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Archive for November 2018

Krug Providence

Nov30

Restaurant: Providence [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Location: 5955 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038. (323) 460-4170

Date: October 4, 2018

Cuisine: Cal French

Rating: Awesome food & Amazing Champ

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Providence is always good but it’s especially good when it’s a Sage Society arranged Krug dinner. I love Krug. Anyone who doesn’t is fairly suspect :-).



While the colors are different, Providence still looks a lot like Patina to me — as the layout is basically the same.

The bar has this blue and gold thing going on.File0359-Pano
This is my first time in the private room, despite many visits here.
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Our reception champ is of course Grand Cuvee.

NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 166eme. VM 94. The MV Grande Cuvée 166ème, based on the 2010 vintage, offers good depth, but it also comes across as a bit angular and in need of time in bottle to soften. Certainly, next to the 2008 and 2009 editions, the 2010 is a touch rough around the edges. Even so, there is good freshness and verve to the bright citrus, mineral and floral flavors.
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The special menu for tonight.
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The amuses consist of smoked trout or something. Delicious as I love smoked fish like any good Jewish boy should.
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Toro tartar on endives.
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And uni crisps.
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In the center is Richard Beaumont, Krug Brand Director.
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And, of course, Liz Lee, our incomparable hostess.
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Next up:

NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 163eme (in Magnum). VM 95. The NV Grand Cuvée 163 Edition is wonderfully open-knit and giving, qualities that make it a terrific choice for drinking now and over the next 30 or so years. Pastry, apricot, lemon confit, chamomile and white flowers, along with soft contours, give the wine its inviting, alluring personality. There is more than enough energy and overall freshness to support several decades of fine drinking. Even so, the 163 is virtually impossible to resist at this early stage.
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Mussel. A bunch of acid here.
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Foie puff, I think. Can’t remember but it was delicious.
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A mini tart of some sort which was also delicious.
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And a bit of fall seasonal soup (presumably with cream). May have been corn or butternut squash.
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The big gun:

2004 Krug Champagne Clos du Mesnil. VM 98+. The 2004 Clos du Mesnil captures all the pedigree of this epic Blanc des Blancs vintage. A soaring, majestic Champagne, the 2004 dazzles from the very first taste with its crystalline purity and brightness. In two tastings so far, the 2004 has been nothing less than a total showstopper. The vertical structure and pure, tightly-coiled power are the stuff dreams are made of. There is little doubt the 2004 is one of the very finest Clos du Mesnils in recent memory. Will it join the 1979, 1988 and 1996 as one of the all-time greats? Now, that is a tasting I would love to do!
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2004 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. VM 97+. Krug’s 2004 Vintage is absolutely mesmerizing. Layers of bright, chiseled fruit open up effortlessly as the wine fleshes out with time in the glass. Persistent and beautifully focused, with a translucent sense of energy, the 2004 captures all the best qualities of the year. Moreover, the 2004 is clearly superior to the consistently underwhelming 2002 and the best Krug Vintage since 1996. Readers who can find it should not hesitate, as it is a magical bottle.
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Yellowtail Sashimi with pumpkin seeds and California Yuzu and Caviar. Delicious and perfect with great champagne.
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Special bread.

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The bread came with it’s own manifesto — letting us get to know the baker personally — lol.
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Special butter from France and salt.
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NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 160eme. JG 94. The Krug Grand Cuvée “160ème Édition” is from the base year of 2004 and is now starting to really drink well today. It was disgorged in the spring of 2014 and the oldest reserve wines used in this iteration being chardonnays from the villages of Avize and Oger dating back to the 1990 vintage. The final cépages ending up forty-four percent pinot noir, thirty-three percent chardonnay and twenty-three percent pinot meunier. I had not tasted this bottling in a year and it was every bit as beautiful at the estate as I remember it when it was paired with the 2004 vintage during its inaugural showing in New York last autumn. The wine offers up a classic and blossoming bouquet of apple, pear, almond, fresh-baked bread, a superb base of soil tones, a touch of upper register smokiness and an exotic topnote of fleur de sel. On the palate the wine is pure, focused and refined, with a full-bodied format, lovely focus and grip, elegant mousse, a lovely core and a long, vibrant and seamless finish. I love this version of Grande Cuvée and would love to have a case waiting in the cellar to start drinking ten years from now, as that is when it is really going to start firing on all cylinders!

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Santa Barbara Spot Prawns with Chanterelle. Loved everything about this dish. Fresh prawn, butter, chanterelle — all perfect.

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1998 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. VM 94. Bright gold. Ripe orchard fruits, peach pit, toffee, marzipan and dried flowers on the pungent, smoky nose. Broad and fleshy on entry, then tighter in the mid-palate, offering palate-staining pit fruit nectar, apple pie and brioche flavors, enhanced by a toffeed quality. Closes spicy and very long, with resonating smoke and toasted hazlenut qualities.
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Grilled John Dory with Fennel & Roasted Tomato.
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Avec le jus. Nice piece of white fish. Tres Francais.

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NV Krug Champagne Brut Rosé Edition 21eme. JG 95+. The Krug Brut Rosé “21ème Édition” is from the beautiful base year of 2008, with the oldest reserve wine in the blend going back to 2000. The wine was disgorged in the spring of 2015 and is a blend of fifty-one percent pinot noir, forty-one percent chardonnay and eight percent pinot meunier. Ten percent of the pinot noir in the blend is still red wine from Krug’s own parcels of vines in the village of Aÿ. The blend is a slight departure from many releases of Krug Rosé, as hail in the village of Ste. Ghemme in 2008 dramatically cut back the quality of pinot meunier from this vintage, so that Chef de Caves Eric Lebel opted to use all reserve wines for the pinot meunier portion of the blend. The very complex wine offers up the characteristically refined and gently exotic bouquet that this cuvée is cherished for, wafting from the glass in a blend of cherries, a touch of pomegranate, orange peel, beautiful, savory spice elements, rye bread, a complex base of soil tones , dried rose petals and incipient smokiness. On the palate the wine is full, complex and still quite youthful in terms of structure, with vibrant acids, a lovely core, elegant mousse and a very long, perfectly balanced and seamless finish. This is already beautifully complex, but I would love to revisit it five to ten years down the road and see what the passage of time does to this beautiful constellation of aromas and flavors.
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Liberty Farms Duck with Apple & Daikon. The rose was more than a match for this lovely duck dish.
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1990 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut Collection. VM 97+. Krug’s just-released 1990 Collection is magnificent. Remarkably fresh for a 26 year-old wine, the 1990 Collection captures the Krug house style at its very best. Floral notes meld into hints of apricot, chamomile, orchard fruit, vanillin and sweet spices. On the palate, the 1990 is creamy, vivid and super-expressive, but what is most intriguing is how fresh the Collection is relative to Vintage Champagne, which has always been a heavier, more oxidative wine. Readers who can find the 1990 should not hesitate, as it is stellar.

