Archive for June 2015

More Meat – Chi Spacca

Jun30

Restaurant: Chi Spacca

Location: 6610 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038. (323) 297-1133

Date: June 01, 2015

Cuisine: Italian Steakhouse

Rating: Rich but delicious, a carnivore’s paradise

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The little Mozza empire on Melrose now includes the Pizzeria, the Osteria,  Chi Spacca, and Mozza 2 go. They do a great job with all their restaurants (annoying corkage policy notwithstanding), and I’ve been itching to sink my canines into Chi Spacca for some time. When a plan earlier this year for the larger Foodie Club gang to go to Chi Spacca failed, we ended up at Spear instead, and despite that being a great meal I still wanted to get here. But because of the annoying corkage policy (a complaint I will continue to reiterate from my soap box), we had to wait until a small dinner (3 of us), this time nominally for my birthday.

Chop chop.

The menu.


The small room.

The smoky in the room grill.


From my cellar: 1989 Paolo Scavino Barolo Bric dël Fiasc. VM 95. The 1989 Barolo Bric del Fiasc (3-liter) is still striking for its freshness. Some of that is a factor of the large format, but standard bottles have also develop very positively. Here we find a classic flavor profile of tobacco, herbs, spices, plums and licorice with the depth, muscle and concentration of the modern school. The 1989 is a touch more layered and aromatically intesne than the 1990, with a little more length and overall complexity. Tar, smoke and licorice linger on an eternal finish.

Pickles. spring onions, carrots, fennel. Nice crunchy pickled vegetables. The acidity is a nice contrast to all the fat to come.

Affettati Misti-Daily Selection of Cured Meats. Calabrese salame, oregano salame. pork butter. That white stuff that looks like butter, pure lard (smoked and aged).

Pate & Terrine. butcher’s pate, trotter fritti. The fried things are stuffed with pig feet meat. Now, I’m not normally a fan of pig’s feet at all, but these were delicious (maybe because you can’t SEE the trotter). The terrine was also very good, classic country pate.


Bread for the meats.

Erick brought: 1979 Chateau Margaux. Parker 93. This wine is just now reaching full maturity, much later than I initially expected. It is a classy, elegant example of Margauxpossessing a dark ruby/purple color, and a moderately intense nose of sweet black currant fruit intermixed with minerals, vanillin, and floral scents. The wine is medium-bodied, with beautifully sweet fruit. This linear, more compressed style of Margaux possesses a good inner-core of sweet fruit, and a charming, harmonious personality. Although not a blockbuster, it is aging effortlessly, and appears to take on more character with each passing year. Anticipated maturity: Now-2010.

Burrata Primavera. Snap peas, carrots, mint. Very nice salad with good contrast of sweet and acidic.

Pane bianco. Fett’unta. Super light, crispy cheese “pizza.”

Whole Branzino. herb salad, olive oil. Extremely herby and fabulous, with an almost Thai like lemongrass flavor.

Grilled Octopus. pureed & fried ceci, parsley leaf. Very soft tender octopus.

2003 Di Prisco Taurasi.

Braised Lamb Ribs. Castelvetrano olive, preserved lemon. Nice rich lamb meat.

Grilled Lamb Sausage. Calabrian peppers, roasted onion. Basically Merguez with a bit of heat. The herby salad is a nice counterpart.

2005 Emidio Pepe Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. JG 94+. Beautiful dark rose color. Really unusual nose with an off note I can only describe as like something you might smell in a petroleum refinery or maybe cordite. Mild notes of Indian spices and perhaps a bit of prune. This wine is very hard for me to describe. It is spicy with deep red fruits.

Tomahawk Pork Chop. fennel pollen. The top (far) part is the pork chop itself, wonderfully tender and with a lovely flavor. The bottom long parts are the pork belly, similar flavor but WAY richer.

Dessert menu.

Cocoa Nib Caramel Tart. whipped creme fraiche. Rich.

Butterscotch Budino. sea salt & rosemary pine nut cookies. OMG, I love these creamy puddings.

Seasonal Gelati & Sorbetti. Mint, coconut Stracciatella, and a berry flavor. Nice complex Italian flavors.

Overall, I thought the food at Chi Spacca was quite awesome, if not exactly authentically Italian. Certainly more to my taste than any normal steakhouse. They should import some pastas over from Mozza though :-). From the menu I thought prices looked crazy, but the total turned out to be reasonable ($130 a person before tip) even though we went to town. Really to town as the above was for 3 people!

Service was great too, and the atmosphere fun. My only complaint is with the bottle limit. The $30 corkage is fine, and you can even wave the corkage ordering off the list — again great. But the 2 bottle hard limit, apparently very strictly enforced (we brought the Barolo and the Margaux), is quiet annoying. It barely worked for 3 people and totally breaks down for wine dinners. Their list has interesting Italians, but the wines are two young. Plus I just resent having to buy off wine lists altogether (beyond the occasional white or rose). If they priced a fixed $30-50 markup, and had my kind of wines, it would be fine, but they always use a multiplicative markup. I’m not paying $400-600 for a $200 bottle!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

More Foodie Club craziness.

A post dinner yummy cucumber gin drink

Related posts:

  1. Spear your Meat
  2. Forget the Duck Soup, More Meat!
  3. Totoraku Double Meat Madness
  4. Lasagne Bolognese Minus the Meat
  5. Food as Art: Capo
By: agavin
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Eating Rome – Trastevere

Jun26

Restaurant: Eating Italy Rome

Location: Trastavere, Rome

Date: June 8, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Fun and tasty

_

Just a week or so before leaving for Italy my mom learned that one of my second cousins actually lived in Rome, and not only that, that he ran a gourmet food tour business. Turned out some of our other cousins had been on one of the tours and loved it — so we hastily signed up.

We met in this typical looking church square on an island in the Tiber. This particular tour was a four hour later afternoon/evening stroll around Trastevere trying out all sorts of various little eats.

Our lovely and vivacious guide was Jasine.



Here is the map and menu so to speak.

First stop is Da Enzo, a popular trattoria.

Not a giant place as you can see. We began with some Prosecco, but I forgot to photo it.

Burrata, Prosciutto, melon. A classic bit of antipasto. The burrata might have warmed up a bit much as it was making a valiant effort to return to the milk from which it came. Still, a yummy start.

And the vegetarian version featured eggplant instead.

Next up is Spirito di Vino — an auspicious name.

And down into the ancient cellar.

Really down.


2013 Molino a Vento Nero d’Avola Sicilia. A robust Sicilian red. Not my usual wine “level” and a bit over-oaked, but nice enough.

Baked pasta. A layered baked dish of pasta, cheese, and tomato sauce. Like lasagna meets baked ziti.

Ancient pork. A pork shoulder recipe from ancient Rome!

Cheesy grits. Not really, but mashed potato or polenta mixed with cheese. Delicious.

Third is a bit of mid dessert. Innocenti biscotti (cookies).

They make traditional tarts.

And various cookies. This kind had an apricot  jam layer.

Then on the left chocolate dipped and on the right hazelnut macaroons, not so different than my mother’s Passover macaroons, but those use almonds.

Fourth is cheese at Anitica Caciara.

Dairy on display.

And the fresh stuff that never is that great in the states.
It goes on and on.

But we came for the Pecorino Romana, here seen aging. Notice the olive oil drip to the right. It literally oozes oil as it dries.


Fresh Pecorino. Nutty and mild.


Aged Pecorino Romano. Stronger and delicious.

After cheese is meat! Antica Norcineria.

Specializing in the famous Porchetta!

Have a few cured meats.

Or olives.
The “white pizza”, otherwise known as focaccia.

And the porchetta itself, drizzled with olive oil.

These last two are assembled into the “sandwich.”

And the vegetarians got some olives, ricotta, and honey.

Next, on to I Suppli for more snacks.

Fried stuff.

And this kind of Roman pizza by the slice.


The Suppli is really well fried and served piping hot.

Inside is a delicious mix of risotto, cheese, and meat. Really delicious.

Enotecca Ferrara is where we will fill up apparently.

Typical cute inside.

Some slightly sweet prosecco.

This Italian Merlot doesn’t even make it onto Cellar Tracker. It wasn’t too bad for a YOUNG merlot.
Ricotta with cheese and pomodoro sauce. A bit of a peppery kick too, quite nice.

cacio e pepe. The classic Roman pasta. Love it.

Gnocci with scamorza (smoked mozzarella).

And what would an Italian food tour be without gelato? Fatamorgana.

All organic, this gelato place was has very interesting flavors like “pears, porto wine, and elder”!

I got passionfruit and grapefruit with orange or lemon. The grapefruit in particular was amazing, with a 10 minute finish! This place is a little less creamy (I think they use less dairy) but VERY tasty.

And they have gelato sushi!

Or some of these Italian ice cream confectionaries.

All in all, a delightful evening of really yummy treats. If you are in Rome and love food I highly recommend it. The wine was too young and casual for my taste, but the food, without being fancy, was fabulous. It showed up the kind of street food and ingredient focused items that would easily be overlooked, but make Italy just so tasty.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Rome – Roscioli
  2. Eating Rome – La Campana
  3. Eating Staggia – Pozzo dei Desideri
  4. Eating Tuscany – Boar at Home
  5. Eating Milano Marittima – Lo Sporting
By: agavin
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Sushi Gen DTLA

Jun24

Restaurant: Sushi Gen

Location: 422 E 2nd St, Los Angeles, CA 90012. (213) 617-0552

Date: April 7, 2015

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: B+ sushi factory!

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People have been talking about Sushi Gen for some time, but given the surplus of great sushi on the Westside I don’t usually head Downtown (to little Tokyo) for it. But I saw it recently next to Kinjiro and decided to hit it up with my buddy Sebastian.

The interior is actually fairly large for a sushi bar, bigger than even this Pano makes it look.

And they have the usual sushi bar list of “rules.”

We sat at the sushi bar and had the chef make us a lunch omakase.

o-toro. Great fatty slabs.

Amberjack.

Ama-ebi (sweet shrimp).

Kasugo (Sea bream). With yuzu and chili.

Shrimp miso. The shrimp heads return!

