agavin

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Mountain Hot Pot

Mar05

On one of my 2018 trips to Mammoth for skiing some friends hosted us (two nights in a row) at their condo for homemade Chinese Hot Pot. Yay!

And we returned on New Year’s Eve for even more great hot pot.

I was in charge of the libations. From my cellar: 2011 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Saint-Aubin 1er Cru En Remilly Cuvée Nicholas et Mathis. 93 points.

Our hosts Wendy and Alex pulled out all the stops, cutting up all the additives like the above tofu and veggies.

Beef — higher quality than at most hot pot places.

Beef, pork, squid, and fish balls. I love these.

Shrimp.

Mushrooms.

Glass noodles.

From my cellar: 2004 Domaine Michel Gros Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Brulées. BH 89. Deep ruby. Distinctly ripe and perfumed aromas of warm earth, underbrush, spice, dark berry fruit and a subtle smokiness complement perfectly the supple, sweet but robust medium full flavors that finish with impressive complexity and solid power. This is firmly structured but not hard or aggressive and the natural ripeness of Brulées comes through here.

The broth by itself. It was a pork broth.

Some of the ultra-tender pork meat that came out of the broth.

Condiments to use in constructing dipping sauce. This was also my job.

Our hosts, Wendy left and Alex right. Chopping away!

The loaded hot pot!

So on 12/31/18 we returned for another round of even more over the top hot pot.

This is one serious home hot pot spread!

Three types of mushrooms, tofu and bean curd.

On the right 3-4 flavors of “meatballs.”

Fish cakes!

From my cellar: 1997 Maison Roche de Bellene Chambertin Collection Bellenum. 96 points. This wine was drinking superbly tonight.

Four kinds of meat including pork belly, lamb, and two awesome types of beef!

Veggies.

Marinated tofu.

And an array of sauce components.

As New Year approached we, of course, cracked the Krug.

Our host additionally made this amazing Apple Pie.

And homemade mochi / red bean “brownies”.
Wendy takes her Ice Cream seriously. Look at the freezer drawer!!!

Overall, a fabulous and fun meal. Better than at some of the hot pot restaurants I’ve been too and loads of fun.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, home cooking, hot pot, Mammoth Lakes

Eating Adelaide – 48 Flavors

Mar02

Restaurant: 48 Flavors

Location: 78 Gouger St, Adelaide SA 5000, Australia. +61 8 8211 6180

Date: December 20, 2017

Cuisine: Gelato

Rating: Awesome gelato, if a tad brightly colored and stabilized

Right next to the Chinese restaurants and the Central Market is this award winning gelato place.

48 Flavors!

They have a lot of flavors, both fairly classic Italian and some more Asian slanted ones.
These brightly colored ones are mostly fruit flavors.

Over here are the more chocolate/vanilla type “heavier” flavors.

And a final shot.

This is Turkish Delight, a rosewater based flavor.

48 Flavors tasted great, has nice texture, and a lot of interesting and delicious flavors. The colors are pretty intense though and I asked them if they added coloring. The guy behind the counter said no, but I read the ingredients on their website and well… yes they do. My own Sweet Milk gelato style is pretty technical (2-3 sugars) but these are way more so with a host of stabilizers, emulsifiers, colors, oils, starches, etc in every flavor. It does help with the color, texture, and shelf life, but it’s well… more processed. I don’t really feel I need the artificial flavors or colors. Not sure why they need the oils either. Probably helps with the emulsification (and hence the texture) but dilutes the natural taste a bit.

For more Australia dining reviews click here.at

Toy factory in the Barossa Valley

By: agavin
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Tagged as: 48 Flavors, Adelaide, Australia, Dessert, eating-australia, Gelato

Eating Adelaide – Coopers

Mar01

Restaurant: Coopers Alehouse

Location: 316 Pulteney St, Adelaide SA 5000, Australia. +61 8 8223 6433

Date: December 26, 2017

Cuisine: Australian

Rating: Decent pizza

Just a super simple pizza dinner at a local pub.

Cute old style Adelaide building. A lot of older Australia has a sort of “old west” style because it was built in a similar time period.

I love cider on tap. Local too.

Kid’s pizza.

Margarita pizza.

My weird pork, BBQ, and pita chip pizza. Not bad, if a little odd.

A pub with pizza, but decent pizza.

For more Australia dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Adelaide, Australia, beer, cider, Coopers Alehouse, eating-australia, Pizza

Eating Barossa – Artisans

Feb26

Restaurant: Artisans of Barossa

Location: Light Pass Rd & Magnolia Rd, Vine Vale SA 5352, Australia. +61 8 8563 3935

Date: December 26, 2017

Cuisine: Australian

Rating: One of the best kitchens of the trip

On Boxing Day (the 26th of December) we traveled around the Barossa valley sampling giant Australian wines.

Our tour guide set us up at Artisans of Barossa and it turned out to be a lovely spot with great contemporary food.

The view in the middle of the vineyards with casual outside dining as well.

The menu.

The porch has a great view too.

As does the bustling modern interior.

Harvest sourdough with butter. Basic, but excellent!

Glass of Shiraz, of course.

Section 28 Monforte cheese and flat bread.

Fava and herb falafel with shanklish and roast pumpkin.

16 hour slow braised pork empanadas with house made relish. Meat in pastry is a classic and these were delicious!

Local heirloom tomato salad, Barossa Cheese Co feta and fresh herbs.

Fries.

Slow cooked pulled lamb with millet salad, yoghurt and barberries. Yum! Lamb is best this way, slow cooked, and with yougurt!
Salted caramel sundae with toffee popcorn. Several times in Australia I had a caramel ice cream thing with popcorn. Kinda works as this was excellent.

Overall, a great meal from a great kitchen. Unfortunately, we were in a bit of a rush, but we slammed it in.

For more Australia dining reviews click here.