agavin: Love the 90 champagnes in general. Love this one in particular.
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Comte, Roasted Grapes, Fresh Macadamia Nut. I love cheese — but I do miss having a real dessert at these wine dinners. Yeah, it doesn’t go perfectly with the wine, and cheese does, but I’d just do both.
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At least there were petit fours. And for some reason people left most of them on the table so I had enough for about 6 people, glutton that I am.
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The impressive line up.
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And there was the little gift to go (some kind of muffin).
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This was a great night and lots of fun. Set wine dinner meals are tough on restaurants, particularly with restrictive wine themes like “all champagne” but Providence did a fabulous job. The meal wasn’t quite as good as my last free-for-all here, but it was quite excellent. Tonight’s dishes were delicious and memorable. Plus our service was impeccable and our wines amazing — and all I had to do was buy a bunch of Krug!

For more LA dining reviews click here,

Related posts:

  1. Krug at Il Grano
  2. Krug at Spago
  3. Burgundy at Providence
  4. The Power of Providence
  5. Persistent Providence
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Champagne, Krug, Liz Lee, Providence, Sage Society

It’s not really Silverlake Ramen

Nov28

Restaurant: Silverlake Ramen

Location: 1319 3rd Street Promenade, Santa Monica, CA 90401. (424) 330-0125

Date: October 4, 2018

Cuisine: Ramen

Rating: Solid

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Silverlake Ramen’s original shop (located in Silverlake) is one of LA’s better small ramen shops.
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Recently they moved onto Santa Monica Promenade (my old hood) as well as some other Ca locations, so I guess it’s not exactly Silverlake Ramen anymore.
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The small menu — smaller I think than at the original.
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Karaage (Japanese fried chicken). Good, but very fried.
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Tsukemen. Dipping noodles. This is the dry part.

A thick creamy pork and fish-based broth in one bowl, and noodles in the other. Tsukemen is dipping ramen, for the seasoned ramen pros who want to make every bite just so! Tsukemen is not for everyone, but there are many hardcore ramen aficionados who swear by it!
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This is the pork/fish broth. Heavy stuff, but good. Needed some vinegar though.
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The classic. Tonkotsu broth. They slow cook pork bones for many hours to make this rich creamy broth. Tonkotsu is the first ramen and is widely renowned across the world.

Silverlake certainly offers solid ramen. The menu so far is pretty straight up and plain vanilla — and I’m a bit over really straight up ramen (for reasons that are perhaps more personal than culinary). Still, I’m sure I’ll be back to get a better picture of how they hold up. Also notice that these bowls start at $13, not that I mind, I know what it takes to actually produce a bowl of ramen, but those that complained about Ramen Roll’s $11 base price need an inside-the-head egg-scrambler.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Far Eastern Ramen
  2. Jinya Ramen Bar
  3. Quick Eats – Venice Ramen
  4. Chicken or Egg? – Tentenyu Ramen
  5. Ramen is all the Rage
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Japanese cuisine, noodles, ramen, Santa Monica, Silver Lake Ramen

More Monty with the Mouse

Nov26

Restaurant: Napa Rose [1, 2]

Location: 1313 Disneyland Dr, Anaheim, CA 92802 (714) 635-2300

Date: October 3, 2018

Cuisine: Californian

Rating: Unimaginative but solid

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After our last visit here in August, we discovered all sorts of under market goodies on the extensive wine list and so the same gang returned for more Montrachet and other greats. Plus some stuff we brought.
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The “iconic” flagship restaurant of the Disney empire set in the Grand Californian.
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They have a lot of wine.
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And an elaborate Disney-style build out.
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Really elaborate. Strange place too. Expensive. Middle America Disney crowd in shorts. High end wines. Flat (contemporary) Americana food. Excellent service.1A0A8419
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The menu is slightly updated from August.
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1996 Domaine d’Auvenay (Lalou Bize-Leroy) Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières. Fred says: When this was opened prior to a dinner of 97 DRC Montrachet, 99 Jayer Echezeaux, and 09 Liger Belair La Romanee I joked this this could very well be WOTN… and for 3 out of 4 tonight it was. The D’auvenay richness was impressive but the high toned acid from the vintage and the floral Puligny character is what makes it unforgettable and so special. It is so thrilling it literally gave me shivers when drinking it.1A0A8431
1997 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Montrachet. 94 points. Fred says: Almost the polar opposite of the 99 version tasted a month ago. This 97 was rich and honeyed with plenty of acidic lift and a tremendous oily persistent length. There was an interesting hint of almond and lightly toasted nut quality. Good right out of the gate but it did not develop much more. It held its plateau of deliciousness for the full 3 hours. In contrast the 99 was shy until 2 hours later when it became more elegant and charming. I finally understand DRC Monty with this wine.

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2009 Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair La Romanée. BH 97. Fred says: Classic Liger Belair style. Ample spice and red fruit on the nose with a hint of reduction. The palate was soft and velvety. A slight hint of orange rim and discernibly lighter and more advanced in color and taste than the 99 Jayer Echezeaux. This was a solid #3 tonight until the Jayer softened and opened up. We could see this improving for another 5 years but in contrast we could see the Jayer go for another 10-30 years. A great wine in perfect harmony.

agavin: I think this is overrated. A nice wine to be sure, but certainly not maximally enjoyable at this young age and maybe not designed to age.
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1999 Henri Jayer Echezeaux. 95 points. Fred says: Initially very closed and shut down. It started with a good amount of oak and tannins but none of the pretty spice and red fruit like the 88 Beaumonts a few months ago. After 3 hours in the decanter the palate really softened and developed a tremendous density and velevet texture. The nose remained unyielding. Probably has another 10-20 years to go.
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1985 Georges Lignier et Fils Clos de la Roche. 94 points. Last minute pop and pour. Good to go from the beginning. Tertiary and fully resolved with sous bois, earth, savory salted plum, and just enough sweetness left on the palate. A great drink as we waited for the 99 to come around. And as the 99 came around this got just a bit more acidic and unbalanced. Good stuff and drink up!

agavin: I loved this wine — as I like them older
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Sautéed Pacific Oysters. Kona Kampachi Ceviche and spicy relish.
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Sautéed diver scallop on braised oxtail ragu with harvest pumpkin nage. Everyone needs a good nage!
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Buffalo Meatball. Pumpkin Tagliatelle pasta with cranberry jus.
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Handcrafted Rabbit Bratwurst. Local Figs, Hazelnuts, Grilled Endive, and Saba Vinaigrette.

