agavin

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Destroyer!

Dec07

Restaurant: Destroyer

Location: 3578 Hayden Ave, Culver City, CA 90232

Date: December 1, 2016

Cuisine: Modernist / Scandinavian

Rating: Cool daytime only spot

When we last checked in with chef Jordan Kahn he was playing host to Elrond’s table at Red Medicine.

Now he’s got a new place in Culver City, literally 100 yards from the old Flektor.com office I had 2006-2008. The area is filled with the weird and modern.

It’s called Destroyer and it’s breakfast and lunch only.

The decor is minimalist, and Scandinavian modern.

The menu is projected on the wall!

Here is the crazy master himself, looking intense.

This is a place about the small details, and this coffee “mug” is no exception.

The place is QSV, you order at the counter.

And more lovely details.

spice bread,creme fraiche,black currant,elderflower. Looks awesome. Kinda tasted awesome too, like scones and clotted cream — except for the weird moss. That was only for texture and just kinda interesting.

organic hen egg,crispy potato, mushroom. Very elfin, but delicious too. Fascinating textures.

The wall changed to lunch.

beef tartare,smoked egg cream, pickled mushroom,radish. Lovely!

And the meat was hiding underneath. My least favorite of the items, but still good.
Frozen pear mousse, tonka, salted almond. Great textures, nice bright flavors.

Overall, this was a really neat little place. Just kinda fun. Fun flavors. Fun textures. Fun attention to detail. I’ll definitely be back.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (2)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Destroyer, elfin, Jordan Kahn, modernist, Scandinavian

Dim Sum – World Seafood

Dec05

Restaurant: World Seafood Restaurant [1, 2]

Location: 1412 S Garfield Ave. Alhambra, CA 91801. (626) 282-3888

Date: November 26, 2016

Cuisine: Cantonese Dimsum

Rating: Fun dishes, good, but not the absolute best

My quest to try all the great dimsum houses in the LA area (mostly the San Gabriel Valley) continues. Last year’s newcommer Shi Hai has rebooted into World Seafood Restaurant.

It looks pretty much the same on the outside — and clearly isn’t a place all geared up to serve the English-speaking population!

Inside it got a touch of new color but remains a giant Chinese-style banquet hall.

The lengthy menu — all in Chinese with just a touch of English.

Pan-fried chives pancake. Not very pancake like, but extremely tasty. Some kind of mystery meat in here too — probably pork.

Shrimp and pork Shiu Mai. Good version of the classic.

Har Gow shrimp dumpling. Solid also.

Scallop and shrimp dumpling. The scallops were a touch fishy, so this wasn’t my favorite.

Chu Zhou Fun Gou. Peanuts, pork, and who knows what make a lovely dumpling. Fun guo, or Chaozhou fun guo sometimes spelled fun quor, fun gor, fen guo, Chiu Chow dumpling, Teochew dumpling, or fun kor is a variety of steamed dumpling from the Chaoshan area of coastal eastern Guangdong, a province in Southern China. They are typically filled with chopped peanuts, ground pork, garlic chives, dried shrimp, dried radish and shiitake mushrooms. Other filling ingredients may include coriander, cilantro, jicama, or dried daikon.

Seafood salad roll. I ordered because I had no idea what it was. This light and crispy but very deep friend fellow contained some kind of seafood/cream cheese mix with a slight sweetness. There was a mayo-like dipping sauce. Despite the oddness of all this, it was delicious.

BBQ pork rice noodle. Solid.

XLB steamed pork dumplings. The shell was a touch thick, and while I’ve had better, these were still delicious.

Pork bean curd roll. Delicious. Stuffed with pork? and vegetables.

House special roast duck. Delicious, meaty, and only $5.99!!!!

Plain soy sauce noodles for my son. Pretty yummy actually.

Pan fried noodle with seafood. This was the thick rice noodle and I would have prefered it over the thin egg noodles.

Steamed honey brown sugar cake. World Seafood has a lot of “dessert” dim sum and this one was new to me so I tried it. Look at the cool coral-like texture. It tasted like mildly sweet honey cake but did have a very nice fluffly organic quality.

Pumpkin pastry with salted egg yolk. Delcious. Mochi-like texture, pumpkin taste, and a gooey hot salty egg-yolk filling. Awesome. We ordered an extra order.

Steamed sweet bun. Who can resist desserts that look like pigs? This vegetarian light fluffy buns contained a paste of purple taro.

Steamed walnut bun. How cute, shapped like walnuts! Inside was a nut paste we actually thought was chesnut. It was good though.

Overall, World Seafood was quite good. I’d put it in the second tier of SGV dimsum underneath Elite, King Hua, and Sea Harbor, but in line with Lunasia and Shanghai #1 Seafood. It absolutely blows away what Downtown and Westside places I’ve tried, and is certainly a worthy destination. World Seafood also has an interesting menu, with lots of weird dessert pastries, and I’d like to go back and try another round or two of dishes.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (2)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Dim sum, dimsum, san Gabriel valley, World Seafood Restaurant

Naughty Dog News

Dec03

The Playstation Experience has gifted us with a couple of big items from Naughty Dog. Namely the sequel to the best story game of all time, The Last of Us. Personally, I’m SUPER excited about this as given my taste for the dark I just adore TLOU.

And more Uncharted 4 (in the form of a huge DLC):

Aren’t we the lucky ones?

By: agavin
Comments (4)

Posted in: Games

Tagged as: Naughty Dog, The Last of Us, The Last of Us part II, The Lost Legacy, Uncharted

Lukshon Lately

Dec01

Restaurant: Lukshon [1, 2]

Location: 3239 Helms Ave, Culver City, CA 90034. 310.202.6808

Date: November 25, 2016

Cuisine: New Asian

Rating: Pretty damn tasty

It’s been slightly over 5 years since I was at Lukshon — which is amazing considering how much I enjoyed it then. But anyway, I’m back.

Cool outside space was literally cool on this chilly night.

The inside space is just as mod.

The menu is considerably different.

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.

NOTE: Lukshon allows 2 bottles for corkage. Not a problem tonight, but I don’t like the limits in general.

pork larb meatballs. cabbage slaw, herbs, “green fire” aioli, puffed rice, peanuts.

sichuan dumplings. kurobuta pork, spicy ma-la vinaigrette, sesame, peanuts. Nice flavors. Not as potent as very good ones at more “authentic” Szechuan places – but great ingredients.

chinese eggplant. fennel raita, tomato sambal, eggplant “fries”. Fabulous eggplant. Blending some Chinese and a whole bunch of other Asian.

kurobuta pork ribs. spicy chicory coffee bbq sauce. Awesome take on the classic Chinese “spare ribs.”

crispy whole branzino. wok charred cucumbers, pickled onions, pecel sauce. Very nice fish with a lot of meat. I loved the green “pecel” sauce too.

beef and broccoli. prime hanger steak, grilled gai lan, black bean ghee, puffed tendon. Not your typical “beef and croccoli” lol.

heirloom black rice. lap cheong, onion, roasted garlic, lilly’s farm fried egg. Great stuff. Very soft and savory.

Mixed up.

crab fried rice. blue crab, jasmine rice, egg, pea tendrils, serrano chile. Yum!

cold sesame noodles. farmers’ market vegetables, sesame dressing, scallions, peanuts. Not as exciting as I would have hoped. The old dan dan they used to have were better.

chiang mai curry noodles. chile, turmeric, lemongrass, chicken, yu choy, rice noodles. Loved this stuff, even if hard to share. Pretty much Laksa.

The refuse.
We didn’t get dessert because I had gelato at home!

Overall Lukshon was still great. Sort of Chinese modernized with more Southeast Asian influences. Lukshon was ahead of the curve with this trend. There are a ton of these exotics now, often with more Vietnamese influence like Cassia or Simbal. But certainly loving it still.

