Archive for August 2015

Aestus – And the Modern Plate

Aug31

Restaurant: Aestus

Location: 507 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90401. (424) 268-4433

Date: July 3, 2015

Cuisine: New American

Rating: Good Kitchen

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Finally, after a long dry spell, Santa Monica is getting some new restaurants.

Aestus is a new modern American helmed by Kevin O’Connor and Alexandre Ageneau from Spago and the Royce respectively.

Interesting smart casual interior.

The current menu, which looks like it changes often enough.

Unusually, I went for a cocktail, in this case a Mezcal based lemony drink. I’m not sure the Mezcal blended perfectly with the rest — but it was strong.

Golden quinoa bowl. beets, persimmons, almonds. The “healthy dish.”

Stracciatella di burrata. shishito, thyme. No, this isn’t Burrata and chocolate strips. Evidently its the inside of the burrata, here served with toast and shishitos. Pleasant enough.

Beef tartare. smoked beets, horseradish. I love beef tartare and usually try to have it.

This was a good one, particularly with the gooey egg and the bit of kick from the horseradish (standing in for black pepper).
Ricotta agnolotti. peas, chanterelles, parmesan. This example is sans mushrooms. Pleasant and buttery. The peas had a nice crunch to them.

Red king salmon. tomatoes, fennel, basil.

Grilled lamb chops. Carrots, apricots, goat cheese. This tasted like a deconstructed Morracan lamb tangine. The lamb itself had a lot of flavor and wasn’t too fatty. The “cheese” had the texture of spray can whipped cream. Odd, but it tasted good. The vegetables had a mixed veggie/sweetness too them and Moroccan spices.

Fried fingerling potatoes. Yogurt sauce. Lots of salt. These came out about the temperature of Satan’s armpits, but they proved to be very tasty potatoes indeed, in no small part due to the salt.

Overall, while I didn’t get to try too many dishes (by my standards), what I did try was very on point. I think this is a sharp kitchen. There is a certain lightness and flavor forward manner that I really liked. It has all the hallmarks of a modern LA restaurant: the wood tables, paper menus, bar, loud surfaces, sharing friendly, and modern plating. The up to date use of textures (moused, crunchy, etc) and the artful plating is very contemporary.

I do have to say the menu isn’t too kid friendly. Our six year old had a few bites of the agnolotti, complained that he doesn’t like cheese INSIDE his pasta (only on). Then ate a lot of potatoes. There was no ketchup 🙂

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Parlez Vu Modern?
  2. Blue Plate Oysterette
  3. Upstairs 2 – Modern Tapas, Lots of Wine
  4. Finally, Modern Dim sum in Santa Monica
  5. More Modern Dim Sum
By: agavin
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Nanbankan – Stick with It

Aug28

Restaurant: Nanbankan

Location: 11330 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90025. (310) 478-1591

Date: August 25, 2015

Cuisine: Japanese Yakitori

Rating: Flaming good!

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It’s been awhile since the last official Foodie Club dinner. We like to go to wine friendly places — particularly Burgundy friendly places, and Nanbankan certainly fit the bill.

Japanese. Grilled seafood. Grilled meats. Not a lot of “complicated flavors” just high quality ingredients.

Crudités. Everyone gets their own, with miso sauce.

2012 Domaine Roulot Meursault Les Tessons Clos de Mon Plaisir. VM 89-92. Burghound 89-92. This is almost always the best villages wine in Roulot’s range and so it is again in 2012. While strong reduction and sulfur mark the nose, the vibrant, intense and concentrated medium weight flavors are quite fresh where a lovely touch of minerality adds lift to the beautifully balanced, complex and lingering finish. This really coats the mouth with dry extract which buffers the moderately firm and well-integrated acid spine. Good stuff and this should be approachable young yet age beautifully well too.

agavin: Young but very nice acidity and vanilla.

Beef tongue. Nice and chewy, great with lemon.

Shrimp and vegetable tempura. Always a winner.

2005 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. Burghound 94. This is a mild step up in overall class and elegance with a gorgeously perfumed white flower fruit nose introducing linear, precise, intense and powerful medium full flavors that remain splendidly focused on the stunningly long finish that drenches the palate in dry extract. This is a striking 1er and one to buy as it easily delivers grand cru quality.

agavin: The Rav is always a winner. Really nice and full bodied. Hardly like a Chablis.

Clam.

Tiger prawns. Shrimy goodness.

From my cellar: 2004 Morey-Blanc Corton-Charlemagne. Burghound 90-93. A reserved, indeed backward spicy green apple and white pear nose complements delineated but very rich flavors that display moderate wood on the big and weighty if not necessarily super dense finish that packs a serious punch and intensity. The length here is really impressive and the balance is such that this should age for 15 to possibly 20 years.

agavin: reductive, powerful, and oh so yummy!

Ginko nuts. Like wax jellybeans.

Scallops. yum.


2008 Sine Qua Non Kolibri. VM 93. Deep yellow-gold. Ripe pit and exotic fruits on the nose, with complicating notes of honey, sweet butter and green almond. Becomes more floral with air, picking up suggestions of jasmine and chamomile. Lush but focused, with a spine of acidity adding structure and carrying through a very long, sappy and gently sweet finish. Krankl said that he’d serve this with a rich shellfish dish.

agavin: a giant brooding Rhone-like monster, but great with the crab.

Fried softshell crab. Awesome. A really nice tempura crab and a great pairing with the SQN.

Abalone. Nice and tender (for abalone).

Squid. Tasted very Japanese. I love the rubbery texture and flavor.

2003 Domaine Fourrier Griotte-Chambertin Vieille Vigne. VM93+. Red-ruby. Deeply fruity aromas of blackberry, raspberry, violet and bitter chocolate. Wonderfully precise and penetrating, with uncanny definition and detail for a 2003. The black fruit and violet flavors are lifted by a minty, medicinal element on the back end. Impressively concentrated, vibrant wine, finishing with noble tannins and outstanding persistence.

agavin: great medium young Burg.

Sirloin tataki. Will thought too much onion, but I liked it. Very bright flavors.

Pork belly. Yes sir, we ordered another round. Lemon cut the fat. Yeah, it really did.

From my cellar: 1985 Domaine Jean Gros Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Clos des Réas. 94 points. Wonderfully open red currants scent. Sings with candied gooseberries on the palate. Multidimensional and unmistakeably Vosne. Graceful!

agavin: Awesome. A little funky at first, blew off quickly and had that “old but not too old” thing. Real yummy.

Chicken thigh with scallions. Good stuff.

Chicken neck. Sounds gross but was awesome. A bit of crunchy chew.

Chicken wings. Voted best dish of the night.

1989 La Fleur de Gay. Parker 95. Possibly the finest Fleur de Gay made, this rich, very large-scaled, tannic wine has a compelling nose of cassis, licorice, white flowers, minerals, and other sorts of black fruits along with some subtle new oak. Full-bodied, with great delineation, purity, and dazzling concentration and intensity, this is a fabulous example of a Fleur de Gay and a wine that seems capable of lasting at least another two decades.

agavin: A very nice fully mature (but not even slightly old) Bord.

Wagyu steak. Great with Bordeaux.

Shimeji oyster mushrooms. Helps push things on through.

1959 Château Margaux. 97 points. Sweet red cherry, violets, spicecake, cedar, and rose petals on the nose. Raspberry and tart red cherries are notable on the palate. An overall smooth palate help back somewhat by a medium length finish that falls off sooner than desired.

agavin: pretty stunning for 56 years old!

Black cod. Very tender.

Chicken meat balls. This is a Japanese classic and I happen to love them.

Raw quail egg. Plus the meat balls are even better when dipped hot in raw quail egg to coat them with eggy goodness.

Shitake Mushrooms. More fibre.

1994 Guigal Cote Rotie la Turque. Parker 96-98. The great glories of this house are its Cote Roties, of which there are now five separate offerings. The single-vineyard 1994s were singing loudly when I saw them in July. All of them scored significantly higher than they did during the two previous years, which is not unusual as Guigal’s upbringing (elevage) of the wines results in better examples in the bottle than in cask. All three wines flirt with a perfect score. At this tasting, they reminded me of Guigal’s 1982s – opulent, sumptuously-textured, forward, rich, precocious, flattering wines that will drink well throughout their lives. The exotic 1994 Cote Rotie La Turque exhibits a dense purple color, and a fabulously-scented nose of licorice, Asian spices, truffles, minerals, and gobs of black fruits. Full-bodied, with great richness, a multi-layered personality, and an exotic, overripe character, this is a sensational, chocolatey, rich wine with more tannin than La Mouline. Anticipated maturity: 2000-2020. Guigal is one of the cellars where the wines always taste better after they are bottled than they do from cask, although as the scores in this segment indicate, some profound wines can be found in the 1994, 1995, and 1996 vintages Chez Guigal.

agavin: Awesome! Syrah at its finest.

Lamb chops with garlic. We ordered 2 full sets of these. Amazing with the Lala.

Duck breast. Nice and a little smokey. Mustard and yuzu chili were awesome as a condiment.

Pork sausage. Like the BEST hot dog and mustard you ever had. One of my favorites.

NV J.W. Morris Founders Port. 93 points. Probably from the 70s, but mature and super tasty. Fruity and well balanced.

Strawberry and green tea mochi. The strawberry was awesome.

Overall, this was a fabulous dinner. Everything was great, but really the company was the #1 selling point. Very good group. After that, the food was very nice. A change from some of our usual fare and very wine flexible. The wines were fabulous. Not a single “off” wine.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or hear for more Foodie Club craziness.

Related posts:

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  4. Pistola with a Bang
  5. Babykiller Birthday
By: agavin
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Timebound

Aug26

18061791Title: Timebound (The Chronos Files)

Author: Rysa Walker

Genre: Science Fiction

Length: 374 pages

Read: April 14-18, 2015

Summary: Highly recommended

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I found Timebound while searching for best sellers to use as advertising targets for my own time travel novel Untimed (I’ve been experimenting with Amazon’s new do-it-yourself ads).

I’m glad I found the Chronos Files.

At a certain level Timebound shares common DNA with Untimed. They both feature teen protagonists who discover they are time travelers and get dragged into a complex temporal war. There are other time traveling relatives and both mythologies even have “books” that to some extent chronicle/reveal/inform. But most of these similarities fall naturally out of the basic “teen discovers they’re a time traveler” idea. I will note that Untimed was published a year earlier, but even if Rysa Walker happened to read it, she has her own tale to tell.

I should note that I half read half listened this this book, utilizing Amazon’s awesome Whispersync. The narrator is phenomenal too.

Kate’s first person narrative is extremely compelling. She speaks in typical past tense in this first outing, but switches into a lightweight present tense in the second book. The voice is light on description, sticking mostly to people, clothing, time travel equipment, and necessary details. It’s longer on Kate’s internal processing, but uses this to deftly bring our plucky protagonist to life. While she superficially resembles many modern YA heroines, being smart, pretty, courageous, resourceful, and the like, Kate manages to maintain a unique personal feel. Namely, she feels real and essentially human. She acts consistently, and has her own constantly evolving opinion and a strong moral compass.

The balance in this first book favors characterization and “world building” over action and even historical exploration. The opening stresses the family dynamics almost more than the time travel revelations. The inciting event (act 1/2 break) is a 1-2 punch as much about meeting her Grandmother and discovering she’s dying as the temporal shift that deletes Kate’s reality and parents (shades of Untimed as well!). There is a well handled but highly deliberate love triangle involving present day boyfriend and a time traveling past boyfriend who remembers her from another timeline. This is actually one of the better love triangles I’ve seen, because it feels both natural and has a natural pathos that flows out of the timeline shift. Book 1 concentrates on present boyfriend — and on the present itself as well as time travel mythos and mechanics. We don’t actually travel anywhere substantial until about the 75% mark. The romantic elements feel slightly injected at times, but are natural enough and not in the least melodramatic.