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t
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Zee breads.
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Special Pizzetta with Shrimp, Cauliflower, Grapes, and some other stuff. Tasty, but a bit weird.
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Foodie Club co-founder, Erick.
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Foodie Club VP (and sadly just moved to South Florida), Fred.
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Kent — a very generous man indeed.
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Because this was our second time (recently) and because we are ballers, they made (on advance order) this special roast chicken for us.
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Here it is carved. It was pretty delicious and super tender.
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And this big special rib eye. Nice steak.
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Mac & cheese too!
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Charred Broccoli.
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I hauled down a special gelato I made for the occasion.
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Strawberry Mint Chardonnay Sorbetto – Strawberry Chardonnay Sorbetto with Fresh Mint Whipped Cream. Strawberries from Avignon — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #strawberry #sorbetto #chardonnay #mint #WhippedCream
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We had enough to give the staff and chefs a bit and they loved it too.

Excellent, excellent service. Overall, I had low expectations the first time for Napa Rose and it far surpassed them. The build out reminded me of the Disney cruise, but the service was really top notch, if resort-like (duh). The menu was “boring” but execution turned out to be quite good so most of the dishes — particularly the appetizers and these special entrees they made for us — were very tasty.

But really it was the wines that stood out. These were crazy good Burgundies and really interesting. We will have to head back at some point and rendezvous with Kent (who can’t easily get up to LA). These evenings are worth the punishing drive!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.

Related posts:

  1. Great Whites at Napa Rose
  2. Big Guns at Providence
  3. Major Coche to the Dome-O
  4. The High Life – 71Above
  5. Mega Melisse
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chicken, Disneyland, Foodie Club, Napa Rose, Red Burgundy, Roast Chicken, White Burgundy

Blue Ribbon Sushi

Nov25

Restaurant: Blue Ribbon Sushi

Location: 1079-1001 Monument St, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272. (310) 907-9899

Date: October 2 & December 5 & 23, 2018 and August 10, 2018

Cuisine: Japanese / Sushi

Rating: Solid sushi, if a touch “typical” and American mainstream

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Blue Ribbon Sushi is the only “exotic” place (and not really that exotic) in the new Palisades Village Complex.
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The space is small but very cute with a big patio facing on the green.

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The menu looks pretty decent.

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Shishito peppers with miso sauce and bonito flakes (12/5/18). Not bad. A bit sweet and spicy.
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House salad (8/10/19) was pretty good.
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Miso Eggplant (8/10/19) was very (temperature hot), slightly sweet and salty and not bad.

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Tiger Shrimp. Wasabi Mayo. Good, but a touch over fried and quite salty.
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Hamachi Uzuukuri. Thin sliced hamachi. Ponzu sauce, Jalapeno, Togarashi, micro cilantro. Classic. Sauce was a bit too soy sauce.
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Kanpachi (I think) with yuzu kosho (12/5/18). Better than the soy sauce above.

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Scallop sashimi (12/5/18). Scallops were good but I didn’t like the pairing of the chili paste. Would have preferred yuzu and salt.

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And low and behold, ordering it a year later (8/10/19) it had yuzu koshu and salt. Better, still very salty, and would be better with just fresh yuzu and sea salt.

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Live Santa Barbara Spot Prawn Sashimi (8/10/19). Tender and tasty.
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The heads came back deep fried. Ate everything but the eyeballs!

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Lobster Sashimi (8/10/19). Slices in the back might be a fish, not sure. The back right is the lobster itself — excellent. Then in the front they turned the claws into lobster nigiri (nice) and those interesting shredded cooked lobster rolls.
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Black Snapper Carpaccio. Black snapper sashimi, yuzu, kosher truffle oil, salt. Tasted too much like truffle oil. Sauce was very similar to the first one, masked the fish. So wasn’t really a success.
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Salmon Carpaccio. Sliced salmon, Tomato Asian Mix, Ponzu sauce, truffle oil, olive oil and sea salt. Despite the slightly different sounding difference the sauce basically tasted the same. Didn’t really really properly tailored for the fish.

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Mango Salmon Sashimi (8/10/19). Not ground breaking, but fine.
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Toro Tartare. Tuna Belly, caviar & quail egg. The best dish of the night, probably. Solid enough for what it was.
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Sushi. Salmon. Tuna. O-toro. Fine, but boring. The toro was sold as O-toro but tasted like chu-toro to me.
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A sashimi plate (12/5/18) ordered at lunch. Not bad, but small and a touch “boring.”

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A similar sushi plate (8/10/19).

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On my third visit, at dinner with my son, I ordered some nigiri. Various white fish nigiri here (12/23/18). These weren’t bad, although leaning heavily on the yuzu kosho. I again didn’t like the scallop with the chili, although the scallop quality itself was quite good.
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Lobster egg battleship and Dungeness crab battleship (12/23/18). Good quantity of shellfish.

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Fresh water eel, uni, and ikura (12/23/18). All pretty good. Nigiri was moderately expensive, but pretty good.

I wasn’t super impressed with Blue Ribbon Sushi. Service was slightly green — but that’s fine as they are very new. The menu is okay, but execution is a little boring, heavy handed, or “white.” It’s like Nobu but a bit cheaper and considerably less interesting — and I’m not even that big a fan of the Nobu style of sushi. I like a more refined Japanese sensibility. I’ll go back to Blue Ribbon to see how it is on repeated visits, but I’m skeptical as if I would go repeatedly with so much other great sushi in LA.

My second visit (12/5/18) for lunch was better, as 3/4 sashimi dishes I ordered were solid, if not super exciting.

My fourth visit (8/10/19) was much better. Maybe I ordered better, maybe they have come into their own a bit, and I spent at least $150 just on myself as I ordered entirely sashimi — but it felt a bit more interesting and the fish was certainly good. They still lean a bit heavily on salt and the ultra salty yuzu koshu, but I’m upgrading my opinion to “good, if not super unique.”