Check out my much older review of Lukshon here.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Asian cuisine, Asian Fusion, Lukshon, southeast asian cuisine

Return to Red O

Nov29

Six months later we return to Red O for some more high priced Mexican pseudo-steakhouse…

Click here for all the details.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Mexican, Red O

ThanksGavin 2016

Nov26

Thanksgiving in my family is always an opportunity for epic gluttony — home cooked gluttony at that — hence the ThanksGavin nomenclature. This year we were back in Los Angeles for only the second time in decades, blending cooking and recipes from both my side and my wife’s side in an all around cooperative cooking fest.
Let’s review some of the prep like this rathere hacked Kosher turkey.

And Challah stuffing.

The open neck was “surgically sealed” before it went on the BBQ.

We had enough people we needed 2!

The finbished product pre-carving.

And drippings to be transformed into gravy.

NV Demière-Ansiot Champagne Grand Cru Brut Blanc de Blancs. VC 90+. The new release of the consistently excellent non-vintage Blanc de Blancs bottling from Demière-Ansiot was disgorged in December of 2014 and is base year 2011, with a finishing dosage of six grams per liter. The thirty percent reserve wines used here hail from 2010 and 2008. The youthful bouquet wafts from the glass in a classic blend of pear, apple, a touch of fresh almond, incipient notes of crème patissière, chalky minerality, brioche and a topnote of apple blossoms. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and still youthfully snappy, with a lovely core, excellent mousse, crisp acids and a long, pure and beautifully balanced finish. This is certainly approachable today, but I will keep my bottles tucked away for a couple of years to allow this wine to come forward a bit from behind its fine structure.

2005 Gramona Cava III Lustros Gran Reserva. 90 points. Light brioche on the nose with dried lemons and limes, and ripe pear. Nice dry finish and some minerality but overall palate lacks depth and complexity.

The appetizer hour in the drawing room.

Chopped Beef liver.

Crackers and crudites.

Toasts.

Olives, dates, tomatos.

People then move into the dining room.
2006 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières. VC 92. The 2006 Leflaive Folatières shows even more ripeness than any wine that has come before it in the cellar, with an extravagant and exotic profile on both the nose and palate. The bouquet is a mix of very ripe apples and peaches, honeysuckle, honeycomb and some chalky soil tones. On the palate the wine is a bit fresher on the attack than the nose promises, with good mid-palate stuffing, fine focus and complexity, but some heat penetrating through the fruit on the long finish that closes nicely with a note of lemon oil.

Butternut squash soup. For a long time during “development” this soup tasted too much like boxed chicken stock — but after adding some Remi Martin XO, a bunch of black pepper, ginger, and cinnanom and cooking it down it was redeemed. It came out delicious.

1983 Domaine Robert Arnoux / Arnoux-Lachaux Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots. 94 points. An awesome mature red Burg.

2004 Cantine del Castello di Conti Boca Il Rosso delle Donne. AG 92. The 2004 Boca Il Rosso delle Donne shimmers on the palate with layers of fruit, mineral, and herbs. Stylistically the 2004 is a much more expansive, generous wine than the 2005, with layers of fruit that radiate with notable energy through to the mineral-laced finish. This fresh, vibrant and impeccably pure wine is a jewel.

Seb brought: 2014 Melville Syrah Estate Donna’s. parker 97. Even better, with more depth, density and ripeness, the 2014 Syrah Donna’s offers overflowing notes of olive tapenade, salted beef, licorice, black olive, peppery herbs and cured meats, with tons of ripe currants, fresh plum and smoked black cherry fruit. Full-bodied, elegant and seamless, with fabulous purity and persistence, I wouldn’t push the aging curve, but it’s a killer wine that will provide tons of pleasure over the coming 7-8 years.

The main buffet spread.

Kale salad with citrus.

Savory slaw.

Mashed potatoes.

Sweet potato “pie” with walnuts.

Turkey. sorted white to dark.

Stuffing. Awesome!

Gravy. reduced from the drippings and neck meat.

Balsamic glazed beets.

Other beets.

Brussels sprouts.

Brussels sprouts version 2.

Sweet cranberry sauce.

Spicy cranberry chutney – my favorite.

Apple sauce.

Spiced green beans and carrots. Great color and a nice crunch.

Spicy beet greens my brother cooked.

Cauliflower with walnuts and raisins.

The annual plate.
Seb brought: 2014 Bodegas Alto Moncayo Garnacha Campo de Borja. 92 points. big rounded Spainish Grenache.
NV Gonzalez-Byass Pedro Ximénez Jerez-Xérès-Sherry Viejo Noé (30 Years/Años). WD 17.5. A 100% PX wine. Caramel, molasses, Christmas pudding on the nose. Rich, oily, toffee sauce style of wine, with nuts and raisins. Really over the top; impressive, but I don’t know if I would actually want more than a mouthful. I suspect it would be really good with ice cream though.

Parve Nonpareils.

Chocolate chip bundt cake.

Fruit.

Bananna blondies.

Pumpkin pie.

My mom’s apple cobbler.

Chocolate cake.
And all handmade my me, artisanal sorbetti. Left to right: espresso, strawberry, and cherry-cassis. The texture came out textbook perfect in all 3 cases. The espresso would be better with milk, but the two fruit ones have amazing flavor.

All in all and extremely successful feast. Cooking was a shared affair between my the whole family on both sides and oodles of excellent dishes abounded. So much good home cooked food! So little room in the stomach.

For more ThanksGavin meals, click here.

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: ThanksGavin, ThanksGavin 2016, thanksgiving, turkey, Wine

Return to Inotheke

Nov21

Sometimes I like my Greek pretty “traditional” but Inotheke struck a nice balance as they had many of traditional dishes, merely with updated plating (that’s a plus). Flavors were good and bright and I like the sharing format.

Click here for the full write up…

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Greek cuisine, Inotheke

Artsy Toppings – Sushi of Gari

Nov18

Restaurant: Sushi of Gari

Location: 6201 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028. (323) 400-6300

Date: November 16, 2016

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi (new influences)

Rating: Good, but new style is different

Sushi of Gari is that rare bird in LA, a New York Japanese food import! They have a couple of high end branches in Manhattan and have now ventured back to the serious sushi town.

It’s located in the heart of Hollywood — on the Blvd. Bold location for an expensive Japanese omakase restaurant.

The interior has a very high end and modern Japanese build out.

Tonight just the core original Foodie Club founders went: Erick and I.

From my cellar: NV Jacques Selosse Substance Blanc de Blancs. VM 93. Selosse’s NV Substance, based on 2007, is remarkably fresh considering the solera style that goes back to 1986. Candied lemon, white flowers and herbs are fused together in an ample, creamy Champagne. The classic Substance breadth is there, but in this release, the wine is a bit less overtly oxidative in style than it can be. Disgorged October 2015. Dosage is 1.3 grams per liter.

agavin: maybe a tiny touch advanced, but drinking awesomely.

Erick brought: 2002 Louis Jadot Montrachet. BH 96. Jadot has seriously upgraded the quality of their Montrachet over the past few vintages and while it’s always been good (consider the incredible ’96), the last few efforts have been at another level. The ’02 offers sublimely complex aromas of white flowers and citrus wrapped in a gentle hint of wood spice followed by sappy, powerful, mouth coating, pungent flavors of superb density and weight. Ripe and vibrant acid keep everything in perfect balance and this should drink well for a long time. In short, this is class in a glass and a knockout effort.

agavin: this needed more years, still pretty closed.

Our itamae for the night.

Cute custom chopstick rests and wrappers.

The menu, almost all sushi.

Kuromutsu Nanbanzuke. Our only non-sushi. deep-fried halibut, marinated in sweet vinegar. Dashi, ginger, and crunchy glassy noodles. Very interesting (and fun) texture.

