The Hedonists return to Dahab on a warm September night for more Egyptian food, wine, and even hookahs…
Author Archive for agavin – Page 59
Restaurant: Bestia
Location: 2121 E 7th Pl, Los Angeles, CA 90021. (213) 514-5724
Date: September 17, 2015
Cuisine: New Italian American
Rating: Super tasty, super hip, and a good bit of attitude
Bestia has been on my “to eat at” list since it opened. Opinions generally include the sentiment that the food is great. Some adore it. Some think the place has too much attitude and is too hard to get into. I wanted to see for myself.
It’s located in the Arts District, near Factory Kitchen. Funny to see much energy in an area of town that was nigh on terrifying 10 years ago. But urban renewal is a good thing.
The interior is typical in recent years, brick factory building, I-beams, hard tables.
Open kitchen too.
We sat outside on the porch. It was a lovely evening and this was great because it was a perfect temperature and not nearly as loud as inside.
The menu, with our marked up orders.
We ordered so much that we swore a pact to reaffirm our commitment to hedonism.
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2013 Alberto Nanclares Albariño Soverribas. 93 points. Medium gold colour. Mature nose with medium intensity aromas of quince, ripe peaches, very ripe yellow apples, savoury yeast, lemon peel and hints of neutral white flowers.
A very nice Albarino we ordered off the list. A very nice food white. I have some issues with the wine service, but more on that at the bottom.
Smoked Whitefish Crostino. Dill, potatoes, scallions, fresno chillies, celery leaf. An early start on Yom Kippur break fast! Very nice.
Veal Tartare Crostino. shallots, parsley, lemon, tonnato sauce. This was even better, super meaty, totally delicious. The grilled bread was amazing.
Pan-Fried Ciccioli. pickled fenne, candied kumquats, crème fraîche, pea tendrils. Our first server, who was awesome, recommended this. Wow! Like a pulled pork confit crab cake (no crab). Oodles of fatty goodness. In case that wasn’t obvious, the brown stuff is a “cake” made of heavy rich pork meat cooked in some kind of fat and then pan fried.
From my cellar: 1998 Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo. 93 points. Initially quite tight with reductive nose, some tar and rose petal. Middle weight palate, that at first seemed to lack a bit in fruit, but then flowered brilliantly. Nice perfume of dark fruits, some tar, rose petals. Good structure. Drinking well now with very nice balance. Not overly tannic. Aldo was a genius.
Salumi. chef’s selection of house-cured meats, mostarda, grilled bread. All sorts of pig. All amazing. Left to right: prosciutto crudo, salami, lardo & fig jam, prosciutto, some kind of head meat. The far right was my least favorite. The pinker prosciutto was amazing, and the smoked lard toast was out of this world!
Burrata pizza. san marzano tomatoes, castelvetrano olives, oregano, fermented chilies. A wonderful pizza in the current style. I normally like some meat on my pizza, and not olives, but this was bright, acidic, and delicious. Another recommend from the excellent server.
Mussels and Clams. housemade spicy ‘nduja sausage, fennel seed, preserved orange, grilled bread. A 10. The sauce had all that salty, sausage, spice, tomato acidity awesomeness. We kept a bunch of grilled bread to dip in it.
Quadretti alla Carota. mushroom ragu, summer squash, squash blossoms, carrot puree, carrot tops. My least favorite pasta, but still nice, and quite rich for a non meat pasta.
From my cellar (picked by Seb): 2006 Fattoria Poggio di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino. AG/Parker 97. The 2006 Brunello di Montalcino is an explosive, structured wine bursting with dark fruit. It is one of the most inward, brooding wines of the vintage. Black cherries, menthol, spices and new leather are some of the nuances that flow as this expansive Brunello literally covers every inch of the palate. This is a totally mesmerizing, sublime wine of the highest level.
agavin: A great wine, although it took a few minutes to get going (no surprise).
Roasted Marrow Bone. spinach gnocchetti, crispy breadcrumbs, aged balsamic.
I didn’t even realize this was sort of a pasta, but you dump the bone marrow on the gnocchetti and stir up. Nice, rich, mild.
Cavatelli alla Norcina. ricotta dumplings, housemade pork sausage, black truffles, grana padano. This was one of my favorite pastas during my recent month in Italy. This rendition had the right ingredients, and was very good, but it wasn’t as rich as a really good one in Umbria and was lacking the creamy cheesy strong truffle intensity. Instead it came off a bit more buttery, less cheese. Also in Umbria they pile on the truffles.
Spaghetti Rustichella. lobster, sea urchin, garlic, calabrian chilies, squid ink bottarga, breadcrumbs. But this was to die for. Almost a rich uni Gauzetto sauce. Just awesome umami brine yum. Perfectly al dente too.
From my cellar: 2007 Paolo Bea Sagrantino di Montefalco Secco Pagliaro. 94 points. A rich, sumptuous wine that totally covers the palate with dense, dark fruit. The Pagliaro is impressive in the way it achieves superb density while retaining the elements of delicate, nuanced subtlety that inform Bea’s finest wines. This is a fabulous effort from Bea. 46 days on the skins, followed by a year in stainless steel and two years in cask.
I actually brought this because they had pasta norcina on the menu!
Pici al Sugo di Agnello. lamb ragu, saffron, capra sarda, fig leaf, breadcrumbs. Another stunner. So rich, meaty, lamby. Really fabulous stuff. Great thick al dente bite to the pici too. One of my favorite pasta shapes.
Grilled Pork Tomahawk Chop. served family style. $80 for 37 ounces of meat, but we had to get it. Perfectly cooked. Fatty, but not obviously so. Rich. Delicious. Just a wonderful slab of meat. Not as strongly flavored as the similar Chi Spacca version, but great too.
Grilled long beans. Came with the pork.
The wine lineup, all awesome.
Maple Ricotta Fritters. maple butter ganache, sour cream and huckleberry jam ice cream. Some awesome fried goodness, totally notched up by the ganache and ice cream.
Valrhona Fair Trade Bittersweet Chocolate Budino Tart. salted caramel, cacao crust, olive oil, sea salt. Wow this was great. Soft rich chocolate boosted by the salt and olive oil. A bit like some of Jose Andre’s olive oil chocolate desserts.
Butterscotch Coconut Tart. fresh coconut sorbetto. Not bad, but I was dissapointed as I expected something more “coconut creme.”
Overall, an awesome night. But I’ll break it down.
Ambiance: Exactly what you’d expect from a super trendy DTLA spot in 2015. It’s all there, the rough surfaces, open kitchen, naked wood tables, paper menus, loudness, etc. I suspect if we were inside I would have found it too loud.
Food: Great food. Really quite excellent. Not mind blowing or totally innovative, but a sort of 2014-5 blend of “faux rustic” Italian with gastro pub and other current LA/NY sensibilities. The flavors have been brightened and punched up. There is more of a “grill” thing going on. It isn’t very authentically Italian, but takes itself in a different direction.
Service: General wait service was very good, although not formal. Oddly we had two waiters. Our first one was awesome and not only recommended some good changes but coursed it out really nicely. After ordering he was mysteriously replaced by another guy who was totally fine, but didn’t stand out as much.
Attitude: There is a bit of attitude. It’s hard to make a reservation and hard to move. They didn’t want to seat us partially even though the place was half empty still. The whole wine policy shows attitude. But overall it didn’t bother me too much and they did lean toward customer service.
Wine Service & List: Here were the biggest problems, although admittedly I come at it with a particular viewpoint. Let’s start with pure service. They decanted, if unconventionally into magnum bottles. Stems were mediocre, just regular small crystal tasting stems. They didn’t appear to have good ones, but they gave us 3 each of the little ones without complaint. They didn’t really pour for us, but I don’t like that anyway when we have a small group. Now onto the list. Not a big fan. It’s very small, hard to read, and has extremely few wines for a very good restaurant. The wines it does have re mixed. Far, far too many new world wines. They don’t belong here. Way too few Italians. I couldn’t even find an Italian white at a price I was willing to pay and there were only 5 total. We ended up with the Spanish Albarino (which was very good), but there is no reason for that given the outrageous number of inexpensive but nice Italian whites. Prices were about 3X retail which is a little higher than I’d like (2X would be nice) but not outrageous. There were very few “very good” wines. Most of the bigger reds were way too young. I know new restaurants don’t want to invest in a big inventory, but these are all part of the reason I almost never buy off wine lists. If you are a serious wine guy, and you know prices you just can’t bring yourself to do it.
Corkage: From up on my soapbox, this is a sore spot. All my wine friends talk about how Bestia isn’t really wine guy friendly. It’s sort of middle road. I had to call for the policy and it was first two bottles at $30 and after that $50. While relieved there was no limit (don’t get me started on limits, those are asinine), the hike to $50 is annoying. Really. Particularly given that I opened and poured the bottles myself. I realize they need to make money on the wine, but $30 seems a reasonable max. This isn’t Providence/Melisse type wine service. There also seemed to be an undocumented “can’t bring a wine on the list” rule. Given the list changes everyday and isn’t online, this seems unreasonable. But that being said, the Somm told us he doesn’t enforce it. So why have it? Also to their credit, Bestia made an accommodation for us. There was a little eye rolling with it, and some general somm-attitude, but their actions and words (if not tone) indicated they put customer service first. And after all, tone is just tone so I found this amusing. In the end, they did right by us. But still, one doesn’t get the feeling that Bestia would be a great place to host a Foodie Club type event. At those we have too many bottles to handle more than maybe $10-15 of corkage. Maybe they’d cut a deal, but I think they think they’re too popular to need to. A shame, because the food is amazing and it’d be a fun place to do that sort of thing.
For more LA dining reviews click here.
Restaurant: Silver Lake Ramen
Location: 2927 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026. (323) 660-8100
Date: July 31, 2015 & September 13, 2016
Cuisine: Japanese Ramen
Rating: As good a Tonkotsu ramen as I’ve had
My friend Sebastian really wanted me to try Silver Lake Ramen, which is a well liked member of the new cadre of Tonkotsu (Hakata) places in LA.
The storefront is REALLY not much.
On busy Sunset Blvd, not far from Thai Town.
The menu consists of a few ramen, the toppings, and some nice greasy appetizers.
What would ramen be without Japanese beer? It is, after all, a drinking food.
Yuzuaide. A delicious slushy of yuzu juice (lots of) sugar and mint.
Sunomono. Cucumber crab salad. This one was fine, but not nearly marinated enough for my taste. I like the sweet tangy typical Sunomono marinade.
Fried chicken. Hot and delicious.
And they really mean fried.
Spicy tuna toast. I never saw THIS in Japan. Tasty enough, but so California.
Gyoza. Some of the best fried gyoza I’ve had in LA.
Vegetarian ramen. Extra veggies. I would never order this, it’s against my creed, and it looks more like a salad than a ramen. But it floats some people’s boat. The broth was good for vegetarian, very miso.
Tonkotsu ramen. Now this is the real deal. A big slab of pork belly, soft, although not quite as good as Tsujita’s. I added bamboo shoots and left out the bean sprouts. The noodles were nice and the broth was fabulously smooth. I cut the grease with a hefty dose of vinegary gyoza-sauce (I like it that way) and stirred in the chili paste. Really a delectable broth.
Shoyu ramen. Chicken broth with special soy sauce and green onion, bamboo shoots, spinach, dried seaweed.
Tsukemen dipping noodle. Thick pork and fish broth with green onion, spinach, bean sprouts, seaweed, egg and pork belly. Now Tsujita is the benchmark Tsukemen. This was good, but a bit different. It was rich, but not quite as rich, with a stronger seafood flavor that was quite nice. The noodles weren’t quite as eggy/good. The pork more pork belly/bacon. Still a very good ramen.
Silver Lake Ramen was as good a Tonkotsu as I’ve had in LA, and all the apps were really tasty. But it’s far far east for me and there are lots of great Westside ramens like Tsujita, Tatsu, Jinya. So if you live or travel out east, by all means get your noodles on.
