Petros Restaurant

Location: B110, 451 Manhattan Beach Blvd. Manhattan Beach, CA. (310) 545-4100

Date: March 29, 2015

Cuisine: Greek

Rating: Best Greek I’ve had in LA

_

Tonight’s dinner was originally supposed to be special Hedonistic home cooked Greek Easter Feast by chef Popi Terzi but the chef had a last minute medical emergency and we relocated to a Manhattan Beach Greek restaurant.


Tonight’s special menu.


2004 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut La Grande Dame. VM 93. Vivid gold. Heady aromas of orange, white peach and smoky minerals, with a note of buttered toast adding depth. Densely packed citrus and pit fruit flavors show chewy texture and a bright mineral quality that adds vivacity. Rich but lively and precise, finishing very long, with notes of candied fig and toasty lees.


Skordalia (Heavenly Garlic dip) with pita bread.


From my cellar: 2007 Venica & Venica Malvasia. 91 points. Medium-deep straw-yellow. Aromas of yellow plum, apricot and almond. Lively, round and smooth, with good breadth and subtle suggestions of yellow plum and minerals carrying through to the long, vibrant finish.

Taramosalata (Fish Egg dip). Aged smoked caviar blended with onions, fresh lemon juice. This classic had a nice blend of the briny red mullet roe and a good amount of lemon juice to offset.


1998 R. López de Heredia Rioja Blanco Reserva Viña Tondonia. VM 93. Bright yellow. Pungent minerally, floral aromas of pear skin, peach pit and bee pollen, with a waxy overtone. The palate offers intense dried orchard and citrus fruit flavors and suggestions of anise, jasmine and honey, with a firm spine of acidity adding lift and focus. Finishes fleshy and spicy, with repeating floral and waxy qualities.


Rustic Tyropita. Homemade phyllo dough stuffed with a mousse of Greek cheeses. Drizzled with Greek honey. The sweet/salty/savory vibe here was great. Very addictive.


2010 Gérard Raphet Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux St. Jacques. Burghound 91. A more deeply pitched red and dark berry fruit nose is at once cool but ripe as it also evidences hints of spice, wet stone and warm earth. There is good concentration to the solidly intense medium-bodied flavors that possess plenty of extract that coats the palate on the relatively powerful finish. This is more robust and firmer than the Combottes but a bit less refined. A qualitative choice.

agavin: too young, but after an hour in the glass began to open up.


Grilled Octopus served with boiled beets, vinegar, garlic, EVO and oregano sauce.


2010 Fattoria Galardi Terra di Lavoro Roccamonfina IGT. VM97+. I have a strong feeling the 2010 will occupy a place among the very finest vintages produced on this tiny vineyard on the slopes of the Roccamonfina volcano. An exotic mélange of tar, smoke, graphite, blackberry jam and savory herbs explode from the glass. The 2010 is intense and full-bodied, yet also incredibly elegant. A big, breathtaking wine, the 2010 continues to build all the way through to a deeply resonant, expressive finish. I would choose to leave this uttterly beguiling Campanian red alone for the better part of a decade, but readers are going to have a very hard time excercising that patience. This is a fabulous effort from proprietors Arturo and Dora Celentano, and their long-time winemaker Riccardo Cotarella.

agavin: I have 6 bottles of this in my cellar, but I’m not cracking one for at least 5 years!


Shrimp Saganaki. Sautéed tender shrimp with a tomato basil feta cheese sauce. I spent over 3 weeks in Greece last summer (and three summers before that) and this was a very authentic Saganaki. I love the bright acidic tomato/cheese sauce.


2009 Fontodi Flaccianello della Pieve Colli della Toscana Centrale IGT. AG 94. The 2009 Flaccianello is gorgeous, but the relative shortcomings of the year relative to the sublime 2010 are apparent when the wines are tasted side by side. Firm tannins support a core of dark red fruit, smoke and crushed flowers. Readers will need to give the 2009 time to settle down, but it is unquestionably a fine Flaccianello.

agavin: the 2009 was rounder than the 2010 and drinking better at the moment.


Fasolatha. Traditional Greek vegetable bean soup with feta & EVO.


2010 Fontodi Flaccianello della Pieve Colli della Toscana Centrale IGT. AG 96. A rush of intense blue and black stone fruits, tobacco, smoke, licorice, spices and new leather hits the palate in the 2010 Flaccianello. A wine of considerable immediacy and intensity, the 2010 captivates all the senses with its magnificent richness and pure texture. There is so much to like here.

agavin: start drinking date is 2018!


Avgolemono. Homemade egg lemon, chicken, rice soup. Very nice mild lemony rice flavor.