Maguro Tofu Raya. Tuna with creamy tofu puree. The tofu was very mild, but right off the bat it set the night by distracting a bit from the gorgeous fish. Not that it was bad, but the rice here isn’t very assertive (low vinegar), and the topping complicates the tasting of the fish.

Tai Salad. Japanese red snapper topped with seasoned baby greens, roasted pine nuts, and crispy lotus root with hint of wasabi olive oil. This was interesting and quite a bit of basil, but again I wasn’t sure it paired to the improvement of the fish.

Amaebi Yuzu. Sweet shrimp with yuzu miso. This had a slightly bitter finish but was overall a slightly better compliment.

Yellowtail Belly Jalapeno. Like a nigiri version of the Matsuhisa classic. Much better pairing.

Sake Yaki Tomato. Salmon with sautéed tomato. This is one of their signatures. The salmon was fabulous, and with the tomato made for an interesting interplay, but the fish is slightly lost.

Nama Hotate Ume. Hokkaido scallop with umeboshi plum sauce. This was a good pairing and the plum didn’t overwhelm the scallop.

Kamatoro with wasabi. Awesome piece of toro. This is from the collar, like the giant whole collar we had the other night. Pretty straight up without a weird topping (that was just wasabi).

Yuki Masu Ringo Sauce. Snow trout with apple sauce and sprigs of radish. There was a smoked quality to the piece. I’m not sure the sweetness of the apple actually goes with the marinated vinegar tone of the fish and rice.

Mackerel with shiso and marinated daikon. Interesting, and certainly colorful.

Ika Broccoli. Squid with broccoli! The squid was very tender with a char flavor. This actually paired well with the broccoli and didn’t distract.

Zuke Kinmedai. Goldeneye snapper with dried kelp. A great pairing. The kelp isn’t very strong and it added some extra interest and texture to a fabulous piece of fish.

Zuwaigani Uni. Snow crab with uni sauce. Quite charred. Good though, although I kind of like my crab cold and less crispy.

Hirame Truffle. Charred halibut with quail egg and truffle oil. This one was very good. I love egg yolk. Combo was “interesting” but it worked.

Yaki Hokkaido Bafun Uni. Charred Hokkaido search urchin. Very straight up and without a sauce. Worked better than most of the sauces. There was a bit of char to the uni too — very good uni.

Maguro Carpaccio. Seared tuna with onion, seaweed, breaded flakes, garlic chip, and ponzu. Nice nigiri. Also tasted like a Nobu dish.

Aji Miso. Spanish mackerel with cream cheese miso. Hmm. Miso distracted a bit.

Yaki Sawara. Charred kit mackerel with mushroom sauce. One of these very charred fish bits. The mushroom wasn’t so distracting but I’m not a super lover of this sort of “dried” (aka charred) sushi bits.

Lobster. Marinated lobster with sea salt. Excellent.

Nodoguro. Charred rosy sea bass. No sauce, but quite charred.

Yaki Sake. Seared marinated salmon. This was an awesome piece with more of a vinegar flavor than most things tonight.

Nama Saba Goma. Japanese mackerel marinated with sesame soy sauce. Very interesting strong nutty tone from the sesame. Quite good.

Clam Parsley Sauce. Chew giant clam sautéed in butter and served with a garlic-parsley sauce. Like escargot! Nice chew too.

Maguro Yukke. Shredded lean blue fin tuna marinated with Korean-style sweet sesame oil sauce on a bed of crispy nori seaweed with pine-nuts and scallion. This was very interesting and I liked it a lot. I liked that it was soft and marinated. The crispy (and it was quite chewy) bit of seaweed was interesting too.

Baby baracuda. Another fairly “charred” piece, but good for barracuda.

Toro Taku. Chopped fatty tuna with Japanese yellow pickles. This one was great. Interesting we are in parallel working on a very similar handroll at Ramen Roll — maybe the toro and pickles is a classic pairing.

Needlefish with shiso and plumb sauce. Interesting marinated sushi note.

Ikura. Salmon eggs. Straight up — but I love salmon eggs.

Hamachi Yubiki. Poached yellowtail with sesame sauce. Different. The sesame worked. Tahini basically, so felt slightly middle eastern.

Kohada Rakkyo. Shad with shiso and onion. Very marinated. Tasted almost like pickled herring!

Yaki Kamatoro. Kamatoro (collar toro) is always great. I prefer (as usual) the fully raw version, but the seared one is good too.

Avocado sushi with eel and cucumber. Interesting. Tasted exactly like a caterpillar roll — but as a nigiri.

Foie Gras Nashi. Foie gras with poached pear and red wine jello. Unconventional but awesome. What’s not to like about foie gras and fruit?

Anago. sea eel. A nice chunk of sea eel. Not very sweet with a distinct charred fat flavor.

Tomago, shiso, and sour plum handroll. Very traditional with the shiso/plum thing. A good palette cleanser and fairly bracing.

Crab handroll. Very nice crab, but plain like this it’s pretty subtle. I prefer blue crab.

Okay, so how was Sushi of Gari? I’d say that the decor was awesome. The service was awesome. The sushi chef’s really nice and very skilled. Two we knew from Mori. The build out is really swank as well, although for me the location is FAR. Not as far as oo-toro — but far enough. The fish quality was absolutely first rate. The price wasn’t even that bad (considering how much we had).

But how was the overall effect?

Gari has a very distinct style. The rice is very low vinegar. A LOT of nigiri (and we tried EVERYTHING THEY HAD tonight) are charred. A little too much for my taste, sort of the opposite of the Sasebune or Zo style where there is a lot of ponzu and things are very wet. Here many nigiri were quite dry and partially cooked.

Then there is the sauce/topping/modern thing. Overall I would have to say it distracted and made for novel, but inferior tasting nigiri than a more conventional approach. Now they were interesting, and some succeeded well like the truffle egg, kelp, or parsley clam, but many of my favorite pieces were the ones without heavy/unusual toppings. Like the marinated salmon or the kamatoro. So what does that tell you? If they dropped most of the gimmicks they would have to stand out on the quality of the fish — but I think they actually have that, and I might enjoy it even more.

We lasted past 3 different normal Omakases and were the last guests at 11:30 — I think they wanted us out of there and didn’t offer us dessert. So we went next door to shake shack!

I photoed the concretes, which is what we ordered.

And the simple but well done interior.

Sunset Grind. Cookie custard, Stumptown coffee beans, marshmallow sauce and Cofax spiced crumb donut. These things are like gelato softserve crossed with Cold Stone creamery. The hugely sweet infusion of stuff makes for a yummy mix, but it’s hardly subtle or elegant. And it sits VERY heavy.

Tinseltown Toffee. Chocolate custard, peanut butter sauce, chocolate toffee and Compartes dark chocolate chunks. Peanut butter chocolate with chunks. What’s not to like? Pretty decadent.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (6)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Champagne, Foodie Club, Shake Shack, Sushi, Sushi of Gari, White Burgundy, Wine

Quick Eats – Mod Pizza

Nov16

Restaurant: Mod Pizza

Location: 8985 Venice Blvd k, Los Angeles, CA 90034.

Date: November 5, 2016

Cuisine: Pizza

Rating: Like a low-rent 800 degrees

I keep passing this place on my way to work at our new restaurant-under-development and on a Saturday with my son (who is a pizza fiend) and in a time crunch decided to try it.

It should be prefaced that we eat at 800 Degrees all the time (even though I have never written it up) — and that chain was co-founded by my partner.
Mod pizza is a similar concept. Made to order pizzas. It’s cheaper (and 800 Degrees is pretty cheap) and uses a fixed price model. Toppings don’t cost, only your pizza size and extras.