Sawara (Spanish Mackerel).

Baby squid with sweet sauce. Yum! And in season.

Needle fish. Second time recently I’ve had this.

Ankimo (monkfish liver). Rich and tangy as usual. Very nice cut of it.

Shima-aji (White trevally).

Uni (Sea urchin). Always one of my favorites.

Toro and scallion hand roll.

Scallop hand roll with roe.

Sushi Gen was huge and mobbed. This place is like a factory, just churning out a volume of sushi that is rather astonishing. Probably at least 10x the volume per hour of a place like Zo or Sushi Sushi. Maybe 20x. The quality was quite good. Not as good as those above or an omakase at Shunji or Shiki or anything, but quite good. And it was relatively reasonable for very good sushi. I don’t know if I’d come here for dinner, but if I was downtown for lunch and hankering for sushi I’d be happy to return.

For more LA sushi reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Sushi Sushi – Small Omakase
  2. Sushi Sushi = Yummy Yummy
  3. Echigo Sushi
  4. Food as Art – Sushi Sushi
  5. Mori Sushi – A Top Contender
By: agavin
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Eating Rome – La Campana

Jun22

Restaurant: La Campana

Location: Vicolo della Campana, 18, 00186 Roma

Date: June 7, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Oldest trattoria in Rome

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La Campana is one of Rome’s oldest restaurants, perhaps 500 years old — although one would have to speculate that the kitchen traditions have changed a bit in this vast swath of time.

Nevertheless, it remains a well respected trattoria in the Roman tradition.

Today’s menu.

2009 Arnaldo-Caprai Sagrantino di Montefalco Collepiano. 90 points.

Self serve antipasta bar.

My plate.

Baked Scamorza cheese. Delicious and gooey.

Paccheri pomodoro. Classic.

Fettuccine Porcine. Another classic.

Paccheri all’amatriciana. Like the pomodoro, but taken to the next level by the pancetta.

Ricotta ravioli with butter and sage. Simple but delicious.

Cod, pan fried, with french fries. Like a fish version of veal scaloppini.

Fried cod. Fish minus the chips.

Bresolla with arugula and parmesan.

Porchetta. This version seemed more roasted with the natural jus, plus roasted potatoes.

Apple tart.

La Campana was simple, traditional, and very well executed. It is a bit more old fashioned than Roscioli, and so slightly less to my taste, but this was a good meal, standing on the plinth of Italian tradition that makes the country one of the best places to eat in the world.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Rome – Roscioli
  2. Eating Siena – Trattoria Pepei
  3. Eating Monteriggioni – Il Pozzo
  4. Eating Poggibonsi – Osteria da Camillo
  5. Eating Milano Marittima – Lo Sporting
By: agavin
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Game of Thrones – Episode 50

Jun19

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

Genre: Fantasy

Watched: Episode 50 – June 14, 2015

Title: Mother’s Mercy

Summary: Grim but great

ANY CHARACTER HERE

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.

Stannis – We start our series of thread wrap ups with Mr. Grim and and Grammar, Stannis. Things are thawing at Camp Snowbound, and Melisandre claims success in her murderous spells, but Stannis isn’t showing her any love. Still, he is a man on a mission and commands they march. But some officer informs him half the men have deserted and taken the horses with them. Another comes and leads him to the forest where they find his wife, the unlikeable Lady Selyse, who has hung herself. Obviously she isn’t as good at compartmentalization. He cuts her down but Melisandre is somehow realizing that she either misread the Lord of Light, or his divine brightness urgently wants her elsewhere, as she hops on a horse and gets out of town fast.

Later, Stannis’ ragtag remainder of an army marches up toward Winterfell. I guess it was right over the ridge as they supposedly had no food or horses. This is intercut rapidly with Brienne and Sansa’s threads, but I’ll leave the Love Luckless Stark’s for a second. But Pod notices the Stannis forces and runs to tell Brienne. They gather weapons.

Brienne-kills-Stannis-Official-HBOStannis orders up a siege, but he gets instead a big cavalry charge from the Boltons (presumably under the command of Ramsay). The horsemen surround and outflank his meager forces in a nice CGI maneuver and we are left with a few quick shots of this horrendous defeat. Oh, and in case we had any doubts that Ramsay was a sadistic scum, we see him torturing a few helpless Baratheon soldiers.

Stannis is fight off a few Bolton troops in the forest. He’s tough, so he kills them, but he takes a bad wound to the leg and slumps against a tree. Out of nowhere Brienne appears. Ready for revenge at last. She accuses him of using blood magic to kill his brother Renly, and Stannis, ever in character, admits it. Really this is just sad sad for Stannis. He’s made the most horrible sacrifice ever for what he wants, and it’s proved to be worse than useless. He’s done. When Brienne sentences him to death he almost welcomes it with another typical droll Stannis one-liner, “Go do you duty.” She swings the sword, but we are left without seeing the death itself. It’s enough to make us wonder.

This is all slightly advanced of the completely unclear bit in ADWD. Consistent though, even though Brienne has no part in the book version of those events. And it’s so grim and dark. Bad choices. And what the hell was the Red Lady’s game? Did she read things wrong? Or is this how she wanted to to play out?

stannisSansa – meanwhile has used the corkscrew (barrel tap or whatever) she snagged during Ramsay’s walk of horrors to pry open her door while Evil Bastard (literally) is away playing hide the sword in the back with Stannis. She sneaks all over the castle, avoiding looking anyone in the eye, takes note of the Broken Tower and climbs. But she runs afoul of Myranda, Reek, and a bad case of bow-pointed-at-face. Myranda is psyched, to get a little revenge in before taking her back to her room, and somehow this pushes Theon over the edge where watching Sansa get wife-raped does not. He knocks Myranda’s bow aside and tosses her down into the courtyard. She isn’t as lucky as Bran and there is a distinctly satisfying smack as she hits the pavement. He hauls Sansa up onto the battlements and they are confronted with a 50 foot drop to some snow below. The pair is desperate enough to leap for it. We can presume that because Theon and Jeyne Poole made it out in the books, so do they.

GOT510_112614_HS__DSC20951Arya – We watch Meryn Trant get ready for another evening of brothel fun. This time he has three young girls and a stick to hit them with. Not only does he hit women. Not only is he a total jerk. Not only does he like little girls, but he wants to hit them too. This is about 3 extra reasons to kill him off. The last girl doesn’t scream when hit, and when we see her face it’s not Arya. Trant punches her in the gut and she changes into Arya Faceless Man style and goes all Hannibal Lector on him. She stabs him in the eyes and jumps all over him. Not only is it pretty crazy but it does make sense as a way for a smallish woman to take down a big warrior like Trant. She torments him for a bit and tells his who she is, calling him no one. This of course isn’t by accident as clearly she isn’t no one herself, but still Arya Stark. Then, unlike with Oberyn and the Mountain, his luck is up and she slits his throat.

Back in the basement of the House of Black & White she slips the girl’s mask back on the rack. Jaqen and the waif are there, however. Uh oh, caught unmasked. Jaqen tells her that she killed the wrong man and that the Faceless God demands a death, threatens her with the poison, then takes it himself and dies. She crouches down and rips off his mask to find a pile of other faces, and finally her own. They the waif changes her face into Jaqen and continues chastising her. Arya’s sight melts away and she is left blind — and more or less where she is at the end of A Feast of Crows. We have reordered slightly but this is all consistent enough with her isolated storyline.

All and all an excellent sequence, and while dark, at least not as bleak as some of the other threads. The magic of the Faceless Men is a little confusing. Did Jaqen put the wait up to playing him for a bit? Is he a spirit that may possess any of them? How did Arya’s face, symbolic as it was, end up on the bottom of the face pile? She after all isn’t dead and didn’t pass through the mask masking process.

GOT510_112014_HS__DSC09811Jaime – is getting ready to depart for Kings Landing with Trystane and Princess Myrcella (way too many M girls: Melisandre, Missandei, Myrcella, Myranda, Margaery!). For some reason the whole gang is there, including Doran, Hotah, Ellaria, and the sand snakes. Ellaria gives the Princess a big smooch on the lips and they get on the boat. Then in a cabin below decks Jaime has a nice bonding scene with his daughter where he awkwardly tries to admit she is his daughter, but she already knows. It really is very well played on both sides and you feel for him finally connecting to his children he’s had to ignore… then it all goes bad and her nose starts to bleed and she slumps into his arms.

the-kissBack on the docks Ellaria, nose also bleeding, is swigging some of Tyrene’s antidote. So the whole bit with Bronn and the poison now makes some sense, as it existed only to explain the whole poison/antidote thing. No wonder it felt strange. And all in all a very sad tragic thread in the middle of a sad tragic episode. Myrcella, although we didn’t know her well, was so sunny that it’s all the more depressing.

Tyrion and crew – hang out in the throne room (boy do they love that set). We have to wonder who mopped up the Harpies too. This scene is a bit of a throw-a-way as Grey Worm comes in and they all haggle about who will go after Dany and who will stay. In the end, it’s decided that Jorah & Dario go, and Ty, Grey Worm, and Missandei will stay and “rule.” There is a great line from Dario though, calling Grey Worm the “toughest man with no balls he’s ever known.”

After, Tyrion surveys the city and Varys teleports in behind him. Obviously he offered sexual favors to the guards. They have a typical fun exchange in which it’s agreed that Varys will lend his little birds to the cause of ruling Meereen. Clearly Ty and Varys are taking over for Barristan’s boring chapters in ADWD (while Dany is away).

Jorah-Daario-and-Tyrion-in-Meereen-Official-HBODany – speaking of the great Queen, she’s hanging out in North Ireland with Drogon who is doing his best to rest up on a bed of bones on top of a cliff. She tries for awhile to roust him and get back in the saddle but he’s having none of it, so she sets off to find some food. Interestingly, the show decided to keep her clothes on (in the books Drogon roasts them off her back). Anyway, somehow she climbs down the steepest cliffs ever and reaches the valley where she meets, one, three, then about a thousand Dothraki. They swirl about her in a CGI horde better looking than the season 1 horde ever was. She drops a ring as a breadcrumb (presumably Jorah/Dario will find it next year) and is surrounded. Second monarch to be surrounded by cavalry this episode alone!