Take in the local sites

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Artisans, Artisans of Barossa, Australia, Barossa, eating-australia

Eating Adelaide – Skyline

Feb24

Restaurant: Skyline

Location: 1 South Terrace, Adelaide SA 5000, Australia. +61 8 8216 0388

Date: December 25, 2017

Cuisine: Australian Cuisine

Rating: Nice view

It was kinda hard to fine somewhere that was open on Christmas day (evening of the 25th). Most of the top places in Australia close for the holidays.
We settled on Skyline which did have a lovely view off the edge of the city. Funny too as it’s atop a tall building for Adelaide — but is perhaps only 5 or 6 stories!

The Christmas menu.The gang in the dining room.

And even a shot of me.

During dinner the sun went down right in front of us.

Goats Cheese Tart. Beetroot meringue, succulent salsa.

Seared Scallops. Coral emulsion, chorizo crumb.

Salad.

Side vegetables (kinda like the Nicoise minus the tuna).

Simple pasta for the boy.

Fish & chips.

SA Kingfish Nicoise Salad. Green beans, kipfler potatoes, heirloom tomatoes, sous vide egg.

Lamb Backstrap – Hay Valley Farms. Beetroot leather, burnt butter beans, roasted beets, goats cheese.

Ice cream.

Chocolate brownie. Honey caramel, toasted macadamia, burnt honey ice cream, egg nog foam, puffed black rice, candied muntries.
Vanilla Panna Cotta. Rosemary short bread, confit rhubarb, balsamic jelly, strawberry jell, native mint.

A fun enough meal — although the kitchen was more clued in than the servers. They had that super friendly Australian thing going, but they were pretty clueless and made a bunch of mistakes.

For more Australia dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Adelaide, Australia, Christmas, eating-australia, Skyline

Eating Adelaide – Ding Hao

Feb22

Restaurant: Ding Hao

Location: 26 Gouger St, Adelaide SA 5000, Australia. +61 8 8211 7036

Date: December 25, 2017

Cuisine: Cantonese Dim Sum

Rating: Not bad

Christmas Day in Adelaide and what do you do, even when on the other side of the world? Eat Chinese Food!

Adelaide’s chinatown was just around the corner from our hotel so I picked the busiest looking dim sum parlor.

Inside it doesn’t look much — if any — different than it might in the states.

Chili sauce.

Sadly, since the rest of my party doesn’t like Chinese food I was ordering just for myself and so couldn’t get that much. Had to try the classics though.

Shu Mai. Fine version. Not too gigantic (I don’t like them huge).

Steamed pork bun. I would rather have had the baked type with the sweet glaze but the filling was very good.

Scallop and shrimp dumplings. Nice. Very fresh too.
I was full but I saw XLB (xao lao bao) pork soup dumplings on the menu and had to order some up. Took 20 minutes to steam too but totally worth it.

Not bad at all from the couple dishes I had. Considerably better than the place I ate at in New York’s Chinatown last summer.

For more Australia dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Australia, Chinese cuisine, Dim sum, dimsum, Ding Hao, eating-australia

Saddle Up Again

Feb20

Restaurant: Saddle Peak Lodge [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]

Location: 419 Cold Canyon Rd, Calabasas, CA 91302 (818) 222-3888

Date: January 11, 2018

Cuisine: Modern American

Rating: Great ambiance and terrific game oriented food.

Ever year, both in the summer and winter, we Hedonists return to Saddle Peak Lodge. It’s pretty much the perfect venue for both a winter or summer food and wine blast, with gorgeous lodge patio, game driven food, and awesome wine service. For those of you who don’t know, Hedonist events have amazing wines (each diner brings at least one bottle).

Saddle Peak Ranch used to be a game lodge back in the early part of the 20th century. The rich and famous used to come up and hunt Malibu’s finest, such as this poor fellow. Now the deer are just served up on the menu.

The private room.

They offer a tasting menu, but our party likes to order ala carte. I’d actually like to build our own custom tasting menu which we sort of half managed to do tonight.

The regular menu. They have confusingly moved a bunch of the sides into starters — even though they make no sense as starters.

Stuffed animals!

The place was DEAD on this particular night. I didn’t see anyone else upstairs.

A freebee from my cellar. It’s a cheap “like rose champagne” from the Jura. Many of us actually liked it better next to the Billecart!

Pretzel bread and butter.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. Pale orange. High-pitched red berry, orange zest and jasmine aromas, with suave mineral and smoky lees notes adding complexity. Spicy and precise on the palate, showing very good punch to its strawberry and bitter cherry flavors. Opens up smoothly with air and picks up a bitter rhubarb quality that lingers onto the long, tightly focused finish. This bottling showed more brawny character than many past renditions of this cuvée, but with no lack of vivacity.

2013 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru La Forest. VM 91-94. Bright, subdued aromas of pear drop and citrus fruit. Densely packed and saline in the mouth, offering terrific stony energy and depth along with a sexy impression of sucrosite . Still tight, austere and uncompromisingly dry for all its richness. More obviously soil-driven than the foregoing samples–really classic stony Chablis premier cru.

From my cellar: 1985 Nicolas Potel Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. BH 91. A very fresh yet mature nose of citrus, white flower and lightly toasted nut aromas combines with round and vibrant middle weight flavors that possess a seductive and rich mouth feel, all wrapped in a sappy and mouth coating finish. This is really a lovely effort with complexity and ample finishing punch and is a wine that will continue to hold well if not improve.

agavin: this bottle was more oxidized than the first I opened

2014 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Chassagne-Montrachet Les Ancegnières. BH 89-91. Mild reduction doesn’t significantly diminish the appeal of the citrus and slightly exotic fruit and petrol aromas. The solidly intense and delineated middle weight plus flavors are supported by a well-integrated acid spine and refreshing citrus nuances on the lingering finish. This is a quality Chassagne villages and worth considering.

2009 Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne. BH 93. A discreet touch of wood sets off aromas of dried rose petal, lemon grass and green apple that precede rich, full and obviously well-muscled big-bodied flavors that possess an intense minerality on the powerful, driving and palate staining finish that delivers simply terrific persistence. This imposing effort is most impressive and should offer up to a decade of potential improvement.

Potato leek soup. These soup amuses are kinda boring.