The ingredients aren’t terribly gourmet. They do have basic bases (like white, pesto, red etc), but there are no fancy cheeses, no Calabrian chilies, etc.

The buildout is simple and efficient. Drive-thru like almost. Not much style really.

Various drinks.

This margarita + mushrooms.

My custom meatser. Various sausage, pesto base, sweet peppers. The crust isn’t great at all, and the toppings so-so. And this pizza was REALLY REALLY salty, which tasted ok but left me feeling salted out.

Our son, who LOVES pizza and who declares 800 Degrees is his second favorite restaurant ever ate only one piece of his cheese pizza. He was confused why it was “worse.”

So Mod Pizza is kinda like 800 Degrees, but a little cheaper and quite a bit worse. Given that I don’t care about a $2 difference, no way I’d choose it in any kind of head to head. In fact, I’m unlikely to go back unless I’m desperate for some reason. They are cheap and fast. They do have flexible sizes (having that little size is good for kinds). But quality is meh.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Culver City, Mod Pizza, Pizza

Collar the Market — OOToro

Nov14

Restaurant: OOToro [1, 2]

Location: 1569 Fairway Dr, Walnut, CA 91789. (909) 598-8299

Date: November 12, 2016

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi (with slight nod to China)

Rating: Ends of the earth, but very good

Chef Kaz of Totoraku, an occasional hedonist, sent us far east to this Sushi restaurant in July and after having seen this crazy tuna collar we decided to return.

And by far east I mean REALLY REALLY far east — to Walnut California. 40+ miles from my house. 20 miles past Alhambra (which most people consider to far to drive for food). It took an hour and twenty minutes on a Saturday night!

The slick looking location is in the heart of the affluent Chinese American San Gabriel Valley. But yes, it’s Japan, if perhaps catering to Chinese taste. This photo was shot at about 10pm after everyone else had left.

The menu.

Ron brought: 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.

Marinated Japanese seaweed with mountain potato. For those not put off by the slimy texture (didn’t bother me) this had a wonderful vinegar/dashi tone.

Live spiny lobster sashimi. He was still wiggling as we ate his tail. Of course, this being Ootoro, they can’t resist putting some yuzu kosho on the side.

Yarom brought: 2004 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. BH 95. Stylistically, this closely resembles the Valmur with its ultra elegant and pure aromas featuring white flowers, oyster shell and subtle spice notes that perfectly complement the round, powerful, rich and full-bodied flavors that coating the mouth and culminate in a saliva-inducing, incredibly intense finish that reminded me more than a little of a great Corton-Charlemagne. This just oozes minerality and the texture is minerally to the point of this resembling a block of stone. A great Les Clos.

Rice, toro, foie gras, caviar, shiso, and gold. Beneath it was something crunchy too, maybe a pickle.

Goldeneye and red snapper and a third nigiri with wasabi.

From my cellar: 2006 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. VM 92. Medium bright yellow. Sexy aromas of yellow peach and hazelnut. Superripe and sweet, with flavors of apricot, peach and buttery pastry. Not particularly complex but thick and approachable. Finishes with a distinctly sweet quality.

agavin: maybe a touch advanced. Typical of 2006.

Chu toro on the right, otoro on the left. We mostly liked the chu toro slightly bette of this delectable duo. It was softer, while the otoro had more fat and more chew.

Parfait of sesame tofu and uni.

Danny brought: 2013 Sine Qua Non Résisté. VM 92. A rich, voluptuous white, the 2013 White Wine Résisté is built on pure texture. Honey, apricot pit, succulent peaches and mint all race from the glass. The high acidity of the Petite Manseng adds a kick of brightness on the finish. The blend is 45% Roussanne, 26% Chardonnay, 14% Petite Manseng, 10% Viognier and 5% Marsanne; 40% from Eleven Confessions, 29% Cumulus and 31% Bien Nacido.

Persimmon and truffle in some kind of mayo sauce.

Boiled meat (indeterminate) on daikon. Like a snippet of one of those traditional Japanese stews.

Ron brought: 2015 Vignobles du Soleil Costières-de-Nîmes Saveurs du Temps. Very nice, lots of acid. Great pairing.

Oyster and scallop/clam.

Either some kind of scallop or orange clam.

Oyster with uni and ikura.

On the right, Mackerel, on the left needle fish.

Flaming sea snail. Chopped up charred bits of this “creature.”

Awesome salmon.

Arnie brought: 2009 Marcassin Pinot Noir Marcassin Vineyard. VM 92. The 2009 Pinot Noir Marcassin Vineyard is quite pretty and lifted in the glass. Expressive and floral, the 2009 possesses gorgeous fruit and lovely mid-palate pliancy. Here the Pinot tannin carries the fruit much more gracefully than in the Chardonnay. Sweet floral and spice notes reappear on the finish, adding lift. The 2009 is intense, but not at all heavy.

Roasted Blue fin tuna collar, kama-toro. This giant collar from a giant fish is one of the things that brought us back. The meat looked and felt like roasted lamb, but of course tasted more like tuna. It was very rich and solid and almost certainly the best cooked tuna I’ve ever had.

Dr D brought: 2002 Domaine Jacques Prieur Corton-Bressandes. VM 90+. Good deep red. Crushed blackcurrant, black cherry, smoke and cured tobacco on the nose. Broad and rich, with a restrained sweetness. Notes of dark berries, sassafras and mint. Began with an almost medicinal austerity but grew sweeter in the glass. A big, rich, very ripe, soil-inflected wine that should repay six or seven years of patience.

Toro tartar with avocado, truffles, and uni. Uh, yum! Nice crunch too from the pickles.

Sashimi plate.

Kanpachi amberjack nigiri.

Seared toro on shiso. Charred and great — but I prefer the raw versions.

Yarom brought: 1981 Penfolds Grange. Parker 97. The 1981 stood out as slightly superior. Winemaker John Duval always felt this was a tannic style of Grange, but the wine has shed its tannins, and this is one of the few vintages where the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon was above 10%. Sweet notes of creme de cassis, cedarwood, charcoal, and barbecue spices are followed by a full-bodied, opulent wine displaying heady amounts of alcohol, glycerin, and density in its full-bodied, skyscraper-like texture. I was drinking this wine with great pleasure in the mid-nineties, yet here it is nearly 15 years later, and the wine does not appear to have budged much from its evolutionary state. This is a testament to how remarkably well these wines hold up, and age at such a glacial pace.

agavin: the peculiar thing about this wine is that Yarom had it in his fridge (rabbited) for 2+ weeks and it was still drinkable. Only Grange would survive like that. It wasn’t fabulous (anymore), but it was pretty good.

Fried squid. Japanese calamari.

Shrimp springrolls. These were awesome. We reordered. Super hot, light and crispy.

Ron brought: 95 Figeac. Parker 92. Tasted at the Château Figeac vertical at the property from one of the last remaining imperials, one could argue that the six-liter format would have benefit the 1995 Figeac. Even so, that should not take anything away from this, the best vintage of that decade. Firstly, one notices that it is deeper in color than the underwhelming 1996. Then you fall into the aromatics, a beguiling concoction of blackcurrant pastilles, melted tar and tobacco all beautifully preserved after two decades. What differentiates it from the succeeding vintages is that here there is the fruit to back it up. The palate is fresh and quite dense in the mouth. The acidity is perfectly matched to the fruit, lively with a touch of piquancy on the ebullient, red cherry and wild strawberry finish that still has a bit of glycerin. The 1995 is the best vintage between 1990 and 2001, and represents a worthy wine to celebrate Thierry Manoncourt’s 50th vintage.

Seated Wagyu A5 nigiri. Tasty, although i prefer the raw toro. Not as tender as I would have expected.

The chef shows us the cow’s pedigree.