In honor of the original PlayStation’s 20th Anniversary USA Today has posted a piece which features interviews with major participants, including yours truly. I talk about our early experiences with the machine and the thoughts that led to the first Crash Bandicoot. For example:
In August or September 1994, we got really early developer kits for both the (Sega) Saturn and the Playstation. Most people were thinking the Saturn would be big because the Genesis had been. The Sony was so much better… It was just a nice clean design and Sony was way more organized. After about a month with both machines we just took the gamble… and didn’t make Crash Bandicoot for (the Saturn). The PlayStation was a straight-up game machine. The fact it was as 3-D for real and that it was on a CD was huge. The CD made all the difference for developers and for players.
Check out the full article here.
Restaurant: Hip Hot
Location: 500 N Atlantic Blvd #149, Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 782-7711
Date: July 23, 2015 & January 28, 2016
Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese
Rating: Updated awesomeness
I love my Szechuan. This pepper-fueled branch of Chinese is all about flavor — and it’s certainly hot right now (and all the time). Hence the name of the restaurant.
The Atlantic Blvd interior is updated and reasonably modern.
The tables have glass tops and cool dioramas inside! Each one is different.
The menus.
Watermelon juice. Comes in it’s own “evil genius” watermelon!
Another cold Szechuan drink, the super yummy smoked plum juice.
Mung bean noodle with chilies. Love this dish as it has a tangy/hot quality to it.
Cold chicken noodles. These lovely noodles have chili oil and bits of chicken. Cold, a bit spicy, and very pleasant.
Dan Dan Mein. One of my favorite dishes. You mix it up.
This version was very tasty, with lots of pork, but it didn’t have the characteristic nutty/peanut paste richness that I really love, or much Szechuan peppercorn numbing.
Ma Po Tofu. One of my other favorite dishes. This version was excellent, with a nice numb factor, good texture, and lots of chili oil.
Sliced fish boiled with chilies. Another Szechuan classic. The fish was a little thick, but there was plenty of spice to the broth.
Chongking boiled fish. Might even be the same dish on a different day. Seemed to have different vegetables in it though and less crushed pepper.
Cauliflower with pork belly hot pot. Rather yummy. Nice crunch to the vegetables and fatty pork goodness.
Spicy chicken. Fried chicken bits tossed with aromatic peppers. Nice salty spicy version of this dish.
Lamb chops. This was a stunner. Really, really good dish with tender lamb chops and delicious spice mixture on top.
Mutton stew with buns and potatoes. You were supposed to eat the mutton in the buns. The meat was super “gamey.” The lamb cops were better. The combo was interesting, but the little rib bones in the meat made eating it like a sandwich a bit of a challenge.
Crab with chilies. The crab itself was tasty but a bit hard to get into. I loved the mixture below of potatoes, peanuts, rice cakes and the like. When the potatoes had soaked up the chili oil and peppers. Yum!
Taro toast (on left) and rice cakes (right). The taro was mild but had a nice texture like a taro stuffed spring roll. The right was a bit chewy and inaccessible.
Hip Hot is good. The style and plating are updated a lot from the likes of Lucky Noodle King and a little bit above Spicy City. The ingredients were good. The menu isn’t as big as Spicy City, but what they did serve us was very good. I wish the Dan Dan was just a bit nuttier. It’s fairly similar to Chuan’s in being a bit more modern, but I think Chuan’s is a bit better.
Restaurant: Drago Centro
Location: 525 S Flower St, Los Angeles, CA 90071. (213) 228-8998
Date: September 3, 2015
Cuisine: Italian
Rating: Great high end Italian
I’ve been a Drago fan for years. Celistino Drago has even cooked at our house half a dozen times. Hedonist regular Larry has been wanting to setup a formal dinner her at the Downtown location for some some.
We were situated in the “Vault” room, an awesome, huge private room over to the side of the restaurant (past the patio). It featured its own bar and kitchen and a huge table.
Drago went full out with the wine glasses and the like, which is always nice even if I am used to bringing my own.
Our special menu.
The first amuse. Goat cheese and tomato tarts. Even I liked them — and I’m not a tomato fan.
Tuna tartar “sandwiches”. The roe gave this a nice briny flavor.
Pizza Margarita. Gooey cheese!
Special Sicilian olive oil.
On the left the Chef de Cuisine and on the right the Wine Director.
I brought a collection of “interesting” Italian white food wines because this is contrary to the usual surplus of “hearty reds.” And besides, they go with the food.
From my cellar: 2008 Azienda Agricola Valentini Trebbiano d’Abruzzo. 91 points. Oxidative nose with some lemon zest and dairy notes as werll as yeast, macadamia, white meat and plaster. With time tropical fruit starts to emerge. Dry and a tad oily palate with deep acidic core and classy round tropical fruit of good concentration. Meadow flowers and wet earth. Some spritz upon opening and this wine needed quite a bit of time to find balance otherwise as well. Very good stuff, but will only get better with further cellaring.
From my cellar: 2010 Paolo Bea Arboreus. 90 points. Normally an intense amber hue, in the 2010 vintage the Arboreus in fact has quite a light color and initial presentation of aromas. The aromas build quickly once the wine is given a few swirls in the glass, revealing a truly magnificent bouquet of honey, white flowers, spices, reduced stone fruits, sweet petrol (a contradiction?), and, yes, cat urine. Mild tannins give the wine excellent body and structure. Great persistence of flavor.
From my cellar: 2011 Paolo Bea Santa Chiara. 95 points. Apple juice to dark amber colour. It showed pre-oxidized white wine characters. Interesting taste of apple, apricot, citrus, white flowers with aroma of smoke, tar, salted fish in between. Full body. Good acidity and rich mineral support. It’s so stylish and unique. Complicated aromatic profile. It kept changing at different temperature. An interesting and enjoyable orange wine.
King crab legs, lemon, basil aioli. Very fresh and simple. Went perfectly with the oxidative Italian whites.
Baby kale and barlett pear salad, pinenuts, shaved ricotta salata, champagne vinaigrette.
1996 Domaine Jean Grivot Richebourg. Burghound 92. A bottle opened in Burggundy showed quite differently than that opened at the big Richebourg tasting held in late 2001 with still reserved but elegant and spicy aromas that offer exceptional purity of expression followed by young, tight and powerful flavors that are racy, fresh and very long. This seems more refined than the bottle at the Richebourg tasting that was very much in a rough and tumble style with big, robust, almost aggressively tannic flavors supported by powerful black fruit and good if not exceptional extract.
agavin: unfortunately our bottle was a bit corked.
2005 Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo Riserva Granbussia. 95 points. What a glorious wine. One of the best wines of the 2005 vintage I have tasted. The wine displayed great balance, complexity, finesse and focus and finished with considerable length and elegance. The wine is drinking beautifully now and will provide great drinking for the next decade.
From my cellar: 1996 Gaja Langhe Nebbiolo Sperss. 94 points. evolved very nicely. Dark deep fruits with lovely aromatics; funk and brett not a problem with decanting. Amazing complexity, a lot happening in the mid palate and in the finish. Tannins and acidity will carry this forward but certainly enjoyable now.
2001 Roberto Voerzio Barolo Riserva Vecchie Viti dei Capalot e delle Brunate. 94 points. A delicious monster.
Pappardelle, roasted pheasant, morel mushrooms.
With cheese. This has always been one of my favorite pastas at Drago. The al dente bite on the pappardelle and the rich mushroom / pheasant sauce are fabulous. Off season, as this is ideally a winter pasta, but good anytime.
Roasted corn and ricotta agnolotti, parmesan, chile foam.
Truffle!
Prepping the next pasta.
And another.
1996 Tenuta San Guido Bolgheri Sassicaia Sassicaia. 93 points. Fresh, moderately deep ruby-red. Spicy, lively aromas of cinnamon and vanilla. Round in flavor and rather elegantly styled, but doesn’t offer the weight or impact of a major wine.
2003 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. Parker 95. Made from a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot, this spectacular 2003 hits all the sweet spots on the palate. A glorious bouquet of cedarwood, jammy black currants, cherries, licorice and truffle is followed by a dense, opulently textured, full-bodied wine with terrific purity and freshness as well as deep, velvety textured tannins. Enjoy this beauty over the next 10-12 years.
2003 Tua Rita Redigaffi Vino da Tavola. Parker 90. Tua Rita’s 2003 Redigaffi, 100% Merlot, opens with notes of over-ripeness on the nose. An initial suggestion of reduction blows of with air. It presents plenty of fruit, chocolate and toasted oak along with a richly concentrated, opulent personality, yet a note of gaminess and hard, unripe tannins ultimately convey the impression of a less polished version of this wine than is normally the case. My preference is to drink Redigaffi on the young side.
2005 De Suduiraut. Parker 93. Tasted blind at the 10-Year On Tasting in Sauternes. The 2005 Château Suduiraut seemed a little out of sorts at first, although it comes together with honey, barley sugar, orange blossom and mineral scents that become more delineated as its aerates. The palate is very intense on the entry. There is a beautiful line of acidity that cuts through the viscous fruit, though the finish does not quite exude the precision of a top vintage, but still delivers that sense of class one expects from this address.
Seared foie gras, porcini mushroom cavatelli. I’m not sure I’ve ever had full on seared foie AND pasta in the same dish. It certainly didn’t suck. I loved the chewy bite from the cavatelli too.
Summer truffle fettuccini.
2006 Ridge Monte Bello. Parker 94+. While it is eclipsed by the brilliance of the 2005, the 2006 Monte Bello (68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 10% Petit Verdot, and 2% Cabernet Franc) is a very strong effort. Its dense purple color is followed by copious aromas of creme de cassis, licorice, spice box, and a touch of oak. Well-balanced, dense, pure, layered, and rich, its big, rich style is similar to the 2003. This cuvee should keep for 25-30 years in a cool cellar.
2002 Joseph Phelps Insignia Proprietary Red Wine. Parker 100! The 2002 boasts an inky/purple color along with notes of graphite, violets, blackberries, creme de cassis and hints of charcoal and barbecue in addition to a full-bodied, multilayered mouthfeel that builds incrementally with great purity, staggering fruit concentration, and a long, velvety, 50+-second finish. This prodigious effort should continue to drink well for 20+ years.
2001 Lokoya Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder. Parker 100! An utterly perfect wine that exemplifies this extraordinary vintage for North Coast Bordeaux varietals is the 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Mt. Veeder, which comes from the Jackson family’s Veeder Peak Vineyard. Unfortunately, slightly less than 300 cases were produced, so availability is limited. A dense opaque blue/purple color is followed by notes of lead pencil shavings, ink, blueberry liqueur, raspberries and black currants. The wine is super intense as well as extremely full-bodied and opulent with great structure, purity and density. (I know this sounds weird, but when I smelled and tasted it, it reminded me of the 2010 La Mission Haut Brion that I had tasted a month earlier, no doubt because of its volcanic/hot rock-like character.) This phenomenal wine is a modern day legend from Napa. Still a youngster in terms of its development, it should hit its peak in another 5-6 years and keep for 30+.
Squab, eggplant, and roasted garlic “risotto alla norma.” Nice gamey chunks of foul. Yarom was hoping for more “meat on the bone action.” Although truth is, I like it like this. These are basically tiny squab versions of duck breast.
Branzino, potato gnocchi, zucchini.
2005 Chateau de Fargues. Parker 95. Tasted blind at the 10-Year On Tasting in Sauternes. The 2005 Château de Fargues has a rich and intense bouquet with layers of honey, dried peach, beeswax and acacia that soar from the glass. The palate is powerful and authoritative: intense botrytis-rich honeyed fruit with compelling mineralité underneath. It fans out in glorious fashion – a stunning de Fargues that is now beginning to show its talents. As I remarked a couple of years ago, just afford it a couple more years so that it can fully absorb the vestiges of oak.
Mascarpone cheesecake.
Chocolate brownie, black mission figs, hazelnuts.
Market mixed fresh berries.
Overall a great evening, although not without its differing opinions in our highly opinionated group.
Service, particularly wine service, was first rate. We had our own dedicated servers and they were on it. For a change, I barely had to pour any wine. They had tons of glasses and worked the wine around in a perfectly timely fashion (extremely rare at big dinners). We did have a bit of a snafu in that we had 2 no-shows and we were very late giving the restaurant notice. Sort of a gray area and we should have sorted it out earlier and let them know.
