Restaurant: Crustacean Beverly Hills [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
Location: 468 N Bedford Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 205-8990
Date: April 4, 2023
Cuisine: Vietnamese Fusion
Rating: Awesome as always
Crustacean is one of our regular haunts and one of the few places with the stems, food, and service to handle a serious wine dinner. This was a return to Hedonist form with a mixed dinner of all new traditional Vietnamese food inspired Crustacean creations.
Back in our “usual” private dining room and patio.
Yarom, always posing with owners and the ladies. In the print dress is Elisabeth An.
Our special menu.
Served on this cute wooden toadstool is:
King Crab “Banh Khot”. Royal Kaluga Caviar, dungeness crab, coconut bechemel. A tiny but delicious bite. Great champagne pairing too.
A trio of traditional rolls. Filet Mignon “Bo Nuong” Roll (right). Lemon grass, Ho Fun Rice Noodle. “Cha Gio” Roll (center). Jidori Chicken, crispy rice paper, black mushrooms, jicama, lemon chili. Fresh Langoustine “goi cuon” roll (left). Taito, rau ram, carrots, roasted peanut bean sauce. These were some great spring rolls. Each was just ever so slightly “elevated” from its usual version.
Another trio, this time with sambal, chili oil, and siracha. I was particularly fond of the sambal.
Vietnamese “Banh Xeo” Crepes. Rice batter, organic beech mushrooms, prawns, dice chicken, bean sprouts, pickles. The only thing missing on this wonderful classic Vietmamese dish was the sweet fish sauce.
Escargot “Bun Oc” soup. Escargot, fresh tomatoes, tamarind, ginger chili broth, angel hair rice noodle. I’ve never had this dish before. Both the tender snails and the flavorful snail sausage were awesome. The broth was tangy and a little bit spicy. Delicious!
This was for dipping the snails.
Tasting of An’s Famous Garlic Roasted Dungeness Crab and An’s Famous Garlic Noodles. Roasted garlic and An’s Secret Sauce. The classic never fails to dissapoint. The noodles were “fortuantly” a tiny portion (good given my carb avoidance).
These came smoked.
Lemongrass Cramelized “suon rang” pork spare ribs. Lemongrass, soy, shallot, fish sauce. Very distinct smokey flavor and lots of meat. Yum!
Salt block pork belly for the fried rice.
Rich and flavorful.
XO Garlic Fried Rice. Poached egg, pork belly, XO, Vietnamese Sausage. Awesome rice. Can’t hate on the Vietnamese sausage (which is pretty much like Cantonese sausage).
The icky flight.
Wagyu “Bo Kho”. Snake River Farms Wagyu, su su “Buddha’s Palm,” heirloom carrots, garlic rice. My least favorite dish. It was fine, but mostly beef stew and rice.
Kung Pao Eggplant. Thai Basil, Thai red chili gastrique. Crispy and delicious.
Coconut Tapioca “Che.” Exotic Fruits. A really pleasant mix of the soft and silky textures with the potenent coconut notes offset by the zingy fruit.
I love this flavor — Peppermint Bark Gelato — Base is pure peppermint milk (subbed the sugar with crushed peppermint candies) and it’s laced with house-made double-sided peppermint bark, Valrhona Dark Chocolate and Ivoire White! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — The Peppermint Bark recipe was developed by a famous pastry chef and author, the mum of a Naughty Dog Alum @nancy_baggett — this year I added the two layer thing which is awesome — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #dessertgasm #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #peppermint #bark #Valrhona #chocolate
Hojicha Latte NSA Gelato – Ceremonial Hojicha Roasted Green Tea base with No Sugar Added (Allulose) — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #matcha #Hojicha #GreenTea #Allulose #NSA
We had a few wines.
Overall, our best dinner at Crustacean yet — and that is saying something given how many great ones we’ve had. I really like the slightly elevated traditional Vietnamese. It’s a nice change of pace from the fusion, which is quite good as well. They really executed on all levels tonight. Elisabeth joined us and supervised. Her mother was supposed to do all the cooking, but she got sick and ended up spending hours with the cooks over zoom giving them instructions. Obviously she is a good teacher because everything came out great. Wines were awesome and I like a nice progression like this. The cabernets were — as I suspected — too much. The Colgin was the most drinkable but the 2016 — oh my! Service was flawless.
Discussing the food analytically. Very good, and most dishes varied from good to great. The Vietnamese influence is far more subtle, less heavy handed, then at most newer fusion places like Little Sister / LXSO or the more contemporary small plates style Khong Ten. Definitely more roughly 2000 in formal fine dining style — which I don’t mind at all. In some ways it feels like a millennium event fine dining place with Vietnamese — and to a lesser extent Thai and Chinese — notes. It’s a pretty fancy place, and priced accordingly — but particularly during these last two dinners have really knocked it out of the park.
