Image
  • Writing
    • Andy Gavin: Author
    • About my Novels & Writing
    • All Writing Posts
    • The Darkening Dream
      • Buy the Book Online
      • Sample Chapters
      • Reviews
      • Info for Reviewers
      • Press Coverage
      • Awards
      • Cast of Characters
    • Untimed
      • Buy Untimed Online
      • Book Trailer
      • Sample Chapters
      • Reviews
      • Info for Reviewers
      • Press Coverage
      • Awards
      • Cast of Characters
    • Scrivener – Writer’s Word Processor
    • iPad for Writers
    • Naughty Dark Contest
  • Books
    • Book Review Index
    • Favorite Fantasy Novels
    • Andy Gavin: Author
    • The Darkening Dream
      • Buy the Book Online
      • Sample Chapters
      • Short Story: Harvard Divinity
      • Reviews
      • Info for Reviewers
      • Press Coverage
      • Awards
      • Cast of Characters
    • Untimed
      • About the Book
      • Buy Untimed Online
      • Book Trailer
      • Sample Chapters
      • Reviews
      • Info for Reviewers
      • Press Coverage
      • Awards
      • Cast of Characters
    • Naughty Dark Contest
  • Games
    • My Video Game Career
    • Post Archive by Series
    • All Games Posts Inline
    • Making Crash Bandicoot
    • Crash 15th Anniversary Memories
    • World of Warcraft Endgames
    • Getting a Job Designing Video Games
    • Getting a Job Programming Video Games
    • Naughty Dark Contest
  • Movies
    • Movie Review Index
  • Television
    • TV Review Index
    • Buffy the Vampire Slayer
    • A Game of Thrones
  • Food
    • Food Review Index
    • Foodie Club
    • Hedonists
    • LA Sushi Index
    • Chinese Food Index
    • LA Peking Duck Guide
    • Eating Italy
    • Eating France
    • Eating Spain
    • Eating Croatia
    • Eating Vietnam
    • Eating Australia
    • Eating Israel
    • Ultimate Pizza
    • ThanksGavin
    • Margarita Mix
    • Foodie Photography
    • Burgundy Vintage Chart
  • Other
    • All Posts, Magazine Style
    • Archive of all Posts
    • Fiction
    • Technology
    • History
    • Anything Else
  • Gallery
  • Bio
  • About
    • About me
    • About my Writing
    • About my Video Games
    • Ask Me Anything
  • Contact

Camphor Cool

Feb14

Restaurant: Camphor

Location: 923 E 3rd St Suite 109, Los Angeles, CA 90013. (213) 626-8888

Date: July 14, 2022

Cuisine: Modern French Bistro

Rating: Great fusion of flavors

_

Camphor is a modern bistro located in DTLA’s bustling Arts District led by Co-Executive Chefs Max Boonthanakit and Lijo George. It seems to merge French style with some Indian flavors.

Jeffrey and Erick and I, collectively the Foodie Club or Bottom Feeders, set off to try it out — and of course ordered almost the entire menu (as we are wont to do).

1A4A0991

They are located down in the Arts District — ugly location, but a nice build out. It’s the same space that used to house Nightshade, another place I liked that shut down during the pandemic. Some of the owners and/or staff have carried over.
1A4A0996-Pano
The interior. It doesn’t look that different than Nightshade did.
1A4A1010
1A4A1016
The menu and our marked up version.
1A4A1015

1996 Robert Ampeau & Fils Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. 92 points. Best attribute is a long finish, with good balance. Notes of white flower and tree fruit.
1A4A1018
From my cellar: 1996 Robert Ampeau & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. 94 points. When they are on the wines are really incredible, this bottle was flinty and completely alive and delicious, everything you could want but the success rate is pretty much 50% on these wines for me so as long as you are comfortable with that reality they are worth seeking out, I’m not sure I’m going to be buying anymore myself. Even at 2x the average retail price on these which is basically what the cost is when you have to pour out every other bottle, they are still a relative bargain compared to any other older White Burg but it’s a frustrating experience opening them.
1A4A1029
Amuse in the form of a light delicious foam in a chickpea shell. Very nice refreshing bite.
1A4A1026
Saucisson with brown pepper. Tasty thin salami.
1A4A1036-Edit
Baby shrimp “gunpowder.” Incredibly tasty little salty crunchy shrimp with a hint of curry and/or lemongrass and basil.
1A4A1041
Clam barbajuan. Tasty, but the ratio of fry made it taste like there could have been anything in there.
1A4A1045
Clams with garlic parsley butter. Quite tasty.
1A4A1049-Edit
Tartare of beef with an herb tempura. This was a fabulous “creamy” tartare and particularly delicious on the crispy herbs.
1A4A1061
Herb tempura to put the tartare on.
1A4A1064
A5 wagyu otoro carpaccio. Also creamy. They like the sacues here.
1A4A1072-Edit