The room and setting were amazing.
Food was for the most part great. The pastas were all fabulous. I was disappointed though in the desserts. Instead of those minis I would have preferred normal sized desserts that were striped around. I never find that minis like that are the best. The cheesecake was pretty good, but it was just one little morsel. Fruit never does it for me :-).
Wines were pretty good. I loved the whites, although they are perhaps too sophisticated for everyone’s palette. Was bummed the Richebourg was corked. We could have used some Brunello. I loved all the Nebbiolos. The super Tuscans were good too, but not as good as the Piedmontese wines. I didn’t think the big Americans really belonged, even though they were very good wines. They just don’t pair well with Italian. Too extracted. But of course the “hearty red” crew adored them — which is their prerogative.
This dinner was similar in many ways to the recent Michael’s dinner. Michaels was a slightly better deal, as we had more courses for less money. Maybe the DTLA markup, haha. Both have great food and which was better varied on a course by course basis. Michael’s had a more Italian wine lineup (which is our doing, not the restaurant’s), but we had a few off wines that night. Tonight only the Riche (cry) was corked.
Great evening!
Restaurant: Hai Di Lao Hot Pot
Location: 400 S Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007. (626) 445-7232
Date: September 7 & 20, 2015
Cuisine: Chinese Hot Pot
Rating: Very solid hot pot with good ingredients
I’ve been eating Shabu Shabu for decades, but it was only about 7 years ago on a trip to China that I realized it was actually a food derived from China. True, the Japanese put their own wonderful spin on nearly any food type they incorporate, but they picked it up while “visiting” in Northern China during the war and toned down the spice.
Hai Di Lao is a hugely popular Chinese hot pot chain that has moved to America.
And it’s located in the middle of the food area of Arcadia’s Westfield mall!
The menu is extensive. Not as huge as Hot Pot Hot Pot, but certainly big enough. They are also so modern that you order from ipads at the table!
The interior is updated and contemporary Chinese.
It was busy too, even at 5pm!
A great feature here, and an area in which the bargain Hot Pot Hot Pot totally fails at is the sauce bar. They have this HUGE bar where you can build your own sauce concoctions. Plus there are various cold appetizer ingredients there too.
Row after row of different sauce components.
More.
More.
And even more, including the giant vat of garlic!
And there were four of these helpful cards providing suggestions for those who aren’t sauce experts.
Amuse. These skewers of indeterminate yellow stuff came with the meal. They had a bit of crunch too them. I think it was some turnips and the like.
2011 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese #10. JG 92. The contributing parcels are Ferbert and Gertzgrub, mid and low slope, and of course Schaefers knew and could show me on the satellite map. We’re sleeker now, but again this tumbling swelling into an absurdity of mineral nuance and lip-licking saltiness; a doctoral thesis in slate.
agavin: great with the heat.
Pickled vegetables.
Above were some of our sauce concoctions.
I also made this spicy mung bean jelly. Yum!
Mushroom broth. With enoki, shiitake, and cloud ear mushrooms. Another huge win at HDL is that everyone has an individual Hot Pot. One of my problems at some other places is sharing a big hot pot with 10 people. This was a nice light mild broth.
Spicy Szechuan Broth. I got this one. Szechuan spicy oil and ginger with garlic. Spicy and also a little numbing. Awesome stuff, basically the same chili oil / numbing heat as a “fish filets boiled in chili oil” Szechuan dish. Really had a lot of flavor even on its own without the sauces.
Shrimp. These large shrimp had to be pulled out of the pot quickly, but they were good.
Nice fresh scallops on ice.
The lobster seafood combo. Salmon, scallops, shrimp, lobster, and orange clam.
A selection of meat balls. Some meat, some fish. I liked them all.
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2004 Saxum Syrah Broken Stones. Parker 92-95. Exquisite from the barrel, the opaque ruby/purple-colored 2004 Broken Stones (75% Syrah and 25% Grenache) exhibits crisp underlying acidity, a sweet perfume of raspberries, blackberries, garrigue, pepper, and spice box, full body, and tremendous length, richness, and balance. It should easily age for 12+ years. I highly recommend that wine enthusiasts who love Rhone Ranger wines pay a visit to the James Berry Vineyard, one of the true grand cru sites in the region.
agavin: a monster, and quiet nice once the heat of the food had settled down.
Marinated beef tenderloin. Lean beef marinated with Korean chili. Good stuff, although not like you could taste the chili after it was boiled in my chili oil and drowned in my super strong hot sauce mix 🙂
Angus Rib Eye. I think. Had to remember which meat we ordered. This was one of our favorites.
Beef Short rib. More yummy meat.
Lamb shoulder. Awesome and tender. These aren’t super frozen like the ones at Hot Pot Hot Pot, which is a good thing.
Spam. Delicious. You mock it, but it’s great in the pot.
Crispy pork sausage. These delicious little Frankenfurters open up like squid flowers in the heat.
Mixed vegetable combo. Obvious enough.
Mixed Mushroom combo. Good stuff.
Soft tofu. I love the texture here. With the spicy sauce it was like Ma Po.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuSLhEsZTmQ]
Dancing Noodle.
Made with wheat, egg, and flour. The noodle dancer comes to your table and stretches the noodle in a pretty amazing display of noodle power.
The hand pulled noodle goes right into the pot. In this sauce, it was fine on it’s own after 2 minutes.
Mango pudding. “Free” dessert. Cool and hit the spot.
And some more, fresh fruit.
We liked HDL. In fact, I thought it was much better than Hot Pot Hot Pot, which while good, was kind of a zoo of cheap prices. The advantages here are solid ingredient quality, great broth choices, the amazing sauce bar (HPHP sauces were lame, and the sauce is very important), and individual pots. The individual pot is key. Sharing all the ingredients is fun, but when you have 8-10 people in one pot you don’t really control what you cook, how long, or that you even get it. Plus it’s a little gross.
Restaurant: Hurry Curry
Location:2131 Sawtelle Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025. (310) 473-1640
Date: June 30, 2015
Cuisine: Japanese Curry
Rating: Solid curry
I’ve been to Hurry Curry many times but a friend of mine really strongly recommended trying the fried chicken curry.
Hurry Curry is located in Sawtelle Little Tokyo like so many other Japanese lunch spots.
The menu.
Typical Japanese salad.
Gyoza. Japanese-style fried pork & chicken dumplings. Ultra crispy.
Croquette. Ground beef. Two hand crafted mashed potato patties fried to a golden brown and served with tonkatsu sauce. These puppies were HOT HOT.
And a little too much mushy mashed potato for my taste.
Fried Chicken Curry. Sake marinated chicken battered and fried, served with curry. Not as fried as I would have expected.
The curry. There were two of us. We ordered 4. You can never have enough curry.
Red pickles. For me, these are key.
Fried tofu. We also ordered some fried tofu up to throw into the mix.
The chicken smothered. It was pretty good.
Truth is though, I love rice pickles and curry together. That’s probably my favorite.
Overall, Hurry Curry is a fine curry place, although one of three on the street. I still think neighbor Kimukatsu has a slightly better kitchen.
Restaurant: Mei Long Village
Location: 301 W Valley Blvd #112, San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 284-4769
Date: August 30, 2015
Cuisine: Shanghai Chinese
Rating: Solid!
Mei Long Village has been around forever as far as Alhambra is concerned, maybe even 20 years!
They serve up traditional Shanghai style fare.
The mini-mall frontage on Valley Blvd is pretty typical. Across the street from Shanghai #1 and Beijing Restaurant and in the same mall as Tasty Dining.
2001 Château Lynch-Bages Blanc de Lynch-Bages. 88 points. A touch of oxidation but drinking ok. Light golden yellow with tastes of quince and wet stones.
Smoked cold fish. Nice flavor, with that slightly slimy texture and little bones.
From my cellar: 2004 Morey-Blanc Meursault 1er Cru Bouchères. Burghound 89-92. This is a good deal riper with exotic aromas of mango, melon and dried apricots that lead to textured, dense and mouth coating full-bodied flavors that are beautifully complex and despite the weight, the marked acidity keeps everything focused and well-balanced. An impressive showing for a wine that I often find to be a bit top-heavy.
Jellyfish head. The marinated bits of the “head” (the round part) of the jellyfish.
2007 Pierre Morey Meursault Les Terres Blanches. Burghound 87-89. A very Meursault nose of hazelnut, soft white flower and yellow fruit aromas leads to pretty and elegant medium-bodied flavors that are round yet detailed with a discreet mineral undercurrent, all wrapped in a tension-filled and persistent finish. Lovely and very much fashioned in Morey’s understated style.
Marinated cucumbers. Nice and crunchy.
2012 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Leistenberg Riesling Kabinett. VM 87. Nectarine, pine nuts and lemon oil on the nose. Delicate tropical fruit flavors are brightened by a salty twang. Refreshing acidity gives a feminine character to the finish. Nicely balanced.
Hot sweet shrimp. Really nice eat the shell shrimp.
Pork leg. Special order 2 day steamed prep. Yeah, it’s pretty frightening to look at.
And perhaps even scarier once it got cut up. There is a whole trotter there too. I went just for the straight pink meat, avoiding the jiggling skin and cartilage. The meat was pretty awesome though.
From my cellar: 1998 Domaine des Chezeaux Griotte-Chambertin Ponsot. 92 points. Med dark red. Delicate creamy red cherry, a little spice. Light body, light concentration, cherry and old wood. Tannin and acid indicate youthfulness.
Stuffed duck. Another special order. We had this all sewn up.
Inside is a mixture of grains, chestnuts, etc. The sauce was amazing and it was all a bit sweet.
2000 August Kesseler Rüdesheimer Berg Roseneck Riesling Spätlese. White peach and lemon aromas with hints of mint and lily flower lead to a quite delicate, refined peach, citrus and slate character on the palate. This is airy and generous in the manner of the few best 2000s, suffused with fine slate character. Says Kesseler: “Everything that came after this?and there were vintage 2000 rieslings of Auslese and Beerenauslese character?was heavy and inferior to this in comparison.” Those higher must weight wines were not retained for separate bottlings. 2 stars.
Pan fried Shanghai dumplings. The classic pan fried soup dumplings. Yummy, although there is a good bit of dough.
XLB. The steamed variant are amazing and a lot lighter.
2005 Aubert Chardonnay Lauren Vineyard. VM 96. Mark and Theresa Aubert’s 2005 Chardonnay Lauren, tasted from magnum, is every bit as special as I remembered it. Time has softened the textures and added gorgeous nuance, yet the 2005 remains fresh, perfumed and extraordinarily beautiful. Hints of orange peel, mint and sweet spices lift from the glass, but it is the wine’s balance that proves to be utterly captivating. Quite simply, this is one of the very finest California Chardonnays I have ever tasted. In magnum, the 2005 will drink well for at least another five years, while in standard bottle, the Lauren is naturally a touch more forward, although it should keep for another few years, perhaps longer. My own preference is to drink wines while the fruit retains at least some elements of freshness.
agavin: not bad for a new world, it did have acid, but way way too hot (alcoholic).
Shanghai rice cakes. A great rendition of the classic rice cakes in soy sauce. Nice chewy texture.
2009 Aubert Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast. VM 91. Dried mushroom, earth and tart cherry nose. Palate somewhat thin and acidic, dry finish. Has not really developed since last tasting.
Crystal shrimp. Light but tasty.
2008 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir Keefer Ranch Vineyard. VM 92. Bright red. High-pitched aromas of raspberry, strawberry liqueur, dried flowers and Asian spices. Silky, bright and precise, but with good depth and power to its red berry and cherry flavors. Really expand with air, finishing with sweet tannins, tangy minerality and impressive length. If your impression of the K-B wines ossified around the 2004 vintage, you should check this one out.
Fried fish. Fried.