This is not really an action book, although it is fast paced and tense. There is a lot of talking and planning and perhaps 75% of the novel occurs inside Kate’s house! The narrative and characters are compelling enough to overcome that locational limitation.

Both boyfriends are well developed, although past boyfriend is mostly a child in this first book (sounds more twisted than it is). The parents, aunt, etc are well characterized. The villains are not as strong as the positive supporting characters. We have the time wrecking mastermind grandfather (barely seen but much heard), medium-bad prophetess aunt, the smirking thug Simon, bitchy Eve, and the creepy and effective 1893 serial killer Holmes (my favorite, as I love a good creep).

The past, when Kate gets around to visiting it, is confined to Chicago’s 1893 World’s Columbia Exposition. The overall focus is more personal, involving the survival of Kate’s grandmother and the interaction of the time travelers, than largely historical. Untimed explores the role of the individual in big historical techno-socio-political currents, Timebound focuses on the relationships and cat and mouse between the travelers. Walker did a good job with her period research. Her 1893 feels like late 19th century America. It’s not highly descriptive, but the behavior of the people and general attitudes seem appropriate. It even smacks slightly of Bioshock Infinite, without all the steampunk and weirdness (although I loved that too). I’ll contrast this with a book like Clockwork Angel (gag me with a spoon) where everyone acts like a 21st century snarky teen in Victorian clothes (except the outfit on the cover is more Edwardian — sorry Cliff). As I mentioned before, I like the addition of the authentically creepy real-history serial killer. But part of my point here is that the “scope” of historical interaction isn’t huge in this first book, but it is a decently different era. This is no Tempest where all the time travel is within 15 years. It’s clear Walker loves history, but she concentrates her efforts more on the characters, time travel mechanics, and meta plots.

Which brings us to bad grandpapy Saul and his evil Cyrist church takeover. Liked it. This was both a sensible take on world domination, a clever way to utilize the abilities of a time traveler for “gain,” and a felt creepy and realistic. Somehow, the Cyrists seem very American and perhaps makes me wonder if Walker is an apostate member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Or maybe she just really enjoyed The Book of Mormon (the musical).

What follows now is a fairly technical discussion of time travel mechanics:

Walker’s time travel mechanic is very different than in Untimed, and simultaneously easier to write and more complicated. It would never work, and doesn’t really make total sense (more on this in a second), but it serves up compelling time travel fiction. It falls into the un-predetermined category like Untimed (Time Traveler’s Wife featuring the predetermined type with a single complex timeline). She does support an endless changing “leading edge” or five dimensional meta-timeline like Untimed, but it’s probably closer in spirit to Back to the Future’s system. Causality loops back endlessly in a way that would be very difficult for the Universe to actually compute. Essentially, changes are percolated forward, recomputing everything that is not protected by a technological field (maintained by the Chronos Medallions). This recompilation is apparently instantaneous and continuous as things leaving the field will “correct” (disappearing photos or people and the like) and that new computation will percolate forward. Where it breaks down is that there is no clear elucidation of the relationship between 5th dimensional time in normal 4th dimensional advancement. Let me (partially) explain.

If Kate were to change something in the past, then hop forward to her home time. Another traveler uptime of the change, say Pru, protected by her Chronos field, would notice. Kate and Pru are both free to react to this change and proceed with their next meta-temporal move. But who gets to go first? Well in this case, whoever the author feels like it. Say this attempted change is far back in the past. All (or many) uptime versions of the effected individual would have the opportunity to notice the changed timeline and decide to take action. But which one does? Is it 1:28pm Kate or 2:05pm Kate who takes action? Clearly they all can’t. In practice, while writing the book, there is a “current” narrative version who reacts. But the time travel mechanic doesn’t appear to actually narrow this down. This is why Untimed‘s system allows only one actual version of a time traveler in the timeline at any given 5th dimensional meta-moment.

Timebound also allows loopbacks, self changes, dual memory headaches and the like which don’t make total computational sense. How does the Universe even keep track of all that? Does it have unique IDs for every molecule? Some kind of object tracking system? Computing the loops is a form of the Halting Problem and has been proven (by genius Alan Turing) to be unsolvable in the general case. But none of these technical problem really matter in a work of fiction. From a storytelling point of view Timebound offers a very compelling time travel system with lots of interesting characteristics, limitations, and powers. Book 2 explores it more fully too.

There is also a fairly consistent but loosey goosey treatment of the “butterfly effect.” In this book, things tend to mostly play out the same way if the people basically do the same thing. There doesn’t seem to be a huge sensitivity to minute changes. I.e. slightly altering the timing and whereabouts of the young Katherine in 1893 doesn’t seem to drastically alter her later life and its relationship to the time modifications. People also tend to mostly be preserved, with their circumstances changing around them. This is people centric and I did basically the same thing in Untimed when repurposing the same people in Philadelphia 1.0 and 2.0 (British America 2012). It makes for better storytelling.

All in all, a great novel, and a fabulous addition to the time travel genre (which clearly I have a positive bias toward). I jumped right into book 2, read that, and am sad I have to wait six months for book 3.

Check out my own time travel novel or

Find more fantasy reviews here.

Related posts:

  1. Tempest
  2. Untimed nearly here!
  3. Untimed – Out on Submission!
  4. Untimed – Two Novels, Two Drafts!
  5. From Sketch to Final
By: agavin
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Jinya Ramen Bar

Aug24

Restaurant: Jinya Ramen Bar

Location: 2400 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90405. (310) 392-4466

Date: April 16 & May 4, 2015

Cuisine: Japanese Ramen

Rating: Solid Tonkotsu Ramen

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There is a crazy amount of ramen opening up recently, particularly (on the westside) in the Sawtelle Japantown area. But Jinya, which is a bit of a chain, has opened an outpost on Main street right in Santa Monica!


The frontage.


There is lovely patio dining as well as inside.


The main menu, appetizers are on the back (which I forgot to photo).


A small salad. Almost like a Korean salad, with a fairly bland dressing.


Fried pork goyza. Pretty good typical Japanese goyza.

Seafood dynamite. Pretty delicious with lots of flavor.

Shrimp Toast. Toast with shrimp smushed between. Quite tasty.

Sauces.


Jinya Tonkotsu Black. Pork broth. Pork chashu. Kikurage, green onion, nori dried seaweed, seasoned egg, garlic chips, garlic oil, fried onion and thin noodles.

This was an excellent Tonkotsu ramen. The broth was rich, not as thick as the Tsujita super broth, but very rich and super delicious, particularly with a bit of saucing.

A version of the black with chicken wontons added — this took it up even another level.


Cha Cha Cha. Pork broth, pork chashu, pork back fat, seasoned egg, bean sprouts, Chopped Onion, Green Onion, Fish Powder, Korean Powder. With thick noodles. Rich and delicious.

Overall, there are a number of options at Jinya too. It’s nothing crazy unique as good Japanese Ramen goes, but it’s certainly an excellent bowl of noodles.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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  5. Hawaiian Noodle Bar
By: agavin
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Ice Cream Lab

Aug21

Restaurant: Ice Cream Lab

Location: 369 E 2nd St. Los Angeles, CA 90012. (424) 270-0009

Date: April 7, 2015

Cuisine: Ice Cream

Rating: Nitro Cold Stone!

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I’ve had nitro ice cream at high end modernist restaurants for some years, but it was only this January that I encountered it in the form of an ice cream parlor — while up at San Francisco’s Smitten.

But it turns out LA has its own equivalent in the form of Ice Cream Lab, located in DTLA, Beverly Hills, and Pasadena.

The interior.

Some various cone options.

ICL uses a different but similar machine to Smitten. But one of the big differences is that they “mixin” various flavor combos — pretty much like Cold Stone Creamery — but all nitro frozen.

Salt Lick Crunch. All Natural vanilla ice cream mixed with pretzels, caramel, and topped with sea salt.

This was pretty awesome. Not sure if because of the creamy ice cream or because pretzels and caramel are just amazing when mixed with any kind of ice cream.

A dairy free chocolate, made with coconut milk. ‘nilla wafers. This was about as good as dairy free ice cream gets — which is to say not quite as good as the real stuff.

Overall, in my limited sample, this was good stuff and I look forward to returning. I’ve always been a sucker for mixins, so it didn’t take much arm twisting. I’m not totally sure the nitro part makes THAT much difference. Yeah, there is a nice mouth feel, but probably not as good as a great Gelato in Italy — and probably a lot more fat than that gelato.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Ice Cream & Coffee
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  5. Eating Florence – Gelateria Santa Trinita
By: agavin
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Sauvage by Moonlight

Aug19

Restaurant: Lunasia [1, 2, 3]

Location: 500 West Main Street Suite A, Alhambra, CA 91801. (626) 308-3222

Date: August 14, 2015

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Fine Cantonese

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About once a year the Sauvages lunch group heads down to some wine friendly SGV Chinese restaurant for some fun filled Cantonese.

Flight 0: Les Amuses

2013 Château Miraval Côtes de Provence Rosé. VM 90. Pale orange. Fresh tangerine, strawberry and white flowers on the fragrant, mineral-accented nose. Silky and precise, offering tangy red fruit flavors that are lifted and sharpened by a white pepper nuance. Finishes clean, nervy and long, with excellent clarity and lingering minerality. This suave wine has the power to work with rich foods and the energy to give pleasure by itself.

agavin: a decent provencal rose. The big claim to fame is the Brad Pitt / Angelina Jolie connection.

Typical sauce: mustard, chili, and XO (fermented shellfish with a bit of chili).

Flight 1: Radical Riesling


2011 Domaine Ostertag Riesling Muenchberg. VM 92. Pale straw. Sweet chamomile, anise and licorice notes complicate very ripe pear jelly and Golden Delicious apple on the nose and palate. Dense and suave in the mouth, with smooth flavors of ripe citrus, chamomile and minerals carrying through on the very long finish. Like many of Ostertag’s wines, this one comes across as unctuous yet very fresh, thanks to firm acidity and chewy buffering extract. Ostertag owns two parcels in this grand cru, mostly in the central part of the cru, which is exposed full south. The average age of the vines is almost 50 years, and you can tell from the wine’s rich texture and depth of flavor that this is a true vieilles vignes bottling.

From my cellar: 2011 Prager Riesling Smaragd Klaus. VM 91. Rich aromas of vineyard peach, passion fruit and acacia honey. Tautly strung on the palate, with juicy apricot fruit wound around a vibrant backbone. The wine’s discreet residual sugar is disguised by abundant minerals and a lemony nuance. With a long finish featuring yellow plum and wet rocks, this riesling shows good balance in spite of its 14% alcohol.

2002 Schloss Vollrads Riesling Kabinett. 89 points. Deep Golden Yellow, Crisp and fruity
Very tasty.

Jumbo shrimp har gow. As good a version as I’ve had.

Jumbo pork siu mai. Perhaps more succulent and tender than many.

Spring roll. Perfectly fine. I forgot to photo one at the beginning and had to make due with this unappetizing “after the fact” image.

Flight 2: Alsace Alpha


2012 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Schlossberg. VM 92. Luminous straw-green. Delicate aromas of nectarine, lemon verbena and jasmine are complicated by racy minerality. Deep, dense, clean flavors of white stone fruits and aromatic herbs are penetrating and very long, with the finish showing an obvious saline edge. Made from vines grown on the higher slopes of the Schlossberg hill, this wine is always characterized by ripe, floral acidity and rarely expresses fusel aromas, especially when young.

2005 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Cuvée Ste. Catherine. VM 91+. Pale green. Complex aromas of citrus skin, ripe peach and spices, with a tangy whiff of botrytis. Spicy, dense and rich but quite backward and wound-up. This, too, is classically dry in style, with nearly exotic mace and nutmeg notes perking up the palate. Finishes very dry and very long, with flavors of pineapple and dusty stone. Penetrating and rather austere-in need of aging. This is mostly from the bottom of the Schlossberg, but 20% of the wine comes from outside the grand cru border.

In the back, Turnip roll. A light flakey pastry stuffed with turnip and onion. Quiet nice actually, if a little heavy.