Cersei – kneels before the High Sparrow/Septon to confess her crimes in the big scene we’ve all been waiting all season for. She actually isn’t very contrite or convincing and only confesses to boinking Lancel’s skinny ass — with excuses all the way. She blames the incest “lie” on Stannis, which the Septon seems not to mind (the maybe late king is after all a Lord of Light worshipping infidel). Perhaps the Septon is a fairly political after all. He tells Cersei they’ll sort it out during her “trial” but she can visit with her son back at home after her “penance.” So here comes the real work for Lena, as she is stripped naked (body double) and has her head shaved. Outside, in front of the Sept, she is made to walk naked through the entire city to the Red Keep. Some Sparrows keep the ugly (literally and figuratively) crowd at bay, the annoying nun chants “shame shame” over again. They trudge through Dubrovnik, particularly spending a lot of time in that  stair lined square right inside the uphill gate. It’s a hard walk and the show lingers on it. We have a lot of fake Lena full frontal (and back frontal) and she is pelted with dung and rotten food. Lena nails it. Cersei’s resolve slowly melts and crumbles until she nearly breaks and runs into the keep.

Cersei-begins-her-walk-of-atonement-Official-HBOThere, she meets the hard faces of uncle Kevan, Pycelle, etc. But Qyburn is there on her side. Not only does he have a blanket for her, but he has another gift: Mecha-Greggor or Franken-Greggor, or Ser Robert the Strong: the enormous silent (I like the vow of silence), rotting eyed, Kingsguard version of Greggor. Cersei gets that old nasty gleam back in her eye.

Given that the show has no access to Cersei’s inner monologue, this scene was extremely well done. As good as I could imagine.

cerseis-walkJon – has a final powwow with Sam, giving us a quick recap of the disaster from 2 weeks ago (Hard Home). He makes sure to point out that Longclaw is Valayrian steel, but that this still probably won’t be enough. Sam asks to be sent with Gilly and her baby to Old Town to study and be a Maester, skipping Bravos clearly, but getting him back on track with the books and setting us up for some Tarly action next season. I know that line about Old Town in the middle of the season meant something. And Sam’s reasons for leaving make sense enough (for him). Their chemistry is great as always, probably mostly because of Sam’s likability and acting chops. Jon knows they “did it” and they make some jokes about it. Like the Davos/Shireen convo this is setup as a sad farewell. Next, Sam and Gilly ride out of the gates because GOT loves to show people come and go — really people do it so much they kinda need too.

Much later, Davos shows up to pleads for help for the now probably dead Stannis. And after him the Red Lady shows too, which is all too convenient and Davos asks after the Queen and Princess. The silence he receives isn’t encouraging. We have to continue to wonder, what is her game? Why is she here? Is she on hand to raise someone who might soon be dead?

Speaking of which, Jon is having a hard time concentrating on his letters when Olly enters with news that Benjen Stark might still be alive. Sneaky, and very sneaky of the show to tease Benjen in the “previously on.” Straightforward guy that he is, Jon charges out Ned Stark style and runs into a crowd and Throne’s knife in his gut. They each say “For the Watch” as they stab him, Julius Caesar style. Olly puts the final blade in his heart. Sigh.

No sign of Ghost at all, not since he saved Sam and Gilly, so I think the Warging is off the table.

The Melisandre does the Dondarian on him option is still very much on the table. The producers and actor have gone to great lengths to declare him dead and gone. But the R+L=J breadcrumbs strewn liberally through this season seem really important. It just wouldn’t be like George (and even more so of D&B) to set that up for no purpose. So I have hope.

jon-is-dead

All in all, a awesome TV, but so dark. Hands down the darkest hour of GOT yet, even worse in some ways than the Red Wedding. The bodycount was high: Jon (probably), Stannis (maybe), Selyse (2 inches taller), Myrcella (likely), Myranda, Trant (good riddance), and the Waif. Even worse are the unsettled endings:

  • Jon probably dead, wall has exactly 1 friendly face: Edd
  • Stannis probably dead
  • Margaery, not even mentioned
  • Sansa/Reek in a snow drift
  • Myrcella poisoned, war with Dorne up in the air
  • Dany circled by hostile Dothraki
  • Cersei/Kings Landing balance of power
  • Bran, playing the tree
  • Rickon AWOL
  • Ramsay still alive!

So bleak it left me with that catharsis. But it was so well executed, and it’s rare that TV works this many emotional ups and downs. Sigh, the 9 month wait will be tough.

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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]

HBO’s official inside the episode videos:

Related posts:

  1. Game of Thrones – Episode 49
  2. Game of Thrones – Episode 46
  3. Game of Thrones – Episode 47
  4. Game of Thrones – Episode 45
  5. Game of Thrones – Episode 48
By: agavin
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Flores & the Ladies’ Gunboat Society

Jun17

Restaurant: Flores & the Ladies’ Gunboat Society

Location: 2024 Sawtelle Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025. (424) 273-6469

Date: April 4, 2015

Cuisine: Southern American

Rating: Tasty

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This non Asian spot in Sawtelle Japantown has been on my list for some time.


This peculiar name has some kind of Southern history attached to it. I’m from the south, and I don’t remember.


Nice modern interior.


And a cosy patio. They kept it TOASTY with the heaters.


The menu.


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

agavin: has opened back up and is drinking fabulously.

Potato dinner roll. maple butter, sea salt.


Kanpachi carpaccio. Fresno, page mandarin, citrus creme fraiche, cilantro. This is good, but I sure don’t remember kanpachi crudo on any southern menu growing up!


Grilled lamb sirloin, black lentils, lamb bacon, parsnip, carrot, cumin jus. The sauce in particular was amazing!


Whole grilled branzino, fennel, preserved lemon, castelvetrano olives, bagna caulda.


Roasted and fried brussel sprouts. sorgum bacon marmalade. Bacon made this an awesome veggie.


Chocolate banana ice cream bar, candied hazelnut, dulce de leche.


Coconut cream pie, meyer lemon curd, toasted meringue. The blessed child of of coconut cream pie and his zesty consort lemon meringue pie.

Overall, a satisfying repast.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Eating Rome – Roscioli

Jun15

Restaurant: Roscioli

Location:Via dei Giubbonari, 21/22, 00186 Roma

Date: June 6, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Really superb updated trattoria food

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Kicking off my Eating Italy 2015 is this update on the traditional Roman trattoria. I found it by extensive online searching for top Roman restaurants.

Roscioli is also a Salumeria.

Some of the wares up front.

A small section of tables crammed into the typical (and attractive) Roman interior.

The breads were pretty amazing. At least one was sweet.

These pizza-like flatbreads were delicious.






The long menu.

2006 Azienda Agricola Bucci Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Riserva Villa Bucci. VM 90. The summer’s Verdicchio Classico Riserva 2006 Villa Bucci flows with gorgeous layers of ripe apricots, peaches, flowers, smoke and minerals. This is a wonderfully rich, expansive Verdicchio That blossoms on the palate with notable complexity and nuance. At four years of age, it is still incredibly vibrant! The 2006 reserve can be enjoyed today, but it looks to have anche a very bright future ahead of it.

agavin: The server recommended this, and as I’ve never had an aged Verdicchio before I really wanted to try it. Very interesting and aromatic with a touch of oxidation and a nose almost like a white Burgundy. Really dry and complex.

This is also another local summer favorite, a blend of a Campari-like liquor and Prosecco.

Roman Arancini. Fried risotto.

Inside is rice, cheese, and a ragu. Really creamy and delicious.

BURRATA FROM ANDRIA WITH RAW PRAWNS TARTARE. king prawns tartare served with burrata cheese and finished
with favignana botargo curls.

Unusual but delightful combination of burrata with the raw prawn and the slight briny crunch of the botarga. Eaten in tiny mouthfuls to be savored, and an amazing pairing with the aged white wine.

PUGLIESE “BURRATA” WITH ANCHOVIES. anchovies from cantrabian sea (fished in 2014).

I haven’t generally paired burrata with fish, but it certainly worked here to showcase this even creamier version of the cheese.

FRIED ANCHOVIES. Fresch fried anchovies with pepper sauce and chilli.

A more elegant take on the classic little fried bait fish.

BUTTER AND PARMESAN. short pasta – rigatone – with echirè butter “demi-sel”, parmesan made from red cow’s milk, seasoned for 36 months and “bruna alpina” parmesan seasoned for 30th months.

My son’s favorite cheese is red cow parm, so he HAD to get this.

“LA MATRICIANA O AMATRICIANA”. bombolotto paffuto pasta tossed with san marzano dop tomatoe sauce, crispy cheek pig and romanian dop pecorino cheese.

Classic Roman. The pork was crunchy!

ANCHOVIES PASTA. home cooked fresh anchovies and egg, wild fennel, chopped tomato and toasted hazelnuts.

A slight update to Pasta con Sardo, the very unusual medieval pasta.

CHEESE AND PEPPER (CACIO E PEPE). tonnarello tossed with romanian pecorino cheese dop, “cacio” from moliterno, pecorino di fossa from sogliano del rubicone and malaisian black pepper.

Amazing pasta and nicely cheesy. Maybe not as much pepper as I might like but delicious.

“LA CARBONARA”. spaghettone pasta tossed with crispy pork cheek, malaisian black pepper, paolo parisi eggs and romanian pecorino cheese dop.

Another Roman classic. Really done to perfection. The airy porky crunch of the fried pork cheek was to die for.

chicory tossed with garlic, olive oil and chilly flakes.

Colon sweeper!

SALMON SELECTION. selection of salmons: scottish from cutherland, norwegian from vetvikja island and marinated with dill garnished with fresh lemon juice. A whole lotta lox!

ROMAN MEATBALLS. roman meatballs tossed in a rich tomato sauce garnished with smoked ricotta cheese curls and chestnuts polenta.

Really savory meatballs here. Lots of complex porky flavor and super light and fluffy. Great tomato sauce too.

Some little shortbread cookies with chocolate dipping sauce.