2000 Château Gazin Pomerol. GV 92. COLOR-dark; NOSE-gorgeous cranberry; chocolate; mature; a V8 juice component; PALATE-a really nice, dry and austere background; great little finish; really singing; heavy fruit coming through; really well made; big upfront fruit; really elegant tannins; I love the gravel minerality of this red fruit; a chalkiness; there’s a clear beef jerky component on the back-end; very meat; almost like an Italian meal with a tomato sauce component on this Merlot; very bright on the back-end; good long finish; this has plenty of age to it; the tannins scream baby to me; I really like it; very well made and brings a lot of character to the table; very smooth; the fruit is very bitter — more of a Sweet Tart play; I think it’s fantastic; RP-90; GV-92+.
Spareribs. Pretty much the origin dish for Panda Express red sauce fried pork, but much better. Tender and delicious and the sauce wasn’t so heavy and cloying as at some places.
1998 Alban Vineyards Syrah Reva Alban Estate Vineyard. VM 90+. Full ruby. Highly aromatic, pure, Cornas-like aromas of cherry skin, pepper, iron and minerals. Quite tightly wound and penetrating, with slightly green-edged flavors of red fruits, black olive and pepper. Not especially fleshy or sweet but offers impressive precision and intensity of flavor, and the structure to reward some bottle aging.
Eggplant. Awesome and garlicky. Not spicy really like it might be at a Szechuan place.
Shrimp fried rice.
Shanghai noodles. Classic soy sauce noodles.
2000 J.L. Chave Sélection St. Joseph Offerus. 87 points. Deep red. Dull nose some black fruits and pepper. Acidic and disjointed in mouth some earthy notes. Short clipped finish.
Tomato and winter melon soup. Mostly tasted like tomato. Mild, but not my thing at all.
1994 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rangen de Thann Clos St. Urbain Vendange Tardive. 95 points. Beautiful wine. Nose was filled with honey, orange marmalade, flowers, and orchard fruit. Palate had notes of apricot puree and marmalade, botrytis notes, and the typical Alsatian bitter at the end; in this case it added to the wine instead of taking away. This was a deep wine with a moderately thick texture. Sweet, but the acid kept it from being a dessert wine. From comments, went well with seafood appetizer and bread pudding dessert. Long finish that coated the mouth. Haunting, it just got better as the evening went on. Wonderful.
We drove a mile west to Solju dessert for some awesome snow. Above is my mango with passionfruit sauce and blackberries.
And this crazy green tea with taro, mochi, and watermelon poppers!
Overall, Mei Long Village was some yummy fare and a total deal at $27 a head (all in, including tax and tip). An “old school” SGV place with really solid food.
Restaurant: Jitlada [1, 2, 3, 4]
Location: 5233 W Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90027. (323) 663-3104
Date: August 26, 2015
Cuisine: Thai
Rating: Gut burning great
Tonight’s outing is a Hedonist return to Jitlada, an outrageously authentic Southern Thai place deep in Thai-town. The joint gets 27 in Zagat! It’s run by Jazz Singsanong with Chef Tui in the kitchen. The menu can be found here.
You know it’s real because they don’t skimp on either the chilies OR the fish sauce.
One of Yarom’s ancient wines. Undrinkable.
Crispy papaya Salad. Delicious — fry is always tasty. The “dressing” was sweet and tangy.
Another even more ancient, and even more undrinkable wine. Could barely stomach a second tiny sip.
Papaya salad. Solid, but not as yummy as the fried one.
2008 Weingut Reinhold Haart Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese. VM 90. Delicate aromas of green apple, lemon oils and clover. The kiwi flavor is light and lively but at the same time velvety on the palate. Rose petal and saline minerality mingle on a crisp, well-balanced finish. Very appealing.
Crispy Morning Glory Salad. This salad of shrimp and fried morning glory is just plain glorious. Sorry, couldn’t resist. Basically tempura flowers and it’s really the tangy, slightly sweet sauce/dressing that really makes it. Very similar to many of the salads I had in Vietnam.
2005 Dönnhoff Schloßböckelheimer Felsenberg Riesling Spätlese. VM 91. Pale golden yellow.Subtle bouquet of pineapple, nut oil and lemon zest.The luscious yet crisp papaya fruit is brightened by a refreshing mineral character.Deceptively light and wonderfully drinkable.A charming riesling with a sweet/salty finish.
Crying Tiger Pork. A Chinese influenced dish of spicy pork with a blend of coriander, pepper, salt, and garlic. Really flavorful, tender and just plain fabulous.
2007 Dönnhoff Kreuznacher Krötenpfuhl Riesling Spätlese. JG 92. pears and peach.. not very sweet nice acidity. will wait to drink again.
Chicken satay. A bit boring, but certainly a nice satay.
2003 Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben Erdener Treppchen Riesling Auslese. 91 points. I really love these wines and they have a certain, unpretentious, gulpability that few other wines have. The sugar also allows then to got with a huge variety of food. This bottle has a fair amount of sweetness with honeyed peach and lychee aromas leading into a medium bodied, low acid wine. Beautifully balanced, soft and down right gulpable, this is killer stuff.
Coco lotus soup. This was a mild red coconut curry soup with chicken. It was amazing! Really fabulous curry flavor.
2005 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese.
Pig ear. Strips of leather. I’ll leave these for the Labradors.
1993 Georg Breuer Rüdesheimer Berg Schloßberg Riesling. 93 points. Petrol, citrus and apple fruit, minerals and a striking acidity. Complex and engaging, very nice, has a future still.
Lamb fried rice. Much better than the pineapple fried rice.
From my cellar: 2000 Trimbach Pinot Gris Sélection de Grains Nobles. VM 93. Bright medium gold. Superripe aromas of apricot jam, exotic spices, honey and tobacco; just misses the clarity of the best SGN bottlings from this producer. Very dense but not hugely unctuous thanks to firm, perfectly integrated acidity. Sappy, vibrant and very long on the aftertaste.
Tamarind shrimp. The same shrimp as we had last time with the red curry, but with a slightly tangy, definitely sweet sauce. Not nearly as good. I didn’t love the sauce.
2010 Château Franc le Maine St. Émilion Grand Cru Cabernet Franc/Merlot. 91 points. Very rich, and not sweet or jammy at all. Still young but very drinkable if allowed to breathe for 2+ hours. Needs food. Quite delicious.
Thai hot wings. Tender and quiet spicy.
2007 Cantina Numa Rosso Piceno Tolenus.
Lamb Curry. Tender lamb in a hot curry with green beans. Really yummy. Really yummy. Should have ordered the “curry” version where it’s in a bowl with more sauce. There is also a sweeter version that is really good.
1978 Joseph Phelps Syrah. Drinking very well considering.
Glass noodles with crispy pork belly. Nice enough. I liked the texture of the noodles with the peanuts.
2006 Linne Calodo Outsider. VM 93. Bright ruby. Deep aromas of black raspberry, cherry liqueur, dried flowers and minerals. Powerful dark berry flavors are surprisingly light on their feet, with a jolt of smoky minerals adding urgency. Finishes vibrant and sweet, with excellent clarity and cut. An intriguing spice note gained power with air, adding to this wine’s vivacity.
Dungeness Crab in Curry Sauce. Crab meat, shrimp & peas sauteed in a red curry paste. This wasn’t AS hot. It was a little hard to get at the succulent grab meat, but the curry was explosively good too. Compare to the Singaporean classic. The problem is that the crab isn’t cracked and was hard to get into.
2004 Turley Petite Syrah Hayne Vineyard. VM 94+. Bright ruby to the rim. Aromas of black plum, minerals, iron and fresh blood; this wine calls for a rare steak. At once thick and sappy, boasting extraordinary density to its sweet dark fruit and iron flavors. The very long, slowly building finishes features outstanding sweetness and salinity and extremely suave tannins. This very powerful wine is developing at a snail’s pace.
Duck curry. Very similar curry to the soup, but with a few bits of duck and pineapple. Also a very nice curry, but fairly mild.
2008 Saxum Heart Stone Vineyard. RR 97. Color of dark red. Scents of black and blue berries, bold. Tastes were consistent with scents, with big, bold taste, but not jammy. This blend has a very interesting taste. Enjoyed this.
Jazz burger. A big beef patty covered in onions, peppers, and dressing. I was so full I was about to burst, but the flavors were fabulous.
Some super organic chocolate, all raw, no real sugar. The chocolate flavor was nice and fruity, but these were WAY too unsweetened for my palette. Tasted like health food. I’m a hedonist.
I love Jitlada, and it’s hands down the best Thai I’ve had in LA. The menu is enormous and full of goodies. All the flavors are great, the meats succulent, and boy is it hot. That being said, this was one of my weakest meals here — although it wasn’t the kitchen’s fault — we just didn’t order well at all. There were some great dishes, like the coco lotus soup, but we had too many people and ordered at first too few, then too many of each dish. There were far too many reorders. We must’ve ordered 3 rounds of the soup (with 2 bowls in one round). And then a couple of late comers arrived (DON’T COME LATE TO HEDONIST DINNERS!) and there was a flurry of reorders of the same dishes.
The net net was that we were full too early in the progression, and we never got to the spicy curries, dynamites, challenges, whole fish, and other “main dishes.” We were so full from our reorders of the same dishes that we couldn’t even handle the mango sticky rice. One of my lessons here to to really watch the rice consumption.
Still, the kitchen is great, we just had too many people, too much chaos, and didn’t didn’t balance our sequence right. I think 12 is the max here (we had 15-16).
For more LA dining reviews click here.
Or for more crazy Hedonist meals.
Restaurant: Aestus
Location: 507 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90401. (424) 268-4433
Date: July 3, 2015
Cuisine: New American
Rating: Good Kitchen
Finally, after a long dry spell, Santa Monica is getting some new restaurants.
Aestus is a new modern American helmed by Kevin O’Connor and Alexandre Ageneau from Spago and the Royce respectively.
Interesting smart casual interior.
The current menu, which looks like it changes often enough.
Unusually, I went for a cocktail, in this case a Mezcal based lemony drink. I’m not sure the Mezcal blended perfectly with the rest — but it was strong.
Golden quinoa bowl. beets, persimmons, almonds. The “healthy dish.”
Stracciatella di burrata. shishito, thyme. No, this isn’t Burrata and chocolate strips. Evidently its the inside of the burrata, here served with toast and shishitos. Pleasant enough.
Beef tartare. smoked beets, horseradish. I love beef tartare and usually try to have it.
This was a good one, particularly with the gooey egg and the bit of kick from the horseradish (standing in for black pepper).
Ricotta agnolotti. peas, chanterelles, parmesan. This example is sans mushrooms. Pleasant and buttery. The peas had a nice crunch to them.
Red king salmon. tomatoes, fennel, basil.
Grilled lamb chops. Carrots, apricots, goat cheese. This tasted like a deconstructed Morracan lamb tangine. The lamb itself had a lot of flavor and wasn’t too fatty. The “cheese” had the texture of spray can whipped cream. Odd, but it tasted good. The vegetables had a mixed veggie/sweetness too them and Moroccan spices.
Fried fingerling potatoes. Yogurt sauce. Lots of salt. These came out about the temperature of Satan’s armpits, but they proved to be very tasty potatoes indeed, in no small part due to the salt.
Overall, while I didn’t get to try too many dishes (by my standards), what I did try was very on point. I think this is a sharp kitchen. There is a certain lightness and flavor forward manner that I really liked. It has all the hallmarks of a modern LA restaurant: the wood tables, paper menus, bar, loud surfaces, sharing friendly, and modern plating. The up to date use of textures (moused, crunchy, etc) and the artful plating is very contemporary.
I do have to say the menu isn’t too kid friendly. Our six year old had a few bites of the agnolotti, complained that he doesn’t like cheese INSIDE his pasta (only on). Then ate a lot of potatoes. There was no ketchup 🙂
Restaurant: Nanbankan
Location: 11330 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90025. (310) 478-1591
Date: August 25, 2015
Cuisine: Japanese Yakitori
Rating: Flaming good!
It’s been awhile since the last official Foodie Club dinner. We like to go to wine friendly places — particularly Burgundy friendly places, and Nanbankan certainly fit the bill.
Japanese. Grilled seafood. Grilled meats. Not a lot of “complicated flavors” just high quality ingredients.
Crudités. Everyone gets their own, with miso sauce.