Front and center, BBQ pork. My favorite type, sweet and flavorful.

To the right, BBQ roast duck. Great except for all the bones (which are usual).

Duck sauce. Good on the pork too if you like to double down on your sweet.

Flight 3: Hot in the South


2004 Chapoutier Ermitage Cuvee de l’Oree. Parker 99. A wine that tastes akin to liquid rocks as well as white currants and quince is the light golden 2004 Ermitage Cuvee de l’Oree. This is a fabulous wine, with blockbuster intensity and richness. This is the kind of wine that may last 50-100 years, but of course most readers will opt for earlier consumption.

agavin: Parker loves these, and I own a whole bunch, but I’m not really feeling the love. They are so high alcohol.

2007 Guigal Condrieu la Doriane. Parker 95. This full-bodied white was aged in one-third new oak and two-thirds tank. One hundred percent of the 2007 Condrieu La Doriane is vinified in new oak, and put through malolactic. It is then aged for 11 months prior to bottling. Absolutely exquisite, with the oak pushed to the background, this wine’s fruit character is dominated by apricots, peaches, honeysuckle, and marmalade. The beautiful floral and honeyed fruit aromatics are followed by a sumptuous, full-bodied white that is never heavy (because of good acidity) or flabby. Consume it over the next 2-3 years.

2012 Andre Perret Condrieu. Parker 92. Moving to his Condrieus, the 2012 Condrieu (aged in equal parts barrel and tank) offers up classic lychee nut, flowers and tangerine aromas and flavors, medium-bodied richness, and brilliant purity of fruit. Possessing a perfect mix of freshness and richness, with vibrant acidity and loads of fruit, it should drink nicely for 4-5 years.

Shrimp lettuce cup. The plum sauce unfortunately came AFTER I had finished the roll. Nice crunch to it though.

Stir-fried lobster w/ black pepper sauce. A nice lobster.

Flight 4: Rhone Rampage


1999 Chapoutier Chateauneuf du Pape la Bernardine. Parker 89-91. The 1999 Chateauneuf du Pape La Bernardine offers a sweet perfume of jammy black cherries, cassis, licorice, and minerals, moderate tannin, medium to full body, and excellent ripeness as well as flesh. It will age well for 10-12 years.

2000 Domaine de la Grange des Peres VDP de l’Herault. Parker 94. Profound aromas of peppered blackberries, and garrigue emanate from the glass of the 2000 Vin de Pays de l’Herault (red). This juicy, fresh, concentrated wine is a powerfully elegant beauty. Dark cherries, black raspberries, flowers, and assorted red fruits are found in its seamless personality as well as in its luxurious finish. Anticipated maturity: now-2014.

2004 Domaine Tempier Bandol Rouge Cuvee Cabassaou. Parker 91. The nose stubbornly refuses to charm: surly, introspective with faint scents of forest floor, damp moss, leather and blackberry. The palate is full-bodied, very backward, dense and at the moment just lacking some cohesion. But I am sure this will meld together with ageing but it just lacks a little persistency on the finish. Drinking 2015-2022.

Stir fried frog. With whole garlic, mushrooms, and sweet Chinese sausage. Tasted great, although the look of the frog legs in this sauce wasn’t the most attractive thing I’ve ever seen.

Flight 5: Power of the Priorat


2004 Clos Mogador. Parker 96+. Clos Mogador is produced by the esteemed Rene Barbier who has hit homeruns in both 2003 and 2004. The 2004 Clos Mogador has a more saturated purple color than the 2003 as well as a more expressive perfume of mocha, coffee, and flowers (violets) in addition to toasty oak, earth, and blue and black fruits. More extracted and backward than the 2003, it demands a decade of cellaring and should drink well for an additional 20 years. The 2004 is a tour de force.

2001 Costers del Siurana Clos de l’Obac. Parker 91. This unfiltered blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Syrah, Merlot, and Carignan, aged for 14 months in new French oak, and bottled unfiltered, boasts a deep purple color along with a pure bouquet of raspberries, blueberries, wet stones, and toasty, subtle vanillin. Medium-bodied with outstanding concentration, impressive elegance, and a nice texture, this tight but promising 2001 should hit its prime in 2-4 years, and last for 12-15.

2003 Alvaro Palacios L’Ermita. Parker 94-97. I tasted a ready-to-be-bottled tank sample of the 2003 L’Ermita. Typically there are 400-500 cases of this blockbuster, but because of the vintage’s tiny crop as well as a severe triage, only 240 cases were produced. This superb effort displays a black/blue/purple color along with a huge nose of creme de cassis, flowers, crushed rocks, and a hint of smoke. The wine is full-bodied and opulent, with tremendous structure, great definition and purity, and a huge, but elegant, persistent finish. It will benefit from another 1-2 years of bottle age, and last for 15 plus.

agavin: someone brought out the big guns!

On the left, fried frog. Really great crispy garlic fry. Few bones. One of the best frog preps I’ve had.

On the right “french beef.” Sweet and beefy. Good with the wine.

Asparagus. Sort of the prep for Szechuan string beans, but with asparagus.

Flight D: Sweet Finish


2003 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Auslese. VM 93. Birch beer and pungent brown spices in the nose. Enormously rich, with a hint of caramelization, yet only subtly sweet in overall impression. Peach jam with candied lemon zest, herbal essences, and brothy meat and mineral depths. Firmer in feel than this year’s Brucke Auslese #19, and apt to unfold over a long period.

My cup of tea! Actually it’s the Donnhoff.

Macao Egg Custard. This version was a little eggy, but good.

Sesame mochi ball with bean paste. Nice texture and a really good bean paste. Too bad I don’t digest beans like I used to.

A mango soup, very refreshing.

First off, I have to say this may be my first (regular) Chinese meal that was individually plated. Impressive.

Second, we had a LOT of great straight up Cantonese here and some fun wines with a lot of variety. I thought the dry rieslings paired best, but some of the reds were fabulous wines. Oh, how I love the SGV.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here,

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  5. Sauvages in the Forest
By: agavin
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Napoli in LA – Michael’s

Aug17

Restaurant: Michael’s on Naples [1, 2, 3]

Location: 5620 E 2nd St. Long Beach, CA 90803. (562) 439-7080

Date: August 13, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: A top LA Italian

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A couple years ago, we organized our first Hedonist outing to Michael’s on Naples, rated on the Zagat list as #2 best restaurant in all Los Angeles. I co-organized this one with our fearless leader Yarom, myself, coordinating and designing the menu as well as ordering the wines. So many things sounded good that I came up with a 14 course extravaganza. The resulting Hedonistic Italian blowout ended up (with some alternates) as a total feast of great wine and food.

Michael’s is located on Naples Island, a bridge-connected island in Longbeach that looks so much like Florida they use it to film much of Dexter‘s Miami.

We were set up in this lovely private room. For a table of 15, this was about as perfect as it gets. Not too loud, space to move around and arrange the wines, and a square table that allowed for much better conversation than a long skinny deal.

First a note on the wine service. I had them put out 1 flute, 2 white glasses and 4 red glasses (2 and 2 of Burgundy and Bordeaux style). Then because of the number of red wines we had and the light, often white oriented first half of the menu, I progressed the white and red wine simultaneously — at least for the first half of the meal — so that people would have both colors in the glass. I tried to progress in varietal bunches, usually in flights of about 2 wines.

From my cellar: 2013 Zardetto Prosecco Zeta. Pairs great with food. A very simple wine, but its simple fruit allows it to go with anything.

Our special menu tonight, designed by me in conjunction with the chef and catering manager.

The pescatarian version for a couple of the ladies, including my lovely wife.

From my cellar: 2013 Giovanni Almondo Roero Arneis Vigne Sparse. 89 points. Clean and clear, touch of pale green color, with tight aromas of underripe stone fruit. Palate opens nicely, showing white peach, some Bosc pear, along with characteristic background of almond and herb. Bracing acidity, clean moderate fruit intensity, and a nice medium finish make this example a delightful version of an underappreciated noble grape. Very food-friendly.

2013 Bruno Giacosa Roero Arneis. 90 points. Very pale lemon colored with a nose of citrus and perfume. This wine tastes of lemon zest, other citrus, and almonds. It is light to medium bodied with crisp acidity and a shortish finish. Good food white wine.

agavin: more “oaked” than the Sparse, but quiet delicious.

From my cellar: 2010 Quarticello Rivellino Emilia IGT. 90 points. Terrific Lambrusco, with plenty of earth, cut and cherry fruits. Completely different that what many know as Lambrusco. Not sweet or generic by any means. Superb on a hot spring day. This wine is begging for Prosciutto (which is why I put it with the pizza).

agavin: There was a barnyard vibe to the wine, and it was super “different” for being a deep purple, yet frizante and dry. I liked it, but unusual. Those who prefer their wines clean and over extracted weren’t into it.

Ricotta stuffed squash blossoms with honey basil pesto. They sweetness of the honey really took this to the next level.

Speck, buffalo mozzarella pizza. basil pesto and sweet peppers. This had just the combo of salty, cheesy, and other savory elements (the best) that I really like on my own pizzas.

Italian sausage pizza. roasted peppers, basil pesto and mozzarella. Another fabulous meaty blend.

Forest mushroom pizza. basil pesto and Taleggio cheese. Great for a veggie pizza.

Confit baby artichokes. basil pesto and goat cheese. My least favorite, mostly because of the texture of the artichokes, but still good.

Bread.

From my cellar: 2007 Venica & Venica Malvasia Collio. 92 points. Great malvasia. Interesting as well as refreshing. A medium-full bodied white. Apricot, green apple and honey on the nose. Fresh tastes of apples, apricots comingle with a vibrant acidity. Would buy again.

2001 Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Nuova. VM 96. Medium-deep bright ruby. Beautiful, profound nose of sweet ripe cherry, pipe tobacco, almond and raspberry jam. Ripe, suave and juicy, with sweet flavors similar to the aromas, this is an absolutely seamless wine with lively harmonious acidity on a suave, never-ending finish. Though extremely concentrated, this is a uniquely refined Brunello with wonderfully suave smooth, classy tannins.

agavin: by itself a great brunello, but paled compared to the “piano”.

Fighi e Prosciutto D’Anatra. Housemade Liberty farm duck prosciutto with Mission fig and goat cheese mousse. A great summery dish. Figs, cheese, and prosciutto have been a favorite since antiquity!

The same thing without the ham.


From my cellar: 2010 Borgo del Tiglio (Nicola Manferrari) Collio Studio di Bianco. VM 95. Weightless, crystalline and pure, the 2010 Studio di Bianco appears to float on the palate. White pear, crushed rocks, oyster shells and lime jump from the glass. A beautifully delineated, vibrant wine, the 2010 captures the best qualities of the year. Stylistically, the 2010 is brighter and more focused than the 2011, with a bit less body but more sheer drive and personality. What a gorgeous wine this is.

agavin: Another great Italian white.

2006 E. Fuligni (Cottimelli) Brunello di Montalcino. VM 96. Bright dark red. Captivating nose shows a medicinal quality to the notes of sandalwood, minerals, graphite and orange peel. At once silky and explosive in the mouth, providing oustanding density without heaviness and saturating the entire mouth with sweet flavor. A wine of incredible aromatic thrust. The floral lift on the extremely long finish gives the wine an almost Lafite-like clarity.

Fegato D’Oca. Hudson Valley foie gras terrine, stone fruit jam and mustard greens. I love foie terrine and this was no exception. It paired nicely with the sweet jam. It was perhaps a touch warm, and so not firm enough, but still tasted great.


Frutta di Stagione. Stone fruit and watercress salad with candied pecans and robiola cheese.


From my cellar: 2001 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières. Burghound 91. Stunningly pure fruit laced with citrus and lime notes framed by a deft trace of pain grillé with understated flavors of remarkable precision just oozing a wet stones character. The bright acidity beautifully frames an impressively long finish and this presents itself as a classic Folatières. This is really very fine and classy. I like the style of this immensely.

agavin: Drinking perfectly. Shows how hardass the Burghound reviews are that this is a 91, really drinking like a 96.