1999 Château d’Yquem. JG 93. I was very surprised to like the 1999 Yquem a bit better than I liked the 2001, as the vintage in general seems to be decidedly stronger in Sauternes in 2001. The 1999 Yquem offers up a complex and classic nose of toasted coconut, oranges, honey, butter, lovely soil tones, fresh apricot and a lovely framing of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, deep and quite crisp, with lovely focus and balance, excellent mid-palate depth and a very long, bright and poised finish. A lovely bottle of Yquem.

Seared Foie gras with brioche and apples. An excellent seared prep, special ordered.

And served with the perfect pairing of d’Yquem!

1994 R. López de Heredia Rioja Viña Tondonia.

Warm Octopus “Pouche-Grille”, Chermoula, Potato, Mache, Parsley, Lemon Vinaigrette. This was the weakest dish, overly warm and tough.

1999 Delas Frères Hermitage Marquise de la Tourette. VM 90+. Moderately saturated medium ruby. Roasted berries and leather on the rather shy nose. Juicy, firm and flinty on the palate; not nearly as full or explosive as the Cote-Rotie La Landonne but very nicely delineated and subtly aromatic in the mouth. Finishes very long, with fine but serious tannins.

Bandera Quail, Charred Onions, Fingerling Potato, Sage Soubise. This was tasty enough with a very strong char flavor.

1998 Le Petit Cheval. 89 points. Deep colour. And on the nose, deep fruit, seasoned with a little fresh garden mint and green peppercorn. This is fine. Integrating tannins on the palate which still provide a good structure, flavoured with a little coffee and mint. Delightfully structured wine, very approachable now, but will do some short term development I think.

Beef Tartare, wasabi, smoked avocado, crispy rice, herbs.

1997 Philip Togni Cabernet Sauvignon. VM 94. Bright, dark red. Wild, sexy scents of raspberry, game, olive tapenade, pepper, cedar, mocha and mountain herbs are wonderfully perfumed and subtle. This firmly built, aromatic midweight Cabernet is not especially voluptuous or generous but has the energy and definition to continue to improve for years. Savory more than sweet but still with terrific dark fruit retention. This classic ageworthy wine (Old World comes to Spring Mountain?) still shows some reserve but is impeccably balanced. Finishes with perfectly buffered tannins and subtle rising length.

Mushroom agnolotti.

2002 Lail Vineyards J. Daniel Cuvée. 92 points. Not my type of wine. Big wine, might be more approachable in 5 – 10 years, but now it was way too big a wine for my taste. palate and nose dominated by cherries and chocolate, almost sweet. Wine was huge, good balance, tannins were resolved…just not my cup of tea.

Roasted Mushrooms, bone marrow, persilade, red wine, butter pastry. This was delicious. Like a mushroom pot pie.

Spaghetti Rustichella, white shrimp, uni butter, chili flake and garlic. Solid dish. Nice and buttery. Hint of spice.

Cast Iron Johnnycake, maple butter. Awesome!

Mac & Cheese, 4 cheeses, gouda, aged cheddar, reggiano, jack. Good, but a little dry.

1989 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. JG 93+. I have always been a fan of the 1989 Château Beaucastel, which I rank just behind the superb 1981 at this fine estate. The most recent bottle I tasted of this wine was still just a touch youthful, but offered up fine complexity on both the nose and palate and shows excellent promise. The bouquet is a blend of roasted fruitcake, cherries, new leather, venison, incipient notes of sous bois, woodsmoke and hot stones. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and rock solid at the core, with a bit of tannin still to resolve, fine focus and grip and a very long, classy and slightly chewy finish. I would be tempted to give this wine a few more years to really resolve, as it will be a superb wine and it would be most enjoyable to drink it at the same plateau that the 1981 has been enjoying for a good decade already.

From my cellar: 1990 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. JG 92+. The 1990 Château Beaucastel is a lovely wine and is just about ready for primetime drinking, but will continue to improve over the coming five or six years and then cruise along for decades from that point forward. The bouquet offers up a fine blend of dried raspberries and red currants, roasted game, incipient autumnal tones (fallen leaves) and a potpourri of spice tones in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and a touch leathery in personality, with a good core, melting tannins and fine length and grip on the complex finish. Having had the good fortune to drink several older vintages of Beaucastel at peak maturity, my gut instinct with the 1990 would be to let it rest in the cellar for just a few more years and allow the last layer of aromatic complexity to emerge here, though it must be said that the wine is really lovely on the palate right now.

2003 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. VM 92. Dark red. Vibrant raspberry, blackberry, floral and spice aromas convey impressive purity and freshness. Supple and sweet, with deep red fruit flavors, hints of floral pastille and baking spices and gentle tannins. This wine has more grenache than usual for the property, which makes it one of the most graceful (despite the hot vintage) wines I’ve had from the Perrins. Clean and energetic on the finish, which echoes the red fruit and floral qualities. A touch of heat takes my score down a hair, but this is Chateauneuf, after all. I scored this wine 93 points on release.

Game Trio with Emu, Elk, and Bison.

Game Quadro adding in Water Buffalo.

Braised Bison Short Rib, smoked miso-potato puree, blistered asparagus, peppery jelly.

Water Buffalo Loin, dates, brown butter, brussels sprouts, grapes, juniper, blackberry.

Amaroo Farms Emu Strip, balsamic onions, potato, spinach, red wine jus.

Elk Tenderloin, bacon jam, cranberry, crispy yam strings.

Left over from the night before.

8oz Filet Mignon, mushroom, potato puree, pea greens, cider glazed carrots & turnips.

New Zealand Lamb Rack, smoked miso potatoes, blistered asparagus, pepper jam.

French fries.

Dessert menu.

1971 Bodegas Toro Albala Don PX Gran Reserva. 92 points. Seb brought this and didn’t even know it was super sweet. It was great though!
Cappuccino Cream, hazelnut fudge & cocoa crumble.

Banana & huckleberry bread pudding, Tahitian Vanilla bean ice cream.

Valrhona Brownie, chocolate cremeux caramelized white chocolate, raspberry, bourbon barrel ice cream.

Sorbet. Coconut, blackberry, and I can’t remember. Nice texture but way too mild in flavor.