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Sushi Sushi – Small Omakase
  2. Kiriko Sushi
  3. Food as Art – Sushi Sushi
  4. Sushi Sushi Sushi
  5. Mori Sushi – A Top Contender
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Blue Ribbon Sushi, Pacific Palisades, Palisades Village, Sashimi, Sushi

Derek moved to China Red

Nov20

Restaurant: China Red

Location: 855 S Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007. (626) 445-3700

Date: September 30, 2018

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Very good Cantonese, has some DM though

_

Another Sunday, another Chinese. In this case we came to China Red because our friend Derek, former manager of Elite and World Seafood has moved here.
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For some reason I’ve been on a run of places on the slightly more “Eastern” half of the main SGV. Slightly more annoying drive too as it’s 10-15 minutes further.
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The interior is typical midsized Cantonese. There is some DM (deferred maintenance). This is very Chinese, but the place is only a couple years old and is showing some wear and tear.
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Here is Derek on the left with Yarom.
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We were in the private room — which is eclectic to say the least.
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Peanuts to start.
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We started with a few classic bits of dimsum, even though it was evening.

Har Gow. Pretty solid shrimp dumplings.
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Shu Mai. Pork and shrimp. I always love these meat bombs.
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Roast Pigeon. Finger licking good.
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Garlic fried fish. Or maybe it was frog, I can’t remember. It was crunchy, garlicky, salty, and pretty good.
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Peking duck. Can never go wrong with that and this was a fairly juicy version.
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Even if they only had the buns (I prefer the pancakes).
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Roast pork. Nice crispy skin.
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Mixed seafood chow mein. Carby goodness.
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And the next noodle, because we needed a LOT of them. This was some sort of meat and black bean and black pepper wok fried noodle – it was delicious.
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String beans with eggplant.
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Pea tendrils or whichever type of colon sweeper with garlic.
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Everything fried rice.
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Lobster. A solid lobster. I’ve had better sauces but the meat was good.
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Sweet and sour squirrel fish. Very fried, which makes it extra tasty.
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More noodles, chicken noodles I think. Not quite as good as the beef pepper noodles.
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Custard buns. Tasty.

I can’t even remember if I brought gelato this night. Lol.

Food was quite good at China Red and Derek really takes care of us. We have so many Cantonese feasts that it’s hard to remember which ones are the best, but this was quite solid, although not super “unique.” China Red was oddly quiet, and the place looks a touch shabby, but it’s certainly better than most (but not all) SGV Cantonese by a good bit.

For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.

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Related posts:

  1. Japanese in China – Izakaya Akatora
  2. World Seafood is Elite
  3. SGV Nights – Seafood Palace
  4. Top Island Seafood
  5. Mark’s Duck House
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Cantonese, Cantonese cuisine, China Red, Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, Dim sum, hedonists, Lobster, Peking Duck, pigeon, SGV, Wine

Sotto Rossoblu Mashup

Nov17

Restaurant: Sotto [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location:  9575 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90035  310.277.0210

Date: September 27, 2018

Cuisine: Sicilian and Sardinian Italian

Rating: Bold flavors, off to a great start!

_

This was a peculiar lunch, the annual Chevalier’s “Grand Cru” lunch which was supposed to be at Rossoblu — but they had a kitchen fire and so it was relocated to their sister restaurant Sotto.

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Sotto has a nice location on Pico underneath Beverly Hills.
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I’ve never been here in the day and it looks far less bar-like.

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And there is a big bar.
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With live music, which is a typical Chevaliers thing.

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I forgot to photo all the bottles today, but I did manage the opening white.
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And the champagne.
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Parmesan Crisps.
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Wood grilled oysters, brown butter, sage, parmigiano-reggiano, lemon, breadcrumbs.
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Crescentine Fritte, Burrata, Caviar.
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The special menu for the day.
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Wood grilled bread.
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Marinated Big Eye Tuna. Blood orange, hazelnuts, white bean.
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Handmade Garganelli, lobster, peas, morels. I always love pasta — and lobster, so a very nice dish.
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Braised Veal Cheeks. Chestnut Gremolata, cauliflower stracotto, carrots.
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Chef’s selection of cheeses.
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Crispy bread for the cheese.

While it ended up being located at Sotto, I think they used the same menu they had intended at Rossoblu so it’s definitely a hybrid. Food was very good though.

Wine was sort of typical for Chevaliers. Medium quality Burgundy, mid range producers, too young. A lot of wines I would not buy myself — they just wouldn’t individually draw me in for either quality, rating, value ratio etc. Like I never buy Morgon or Beaujolais. If I buy random 1re Cru Chassagne or Puligny wines I buy from much better producers than Chevaliers does. I’ll only slum the producers a bit with Grand Cru wines — and not that much either. Chevaliers also often buys funny vintages (not this particular lunch).

For my first review of Sotto, click here.For my another of my reviews of Sotto, click here.

Or for a review of Drago, another Sicilian restaurant.

Related posts:

  1. Sage at Rossoblu
  2. Sotto – Sicily con Sardo
  3. Seconds at Sotto
  4. Sotto – Sicilian & Sardinian Scents
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chevaliers, Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, lunch, Rossoblu, Sotto

Driving to Daw Yee

Nov14

Restaurant: Daw Yee Myanmar Corner

Location: 2837 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026. (213) 413-0568

Date: September 26, 2018

Cuisine: Myanmar Cuisine

Rating: a touch bland and hence disappointing

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I braved the deadly rush hour traffic to the ass’s end of LA (from a Westsider’s perspective) — Silverlake!
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Mostly because I wasn’t sure if I’d ever had genuine Myanmar food before. This is a relatively new branch of an SGV place. It’s located right next to Silverlake Ramen, Pho Cafe, and down the street from Ma’am Sir.
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The interior is small and cute.
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The menu.
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Fish curry. Rakhine style tilapia fish fillet, tomatoes, lemongrass, shallots, cayenne pepper, and paprika. Served with coconut rice. Odd way to start off!
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Laphet Thoke (Tea Leaf Salad). Myanmar imported fermented tea leaves, tomatoes, roasted peanuts, fried yellow lentils, fried garlic, toasted sesame, diced tomatoes, shredded cabbage, dried shrimps, and fish sauce.
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All mixed up. Interesting.
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Gin Thoke. Pickled ginger, roasted butter beans, roasted lentils, toasted sesame, peanut butter, and shredded cabbage. Nice crunch to it.
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Samosas. Fried pastry filled with poatoes and onions seasoned with masala curry. Can’t go to wrong with fried.
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Kima Platha. Platha sutffed with masala seasoned chicken, beef, or lamb. A bit like a Beijing meat pie.
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Potato pancakes. Pan fried mashed potatoes stuffed with ground lamb, mint, and Thai chili.
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Kachin Style Salmon Belly. With cilantro, lemongrass, and spicy chili steamed in banana leaves.
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Inside view. Not sure they had Salmon in Myanmar back in the day.
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Mohinga. Myanmar’s national dish. Round rice noodles and hard-boiled egg in catfish chowder.
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Shan noodles. Rich stick noodles served with coconut chicken, roasted peanuts, toasted sesame, chili oil, and Shan pickles. This was tasty.