1995 Valdicava Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna del Piano. VM 94. The 1995 is a fresh, vibrant Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna del Piano that is just entering its prime drinking window. Expressive, open aromas meld seamlessly into a palate loaded with ripe, perfumed fruit. This full-bodied, delineated wine offers notable inner sweetness and a long, resonating finish. Abbruzzese calls 1995 a “sister vintage” to 1993, but comments that he was better prepared to capture the best qualities of the vintage.

agavin: about as good as Brunello gets!

From my cellar: 1999 Paolo Bea Sagrantino di Montefalco Secco. VM 95. The wine was absolutely majestic.

agavin: starting to brick, and full of sediment (unfiltered), but lovely and pruney.

Polipo con Patate. Grilled octopus with fingerling potatoes, caperberries, micro celery. A ver mild and fresh summer dish.


Caponata di Melanzane. Grilled crostini with eggplant stew.

1990 Gaja Barbaresco. VM 95. The 1990 Barbaresco emerges from the glass with an exotic array of tar, smoke, licorice and grilled herbs. There is wonderful intensity to the fruit and plenty of structure. The tannins are still a bit young and the wine is only now beginning to enter the early part of what looks to be a long drinking window! The 1990 Barbaresco is a touch rounder and softer than the 1989, with perhaps just a little less aromatic complexity and inner perfume, although that is splitting hairs at this level. The finish is long, intense and deeply satisfying. This is a marvelous bottle of Barbaresco.

agavin: I’ve had better bottles of this wine, but it was still quiet nice.

From my cellar: 1990 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Gallina di Neive. VM 94. The 1990 Barbareso Gallina is simply awesome. The wine boasts a seamless core of rich red fruits in a soft, generous style. This opulent Barbaresco possesses impeccable balance and tons of class. Floral notes intermingled with bright red fruits provide lift on the finish, adding lovely balance to the dense fruit. This is the most approachable of Giacosa’s 1990s but has plenty of stuffing to last another twenty years. The 1978 is still going strong.

agavin: a little funky and petro-like for a few minutes. Got better, but still not as good as it should be.

Agnolotti di Mais. Stuffed pasta with corn, ricotta and braised greens. Everyone LOVED this pasta course. The corn was fresh and bright and provided a nice complement to the al dente pasta. It was voted a Hedonist “10”!


1998 Gaja Barbaresco. VM 91. Good deep medium red. Deeply pitched aromas of plum, mocha, licorice and dried flowers. Dense and chewy with extract; compelling, sweet flavors of currant and licorice. Tannins are sweeter than those of the ’99 Barbaresco. Finishes with a suggestion of nutty oak.

From my cellar: 1997 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Cascina Francia. VM 96. Giacomo Conterno’s 1997 Barolo Cascina Francia was also fabulous. The 1997 vintage seems to have yielded great wines in some of Piedmont’s poorer soils, as this heroic Barolo amply demonstrated. The 1997 was pure Serralunga Barolo, which is to say roses, tar and licorice galore on a frame of substantial depth and pure breed.

2004 Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo Romirasco. VM 93. Imposing and dark on the palate, the 2004 Barolo Romirasco possesses massive fruit, beguiling aromatics and considerable depth. Today, the 2004 is a bit in an awkward stage, where tertiary aromatics have not yet developed although much of the wine’s youthful exuberance has begun to fade. As such, the 2004 is best cellared for at least another few years. Although some time has passed, I did expect the 2004 Romirasco to be a touch fresher than this.

Casarecce con Agnello. Homemade pasta with Marin County lamb ragu`and burrata. Another good pasta, although if the corn ravioli was a 10, this was more a 9.


Casarecce con Funghi. Homemade pasta with forest mushroom, brown butter and sage.


1986 Latour Pauillac. Parker 90. Tasted from my cellar, the 1986 has consistently been outstanding, falling short of being sublime. The spicy, peppery bouquet reveals aromas of dried herbs and red currant fruit. Medium-bodied, austere, but youthful, vigorous, and concentrated, this wine still requires 4-5 years of cellaring. It is surpassed in this vintage (which favored the northern Medoc and Cabernet Sauvignon) by its rivals, Lafite-Rothschild and Mouton-Rothschild.

agavin 98. This bottle was drinking PERFECTLY. Really nice.

1997 Angelo Gaja Darmagi Cabernet Sauvignon. Parker 90-94. There are 1,000 cases of the exceptional, black/purple-colored 1997 Darmagi Cabernet Sauvignon (3-4% Cabernet Franc was added to the blend). With abundant quantities of smoky, concentrated fruit as well as tannin, the vintage’s low acid, thick, glycerin-imbued character, and a layered, full-bodied finish, it should develop nicely for two decades.

agavin 94: I’ve never had this Gaja cab. I liked it a lot though.

Petto d’Anatra. Seared Liberty Farm duck breast with farrotto, Farm Lot 59 rainbow chard, and bing cherry reduction. A great duck dish. Very smokey and lean.

Branzino alla Griglia. Grilled Mediterranean sea bass with confit artichokes, potatoes and Taggiasche olives.

2003 Tua Rita Redigaffi Toscana IGT. VM 90. Tua Rita’s 2003 Redigaffi, 100% Merlot, opens with notes of over-ripeness on the nose. An initial suggestion of reduction blows of with air. It presents plenty of fruit, chocolate and toasted oak along with a richly concentrated, opulent personality, yet a note of gaminess and hard, unripe tannins ultimately convey the impression of a less polished version of this wine than is normally the case. My preference is to drink Redigaffi on the young side.

agavin 92: Nice and extracted.

2010 Tua Rita Redigaffi Toscana IGT. VM 96. I am struck by how light on its feet the 2010 Redigaffi is for such a big wine. Dark red cherries, tobacco, licorice, smoke and anise all flesh out as this layered wine opens up in the glass. Over time, the wine’s intense salinity emerges, adding energy, drive and polish. Hints of dark cherry, plum and smoke reappear on the vibrant finish. Readers will find much to admire in the superb 2010. To be sure, the 2010 is less outwardly opulent than is often the case with Redigaffi, but there is no denying the wine’s absolute beauty.

agavin: Our bottle was open for 4-6 hours in the decanter, but was still a fruit bomb monster.

2008 Tenuta San Guido Bolgheri Sassicaia Sassicaia. VM 96. The 2008 Sassicaia is a rich, deep wine imbued with notable class in its black cherries, plums, grilled herbs, minerals and smoke. The 2008 is a decidedly buttoned-up, firm Sassicaia that is currently holding back much of its potential, unlike the 2006 and 2007, both of which were far more obvious wines. Readers who can afford to wait will be treated to a sublime wine once this settles down in bottle. Muscular, firm tannins frame the exquisite finish in this dark, implosive Sassicaia. The 2008 Sassicaia is 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Cabernet Franc. The wine spent 24 months in French oak barrels.

agavin 96: I forgot how much I love Sassicaia, even when it’s young.

Porchetta. Roasted Devil’s Gulch pork loin and belly with eggplant caponata and roasted potatoes. This was super tasty, although a little on the rare side for my pork taste.


Ippoglosso in Padella. Pan seared Alaskan halibut with fava, fregola and tomato jam.


The chaos in full swing.

From my cellar: 2008 Paolo Bea Sagrantino di Montefalco Passito. agavin 97. Pure red raison juice. I love this stuff. All biodynamic. All late harvest ripasso style. An ultra rare dessert wine.


From my cellar: 1997 Fattoria Di Pancole Vin Santo di San Gimignano. This is that kind of Tuscan “dry” vin santo, making it more like a dry sherry. I tend to like the sweeter types.

Torta Di Mandorle. Almond cake with rosemary simple syrup and vanilla whipped cream. I adored this dessert. Between the almond flavor and the icing. I just love that.

Cannoli Con Impastata Alla Frutta. Crispy cannoli shells filled with Ricotta impastata cream, candied orange peels and Valrhona chocolate. I always love a good cannoli. I couldn’t taste the orange peel, which disappointed me, but otherwise they were great.

Ciambelle Dolci. Italian doughnuts served with orange glaze. Love these. Just love ’em.

Panna Cotta con Frutti di Bosco. Panna cotta with seasonal mixed berries.

Overall another fantastic dinner. Different and more varied in wine type than our usual Hedonist fare. I’ll break down the discussion into different components.

Food: The chef and catering manager did a great job working with me to generate not one but two fabulous menus. These were extensive, varied, and highly seasonal. Compare to our last visit here (in December). This was a similar sized, but much lighter more summery menu. Execution was excellent with some dishes being stellar: duck, corn ravioli, squash blossoms, and the rest being just “very good.” A few people didn’t love the octopus but I thought it quiet light and lovely. Course size was small, but given the number of plates really about right for anyone but the most gluttonous of us (which includes me).

Wine: We had a really nice array of wines. The giacosa barbaresco was a little off and the a few people with “unsubtle pallets” thought the Lambrusco and the Sagrantino a little “weird,” but there was consensus that all the whites were fabulous along with the del piano and all the Bordeaux varietals.

Service: The staff did a fabulous job handling a party of this size, starting with a perfect table and a layout of 7 stems per person. Courses arrived with excellent pacing and got down fairly swiftly considering the 15 person count and the difficulty in accessing the back of the room. Not like they do in the Republique private room where it all comes down within 2 seconds of each other, but still great. Attitude and attentiveness was first rate. Silverware was being constantly fixed and reset.

Wine Service: The Somm and lead waiter did a great job. They opened most of the bottles and got a lot of stuff decanted. They even labeled the decanters to avoid confusion. We had a nice separate wine table (badly needed). I had an unusual and taxing wine order with simultaneous progression of white and reds. They were able to understand my cryptic shout outs about what was in what glass with no slip ups. Where wine service fell down slightly (from a very high ideal) was in speed and availability of “pouring.” Now, I’m not really dinging them because there are like 3 restaurants in Southern California that could do better and all of them would charge A LOT just for the wine service. These would handle it by having at least one dedicated wine guy who all the time who didn’t help with food service. Because our Somm and main waiter were also delivering food, busing, and resetting silverware — not even mentioning their duties elsewhere in the restaurant — they didn’t have enough time to be constantly pouring. But a meal like this, with over 25 wines needs constant pouring. It was 3 hours long which means a wine is heading around roughly every 7 minutes and a glass poured every 30 seconds — for the entire dinner! In practice it’s more concentrated than that. Basically this would require someone full time, and someone skilled at pouring bottles 15 ways too. I have a lot of practice pouring (and a Sommelier Cert) so I helped them out by pouring about 40-50% of the flights. I’m fast too and I brought one of my dripless spouts to speed things up. Too bad I didn’t have a couple. Plus it helped that I had the “wine vision” in my head. It would be nice if I hadn’t had to do this, but unrealistic without a 100% dedicated person. So net net I was very pleased.

Value: Tremendous. At $120 per person + tax/tip this was just fabulous value, particularly given the level of service and the lack of corkage. Bravo!

A bunch of the Hedonists also stayed and smoked cigars outside. The staff were very cool about setting this up. We, however, fled home to get to bed :-).
For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

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Eating Positano – La Cambusa

Aug14

Restaurant: La Cambusa

Location: Piazza Amerigo Vespucci, 4, 84017 Positano, Italy. +39 089 875432

Date: June 28, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Excellent, and right by the beach

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You’d think that restaurants right by the port and the main beach wouldn’t be up to snuff — but far from it.


Located right next to the main church at the edge of the beach.

The extra story gives it a nice view and a great atmosphere. Of course up the hill are far better views, but who wants to hike up there in the middle of a beach day?

Caprese. Fresh local buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes.

Fried zucchini blossoms stuffed with ricotta cheese.

Crudo. Italian sashimi. Certainly a bit of Japanese influence (soy sauce, wasabi), but with Italian touches too like the fruit and olive oil. Very nice fish with bright flavors.

