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Archive for March 2017

Michael’s Rebooted

Mar31

Restaurant: Michael’s Santa Monica

Location: 1147 Third Street, Santa Monica, CA 90403. 310-451-0843

Date: February 14, 2013

Cuisine: New American

Rating: Great job with a tough night

_

Michael’s is a Santa Monica classic, having been at heart of the birth of “California Cuisine” back in the 80’s, but things have been a bit staid for a long time. Now with a new chef shaking things up the food is bright and modern again.


The bar doesn’t look much different.

More lounge-like interior.

But it’s the garden that has always rocked. They don’t make spaces like this anymore!

From my cellar: 2006 Pierre Morey Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. BH 93. Again, as one would reasonably expect, this is more elegant still with a pure and refined nose of white flower, wet stone, fennel and a hint of honeysuckle that is also picked up by the citrusy, sweet and marvelously intense flavors that possess a bit more volume than usual. A very classy effort that will age well.

The menu.

Whole wheat sourdough.

Dungeness crab chawanmushi. uni, ginger sprout, Japanese sesame. I always love these light egg custards.

Yellowfin tuna tartare. Flax sseeds, kanzuri, yerba mate creme fraiche.

Spaghetti a la chitarra. Lamb sausage bolognese, garlic confit, smoked ricotta.

Potatoes a la plancha. Parmigiano reggiano, bonito flakes, furikake aioli.

Mixed baby lettuces. market vegetables, herbs & seeds, red wine vinaigrette.

From my cellar: 1993 Domaine Marquis d’Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Champans. 92 points. Dry game and cinnamon; not quite as vibrant but still fine. Volnay is so elegant and has such legs to age. Perfect with roasted marrow.

Grilled branzino. Black carrot puree, winter citrus, calabrian chile.

Black garlic rice. vinegar roasted turnips, sumac yogurt, pickled wasabi leaf.

Duck breast. Huckleberry juniper pickle, chrysanthemum, delicata squash.

Denver steak. Porcini bordelaise, Russian kale, hedgehog mushrooms.

Ricotta Gnudi. Black trumpet sugo, green garlic, frill mustard.

Whipped cheesecake. Walnut, sour cream curd, graham cracker sable.

Hazelnut chocolate ganache. Pistachio pound cake, rice syrup, orange.

The menu at Michael’s is radically updated. Gone is the sort of 80s/90s larger plates with more French influence and in its place the newer, brighter style of vaguely fusion share plates. But the flavors were very good and execution spot on. Plus the garden is still a lovely spot. Compare to this meal from a few years ago.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Valentines at Michael’s
  2. Updates
  3. Fraiche Santa Monica part deux
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: California Cuisine, garden, Michael's Santa Monica, Santa Monica

The Mar Vista

Mar23

Restaurant: The Mar Vista

Location: 12249 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90066. (310) 751-6773

Date: February 26 & March 8, 2017

Cuisine: Modern American

Rating: Solid New Kitchen

_

The Mar Vista is a new “small plates” Modern American place I found on the Eater Heat Map — it’s near one of my haunts, the Mitsuwa market.

Big spacious interior.

A little loud.

Le menu.

From my cellar: 2005 Morey-Blanc Corton-Charlemagne. BH 94. More evident wood with hints of spice and vanilla frames the green fruit and spiced apple aromas and a trace of it can also be found on the full-bore, rich and intense big-bodied flavors blessed with excellent concentration and muscle, all wrapped in a minerally, delicious and serious finish of superb length.

Lemonaise. Lola rosa tangerines, radishes, shaved fennel, sunchoke chips. A nice zesty salad.

Blood orange and beets. Collard greens, frisee, cashew butter pecans. Not as good as the first salad.

Fontina bacon crab melt. garlic white wine cream sauce, crostini. The crostini were somewhere between shrimp chips and ciccarone. Tasty though.

Turkish turkey pops. pickled onion, cumber, yogurt. Basically turkey kefta on cinnamon sticks with arugula and yogurt sauce. Tasty, but turkey was a little dry.

Pig hot pot. Pork belly, rice, squash noodles, crispy scallions. A somewhat odd format.

Wild cod hot pot. Aji amarillo toasted tortilla, red rice, chayote slaw, cilantro.

Spicy glazed shrimp. Melted leeks, celery root puree. Tasty!

Can’t remember which this was.

From my cellar: 1996 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Les Cazetiers. BH 88. Very earthy aromas with ripe, pretty, elegant, very pinot fruit leads to sappy, pure, nicely complex medium weight flaovrs with excellent finishing intensity. This is really lovely juice and if it can add a bit of weight with additional bottle age, my score will be conservative.

Another mystery pot.

Wild boar & gemelli pasta. Charred leek oil, creme fraiche, dill pollen. A nice hearty pasta.

Lamb. Curried carrot couscous, crispy kale, chimichurri, pomegranate.

Pork osso bucco, hominy chile guajilo, toasted pumpkin seed.

Broccoli & cauliflower. sweet chili, pear puree, almonds, grapes. Nice crunch to the veggies.

BANANAS. Run, cashews, pecans, caramel, horchata ice cream.
 It came on fire then they added the ice cream. Really delicious and I don’t even like bananas.

Scotch kiss brownie bites. MV marshmallow, salted caramel, coco crisps.
 Good stuff!

Lemon Lady. Meyer lemon curd, market berries, basil, toasted shortbread. Nice!