Tamago. With some seafood in it and a bit of plum sauce.

Mushroom miso soup.

Wagyu fried rice. Bits of squash, marcona almonds, etc. Pretty awesome and very filling. It totally stuffed me up.

Lobster and vegetable tempura.

Yuzu sorbet and cheesecake. A very mild sorbet with a slightly icy texture.

My yuzu sorbet is way better. It’s pictured here, but not eaten tonight at ootoro (but you will be able to get it at Ramen Roll if you are lucky). I make it with a lot more yuzu and it is punchier. The caramel offsets the sour fruit. Plus I go for a proper Italian Sorbetto creamy texture :-).
The wine lineup. All enjoyable.

Overall, OOToro is an interesting place. It’s far. Very far. And the food adheres to a certain over-the-top super-rich-ingredient version of sushi. Plus they “distract” with LOTS of yuzu pepper and wasabi and general richness. Still, it was (in a rich way) very enjoyable — if a touch pricey. Our second visit was a bit cheaper and probably better than our first. I’d really like to try the preorder $250 omakase. It might be epic. Or more of the same.

But that drive! It was so far that most of the party booked a nearby Marriot and turned it into a bunch of meals, massages, and other decadences. I drove home to my lovely wife.

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: hedonists, ootoro, Sushi, toro, Wine

K-Town Report – Lee’s Noodles

Nov11

Restaurant: Lee’s Noodles

Location: 401 S Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90020. (213) 351-9963

Date: November 2, 2016

Cuisine: Chinese Korean

Rating: Tasty little spot

Ah, Los Angeles is home to so many tasty Asian restaurants.

Lee’s Noodles is located in the heart of Korea Town, and while it says “Chinese Restaurant” on the sign, it’s really more Korean/Chinese or Chinese/Korean. Does this make it Yanbian? (the prefecture in China between North Korea and China). I’m not sure. Or maybe it’s just the kind of food made by Chinese in Korea. Either way, let’s move on to the food.

The inside is recent, but not exactly elaborately decorated.

The menu.

And like any Korean place it comes with banchan.

Cabbage with Russian dressing. Communist influence? Just kidding.

Some fairly lame kimchee and much better yellow pickled daikon radish.

Signature Dok Dok chicken. Drumsticks with “spicy glaze.” The glaze turned out to pretty much mean honey dipped fried chicken. Absolutely delicious. Very sticky too. Hot and fresh.

Steamed dumplings with meat and kimchee. Nice light steamed potstickers. Delicate flavor.

Spicy Seafood Soup Noodles. A giant bowl of seafood and noodles drowned in the Korean “red sauce” (aka siracha-like sauce). We got it mild and it still had a bit of kick.
Pan-fried glass noodles w/ pork over rice. This turned out, along with the chicken, to be a standout. Nice woody flavor from the mushroom. A little bit sweet. Delicious.

Overall this was a super reasonable ($40 total) and extremely tasty little meal. I’ll certainly pop by again on one of my many K-Town lunches.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, fried chicken, Korea-town, Korean cuisine, Lee's Noodles, Yanbian

Yamakase Seven

Nov09

Restaurant: Yamakase [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

Location: You wish you knew!

Date: November 4, 2016

Cuisine: Japanese

Rating: Always awesome!

Yamakase is just hands down one of the most fun evenings in LA. Not only is the “modern” Japanese cuisine incredible, but the convivial nature of the place is just great. It’s not very big and as usual we take the entire sushi bar, but not tonight.

The location is in a good neighborhood, but something about this particular strip mall is a bit sketchy. Maybe it’s the 7/11. There are a lot of strange characters hanging about.
Inside, chef Kiyoshiro Yamamoto rules over the sushi bar.

This time, being a Friday and a smaller party, we were 4 at the bar (of 11) and the place was packed with a total of 21 people!

Have a little tuna/toro! With the big crowd he went through two of these.

Larry brought: Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée. VM 94. The NV Grande Cuvée is absolutely stellar. This is one of the very best Grande Cuvées I can remember tasting. The flavors are bright, focused and beautifully delineated throughout, all of which make me think the wine will age well for many, many years. Lemon peel, white flowers, crisp pears, smoke and crushed rocks race across the palate in a vibrant, tense Champagne that epitomizes finesse. This release is based on the 2005 vintage and was disgorged in winter 2012/2013.

Homemade sesame tofu and uni. A “typical” Yamakase tofu dish. Great interplay of textures and flavors.
Abalone with eel sauce. The crunchy chewy mollusk simply served and delicious.

Persimmon butter sandwich with marcona almonds. This is an odd one, but delicious. The orange stripes are dried persimmon which has been hung to dry for months. This is a traditional Japanese New Year preparation and very highly prized. The lighter stripe is frozen high end butter! Almost like a little petite four.

Mantis shrimp, baby peach, scallop, giant clam, and seaweed. I loved the sweet/tangy sauce too. Very lovely. The baby peach was incredible.

From my cellar: 2002 Maison Leroy Saint-Aubin 1er Cru Le Charmois. 94 points. Reductive, fresh, and delicious.

Oyster, uni, quail egg, caviar. One of these super Yamakase spoons of crazy umami-rich ingredients.

Steamed/boiled cod sperm sacks with truffles. Sounds scary, but tastes great.

Roasted unagi with tomato sauce and truffles. Unusual combination that tasted like an Italian seafood dish — pretty awesome.

Frozen toro, uni, and blue crab on toast. This toast and rich toro/crab combo is so good. Like a super high end version of a tuna sandwich.

Hokkaido scallop in a dill sauce. A new treatment of some familiar ingredients. The dill sauce make for a different (and tasty) take on things.

Seasoned rice, baby fish, and marinated blue fin. An amazing dish with that fish over rice quality I really love.

Have a little foie!

From my cellar: 1994 R. López de Heredia Rioja Blanco Gran Reserva Viña Tondonia. 97 points. Absolutely exquisite. Soaring, kalediscopic nose, with swirling aromas of salted caramels, vanilla, honey, jasmin, ginger, almonds, and orange peels. Just mind boggling. Sensuous, smooth, and nutty on the palate, with a level of refinement that the other (also excellent) LdH blancos just can’t reach and a salty finish that leaves your palate tingling for what seems like minutes. A masterpiece that will last for ages.

Foie gras, toro, quail egg, truffle cheese, blue crab. Wow! This dish was absolutely out of this world. Just crazy rich and delicious. You wouldn’t think it works, but it’s amazing.

Hokkaido ready spikey crab. Never had these before!

Crab, steamed. Simple steamed fresh crab.

The master stirring the pot.

Larry brought: NV Krug Champagne Brut Rosé. 95 points. The current release of Krug Rosé is a beautiful wine, which is comprised of a blend of fifty-nine percent pinot noir, thirty-three percent chardonnay and eight percent pinot meunier. It was disgorged in the spring of 2013 and includes reserve wines in the blend back to the 2000 vintage. The wine is beautiful and still very youthful and discreet on both the nose and palate, wafting from the glass in a lovely and blossoming blend of white cherries, tangerine, wheat toast, stunningly complex minerality, delicate spice tones and a topnote of dried rose petals. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, pure and seamlessly balanced, with a lovely core, pinpoint bubbles, bright acids and exceptional focus and grip on the pure and still quite primary finish. This is very easy to drink today, but it deserves some cellaring time to really blossom.

Ultimate ramen bowl. This foie gras based seafood broth was topped with crispy onions and filled with yummy seafood bits. Underneath are the ramen noodles. There was crab, beef, oyster, and who knows what else in here. Absolutely stunning. So rich. So good. The broth had quite a white pepper kick too which was amazing.

Slicing the beef.

Look at that A5.

The documentation to prove it, including nose print.

Miyazaki goes beyond Kobe!