Penne pomodoro.

Spaghetti pomodoro.

Seafood ravioli. Housemade ravioli stuffed with fish and covered with shrimps in a gauzetto sauce. I love this tomato, garlic, white wine reduction sauce.

We didn’t have an extensive meal at La Cambusa, but everything we did try had a really nice polish to it, above average for sure. If I get back anytime soon I’ll have to go for dinner. Or if I finish inventing my Star Trek Transporter, then I’m all over it.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

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By: agavin
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Eating Positano – il Tridente

Aug13

Restaurant: il Tridente

Location: Viale Pasitea, 148, 84017 Positano SA, Italy. +39 089 811111

Date: June 27, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Great food, great service, great view

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Returning hastily from Revello at a late hour with no restaurant reservation, we quested around for a last minute spot to dine.

Online reviewers liked the restaurant hidden away in the Hotel Poseidon (which we actually had reservations at before we found a great villa to rent).

After a long 200+ stair descent, then a hike up four flights in the hotel, the location turned out to be an oasis of paradise. Live jazz was playing as well.

Check out the view.

And to the other side. The Italian/American “hospitality manager” dropped by our table too and was quiet charming.

Bread is good as usual.

The menu.

An amuse of eggplant and raw shrimp.


2013 Azienda Agricola Tenuta San Francesco Costa d’Amalfi Per Eva. I liked this wine, ordered it on two occasions.

Tomato salad.

Saute misto di frutti di mare. Mixed seafood saute.

Bread to soak up the garlic sauce.

Penne pomodoro.

Linguine artigianali con scampi, pomodorini del pendolo e vongole veraci. Linguine with scampi, clams, and cherry tomatoes. I couldn’t get enough of this guazzeto sauce based local dish.

Spigola al sale profumata al finocchietto selvatico con patate e verdure. Sea bass cooked in salt crust with wild fennel, potatoes, and vegetables.

The salty shell keeps the fish moist.

And plated with olive oil. This dish is common to the whole Mediterranean. Not always the salt prep, but the basic grilled/baked sea fish with olive oil.

Chocolate gelato.

Delizia al limone Amalfitano. This incredible cake consists of a sponge cake dome with a lemon creme or lemon gelato center, and covered in lemoncello cream sauce made from Amalfi lemons. It was just so creamy lemony good.

Dolcezza del Vesuvio. A miniature volcano of chocolate and orange.

Il Tridente was a touch hidden, but it was well worth trekking to as the food was great, the view spectacular, and the service very nice.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

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By: agavin
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Eating Positano – da Gabrisa

Aug12

Restaurant: da Gabrisa

Location: Viale Pasitea, 221, 84017 Positano SA, Italy. +39 089 811498

Date: June 26, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Fine, but not great

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Our assault on Positano’s restaurants continues. Because of the stairs, we tended to focus for dinner on places not to vertically offset from our own location.

Da Gabrisa is located just up the road (there is only one) in a nearby hotel.

As usual (for Positano) it features a lovely view.

The menu.


2013 Azienda Agricola Tenuta San Francesco Costa d’Amalfi Per Eva. 90 points. Delicious Italian white blend from campanula. There is a strong Aroma of fresh flowers and honey. Floral notes forward with a powerfully nutty finish. This wine is “sweeter” (still fully dry) than the very tart single varietals.

Bread.

An amuse of toast with whipped cheese.

Pumpkin cream soup served with fresh buffalo ricotta cheese.

INSALATA ISABELLA, CON PERA, NOCI E SCAGLIE DI PARMIGIANO. Green salad, with pear slices, Parmigiano flakes and walnuts.

ANTIPASTO GABRISA, VARI GUSTOSI ANTIPASTI DI VERDURE DELLA NOSTRA TRADIZIONE. A house speciality made of a mix of tasty vegetables starters of our Neapolitan tradition.

Penne pomodoro.

Spaghetti pomodoro.

RISOTTO ALLE VERDURE GRIGLIATE, MANTECATO ALLA SCAMORZA SORRENTINA. Risotto with grilled vegetables, creamed with local melting cheese.

CALAMARATA DI GRAGNANO ALLA PESCATORE. Local large pasta rings prepared with a cherry tomato sauce, cooked with shrimp, squid, black mussels and clams.

UNA SCELTA DI VARI GELATI TARTUFO PRODOTTI ARTIGIANALMENTE DA GENNARO BOTTONE. Special Tartufo ice creams produced by a famed maitre chocolatier.

SEMIFREDDO AL TORRONCINO CON PRALINA DI MANDORLE CARAMELLATE. Frozen dessert, with caramelized almonds and caramel.

Mild Italian raison cookies.

Service at da Gabrisa was great (although it was consistently good in Positano in general). The owners appeared to be American and our server certainly was. She was extremely friendly and accommodating.

Food was solid and well presented. Flavors and prep were perhaps slightly less tuned up than a few of the other places, but it was still quiet good.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

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  5. Eating Certaldo – Il Castello Certaldo
By: agavin
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Saddle Peaked

Aug10

Restaurant: Saddle Peak Lodge [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]

Location: 419 Cold Canyon Rd, Calabasas, CA 91302 (818) 222-3888

Date: August 5, 2015

Cuisine: Modern American

Rating: Great ambiance and terrific game oriented food.

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Ever year, both in the summer and winter, we Hedonists return to Saddle Peak Lodge. It’s pretty much the perfect venue for both a winter or summer food and wine blast, with gorgeous lodge patio, game driven food, and awesome wine service. For those of you who don’t know, Hedonist events have amazing wines (each diner brings at least one bottle).


Saddle Peak Ranch used to be a game lodge back in the early part of the 20th century. The rich and famous used to come up and hunt Malibu’s finest, such as this poor fellow. Now the deer are just served up on the menu.


It’s located in the middle of gorgeous Malibu Canyon.


Which on a lovely summer night is pretty incredible.


Our table out on the patio.


The current menu.

We had more organization on the wines than usual tonight (thanks Dr. Dave!). These whites were served while we lingered. The reds were organized by Dr. Dave into three flights, which was great.

NV Pierre Gerbais Champagne L’Originale. JG 92. The wine is clear and bright with a pale lemon colour and presence of many small bubbles. The nose is clean and fully developed, showing medium(+) intensity aromas of green fruits (green apple, pear), MLF (cream, butter) and yeast (bread dough, brioche). The wine is off-dry in the mouth with a high refreshing acidity. It has a medium alcohol and a medium body with a creamy mousse. It has medium(+) intensity flavours of green fruits (green apple, pear), MLF (cream, butter) and yeast (bread dough, brioche). The finish is medium(+).

From my cellar: 2005 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières. VM 92. Complex, leesy aromas of stone fruits, flowers, smoke and nutty oak. Dense, suave and ripe, with nuanced, lightly sulfidey flavors of white fruits, flowers and nuts. Layered and quite long. This, too, has turned out very well.

agavin: this bottle was drinking absolutely fabulously. Reductive, but perfectly fresh.

Mushroom cappuccino.

A bit of salmon on blini with creme fraiche and caviar.

Yummy Pretzel bread.

From my cellar: 1997 Maison Roche de Bellene Chambertin Collection Bellenum. 93 points. Nose – rose, cherry , hint of smoke Mouth – very classical pure and unmanipulated. Light red fruit and orange rind. A wine of finesse with power showing purity moreso than fruit. At age 17, admirably fresh. A charming drink.

1995 Trotanoy. Parker 91-95. Certainly the best Trotanoy between 1998 and 1982, the 1995 has a deep saturated ruby color that is dark to the rim. Relatively shut down when tasted in 2002 on several occasions, the wine, with coaxing, does offer some notes of earth, raspberry, black cherries, and a hint of licorice. Medium to full-bodied, powerful, and backward, it is an impressively constituted Trotanoy that is relatively large-scaled but the huge level of tannin also means it might be a modern-day version of the 1970. Time will tell. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2025.

agavin: really nice “youngish” Bord.

1982 Haut Brion. Parker 95. I know Jean Delmas, whom I respect as one of the world’s greatest wine producers, has always thought the 1982 Haut Brion was similar to the 1959, but I have yet to see that. It seems to me the 1989 is closer to the 1959, another perfect wine and one of the all-time great Haut Brions. While the 1982 is a beauty, it has never hit the highest notes this vintage or terroir can achieve. Complex aromatics of scorched earth, smoked herbs, and sweet red and black currants are followed by a full-bodied, silky-textured wine, but I have never felt this offering has possessed the concentration, texture, or multidimensional personality found in such vintages as 1989, 1990, and more recent years. Nevertheless, this is essentially splitting hairs as the 1982 remains a superb Haut Brion. Seemingly less evolved than the 1990, it is capable of another 20-30 years of longevity. Perhaps there is something in reserve that will reveal itself in the next decade.

agavin: I was wary about this wine because of the faded label and a suspicious bricking looking through the neck — but it turned out to be in good shape and fairly purple in the glass. Nose was fabulous and spicy, the fruit was hiding a little, but there was a nice cedar box thing going on.

While not part of the official flight, we opened this to pair with the foie gras.

1998 Château Rieussec. VM 93. Pale yellow-gold. Superripe, nuanced nose combines peach, apricot, honey and a suggestion of tropical fruits. Silky, suave and opulent; very concentrated and spicy. This very rich Sauternes carries its 130 g/l r.s. quite gracefully, thanks to firm acids. Finishes very long, with spice and honey notes. Impeccably balanced wine with terrific material.

Foie gras with toast, berries etc. Really nice tonight with a generous slab of the good stuff.

2001 Harlan Estate Proprietary Red Wine. Parker 100! This wine, which first debuted in 1990, has probably garnered more perfect scores than any other Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2001 is just entering a young adolescent stage of development, exhibiting extraordinary nuances such as sweet, loamy soil and earthy minerality intermixed with some background smoke, black currant liqueur, plum, Asian spice and new saddle leather. Full-bodied, it possesses great intensity, with stunning flavors that are viscous enough to coat the mouth, but never become heavy or overbearing. The wine has a remarkable purity, concentration and intensity that should carry it for another 30+ years. This is already very promising, and for those who own it, I would suggest a good two to three hours of decanting prior to service.

agavin: Monster! 🙂 Many people thought it wine of the night.

NV Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único Reserva Especial 1994, 1995, 2000 (2014 Release). 97 points. Didn’t find an official review.

agavin: At first this wine was silky smooth and perfectly balanced. After an hour or so I thought it entered a slightly weird phase.

2003 Domaine de Marcoux Chateauneuf du Pape Vieilles Vignes. Parker 99. The blockbuster 2003 Chateauneuf du Pape Vieilles Vignes (16.3% alcohol) is a blend of 85% Grenache and 15% Syrah that usually emanates from the three old-vine parcels they own – La Crau, Gallimardes, and Esquirons. The fruit from the latter vineyard, which usually goes into the Vieilles Vignes as it did in 2004, did not make it in 2003. This wine is built from the back forward, meaning there is huge tannin and structure, so at first the wine seems somewhat backward, but with air, the extraordinary perfume of lilacs, sweet licorice, blackberry liqueur, and kirsch soar from the glass. There are even hints of roasted meats, smoked herbs, and underbrush as well as truffles. The wine has superb concentration, remarkable intensity, full-bodied flavors, sweetness, opulence, and a multi-layered palate and finish that literally have to be tasted to be believed. This wine spent 100% of its time in tank and is a modern-day monument to Chateauneuf du Pape, and the glories of the old vines of this appellation. I would give this wine another 1-2 years of bottle age and drink it over the following two decades. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it merit a perfect score in a few years – it’s that special.

agavin: super dense and chocolatey. Really nice.

This also wasn’t part of the flight, but was opened to provide some white for the apps.