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Vegan bowl. Curried potatoes, seasonal vegetables, Myanmar tofu, several kinds of noodles, and coconut rice. Not bad at all for vegan.
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Garlic noodles. Wheat flour flat noodles tossed in garlic oil, soy sauce, and shredded duck. Chinese in style, but good.
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Goat Curry. Naah! Pretty mild though.
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Platha. Daw Yee special homemade platha served with mashed garbanzo beans. Dips well in curry, otherwise greasy.
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Beef Curry. Beef shank in onion, lemongrass masala curry, served with coconut rice. On of the stronger (and therefore better) curries.
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Lamb Curry. Lamb with potato in onion and garam masala. Served with coconut rice.
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Steak Bowl. Tri tip steak, shallots in spiced rum, seasonal vegetables, brown rice, and topped with a fried egg. Interesting mix.
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Pumpkin curry. Pumpkin, potatoes, mustard seeds, and curry leaves. Served with coconut rice.
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Lemongrass chicken. Ground chicken wrapped in lemongrass stick, seasonal vegetables, and brown rice.
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Spicy Prawns. Prawns, seasonal vegetables, and coconut rice.
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Tapioca Cake. Tapioca, coconut milk, and white rice flour. I loved these actually. Gummy with a mild coconut flavor.
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Shew Kyi Cake. Semolina wheat cake with poppy seeds. Hmmm. Dry.
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Cassava flour and egg. A bit like a dry custard/flan cake.
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Overall, Daw Yew was good, and interesting, but the flavors were kind of muted. The dishes visually look like they would be strong in flavor, but the intensity, fish sauce, spice, etc were all toned down. The owner told us that he “did it because of the neighborhood.” I like strong flavors though so I was a bit disappointed. Fun evening though. And they treated us really well.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Random wines from the evening:

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Related posts:

  1. Hedonists Noodle over Hoy-Ka
  2. Eating Philly – Tiffin
  3. Deep South – Mandovi Goan Cuisine
  4. Akbar – Curry not so Hurry
  5. Chicken Crawl – Red Chicken
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: beans, curry, Daw Yee, Egg, goat, hedonists, lentils, Myanmar Cuisine, noodles, Rice, Silverlake, Wine

No Drama at Dama

Nov12

Restaurant: Dama Fashion District

Location: 612 E 11th St, Los Angeles, CA 90015. (213) 741-0612

Date: September 24, 2018

Cuisine: Spanish / Mexican — aka “Latin Inspired”

Rating: Super tasty

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This slog through traffic to Downtown LA (which actually wasn’t too bad due to a late hour and it being a Monday) was to visit trendy new Dama which serves up some “Latin Inspired” food in a lounge-like setting in the Fashion District.

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This is an attractive building in the middle of the big space that also contains Rossoblu.
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The interior is vaguely “Cuban” or something, we didn’t eat there.
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We did eat out on the patio as it was a lovely warm evening.
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The menu. We ordered almost everything.
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From their list: 2017 Dos de Uvas Albariño Rías Baixas Tabla de Sumar. A very “heavy” Albariño.
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Guacamole. Pickled chilies, persian cucumber, cilantro, lime, crispy tortillas. Uh, classic.

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Here be crispy tortillas.
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Piquillo peppers. Marinated olives, anchovies, charred bread.
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Crispy squash flowers. Farmer’s cheese, goat cheese, thyme, chive. Two kinds of cheese? Imagine that!

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Erick brought: 1978 Marqués de Murrieta Rioja Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial. VM 93. Medium red with an amber rim. Highly complex bouquet of fresh and dried red fruits, cherry skin, pipe tobacco, smoky minerals, cigar box and potpourri. Sweet strawberry and cherry flavors stain the palate but are strikingly lithe. Cured tobacco and candied rose flavors emerge with aeration, and the fruit takes a darker turn toward cherry. The tannins have been completely absorbed, allowing the wine’s almost decadent sweetness to come through. Expensive, yes, but this would offer newly minted wine lovers an insight into the personality of aged wine from a great region and a very good vintage for the same price as many newly released Napa or Bordeaux wines.
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Aguachile. Haramasa, red pearl onion, radish, lime, cilantro, chive. Very bright flavored. Zesty.
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Empanadas. Dry aged ground beef, greeon onion, smoked paprika, Brazilian hot vinegar. You can never go wrong with an empanada!
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Seafood Tostada. Octopus, calamari, shrimp, cherry tomatoes, charred summer corn, chilies, cilantro, avocado. Like ceviche, almost.
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Chad brought: 1990 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Ornellaia Vino da Tavola. VM 94. The 1990 Ornellaia foreshadows an opulent style that would become the norm in future years. A rich, dense Ornellaia, the 1990 offers exceptional balance in its expressive bouquet, ripe fruit and beautifully balanced acidity. Earthiness, licorice, smoke and menthol linger on the elegant finish. In 1990 temperatures were unusually warm toward the end of the growing season, which comes through in the wine’s generous, open personality. The 1990 Ornellaia is 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot and 4% Cabernet Franc. The wine spent 15 months in French oak, 40% of which was new.
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Kirk brought: 1997 Antinori Solaia Toscana IGT. VM 95.  For many years, the 1997 Solaia was super-concentrated. Actually, it still is pretty intense, but over the last few years, some of the baby fat has begun to melt away, revealing a wine with tons of nuance. The 1997 clearly belongs in this flight of milestones. This is another memorable Solaia with no signs of fading.
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Cucumber. Pumpkin seeds, espelette, mint, oregano, green onion, apple cider vinegar. Crunch and strong flavored, I really liked this dish.
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Crispy Potato. Market wax beans, spicy mayo, herbs, chimichurri.
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Bocadillo. Crispy black calamari, pickled sweet peppers, jalapeno, scallions, cilantro, gribiche. Really tasty and zesty.
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Lamb chops. Olive salsa verde, arugula.
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Kirk & Sandy. Click here to see Sandy in 1991!
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Yarom brought: 2009 Tua Rita Redigaffi Toscana IGT. VM 95. The 2009 Redigaffi bursts onto the palate with an exciting mélange of blackberries, grilled herbs, flowers, mint, rosemary and spices. It is a powerful, juicy Merlot loaded with fruit, but there is also more than enough structure to provide support. Dark notes of tar, incense and smoke add complexity on the finish. Generally I prefer Redigaffi between ages 5 and 15.
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Bone marrow. Pickled serrano chili, garlic, arugula.
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Oxtail Taco. Oxtail, cabbage, queso fresco, radish, avocado, hot pickled vegetables. Awesome little tacos.
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Clams & Chorizo. Basil rosemary, oregano, garlic, Spanish cider, butter, charred bread.
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Corn. Queso fresco, cotija, cilantro aioli, chili lime salt. Awesome, and like a slightly fancy version of what you get from a cart nearby!
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From my cellar: NV Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único Reserva Especial 1996, 1998, 2002 (2016 Release). 96 points. deep, dense – interesting wine
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Sandy brought: 2012 The Mascot. 92 points. Dusty and high in tannins. Drank over a few hours. Softened, and became more fruity over the time. Never fruit forward. Always a bit more subtle in taste. Bold dry tannin structure.