I didn’t have a lot of expectations and The Mar Vista surpassed them. This was good stuff. Very modern platings. Vaguely Middle Eastern Fusion at times, but really just sort of “new plates.” But the flavors were in general bright and good, and if every plate wasn’t perfect, the meal was quiet tasty. Service was a bit disjointed and the waitresses didn’t seem to know exactly what they were doing. We had to nearly trip a busboy to get water.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Rustic Canyon 3D
  2. East Meets West – Maru Sushi
  3. More Modern Dim Sum
  4. Lunasia Dim Sum
  5. Eating Senigallia – Uliassi
By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: The Mar Vista

Best BBQ Ever?

Mar13

Restaurant: Sham Tseng BBQ

Location:634 Garvey Ave, Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 289-4858

Date: February 12 & October 22, 2017 & July 21, 2019

Cuisine: Chinese BBQ

Rating: Best BBQ fowl and pig!

_

One of the first Hedonist Chinese diners I ever went to — 5 or more years ago! — was at Sham Tseng, but back when they had a different location.

Now that is closed and they have only (I think) their original location — which we have been to a whole mess of times.

It’s not much to look at, a sort of BBQ shack.

Check out the glamour!

But we had the “private room” — I’m chuckling even now. Back in the parking lot, in this sort of strip mall hooker motel like apartment building, up the shady stairs…

Down the creepy hall…

And even mysteriously for lease is…

The glorious interior two room “palace.”

Oh yeah!

Various sauces.

Beef tendon and pig ear. Not my favorites. I actually love beef tendon, but in spicy sauce where it’s chew is complemented by some flavor.
7U1A4199
Corn Soup (7/21/19). A corn egg drop soup. Light and delicious.

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Suckling pig. Now this some seriously amazing pig. Super little, incredibly crispy skin, super tender meat. Sham Tseng knows how to BBQ!

Oink!

Lobster in black pepper sauce. Fine, although not their speciality.
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Lobster with garlic ginger sauce and noodles (7/21/19). This was a better lobster prep for them, although a bit of a tough beast, the sauce on the noodles was excellent.

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Roast goose (2 pictures). This was an incredible dish too. Super moist and great crunchy skin. Eaten with the sweet orange sauce.
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Fried bits (7/21/19), including tofu, chewy chicken bits, and maybe squid.

Egg yolk salt shrimp. A little too heavy for my taste.

Fried fish bits with garlic. Not bad.
7U1A4210
Different fish bits with green onion (7/21/19). Really delicious.

This chili oil isn’t nearly as good as mine.


Spiced lamb chops. Super tasty.

Roast chicken. Some of the best straight up chicken I’ve had! Again cooked perfectly.

Hyper fried pork or such. Actually pretty darn tasty.

The party spread even to the staff.

Green beans. Fine.

1A0A4976
Chinese broccoli (10/22/17). Fairly typical Chinese green.
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Pea tendrils with garlic (10/22/17). I like this kind of colon sweeper better.
7U1A4256
Chinese broccoli (and regular broccoli?) with mushrooms in velvet sauce (7/21/19).
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Rice noodles with chicken (10/22/17). Vaguely sweet.

Singapore noodles. Nice version of this curry flavored dish.

Fried rice with everything.
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Shrimp fried rice.
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Fried rice with salty fish and chicken.

Ma Po tofu. Not very spicy sort of goopy version.

Buns and sauce for the peking duck!

Peking duck. Some more stunning poultry! Fabulous and as good as Tasty Duck.
1A0A4967
Different presentation on 10/22/17.

Duck meat.
7U1A4235
t

Steam fish. A bit dull, but perfectly cooked.
7U1A4255
Beef stew (7/21/19). Don’t know what else to call this, but pretty much… beef stew.
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Chewy fried rice balls with red bean inside (10/22/17). What historically passed for dessert in China.

Lemon meringue pie. Yep. Not sure why, but it was fine.

Confetti cake. Even odder.

7U1A4270
Radical new flavor: Gianduja Extra Virgin Olive Oil — a tricky high fat EVOO base made with 2014 Giuseppe Quintarelli Olive Oil and layered with house-made Piedmontese Hazelnut and Valrhona Chocolate Ganache — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato) — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #evoo #OiliveOil #Quintarelli #SavorySweet #ganache #valrhona #chocolate #hazelnut

Italian Lemon Cookie Meringue Pie — Limoncello Zabaione base with lemon cookie flavor mixed with Italian Lemon Creme Cookies and Sicilian Candied Lemon and topped with house-made toasted Meringue — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato) — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #lemon #LemonCookie #cookie #Sicily #Sorento #Limoncello #Meringue #LemonMeringuePie

Overall the private room is a fun time at Sham Tseng. Downstairs is a crowded mess. And while most of their non-BBQ dishes are just fine (solid, but nothing amazing), their BBQ poultry and pig is off the charts great — really really good.

For more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

 

1A0A5022
Remnants from a table of old folks too senior to finish their food hedonist style.

Below is a slew of wines. I’m feeling too lazy to catalog them:


I brought the Rav.


And I brought this too. Not enough fruit.










7U1A4213

 

Related posts:

  1. Hedonists go to Beijing
  2. Silk Road Journeys – Shaanxi Gourmet
  3. Ring the Ji Rong Gong
  4. Top Island Seafood
  5. Hedonists at Shanghailander
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chinese BBQ, hedonists, Peking Duck, Sham Tseng, suckling pig
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