Author Archive for agavin – Page 62

Eating Assisi – Buca di S. Francesco

Jul26

Restaurant: Buca di S. Francesco

Location: Via Eugenio Brizi, 1, Assisi PG, Italy. +39 075 812204

Date: June 17, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Fun meal, good food

_

Night three in Assisi and we search out a third place.

We actually found this one just walking on the way to the square.

The menu looked pretty good.

It had both a large outside patio.

And a vaulted interior.

All those plates are from sister restaurants in some kind of hand painted “signature dish” club.

1970 Fattoria dei Barbi (Colombini) Brunello di Montalcino Riserva. 92 points. These grapes of this beautifull wine were on the vines when I was born! Amazing that this wine is still so full of character. This bottle has once and for all confirmed for me that Brunello di Montalcino can be a real classic. It tasted much like an older Burgundy but was full of character and depth.

The waiter decanted it of course.

The usual insalte mista.

Salmone affumicato. Smoked salmon.

Penne pomodoro (of course).

Spaghetti with mushrooms.

Tagliatelle alla norcina. The sausage and cream sauce!

Tortellini with cheese and cream sauce.

Piccione all’assisana. Pigeon with liver again, this was fine, and the bird very rich and meaty, but it wasn’t nearly as good as the awesome version we had in Orvieto.

Onions with balsamic. Delicious sweet onions.

Torta con pere e ciocolato. Tort with pear and chocolate!

Tortino di ciocolato. Like a chocolate cupcape.

Torta di ricotta alle nocciole. Ricotta tort.

Semifreddo al Bacio. A semifreddo with bacio (chocolate and hazelnut flavor). Given that Perugina (the chocolate company that makes Bacci) is just 40 minutes from Assisi, it seemed apropos.

Biscotti. Some strange cornflake covered cookies!

Overall, this was a fun meal even if only because the setting was great and the service and waiter were absolutely delightful. The food was good too, not mind blowing or anything, but that kind of solid that you find in kitchens all over Italy.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

They had cool ancient caves carved in the limestone below too

Related posts:

  1. Eating Assisi – Locanda del Podesta
  2. Eating Assisi – Osteria dei Priori
  3. Eating Montalcino – Le Potazzine
  4. Eating Colle di Val d’Elsa – Arnolfo
  5. Eating Tuscany – Villa Breakfast
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: , , , , , ,

Dirty Dozen – Locanda Veneta

Jul24

Restaurant: Locanda Veneta

Location: 8638 W 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90048. (310) 274-1893

Date: July 22, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: great night w/ retro 90s Italian

_

After a few months respite the Dirty Dozen ride again, our club of blind tasters club within a club. The numbers have swelled a bit, tonight being the Dirty Sixteen, and the theme “good white wine.”

The location is Los Angeles classic, Locanda Veneta, a Beverly Hills Italian with several decades of history. Above, Chef Andre in the kitchen.

So big is our number that we split into two tables, which was a bit of a shame given the format.

Most of the dinner is blind but we had a few open bottles to begin with:

1999 Pommery Champagne Cuvée Louise Brut. 90 points. Light yellow in color, fine mousse, quite forward with ripe citrus fruit, toast and nut. Quite full and lush palate, yet pretty nice acidity lift in the back. Long finish with minerals, at a great time to drink now.

1983 McWilliam’s Mount Pleasant Wines Elizabeth. A very aged Australian Semillon.

Bread with a Spinach pesto.

The wines at Dirty Dozen dinners are all served fully blind. No one has much idea what’s in there except for their own wine. Winner of the WOTN gets dinner free. They were served in 4 flights (roughly of 4 wines). Since no single person knew what wines there were, flight contents were fairly random. Tonight people put them roughly on the course they thought they should be on, but this didn’t seem to make much difference.

2003 Marcassin Chardonnay Zio Tony Ranch. VM 94. Pale yellow-green color. Explosive nose of flowers, caramel and marzipan, plus an exotic honeycomb character. Wonderfully sweet, round and forward, with compelling flavors of honey, spice, hay and nuts. Very long and sweet on the aftertaste.

agavin: knew it was Cal Chard, so flabby (no acid).

2004 Camille Giroud Corton-Charlemagne. Burghound 92. A maturing nose features very mild reduction combined with ripe and ever so slightly exotic fruit trimmed in a discreet touch of wood before dissolving seamlessly into rich, delicious, round and relatively forward medium weight plus flavors brimming with lovely minerality and excellent length. While not quite at its prime, it’s not far away and another year or two should see this fine offering at its best.

agavin: ours had a touch of cork on the nose, fruit a little thin.

2001 Château Laville Haut-Brion Blanc. VM 90+. Bright silvery color. Semillon-dominated aromas of dried apricot, wet stone and earth. Fatter and richer than the 2002, but less tightly wound and gripping today. But this has lovely underlying sweetness and really spreads out and lingers on the finish.

agavin: older, acidic, with no fruit. Somehow voted #3 WOTN. Our table disliked it, the other table enjoyed it.

Insalata di Carciofi. Finely Chopped Baby Purple Artichoke with Chopped, Arugula and Mixed Baby Green in a House Vinaigrette, topped with Shaved “Reggiano” Parmesan. Tasty, but a little acidic for the wine.