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Crispy Porn Shank. Lettuce cups, hot pickled vegetables, avocado crema.
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Linguisa Pinwheel. Frisee, arugula, machego, pickled shishitos, tarragon, sherry. I always love sausage.
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Rotisserie chicken. French fries, sherry cilantro aioli, tomatillo salsa, charred lemon.
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And more sauces.
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The wine lineup. Awesome wines tonight!
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Strauss soft serve ice cream. Pacific banana co sundae, buttered bananas, caramel, peanuts.
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Peanut butter cookie. Peanut butter cream, powdered sugar.
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Churros. Cinnamon, super fine sugar.
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4 out of 6 of the gang (minus Yarom and I who are standing). Can you believe how much we ordered? And many of the dishes we got two of! The food was actually very good. Extremely bright, interesting, and brash flavors. The wines tonight were amazing too. All hitting out of the park and perfect with the big food.

Service was excellent. They do have a $35/35/50… corkage, which is good in that you can open as many bottles as you like, not quite as good as the $50 for the 3rd and more bottle is a bit steep. The atmosphere on the patio in the warm weather was fabulous.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

  1. Thirds at Smoke Oil Salt
  2. Big Bottle Madness at Kali Dining
  3. Never Say Too Much
  4. Hedonism at Officine Brera
  5. Hatchet Hall Hedonism
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Dama, DTLA, hedonists, Spanish Cuisine, Wine

Quick Eats – Porta Via

Nov09

Restaurant: Porta Via

Location: 63 N Swarthmore Ave, Pacific Palisades, CA 9027.  (310) 499-2989

Date: September 24, 2018

Cuisine: Hint of Italian

Rating: New, nice ambiance, and solidly mediocre food

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Rich Caruso, billionaire developer, has recently redeveloped the Palisades Village area just 2 minutes from my house. After years of no restaurants at all we were excited to get a raft of new ones and so I have been systematically trying them. Do bear in mind that this place was about 3 days old when I first did.

Porta Via is a clone of a Beverly Hills restaurant. And while the name might lead you to the conclusion that it’s Italian, or maybe Spanish, it’s really just American lunch food. Maybe someone ran an Italian flag through the kitchen. It’s not even slightly, marginally European.
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The build out for the whole village is lovely with a great outside patio.
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And a stylish interior.
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The menu is flat out boring by my standards.

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Gazpacho. I love the authentic Andalusian style of liquid salad. I even make a great one myself. This is the sort of Tomato juice style of Gazpacho. It’s not bad — but not really good either and doesn’t have that nice whipped consistency or sharp vinegar tang.
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Chopped Salad. Organic chopped lettuces, beets, garbanzo beans, green beans, tomato & Feta. Champagne shallot vinaigrette. It’s a little baby salad. Doesn’t look that interesting or dressed either.

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Cobb Salad. Organic chopped lettuces, grilled chicken, bacon, tomato, celery, avocado, egg & blue cheese.Red wine mustard vinaigrette. This was a pretty lame cobb salad and tiny to boot. It wasn’t horrible or anything, but was underdressed, small, and just not very exciting.

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‘Impossible’ Burger. Plant-based vegan burger, lettuce, tomato & avocado. Brioche sesame bun. pommes frites. Good for a vegan burger, fairly meaty, if a bit dry. Could have used an aioli or something. Everything here is bland and dry.
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Prosciutto Sandwich. prosciutto di parma, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, lettuce & black olive tapenade on grilled ciabatta.

I won’t pass final judgement on Porta Via yet until I go a couple of times, and they were about 48-72 hours into service and had absolutely zero training prior to opening. I forgive them all that. What I don’t currently forgive them is the inexcusably boring menu. I mean I fell asleep reading it. Nothing is original. And even worse than that rather grievous sin is not even executing very well on the classics. It’s possible to do a great cobb, a great caesar, great gazpacho etc. And if you are going to be so predictable and trite (not to mention fairly pricey) you damn well out to execute superlatively. Now I wouldn’t expect a crazy level this early in their life cycle, but I can tell from the plating, style, etc, that the don’t even aspire to it.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Quick Eats: Caffe Delfini
  2. Quick Eats: Italian-Iberian Snack
  3. Quick Eats – AR Cucina
  4. Quick Eats: Panini at Home
  5. Quick Eats: Osteria Latini 2
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Pacific Palisades, Palisades Village, Porta Via, Rick Caruso

Aleppo Style

Nov07

Restaurant: Esso Mediterranean Bistro [1, 2, 3]

Location: 17933 Ventura Blvd. Encino, CA 91316. 818-514-6201

Date: September 22, 2018

Cuisine: Syrian

Rating: Really delicious and authentic flavors

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One of my first couple Hedonist dinners was an epic Armenian / Syrian dinner at Esso and while I’ve gone a couple of times myself, I was very excited for the group’s big return (my third time with the Hedonists). Esso Mediterranean Bistro is a hole in the wall in an Encino mini-mall right next door to my Kosher butcher. It serves up first rate Syrian fare and a selection of unusual dishes. The owners hail from the beleaguered city of Aleppo — an ancient settlement with a longstanding great culinary tradition based around its location near the birthplace of Western Civilization.