This night was typical of Saddlepeak in recent years. Food is good. Prices are a bit high. Service is super nice and they really try — but the format isn’t perfect for wine dinners. I’d rather do it in family style waves rather than a few huge courses.

Our wines were mixed tonight with many very good but a few flawed.

Click here for more LA restaurant reviews,
Or for Hedonist extravaganzas.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Foie gras, Meat, Saddle Peak Lodge, Wine

Eating Sydney – Ibis Hotel

Feb18

Restaurant: Ibis Hotel Sydney Airport

Location: Sydney, Australia

Date: December 24, 2017

Cuisine: Weird blend

Rating: interesting, but not a lot of flavor

A mechanical problem with our plane caused us to spend an extra night in Sydney — at the exciting Ibis Hotel near the airport. We went down to their restaurant and discovered to my pleasure and everyone else’s that it was vaguely Asian. Sort of Indian/Indonesian maybe.

Cider.

Salt and pepper squid. Pretty tasty actually. Best thing. VERY salty though.

Creamy mushroom pasta.

Pasta pomodoro.

Steamed veggies.

Boring salmon.

Chicken curry. I wanted to like it but it was super salty without much flavor.

Ice cream with chocolate sauce.

Seeing as it was Christmas Eve they gave us some eggnog!

And I ordered this yummy-sounding caramel shake, but it basically tasted like milk and caramel not ice cream.

Not the best meal at all, but kinda interesting. The hotel had nice staff, but I can’t say I will be booking at another Ibis again soon — accommodations and service were minimal to say the least!

For more Australia dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Australia, eating-australia, Ibis, Sydney

Eating Uluru – Sails in the Desert

Feb15

Restaurant: Sails in the Desert

Location: Uluru

Date: December 23, 2017

Cuisine: Australian

Rating: Not bad for in the middle of nowhere

Sails in the Desert is a hotel (one of just a few) near Uluru.

Uluru used to be known as Ayers rock — regardless, it’s far more impressive in person than any name can do justice to!

Fruity mocktail.

Salad with grilled cheese — notice the rocket again.

Veggie Club and fries.

The ubiquitous fish and chips.

Curry in the middle of nowhere!And kangaroo — which was a little tough and not good enough to overcome the cuteness factor of the bouncy marsupials, so I feel sad.

Sails wasn’t bad for such a remote destination — and one with virtually no other choices unless you want to go all aboriginal and eat some monitor lizard.

For more Australia dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Australia, eating-australia, Sails in the Desert, Uluru

Holy Roly

Feb12

Restaurant: Holy Roly

Location: 3450 W 6th St Suite 109A, Los Angeles, CA 90020. (323) 739-8828

Date: January 2, 2018

Cuisine: Rolled Ice Cream

Rating: Tasty, but still too cold

After a tasty Korean meal we wandered around the corner to try this rolled ice cream joint.

Rolled ice cream is really a Thai thing, but this place doesn’t really seem to have any particular ethnic slant. It does bill itself on its website as healthy and organic — all the while sporting fruit loops, Oreos, and marshmallows on top — go figure!

You pick your flavor.

There are specials.

Then they (slowly) take a cup of your flavor and pour it on the frozen surface.

They then manually (and slowly) do the job of a batch freezer by mushing the mix around.

Finally spreading it out so it can freeze nice and cold with little consistency or aeration.

Then they roll it up into ho-hos and decorate.

Deep Dark Chocolate. whipped cream, pocky stick, roasted marshmallow, fruity pebbles (apparently they ran out and decided on fruit loops or are confused), rainbow sprinkles (also out), chocolate syrup. If they think THAT is deep dark they should check out a REAL chocolate ice cream (gelato):

NOT HOLY ROLY, but Chocolate Fondant Honey Nougat Gelato made by Sweet Milk (me).

Back to our featured location: Coffee, Oreo. Whipped cream, pocky stick, roasted marshmallow (sense a theme?), mini oreo, chocolate syrup. Not bad, but like all these rolled ice creams looks better than it tastes because the temperature is so cold and the texture so dense.

So like all the rolled ice cream places Holy Roly is pretty good (because how bad can house made ice cream be?) and very attractive, but suffers from being too cold and too dense. Plus the format is VERY SLOW. If it were even moderately busy you’d really be waiting a while since it takes maybe 6-8 minutes of straight labor from an employee to prepare just one of these.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Dessert, hedonists, Holy Roly, Ice cream, Korea-town

Eating Cairns – Tamarind

Feb09

Restaurant: Tamarind

Location: 35-41 Wharf St, Cairns City QLD 4870, Australia. +61 7 4030 8897

Date: December 22, 2017

Cuisine: Thai Fine Dining

Rating: Very good

Tamarind is a casino restaurant in Cairns that is high end Thai-fusion fine dining.

Only that particular combination and the fact that they also had regular pasta (for our son) convinced my family to go — lucky for me.

Long menu.

An amuse of tomato soup.

Fruity cocktail.

A kind of alcoholic “ice tea.”

Tamarind Taster Plate with, left to right:

Pan Seared Scallops. Butternut anglaise, dried wakame, bacon crumb and pickled fig.

Tempura Zucchini Flowers. Pernod gel, ricotta emulsion, macerated currents, and salsa verde.

Gin and tonic Salmon. Blueberry, cucumber gel, feta cream, squid ink glass.

Watermelon Salad. Pink-ginger, watermelon, snow pea, and ponzu dressing.

Pasta with tomato sauce and cheese.

Beetroot Risotto. Goats chese croquette, roof top greens.

Penang Duck Curry. Caramelized pumpkin, roasted peanuts, chili, coriander, with scented rice.

A close up of the curry. This was actually a fabulous curry. Sweet rather than spicy but intensely flavored, rich, and sumptuous.

Vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce.

Above the great barrier reef

I’m glad we managed to get to Tamarind. It was one of my favorite dinners, particularly because the duck curry was so good and I love even a bad Thai curry — and this was a delicious one.