2004 Philippe Colin Chevalier-Montrachet. Burghound 91. A subtle hint of wood spice mixes with airy nose of white flowers, acacia blossom, anise and clove that dissolve into pure, refined, intense and mineral-packed medium weight plus flavors that offer a lovely sense of detail and overall finesse. If there is a nit, it’s that the mid-palate concentration could be better and while this is certainly a lovely effort, it could easily be better still.

agavin: our bottle was advanced 🙁

Frog’s hollow peach salad, burrata, wild greens, pistachio granola, oro blanco.

Olive oil braised octopus, fingerling potato, tequila vinaigrette, chermoula.

Summer golden corn agnolotti, roasted garlic, broccoli di ciccio, fennel pollen.
Caesar salad, romaine, garlic croutons, shaved parmigiano-reggiano.

Oh, and white anchovies!

1999 Henschke Shiraz Hill of Grace. Parker 98. Deep garnet-purple in color, the 1999 Hill of Grace presents fragrant notes of warm blackberries and black cherries with hints of menthol, dried thyme and sage, licorice, dark chocolate and black olives. Full-bodied, rich and powerful, it has firm, chewy tannins, crisp acid and a long finish. It is still very youthful in the mouth with lots of flavor layers. It is drinking well now and should continue to cellar through 2035+.

agavin: hot!

1999 Greenock Creek Shiraz Roennfeldt Road. Parker 98. There are 236 cases of the 1999 Shiraz Roennfeldt Road (also from 65-year-old vines). Although it pushes ripeness to the limit, it does not reveal any raisiny/pruny characteristics. It offers wonderful freshness, good acidity, superb intensity, and copious quantities of blackberry, cassis, crushed rock, floral, and spicy new oak notes. Massive and concentrated with perfect equilibrium, it can be drunk now and over the next 25 years. Kudos to one of the world’s finest wine producers!

1988 Penfolds Grange. Parker 91. A blend of 94% Shiraz and 6% Cabernet Sauvignon, this was considered to be “an uncharacteristically soft, fruity Grange.” Everyone at the tasting agreed with those comments. This wine shows a syrupy creme de cassis, earthy note, some pepper, and caramel. It is somewhat soft and accessible for such a relatively young Grange, but there is plenty of structure and tannin in the finish. It is certainly perfumed and more evolved than some of its siblings that are actually older, chronologically speaking. This wine has sweet, full-bodied, plum, cherry, and cassis flavors, with some distinct truffle and asphalt notes. Anticipated maturity: 2003-2016.

agavin: I loved this wine. Very balanced.

1995 Penfolds Grange. Parker 92. An impressive Grange that may ultimately prove to be underrated, like many wines from this vintage, the 1995, a blend of 94% Shiraz and 6% Cabernet Sauvignon, exhibits a saturated plum/purple color and a sweet blackberry liqueur nose intermixed with cassis, licorice, and new oak. The wine is textured, jammy, full-bodied, with impressive levels of extract, glycerin, and black fruit flavors. It is long, ripe, with unobtrusive acidity and tannin. Anticipated maturity: 2004-2018.

Taylor Preston Farms lamb Rack.

Durham Ranch bison T-bone steak, chimichurri sauce.

Prime bone in cowboy ribeye chop.

Chef’s Game Trio (details to follow).

And new this visit, the Chef’s Game Quartet. 1/3 better than the trio!

Australian Kangaroo Loin, Curry Cauliflower, eggplant, raisin condiment, pomegranate.

Amaroo farms emu strip, morels, white asparagus, pinot sauce, almond coffee.

Barbeque Braised Buffalo Short Rib, pommes puree, glazed baby vegetables.

New Zealand Wapiti Elk tenderloin with berry reduction.

Just a few sides.

Brussel Sprouts, garlic, apple cider.

Jumbo asparagus, béarnaise, ham.

Blackened shishito peppers, soy, sesame. loved these!

Heirloom tomato, burrata, mint, onion.

Sauteed wild shimeji mushrooms.

Buttermilk biscuits, honey butter. Oh yes!

Brown butter yukon potato puree.

Four cheese mac & cheese gratin.

Truffled french fries, parmigiano.

Portabella fries, sherry & thyme aioli. These were awesome.

The dessert options. We were so full we didn’t go whole hog on desserts.

We had enough wine left that we didn’t actually open this, but I put it here because we could’ve :-).

1983 De Suduiraut. Parker 87. This looks to be a good Suduiraut. A medium golden color, with a very honeyed, rich, floral bouquet, this full-bodied wine is not as profound as the other 1983s. Sweet, with fine honeyed flavors, this is an elegant, graceful Suduiraut with plenty of character. However, given the vintage, I had expected even more. Anticipated maturity: Now-2005.

But we did get a cheese plate.

Vanilla panna cotta, frog’s hollow peaches, brook’s cherries, honey & pistachio granola.

Banana huckleberry croissant bread pudding with white chocolate ice cream.

Trio of house-made sorbets. Guava, apricot, strawberry.

This was a total blow out event. The food was impeccable and the service warm. We had so much wine we left them a little overwhelmed, but that’s par for the course. Plus we had a really great mix of people and some of the most awesome wines. The vibe outside on the lovely warm Malibu evening was perfect too.

A note on the wines. The flighting really helped, and even helped me enjoy the New World’s better because they drink much better amongst their own kind. I enjoyed the Australian flight a lot, particularly that 88 Grange.

Click here for more LA restaurant reviews,
Or for Hedonist extravaganzas.

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By: agavin
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Eating Positano – Next2

Aug09

Restaurant: Next2

Location: Viale Pasitea, 242, Positano SA, Italy. +39 089 812 3516

Date: June 25 & 28, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Excellent updated style

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My wine and food buddy Walker recommended we try Next2 while we were in Positano, and as it happened it was just a couple hundred feet from our villa — plus 115 stairs. Next2 as it turned out was not only our favorite Positano restaurant (of the 7 we tried), but a bit more updated and modern in terms of menu and presentation than most.

The menu.

2013 Pietracupa Greco di Tufo. 89 points. Oh so dry!

An amuse of caprese.

And one of bruschetta.

Bread. I like the crispy flat things.

Tre assaggi della tradizione. A selection of three traditional starters: a small pizza, stuffed zucchini flowers, and eggplant parmigiana. It all tasted as good as it looks.

Crocchette di verdure e provola, insalata all’aceto balsamico. Vegetable and smoked provola cheese croquette, mixed salad with balsamic vinaigrette.

Insalata caprino fresco, mandorle tostate e miele. Mixed greens with fresh goat cheese, toasted almonds and honey.

Carpaccio di pescato, finocchi, arance e sale al sedano. Catch of the day carpaccio (in this case amberjack), fennel and orange salad, celery salt.


2014 Cantina del Taburno Falanghina Sannio Falanghina del Sannio.

Penne pomodoro!


Penne with butternut squash and seasonal truffle.

Tagliolini, aglio, olio, rosmarino, pomodoro candito e scarola. Taliolini with garlic, olive oil, and rosemary served with roasted tomato and bitter green.

Gnocchi di patate, zucca, salsiccia e tartufo di stagione. Potato gnocchi, butternut squash, pork sausage and seasonal truffle.

Polpette al sugo, polenta e provolone del Monaco. Traditional meatballs cooked in tomato sauce served with polenta and Provolone del Monaco. Pretty old fashioned dish in some ways, even Italian American (which is basically modified Southern Italian cooking). But this version was really good. Maybe not quite as good as the ones at Gusto, but very good.

The dessert menu.

Chocolate gelato.

Chocolate torte with almonds and vanilla ice cream.

Cannolo nocciolato ripieno di mousse al mascarpone, sorbetto al caffe e baileys. Hazelnut cannoli filled with mascarpone cheese, coffee sorbet and baileys sauce. Yum!

Semifreddo of almond and hazelnut with caramel sauce.

Overall, Next2 offers up a really delicious take on modern Amalfi fare. It’s spiritually faithful, but turns up the style and presentation by a couple of notches. Not to the formal level of the Michelin places, but enough to feel fresher than the completely straight up trattorias.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Positano – Mediterraneo
  2. Eating Positano – Saraceno d’Oro
  3. Eating Senigallia – Madonnina del Pescatore
  4. Eating Senigallia – Uliassi
  5. Eating Florence – La Cantinetta Antinori
By: agavin
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Eating Positano – Mediterraneo

Aug08

Restaurant: Mediterraneo

Location: Viale Pasitea, 236, 84017 Positano SA, Italy. +39 089 811651

Date: June 25, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Solid neighborhood Italian

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Night two in Positano and yet another… you guessed it… Italian.

The manager of our rental property recommended this one.

Which also abuts the road, although doesn’t actually straddle it this time.

The view.

The menu is big again, and includes a handle pasta key.


2014 Cantina del Taburno Falanghina Sannio Falanghina del Sannio. Another pretty tart local white, this time from the Falanghina grape.

Ricotta stuffed squash blossoms.

Caprese of local cherry tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella.

Mixed appetizer plate with various cured and fried seafood. Octopus, cured anchovies, fish carpaccio, fried shrimp.

My son’s pomodoro.

Gluten free pasta with eggplant and tomato sauce.

The better homemade pasta with eggplant and tomato sauce.

Risotto del Mediterraneo. Mixed seafoods.

Gelato with chocolate sauce.

Hazelnut semifreddo.


The food at Mediterraneo was good, although not superlative. Still, they made up for it with a certain lively atmosphere and extremely friendly staff. There was live music, and they passed out tambourines, and just generally kept the party going.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

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By: agavin
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Katana – Stripping it all Down

Aug07

Restaurant: Katana

Location: 8439 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069. (323) 650-8585

Date: July 30, 2015

Cuisine: Japanese American Sushi / Robata

Rating: Best I’ve had here

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I’ve long had mixed feelings about both Katana and IDG (Innovative Dining Group). They bug me a bit for being style over substance, and there is absolutely nothing innovative about them in the food department. But that being said they often run a fairly tight ship. BOA is a pretty solid modern steakhouse.

Back to Katana, which lurks right over the heart of the Sunset Strip. The crowd is different than it was when I was last here in 98 or 99 — then it was super hip and trendy. Now it’s still very busy, but feels more like a strong concierge referral business.

The patio gets hopping later.

Inside is the sushi / robata bar. Katana is a “Japanese” restaurant like I’ve never seen in Japan and it fuses a couple different culinary traditions. The sushi side inherits from Nobu / Matsuhisa (more Nobu) and then there is robata thrown in too boot. Oh, plus a ton of those creepy American mega rolls (like Spider Roll) that I don’t like: too much sauce and fry.

Tonight, however, we were there with a super regular who is friendly with the chef and so he made a lot of off menu stuff — and no silly rolls.

Our first wave of sashimi-like apps. This general category of heavily produced sashami is non-traditional, and deemphasizes the fish, but it is really tasty.

2006 Moët & Chandon Champagne Grand Vintage Brut Rosé. VM 91+. Dried rose petals, anise, sweet red cherries and mint waft from the glass in the 2006 Brut Rosé Grand Vintage. The 2006 is a big, large-scaled Rosé built on depth and structure. The flavors show early signs of development, but the 2006 should continue to drink well for many years based on its stuffing. Today the Rosé is a bit tight. I won’t be surprised to see it improve over the next few years. In 2006, the Grand Vintage Rosé is 47% Pinot Noir, 33% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Meunier, with a high percentage of still Pinot Noir (23%) that gives the wine much of its pure vinosity. Dosage is 5 grams per liter.

agavin: these two roses were a gift from a Moet rep and were much appreciated.

Albacore or similar tuna with ponzu, parmesan, avocado, and arugula. An odd blend of Italian salad and sashimi, this did taste great.

NV Ruinart Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. Light orange. Red berries, potpourri, toasty lees and orange peel on the highly fragrant nose. Lively and precise, with very good focus to its wild red berry and floral pastille flavors. The orange note comes back strong on the long, penetrating finish, which features a sweet raspberry quality.

Lobster, reduction, yuzu sauce, truffles. Again pretty over the top, but yummy.