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From my cellar: NV Taittinger Champagne Nocturne Rosé Sec. VM 89. Dark orange-pink. Pungent red berry and cherry pit aromas are enlivened by suggestions of white pepper and ginger. Surprisingly taut and linear given its level of residual sugar, offering juicy raspberry and tangerine flavors that pick up a toasty nuance on the back half. Finishes with repeating spiciness as well as a hint of bitterness, leaving a sweet berry note behind.
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On the left, Moutebbel (Baba Ghannouj). Roasted eggplant mixed with sesame sauce, garlic, and lemon juice. Topped with extra virgin olive oil. A very fine example, with pleasant smokey flavors.

On the right, Spicy pickles.
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Hummos. Chickpeas, tahini, garlic, lemon juice and spices. Topped with extra virgin olive oil and parsley. This was some great hummos, and very fresh. But I still like Sunnin’s a little better because of the lemony garlic tang.
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Stuffed Grape Leaves. Grape leaves stuffed with calrose rice, walnuts, onions, and spices. I love these in general, and these specifically were particularly delicious.
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Pita bread, of course.
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Sliced liver pate. With pistachios. Not totally sure it was liver, but it seemed like it. Good stuff.

In the center, Mohammera. A spicy mix of walnuts, bread crumbs, paprika, pepper paste, and pomegranate juice. I love mohammera, and have even made it. This particular one was quite spicy with a really nice zing. It made an amazing pairing with the Donnhoff Riesling above (and none of the other wines, haha).
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Lebni. Condensed yogurt with walnuts, garlic, and jalapeño topped with extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). Love this!

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A different eggplant dish with peppers.
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Ras Naanah. sautéed meat with lemon, mint, garlic. This stuff was amazing, one of my favorite dishes (and I loved most of them). This is essentially like spiced hamburger and it has a bit of sumac juice on it which really livened it up. French fries sop up the grease.
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Tabouleh. Parsley, tomatoes, onions, bulghur (cracked wheat), mint, lemon juice, and extra virgin olive oil. From the parsley oriented school of Tabouleh.
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Crispy cheese “spring rolls.” Like a cigar shaped version of the triangular shaped versions of these. Really great, though, nice soft cheese contrasting with the crispy dough.
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Kebbe Nayye. Fine minced raw beef, cracked wheat, onions, parsley and spices. Topped with extra virgin olive oil. A very unusual dish. This is a kind of steak tartar. Soft and slimy in texture, it was very mild in flavor.
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Kibbeh pie. A sort of pie shaped pastry of spiced meat and bulgur wheat. Similar ingredients to the kibbeh balls, but with a higher wheat ratio.
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Stuffed peppers. Filled with rice and meat.
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Eggplant stuffed with tomato. Very pretty. I’m not a tomato fan, so I preferred the later meat versions.
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From my cellar: 2001 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. VM 92+. Bright ruby-red. Liqueur-like raspberry, licorice and a medicinal quality on the nose. Then quite backward in the mouth, with very primary dark berry and black cherry flavors hinting at great ripeness. Quite primary today and less animal than usual for a young Beaucastel. Elegant, slow-building finish features fine-grained tannins and excellent grip.
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Falafel with tahini.
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French fries.
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Grilled pigeon. Tasty, but a bit “charred.”
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Out come the frog legs on a giant tray!
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Frog legs Aleppo style. Yum. If you can ignore the amphibian factor (ribbit!) Kermit tasted great. Like a fish chicken blend, incredibly juicy, and with lots of garlic.
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Chicken kabob with rice.
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Whey yogurt with honey and pistachios and bananas. Incredible blend of creamy dairy, sweetness, and nutty crunch. Probably a several thousand year-old dessert, but incredible. Except the bananas. Hate ’em.
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Chocolate Marshmallow Oreo Gelato – Valrhona Satilla chocolate gelato base with house-made white chocolate marshmallow fudge, oreos, and (inside) layers of oreo butter! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #chocolate #oreo #fudge #whitechocolate #marshmallow #cookie

Key Lime Pie Gelato – base is a key lime egg custard, layered with house-made frozen graham cracker butter and drizzled with house-made vanilla marshmallow fluff– made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #KeyLime #lime #custard #marshmallow #GrahamCracker #CookieButter #cookie

There were tons of wins here that I didn’t photo, probably 20 others. I was just too lazy to run around and take the pictures.

Overall, a great evening. A totally epic combination of food, wine, and people. We had so much food that everyone basically ran out of steam after the warm appetizers and only ended up with about 2 entrees! Really, there was too much of each dish but it was just a ridiculous amount of food — and almost all so tasty! I would have liked more different dishes.

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

  1. Return to Esso
  2. Hong Kong Style – Henry’s Cuisine
  3. Hedonism at Esso
  4. Birthday Party, Hedonist Style
  5. Theatrical Terroni
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Aleppo, Esso, hedonists, Syrian Cuisine, Wine

Elite Wines at Elite Restaurant

Nov05

Restaurant: Elite Restaurant [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Location: 700 S Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 282-9998

Date: September 17, 2018

Cuisine: Cantonese Banquet

Rating: Elite!

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Elite is well known as one of great LA’s top dimsum places, but less well known is how great a Cantonese banquet place it is. On this particular night I met Paul R and a bunch of his friends out here for Burgundy night — sure it was a week night and 2 hours in traffic, but great Burgundy and Chinese is worth it!

They actually have a couple private rooms, but this time we had the small one, although it was certainly big enough for the 8 of us. The above photo is the same room, different dinner.