2012 Domaine Roulot Meursault Les Tessons Clos de Mon Plaisir. VM 89-92. Burghound 89-92. This is almost always the best villages wine in Roulot’s range and so it is again in 2012. While strong reduction and sulfur mark the nose, the vibrant, intense and concentrated medium weight flavors are quite fresh where a lovely touch of minerality adds lift to the beautifully balanced, complex and lingering finish. This really coats the mouth with dry extract which buffers the moderately firm and well-integrated acid spine. Good stuff and this should be approachable young yet age beautifully well too.
agavin: Young but very nice acidity and vanilla.
Beef tongue. Nice and chewy, great with lemon.
Shrimp and vegetable tempura. Always a winner.
2005 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. Burghound 94. This is a mild step up in overall class and elegance with a gorgeously perfumed white flower fruit nose introducing linear, precise, intense and powerful medium full flavors that remain splendidly focused on the stunningly long finish that drenches the palate in dry extract. This is a striking 1er and one to buy as it easily delivers grand cru quality.
agavin: The Rav is always a winner. Really nice and full bodied. Hardly like a Chablis.
Clam.
Tiger prawns. Shrimy goodness.
From my cellar: 2004 Morey-Blanc Corton-Charlemagne. Burghound 90-93. A reserved, indeed backward spicy green apple and white pear nose complements delineated but very rich flavors that display moderate wood on the big and weighty if not necessarily super dense finish that packs a serious punch and intensity. The length here is really impressive and the balance is such that this should age for 15 to possibly 20 years.
agavin: reductive, powerful, and oh so yummy!
Ginko nuts. Like wax jellybeans.
Scallops. yum.
2008 Sine Qua Non Kolibri. VM 93. Deep yellow-gold. Ripe pit and exotic fruits on the nose, with complicating notes of honey, sweet butter and green almond. Becomes more floral with air, picking up suggestions of jasmine and chamomile. Lush but focused, with a spine of acidity adding structure and carrying through a very long, sappy and gently sweet finish. Krankl said that he’d serve this with a rich shellfish dish.
agavin: a giant brooding Rhone-like monster, but great with the crab.
Fried softshell crab. Awesome. A really nice tempura crab and a great pairing with the SQN.
Abalone. Nice and tender (for abalone).
Squid. Tasted very Japanese. I love the rubbery texture and flavor.
2003 Domaine Fourrier Griotte-Chambertin Vieille Vigne. VM93+. Red-ruby. Deeply fruity aromas of blackberry, raspberry, violet and bitter chocolate. Wonderfully precise and penetrating, with uncanny definition and detail for a 2003. The black fruit and violet flavors are lifted by a minty, medicinal element on the back end. Impressively concentrated, vibrant wine, finishing with noble tannins and outstanding persistence.
agavin: great medium young Burg.
Sirloin tataki. Will thought too much onion, but I liked it. Very bright flavors.
Pork belly. Yes sir, we ordered another round. Lemon cut the fat. Yeah, it really did.
From my cellar: 1985 Domaine Jean Gros Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Clos des Réas. 94 points. Wonderfully open red currants scent. Sings with candied gooseberries on the palate. Multidimensional and unmistakeably Vosne. Graceful!
agavin: Awesome. A little funky at first, blew off quickly and had that “old but not too old” thing. Real yummy.
Chicken thigh with scallions. Good stuff.
Chicken neck. Sounds gross but was awesome. A bit of crunchy chew.
Chicken wings. Voted best dish of the night.
1989 La Fleur de Gay. Parker 95. Possibly the finest Fleur de Gay made, this rich, very large-scaled, tannic wine has a compelling nose of cassis, licorice, white flowers, minerals, and other sorts of black fruits along with some subtle new oak. Full-bodied, with great delineation, purity, and dazzling concentration and intensity, this is a fabulous example of a Fleur de Gay and a wine that seems capable of lasting at least another two decades.
agavin: A very nice fully mature (but not even slightly old) Bord.
Wagyu steak. Great with Bordeaux.
Shimeji oyster mushrooms. Helps push things on through.
1959 Château Margaux. 97 points. Sweet red cherry, violets, spicecake, cedar, and rose petals on the nose. Raspberry and tart red cherries are notable on the palate. An overall smooth palate help back somewhat by a medium length finish that falls off sooner than desired.
agavin: pretty stunning for 56 years old!
Black cod. Very tender.
Chicken meat balls. This is a Japanese classic and I happen to love them.
Raw quail egg. Plus the meat balls are even better when dipped hot in raw quail egg to coat them with eggy goodness.
Shitake Mushrooms. More fibre.
1994 Guigal Cote Rotie la Turque. Parker 96-98. The great glories of this house are its Cote Roties, of which there are now five separate offerings. The single-vineyard 1994s were singing loudly when I saw them in July. All of them scored significantly higher than they did during the two previous years, which is not unusual as Guigal’s upbringing (elevage) of the wines results in better examples in the bottle than in cask. All three wines flirt with a perfect score. At this tasting, they reminded me of Guigal’s 1982s – opulent, sumptuously-textured, forward, rich, precocious, flattering wines that will drink well throughout their lives. The exotic 1994 Cote Rotie La Turque exhibits a dense purple color, and a fabulously-scented nose of licorice, Asian spices, truffles, minerals, and gobs of black fruits. Full-bodied, with great richness, a multi-layered personality, and an exotic, overripe character, this is a sensational, chocolatey, rich wine with more tannin than La Mouline. Anticipated maturity: 2000-2020. Guigal is one of the cellars where the wines always taste better after they are bottled than they do from cask, although as the scores in this segment indicate, some profound wines can be found in the 1994, 1995, and 1996 vintages Chez Guigal.
agavin: Awesome! Syrah at its finest.
Lamb chops with garlic. We ordered 2 full sets of these. Amazing with the Lala.
Duck breast. Nice and a little smokey. Mustard and yuzu chili were awesome as a condiment.
Pork sausage. Like the BEST hot dog and mustard you ever had. One of my favorites.
NV J.W. Morris Founders Port. 93 points. Probably from the 70s, but mature and super tasty. Fruity and well balanced.
Strawberry and green tea mochi. The strawberry was awesome.
Overall, this was a fabulous dinner. Everything was great, but really the company was the #1 selling point. Very good group. After that, the food was very nice. A change from some of our usual fare and very wine flexible. The wines were fabulous. Not a single “off” wine.
Title: Timebound (The Chronos Files)
Author: Rysa Walker
Genre: Science Fiction
Length: 374 pages
Read: April 14-18, 2015
Summary: Highly recommended
I found Timebound while searching for best sellers to use as advertising targets for my own time travel novel Untimed (I’ve been experimenting with Amazon’s new do-it-yourself ads).
I’m glad I found the Chronos Files.
At a certain level Timebound shares common DNA with Untimed. They both feature teen protagonists who discover they are time travelers and get dragged into a complex temporal war. There are other time traveling relatives and both mythologies even have “books” that to some extent chronicle/reveal/inform. But most of these similarities fall naturally out of the basic “teen discovers they’re a time traveler” idea. I will note that Untimed was published a year earlier, but even if Rysa Walker happened to read it, she has her own tale to tell.
I should note that I half read half listened this this book, utilizing Amazon’s awesome Whispersync. The narrator is phenomenal too.
Kate’s first person narrative is extremely compelling. She speaks in typical past tense in this first outing, but switches into a lightweight present tense in the second book. The voice is light on description, sticking mostly to people, clothing, time travel equipment, and necessary details. It’s longer on Kate’s internal processing, but uses this to deftly bring our plucky protagonist to life. While she superficially resembles many modern YA heroines, being smart, pretty, courageous, resourceful, and the like, Kate manages to maintain a unique personal feel. Namely, she feels real and essentially human. She acts consistently, and has her own constantly evolving opinion and a strong moral compass.
The balance in this first book favors characterization and “world building” over action and even historical exploration. The opening stresses the family dynamics almost more than the time travel revelations. The inciting event (act 1/2 break) is a 1-2 punch as much about meeting her Grandmother and discovering she’s dying as the temporal shift that deletes Kate’s reality and parents (shades of Untimed as well!). There is a well handled but highly deliberate love triangle involving present day boyfriend and a time traveling past boyfriend who remembers her from another timeline. This is actually one of the better love triangles I’ve seen, because it feels both natural and has a natural pathos that flows out of the timeline shift. Book 1 concentrates on present boyfriend — and on the present itself as well as time travel mythos and mechanics. We don’t actually travel anywhere substantial until about the 75% mark. The romantic elements feel slightly injected at times, but are natural enough and not in the least melodramatic.
This is not really an action book, although it is fast paced and tense. There is a lot of talking and planning and perhaps 75% of the novel occurs inside Kate’s house! The narrative and characters are compelling enough to overcome that locational limitation.
Both boyfriends are well developed, although past boyfriend is mostly a child in this first book (sounds more twisted than it is). The parents, aunt, etc are well characterized. The villains are not as strong as the positive supporting characters. We have the time wrecking mastermind grandfather (barely seen but much heard), medium-bad prophetess aunt, the smirking thug Simon, bitchy Eve, and the creepy and effective 1893 serial killer Holmes (my favorite, as I love a good creep).
The past, when Kate gets around to visiting it, is confined to Chicago’s 1893 World’s Columbia Exposition. The overall focus is more personal, involving the survival of Kate’s grandmother and the interaction of the time travelers, than largely historical. Untimed explores the role of the individual in big historical techno-socio-political currents, Timebound focuses on the relationships and cat and mouse between the travelers. Walker did a good job with her period research. Her 1893 feels like late 19th century America. It’s not highly descriptive, but the behavior of the people and general attitudes seem appropriate. It even smacks slightly of Bioshock Infinite, without all the steampunk and weirdness (although I loved that too). I’ll contrast this with a book like Clockwork Angel (gag me with a spoon) where everyone acts like a 21st century snarky teen in Victorian clothes (except the outfit on the cover is more Edwardian — sorry Cliff). As I mentioned before, I like the addition of the authentically creepy real-history serial killer. But part of my point here is that the “scope” of historical interaction isn’t huge in this first book, but it is a decently different era. This is no Tempest where all the time travel is within 15 years. It’s clear Walker loves history, but she concentrates her efforts more on the characters, time travel mechanics, and meta plots.
Which brings us to bad grandpapy Saul and his evil Cyrist church takeover. Liked it. This was both a sensible take on world domination, a clever way to utilize the abilities of a time traveler for “gain,” and a felt creepy and realistic. Somehow, the Cyrists seem very American and perhaps makes me wonder if Walker is an apostate member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Or maybe she just really enjoyed The Book of Mormon (the musical).
What follows now is a fairly technical discussion of time travel mechanics:
Walker’s time travel mechanic is very different than in Untimed, and simultaneously easier to write and more complicated. It would never work, and doesn’t really make total sense (more on this in a second), but it serves up compelling time travel fiction. It falls into the un-predetermined category like Untimed (Time Traveler’s Wife featuring the predetermined type with a single complex timeline). She does support an endless changing “leading edge” or five dimensional meta-timeline like Untimed, but it’s probably closer in spirit to Back to the Future’s system. Causality loops back endlessly in a way that would be very difficult for the Universe to actually compute. Essentially, changes are percolated forward, recomputing everything that is not protected by a technological field (maintained by the Chronos Medallions). This recompilation is apparently instantaneous and continuous as things leaving the field will “correct” (disappearing photos or people and the like) and that new computation will percolate forward. Where it breaks down is that there is no clear elucidation of the relationship between 5th dimensional time in normal 4th dimensional advancement. Let me (partially) explain.
If Kate were to change something in the past, then hop forward to her home time. Another traveler uptime of the change, say Pru, protected by her Chronos field, would notice. Kate and Pru are both free to react to this change and proceed with their next meta-temporal move. But who gets to go first? Well in this case, whoever the author feels like it. Say this attempted change is far back in the past. All (or many) uptime versions of the effected individual would have the opportunity to notice the changed timeline and decide to take action. But which one does? Is it 1:28pm Kate or 2:05pm Kate who takes action? Clearly they all can’t. In practice, while writing the book, there is a “current” narrative version who reacts. But the time travel mechanic doesn’t appear to actually narrow this down. This is why Untimed‘s system allows only one actual version of a time traveler in the timeline at any given 5th dimensional meta-moment.