Barbajuan of Dungeness crab. There was also probably spinach in there. I thought there was a nice (but subtle) crab flavor. The shell was great.
1A4A1081

Sauces for the barbajuan of a creamy butter sauce and incredible pickled sweet Peruvian peppers.
1A4A1087
Special onion tart with anchovies. This was very good, but not as good as Jeffrey wanted.
1A4A1090
From my cellar: 1989 Daniel Moine-Hudelot Clos Vougeot. Amazing!
1A4A1095

Special dover sole with brown butter beurre blanc with capers and bread crumbs.
1A4A1101

The browned butter.
1A4A1105

Breadcrumbs.
1A4A1107
1A4A1109

1A4A1117
1A4A1119-Edit
They like to sauce at the table. Very soft and rich and delicious fish.
1A4A1124
1A4A1126
1A4A1134
Lobster with coral bisque. Super tender lobster tail with a sauce that was basically lobster bisque.
1A4A1129
The lobster claws in a ridiculously rich and delicious hollandaise-like foam.
1A4A1139
Lentils and Lamb. Under this foam was a lentil soup with a hint of curry and a touch of lambiness. Not much meat but it was delicious.
1A4A1144
1993 Domaine Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet Rouge.
1A4A1148
1A4A1152
Chicken with Thyme and chicken jus. This was a soft log of chicken and super delicious. The sauce was vaguely curry-like and so we called it the “curry wurst.”
1A4A1156
1A4A1157
1A4A1158
Asparagus and béarnaise. Salty and good.
1A4A1161
Special of layered crispy potato. This was great and the sauce beneath had a complex sweet and sour flavor that reminded me of chaat puri (the Indian street food).
1A4A1170
1A4A1174
Special of ribeye from a special source with a slightly different bearnaise sauce. Very nice meat but I was very full.
1A4A1180
Soft sweet bread.
1A4A1189
Chocolate and hazelnut. There was icecream and crunch underneath. Quite good.
1A4A1192
Special of strawberry and cream in a crispy shell. Fabulous. Again, too bad I was full.
1A4A1195
The chefs.
1A4A1200
Little madeleines.
1A4A1183-2
This was a super fun dinner, one of my favorites of the year, and I loved Camphor. First of all, I really enjoy these small Foodie Club/Bottom Feeders outings to new restaurants. They are free of drama and chaos of some larger dinners. Then I really enjoyed the food. It’s precise, and very very saucy — but I like saucy. Be prepared for it. Everything is sauced. Béarnaise, beurre blanc, reductions, it’s all there. But sauce adds fat, salt, and flavor to otherwise plain proteins. And I really enjoyed the precise French style paired with bolder more assertive Indian flavors, without getting too heavy. The DNA is mostly French.

Oh and our Burgundies turned out very well tonight. The 1989 Clos Vougeot was one of those magical wines. So lucky when those happen. Some people have complained that Camphor dish size is too small. This is actually a plus in my book and just an opportunity to order more dishes. Look at how much we got through with just three gluttons!

For more Italian dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Old School Cool
  2. Tai Siu is New
  3. Chinese Fusion – Nightshade
  4. Perfect Atmosphere – LSXO
  5. Eating Philly – Tiffin
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Camphor, DTLA, Foodie Club, French Cuisine, Sauce, Wine
Watch the Trailer or

Buy it Online!

Buy it Online!

Find Andy at:

Follow Me on Pinterest

Subscribe by email:

More posts on:



Complete Archives

Categories

  • Contests (7)
  • Fiction (404)
    • Books (113)
    • Movies (77)
    • Television (123)
    • Writing (115)
      • Darkening Dream (62)
      • Untimed (37)
  • Food (1,481)
  • Games (100)
  • History (13)
  • Technology (21)
  • Uncategorized (16)

Recent Posts

  • OOToro Double
  • Robo Eats - Anarbagh
  • Fred loves N/Naka
  • Major Major Major
  • Far East - Beijing Tasty House
  • Home Sweet Spicy Home
  • Quick Eats - Bafang
  • Quick Eats - Peking Restaurant
  • Quick Eats - MK BBQ
  • Wolfing it Down
  • Big Night at Capital
  • Coche In at Brothers Santa Monica
  • Dirty Dozen semi Grand
  • Date Night at Addison
  • Date Night at AR Valentien
  • Camphor Cool
  • Not all Dim Sum are Created Equal
  • Eating Geneva - Le Chat-Botté
  • Eating Corsica - Beach Lunch
  • Eating Baja - Somu

Favorite Food Posts

  • Food Home
  • Food Index
  • Foodie Club
  • Hedonists
  • LA Sushi Index
  • Chinese Food
  • LA Peking Duck
  • Eating Italy
  • Eating France
  • Eating Spain
  • Eating Croatia
  • Eating Vietnam
  • Eating Australia
  • Eating Israel
  • Ultimate Pizza
  • Margarita Mix
  • ThanksGavin
  • Foodie Photography
  • Burgundy Vintages