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1996 Deutz Champagne Cuvée William Deutz Rosé. JG 91. This is a very young bottle of Rosé that offers up excellent promise on both the nose and palate, but I would be inclined to give the wine at least a couple more years to really allow it to blossom. The bouquet is deep, young and classy, as it offers up scents of tart cherries, orange peel, sourdough, a touch of new leather and a lovely base of soil. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, crisp and complex, with lovely focus and bounce, bright acids, tiny bubbles and good length and grip on the slightly muddied finish. I suspect that a bit more precision will come on the backend with further bottle age.
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2000 Deutz Champagne Cuvée William Deutz. JG 93. The 2000 Cuvée William Deutz is a deep, young and powerfully-built wine with superb depth and structure for long-term aging. The bouquet is really quite fine, offering up a deep and classy nose of apple, wheat toast, tangerine, some gentle leesy tones, a lovely base of soil, a touch of fresh nutmeg and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and rock solid at the core, with excellent focus and balance, elegant mousse and excellent length and grip on the crisp and complex finish. This is a very classy bottle of bubbly that is already drinking very well and which will continue to age gracefully for a couple of decades.
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Peanuts on the table.
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From my cellar: 1983 Domaine Clair-Daü Bonnes Mares. JK 94. Insanely pretty- aromas of cherry, sweet tea, violet, rose and potpourri. On the palate this shows cherry, tea and lavender. Picks up mineral elements as it sits in the glass. Flavors of cherry liqueur, mineral, rose water and mineral. Balanced, with a long finish. Just awesome.1A0A7552
Cold BBQ Plate with Macau style BBQ pork belly, Char Sui, roast chicken, and jellyfish. Good stuff all around, particularly both porks.
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2001 Domaine Denis Mortet Chambertin. VM 92+. Full, bright red. Brooding, very ripe aromas of black fruits, licorice, graphite and gunflint, all lifted by a subtle oaky perfume. Big, broad, rich and okay, with powerful, dense black fruit flavors and excellent length and thrust. Five or six years in bottle should bring greater refinement as the wine loses some of its baby fat.
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Peking duck. Despite the fact that I’ve been to Elite 20+ times, I’ve never had their peking duck — didn’t even know they offered it. It wasn’t bad at all. Sure they offer only the buns, not the pancakes, but it was still darn good.1A0A7572
2007 Domaine Ponsot Griotte-Chambertin. BH 93. A moderately complex but quite densely fruited nose of earthy red berries, underbrush and warm earth tones leads to silky, rich and round broad-shouldered flavors that possess taut muscle but no hard edges or tannins, in fact the mouth feel here is quite sophisticated, all wrapped in an impressively intense, mouth coating and harmonious finish. The structure is dense but fine and this should benefit from at least a decade of cellar time. A Griotte of class, grace and distinction.
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Duck part deux, which is mixed with water chestnuts etc and served with…
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Lettuce cups.
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Here it is as you eat it.
1A0A7551
2001 Gunderloch Nackenheim Rothenberg Riesling Auslese. VM 94. Tangerine and sassafras aromas put one in mind of Erden. On the palate, honey and rich marzipan sweetness are leavened by tangerine citricity and the whole suffused with pungently smoky minerality. A hundred grams of residual sugar are brought to heel by 10.5 acidity and heaps of extract. The braid of fresh fruit, botrytized, faintly caramelized fruit and minerals here is uncanny. Juicy and refreshing in the finish even as it is profoundly botrytized and rooted in its classic red soil terroir. Smoke and almonds linger longest of all.
1A0A7576
Santa Barbara prawns with garlic. Very simple prep, but good. Way, way better than the steamed bugs at Newport Seafood.
1A0A7574
1989 Domaine Bruno Clavelier Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru La Combe d’Orveau Vieilles Vignes. a rare wine, you don’t see Combe d’Orveau that often.
1A0A7581
Steamed pork with salty fish. Yeah, it looks like the cat barfed up on a plate, but it’s really delicious with a mild porky flavor.
1A0A7585
Sautéed scallops. Simple, to go with the wine, but nice.
1A0A7589
2001 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques. BH 93. Knockout aromas of wonderfully intense black and red cherry fruit loaded with cassis and a touch of new oak introduce medium-bodied, sweet, harmonious, very expressive and long flavors all underpinned by racy minerality and firm structure. The tannins are prominent but ripe and the density of extract is impressive and this both coats and stains the palate. As it always does, this delivers finesse with real mid-palate punch with near perfect grace. For my taste, I would hold this for another 1 to 3 years but it would be no vinous crime to be drinking this now. Note to be sure to serve this cool as the alcohol becomes noticeable if it becomes a bit too warm.
1A0A7591
House special lobster. Super delicious with lots of juicy lobster meat.
1A0A7603
2001 Louis Jadot Chapelle-Chambertin. BH 93. A still very fresh nose is just now beginning to display the initial hints of secondary development that leads to rich, intense and beautifully well-detailed medium-bodied flavors that ooze a fine minerality on the vibrant and impeccably well-balanced finish. There is a touch of austerity present on the finale that serves as a balancing element to the naturally sweet mid-palate. This has reached that point in its evolution where it’s still on the way up but still far enough along where it can be drunk with pleasure. In sum, this is really lovely juice and a classic Chapelle.
1A0A7595
Mushrooms and other vegetables in brown sauce.
1A0A7607
2001 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese. 95 points. Prum calls this wine “typically somewhat reserved vis-a-vis the Graacher Auslese” but I apprehend a level of sheer flavor intensity that goes beyond the other wines here today, with apple, honey and spice supported by a volatile esterous note of botrytis and even a prickly Eiswein-like whiff of chili pepper. Impressive custardy richness in the mouth, yet ripe, refreshing citricity keeps the wine dynamic and salty minerality helps extend the finish. (In the interest of full disclosure I pass on Prum explanation that this is one of “three or four comparable lots” of Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese which will be bottled separately.
1A0A7598
Seafood chow mein. I always love this dish, particularly when the sauce soaks into them and softens them up. Oh so good.
1A0A7604
2006 Domaine Ponsot Clos de la Roche Vieilles Vignes. VM 93-96. Good full ruby-red. Incredible nose melds wild cherry, mocha, brown spices, iron, orange peel and underbrush. Like liquid silk on entry, then hugely concentrated in the middle, with an extraordinarily fine-grained texture and no easy sweetness. Impeccably balanced, soil-driven wine that finishes with noble tannins and great persistence. This is Clos de la Roche, not pinot. As of November, one of the most promising wines of this stealth vintage.
1A0A7600
I wish I knew what they called this fried rice as it’s super awesome with that chopped pork and whatnot on top!
1A0A7608
2008 Bouchard Père et Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. BH 93. The intense stoniness of this wine is immediately evident as it suffuses every aspect from nose to finish. An ultra elegant aromatic profile features notes of acacia, pear and dried rose petal before sliding gracefully into detailed, driving and explosive medium-bodied flavors that display cuts-like-a-knife precision on the almost aggressively mineral-driven finish that seems to go on and on. A study in purity and a classic Perrières.
1A0A7605
Gotta love the Mango Pudding.

A lot of these dishes were stunning, like the pig and all the crab dishes. The private room was great and we had a stunning lineup of (mostly) Burgundy. A wine or two had serious issues, but that’s par for the course. I feel that Burgundy shows off by far at dinners where it dominates (although it can mix fine with Champy). You can’t easily go back and forth between the big extracted wines and the more subtle Burgundy.

For more LA Chinese reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Elite – King Crab Custard
  2. Elite Dim Sum
  3. Elite New Years
  4. Elite Wine Night
  5. Lincoln Seafood Restaurant
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Cantonese cuisine, Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, Elite, Elite Restaurant, Paul Rosenberg, Peking Duck, SGV
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