Overall, really really tasty food. Takes the classic fare, and for the most part neither deconstructs or reinvents it, but by using both amazing ingredients, slick execution, and lively plating, brings it up to date.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Poggibonsi – Osteria da Camillo
  2. Eating Siena – Trattoria Pepei
  3. Eating Poggibonsi – Babette
  4. Eating Tuscany – Boar at Home
  5. Eating Santa Margherita – La Paranza
By: agavin
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Game of Thrones – Episode 49

Jun12

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

Genre: Fantasy

Watched: Episode 49 – June 7, 2015

Title: The Dance of Dragons

Summary: Wow: sad and exhilarating

ANY CHARACTER HERE

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.

Jon – crunches southward toward the Black Gate, a ragtag group of Wildlings (and the giant) in tow. When he reaches the wall, he looks on, worried that Thorne won’t even open. And Ser Glower looks down from above and considers it. Not really that large a group considering the masses we saw last week — all of whom are now doing the zombie shuffle. Anyway, Throne relents and orders the gate opened. As the crew marches through into castle black, Olly gives Jon that total stink eye look and privately considers sneaking off to sharpen his dagger. Thorne just issues some dry comment, “You have a good heart Jon Snow, but someday it will get us all killed.” Sam for his part is happy to see Jon, but Jon unloads on him with a weight heavier than his hair: feeling depressed that he failed to save all of them. Sam points out the bright side. Oh, and watching the giant climb out of the tunnel and tower over everyone is awesome.

Everyone loves you Jon, you are totally misreading Olly's stinkeye

Everyone loves you Jon, you are totally misreading Olly’s stinkeye

Jaime – visits with Prince Doran in some Moorish palace. As dull as the Dorne thread is, it does have good sets. The whole noble crew is there: Ellariah Sand, Trystane, and Myrcella. Hotah looms over them. Doran, ever reasonable, asks why he “invaded” and didn’t just come and visit. He explains about the threatening message and Doran gives Ellariah a dark-eyed look. But he doesn’t want war so he drinks to Tommen, but Ellariah pours hers on the floor. Doran ignores it and suggests that Trystane and Myrcella go back to King’s Landing, but that young Trystane take Oberyn’s spot on the Small Council — essentially backing out of Dorne fast. Ellariah trades insults and Doran warns her that she walks on thin ice. Jaime is very thankful and asks about Bronn. Trystane says the sellsword can go free, but with one condition.

So speaking of our amusing mercenary, he’s watching the Sand Snakes play some kind of ridiculous slapping version of patty cake that devolves into a cat fight. Then Hotah comes to drag him upstairs and he gets one final chance to tell Tyrene she is the hottest babe in the world. Upstairs in the throne room he is set free, but discovers that “the condition” is that Hotah elbows him across the jaw hard (paying back Trystane). Well, Bronn’s probably had worse.

Later, Doran tells Ellariah that her rebellion is over and that she must swear allegiance or die. She wrestles with it, then kneels and swears. You have to wonder if she is sincere, and so perhaps does Doran because he tells her that he believes in second chances, but not thirds. Next, she goes and visits Jaime in a rather odd scene in which she is quiet cordial, although there is a line of hardness under it. She tells him she knows all about the incest, but emphasizes that “we don’t chose whom we love” thread that resonates with Jaime. He of course neither confirms nor denies the charges. Ellariah goes on to say that Myrcella, and perhaps he, had nothing to do with Oberyn’s death. I’m not thinking she’s let that one go entirely.

One big happy family

One big happy family

Arya – The most deadly Stark cruises the harbor with her oyster cart gunning for the thin man. As luck would have it, he orders up some oysters, but before Arya can slip him the special vinegar he gaze is distracted by a Lannister sail in the harbor and by Mac Tyrell and more importantly, Meryn Trant disembarking. Mace continues his brand of broad comedy as he is met by a representative of the Iron Bank. Which leads me to wonder why they do meet him instead of treating him to a few hours in the lobby like Stannis. Anyway, Arya totally ignores the thin man and sucks after Meryn (and Mace). They go visit the bank. She watches and waits. When they come out, Mace continues his comedy routine with a silly song. Arya follows Meryn into the evening as he seeks out a brothel. She follows him inside, hawking her wares. GOT sure loves a brothel scene, although this one has no nudity. Meryn is set up not only as the Sansa-beating thug from earlier seasons, but as a pedophile and all around ass. he bags on the Tyrells, he won’t treat his men. He keeps demanding younger and younger girls until the nervous madame drags one in from the kitchen or wherever. He even asks for a new one for the next night, setting up Arya with both motive and means to take him out. Alas, that waits for next week as she retreats to the House of Black & White where she lies to Jaqen about the status of her thin man assignment. He presumably sees through this, as he is the guy who always knows when a girl is lying, but we’ll have to wait to see what happens.

Why is no one surrounded by Arya Stark's things?

Why is no one surrounded by Arya Stark’s things?

Stannis – The Red Lady Melisandre looks over the snowy camp as tents burst into flame. Burning men and horses run from the conflagration. Ramsay of course, which is confirmed in the morning as Davos reports the damage. 20 men (sound familiar) have snuck in, torched the food and horses. Now they are in a really serious pickle.

Later, Stannis examines his game board. The king orders Davos back to castle black to secure more supplies. Total setup to leave him alone with his “difficult decision” visa via Shireen. Davos might know something is up, but it’s hard to tell. he protests (as usual) but is overruled. He walks past the men (in bad shape) to visit Shireen, in what is a touching little scene. They discuss the book she is reading, A Dance of Dragons! He gives her a carved wooden stag (the one he was working on an episode or two ago) and promises her to make it a pair. They have nice chemistry as usual.

Yeah, yeah, get all sappy before you throw the match on the pyre

Yeah, yeah, get all sappy before you throw the match on the pyre

Next Stannis visits her too. She is reading the same book and they have an oblique exchange (at least for her). Essentially, he is seeking her permission for serving her up to his destiny and she provides it, without knowing what it is she is supporting. Kind of sad really. He even apologizes, of course she has no idea what for until guards grab her outside and drag her to the handy dandy stake and Melisandre’s not so tender mercies. She screams and swerves. Wisely the camera leaves her at this point focusing on Stannis and his wife. At first lady Stannis is all gung ho burn the girl, but once the screaming starts she breaks and runs for Shireen only to be stopped in the snow. The screams amplify and it’s really tough to watch as they go on and on and the camera focuses on Stannis’ grim and determined face. Yeah, we had almost started to like him, but alas, there is no coming back from this bit of nastiness.

GRRM seems to have confirmed that Shireen’s terrible death happens (or will happen) in the books too, but there as there is only Davos’ point of view, and I can’t even remember if he was there, it likely doesn’t hold the same emotional impact, particularly given how much the show has invested in making her a likely character.

Not the face you want to see as your last

Not the face you want to see when getting dragged to a stake

Dany – Straight into the giant fighting pit, which is a serious upgrade from the “baby pit” of two weeks ago. In fact, it looks pretty much like a giant bull fighting ring in Seville. I wonder why. Oh, and crossed with the Colosseum in Rome as it has the big awnings (seen in Gladiator). But for TV this looks great. Arguably better than the aforementioned Russel Crowe movie. Lots of CGI and real crowds. Dany has a big box with Tyrion, Dario, and Missandei. Hizdahr (her annoying betrothed) is late, which is suspicious. Hiss for Hizdahr.

Best CGI on TV

Best CGI on TV

The MC comes out, announces the first pair, a big man and a quick man, and Dany is forced to clap them into action after the traditional salute. She clearly isn’t a fan and neither is Tyrion. Anyway, this first fight is background color to the conversation. Dario and Hizdahr take the pro side of the argument, but they use it to measure up their manhoods. But like every line of dialog in this show (which is carefully written and edited) they all have their purposes. In this case putting Tyrion and Dany on the side that moderns identify as “good” and showing that Hizdahr is an old fashioned ass. But the truth is there is also a complex and morally ambiguous point here in historical context. When is violence necessary? Do means justify the ends?

Good thing this marriage will never be consumated

Good thing this marriage will never be consumated

Someone die. 5-6 more gladiators come out and swear. One is Jorah.

We knew this was coming, but it’s a morally complex issue for Dany, personal this time and not so abstract. She could stop the fight. And she cares for Jorah, but she has exiled him twice and he keeps coming back. Anyway, he takes a beating but keeps winning. Then at the end, he chucks a spear apparently right at Dany, but no, it’s a Son of the Harpy. And there are more, dozens, maybe hundreds all over the arena. They start slaughtering the populace (not sure why) and gunning for Dany. Dario tries to protect her, and grey worm, and Jorah climbs up and helps save her, winning a hand grasp and redemption (is he contagious?). Tyrion is nearly killed. Mis and Dany escape with the men and he follows. Hizdahr takes a knife in the gut. They set him up as maybe a Harpy. They set him up as a jerk. No wonder he gets stabbed (and maybe killed).

Uh, oh!

Uh, oh!

The Dany group tries to run one way, but more Harpies pour in, then are encircled in the center of the arena. This part looks great and is well done. The Harpies are a bit timid, and while they outnumber the royalists they are poorly armed. Dario, Jorah, Grey Worm, and various Unsullied killed lots of them as they press in, and it’s a slow thing, but the outcome is clear, certainly to Dnay and Tyrion. She takes Missandei’s hand and closes her eyes. Then with a reptilian screen and a burst of flame Drogon appears out of nowhere (summoned by her stress?). He looks awesome as he circles the arena and lands. He then bites, shreds, and fireballs Harpies. Drogon himself looks great, but his flaming is a little staid and he only hits a few at once. This scene, like last week’s zombie attack, is as good as any ever shot for TV, but it still doesn’t have the budget per minute of a big feature film. It would have been cooler if Drogon circled again and fricasseed hige swathes of Harpies. Bit it’s still great. They start pelting him with spears and piss him off. Dany yanks one out and he howls at her, but then recognizes her and turns soft. She climbs up his back (which looks a little) fake and yells “fly” in Valayrian. He builds up speed and the two of them take to the air, leaving slack jawed Tyrion, Jorah, Dario, etc starring.

A face only a mother could love!