For more Australia dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Australia, Cairns, eating-australia, Tamarind, Thai cuisine

Eating Cairns – Fusion Art

Feb07

Restaurant: Fusion Art Bar & Tapas

Location: 5/12 Spence St, Cairns City QLD 4870, Australia. +61 7 4051 3888

Date: December 21, 2017

Cuisine: Spanish Tapas

Rating: Excellent

Our Australian trip brings us along to Cairns, near the Great Barrier Reef.

And with it a more tropical feel and a well recommended tapas bar.

Attractive interior, but it was a nice night and we sat outside.

The menu.

Bar snacks.

Some kind of typical aperitif.

A glass of rose.

Coffin Bay South Australian Oysters.

Condiments include mignonette spheres!

Kingfisher Creek Camembert and bread.

Sardines with tomato chili relish and orange segments.

Pan fried Haloumi with strawberry salsa and fig balsamic.

Wild Mushroom Arancini with saffron aioli.

Prawn Beignets with grapefruit aioli.

Baked Aubergine stuffed with pumpkin, parmesan and roasted tomato dressing.

Creamy Coconut Chicken Curry with cassava chips and basmati rice. There is a lot of curry in Australia, lucky for me!

Mango passionfruit dessert.

Chocolate ice cream dessert.

Waterfall on the skyride outside of town

This was one of our better dinners in Australia. It’s not fancy, and we didn’t tend to go to very elaborate places, but they had a solid kitchen and bright and interesting flavors.

For more Australia dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Australia, Cairns, eating-australia, Fusion Art, Tapas

Korean Kwicky

Feb05

Restaurant: Yangji Gamjatang

Location: 3470 W 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90020. (213) 388-1105

Date: January 2, 2018 & August 23, 2025

Cuisine: Korean

Rating: Excellent neighborhood Korean

Only 24 hours after traveling halfway across the world (on my way back from holiday) some friends summoned me out to a quick meal in K-Town. We originally wanted to go to Sun Nong Dan but there was a huge line and they don’t allow so we went next door instead.

From my cellar: NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. Pale orange. High-pitched red berry, orange zest and jasmine aromas, with suave mineral and smoky lees notes adding complexity. Spicy and precise on the palate, showing very good punch to its strawberry and bitter cherry flavors. Opens up smoothly with air and picks up a bitter rhubarb quality that lingers onto the long, tightly focused finish. This bottling showed more brawny character than many past renditions of this cuvée, but with no lack of vivacity.

Menu on the wall.

And laminated. Lots of stews — but that’s Korean homestyle food :-).

David L brought: 2012 Deux Montille Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses. VM 91. Subtle aromas of apple and minerals. Restrained and fresh, showing lovely cut to its sexy floral and spice flavors. Finishes with a touch of phenolic bitterness that calls for some time in bottle, but this very attractive version of Preuses has the density of material to support it. I managed to leave this very successful wine out of my Chablis coverage in the last issue.

banchan (free appetizers).

Sauce for something.

Bean sprouts.

Spicy pickled stripes of some vegetable, or maybe squid. I liked ’em.

Cucumbers.

Kimchi.

Sweet bean curd.

Spicy pickled radish.

Marinated potato. Slightly sweet.

Baby asparagus and sausage.

Spinach fried dumplings. Very hot and crispy. Nice texture, but not super exciting.

Rice omelet. Tasty enough actually.

Spicy sweet and sour chicken. Not spicy at all, and very sticky, but quite delicious.

Kimchi pancake. I like the Korean seafood pancakes better. This one was a little bland. It grew on you though.

From my cellar: 2002 Maison Leroy Bourgogne-Grand-Ordinaire. 93 points. Balanced and complex. Medium body. Very nice

Spicy beef stew. A bit less sweet than next door. Beef short ribs with potatoes and rice noodle tubes. Yummy!

Spicy pork sparerib stew. Same sauce (and everything else) except for having pork ribs. A bit more “savory” and spareribby than the beef.

Yarom brought: 2008 Bisceglia Aglianico del Vulture Gudarrà Riserva. 90 points. I thought this tasted like Aglianico. It’s from Basilcata down in the very south part of Italy. A nice volcanic wine.

Spicy noodles with lots of stuff. I think they describe it as “mixed thick cold noodle.” Basically the same stuff as bibimbap but noodles instead of rice.

It got a special “hand job” (with gloves).

Here it is mixed up. Not bad at all.

Ox bone soup with beef brisket and noodle. Very bland beef and noodle soup. Just collagen basically from cooked bones. Not my thing, but it’s “what it’s supposed to be” for this dish. I had to dump a bunch of spicy sauce in. Beef was pretty good though.

Two types of bone broth soup, one with oxtail and the other with tendon (this one). The soup was loathsome. Really tastless.

The oxtail tasted like boiled meat and was impossible to eat.

Cold noodles. These were pretty good.

Spicy squid. Less sweet and one of the best dishes.

Kimchee pork was pretty good too.

The main event is the beef ribs with cheese in, you guessed it, sticky spicy sweet sauce.

Blow torch fun.

This stuff is pretty awesome, but sweet.

Bulgolgi. Not bad but sweet.

Another sweet and sour (this time pork).

Some more sweet beef.

And a scallion “salad” to wash it down.

Seb brought: 2015 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon. 92 points. SO heavy and modern — tasted like grape juice with oak and vanilla extract.

Overall, a nice casual Korean place with some variety on the menu (mostly soups and stews) and they were really really friendly. Plus they allowed wine.

Afterward we headed down the street for some rolled ice cream!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: beef, hedonists, Korea-town, Korean cuisine, Wine, Yangji

Eating Sydney – Quay & Co

Feb03

Restaurant: Quay & Co

Location: Gateway, 2 Alfred St, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia

Date: December 20, 2017

Cuisine: Australian

Rating: okay

Another quick meal in Sydney.

Right across from the Gelato Messina.

The menu.

Fish & Chips are everywhere in Australia.

Salmon Benedict “sandwich.”

Lamb shoulder with fries, pita, and yogurt.

Sydney docks

Not the greatest meal ever, but certainly fine.