Miyazaki beef with truffle pepper sauce. Melt in your mouth with a bit of pepper kick.

Some people got sashimi instead of sushi.

Blue fin sushi. Bordering over to chu-toro. Just a lovely bit of sushi.

Amberjack. Amazing.

Sea bass. To die for.

Chu or O toro. Lethal. We had several pieces of this each.

Prepared to make the rolls.

Uber handroll. Uni, king crab, toro, shiso. You’ve never had a handroll quite like this powerhouse! Had two of these.

Hazelnut biscotti gelato. I made this gelato and brought it in (I have a special traveling cooler now for my gelatti). A pure hazelnut gelato with Italian (waffle) cookies and hazelnuts!

A small taste of baby peach sorbet. Super light and refreshing. Yama makes a very pure sorbet, no stabilizers, probably only fruit, water, and sugars.

There are different was to experience Yamakase, depending on you number. This was the first time in 4-5 years that I haven’t taken the entire sushi bar (and usually we have the whole restaurant on a weeknight). This time it was just 4 of us in my party — at the bar — and on a Friday with a crazy busy crowd. At the tables there were mostly young Asian power couples. Quite the date night!

The food was as great as ever, and Yama added some extra staff so the service remained top notch and super attentive. The energy is a bit different with so many others and the space was packed. It’s louder, but with people staying more in their chairs. When we have the whole place, people are up and hanging out quite a bit. Yama also had to work like a banshee to produce nearly twice as many of each dish. He was right in front of me and it was impressive how fast he had to chop, plate, slice, dice, simmer, boil, etc. The knife was a flying! Those crabs had no chance. He is a total master and I’m proud to have him as my partner in Ramen Roll.

Food-wise, this was one of my best meals this year — really quite excellent — and regular readers know I have more than my share of great meals. A really great format. Yama’s cuisine keeps gaining in strength and power. Really quite incomparable. He is unquestionably a genius. Yama has a tremendous range within Japanese cuisine, first rate ingredients, and a savvy palate. He is quite skilled at very traditional more subtle Japanese as well, but has tuned up the typical Yamakase meal with high end ingredients and bolder combinations for a more contemporary wow factor.

Oh, and that toro cheese dish and foie gras “ramen” are just to die for.

Click here for more LA sushi reviews,
Or for Foodie Club extravaganzas.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Gelato, Japanese cuisine, Kiyoshiro Yamamoto, Sushi, Yamakase

Alsace at the Cal Club

Nov07

Restaurant: Private Club

Location: Somewhere in California

Date: October 26, 2016

Cuisine: American

Rating: Fun

I end up at the California Club all the time for wine dinners, but tonight was a special treat as I was invited by Liz Lee of Sage Society to join the Alsatian group and Anne Trimbach (of Trimbach wines).

The Cal Club is a true California institution, left nameless, a private bastion of the old California.

They don’t make them like they used to!

Tonight’s special menu. The chef is Alsatian and so he “cooked it up.”

Tonight I forgot (didn’t really get the chance) to photo the wines. So you will just have to imagine what all those great bottles of Trimbach looked like.

Giant dinner party!

Northern Halibut, Poached oysters in butter.
Roast Shelton Farms Turkey, Confit leg , chestnut & cabbage dressing. Thanksgiving comes early this year!

Roast Rack of lamb, spinach, carrots and salsifis.

Warm Vermont cheese oma, poached pear.

On the far left Anne Trimbach, then to the right chef Jean-Marc Weber.

The different colors. I’m not sure I had a Trimbach pinot noir before this.

Traditional Peach Haeberlin. Probably my favorite dish of the night — but I do have a sweet tooth.
Cookies.

All and all a fun evening. The venue was great. The service was great. This kitchen handles an enormous volume, yet these dishes were all really nice, and many fabulous. They aren’t the most modern looking, but they tasted really great and were fabulously paired with the wines.

The star of the show was of course charming Anne Trimbach, who is back on the road evangelizing her family wines after having brought a new (human) Trimbach into the world — congratulations Anne!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Alsace, Anne Trimbach, California Club, DTLA, Jean-Marc Weber, Riesling, Sage Society, Trimbach, Wine

Quick Eats – Little Sister

Nov04

Restaurant: Little Sister

Location: 523 W 7th St, Los Angeles, CA 90017. (213) 628-3146

Date: October 27, 2016

Cuisine: Modern Vietnamese

Rating: Tasty

As I mentioned in my review of Simbal LA seems to be developing a strong Vietnamese “trend.”

Little Sister is a fairly casual downtown Vietnamese “pub.”

grilled prawns, cabbage mix, mango, cucumber, onion, cashews, lemongrass-cilantro dressing. One of those “typical” Vietnamese salads with the shredded vegetables and the bright sweet sauce.

goi cuon ‘fresh spring roll’ with shrimp & pork, dipping sauce. Also a very typical Vietnamese dish. Not usually my favorite here in the states, although in Vietnam itself they had a more intense flavor. These were pretty good. They did have an interesting crunchy bit in there.

‘ga xao xa ot’ spicy lemongrass chicken, fried garlic & dried chilies. Very fried but the sauce, although super salty, was to die for. Really nice tangy/sweet/salty sauce.

shaky shaky beef, watercress, baby tomatoes, burnt butter soy with tomato garlic fried rice. The Little Sister version of the classic “shaken” or “French” beef. Not bad. Meat was a little chewier than I might have liked.
saigon lemongrass beef, vermicelli noodle, herbs, cucumbers, chili-lime dressing. Also another great dish. The beef had a lot of flavor.

Overall, Little Sister had good strong flavors and was quite tasty. I liked the pubby atmosphere too. Basically classic Vietnamese food with prettier plating and better menu descriptions. I didn’t really see anything “reinvented” substantially. Kitchen execution was fine, but not superlative. I mean, it’s Vietnamese flavors, so that gets you pretty far, but things weren’t perfectly on point. And really really salty. Still, I’d definitely go back because I love a flavor punch.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: DTLA, Little Sister, Vietnamese cuisine

Quick Eats – Halal Guys

Nov02

Restaurant: Halal Guys

Location: 3432 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90010. (213) 480-7738

Date: October 26, 2016

Cuisine: Fast Casual Gyro

Rating: Tasty and quick

I kept hearing about this place and its infamous “white sauce”, so in I go.

Right in the heart of Korea Town — Halal Guys is definitely NOT Korean.

The Fast Casual joint serves up a very limited menu of gyro, chicken, and falafel.

With McDonalds colors too.

Gryos on the left.

Giant heap of chicken Shwarma on the right.
Combo plate. Here it is, both meats with the “salad” a touch of pita and the white, spicy, and BBQ sauces. It was pretty spicy and the meat, while tender, is fairly hidden by the tangy/spicy sauce. Pretty darn tasty sauce but anything else, and certainly the uninspired “salad” is just a vehicle for the sauce.

Apparently, the white sauce is pretty much this:

Whisk mayonnaise, water, and lemon juice together until smooth and no lumps appear.
Add caraway, sumac, cardamom, and turmeric; stir until combined.
Add xanthan gum and mix until it thickens slightly.
Add black pepper to taste.

So fine, if I happen to be near a Halal Guys and I need a 15 minute lunch, yeah, I’d go again for sure. Not much variety, but pretty tasty and quick.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: gyro, Halal Guys, White Sauce, White Sauce Recipe

Power of a Simbal

Oct31

Restaurant: Simbal

Location: 319 E 2nd St Suite 202, Los Angeles, CA 90012. (213) 626-0244

Date: October 28, 2016

Cuisine: Modern Vietnamese

Rating: Great subtle Southeast Asian flavors

In the last 1-2 years the LA Restaurant Zeitgeist seems to have picked up a decided South East Asian vibe. It’s really the “new fusion.” No one wants to use that word anymore, and it doesn’t have the old school 80s/90s X meets Y vibe (like say Asia de Cuba), but it’s fusion nonetheless. Still, I love the bright SEA flavors, so all good.