Timebound also allows loopbacks, self changes, dual memory headaches and the like which don’t make total computational sense. How does the Universe even keep track of all that? Does it have unique IDs for every molecule? Some kind of object tracking system? Computing the loops is a form of the Halting Problem and has been proven (by genius Alan Turing) to be unsolvable in the general case. But none of these technical problem really matter in a work of fiction. From a storytelling point of view Timebound offers a very compelling time travel system with lots of interesting characteristics, limitations, and powers. Book 2 explores it more fully too.
There is also a fairly consistent but loosey goosey treatment of the “butterfly effect.” In this book, things tend to mostly play out the same way if the people basically do the same thing. There doesn’t seem to be a huge sensitivity to minute changes. I.e. slightly altering the timing and whereabouts of the young Katherine in 1893 doesn’t seem to drastically alter her later life and its relationship to the time modifications. People also tend to mostly be preserved, with their circumstances changing around them. This is people centric and I did basically the same thing in Untimed when repurposing the same people in Philadelphia 1.0 and 2.0 (British America 2012). It makes for better storytelling.
All in all, a great novel, and a fabulous addition to the time travel genre (which clearly I have a positive bias toward). I jumped right into book 2, read that, and am sad I have to wait six months for book 3.
Restaurant: Jinya Ramen Bar
Location: 2400 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90405. (310) 392-4466
Date: April 16 & May 4, 2015
Cuisine: Japanese Ramen
Rating: Solid Tonkotsu Ramen
There is a crazy amount of ramen opening up recently, particularly (on the westside) in the Sawtelle Japantown area. But Jinya, which is a bit of a chain, has opened an outpost on Main street right in Santa Monica!
The frontage.
There is lovely patio dining as well as inside.
The main menu, appetizers are on the back (which I forgot to photo).
A small salad. Almost like a Korean salad, with a fairly bland dressing.
Fried pork goyza. Pretty good typical Japanese goyza.
Seafood dynamite. Pretty delicious with lots of flavor.
Shrimp Toast. Toast with shrimp smushed between. Quite tasty.
Sauces.
Jinya Tonkotsu Black. Pork broth. Pork chashu. Kikurage, green onion, nori dried seaweed, seasoned egg, garlic chips, garlic oil, fried onion and thin noodles.
This was an excellent Tonkotsu ramen. The broth was rich, not as thick as the Tsujita super broth, but very rich and super delicious, particularly with a bit of saucing.
A version of the black with chicken wontons added — this took it up even another level.
Cha Cha Cha. Pork broth, pork chashu, pork back fat, seasoned egg, bean sprouts, Chopped Onion, Green Onion, Fish Powder, Korean Powder. With thick noodles. Rich and delicious.
Overall, there are a number of options at Jinya too. It’s nothing crazy unique as good Japanese Ramen goes, but it’s certainly an excellent bowl of noodles.
Restaurant: Ice Cream Lab
Location: 369 E 2nd St. Los Angeles, CA 90012. (424) 270-0009
Date: April 7, 2015
Cuisine: Ice Cream
Rating: Nitro Cold Stone!
I’ve had nitro ice cream at high end modernist restaurants for some years, but it was only this January that I encountered it in the form of an ice cream parlor — while up at San Francisco’s Smitten.
But it turns out LA has its own equivalent in the form of Ice Cream Lab, located in DTLA, Beverly Hills, and Pasadena.
The interior.
Some various cone options.
ICL uses a different but similar machine to Smitten. But one of the big differences is that they “mixin” various flavor combos — pretty much like Cold Stone Creamery — but all nitro frozen.
Salt Lick Crunch. All Natural vanilla ice cream mixed with pretzels, caramel, and topped with sea salt.
This was pretty awesome. Not sure if because of the creamy ice cream or because pretzels and caramel are just amazing when mixed with any kind of ice cream.
A dairy free chocolate, made with coconut milk. ‘nilla wafers. This was about as good as dairy free ice cream gets — which is to say not quite as good as the real stuff.
Overall, in my limited sample, this was good stuff and I look forward to returning. I’ve always been a sucker for mixins, so it didn’t take much arm twisting. I’m not totally sure the nitro part makes THAT much difference. Yeah, there is a nice mouth feel, but probably not as good as a great Gelato in Italy — and probably a lot more fat than that gelato.
Location: 500 West Main Street Suite A, Alhambra, CA 91801. (626) 308-3222
Date: August 14, 2015
Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese
Rating: Fine Cantonese
About once a year the Sauvages lunch group heads down to some wine friendly SGV Chinese restaurant for some fun filled Cantonese.
Flight 0: Les Amuses
2013 Château Miraval Côtes de Provence Rosé. VM 90. Pale orange. Fresh tangerine, strawberry and white flowers on the fragrant, mineral-accented nose. Silky and precise, offering tangy red fruit flavors that are lifted and sharpened by a white pepper nuance. Finishes clean, nervy and long, with excellent clarity and lingering minerality. This suave wine has the power to work with rich foods and the energy to give pleasure by itself.
agavin: a decent provencal rose. The big claim to fame is the Brad Pitt / Angelina Jolie connection.
Typical sauce: mustard, chili, and XO (fermented shellfish with a bit of chili).
Flight 1: Radical Riesling
2011 Domaine Ostertag Riesling Muenchberg. VM 92. Pale straw. Sweet chamomile, anise and licorice notes complicate very ripe pear jelly and Golden Delicious apple on the nose and palate. Dense and suave in the mouth, with smooth flavors of ripe citrus, chamomile and minerals carrying through on the very long finish. Like many of Ostertag’s wines, this one comes across as unctuous yet very fresh, thanks to firm acidity and chewy buffering extract. Ostertag owns two parcels in this grand cru, mostly in the central part of the cru, which is exposed full south. The average age of the vines is almost 50 years, and you can tell from the wine’s rich texture and depth of flavor that this is a true vieilles vignes bottling.
From my cellar: 2011 Prager Riesling Smaragd Klaus. VM 91. Rich aromas of vineyard peach, passion fruit and acacia honey. Tautly strung on the palate, with juicy apricot fruit wound around a vibrant backbone. The wine’s discreet residual sugar is disguised by abundant minerals and a lemony nuance. With a long finish featuring yellow plum and wet rocks, this riesling shows good balance in spite of its 14% alcohol.
2002 Schloss Vollrads Riesling Kabinett. 89 points. Deep Golden Yellow, Crisp and fruity
Very tasty.
Jumbo shrimp har gow. As good a version as I’ve had.
Jumbo pork siu mai. Perhaps more succulent and tender than many.
Spring roll. Perfectly fine. I forgot to photo one at the beginning and had to make due with this unappetizing “after the fact” image.
Flight 2: Alsace Alpha
2012 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Schlossberg. VM 92. Luminous straw-green. Delicate aromas of nectarine, lemon verbena and jasmine are complicated by racy minerality. Deep, dense, clean flavors of white stone fruits and aromatic herbs are penetrating and very long, with the finish showing an obvious saline edge. Made from vines grown on the higher slopes of the Schlossberg hill, this wine is always characterized by ripe, floral acidity and rarely expresses fusel aromas, especially when young.
2005 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Cuvée Ste. Catherine. VM 91+. Pale green. Complex aromas of citrus skin, ripe peach and spices, with a tangy whiff of botrytis. Spicy, dense and rich but quite backward and wound-up. This, too, is classically dry in style, with nearly exotic mace and nutmeg notes perking up the palate. Finishes very dry and very long, with flavors of pineapple and dusty stone. Penetrating and rather austere-in need of aging. This is mostly from the bottom of the Schlossberg, but 20% of the wine comes from outside the grand cru border.
In the back, Turnip roll. A light flakey pastry stuffed with turnip and onion. Quiet nice actually, if a little heavy.
Front and center, BBQ pork. My favorite type, sweet and flavorful.
To the right, BBQ roast duck. Great except for all the bones (which are usual).
Duck sauce. Good on the pork too if you like to double down on your sweet.
Flight 3: Hot in the South
2004 Chapoutier Ermitage Cuvee de l’Oree. Parker 99. A wine that tastes akin to liquid rocks as well as white currants and quince is the light golden 2004 Ermitage Cuvee de l’Oree. This is a fabulous wine, with blockbuster intensity and richness. This is the kind of wine that may last 50-100 years, but of course most readers will opt for earlier consumption.
agavin: Parker loves these, and I own a whole bunch, but I’m not really feeling the love. They are so high alcohol.
2007 Guigal Condrieu la Doriane. Parker 95. This full-bodied white was aged in one-third new oak and two-thirds tank. One hundred percent of the 2007 Condrieu La Doriane is vinified in new oak, and put through malolactic. It is then aged for 11 months prior to bottling. Absolutely exquisite, with the oak pushed to the background, this wine’s fruit character is dominated by apricots, peaches, honeysuckle, and marmalade. The beautiful floral and honeyed fruit aromatics are followed by a sumptuous, full-bodied white that is never heavy (because of good acidity) or flabby. Consume it over the next 2-3 years.
2012 Andre Perret Condrieu. Parker 92. Moving to his Condrieus, the 2012 Condrieu (aged in equal parts barrel and tank) offers up classic lychee nut, flowers and tangerine aromas and flavors, medium-bodied richness, and brilliant purity of fruit. Possessing a perfect mix of freshness and richness, with vibrant acidity and loads of fruit, it should drink nicely for 4-5 years.
Shrimp lettuce cup. The plum sauce unfortunately came AFTER I had finished the roll. Nice crunch to it though.
Stir-fried lobster w/ black pepper sauce. A nice lobster.
Flight 4: Rhone Rampage
1999 Chapoutier Chateauneuf du Pape la Bernardine. Parker 89-91. The 1999 Chateauneuf du Pape La Bernardine offers a sweet perfume of jammy black cherries, cassis, licorice, and minerals, moderate tannin, medium to full body, and excellent ripeness as well as flesh. It will age well for 10-12 years.
2000 Domaine de la Grange des Peres VDP de l’Herault. Parker 94. Profound aromas of peppered blackberries, and garrigue emanate from the glass of the 2000 Vin de Pays de l’Herault (red). This juicy, fresh, concentrated wine is a powerfully elegant beauty. Dark cherries, black raspberries, flowers, and assorted red fruits are found in its seamless personality as well as in its luxurious finish. Anticipated maturity: now-2014.
2004 Domaine Tempier Bandol Rouge Cuvee Cabassaou. Parker 91. The nose stubbornly refuses to charm: surly, introspective with faint scents of forest floor, damp moss, leather and blackberry. The palate is full-bodied, very backward, dense and at the moment just lacking some cohesion. But I am sure this will meld together with ageing but it just lacks a little persistency on the finish. Drinking 2015-2022.
Stir fried frog. With whole garlic, mushrooms, and sweet Chinese sausage. Tasted great, although the look of the frog legs in this sauce wasn’t the most attractive thing I’ve ever seen.
Flight 5: Power of the Priorat
2004 Clos Mogador. Parker 96+. Clos Mogador is produced by the esteemed Rene Barbier who has hit homeruns in both 2003 and 2004. The 2004 Clos Mogador has a more saturated purple color than the 2003 as well as a more expressive perfume of mocha, coffee, and flowers (violets) in addition to toasty oak, earth, and blue and black fruits. More extracted and backward than the 2003, it demands a decade of cellaring and should drink well for an additional 20 years. The 2004 is a tour de force.
2001 Costers del Siurana Clos de l’Obac. Parker 91. This unfiltered blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Syrah, Merlot, and Carignan, aged for 14 months in new French oak, and bottled unfiltered, boasts a deep purple color along with a pure bouquet of raspberries, blueberries, wet stones, and toasty, subtle vanillin. Medium-bodied with outstanding concentration, impressive elegance, and a nice texture, this tight but promising 2001 should hit its prime in 2-4 years, and last for 12-15.