2002 Paul Pillot Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Clos St. Jean. 90 points.

Salmon, truffle, and tomato in a ponzu. Drawing these together are the vinegary sauces. These were “invented” (more adapted from Purvuian sauces) by Nobu Matsuhisa to make sashimi “easier” on the western palette.

2001 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. Burghound 92. Ripe and extremely opulent intense citrus fruit and white flowers coupled with medium weight flavors dripping with minerality and enough fat to buffer the bracing acidity. There is a subtle underlying complexity and this is remarkably intense, assertive and precise yet there is excellent power and depth as well.

Scallop with yuzu and dressing. Delicious. Hard to go too wrong with scallop and vinegar.

2004 Jean-Paul & Benoit Droin Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. Burghound 93. Noticeable reduction and very subtle wood influence highlights the strikingly elegant and airy white flower, grapefruit and anise-infused nose that precedes the intense, powerful and superbly well-detailed medium full flavors that explode like a bomb on the mouth coating finish. There is a bit more wood on the finish but there is so much material here that it will almost certainly absorb it over time. This is a steamroller of a wine yet one that maintains perfect balance and grace though I would strongly suggest decanting it for 20 minutes first because of the reduction.

agavin: a little bit of that 04 green on the finish.

Tai snapper with baby peach and flowers and dressing. This one was most novel, featuring the baby peach. It was really quiet lovely.

From my cellar: 1990 Robert Ampeau & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. Burghound 93. A truly wonderful nose of simply knockout complexity features notes of yeast and baked bread along with now fully mature aromas of a variety of floral notes and spice hints that gives way to mineral-suffused, round, intense and detailed medium full flavors that also offer outstanding depth on the sappy and mouth coating finish. This is drinking perfectly now and I wouldn’t hesitate to open one anytime as there is no further upside to be had. A beautiful effort of real style and grace.

Yellowtail with garlic and something else. Very tasty too, if rich.

2001 Domaine Fourrier Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Gruenchers Vieille Vigne. Burghound 88-91. A major step up as this retains the elegance and precision of the Chambolle villages and adds more depth, weight and complexity plus more length. This is first rate and offers excellent potential for 5 to 8 years of improvement.

Now we segue drastically heavier in an out of order filet mignon with mashed potatoes, foie gras, and truffles. Not that it wasn’t very tasty, but it was hefty!

From my cellar: 1970 Gros Frère et Sœur Vosne-Romanée. 93 points. Very much alive and drinking quite beautifully. A veritable chameleon in the glass, the aromas kept changing every time I brought the glass to my nose. First sour cherries, then papaya, then raspberries, then red clay, then lemon rind, then caramel — it was intoxicating. The palate, on the other hand, was a bit simple and one-dimensional, but I thought the nose more than made up for it. A lovely wine!

Beef rolled around foie. I guess it can get even heavier. Tasty too, but super rich.

1998 Domaine des Lambrays Clos des Lambrays. Burghound 91. This has always had a wonderful nose and it has now reached the front edge of full maturity that complements well a flavor profile is a classy middleweight fighter’s grace and athleticism rather than a heavyweight’s power. The once relatively firm tannins have largely, if not completely, resolved to create a velvety and mouth coating texture that further delivers excellent length. There is a hint of acidity poking through on the finish but overall, this is indisputably an unqualified success for the vintage. Tasted multiple times with consistent notes.

Chicken liver skewers. Good for those with iron deficiency.

Sushi. Tuna, Yellowtail, red snapper, and salmon. These are the usual suspects of the nigiri world. They were nice pieces, but on the “been there done that” side.

Uni, battleship style. I never complain about good uni.

Toro. O-toro from the look of it. This wasn’t like Yamakase toro or anything, but I certainly wasn’t going to send it back.

Chicken cartilage skewers. Good flavor. Terrible cartilage texture.

Lamb chops. Oddball at a Japanese restaurant, but very nice.

Lobster tempura in ponzu sauce. Total guilty pleasure. This sauce was more like a sweet and spicy eggroll sauce. The lobster was so fried you would have never known there was anything in there. Despite that, it was amazing in a totally decadent fried way.

Snapper, and truffle, wrapped around foie gras with shiso. Such an odd combo, but delicious (if, like much of the meal, was very rich).

Turley Zinfandel. Don’t know which one. Well, it was a zin.

A dessert plate with flourless chocolate tart, a kind of cheesecake, and (way too little) ice cream.

2009 Heinrich Mayr (Nusserhof) Lagrein Alto Adige – Südtirol Riserva. VM 94. The 2009 Lagrein Riserva wraps around the palate with layers of super-expressive, radiant fruit. Sweet red berries, tobacco, crushed flowers, mint and anise are some of the many notes that are woven together in the glass. Extended time in barrel has added considerable textural richness. The 2009 needs quite a bit of time to open up, but it is fabulous. The silky tannins and overall depth of the fruit cover some of the wilder notes typical of Lagrein, but there is plenty of varietal expression. This is another striking, reference-point wine from Heinrich Mayr.

agavin: never heard of this — at all — but it was a great food wine.

A coffee chocolate mousse. My favorite.

Overall, a really fun evening. Service was fabulous and I enjoyed the food. It is, as mentioned above, an odd hybrid of different Japanese types and other more American influences. It emphasizes super rich ingredients and sauces in a way that really isn’t fundamentally Japanese. All the while failing to strike out on it’s own with any kind of real vision. This comes off more like an amped up “crowd pleaser” style, thus striking an odd note with my purist side. Still, it is a crowd pleaser — and plenty tasty.

For more LA Japanese dining reviews click here.

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Silk Road Journeys – Shaanxi Gourmet

Aug05

Restaurant: Shaanxi Gourmet

Location: 8518 E Valley Blvd, Rosemead, CA 91770. (626) 288-9886

Date: June 26, 2015

Cuisine: North Western Chinese

Rating: Noodles galore!

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I’ve been wanting to hit up this place for a long time, as I’ve heard good things and I was a fan of this style of food when I was in Xian years ago.

Shaanxi is located in the same mini-mall as Alibaba Foot Spa and a good Taiwanese tea/shave ice place.


The menu.

Cold appetizers from the cabinet: spicy beef and bean curd. The beef was “preserved” with that pastrami like thing. Nice.

Crispy pickled shredded potatoes and cucumbers.

Cold steamed noodle with sesame sauce. The sauce mostly hid at the bottom, but these knife cut noodles had a great texture.

Eggs with tomato. Home style!

Beef with noodle soup. The noodles were thick chunks of knife cut and there was some “bread” bits soaked in here too.

Lamb skewers. Decent. Hot, with cumin and a bit of heat.

Shaanxi sandwich with pork. A Chinese take on a Carolina BBQ pork sandwich? Not quiet. The bread was lighter than usual for this kind of dish. It was pretty decent.

Noodles. I’m not sure which kind, but these hand cut babies were long and had an interesting cumin sauce on them. Quiet nice.

XinJiang style chicken stew with potato in a big plate. This was the most popular dish at the restaurant. The plate is HUGE. The chicken was tasty, if a little bone ridden. I liked the potatoes in the cumin based sauce too. And under all that is a big pile of cumin soaked noodles which I love — even if they were hard to pick up.

Fried potato, green pepper, and eggplant. Fine, but not my favorite version of this kind of eggplant dish.

Hot and spicy rice noodles.

Look at these puppies. Imagine trying to get them on your plate!

Fish filet in hot chili oil with mixed vegetables. This was a big pot of the classic Szechuan fish filet dish. Very tasty with a nice Szechuan peppercorn numb. So much chili oil!

Stir fried cumin spiced lamb. A classic of these regions. Fine.

Overall, Shaanxi was an interesting experience. They didn’t have a liquor license and so didn’t allow us to open our wine. Bummer, but fair enough. Service was nice, but they did completely ignore our request to bring things out slowly and dumped the first half of the meal on our table in 3 minutes. Then we had to threaten their tip to get them to slow down. Once they did there was a 1 hour pause before food resumed. Probably our fault as we should have just ordered the dishes 2 at a time. It doesn’t take them look anyway.

Food was very tasty though and quiet different than some other regions. All those knife cut noodles! Things are so noodle centric they didn’t even HAVE white rice!

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!


Now working through the 626 Trifecta, next door for snow.

These plates are a foot across. This $6 mango snow had vanilla ice cream, egg pudding, honey boba, and almond jelly.

The green tea snow had vanilla ice cream, leeche jelly, red been, and taro.

The third and final “event” in the trifecta is the cheap ($15 an hour) foot massage. I ended up with the manager, and he was so strong I was writhing beneath his not-so-tender ministrations. Good though.

Related posts:

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  3. Serious Szechuan
  4. Spice Up Your Life Szechuan Style
  5. Hunan Chili Madness
By: agavin
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Eating Positano – Saraceno d’Oro

Aug04

Restaurant: Sarceno D’Oro

Location: Viale Pasitea, 254, 84017 Positano SA, Italy. +39 089 812050

Date: June 23, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Tasty Amalfi Tratoria

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On our first night in Positano we hiked (slightly) down the hill to a recommended local spot.

The name translates as the Golden Saracen (generic term for moorish, implying pirate in this context).

The resteraunt is squeezed on both sides of Positano’s single road, split by the busy traffic.

The menu is fairly epic.
2014 Feudi di San Gregorio Fiano di Avellino. The Amalfi whites are dry dry dry.

Packaged gluten free bread!

Insalte Mixte.

Marinated local small fish like sardines. These are always yummy.

Gli sfizi del Saraceno. Potatoes and croquets with ham, fried bread, mozzarella cheese and mixed fried vegetables. A whole lotta fry!

Penne pomodoro.

Penne alla Siciliana. With mozzarella and eggplant.

Scialatielli allo scoglio. House made pasta with sea food. This was a really nice pasta with an al dente bite and a great tasting gauzetto (garlic, cherry tomato, wine sauce).

Grilled Spigola (seabass).

Roasted potatoes.

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Tiramisu. Biscuit with cream and coffee. Too much straight whipped cream. Maybe some mascarpone, but certainly not the complex Zabaione, pastry cream, whipped cream, mascarpone I make.

Profiterole al cioccolato. Pastries stuffed with chocolate cream, covered in sauce and whipped cream.

Limoncello. I really want to love limocello, because I do adore lemons, but it’s just so alcoholic tasting. Burns my palette. Better as a gelato flavor.

Overall, food in Positano seems to be a bit more touristy/international than some of the other spots we visited, although this was of course solidly Italian. Still, it was very tasty. The mixed seafood pasta being a highlight.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Senigallia – Taverna Porto
  2. Eating Senigallia – Uliassi
  3. Eating Senigallia – Madonnina del Pescatore
  4. Eating Senigallia – Niko Cucina
  5. Eating Orvieto – Maurizio
By: agavin
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Valley Heat

Aug03

Every summer the Hedonists do a food/wine BBQ at Holly’s house in Tarzana. This year the food is Jamaican.


It was a (very) warm July evening at this lovely part of the velley.

Getting the food going.

Holly’s 11 year-old grandson DJed!

 

Our chef, Shaun Marsh.

The wine situation (below) was very freeform, so I’ll just post the whites with the appetizers and the reds with the mains.
From my cellar: 2001 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. Burghound 92. Ripe and extremely opulent intense citrus fruit and white flowers coupled with medium weight flavors dripping with minerality and enough fat to buffer the bracing acidity. There is a subtle underlying complexity and this is remarkably intense, assertive and precise yet there is excellent power and depth as well.

agavin: drinking great

2009 Aubert Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard. VM 95. The 2009 Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard is beautifully precise and articulate. This is all nuance and detail. Here the aromas and flavors are all beautifully sculpted from start to finish. The wine blossoms beautifully with time in the glass, showing quite a bit of power, all while maintaining significant freshness.

agavin: way too flabby for me (no acid).

2007 Dönnhoff Riesling. 88 points. A little flat, but fine.

2005 Dönnhoff Schloßböckelheimer Kupfergrube Riesling Spätlese. VM 92. Pale golden yellow.Fruit-driven aromas of apricot and quince, lifted by a floral element. The complex tropical fruit flavors are accentuated by a hint of licorice and a shot of slate. The fine balance of sweetness and acidity leavens the impression of richness. Offers excellent length and potential.