Recent Comments

Tags

Andy Gavin Arts beef Book Review books Burgundy BYOG California Champagne Chinese cuisine Chinese Food Cooking Crash Bandicoot Dessert eating-italy Fantasy Fiction Food Foodie Club Game of Thrones Gelato George R. R. Martin HBO hedonists Italian cuisine Italy Japanese cuisine Los Angeles Naughty Dog pasta Pizza Restaurant Restaurant Review reviews Santa Monica Santa Monica California SGV side dishes Sushi Television ThanksGavin The Darkening Dream vegetarian Wine World of A Song of Ice and Fire

Archives

  • March 2023 (9)
  • February 2023 (11)
  • January 2023 (14)
  • December 2022 (11)
  • November 2022 (13)
  • October 2022 (14)
  • September 2022 (14)
  • August 2022 (12)
  • July 2022 (9)
  • June 2022 (6)
  • May 2022 (8)
  • April 2022 (5)
  • March 2022 (4)
  • February 2022 (2)
  • January 2022 (8)
  • December 2021 (6)
  • November 2021 (6)
  • October 2021 (8)
  • September 2021 (4)
  • August 2021 (5)
  • July 2021 (2)
  • June 2021 (3)
  • January 2021 (1)
  • December 2020 (1)
  • September 2020 (1)
  • August 2020 (1)
  • April 2020 (11)
  • March 2020 (15)
  • February 2020 (13)
  • January 2020 (14)
  • December 2019 (13)
  • November 2019 (12)
  • October 2019 (14)
  • September 2019 (14)
  • August 2019 (13)
  • July 2019 (13)
  • June 2019 (14)
  • May 2019 (13)
  • April 2019 (10)
  • March 2019 (10)
  • February 2019 (11)
  • January 2019 (13)
  • December 2018 (14)
  • November 2018 (11)
  • October 2018 (15)
  • September 2018 (15)
  • August 2018 (15)
  • July 2018 (11)
  • June 2018 (14)
  • May 2018 (13)
  • April 2018 (13)
  • March 2018 (17)
  • February 2018 (12)
  • January 2018 (15)
  • December 2017 (15)
  • November 2017 (13)
  • October 2017 (16)
  • September 2017 (16)
  • August 2017 (16)
  • July 2017 (11)
  • June 2017 (13)
  • May 2017 (6)
  • March 2017 (3)
  • February 2017 (4)
  • January 2017 (7)
  • December 2016 (14)
  • November 2016 (11)
  • October 2016 (11)
  • September 2016 (12)
  • August 2016 (15)
  • July 2016 (13)
  • June 2016 (13)
  • May 2016 (13)
  • April 2016 (12)
  • March 2016 (13)
  • February 2016 (12)
  • January 2016 (13)
  • December 2015 (14)
  • November 2015 (14)
  • October 2015 (13)
  • September 2015 (13)
  • August 2015 (18)
  • July 2015 (16)
  • June 2015 (13)
  • May 2015 (13)
  • April 2015 (14)
  • March 2015 (15)
  • February 2015 (13)
  • January 2015 (13)
  • December 2014 (14)
  • November 2014 (13)
  • October 2014 (13)
  • September 2014 (12)
  • August 2014 (15)
  • July 2014 (13)
  • June 2014 (13)
  • May 2014 (14)
  • April 2014 (14)
  • March 2014 (10)
  • February 2014 (11)
  • January 2014 (13)
  • December 2013 (14)
  • November 2013 (13)
  • October 2013 (14)
  • September 2013 (12)
  • August 2013 (14)
  • July 2013 (10)
  • June 2013 (14)
  • May 2013 (14)
  • April 2013 (14)
  • March 2013 (15)
  • February 2013 (14)
  • January 2013 (13)
  • December 2012 (14)
  • November 2012 (16)
  • October 2012 (13)
  • September 2012 (14)
  • August 2012 (16)
  • July 2012 (12)
  • June 2012 (16)
  • May 2012 (21)
  • April 2012 (18)
  • March 2012 (20)
  • February 2012 (23)
  • January 2012 (31)
  • December 2011 (35)
  • November 2011 (33)
  • October 2011 (32)
  • September 2011 (29)
  • August 2011 (35)
  • July 2011 (33)
  • June 2011 (25)
  • May 2011 (31)
  • April 2011 (30)
  • March 2011 (34)
  • February 2011 (31)
  • January 2011 (33)
  • December 2010 (33)
  • November 2010 (39)
  • October 2010 (26)
All Things Andy Gavin
Copyright © 2023 All Rights Reserved
Programmed by Andy Gavin