For more Australia dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Australia, eating-australia, Quay & Co, Sydney

Eating Sydney – Gelato Messina

Feb02

Restaurant: Gelato Messina

Location: Alfred St, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia. +61 2 9252 4480

Date: December, 2017

Cuisine: Gelato

Rating: Better than I’ve had in the states

Gelato Messina has been a big inspiration to me as a Gelato-maker because they have the best English professional gelato book.

Anyway I was psyched to find one right next to my hotel in Sydney! Had to eat there 4 times in 2 days — Italian style (gelato twice a day).

It’s a little corner spot at the entrance to a food mall at Circular Quay.

Crowded most of the day.

Various specials.

Juicy looking over piled cabinets.

Milk based.

Sorbet.

More.

And even more.

Here is a strawberry sorbetto. Not quite as good as mine (with the strawberries from Avignon), but very very good.

Old-town Sydney

Overall, some fabulous gelato. Very interesting flavors and a bunch of nice Christmas flavors. Not quite as intense as mine. I even tried two flavors that I have made from their recipes and they are slightly less intense. I probably use more expensive ingredients because at home I use the best possible regardless.

Great place!

For more Australia dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Australia, Dessert, eating-australia, Gelato, Gelato Messina, Messina, Sydney

Eating Sydney – Salt Meats Cheese

Jan31

Restaurant: Salt Meats Cheese

Location: Gateway Sydney, L201 Alfred St, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia. +61 2 9247 6446

Date: December 19, 2017

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Solid causual Italian

There was a fairly extensive food mall right next to our hotel in Sydney.

And this was the Italian option — after I was outvoted on the Thai!

The menu.

A nice glass of rose for a late afternoon pizza.

Fig salad. Fresh figs, rocket, mozzarella, balsamic. Australians LOVE rocket (arugula).

Beef crudo. Chopped wagyu, truffle pecorino, fried crumbled egg. The fried (soft boiled) egg was a unique and excellent touch.

Pizza Margherita.
Pizza Fresh Fig. Pancetta, tomato, mozzarella, gorgonzola, fresh fig, balsamic. Nice enough pizza.

View of Sydney from the harbor

Simple neo-Italian (aka pizza, apps, and pasta), but not bad at all.

For more Australia dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Australia, eating-australia, Italian cuisine, Salts Meats Cheese, Sydney

Eating Sydney – Leura Gourmet

Jan29

Restaurant: Leura Gourmet

Location: 179 The Mall | Blue Mountains, Leura, New South Wales 2780, Australia. +61 2 4784 3121

Date: December 19, 2017

Cuisine: Australian

Rating: Surprisingly good

One wouldn’t expect to find anything decent in a small (but cute) tourist town like Leura, deep in the Blue Mountains a few hours outside of Sydney.

But this little cafe and deli looked fairly appealing.

Lots of deli counter.

And goods.

And pastries. Savory pies are common in Australia — I happen to like them.

The interior had a nice view and was painted a lurid green that invaded all the photos.

The menu.

Mango lassi. Love these.

Apple juice — in Australia it’s usually cloudy. Mr. Picky didn’t like it.

Pappadum & Smoked Salmon Salad. Tasmanian smoked salmon, camenbert, avocado & pappadums with our special dressing. Interesting Indian/Australian fusion.

Caramelized onion & goat’s cheese tart.

Simple pasta.
Tandoori Chicken. Served with rice, pappadum, raita, & sweet mango chutney. More Indian fusion. Not bad actually.

Shot from the nearby Three Sisters rock formation

Given the Burger/Fish & Chip vibe of most of the other places in town these was some welcome sophistication. And very Australian somehow.

For more Australia dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Australia, Deli, eating-australia, Leura

Eating Sydney – Oyster Bar

Jan27

Restaurant: Sydney Cove Oyster Bar

Location: 1 Circular Quay East, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia. +61 2 9247 2937

Date: December 20, 2017

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Excellent neighborhood Italian

For our first night in Australia we just rolled around Circular Quay to a well rated seafood place. This isn’t fancy or incredibly memorable, but it is fairly typical of modern Australian cuisine.

Great location right on the Quay.

The menu.

They had oyster shots on the menu so I figured I’d give them a try. I figured they’d be more like oyster shooters (i.e. more savory) and instead they are pretty serious shots of alcohol with oysters in them. So as such, I didn’t really enjoy them because they are mostly 80 proof!

Original. Spicy tomato juice, vodka, layered, celery, cracked pepper.

Margarita. Salt rim glass, tequila, cointreau, lemon juice.

Tokyo Ginger. Wasabi, citrus vodka, and a dash of soy.

Mojito. Brown sugar rim, lime juice, dark rum and mint.

Bread.

Rocket and parmesan salad. They LOVE rocket (arugula to us Americans) in Australia. I happen to like it myself too.

Scallops, yuzu, togarashi chili, chives. Crudo of scallops with a strong Japanese powdered spice sauce. I liked these a lot. Used the bread on the oil.
T

San Coy Bau, Wagyu beef, tiger prawns, peanuts, chili and witlof. Endive basically with a slightly Szechuan (broad bean) mean and prawn chop. Quite nice.

Simple pasta for my son.
Grilled king salmon, roasted carrots, green harissa. The sauce was sweetish not spicy and my wife really liked this dish (she’s a connoisseur of salmon preps).

Overall, a fine meal. Nothing earth shattering, but great atmosphere and solid local food.

For more Australia dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Australia, Cydney, eating-australia, Oyster Bar, Sydney Cove Oyster Bar

Quick Eats – Tasty Noodle

Jan25

Restaurant: Tasty Noodle House

Location: 2117 Sawtelle Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025. (424) 248-3232

Date: November 27 & December 15, 2017 and January 5 & February 23 & March 16, 2018 and February 12, 2020

Cuisine: Shanghai Chinese

Rating: Large menu modern Chinese Cafe

Sawtelle Blvd is on fire and has 4-5 new opening in the last 2 months. One of the latest is Tasty Noodle House which is a very Chinese, SGV style, modern Chinese cafe. Pretty much appealing to 20 year old Chinese — and me. A bunch of these new openings are actually Chinese so the street focus is drifting from all Japanese to pan-Asian.