Various cheeses.

Humus.

Chips.

More chips.

Garlic stuffed olives.

Bacon and fruit papusas. A delicious sweet/salty combo. Really fabulous.

Festival. A sweet fried cornbread, not far off from a hush puppy. Apparently cornbread balls were a staple of Southeastern and Caribbean natives even before 1492.

More of the fruit bacon mix.


2006 Clos des Papes Chateauneuf du Pape. Parker 98. The 2006 Chateauneuf du Pape is one of the two or three candidates for the wine of the vintage. An extraordinarily great wine, the 2006 is far superior to the 2005, which was amazing, and while made in a different style, is as great as the 2003, and such legends as 1990 and 1978. Fashioned from a minuscule 21 hectoliters per hectare, and tipping the scales at 15.2% natural alcohol, the 2006 boasts a dense ruby/purple color to the rim, in addition to an extraordinary bouquet of melted licorice, spring flowers, raspberries, black currants, spice box, and earth. In the mouth, it is utterly profound – full-bodied and multidimensional with astonishing purity, length, equilibrium, and intensity. This is a superb vintage for the Avrils, and Vincent deserves huge accolades for producing a wine of such incredible intensity and complexity. Think of Clos des Papes as a Chateauneuf du Pape with the complexity of a top-notch grand cru Burgundy from the Cote de Nuits.

1999 Chapoutier Cote Rotie la Mordoree. Parker 95-98. Chapoutier’s La Mordoree cuvee is produced from 75-80-year old Syrah vines planted in both the Cote Blonde and Cote Brune, aged in 100% new oak casks, and bottled with neither fining nor filtration. The 1999 Cote Rotie La Mordoree is the finest he has produced since the 1991 (two bottles drunk over the last six months confirm this fabulous wine’s potential as it is just now beginning to emerge from a cloak of tannin). The 1999 has closed down since its pre-bottling tasting. The color is an inky purple, and the wine is dense and powerful, with notes of smoky blackberries, creosote, and espresso. Concentrated flavors reveal high levels of tannin (surprising in view of last year’s report), and a rich, long, 45-second finish. This impressive 1999 will take longer to reach its plateau of drinkability than I thought last year.

Domaine Raymond Usseglio Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee la Parte des Anges. Parker 93. A unique blend of 70% Mourvedre, 20% Grenache and 10% Syrah, Usseglio’s Châteauneuf du Pape Cuvee la Part des Anges is gorgeous, with lots of sweet oak in its crème de cassis, licorice, new leather and graphite aromas and flavors. Nicely concentrated, with full-bodied richness and beautiful purity, it’s certainly not a classic expression of the appellation, but it’s superb nonetheless.

From my cellar: 1998 Domaine de la Mordoree Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de la Reine des Bois. Parker 97-99. This wine went through a long closed period. It was sensational to drink a year or two after bottling, then the wood tannins in the wine’s structure took over. It remained in that state until about two years ago, when it began to slightly open up, and now it seems to be coming into full form. It still has a good 10 years of upside, and potentially 20 more years of drinkability. Still dense ruby/purple, with notes of blueberry liqueur intermixed with graphite, smoke, crushed rock, and white flowers, the wine is full-bodied, beautifully pure, and all evidence of any barrique aging has been completely assimilated into the wine’s fruit and character. This is a beauty that is just now living up to its full potential. Bravo!

1999 Penfolds Grange. Parker 94-96. Only the third Grange to be produced from 100% Shiraz, the 1999 Grange is superb. It boasts an inky purple color as well as unformed but gorgeously sweet notes of blackberries intermixed with smoke, licorice, and roasted meats. A wine of great intensity, sweet tannin, voluptuous texture, and a spectacularly long finish, it will be at its finest between 2007-2025.

2011 Schrader Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon RBS Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard. VM 93. Schrader’s 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon RBS Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard is pure silk on the palate. The aromas, flavors and textures are incredibly refined and lifted. A soft, seamless wine that stands out for its gorgeous balance, the 2011 is showing beautifully today. Freshly cut flowers, mint and red berries all flow through to the impeccably refined finish. It is fascinating to taste the RBS next to Las Piedras. Both wines are Clone 337 Cabernet Sauvignon, but here we are in To Kalon, where the flavors seem to have a little more defintion.

agavin: so young it tasted like there was a vanilla bean drowned in super extracted grape juice 🙂

2011 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon. Parker 96. More serious, and one of the wines of the vintage, the 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon (100% Cabernet Sauvignon) has uncommon concentration and depth in the vintage, as well as a broad, structured profile that will allow it to age gracefully. Loaded with sweet creme de cassis, exotic spice, licorice and graphite, it’s a full-bodied, elegant and classically styled effort that has nothing out of place, fine, building tannin and a rock star finish. It will be approachable at an earlier stage than most vintages, yet still have two decades of longevity.

2002 Colgin IX Syrah Estate. Parker 94-96. There are 175 cases of the 2002 IX Syrah Estate. One hundred percent destemmed, fermented with indigenous yeasts, and aged in Burgundy barrels before being bottled unfined and unfiltered, this Cote Rotie-like Syrah smells like it contains some Viognier, although it does not. Exotic floral characteristics intermixed with notions of tapenade, blackberries, coffee, and chocolate jump from the glass of this full-bodied yet supple-textured, voluptuously-styled red. Already irresistible, this fabulous Syrah can be enjoyed over the next 7-10 years.

1974 Beaulieu Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve Georges de Latour. Parker 88. This has consistently been one of the most irregular 1974 Cabernet Sauvignons. I have had it close to two dozen times, with some excellent bottles, a few outstanding, and others hollow, over-ripe, and dull. This bottle was excellent. A supple, expansively flavored wine, it exhibits a dark ruby/garnet color with considerable rust at the edge, and a big, cedary, jammy, black-cherry, herb, and toasty-scented nose. With superb richness and sweet, roasted, nearly over-ripe fruit, this medium-bodied, lusty, fully mature wine is delicious. Owners are well-advised to drink it up.

1981 Durney Cabernet Sauvignon Durney Vineyards. 88 points.


2007 Hundred Acre Vineyard Ark. Parker 100! A perfect wine, the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Ark Vineyard (1,300 – 1,400 cases) from Howell Mountain is one of the great efforts from this high elevation terroir. It offers notes of burning embers, black raspberries, blueberries and flowers, a full-bodied opulence, wonderful intensity, but the wine is not weighty or overripe. Fleshy and voluptuous with terrific floral notes, it should drink well for 15-20 years.

agavin: monster!

Stewed chicken feet. Ewww.

Curried goat with potatoes. A nice stew.

Jerk pork. This was BBQ pork with a bit of heat to it, rather delicious and tender.

Stewed beans with beef and pig tail. Sounds gross, but it was very tasty. The long pale things were heavy but delicious dumplings.

Pigs feet. Not my favorite meat.

Jerk chicken. Moist and fabulous.

Tripe and beans.

Dirty rice.

Regular rice.

“Salad.” Apparently this is standard Jamaican salad, carrot and cabbage with a slightly sweet vinegar dressing.

Fried plantains.

Breadfruit. I see why it gets its name. Breadfruit is very dry and starchy, with a pleasant extremely mild flavor.

Scotch bonnet cinnamon mole sauce. An awesome sauce with a fabulous flavor and some real heat.

My plate.


2006 Trentadue Winery Viognier White Port. 92 points. Honeyed wine marked by citrus and marmalade notes with spice on the finish. The high acidity was mouth-watering in a very good way and prevented this wine from being too sweet. Very delicious.

Coconut crunch.

Coconut cakes. These were super sweet and amazing.

Coconut nut pies.

Rum raison yam pudding.


Overall, this was a super fun evening with great eats and great wine — just what the Hedonists are all about.

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

  1. Oceans of Wine
  2. Newport goes Westside
  3. Memorial Day Pig
  4. Wine on the Beach
  5. Epic Ocean Party 2015
By: agavin
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Eating Senigallia – Madonnina del Pescatore

Aug01

Restaurant: Madonnina del Pescatore

Location: Via Lungomare, 11, 60017 Marzocca di Senigallia AN, Italy. +39 071 698267

Date: June 21, 2015

Cuisine: Italian (2 Michelin stars)

Rating: Awesome high end

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The second of Senigallia’s Michelin two star duo (not in any particular order) is:

We got to try these with only one night in between for close comparison.

Located a few miles south along the coast, Madonnina is on a slightly quieter stretch of beach than Uliassi — but also enjoys a lovely view.


The sea is visible beyond.

2013 Azienda Agricola Bucci Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Superiore. Again we order this reliable and reasonable fresh local white.

An amuse of parmesan semi-freddo ice cream sandwich!


The menu. We went for the “close to tradition.”

Americano cocktail solido e viaggio intorno all’ alice. Another amuse, a prosecco foam with fruit gelee.

More amuses. I can’t remember exactly what. The right was a crisp with anchovy paste.

Bread.

roast beef : tonno bianco tataki, il sugo della fettina di mia madre salsa di sedano rapa e topinambur al forno. White albacore tuna.

insalata di polpo, gelatina di pane e aceto, la sua maionese. octopus salad, bread, jelly and vinegar, mayonnaise. Very very tender octopus.

ravioli al “plin” di pesce, salsa porro e curry, spinaci e sogliola. ravioli “pliny” fish , leek and curry sauce , spinach and sole. Little pastries of pliny fish.

2012 Fattoria La Monacesca Verdicchio di Matelica Riserva “Mirum”. 90 points. Quite a fruitier expression of this wine. Good ripe fruit, light touch of sweet and waxy core, nice mineral side and firm acidity. This as always is a nice, expressive and complex wine and always a joy to come across it.

carpaccio tiepido di spigola, purè al lime, salmoriglio e salsa di rucola. warm carpaccio of sea bass , mashed lime , seasoned salt and rocket sauce.

spigola di amo arrostita, salsa di fagiolini ed insalatina alla senape. Bass,roasted potatoes , sauce and green beans salad with mustard.

lasagna ai frutti di mare in bianco con salsa di cocco e prezzemolo. lasagna with seafood in white with coconut sauce and parsley. This was sort of a giant ravioli/lasagna. It was soft and delicate and rich and rather delicious with hints of thai type flavors.

guazzetto “al forno” di pesci, molluschi e crostacei. A version of the classic seafood stew.

A version with no shellfish.

tiramisù con gelato al caffè, mascarpone liquido gelatine al borghetti e pane del giorno prima. tiramisu with coffee ice cream, mascarpone liquid borghetti jellies and bread from the day before. A bit like a tiramisu gelato.

vulcani attivi. Volcanic activity. This interesting presentation of chocolates had a number of chocolates named after particular volcanos and placed on the map where they belong. The flavors were themed after the regions, for example with the “Vesuvius” having tomato and mozzarella in with the chocolate!

A granite of grappa with a final chocolate.

Alex had his own tasting of Penne Pomodoro.

Parmasean.

And vanilla gelato over chocolate cookie.

 

Overall, we had a fabulous meal at Madonnina. I’d pretty much place it and Uliassi at the same level, and they draw off the same base regional cuisine. They do differ in style. Madonnina is fancy, but somewhat more direct in its translation of the dishes, a bit less experimental. This resulted in a 100% “good dish” rate, which almost no highly experimental place achieves. These were really nice dishes that fundamentally tasted great (and very Italian).

Service was also fabulous. Attentive and reasonably speedy (as 2 star places go) with no late meal stall. It’s very common for elegant places to really slow down the pace around the last entree through dessert and check — just when you are getting tired!

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Senigallia – Uliassi
  2. Eating Senigallia – Niko Cucina
  3. Eating Senigallia – Taverna Porto
  4. Eating Rome – Metamorfosi
  5. Eating Gaiole – Lo Sfizio di Bianchi
By: agavin
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