Simbal is Downtown, really more or less in Little Tokyo, across the street even from the lousy Honda-ya poke joint.

The decor is awesome modern by the very same designer that works with on Ramen Roll, the talented Terri Robison from Studio Unltd.

Here is a wider view with GM Ron Carey in the frame.

The menu.

From my cellar: 2002 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. BH 93. This too is very opulent with a richness and breadth of aromas that is dazzling in their sheer range. Big, powerful, very masculine and exceptionally intense flavors blessed with huge extract but despite the size and weight, this also has the best acid/fruit balance of any of these 1ers plus this absolutely coats and stains the palate. In fact, there is an interesting textural quality by virtue of all the sap yet the finish is quite dry. A great effort that explodes on the backend and lingers for minutes.

Yin’s Wok Fried Seasoned Nuts. Seaweed, anchovies. With both crunch and chew and a decided bit of umami fishy tone. A little heat too and plenty of salt.

Hamachi Crudo. Fish sauce dashi, pickled green papaya, shallots. Very bright and acidic with a quite a lot of zing.

Roasted Eggplant And Squash. Pickled tomatoes, scallion oil, fish sauce caramel. Great blend of flavors. Sweet, smoky, pickled.

Adam brought: 2012 Pierre Morey Bourgogne Blanc. BH 88. A discreet hint of wood sets off the ripe yellow orchard fruit aromas that lead to impressively rich and suave medium weight flavors that possess plenty of dry extract before concluding in a surprisingly robust and balanced finish that is appealingly dry. Good stuff for its level.

Wild Octopus Grilled. Tomato and corn salad, tamarind dressing, thai basil. Nice bright octopus prep, like a Spanish version crossed with Vietnamese.

Pungent Seasoned Rice. Chili jam, salted duck egg yolk, bonito powder, crispy garlic. Yummy umami salty blend of complex subtle flavors.

From my cellar: 2010 Quarticello Rivellino Emilia IGT. 91 points. Terrific Lambrusco, with plenty of earth, cut and cherry fruits. Completely different that what many know as Lambrusco. Not sweet or generic by any means. This wine is begging for Prosciutto. It’s deep red, with a hint of the barnyard and very very dry.

Prime Beef Hanger Steak Tartare. Larb seasoning, puffed sesame bread. Very much larb-like, but with better meat. Nice puffy bread too.

Braised Oxtail. Congee, oxtail jus, pickled mustard greens, herb salad. I loved the look, texture, and the flavor of this dish. Photos well too. Bright Vietnamese flavors, soft congee, and fatty braised oxtail. Sort of like a Vietnamese braised beef on polenta.

Notice, I’m experimenting with topdown photography. Works very well in this case.

From my cellar: 1993 Domaine Marquis d’Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Champans. 94 points. Nose: Gorgeous red berries, strawberry, game, spice and leather notes. Palate: Beautifully resolved silky and balanced in the mouth. Great red fruit that gives sweet cherry, cranberry, red currant and sappy raspberry. This is backed up by minerality and a gamey note of raw duck and some sweet spices and pine notes. Complex and giving right now. Finish: Wow. grows more detailed as it finishes with a complex range of nuance.
Muscovy Duck Breast. Sesame oil, ginger, pickled hon shimeji mushrooms. Very subtle with a lovely flavor.
Jidori Chicken Thigh. Ginger caramel braised, scallions. Probably the best version of “caramel sauce chicken” I’ve had.

Heavenly Beef. Coriander, garlic, dry aged beef fat. Awesome! There seemed to even be a bit of Szechuan peppercorn in here. Very flavorful. Great version of this “French Style Beef”.
Pork Belly Braised. Fresh coconut juice, marinated egg. Melt in your mouth soft with a lot of great flavor. Not exactly lean!

Rib Eye Steak. Kecep manis glaze, roasted garlic fried potatoes. Super smokey, partially the potatoes (which were awesome). The meat was really good too.

Coconut Flan. Tamarind caramel, coconut snow (dairy free, includes eggs). I loved this. The tamarind gave it a very strong limey taste so it was extremely coconut/acid (like my coconut lime sorbet). The texture was soft and bread-like with that powdery coconut.

Overall Simbal has a fabulous kitchen (not to mention an awesome space and great service). This is a quite different take on the New Vietnamese than a place like Cassia which is spicer and has more influence from Singapore. I’d say the Eastern influence here at Simbal is almost entirely Vietnamese, and some of the dishes like the Heavenly Beef and Chicken Thigh are fairly close to their native versions. But many others are sort of crossed with the format of “New American” or more European influence. This makes the actual items on the menu seem more in a New American or New French vein, but yet each is blended with Vietnamese flavor — or interpreted through a Vietnamese filter. This is most typified by the Muscovy Duck where it’s kind of like Tea Smoked Duck meets Vietnam meets a French duck prep.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Also check out my genuine Vietnamese dining (aka the food from my Vietnam trip).

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: DTLA, Ron Carey, Shawn Pham, Simbal, Vietnamese cuisine

R.I.P. Typhoon

Oct28

Restaurant: Typhoon

Location: 3221 Donald Douglas Loop S, Santa Monica, CA 90405. (310) 390-6565

Date: October 18, 2016

Cuisine: Pan Asian

Rating: Out with a whimper

I first started coming to Typhoon in 1996 or 1997. At the time I thought it was amazing and for years after I would take out of town guests there.

The location in Santa Monica Airport was super cool — and well they had insects on the menu (always good for a scare). Plus, upstairs was one of my favorite sushi spots the amazing Hump — shuttered some years ago.

But finally, after a long long run the city is raising the rent and things are winding down.

Today for a final visit before they close we actually ate upstairs in the Hump space. Nothing has changed. In fact, the whole building and complex has a “seen better days feel.”

The decor is still cool, and doesn’t in of itself look dated, but things are a little worn.

The menu seems to have been simplified.

Ma La Dumplings. Szechuan-style steamed ground pork dumplings. No ma la here. No heat at all and certainly no Szechuan peppercorn. They weren’t that bad, they just weren’t spicy at all.

Taiwanese Sausage. with garlic slivers. Seemed like Thai sausage. Not too bad either, if a bit chewy.

Filipino Grilled Pork bowl. Pretty tasty. Certainly better than the below:

Kung Pao Shrimp. scallions, peanuts, red chile. Pretty much like a PF Changs kung pao — no heat at all, just salty. Yuck.

Not super impressive. I remember loving this place a long time ago, but I haven’t been for a serious meal here in almost 10 years. 20 years ago it was one of the only places (particularly on the westside) doing all these different Asian cuisines and it did them fairly well. But the world has moved on and we have the likes of Cassia. Sigh.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: pan Asian cuisine, Santa Monica, Santa Monica Airport, The Hump, Typhoon

Quick Eats – AR Cucina

Oct26

Restaurant: AR Cucina

Location: 9531 Culver Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232. (310) 558-8800

Date: October 21, 2016

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Solid, particularly for a non Italian chef

Not long ago I tried out Sambar, a modern Indian in Culver City. Well, it turns out it wasn’t competing with the old school Indians out on Venice Blvd, and so the group rebooted it with the same chef as an Italian!

The menu.

The decor has barely changed. They took off the starburst pattern on the wall, added some mirrors, and painted an Italian scene.

Cacio E Pepe pane di casa. Somehow when I ordered this I imagined a pizza. Instead we got this bread which was… well covered in cheese and pepper. It did taste kinda like Cacio e pepe. And the read had great texture. It was salty too. I probably would have preferred something with melted cheese though.