I think it used to be the Okonomiyaki place.The interior looks exactly like all these cheaper Chinese places on the street. Basically how to get a hint of decor while spending the least money possible.

But they did spend some bucks on the gigantic menu. It’s pretty much broad modern mainland Chinese with favorites, a lot of Shanghai and Beijing dishes.

Slightly spiced peanuts on the table to start.

Strawberry smoothie.Mango slushie. For some reason they don’t have boba!

Spicy Cold Cucumber Salad (2/12/20). Good crunch and a bit of garlicky spice.

Cold Spicy Chicken (2/12/20). Very nice. No bones, juicy meat, and a savory/sweet/spicy sauce with excellent flavor.

Xiao Lao Bao (XLB) pork soup dumplings (everytime). These are the best XLB I’ve had on the westside. They were considerably better than at nearby ROC which actually specializes in them. They had a tastier filling. You add the vinegar and soy sauce to the ginger bowl above.

Pan fried Shanghai Dumplings. These are the breadier, more fried version of the pork soup dumplings — awesomely tasty too.

Sticky Rice Shu-Mai (2/12/20). Interesting carb on carb action as these felt like dumplings filled with brown sticky rice!

House Sauce Noodles w/ Pork. Translation leaves a bit to be desired.

Mixed up. I enjoyed this dish a lot. The sauce is very sweet with a broad bean base and a TON of pork. If you mixed in a cup of Szechuan chili oil, some sesame paste, and used less sauce it would basically be a dan dan mein. I’m not sure they have real dan dan here. I’ll look next time. But this one, despite being sweet, did have a flavor profile I really liked. Noodles were a touch thin.

Plain noodles for my son.

Pan-seared green chili pepper w/ minced pork black bean sauce (many times and 2/12/20). Probably the same sauce as the house special noodles, but delicious just the same. I really liked this dish.Prawn with spicy minced pork sauce noodle soup. The soup itself is a mild light pork broth like a super mild cabbage ramen. Actually fairly tasty.Then the prawns come on the side like this. The sauce for the prawns is that goopy, garlicky, slightly spicy sauce that is often used for shrimp and I LOVE. It went well enough in the soup, but I will have to get this dish in a variant with lots of the sauce over rice on a return trip.

And here it is a few weeks later, the full sized prawns doused in sauce all by themselves (comes with a bowl of rice on the side) — yum!

Fish, shrimp, crab, and squid with crab sauce and snake gourd (2/12/20). Snake Gourd turns out to just be a green Chinese squash. Nice light garlicky seafood mush with slightly crunchy vegetable.

Spicy fish filet and tofu with rice (2/23/18). Pretty much similar to the Szechuan boiled dish below, but a sauce over rice. Almost more successful in this format, I enjoyed the soft textures.

Fish Fillet & Beef w/ Spicy Sauce. This is a Szechuan dish, but it’s not really a Szechuan place. There was plenty of garlic, but not much mala. The chili oil was too one note for my taste, it should have been fried with aromatics. So this dish turned out to be like a 6/10 for it’s type (which is a very typical Szechuan type). They actually have a better one across the street at Popcorn Chicken (and that one isn’t that great either). But as I said, this isn’t a Szechuan restaurant and you can bet the chef isn’t central Chinese (but more likely from Shanghai or Taiwan).

Spicy Beef with Tofu (3/16/18 and 2/12/20). Slightly spicy variant on the brown sauce. Nice texture with the firm bean curd. A touch salty.

Pork Belly with preserved vegetables (2/12/20). Meat was a touch dry and the vegetables not as salty/umami as they are in the best forms of this dish, but still enjoyable.

Cumin Lamb (2/12/20). Not very spicy, or massively cumined, but nice.

Pork with Leeks (2/12/20). Perhaps a twice cooked pork? Very nice smoked flavor and porky grease tone to the dish. Made the leeks delicious too.

On 2/12/20 I brought some gelato too:

Raspberry Sorbetto — French Raspberries and a touch of lime juice — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Unusual for me to go so “straight” with my flavors but I wanted a complement to a complex flavor — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #raspberry

Crackerjack Gelato – Smooth Peanut Base with homemade Dulce de Leche Ribbon, Toffee Peanuts, and Caramel Popcorn! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — oh my! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #peanut #caramel #DulceDeLeche #Popcorn #CaramelCorn

In the bowl you can see that Dulce de Leche.

Wines from 2/12/20.

Overall, I’m glad to have so many real Chinese dishes move to the westside. This is a cafe style restaurant, like Northern Cafe, and as such has more casual cooking at a lower level than a big menu more “dinner” restaurant like Beijing Tasty House. But it’s very welcome because it gives yet another great option to an already awesome area. It’s slightly Shanghai in style but with a lot of Beijing type and lightweight Szechuan dishes in the way that’s very popular in China now.

I do have to say that on my 2/12/20 visit the food had really sharpened up. It wasn’t perfect, or again as good as a very good “higher end” SGV place, but execution was pretty on point and we had many delicious dishes.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

Wines from 2/12/20:

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Sawtelle Little Tokyo, Tasty Noodle, XLB

Alexanders II – Not so Kingly

Jan24

Restaurant: Alexander’s Steakhouse [1, 2]

Location: 111 N Los Robles Ave, Pasadena, CA 91101. (626) 486-1111

Date: December 13, 2017

Cuisine: Steakhouse

Rating: Asian fusion & some of the best steakhouse I’ve had

The Foodie Club had an amazing meal at Alexander’s a few months ago, and many think it is the best steakhouse in the city, so the Hedonists braves the most hideous traffic to cross town on a weeknight to try it also.

Old Town Pasadena.

Here is the imposing entrance, right there next to the California Pizza Kitchen… lol.

Amuse of some polenta like thing with uni and caviar.

The winter menu.

Ron brought: 2010 Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne. BH 91-94. Here the nose is dominated by reduction and sulfur at present and is thus unreadable. What can be assessed is that there is good detail, power, size and weight to the concentrated and mineral-driven broad-shouldered flavors that possess excellent length on the bone dry and overtly austere finish. This should be a classic Latour Corton-Charlemagne in time.

agavin: very young and tight, took awhile to open

HAMACHI SHOTS 3.0. dashi / avocado / fresno / ponzu / negi / arare. Very bright flavors and mixed textures.