A face only a mother could love!

A few effects flaws aside this scene brought geeky tears to my eyes, even on the second watch. It was both epic and had the proper emotional effect. Check it out yourself if you haven’t:

All in all, a solidly awesome episode. We have Arya. We have emotional awfulness in the north. The Dorne bit was as good as the Dorne bits have been (which isn’t so great). And most importantly we had pure combat and dragon awesomeness at the end.

Hard to say if this was even better than Hard Home!

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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]

HBO’s official inside the episode videos:

Related posts:

  1. Game of Thrones – Episode 45
  2. Game of Thrones – Episode 36
  3. Game of Thrones – Episode 44
  4. Game of Thrones – Episode 46
  5. Game of Thrones – Episode 31
By: agavin
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Bazaar Treats

Jun09

Restaurant: The Bazaar [1, 2, 3]

Location: 465 S La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048. 310.246.5555

Date: May 23, 2015

Cuisine: Spanish influenced Molecular Gastronomy

Rating: Awesome, one of LA’s best places.

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I’m like a José Andrés groupie. I’ve been to every possible variant of his restaurants in LA, Vegas, and many in Washington. I covered some introduction to The Bazaar in a previous review, but it’d been three years so I figured it was time for a third review.

The current dinner menu can be found here.


But we decided to do the $100 tasting menu (+ a few supplements for our less meat inclined diner). Back when the Bazaar opened the tasting menu was cheaper and smaller, but this one is pretty huge and a great deal as you get to taste nearly every classic on the menu.

There were 4 of us and the Bazaar’s food is so all over the places as far as pairings go, that I decided to open two Spanish wines simultaneously, a white and a red, and leave them both in front of everyone (two glasses).

From my cellar: 2011 Raul Pérez Rías Baixas Muti. 90 points. Fresh citrus…lemon, lime, grapefruit tinged w/floral notes. Razor sharp base minerality punctuated with clean even finish.

From my cellar: 1973 Bodegas Olarra Rioja Gran Reserva. 92 points. A touch of oxidation, cedar, sweet strawberry and some oak. Elegant even if this is not totally focused. Clearly shows younger than its age.
The oak is very well integrated. Very nice.

Sweet potato chips, yogurt, tamarind, star anise. The crisp chips are used to scoop up the fluffy cool yogurt, which has a pleasing fruit tang.

Spanish olives, traditional and modern. Classic olives with pimentos and anchovy (back). This is followed (on the right) by “Spanish olives, modern.” Pureed olive has been “sphereized.” The flavor is basically the same, but these pop in your mouth to deliver a concentrated burst of olive.

A close up of the traditional, as you can’t see them that well in the first photo.

Bagel and Lox Cone. There is actually one in front that is tomato instead. The remainder of them are salmon roe with creme fraiche or cream cheese in the cone. Always a delightful little bite.

Baby beets, citrus, pistachio, goat cheese, pop rocks. A nice variant on what has become an LA classic. It actually crackles in your mouth.

Mushroom carpaccio, hazelnuts. A Saam dish that has moved over, a vinegary mushroom take on the thin sliced meat.

Pa’amb Tomaquet. Catalan style toasted bread, tomato.

Jamon Iberico. Traditional Spanish ham.

These two are combined into a yummy open faced sandwich.

Little Neck Clams. Market Pearl Onions, Cava Dressing. Very heavily marinated and quite lovely.

King Crab Can. Raspberries, Raspberry Vinegar. An unusual sweet and salty combination.

Not your everyday caprese, cherry tomatoes, liquid mozzarella. This is a near perfect deconstruction of the caprese. The mozzarella balls explode in your mouth, and pair great with the pesto and the little crunchy crackers.

Stuffed Piquillo Peppers. Capriola Farm goat cheese.

Market Fish Ceviche and Avocado Roll. Jicama, Micro Cilantro, Coconut Dressing. Sort of a catapiller version of the usual tuna/avocado tower.

Sauteed Shrimp. Garlic, Guindilla pepper. In Spain usually called Gambas pilpil. Basically shrimp boiled (fried?) in olive oil and garlic. These were very typical of what I must have had 30 times in southern Spain. The quality of the shrimp here was higher than is often the case at cheap places in Spain.

Sautéed cauliflower “couscous”. Cauliflower purée, harissa, lemon, crispy quinoa. A little bland.

Papas Canarias. Salty Wrinkled Potatoes, Mojo Verde. The potatoes are very salty and you dip them in that slurry of parsley, cilantro, olive oil, and lemon juice. Really tasty.

Ensaladilla Rusa. Potatoes, Carrots, Mayo, Tuna Belly. Like a high end tuna salad. Lots of mayo!

Grilled Spanish Octopus. Caramelized Onions, Chicken Escabeche, Tomatoes. Super tender, one of the best grilled octopus dishes I’ve had.

Croquetas de Pollo. Chicken and Béchamel Fritters. Super hot and gooey inside. Nice.

Catalan Spinach. Apple, pine nuts, raisons. Sweet.

Seared Wagyu Flank Steak.  Piquillo Pepper Spheres. Meaty.
Loup de Mer. celery root puree, grapefruit, seabeans. Nice and crispy.

Braised Wagyu Beef Checks. Mojo Rojo, Roasted Potatoes. The meat here is so rich and soft you could cut it with your tongue.

Wild Mushroom Rice. Idiazabal Cheese. A very nice cheesy risotto.

The deconstructed Philly cheese steak is one of my favorites. The “air bread” is super crispy with liquid cheddar. the beef is wagyu. On the right is The vegetarians got this “Hilly cheese steak” with mushroom instead of beef. Same cheese. Last year, at a catered event at the SLS I ate over 20 of the cheesesteaks!!

Traditional Spanish Flan. Vanilla and Citrus. I’m a huge flan fan and this Spanish classic didn’t disappoint. Great citrus notes.

Pan con Chocolate. Chocolate Flan with caramelized bread, olive oil, brioche ice cream. Great, just small.


A sort of vanilla cream version, with some crunchy meringue.

A chocolate pistachio “cake.” These tartufo (not frozen) like balls were really quite something to look at, and tasted great too.

Passionfruit mango chocolate “cake.” Delicious.

No other restaurant in LA has the combination of ultra modern chic and whimsical playfulness that The Bazaar does — plus everything tastes great and you get to experience an great melange of flavors in one meal. If you haven’t been, or haven’t been recently, I think the big ($100) set menu is a great way to go. There are a lot of dishes and it’s probably less than ordering them all ala carte.

I’ve also been to Saam, the fixed menu back room three times. Overall, I like the front room a tad better. Saam is great, particularly the first time you go, but they don’t change it up that often. Here in front you can really control what you get, and the prices are more reasonable and the atmosphere more playful.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for a full swath of all my José Andrés restaurant reviews, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Back to the Bazaar
  2. Son of Saam – Actually more Bazaar
  3. Food as Art: The Bazaar
  4. Saam I am again
  5. Quick Eats – Bar Pinxto
By: agavin
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Saint Martha Modern

Jun07

Restaurant: Saint Martha

Location: 740 Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90005. (213) 387-2300

Date: May 29, 2015

Cuisine: Modern American

Rating: Really savory

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I’ve been wanting to try Saint Martha since it opened, having heard really good things about it.

The tiny frontage in a random Koreatown minimall.

There is a little chef’s counter and behind the camera the small table space.

The menu.

2002 Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne Brut Cuvée Palmes d’Or. VM 92. Vivid yellow-gold. Ripe orchard and pit fruits complicated by flowers, smoke and spices on the nose and palate. Broad and fleshy but lively as well, with gentle acidity adding back-end lift and cut. Spreads out very nicely on the leesy finish, which hangs on with strong toasty persistence. This hefty Champagne could handle the richest foods.

Fried mussel with saffron. A deconstructed fried moulles.

Hamachi nuoc cham, tiny green things and crispy rice cracker. Small but delicious with bright flavors.

Juniper cured salmon with smoked goat cheese, pickle and everything bagel churro. Really yummy take on salmon.

Uni “tataki” with avocado mousse, serrano, hearts of palm and seaweed doritos. Delicious briny bite.

From my cellar: 2002 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clavoillon. VM 90. Complex, precise aromas of apricot, mirabelle , honey and smoke. Silky, fat and full if quite dry; considerably richer than the young 2003, with sound framing acidity. Finishes very long, with a subtle whiplash of flavor. This has filled in quite nicely since I tasted it from barrel last spring.

agavin: needed a little time to open, and a touch of reductive funk. Delicious, but not as good as the previous bottle I opened.

Chicken liver mousse with mushroom, hazelnut praline, pickled blueberries and toast. Tasted like holiday dinner chicken liver mixed with Nutella! Rich and delicious.

The toast for the liver.

Octopus with koshihikari rice, sauce nero, lardo and espelette. Really nice light octopus bite.

Crab and sake cream “okonomiyaki”. I used to get these all the time in Japan. This was definitely taken up a notch.

2010 Domaine Roulot Meursault 1er Cru Les Poruzots. Burghound 92. There is a hint of exotic fruit to the expressive nose of dried apricot, white peach and pineapple hints. There is outstanding size, weight and muscle to the overtly powerful middle weight plus flavors that possess a lemon character on the lightly mineral-infused finish that delivers terrific complexity. As is typical for this wine, it’s no model of finesse but it certainly delivers excellent depth and plenty of development potential.

agavin: Fresh and highly reductive, this was drinking great. It might close down soon, but was certainly highly enjoyable young great white Burg.

Beets with avocado, curry-almond streusel and coriander. Sweet, almost like a beet dessert. Really good though with a great interplay of textures. The beet was sorbet like constancy and texture.


Mixed baby carrots with coconut, tamarind sriracha and puffed amaranth. A bit of a kick. Delicious combo and cold smoothness of the coconut (ice cream?).

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: A little advanced, as there were oxidative notes, but drinking great right now.

Chicken skin granola with spiced date jam, sunchoke, parsnip milk and frozen foie gras.

He adds the parsnip milk.

Then shaves foie on! The whole thing tasted like granola cereal. It was weird how much it did.

