Restaurant: n10 restaurant
Location:8436 W 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA, CA 90048. (310) 924-2011
Date: May 21, 2018
Cuisine: Italian
Rating: Great pastas and hospitality
I’ve been doing a lot of Foodie Club dinners the last couple of months because they have the best overall balance between food, wine, company etc and are smaller and more intimate.
Larry has been friends for a while with the owner of the brand new n10 and so he set this one up.
It’s a new Italian place on 3rd Street, right next to the now defunct/moved Gusto. They have a large (and nice) patio.
The interior is big too with a top notch build out. At first we had the private room but an uppity chick coming for her birthday dinner threw a tantrum on the owner and we moved out to the patio — which was in many ways nicer because it was quiet and we had it all to ourselves.
The menu.
And an insert.
Erick brought: 1996 Bruno Paillard Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. VM 94. The 1996 Brut Blanc de Blancs is a rich, explosive wine that bursts onto the palate with a blast of ripe fruit. Generous notes of toasted oak, flowers and nuts follow, but everything is woven together in a fabric of unsual brilliance. The oak remains quite prominent and borderline intrusive but stylistically everything works. The wine comes together in the glass, where it also gains additional weight and fills out nicely. This is a powerful, heady and totally opulent Champagne that calls for food. In the right context it is sure to be extraordinary. At the risk of offending the Champenoise, the 1996 Brut Blanc de Blancs seems to scream for a poached egg generously topped with white Alba truffles!
CHARCUTERIE. Prosciutto di Parma aged 24 months / prosciutto Toscano aged 20 months / finocchiona salami / speck /
nduja / bresaola / mortadella / spicy coppa / chicken liver pate / served with gnocco fritto.
Puffy Emilia-Romagna style breads.
Another view with the wine bucket.
And a different bread type, plus Grissini.
Seb is obsessed with this wine: 2014 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru La Forest. VM 94+. Bright, pale yellow. Lovely perfumed lift to the aromas and flavors of lemon zest, grapefruit and white flowers. Tactile and dense but very closed on the palate, combining a sexy sweetness for the year with powerful salinity and superb depth. Most impressive today on the energetic, slowly mounting, palate-staining finish, which leaves the retronasal passage quivering. Premier cru Chablis from the region’s left bank does not get much better than this.
TUNA TARTARE. capers, agrumato, espelette pepper, preserved lemon.
CARNE CRUDA. grass fed beef, whole grain mustard, lemon juice, cured egg yolk. Very nice tartar with the cured egg yolk.
And bread for both tartars.
BURRATA. pea sprouts, fennel, preserved lemon, olio verde. Imported from Italy.
From my cellar: 2007 Venica & Venica Malvasia Collio. Great northern Italian white.
PIZZA TARTUFATA. burrata, squash blossoms, black truffle. Nice pizza.
Now we get into my favorites, the pastas:
PACCHERI. Maine lobster, crustacean broth, stracciatella, pomodorini, basil pesto.
SPAGHETTI CHITARRA. Sea urchin, grey mullet, botarga, lemon zest. Another great one.
From my cellar: 1997 Gaja Barbaresco. 95 points. Good full ruby-red. Superripe aromas of black raspberry, coffee, mint and oak, plus an exotic smoky note of torrefaction. Less complex than the ’98 but very concentrated, with surprising acidity giving the wine lovely vinosity. Strong note of dark chocolate in the mouth. Finishes long and juicy, with building tannins.
BOMBOLOTTI SUGO TOSCANO. tomato, guanciale, soffritto onions, dry aged pecorino. First rate with a great bite and nice porky flavor.
RISOTTO. porcini, zucchini, red wine braised chicken oysters. Interesting.
GNOCCHI NORCINA. Sausage, porcini mushrooms, black truffle. I love Norcina and this was a fairly faithful version.
2000 Château Montrose. VM 94. Full red-ruby. Roasted, smoky aromas of blackberry, blueberry and licorice. Plush, dense and large-scaled; expands impressively in the mouth. Chocolatey-ripe but kept fresh by nicely integrated acidity. Offers lovely sweetness without going over the top. Finishes with big, dusty, horizontal tannins and lovely aromatic persistence. Offers extraordinary texture and depth of flavor for a wine with just 12.8% alcohol.
BONE-IN RIBEYE. cipolini onions, red wine sauce, rosemary roasted potatoes.
Larry brought a Mollydooker Shiraz Velvet Glove but I forgot to get a photo of the year!
COSTOLETTE D’AGNELLO. Australian lamb chops, shishito peppers, marinated cabbage, aged balsamic.
RAPINI. garlic, olive oil, chili. Like a Chinese green (almost).
CARCIOFI. roasted artichokes, guanciale, Calabrian chili. These were nice.
Our very generous host brought this Barolo out for us on the house! 1999 Gomba Boschetti Barolo Sori Boschetti
Here is the owner with Larry. Next we go into dessert overload!
SEMIFREDDO. dark, milk and white chocolate, amaretti cookies, blackberries. I love semifreddo.
With the chocolate sauce.
CREPE CAKE. poppy seeds, pastry cream, strawberries.
TIRAMISU. lady fingers, espresso, mascarpone mousse. This was a good “real” tiramisu — not as good as mine, of course, but good.
I can’t remember exactly what this was, but coconut I think.
Some nice gelatti, not made in house though, and not nearly as good as mine, but still solid.
Pistachio Gelato. A bit mild, but nice texture.
Caramel Gelato.
Chocolate Gelato.
Stracciatella Gelato.
Raspberry Sorbetto.
Oh, and some Sassicaia grappa to finish — took a couple layers off my gut! Not really a grappa fan.
But this was a great night and a lot of fun. Really good food, particularly the pastas, apps, pizzas and desserts (I rarely love the mains at Italian) and amazing service and hospitality!
