Restaurant: Crustacean Beverly Hills [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
Location: 468 N Bedford Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 205-8990
Date: February 18, 2024
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 White Burgundy Dirty Dozen of all new traditional Vietnamese food inspired Crustacean creations.
Back in our “usual” private dining room and patio.
The menu.
Smaller group.
Asparagus Flower Soup with Quail Egg. Tastes like a lot of Chinese “white” soups — lovely.
Crispy Langoustine & Caviar Roll. 1/3oz Royal Kaluga Caviar, Winter Citrus Sweet Chili. Like fancy cocktail party spring rolls — down to the sweet chili sauce.
Melting Wagyu Puffs. Whipped Potatoes, Cognac, Black Truffle.
Kohlrabi Caesar. Furikak, Vietnamese Black Pepper, Parmesan Snow. Very cool and crunchy.
An’s Famous Garlic Noodles with Dungeness Crab. Roasted Garlic & An’s Secret Sauce. Classic!
Had to get the extra noodles, of course.
Whole Turmeric Dover Sole. Broken Noodle Skins, Bean Thread Noodles, Caviar Nage. Very moist and delicious.
Almond Apple Tart — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Base crafted from Galbani Whole Milk Ricotta and Sicilian Toasted Noto Romano Almond Paste layered with house-made Cinnamon Bourbon Apple Pie Filling! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #dessertgasm #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #ricotta #almond #RicottaCheese #cheese #applepie #apple #cinnamon
Coconut Tapioca ‘Che’. Vegan Coconut Sorbet, Lychee, Exotic Fruits, Tapioca Pearls.
The gang.
The wines.
The scores.
And sheet.
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.