Japanese sweet potato tempura with lime cream, chili and crushed peanuts. Great little bit of sweet fry.

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: like delicious cherry soda.

Yellowtail collar. Super super and flavorful.

Brassicas with brewer’s yeast broth, mushroom and egg.


Bread to dip in it. This wasn’t the easiest dish to split!

Scallop steamed in smoked kombu with braised kohlrabi, enoki and brown butter dashi. Yum!

Whole Thai snapper that was cooked with all these aromatic leaves.

The chef brought of the fish to show us.

Thai snapper with black puddling broth. This was a delicious fish. Smoky and full of flavor and the broth was amazing. I even loved the blood sausage.

1985 Domaine Jean Grivot Echezeaux. agavin 91. A little leaner than the 93 above, but still lots of bright cherry action going on.

Pecan wood smoked brisket with lettuce, carrot, daikon and chili-hoisin. Soft, fatty and A LOT of flavor.

Fried chicken thigh with snails, acorn spaetzle and parsley garlic sauce. Super tender chicken.

Braised pork belly with eggplant parmesan, grits, rapini and manchamantel. Decadent!

From my cellar: 1990 Royal Tokaji Wine Co. Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos Betsek. 93 points. Like mostly sweet raison juice. A very enjoyable oxidative quality too, like a sweeter mid sweet sherry.

Passion fruit. This was an amazing dessert. Interesting texture and temperature plays too.

Strawberry. More great texture plays. This tasted great too, like some soft strawberry cobbler.

PB&J. A sort of take on the classic with peanut butter and strawberry inc cream, brioche, and chocolate crackles.

Shortbread cookies. Really nice ones out of some odd grain.

Overall I was super impressed with Saint Martha. This is some really inventive cooking. Every dish worked to some degree and 80% of them were fabulous. Great textural playfulness, and bright bright flavors with a good amount of subtle Vietnamese influence too. But very modern American. Nick Erven is an extremely talented chef. Service was first rate too and it had a fun and lively vibe.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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By: agavin
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Hannosuke Tempura

Jun04

Restaurant: Hannosuke

Location: 3760 S Centinela Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90066. (310) 397-4676

Date: March 9, 2015 & February 26, 2016

Cuisine: Japanese Tempura

Rating: Darn good fried stuff

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Inside the Mitsuwa Japanese marketplace in Mar Vista is a little mini Japanese food court. I’ve been in the supermarket, but not in a long time, and I guess the food court is either new (10 years new) or I didn’t notice it back then.


You can see the whole swath of the store.


Hannosuke is famous for its tempura bowls. For those that don’t know, tempura is egg fried battered stuff. A technique brought to Japan by the Portuguese in the 17th century, but perfected by the Japanese.


Here is some verbiage about the place.


And the simple menu.


I ordered the deluxe #2. It includes the giant fried chunk of Anago, which is a rare and delicious specialty.


Here is the whole plate, plus two extra shrimp.


Miso soup. The usual.


#2 tempura bowl. Fried shrimp, conger eel, shisito pepper, seaweed, some boiled egg, and kakiage. The tempura is perfectly crispy/soggy, a specialty of this type. The sauce is pre-applied here. The kakiage was an odd mix of shrimp and vegetables, but was delicious. The anago (eel) was rich and flaky. All sorts of fried goodness. The seaweed had a nice crunch.


Giant shrimp. Two of the classics. Pretty much as good as this gets.
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Extra eel and kakiage (it’s so good!).
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Hot buckwheat soba.
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Cold buckwheat soba.

Over at a different place I grabbed this sweet custard.


It was fine but a little heavy. There was some loose “caramel” underneath.


They also had this oddball. I should try it. Spicy curry donut!  UPDATE: tried one a couple weeks later. It’s not really sweet, but basically a bread filled with Japanese curry. Kinda odd.


And some of the other plastic foods at the other places in here. Typical bowls of udon/soba curry, etc.


And more.


And a ramen joint.

All in all, this is some great tempura, and I have to come back and try some udon or curry noodles too. Fun little “mini Japan” not far from our official Sawtelle Japantown.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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  1. Cheesy Pork Cutlet
By: agavin
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Sauvages in the Forest

Jun03

Restaurant: John Gerber [1, 2, 3]

Location: Flintridge

Date: May 22, 2015

Cuisine: New American

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Today’s Sauvages lunch is a lunch in honor of  late Co-Poobah Steve Levin. It’s graciously hosted by Paul at at his beautiful home in Flintridge. This event is held outdoors in memory of the Zinfandel barbecues that Steve would hold for our group every summer at his home (it being Paul’s idea to maintain this fine tradition). To that end, we always enjoy a few Zinfandels at this lunch in addition to the theme wines for the lunch. The annual lunches at Paul’s home always rate very high on the scales for ambiance, camaraderie and food quality.

The main wine theme:  This year, as it has been the past few years for our lunch at Paul’s, our primary wine theme will be “Grenaches of the World”, in this case from the 2006 and older vintages (the older the better).  Just to be clear, “Grenaches of the World” means any Grenache or Grenache-based blend (at least 60-70% Grenache), as long as it is rated 93+ by a reputable critic, and is from the 2006 or older vintage.  Grenache-based wines from Australia, California, Washington, Priorat, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Sardinia (called Cannonau) or any other parts of the world are fair game as long as the wine has a qualifying score.


This California style building isn’t the house itself, but the amazing top of the integrated cellar.

2012 Progeny Mount Veeder Trinity Blanc. Interesting blend of Roussanne and Marsanne.

Inside the upper level of the cellar where staging occurred.

The backyard.

2003 Brewer-Clifton Chardonnay Ashley’s Vineyard. VM 91. Medium yellow. Smoky, lower-toned nose offers dried fruits, baking spices and leesy traces. Superconcentrated and creamy but with bright acids leavening the wine’s sweetness. The broadest and longest of this set of chardonnays on the back end, but finishes with a slight youthful aggressiveness.

agavin: Golden yellow, quite enjoyable, but by Burgundy standards oxidized for its age and not going to last much longer.

Grilled crab claws with avocado mouse.

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.

Grilled peaches wrapped in prosciutto with gorgonzola.

The pool patio where we dined.

On the left is our chef, John Gerber, formerly of the French Laundry! On the right is our host Paul.

A lot of the food used the wood burning oven.
Today’s menu.

Flight 1:


2003 Pierre Usseglio Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de Mon Aieul. Parker 97. Deep, layered and rich, the 2003 Domaine Pierre Usseglio & Fils Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de mon Aieul is comprised almost all of Grenache and always comes from three lieux-dits: La Crau, Guigasse and Les Serres. Aged all in tank and showing none of the negative traits of the vintage, it has a rich, meaty bouquet of semi-mature red and black fruits, wild herbs, melted licorice, dusty minerality and roasted beef. Full-bodied, gorgeously pure and seamless, with solid underlying structure and a core of sweet fruit, it is a brilliant wine. I don’t see any upside to holding bottles, yet given the balance, richness and mid-palate depth, it should continue to hold for another 5-8 years and certainly drink nicely well past that.

2001 Domaine de la Mordoree Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de la Reine des Bois. Parker 100. More youthful and backwards, the 2001 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de La Reine des Bois has been incredibly consistent for me and always comes in near the top of the scale. Black raspberry, blackberry, wood smoke, licorice, crushed rock-like minerality and smoked beef are just some of the nuances here, and it hits the palate with serious levels of fruit, thrilling structure and blockbuster length. It still needs another handful of years to hit full maturity, but its off-the-hook good today (assuming you’re not completely against tannin).

2001 Pierre Usseglio Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Deux Freres. Parker 99. The 2001 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Deux Freres elicits “wows”. Aged 60% in neutral wood foudres and 40% in one, two, and three-year old Burgundy barrels, this 2001, which tips the scales at an awesome 16.2% natural alcohol, boasts an inky/purple color along with a sensationally pure bouquet of blackberries, graphite, acacia flowers, licorice, and sweet kirsch liqueur. Unctuously textured and full-bodied, with high tannin as well as a closed personality, this prodigious yet fabulous Chateauneuf du Pape is a potential legend in the making. It requires 3-5 years of cellaring, and should keep for two decades. The texture, purity, and magnificent concentration suggest tiny yields, old vines, and non-interventionalistic winemaking. By the way, this wine represents a selection of the finest lots in the cellar as the sources are the same as for the Cuvee de Mon Aieul, although a large component of Deux Freres is from the Usseglio holdings in the sector of Chateauneuf du Pape called La Crau. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2022+.

2000 Pierre Usseglio Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de Mon Aieul. Parker 95. The profound 2000 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de Mon Aieul (85% Grenache and the rest equal parts Syrah, Mourvedre, and Cinsault) tips the scales at 15% alcohol. From an old vineyard and cropped at 15 hectoliters per hectare, and aged only in foudre, it boasts a dense purple color in addition to an exquisite nose of violets, minerals, blueberries and blackberries. Pure and concentrated, but atypically tannic, it requires considerable aging as it is one of the vintage’s more backward, broodingly powerful efforts.

Wood Oven Roasted Clams. Saffron Gnocchi, Chorizo, Peas, Charred Scallions and Grilled Bread. A very lovely partially deconstructed bouillabaisse.

Flight 2:


2003 Domaine du Pegau Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Reservee. Parker 98. Starting with the 2003 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Reserve, this wine showed spectacularly on release, closed down for a few years, and has now emerged, at close to full maturity, and is straight-up fabulous. Out of the entire tasting, it remained my favorite. Giving up gorgeous blackberry, currants, garrigue, pepper and beef blood, it hits the palate with a massive, full-bodied texture that carries layers of sweet fruit, awesome concentration and blockbuster length. Tasting like the essence of both this estate and the terroir, it’s an incredible wine that I’m happy to taste/drink anytime. It will continue to evolve gracefully, but I see no reason to delay gratification.