2003 Alvaro Palacios L’Ermita. Parker 94-97. I tasted a ready-to-be-bottled tank sample of the 2003 L’Ermita. Typically there are 400-500 cases of this blockbuster, but because of the vintage’s tiny crop as well as a severe triage, only 240 cases were produced. This superb effort displays a black/blue/purple color along with a huge nose of creme de cassis, flowers, crushed rocks, and a hint of smoke. The wine is full-bodied and opulent, with tremendous structure, great definition and purity, and a huge, but elegant, persistent finish. It will benefit from another 1-2 years of bottle age, and last for 15 plus.
agavin: someone brought out the big guns!
On the left, fried frog. Really great crispy garlic fry. Few bones. One of the best frog preps I’ve had.
On the right “french beef.” Sweet and beefy. Good with the wine.
Asparagus. Sort of the prep for Szechuan string beans, but with asparagus.
Flight D: Sweet Finish
2003 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Auslese. VM 93. Birch beer and pungent brown spices in the nose. Enormously rich, with a hint of caramelization, yet only subtly sweet in overall impression. Peach jam with candied lemon zest, herbal essences, and brothy meat and mineral depths. Firmer in feel than this year’s Brucke Auslese #19, and apt to unfold over a long period.
My cup of tea! Actually it’s the Donnhoff.
Macao Egg Custard. This version was a little eggy, but good.
Sesame mochi ball with bean paste. Nice texture and a really good bean paste. Too bad I don’t digest beans like I used to.
A mango soup, very refreshing.
First off, I have to say this may be my first (regular) Chinese meal that was individually plated. Impressive.
Second, we had a LOT of great straight up Cantonese here and some fun wines with a lot of variety. I thought the dry rieslings paired best, but some of the reds were fabulous wines. Oh, how I love the SGV.
Restaurant: Michael’s on Naples [1, 2, 3]
Location: 5620 E 2nd St. Long Beach, CA 90803. (562) 439-7080
Date: August 13, 2015
Cuisine: Italian
Rating: A top LA Italian
A couple years ago, we organized our first Hedonist outing to Michael’s on Naples, rated on the Zagat list as #2 best restaurant in all Los Angeles. I co-organized this one with our fearless leader Yarom, myself, coordinating and designing the menu as well as ordering the wines. So many things sounded good that I came up with a 14 course extravaganza. The resulting Hedonistic Italian blowout ended up (with some alternates) as a total feast of great wine and food.
Michael’s is located on Naples Island, a bridge-connected island in Longbeach that looks so much like Florida they use it to film much of Dexter‘s Miami.
We were set up in this lovely private room. For a table of 15, this was about as perfect as it gets. Not too loud, space to move around and arrange the wines, and a square table that allowed for much better conversation than a long skinny deal.
First a note on the wine service. I had them put out 1 flute, 2 white glasses and 4 red glasses (2 and 2 of Burgundy and Bordeaux style). Then because of the number of red wines we had and the light, often white oriented first half of the menu, I progressed the white and red wine simultaneously — at least for the first half of the meal — so that people would have both colors in the glass. I tried to progress in varietal bunches, usually in flights of about 2 wines.
From my cellar: 2013 Zardetto Prosecco Zeta. Pairs great with food. A very simple wine, but its simple fruit allows it to go with anything.
Our special menu tonight, designed by me in conjunction with the chef and catering manager.
The pescatarian version for a couple of the ladies, including my lovely wife.
From my cellar: 2013 Giovanni Almondo Roero Arneis Vigne Sparse. 89 points. Clean and clear, touch of pale green color, with tight aromas of underripe stone fruit. Palate opens nicely, showing white peach, some Bosc pear, along with characteristic background of almond and herb. Bracing acidity, clean moderate fruit intensity, and a nice medium finish make this example a delightful version of an underappreciated noble grape. Very food-friendly.
2013 Bruno Giacosa Roero Arneis. 90 points. Very pale lemon colored with a nose of citrus and perfume. This wine tastes of lemon zest, other citrus, and almonds. It is light to medium bodied with crisp acidity and a shortish finish. Good food white wine.
agavin: more “oaked” than the Sparse, but quiet delicious.
From my cellar: 2010 Quarticello Rivellino Emilia IGT. 90 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. Superb on a hot spring day. This wine is begging for Prosciutto (which is why I put it with the pizza).
agavin: There was a barnyard vibe to the wine, and it was super “different” for being a deep purple, yet frizante and dry. I liked it, but unusual. Those who prefer their wines clean and over extracted weren’t into it.
Ricotta stuffed squash blossoms with honey basil pesto. They sweetness of the honey really took this to the next level.
Speck, buffalo mozzarella pizza. basil pesto and sweet peppers. This had just the combo of salty, cheesy, and other savory elements (the best) that I really like on my own pizzas.
Italian sausage pizza. roasted peppers, basil pesto and mozzarella. Another fabulous meaty blend.
Forest mushroom pizza. basil pesto and Taleggio cheese. Great for a veggie pizza.
Confit baby artichokes. basil pesto and goat cheese. My least favorite, mostly because of the texture of the artichokes, but still good.
Bread.
From my cellar: 2007 Venica & Venica Malvasia Collio. 92 points. Great malvasia. Interesting as well as refreshing. A medium-full bodied white. Apricot, green apple and honey on the nose. Fresh tastes of apples, apricots comingle with a vibrant acidity. Would buy again.
2001 Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Nuova. VM 96. Medium-deep bright ruby. Beautiful, profound nose of sweet ripe cherry, pipe tobacco, almond and raspberry jam. Ripe, suave and juicy, with sweet flavors similar to the aromas, this is an absolutely seamless wine with lively harmonious acidity on a suave, never-ending finish. Though extremely concentrated, this is a uniquely refined Brunello with wonderfully suave smooth, classy tannins.
agavin: by itself a great brunello, but paled compared to the “piano”.
Fighi e Prosciutto D’Anatra. Housemade Liberty farm duck prosciutto with Mission fig and goat cheese mousse. A great summery dish. Figs, cheese, and prosciutto have been a favorite since antiquity!
The same thing without the ham.
From my cellar: 2010 Borgo del Tiglio (Nicola Manferrari) Collio Studio di Bianco. VM 95. Weightless, crystalline and pure, the 2010 Studio di Bianco appears to float on the palate. White pear, crushed rocks, oyster shells and lime jump from the glass. A beautifully delineated, vibrant wine, the 2010 captures the best qualities of the year. Stylistically, the 2010 is brighter and more focused than the 2011, with a bit less body but more sheer drive and personality. What a gorgeous wine this is.
agavin: Another great Italian white.
2006 E. Fuligni (Cottimelli) Brunello di Montalcino. VM 96. Bright dark red. Captivating nose shows a medicinal quality to the notes of sandalwood, minerals, graphite and orange peel. At once silky and explosive in the mouth, providing oustanding density without heaviness and saturating the entire mouth with sweet flavor. A wine of incredible aromatic thrust. The floral lift on the extremely long finish gives the wine an almost Lafite-like clarity.
Fegato D’Oca. Hudson Valley foie gras terrine, stone fruit jam and mustard greens. I love foie terrine and this was no exception. It paired nicely with the sweet jam. It was perhaps a touch warm, and so not firm enough, but still tasted great.
Frutta di Stagione. Stone fruit and watercress salad with candied pecans and robiola cheese.
From my cellar: 2001 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières. Burghound 91. Stunningly pure fruit laced with citrus and lime notes framed by a deft trace of pain grillé with understated flavors of remarkable precision just oozing a wet stones character. The bright acidity beautifully frames an impressively long finish and this presents itself as a classic Folatières. This is really very fine and classy. I like the style of this immensely.
agavin: Drinking perfectly. Shows how hardass the Burghound reviews are that this is a 91, really drinking like a 96.
1995 Valdicava Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna del Piano. VM 94. The 1995 is a fresh, vibrant Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna del Piano that is just entering its prime drinking window. Expressive, open aromas meld seamlessly into a palate loaded with ripe, perfumed fruit. This full-bodied, delineated wine offers notable inner sweetness and a long, resonating finish. Abbruzzese calls 1995 a “sister vintage” to 1993, but comments that he was better prepared to capture the best qualities of the vintage.
agavin: about as good as Brunello gets!
From my cellar: 1999 Paolo Bea Sagrantino di Montefalco Secco. VM 95. The wine was absolutely majestic.
agavin: starting to brick, and full of sediment (unfiltered), but lovely and pruney.
Polipo con Patate. Grilled octopus with fingerling potatoes, caperberries, micro celery. A ver mild and fresh summer dish.
Caponata di Melanzane. Grilled crostini with eggplant stew.
1990 Gaja Barbaresco. VM 95. The 1990 Barbaresco emerges from the glass with an exotic array of tar, smoke, licorice and grilled herbs. There is wonderful intensity to the fruit and plenty of structure. The tannins are still a bit young and the wine is only now beginning to enter the early part of what looks to be a long drinking window! The 1990 Barbaresco is a touch rounder and softer than the 1989, with perhaps just a little less aromatic complexity and inner perfume, although that is splitting hairs at this level. The finish is long, intense and deeply satisfying. This is a marvelous bottle of Barbaresco.
agavin: I’ve had better bottles of this wine, but it was still quiet nice.
From my cellar: 1990 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Gallina di Neive. VM 94. The 1990 Barbareso Gallina is simply awesome. The wine boasts a seamless core of rich red fruits in a soft, generous style. This opulent Barbaresco possesses impeccable balance and tons of class. Floral notes intermingled with bright red fruits provide lift on the finish, adding lovely balance to the dense fruit. This is the most approachable of Giacosa’s 1990s but has plenty of stuffing to last another twenty years. The 1978 is still going strong.
agavin: a little funky and petro-like for a few minutes. Got better, but still not as good as it should be.
Agnolotti di Mais. Stuffed pasta with corn, ricotta and braised greens. Everyone LOVED this pasta course. The corn was fresh and bright and provided a nice complement to the al dente pasta. It was voted a Hedonist “10”!
1998 Gaja Barbaresco. VM 91. Good deep medium red. Deeply pitched aromas of plum, mocha, licorice and dried flowers. Dense and chewy with extract; compelling, sweet flavors of currant and licorice. Tannins are sweeter than those of the ’99 Barbaresco. Finishes with a suggestion of nutty oak.
From my cellar: 1997 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Cascina Francia. VM 96. Giacomo Conterno’s 1997 Barolo Cascina Francia was also fabulous. The 1997 vintage seems to have yielded great wines in some of Piedmont’s poorer soils, as this heroic Barolo amply demonstrated. The 1997 was pure Serralunga Barolo, which is to say roses, tar and licorice galore on a frame of substantial depth and pure breed.
2004 Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo Romirasco. VM 93. Imposing and dark on the palate, the 2004 Barolo Romirasco possesses massive fruit, beguiling aromatics and considerable depth. Today, the 2004 is a bit in an awkward stage, where tertiary aromatics have not yet developed although much of the wine’s youthful exuberance has begun to fade. As such, the 2004 is best cellared for at least another few years. Although some time has passed, I did expect the 2004 Romirasco to be a touch fresher than this.
Casarecce con Agnello. Homemade pasta with Marin County lamb ragu`and burrata. Another good pasta, although if the corn ravioli was a 10, this was more a 9.
Casarecce con Funghi. Homemade pasta with forest mushroom, brown butter and sage.
1986 Latour Pauillac. Parker 90. Tasted from my cellar, the 1986 has consistently been outstanding, falling short of being sublime. The spicy, peppery bouquet reveals aromas of dried herbs and red currant fruit. Medium-bodied, austere, but youthful, vigorous, and concentrated, this wine still requires 4-5 years of cellaring. It is surpassed in this vintage (which favored the northern Medoc and Cabernet Sauvignon) by its rivals, Lafite-Rothschild and Mouton-Rothschild.
agavin 98. This bottle was drinking PERFECTLY. Really nice.
1997 Angelo Gaja Darmagi Cabernet Sauvignon. Parker 90-94. There are 1,000 cases of the exceptional, black/purple-colored 1997 Darmagi Cabernet Sauvignon (3-4% Cabernet Franc was added to the blend). With abundant quantities of smoky, concentrated fruit as well as tannin, the vintage’s low acid, thick, glycerin-imbued character, and a layered, full-bodied finish, it should develop nicely for two decades.
agavin 94: I’ve never had this Gaja cab. I liked it a lot though.