Burrata Mozzarella. tomato-almond pesto, Sicilian sundred tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, ciabatta. More bread. The tomato/pesto was excellent though. Lots of acid. Not for those with reflux. But excellent rustic dish.

Chicken Meatballs. Nonna Giovanna’s tomato sauce. Pecorino cheese, ciabatta. More bread and even more hearty tomato sauce. Nice meatballs actually. Moist for chicken. Great sauce. Similar to above, but good.

Tricolore salad. Arugula, radicchio, escarole, parmigiano-reggiano, pistachio-pesto & lemon dressing.
Bucatini all’amatriciana. La quercia guanciale, tomato, pecorino. Solid version of this traditional dish. Also lots of pecorino and tomato — but it is supposed to be like that. I would up the guanciale factor if I was in the kitchen, but otherwise very nice.

Overall, and this was a quick little lunch, AR Cucina offered some solid rustic, slightly Southern, Italian. It’s not the most radical menu at all, sort of like a petite Bestia, or a lightweight modernized greatest hits of Central and South Italy — meaty hits, as there is almost no seafood. My new restaurant is just down the street, so I’ll be back to try more. They supposedly have a great Lasagna.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: AR Cucina, Culver City

Krug at Spago

Oct24

Restaurant: Spago [1, 2, 3]

Location: 176 N Canon Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 385-0880

Date: October 20, 2016

Cuisine: New American

Rating: Impressive

Today’s lovely luncheon is a combo Sage Society Krug event!

Nothing like Krug for lunch.

It was located in “Prive” one of the Spago private rooms.

Krug Grand Cruvee 163 Edition – ID 215034. 94 points. Mint, white flowers, pastry and yellow orchard fruit meld together in Krug’s NV Grande Cuvée. This is one of the very best versions of the Grande Cuvée I can remember tasting in recent years. The impression of total silkiness on the palate is classic Krug. Even though this release is exceptional today, I would be tempted to cellar a few wines for the future, as the best Grand Cuvées age effortlessly. This release is based on 2006 and includes wines from 11 vintages going back to 1990.

Falafel fritters.

Spago staple, sweet sesame cones with ahi tartar.

Pork belly macaron. Pretty awesome! Half dessert, half savory.

Salmon, creme fraiche blini. Another Spago classic that doesn’t disappoint.

The serious looking “krew”.

We got Krug goodies. A cookbook, and the history of the domain.

Spago bread. This one was olive.

Le menu.

Krug Clos du Mesnil 2002 – ID 115024. VM 96. The 2002 Clos du Mesnil is brilliant right out of the gate. Vibrant, focused and crystalline, the 2002 hits all the right notes. Lemon peel, grapefruit, slate and white flowers give the 2002 its high-toned personality. The ripeness of the vintage has softened some of the typically angular young Clos du Mesnil contours. Best of all the 2002 is a rare Clos du Mesnil that drinks well right out of the gate, even if it will surely be more complex with more time in bottle. The 2002 has been absolutely stellar on both occasions I have tasted it so far. The 2002 was vinified by Nicolas Audebert, who is now making the wines at Rauzan-Ségla and Canon.

Sunnyside Up Egg, rye crisp, potato chip espuma. A classic champagne pairing of egg and caviar.

Wolfgang Puck materialized to say hi and grab his glass of du Mesnil!

Krug 2002 – ID 315043. 92-94 points. I have tasted Krug’s 2002 Vintage on multiple occasions but have yet to encounter a bottle that is fully expressive or that lives up to the level of the year. The 2002 needs several hours of air and even so, it remains incredibly reticent, both by Krug standards and relative to the other Champagnes of the vintage, nearly all of which have been released by now. My best advice to Vinous readers is to taste the 2002 before making a decision on whether to buy it or not.

Pan Roasted Maine Lobster Tail. Vanilla Dressing, Mizuna, Bartlett Pear. Interesting vanilla tone with the pear. Perhaps my lobster was very slightly overcooked.

Krug Rose – ID 414068. 94 points. The NV Brut Rosé is brilliant and finely-sculpted in the glass, with floral aromatics, pulsating minerality and chiseled fruit. Less austere than it can be, the Rosé impresses for its combination of tension and textured, phenolic weight. There is so much to like.

Slow Roasted Veal Loin!

Glazed carrots, wild mushrooms, chardonnay reduction. This was the best “prime rib” I’ve ever had — super tender as it was veal. Oh, and there were truffles too. The reduction was fabulous as well.

Krug 4 ways.

Standing is Maggie Henriquez, President and Directeur General of Krug! (the title makes me think of Napoleon). We learned a lot about Krug!

Krug Grande Cuvee 158th edition – ID 108002. A super rare “based on 2002” Grand cuvee. Amazing!

And an older Krug Grande Cuvee, probably from the 80s. Very slightly corked, but mostly blew off and was rather lovely.

Petits fours & Mignardises. I ate like a whole plate.

The lineup.
Maggie and Liz Lee of Sage Society, our hostess and superlative organizer.

I’m always blown away by the quality of Krug. Really, just one of those domains that makes sure the quality is always top notch.

Spago too continues to be fairly impressive. Service was flawless and the food was very good. Particularly that veal was stunning.

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By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Krug, Sage Society, Spago

Mangement Problems – Herringbone

Oct19

Restaurant: Herringbone

Location: 1755 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 971-4460

Date: October 4, 2016

Cuisine: Seafooder

Rating: Ok food, terrible management

I keep being reminded of Herringbone — partially because of its large signage on prominent Ocean Ave, partially because it always comes up in OpenTable.

To be honest the reviews and my sense that this really isn’t a chef driven restaurant really gave me pause.

The interior is huge and the build out lovely. They must have spent a lot of money.

Fugu tree! Never seen one of those before.

A nice patio.

Even more interior.

Anyway the menu is straight up seafooder. Not super exciting but they have some lunch deals.

But after you read about the food make sure to check out my “experience” issues.

Pear and burrata salad. Grilled persimmon, mizuna, sunflower seeds, poached pear, oregano vinaigrette. Tasty enough salad if highly derivative.

Kale Salad. La Quercia Prosciutto, baby heirloom tomatoes, avocado, pine nuts, pecorino, lemon vinaigrette. Also a solid salad.

Lobster roll and fries. The lobster itself was decent, although there wasn’t enough of it. The bun was too solid and the lobster just sort of piled on top (there was a little slit/hole). Overall the sandwich half worked. The fries were fine. Not amazing, not bad at all.

The location is great. The build out nice. The food not super inspired but okay. However, the service and experience kinda sucked. First of all, they sat us then basically ignored us for like 30 minutes. We barely got drinks (these took awhile). Eventually we managed to get an order in. And this was lunch. Who wants to sit around forever with a one page menu at lunch? Then there were a few minor goofs with the order, but it took forever. The place was huge but seemed short staffed both on service and behind the line. The servers appeared to spend far long tapping on the POS system than interacting with customers. The gap between our order and the first course was like another 30 minutes. Then after the mains were plopped down and no apology was proffered, we mentioned something and the server became instantly defensive and blamed it on the (lack of) cooks. Now that may (or may not) have been true, but it was graceless. And he didn’t even begin to offer anything up (like a free dessert or even an apology). Another member of our party complained to the front and got the manager — who was also defensive and didn’t offer much else other than saying we should “call ahead” and come in and he would make sure the experience went smoother.

But it was clear watching the room that there was a process problem. Everyone was waiting a long time (and there were only a couple tables in the big room) and there was no manager visible. In fact there were long periods where no servers were visible (just busboys). Clearly this is a corporate place and everyone was just phoning it in. I don’t know if I’ll ever go back, which is a shame because it’s close and has a nice space. Maybe, and it’s a big maybe, I’ll give it one more try at dinner (but reviews online indicate our problem was not isolated).

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