2004 Les Bosquet des Papes Chateauneuf du Pape A la Gloire de Mon Grandpere. Parker 91. Almost all Grenache (98%), the 2004 Chateauneuf du Pape a la Gloire de Mon Grand-Pere comes from the Gardiole lieu-dit and was aged 12-18 months in concrete tank, foudre and demi-muids. Sweeter and more feminine in style compared to the traditional cuvee, it offers loads of baking spices, cinnamon, dried garrigue and sweet Grenache fruit to go with a medium to full-bodied, supple and pure profile on the palate. Rich (especially in the vintage) and nicely balanced, it’s a joy to drink and makes the most of the vintage. Enjoy it over the coming couple of years as well.

2000 Clos des Papes Chateauneuf du Pape. Parker 95. The 2000 Chateauneuf du Pape reveals 14.6% alcohol, and is stylistically similar to the great 1990. The 2000 is open-knit and fat, with higher levels of glycerin as well as a more corpulent style than the structured, backward 2001. A deep ruby/purple color is followed by sweet, black cherry/kirsch liqueur-like notes presented in a voluptuous, full-throttle, intense style. It is already revealing such secondary nuances as pepper, garrigue, and truffles. Chewy, full-bodied, and moderately tannic, this cuvee is accessible, but not ready to drink. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2025.

Grilled Sonoma Duck Breast. Confit Crepe, Mole, Pickled Cherry. A stunning bit of duck breast accompanied by a stunning smokey “chipotle” sauce. The crepe was even better if possible.

Flight 3:


2000 Chateau Rayas Chateauneuf du Pape. Parker 93. The 2000 Rayas Chateauneuf du Pape, which Emmanuel Reynaud believes is better than 1998, came in at a whopping 15.2% alcohol. It is reminiscent of a hypothetical blend of the 1998 and 1999, with a medium to light ruby color, and a sumptuous bouquet of kirsch liqueur, spice box, and licorice. Full-bodied and fleshy, with low acidity, it is a sweet (from high glycerin and alcohol), seductive, intoxicating offering with no hard edges and a rich, fleshy mouthfeel. While it will be hard to resist, I feel the 1998 still has more structure. Anticipated maturity for the 2000: 2005-2016.

From my cellar: 1998 Chateau Rayas Chateauneuf du Pape. Parker 94-96. There is no doubting the extraordinary depth and layers of flavor the 1998 Rayas Chateauneuf du Pape contains. The color is medium to deep ruby, and the bouquet offers aromas of ripe strawberry and cherry candy, with kirsch liqueur thrown in for additional interest. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied and fat, with high levels of sweet fruit, a velvety texture, multiple dimensions, and an explosive finish. It is an undeniably sexy, compelling Rayas that is already performing exceptionally well, despite having been bottled only a few months ago. There are several thousand additional bottles available for the world’s market. My best guess is that this voluptuous, sexy Rayas should drink well young, yet age easily for 15-16 years. Do not be surprised to see it put on considerable weight over the next few years.

1998 Domaine du Pegau Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Reservee. Parker 95. The 1998 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Reserve showed the warmth and richness of the vintage, with knockout kirsch and blackberry fruit, garrigue, game and leather aromas and flavors that literally come jumping from the glass. Full-bodied, rich, textured and beautifully focused, if not still structured, it’s a rock-star to drink through 2020 or so.

Grilled Wild Boar stuffed Morels. Fiddlehead Ferns, favas with red wine farrotto and ramp pesto. I’ve never had these before, morels stuffed with boar mousse! Really pretty amazing.

Just so you can see the inside. Sous bois like crazy.

Flight 4:


2001 Clos Erasmus. Parker 98. A wine of great intensity, this 415-case blend of 78% Grenache, 17% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Syrah aged in 100% new French oak casks, reveals an inky/purple color as well as a tight but promising bouquet of acacia flowers, raspberries, blackberries, and hints of blueberries, smoke, and the essence of minerality. With extraordinary richness, good underlying acidity, firm tannin, and a multilayered mouthfeel, this spectacularly concentrated 2001 is only hinting at its ultimate potential. Patience will be rewarded as this is a tour de force in winemaking, marrying the elegance and complexity of Priorat with the extraordinary concentration and intensity that comes from low yields and ripe fruit. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2020+.

2001 Alvaro Palacios Priorat L’Ermita. VM 95+. old-vines garnacha with a bit of cabernet from the Dofi vineyard added to bring more structure) Bright ruby-red. Discreet but nuanced nose hints at black fruits and flowers; quite subdued today. Then explosive in the mouth: huge, suave, deep and layered, with powerful yet somewhat cool black fruit, mineral and graphite flavors. This really expands to fill the mouth. Wonderfully concentrated wine that’s not at all heavy. Finishes very broad and rich, with noble tannins and great persistence. Still a baby, and likely to merit an even higher score six or eight years down the road.

1998 Clos Erasmus. Parker 99. The spectacular 1998 flirts with perfection. A saturated opaque blue/purple color is not dissimilar from ink. Dazzling aromas of ripe, pure blackberries, violets, blueberries, wet stones, and smoky, toasty oak soar from the glass. Powerful, with an unctuous texture, and super-extracted, rich, concentrated flavors, this blockbuster effort boasts extravagant quantities of fruit, glycerin, extract, tannin, and personality. The wine displays a firm, structured edge, but a viscous texture from super concentration gives it immediate accessibility. This 1998 should hit its plateau of maturity in 7-8 years, and is a strong candidate for 20-30 years of aging. It is a winemaking tour de force.

1999 Clos Erasmus. Parker 93. The 1999 Clos Erasmus, a blend of 65% Grenache, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 15% Syrah aged in 100% new French oak, was fashioned from yields of only one ton of fruit per acre. Its dark ruby/purple color is followed by an elegant perfume of pure, sweet black raspberries, currants, creosote, and minerals. It reveals complex flavors, tremendous purity, and a long finish with no hard edges. Drink it now and over the next 12-15 years.

The lamb grilling on the BBQ.

Rotisserie Leg of Lamb. Fennel, potatoes, spring porcini, and olives. Have a bit of lamb!

Flight 5:


2001 Alban Vineyards Grenache. Parker 92. The 2001 Grenache (an 800 six-pack blend of 80% Grenache and 20% Syrah) exhibits an opaque blue/purple color in addition to peppery, kirsch, raspberry, and blackberry aromas and flavors. With a viscous texture, medium to full body, and a gorgeous up-front style, it begs to be drunk over the next decade.

2001 Linne Calodo Sticks and Stones. Parker 95. The extraordinary 2001 Sticks and Stones (a blend of 60% Grenache, 30% Mourvedre, and 10% Syrah) tastes like an old style of Rayas, or the renowned Chateau Lafleur from Pomerol. I know that sounds ridiculous, but those were the two wines that came to mind when I smelled and tasted this wine. It’s pure cherry liqueur with notions of raspberries, flowers, and minerals in the background. This deep ruby/purple-colored Rhone Ranger simply blew me away. With gorgeous texture, purity, perfume, and fruit presence, it has enormous amounts of both soul and personality. Enjoy it over the next 5-6 years.

2006 Sine Qua Non Raven Series (Grenache). Parker 98. 2006 Ravens Series (# 6 and 7 Grenache): This blend of 90% Grenache and 10% Syrah, largely from the 11 Confessions Vineyard, with a small amount from Bien Nacido, spent 21 months in barrel. It is really strutting its stuff now, and showing even better than my original note predicted in August of 2009. The wine has loads of meat, licorice, smoke, charcoal and graphite, as well as huge peppery, blackberry and black cherry notes. Full-bodied, with great acidity, nicely integrated tannin, an admirable mouthfeel and tremendous length, this killer Grenache is still young and probably 3-5 years away from prime time drinking.

2013 Progeny Winery Grenache. 94 points. Tasted from a barrel sample. This was just yummy – candied fruits, spicy, reminds me of a slightly softer form of the SQN version (not a meal in a glass) but oh so wonderful. Still quite a bit of tannin and still very young. Might never make it to being a wine that’s produced, but I very much hope it is as it was just delicious.

Cheese plate. Point Reyes Blue, California. Noord Hollander, Holland. Heublumen, Switzerland. Somehow skipping France!

Flight 6:


1979 Joseph Swan Vineyards Zinfandel Sonoma County. 88 points. Had a light garnet core fading into a tawny colored rim with oranges hues. Fdruit aromas and flavors included dried cherries, black and red currants, plums and a touch of citrus; secondary aromas and flavors included baking spices, brown sugar, dried herbs, touch of old leather. This wine had bright acidity and a fresh character, was enjoyable however the finish was shorter than expected and appeared to be declining.

1980 Ridge Geyserville. 91 points. Pretty red raspberry nose. Medium bodied with medium+ acidity. Mix of tart and ripe raspberry fruit sprinkled with cinnamon. Tasty, great acidity.

1995 Ravenswood Zinfandel Dickerson. 87 points. Dark fruit, smoke, and light spice. Medium-full body.

1993 Turley Zinfandel Aida Vineyard. 90 points. Layers of flavors, mostly blackberry, but with a very peppery overtone.

My scribbled thoughts on the wines.

Overall, a delicious afternoon — food and wine both! As a Burgundy nut, a often forget all the Châteauneuf-du-Pape in my cellar, but it’s really great stuff — and so consistent. Grenache is a nice grape, if a powerhouse. Even the Zins were enjoyable. We didn’t have a mediocre wine today, just good and great ones.

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By: agavin
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Game of Thrones – Episode 48

Jun01

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

Genre: Fantasy

Watched: Episode 48 – May 31, 2015

Title: Hardhome

Summary: Zombie attack!

ANY CHARACTER HERE

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.

Dany – entertains Ty and Jorah in you guessed it, her favorite, the throne room. And thus begins some first rate work by the ever excellent Mr. Dinklage. Dany is trying to tease out this new opportunity. A chance to string up an enemy? Or, as he offers, a new advisor to fill the roll vacated by Barristan and Jorah (even if he is in the room). Having perked up from his post murder funk, launches into an enthusiastic self sell. Dany puts him in the difficult spot of advising on what to do with Jorah (right in front of him) and Ty, using that perceptivity he (and the writers) are well known for, does what he does best, telling the truth as he sees it. He sings Jorah’s praises at the same time convincing Dany that she out to exile the poor guy again. So for a second time the (newly) old bear is given the boot and stuck back on the original GRRM track. He notes his grayscaled arm, decides he has little to lose, and marches right over to the gladiator boss to sell himself as the new great pit champion. Why he thinks showing off in the arena will win Dany back is anyone’s guess, or maybe he just hopes to die fighting where he can make her feel guilty.