Ron brought: 2004 Sine Qua Non Into the Dark. VM 95. Bright violet. Pungent raspberry and cassis on the nose, picking up sexy floral and mineral character with air. Silky, sharply focused red fruit preserve flavors offer excellent thrust but possess an airy, pinot-like personality, gaining weight and sweetness on the close. The balance and finesse of this wine are spectacular: how can it carry 16.1% alcohol so effortlessly?

TARTARE OF BEEF. marrow cream / smoked carrot / bleu cheese powder. Solid tartar.

Trish brought: 1997 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque. VM 92-95. Good red-ruby. Perfumed aromas of cassis, violet, lilac and brown spices. Lush and aromatic in the mouth; the combination of a bit more acidity than the Mouline and its mineral and gunflint elements gives this wine noteworthy elegance and firm shape. Tannins are quite fine.

agavin: unfortunately a corked bottle

FOIE PB&J. foie torchon / peanut butter / onion jam / grape baguette. Solid, but not nearly as good as the Foie implementation last time we came.

From my cellar: 1990 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron. Parker 98. The 1990 Pichon-Longueville Baron has always been one of my benchmark wines, one that never ceases to perform. Now at 27 years of age, it is clearly at its peak, and what a wondrous thing it is. Now showing some bricking on the rim, the bouquet is utterly sublime, with red berries, cedar, touches of graphite, crushed rose petals and incense. You just want to become enveloped by these aromas. The palate is perfectly balanced, perhaps not as structured as it once showed since the tannins have mellowed, but what you get is a Pauillac relishing its secondary phase, which is almost Burgundy-like in terms of mouthfeel. Suffused with tension, it gains weight in the mouth toward the slightly tart finish. It is a Pichon Baron that only knows how to give sophisticated drinking pleasure. I once wrote that Pichon Baron is better than many 1990 First Growth, and that is a statement I have no reason to change. Tasted April 2017.

YUBA WRAPPED PORK BELLY. shiso mustard / lemon-eucalyptus curd / pickled shallots. Interesting texture and quite nice, although I may have liked the previous time’s version of pork belly.

UNI TOAST. brioche / pork shoulder / five spice. Again they changed up a staple item, having brioche instead of egg this time.

ICEBERG SALAD. sweet sesame / bok choy / soft boiled egg / five spice / radish. Very asian variant, heavily dressed. It was nice but I prefer a really good traditional with the blue cheese and bacon.

The bread was amazing. The dark one was squid ink, then there was a cheese and a milk bread. Problem is they brought it in time for dessert!

Plus some fabulous butters, Strauss Creamery butter, bone marrow butter with honey, and a rendered beef tallow!

Arnie brought: 2004 Sloan. VM 94+. Bright, saturated ruby. Knockout nose combines black raspberry, dark plum, black cherry, violet, minerals, spices, soy sauce and brown spices. Lush, broad and rich, with a superripe blackberry flavor that remains this side of jammy. Thanks to its finesse of texture and juiciness, this ultimately comes across as less sweet and more classic than the superb 2002. Finishes with wonderfully suave, broad, building tannins that coat the teeth. The wine’s cabernet franc component contributes lift and spice on the aftertaste. This needs, and should reward, six to eight years of cellar time.

CRISPY PATA. pork shank / achara / vinegar soy / creamed taro. A whole crazy pig leg deep fried. Super crispy and succulent inside. Yum! Filipino style!

Yarom or Larry brought: 2003 Schrader Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon RBS Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard. VM 90+. Good ruby-red. Highly floral aromas of blueberry, licorice, menthol and violet. Sweet black raspberry and blackberry flavors are firmed by a slight edge of acidity and lifted by floral and mineral nuances. Still a bit youthfully tart on the finish and in need of bottle aging.

BONE-IN NEW YORK 18OZ. grilled meyer lemon / chive butter / chives. Pretty gamey.

Yarom or Larry brought: 2005 Schrader Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard. VM 96 points. Decanted about an hour. Served with grilled steaks. In a really good place now. Aromas of cherry, blackberry, currant, rose petals. Similar flavors leading to a long smooth finish. The tannins are silky smooth. Really well balanced. Starting to show some secondary character.

AURORA ANGUS RIBEYE CHOP 20OZ. illinois raised prime black angus / grilled lemon. Very “gristly”. Good flavor, but not tender.

BLUE LAKE BEANS. flash fried / garlic / sansyo. Awesome beans, like Szechuan green beans, but no pork. Reduced soy.

MACARONI AND CHEESE. five cheese mornay / truffle panko. One changed dish that was better than the previous version. Pretty normal Mac & Cheese, but very good.

KING CRAB FRIED RICE. lap xuong / egg white / chive. Really great fried rice last time and just “nice” this time, maybe a little under cooked.

Dessert menu.

Amuse of leechee ice. Very tasty.

GUAVA CHEESECAKE. tempura fried cheesecake / orange granita / candied shiso / guava sorbet. Kinda weird.
RED VELVET MINT. red velvet brownie / cranberry / mint cream cheese frosting / red velvet ice cream. Disappointing, very weak mint flavors.

Overall, a solid meal, but no where near as good as our previous visit. Many of the food items had the same protein/spot on menu but changed, and almost all for the worse. Things also just weren’t as on point and the steaks (probably we ordered poorly) were gamey (which was fine) but a bit tough.

Service was very friendly, but no where near as good as last time and they had significant pacing issues. The server was super nice, but maybe had too many tables and he couldn’t come by enough. We also had a very long gap between dishes for the first half of the meal. In their defense they had asked if we wanted it slow, but I had only meant one dish at a time, not 30 minutes between each. This was rectified. They also forgot some of the extras like the bread (until near the end), petite fours, etc.

Food was good, but it just didn’t blow us away this time. Maybe there was a different kitchen lead on duty?

Wines were great. Only major flaw was the corked Lala. A too many giant Napas too for my taste although they were great wines.

For more LA dining reviews click here.