Petto d’Anatra. Seared Liberty Farm duck breast with farrotto, Farm Lot 59 rainbow chard, and bing cherry reduction. A great duck dish. Very smokey and lean.
Branzino alla Griglia. Grilled Mediterranean sea bass with confit artichokes, potatoes and Taggiasche olives.
2003 Tua Rita Redigaffi Toscana IGT. VM 90. Tua Rita’s 2003 Redigaffi, 100% Merlot, opens with notes of over-ripeness on the nose. An initial suggestion of reduction blows of with air. It presents plenty of fruit, chocolate and toasted oak along with a richly concentrated, opulent personality, yet a note of gaminess and hard, unripe tannins ultimately convey the impression of a less polished version of this wine than is normally the case. My preference is to drink Redigaffi on the young side.
agavin 92: Nice and extracted.
2010 Tua Rita Redigaffi Toscana IGT. VM 96. I am struck by how light on its feet the 2010 Redigaffi is for such a big wine. Dark red cherries, tobacco, licorice, smoke and anise all flesh out as this layered wine opens up in the glass. Over time, the wine’s intense salinity emerges, adding energy, drive and polish. Hints of dark cherry, plum and smoke reappear on the vibrant finish. Readers will find much to admire in the superb 2010. To be sure, the 2010 is less outwardly opulent than is often the case with Redigaffi, but there is no denying the wine’s absolute beauty.
agavin: Our bottle was open for 4-6 hours in the decanter, but was still a fruit bomb monster.
2008 Tenuta San Guido Bolgheri Sassicaia Sassicaia. VM 96. The 2008 Sassicaia is a rich, deep wine imbued with notable class in its black cherries, plums, grilled herbs, minerals and smoke. The 2008 is a decidedly buttoned-up, firm Sassicaia that is currently holding back much of its potential, unlike the 2006 and 2007, both of which were far more obvious wines. Readers who can afford to wait will be treated to a sublime wine once this settles down in bottle. Muscular, firm tannins frame the exquisite finish in this dark, implosive Sassicaia. The 2008 Sassicaia is 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Cabernet Franc. The wine spent 24 months in French oak barrels.
agavin 96: I forgot how much I love Sassicaia, even when it’s young.
Porchetta. Roasted Devil’s Gulch pork loin and belly with eggplant caponata and roasted potatoes. This was super tasty, although a little on the rare side for my pork taste.
Ippoglosso in Padella. Pan seared Alaskan halibut with fava, fregola and tomato jam.
The chaos in full swing.
From my cellar: 2008 Paolo Bea Sagrantino di Montefalco Passito. agavin 97. Pure red raison juice. I love this stuff. All biodynamic. All late harvest ripasso style. An ultra rare dessert wine.
From my cellar: 1997 Fattoria Di Pancole Vin Santo di San Gimignano. This is that kind of Tuscan “dry” vin santo, making it more like a dry sherry. I tend to like the sweeter types.
Torta Di Mandorle. Almond cake with rosemary simple syrup and vanilla whipped cream. I adored this dessert. Between the almond flavor and the icing. I just love that.
Cannoli Con Impastata Alla Frutta. Crispy cannoli shells filled with Ricotta impastata cream, candied orange peels and Valrhona chocolate. I always love a good cannoli. I couldn’t taste the orange peel, which disappointed me, but otherwise they were great.
Ciambelle Dolci. Italian doughnuts served with orange glaze. Love these. Just love ’em.
Panna Cotta con Frutti di Bosco. Panna cotta with seasonal mixed berries.
Overall another fantastic dinner. Different and more varied in wine type than our usual Hedonist fare. I’ll break down the discussion into different components.
Food: The chef and catering manager did a great job working with me to generate not one but two fabulous menus. These were extensive, varied, and highly seasonal. Compare to our last visit here (in December). This was a similar sized, but much lighter more summery menu. Execution was excellent with some dishes being stellar: duck, corn ravioli, squash blossoms, and the rest being just “very good.” A few people didn’t love the octopus but I thought it quiet light and lovely. Course size was small, but given the number of plates really about right for anyone but the most gluttonous of us (which includes me).
Wine: We had a really nice array of wines. The giacosa barbaresco was a little off and the a few people with “unsubtle pallets” thought the Lambrusco and the Sagrantino a little “weird,” but there was consensus that all the whites were fabulous along with the del piano and all the Bordeaux varietals.
Service: The staff did a fabulous job handling a party of this size, starting with a perfect table and a layout of 7 stems per person. Courses arrived with excellent pacing and got down fairly swiftly considering the 15 person count and the difficulty in accessing the back of the room. Not like they do in the Republique private room where it all comes down within 2 seconds of each other, but still great. Attitude and attentiveness was first rate. Silverware was being constantly fixed and reset.
Wine Service: The Somm and lead waiter did a great job. They opened most of the bottles and got a lot of stuff decanted. They even labeled the decanters to avoid confusion. We had a nice separate wine table (badly needed). I had an unusual and taxing wine order with simultaneous progression of white and reds. They were able to understand my cryptic shout outs about what was in what glass with no slip ups. Where wine service fell down slightly (from a very high ideal) was in speed and availability of “pouring.” Now, I’m not really dinging them because there are like 3 restaurants in Southern California that could do better and all of them would charge A LOT just for the wine service. These would handle it by having at least one dedicated wine guy who all the time who didn’t help with food service. Because our Somm and main waiter were also delivering food, busing, and resetting silverware — not even mentioning their duties elsewhere in the restaurant — they didn’t have enough time to be constantly pouring. But a meal like this, with over 25 wines needs constant pouring. It was 3 hours long which means a wine is heading around roughly every 7 minutes and a glass poured every 30 seconds — for the entire dinner! In practice it’s more concentrated than that. Basically this would require someone full time, and someone skilled at pouring bottles 15 ways too. I have a lot of practice pouring (and a Sommelier Cert) so I helped them out by pouring about 40-50% of the flights. I’m fast too and I brought one of my dripless spouts to speed things up. Too bad I didn’t have a couple. Plus it helped that I had the “wine vision” in my head. It would be nice if I hadn’t had to do this, but unrealistic without a 100% dedicated person. So net net I was very pleased.
Value: Tremendous. At $120 per person + tax/tip this was just fabulous value, particularly given the level of service and the lack of corkage. Bravo!
A bunch of the Hedonists also stayed and smoked cigars outside. The staff were very cool about setting this up. We, however, fled home to get to bed :-).
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Restaurant: La Cambusa
Location: Piazza Amerigo Vespucci, 4, 84017 Positano, Italy. +39 089 875432
Date: June 28, 2015
Cuisine: Italian
Rating: Excellent, and right by the beach
You’d think that restaurants right by the port and the main beach wouldn’t be up to snuff — but far from it.
Located right next to the main church at the edge of the beach.
The extra story gives it a nice view and a great atmosphere. Of course up the hill are far better views, but who wants to hike up there in the middle of a beach day?
Caprese. Fresh local buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes.
Fried zucchini blossoms stuffed with ricotta cheese.
Crudo. Italian sashimi. Certainly a bit of Japanese influence (soy sauce, wasabi), but with Italian touches too like the fruit and olive oil. Very nice fish with bright flavors.
Penne pomodoro.
Spaghetti pomodoro.
Seafood ravioli. Housemade ravioli stuffed with fish and covered with shrimps in a gauzetto sauce. I love this tomato, garlic, white wine reduction sauce.
We didn’t have an extensive meal at La Cambusa, but everything we did try had a really nice polish to it, above average for sure. If I get back anytime soon I’ll have to go for dinner. Or if I finish inventing my Star Trek Transporter, then I’m all over it.
Restaurant: il Tridente
Location: Viale Pasitea, 148, 84017 Positano SA, Italy. +39 089 811111
Date: June 27, 2015
Cuisine: Italian
Rating: Great food, great service, great view
Returning hastily from Revello at a late hour with no restaurant reservation, we quested around for a last minute spot to dine.
Online reviewers liked the restaurant hidden away in the Hotel Poseidon (which we actually had reservations at before we found a great villa to rent).
After a long 200+ stair descent, then a hike up four flights in the hotel, the location turned out to be an oasis of paradise. Live jazz was playing as well.
Check out the view.
And to the other side. The Italian/American “hospitality manager” dropped by our table too and was quiet charming.
Bread is good as usual.
The menu.
An amuse of eggplant and raw shrimp.
2013 Azienda Agricola Tenuta San Francesco Costa d’Amalfi Per Eva. I liked this wine, ordered it on two occasions.
Tomato salad.
Saute misto di frutti di mare. Mixed seafood saute.
Bread to soak up the garlic sauce.
Penne pomodoro.
Linguine artigianali con scampi, pomodorini del pendolo e vongole veraci. Linguine with scampi, clams, and cherry tomatoes. I couldn’t get enough of this guazzeto sauce based local dish.
Spigola al sale profumata al finocchietto selvatico con patate e verdure. Sea bass cooked in salt crust with wild fennel, potatoes, and vegetables.
The salty shell keeps the fish moist.
And plated with olive oil. This dish is common to the whole Mediterranean. Not always the salt prep, but the basic grilled/baked sea fish with olive oil.
Chocolate gelato.
Delizia al limone Amalfitano. This incredible cake consists of a sponge cake dome with a lemon creme or lemon gelato center, and covered in lemoncello cream sauce made from Amalfi lemons. It was just so creamy lemony good.
Dolcezza del Vesuvio. A miniature volcano of chocolate and orange.
Il Tridente was a touch hidden, but it was well worth trekking to as the food was great, the view spectacular, and the service very nice.
Restaurant: da Gabrisa
Location: Viale Pasitea, 221, 84017 Positano SA, Italy. +39 089 811498
Date: June 26, 2015
Cuisine: Italian
Rating: Fine, but not great
Our assault on Positano’s restaurants continues. Because of the stairs, we tended to focus for dinner on places not to vertically offset from our own location.
Da Gabrisa is located just up the road (there is only one) in a nearby hotel.
As usual (for Positano) it features a lovely view.
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The menu.
2013 Azienda Agricola Tenuta San Francesco Costa d’Amalfi Per Eva. 90 points. Delicious Italian white blend from campanula. There is a strong Aroma of fresh flowers and honey. Floral notes forward with a powerfully nutty finish. This wine is “sweeter” (still fully dry) than the very tart single varietals.
Bread.
An amuse of toast with whipped cheese.
Pumpkin cream soup served with fresh buffalo ricotta cheese.
INSALATA ISABELLA, CON PERA, NOCI E SCAGLIE DI PARMIGIANO. Green salad, with pear slices, Parmigiano flakes and walnuts.
ANTIPASTO GABRISA, VARI GUSTOSI ANTIPASTI DI VERDURE DELLA NOSTRA TRADIZIONE. A house speciality made of a mix of tasty vegetables starters of our Neapolitan tradition.
Penne pomodoro.
Spaghetti pomodoro.
RISOTTO ALLE VERDURE GRIGLIATE, MANTECATO ALLA SCAMORZA SORRENTINA. Risotto with grilled vegetables, creamed with local melting cheese.
CALAMARATA DI GRAGNANO ALLA PESCATORE. Local large pasta rings prepared with a cherry tomato sauce, cooked with shrimp, squid, black mussels and clams.
UNA SCELTA DI VARI GELATI TARTUFO PRODOTTI ARTIGIANALMENTE DA GENNARO BOTTONE. Special Tartufo ice creams produced by a famed maitre chocolatier.
SEMIFREDDO AL TORRONCINO CON PRALINA DI MANDORLE CARAMELLATE. Frozen dessert, with caramelized almonds and caramel.
Mild Italian raison cookies.
Service at da Gabrisa was great (although it was consistently good in Positano in general). The owners appeared to be American and our server certainly was. She was extremely friendly and accommodating.
Food was solid and well presented. Flavors and prep were perhaps slightly less tuned up than a few of the other places, but it was still quiet good.