Tyrion-and-Daenerys-in-her-throne-room-Official-HBO

Back in the lego throne room

Meanwhile, Ty and Dany sup in her second favorite set, the bedroom. Ty, long deprived of his favorite beverage pounds back the wine They bond over they’re shared shitty fathers. Tyrion does an amazing job with his little speeches and comes off perceptive as usual. Dany feels a bit more like the innocent girl. He talks about the different houses, weighing this one and that for what advantage it might yield her, and she retorts with her “I’m not going to stop the wheel, I’m going to break it” line that we’ve heard 1000 times on the previews. Interesting how these quotes are almost always in a slightly different context in the show itself. But Ty does his job and she takes him on as advisor, although not without getting a good joke in (about his drinking).

This dining scene was one of those awesome typically GOT banter scenes that rocked, much like Ty and Varys, or Olena and Tywin, etc.

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This is the nicest chair Ty has sat on since Joff’s wedding night

Arya – is in the House of Black & White practicing her lies. Jaqen watches, switch in hand, ready to whack her at the slightest crack in her story. She imagines “Lanna” (Cat of the Canals in the books) as an orphan girl selling oysters and the like. The way in which Arya’s story segues into the visual coverage of her new roll though felt a bit odd for GOT. Was the first clip on the streets something that happened — flashbacks being very rare in the show — or her imagination of how it might happen. This POV inconsistency jolted me out of the moment, as much as I enjoyed seeing “Lanna” in her new outfit and hair. Her smile even seemed like a different girls, coming more freely then Arya’s mischievous smirk. Anyway, Jaqen steers her to the fish market and to what appears to be a cold-hearted naval insurance salesman with a taste for oysters. She is told to further investigate and given a Nameless God special brew for the guy. The jealously angle with the blonde initiate comes up again as she complains to Jaqen that Arya isn’t ready.

In not entirely clear on the role of the temple here — other than in setting up this guy’s death, which is obvious. Did one of his wronged customers pay them to knock him off? Is it an assassination business? Or is there a justice component? But regardless, even at 2-3 minutes, this was a fun little bit of Arya time.

There is a girl under there!

There is a girl under there!

Cersei – Is not loving the dungeon time. The obnoxious Septa Unella has a simple but effective torture method of holding out water and demanding she confess. Loving Cersei getting a taste of the bad life. Eventually, Qyburn is admitted as a guest. We haven’t seen him in a while but he remains the only one strongly in the ex-queen’s camp and proceeds to info dump the goings on in King’s Landing so we can save the minutes and the money for the big zombie battle to come. Apparently Tommen is sulking in his room and not eating and Pycelle has summoned Kevan back from Casterly Rock to serve as hand of the king. Qyburn hints that Cersei should consider confessing to buy her freedom. He for one agrees with Karl Marx, faith is the death of reason. Cersei, however, hasn’t hit rock bottom yet.

Then Septa Unella gets back to withholding water again and she slips a few notches down. Her pride holds while the giant woman stays in the room, but she isn’t too proud afterward to lick the water from the filthy floor.

I still am not totally sold on this takeover by the faith of the normal apparatus of power. Yes, this kind of thing has happened historically, but it requires a complex infiltration of the fanatical in said power structure. The normal mode of this is that established rulers would surrender individuals at the second tier of power to the church in order to appease the fanatics and avoid excommunication and other political/social nastiness that the church hierarchy threatened. I can’t think of a scenario where (two) reigning queen(s) were imprisoned against the wishes of the king. But there are limits to showing this kind of religious fear in a the context of a show, particularly one with other focuses.

Not the Ritz

Not the Ritz

Sam and Gilly – continue to bond as works some salve onto his wounds. He asks how she is after their bone in encounter, and while she deflects his question, it’s a sweet evasion. Then Olly interrupts to help remind the viewers as to the purpose of Jon’s mission and the fact that he hates the wildlings because they ate his parents. Sam does a good job with the defense and I can’t tell if Olly has turned the corner or is being set up as a major ringleader in the et tu brute action that is to come.

Sansa – puts the emotional/verbal flaying knife to Theon next time he brings her dinner. She asks him why he did it, and she lays into him. Reek, for his part has sufficient self-loathing, and lays it bare, which lets him slip out the important little fact that the boys he burned weren’t actually Bran and Rickon. Uh, oh, bad Ramsay wouldn’t like Sansa knowing that little factoid.

But the Boltons – are busy downstairs plotting their defenses against Stannis’ invasion. He has cavalry, but they have tall walls. Ramsay isn’t one for sitting around waiting and suggests that if dad gives him 20 good men he might take the fight to the enemy (and leave a Feast for the Crows in an obvious book nod).

Guilt trip!

Guilt trip!

Jon – finally heads to Hardhome. I like that instead of making this a “Hardhome” only episode (like Blackwater or The Watchers on the Wall), the battle is essentially the second half. Anyway, Jon, Tormund, Edd, etc row into Hardhome. In the background is an armada of CGI ships and their destination is a giant glacier-front resort. The show pulls out the big bucks from the get go and really shows off the scope both in terms of extras and the vast CGI host.

One way boat trip?

One way boat trip?

The Wildlings for their part look on grimly as the party disembarks and the Lord of Bones marches up to provide a bit of opposition to the idea of getting together for a friendly chitchat. Tormund reacts to this, and importantly a personal insult, by literally beating the life out of the man. This serves the dual purpose of moving them along to their goal and of putting the Lord of Bones right back where GRRM had him (in the grave). Now some might say this is gratuitous writing, but really it isn’t so off from medieval Danish warrior code (aka Viking).

Speaking of Vikings, the big wooden building the pow wow moves into looks right off the set of that other less fantastical show. Inside are the “elders” including show invention “Karsi”, tough Wildling woman, a big Thenn, the remaining giant, and the like. Jon intros himself and like Tyrion early does a sales pitch. For Jon, he does a pretty good job of it. He and Tormund tag team back and forth selling the move south of the wall as the Wildling’s only chance at survival and the rest of humanities best bet at defeating the dead. Jon hands them over the dragon glass daggers from last week as a gift and confesses to killing Mance. At first this goes over badly, but Tormund leaps in with a save. Eventually, the woman comes over to their side, then the giant, leaving only the Thenn to balk. Well, apparently Karsi “fucking hates Thenns” too.

Kick ass and die

Kick ass and die

So about half the Wildlings load up on the army of CGI boats and start off for the bigger CGI boats in the distance. Karsi has a couple little girls that she packs off too, laying on the emotional baggage (uh oh for her).

Then the dogs start barking. If you’re living in a movie/show/book with monsters, get really worried when the dogs start barking.

A storm, or an avalanche, or who knows what form of white graphics is boiling over the far glaciers and pouring toward them. People start to rush the boats, the big Thenn slams the stockade gates shut, locking out hundreds of Wildlings who scream and cry then suddenly vanish. He peers through into the storm to be shocked by — surprise! — the undead! And so begins TV’s most epic zombie attack. Frantically, zombies hurl themselves at, through, over, and under the walls. Jon, Torund, the Thenn, Karsi, etc all hustle to the fight.

Wights-and-White-Walkers-coming-Official-HBO

Here come the dead!

What ensures is quite the epic battle, if a tad divorced from the political maneuvering that often dominates the show. World War Z combined with Dead Alive! Inside the Viking hut the giant and Edd fight another wave that pours through the ceiling. The shots of the giant pulling the skeletons off himself and stomping them, then bursting through the walls and stomping some more are totally awesome. Karsi slays, slays, then is finally confronted with a wall of the creepiest kid zombies ever, they overwhelm her physically and emotionally.

Super creep!

Super creep!

Up on the ridge line above stand the White Walkers on their dread steeds (my WOW Warlock has one of these!)

The Thenn and Jon go back into the hut after the dragon glass, but a White Walker joins the fray. After a bit of valiant effort, the Thenn crosses weapons with the creature and has his shattered by the cold, then is speared himself. Thus the principal that White Walker weapons can freeze and shatter normal ones is established. Jon looses his own sword, Longclaw, and spends a bunch of time dodging and bending away from the walker. Finally he grabs back his sword and blocks a blow — but it doesn’t freeze! As we know from the “previously on”, Longclaw is Valayrian steel. Apparently good stuff to have when fighting White Walkers because Jon slashes into the monster and HE shatters. So now in the show, two things do that, obsidian and Valayrian steel. I doubt that will be the case in the books, but who knows? (GRRM)

The Night’s King (that Walker with the icicle crowns on his head) glowers down at Jon and calls forth his signature move. A new army of zombies pours over the cliffs like water (or WWZ) to fall still below, then rise again. Very effective both for the Walkers and as a theatrical move. They just swarm the camp and anyone not on a boat heads toward one at full speed or ends up hacked, bitten, or clawed to death. The giant grabs up a huge burning pole and plays zombie cricket. Then covered in the creatures wades into the bay, which is a pretty great shot. Jon, Tormund and Edd manage to get on the last boat (good) thing and row out into the water. Seems zombies and Walkers aren’t much for swimming, but the Night’s King strolls out onto the docks, raises his hands, and in terrifying silence raises all the dead.

The series ultimate villain?

The series ultimate villain?

All in all, a pretty awesome episode. We have Arya, Cersei getting the shaft, Tyrion at his best, and then the ultimate TV zombie fest. Sure, the giant scale of the attack distances it a bit from the more intimate creepy of a scene like the one where Sam killed the Walker. That big action scene operates on a different vibe than the more personal or political scenes. Still, it’s an element that has always been a part of the show, all the way back to the very first scene of episode 1.

One of the most exciting hours this year!

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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]

HBO’s official inside the episode videos:

 

Related posts:

  1. Game of Thrones – Episode 39
  2. Game of Thrones – Episode 45
  3. Game of Thrones – Episode 27
  4. Game of Thrones – Episode 47
  5. Game of Thrones – Episode 46
By: agavin
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