2010 Ramey Cabernet Sauvignon Annum. VM 92-96. Inky ruby. Lively dark berry and cherry scents are complemented by licorice, fruitcake and vanilla, with a spicy nuance adding lift. Sweet, palate-coating blueberry and cherry liqueur flavors become more energetic with air and pick up a sexy floral nuance. Distinctly powerful yet lithe, with zesty spice and mineral notes adding bite to the long, subtly tannic finish.


2009 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. VM 96. There is no question the 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve is the most backward and brooding of the wines I tasted from Pride. Firm tannins frame an expressive core of dark red berries, licorice, scorched earth, tobacco, smoke and incense. Today, the 2009 is far too young to offer true pleasure, but it is unquestionably striking. Hints of iron, graphite and smoke add complexity on the finish supported by huge mountain tannins. The 2009 is super distinctive and loaded with personality.


Horiatiki Salata (Traditional Greek salad: Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Feta, Olives, etc). The addition of avocado felt a bit California, but it worked.


2012 Leonesse Cellars Grand Mélange Signature Selection.


1999 Turley Petite Syrah Estate Vineyard. VM 90. Opaque black ruby. Sauvage aromas of roasted meat, leather, blackberry, minerals and lead pencil. Bright and dense but not yet complex. Finishes persistent but a bit youthfully aggressive. Hard to assess today but shows very good vinosity and noteworthy aromatic complexity.


French fries. Ketchup and garlic aioli. This were excellent fries.


2005 Château Gruaud Larose. Tanzer 90-93. Good red-ruby. Redcurrant, leather and game on the expressive if slightly rustic nose. Sweet and concentrated but a bit youthfully aggressive, and not showing the refinement or definition of the 2006. Strong nutty oak component. Finishes with substantial tannins that are a bit richer and more fully buffered by the wine’s middle-palate material than those of the 2006. It will be interesting to compare these two vintages in ten years or so.

agavin: along with the CNDP one of the best reds tonight, particularly after an hour or so open.


Moussaka. A Classic Hellenic dish with eggplant, ground beef, tomatoes, and homemade béchamel sauce served village style. I think traditionally it’s usually lamb. The texture and flavor on this Moussaka were great. Perhaps it could have used a touch more nutmeg, but that’s me.


From my cellar: 2000 Les Cailloux (Lucien et Andre Brunel) Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Centenaire. Parker 96. The heady 2000 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Centenaire is more evolved than either the 2001 or 1998. Extremely full-bodied, with low acidity, and a knock-out bouquet of blackberry and cherry jam intermixed with licorice, pepper, and dried Provencal herbs, this sexy, voluptuous, enormously concentrated 2000 possesses a huge, silky, seamless finish. Drink this irresistible effort now and over the next 12-15 years.

agavin: after a bit of funk blew off, it was a great CNDP and perfect with the lamb below.


Succulent Braised Lamb with Artichokes and Lemons (This is a Petros “off the menu” special). This is a very traditional dish, and I’ve had variants of it in Greece many times. It’s more a stew than the usual “roast lamb”.


2006 Estate Argyros Vinsanto 4 Years Barrel Aged. Parker 90. The 2006 Vinsanto “4 Years Barrel Aged” is one of a series of Vinsantos (4 years, 12 and 20, and Mezzo, with the Mezzo soon to be discontinued). As a result of the shorter barrel aging and shorter sun drying time for the grapes (8-10 days instead of 12-14), its color is lighter than the 20-year Vinsanto reviewed this issue and the wine is less intense and less aromatic. It is still quite fine. Fragrant, delectable and crisp, it drinks extremely well and it had no problem whatsoever lasting several days after opening. It was better on Day 2, actually, when it gathered strength and woke up.


Loukouma. Baby Greek doughnuts drizzled with Greek honey, cinnamon, toasted walnuts and vanilla ice cream. Awesome!


5  layer chocolate cake. Five layers of chocolate cake with chocolate fudge icing served with vanilla ice cream and walnuts.


2004 Domaine des Baumard Quarts de Chaume. VM 90. Bright yellow-gold. Expressive aromas of poached pear, candied citrus, honey and white peach. A broad, lush, fruit-driven wine that offers sweet orchard and pit fruit flavors lifted by fresh orange and spice components. Gains weight with air and finishes with very good cling and echoes of honey and peach. This is ready to drink.


Bougatsa. Vanilla bean and Semolina custard wrapped in phyllo, served with vanilla ice cream and walnuts. Another amazing dessert.


Baklava. Walnuts, almonds, and pistachio wrapped in phyllo soaked with citrus syrup. Not one of those boring “dry” baklavas, this one dripped with sticky goodness.


All and all a fun and tasty  meal. Nearly every dish was very good, many, like the shrimp, the moussaka, and all the desserts were great. Good fun.

For good luck, there were a couple plate drops too.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

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  2. Friday Night Feast 2014
  3. New Year’s Feast
  4. Japanese in China – Izakaya Akatora
  5. Lofty Heights
By: agavin
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Posted in: Food
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