Bocconcini Prosciutto. Baby Size Fresh Mozzarella tossed with Fresh Cherry Heirloom Tomatoes, Fresh Basil and our Aged Balsamic Vinegar from Modena and Thin Slice of Parma Prosciutto.

1996 Chapoutier Ermitage Cuvee de l’Oree. Parker 99. It is no secret that I adore Chapoutier’s luxury cuvee of white Hermitage called Cuvee L’Oree. Made from 90-year old vines and microscopic yields of 10-12 hectoliters per hectare, this wine flirts with perfection. It is a compelling white Hermitage. Made from 100% Marsanne, it is as rich and multidimensional as the fullest, most massive Montrachet money can buy. It is unctuously textured, yet extraordinarily and beautifully balanced. I suspect it will drink well early in life, and then shut down for a few years. It should last for 4-5 decades. The 1996 possesses some of the most amazing glycerin levels I have ever seen in a dry white wine. In short, this wine must be tasted to be believed.

agavin: I think this wine was drinking exactly as it is supposed to, but the older Hermitage Blanc style is so heavy and oxidized that people don’t love it. Not bad though, and a nice pairing with the prawn.

1989 Louis Latour Montrachet. Burghound 88. A big, rich and intense smoky nose leads to complex if not particularly elegant flavors that have become somewhat heavy and frankly fat, without the requisite acid backbone to delineate the flavors. In short, there is good power and better than average density plus a lovely textured quality to the finish but ultimately, this does not deliver what it should. Drink up, not because it is declining but rather because the balance is slipping.

agavin: Brown and oxidized, nutty

2009 Bouchard Aîné et Fils Corton-Charlemagne. Burghound 93-96. A cool, fresh and densely fruited nose of crushed citrus, green apple and mineral reduction gives way to seriously concentrated and overtly muscular flavors that possess a suave and silky mouth feel yet do not lack for an underlying reserve of power. This isn’t as fine as the Montrachet but it’s even longer, at least at present with a chewy character that provides evidence of the massive levels of extract. Even so, don’t buy this with the intention of drinking it young as it will require plenty of cellar time, at least if you want to see its full potential realized.

agavin: very nice young White Burg. Voted #2 WOTN by the group.

2004 Paul Pernot et ses Fils Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 91. This is surprisingly elegant and expressive for young Bâtard with a highly complex nose featuring apple compote, fennel, apricot and brown sugar hints that continue onto the powerful, textured and mouth coating flavors, all wrapped in a punchy if less refined finish. This is a fine effort with much to like but one that is ultimately less complete than the Bienvenues.

agavin: Nice, and generally pretty good.

Scampi alla Grigliata. Whole Large Prawns grilled with Fresh Spices served on a bed of sautéed Swiss Chard and Maître’D Butter. Savory, but perhaps a tiny bit over cooked.


2007 Sine Qua Non Body & Soul. VM 94. Vivid gold color. More energetic than the previous wine, with zesty aromas of Meyer lemon, pear skin and grapefruit pith complemented by deeper notes of peach pit and yellow rose. Juicy and finely etched, with the palate displaying sweet orchard and pit fruit flavors and a strong note of grapefruit pith. Strikingly pure, lively and incisive on the finish, which clings with excellent juicy persistence.

agavin: no acid at all, but it grew on me after a while. Tasted a bit like a Gewurtz. Nice balance.

1997 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot. Burghound 91. This is a beautiful wine with an elegant, even airy white fruit nose that introduces exceptionally rich, full and punchy flavors that possess excellent delineation for the vintage and plenty of the hallmark minerality plus fine length. I would be drinking this wine now as even well stored examples are showing mature aromas. However, note that I have encountered some bottle variation as two recent examples, both from the same source, were oxidized to the point of being undrinkable.

agavin: our bottle was brown and oxidized.

1999 Chapoutier Ermitage Cuvee de l’Oree. Parker 99. The awesome 1999 Ermitage Cuvee de l’Oree flirts with perfection. It is full-bodied, with an incredible bouquet of liquid minerals, licorice, honeysuckle, citrus, and a hint of tropical fruits. One-hundred percent new oak aging has been completely absorbed by the wine’s fruit and glycerin. This is a winemaking tour de force, made from exceedingly low yields of 12-15 hectoliters per hectare (less than one ton of fruit per acre). However, readers should understand that these are often unusual wines to drink because they tend to show exceptionally well for 4-5 years after bottling, then close up until about age 12. They can last for 4-5 decades. Anticipated maturity: now-2006; 2012-2050. Along with Gerard and Jean-Louis Chave, Chapoutier is producing the finest expressions of white Hermitage. His single vineyard cuvees are to die for if you like these eccentric, idiosyncratic, mammoth dry whites.

agavin: no acid, heavy. Again not that popular despite its technical quality.

LEC brought: 2006 Henri Boillot Corton-Charlemagne. Burghound 95. Here the incredibly fresh and vibrant yet discreet nose reveals aromas of green apple, pear and wet stone, all of which introduces tautly muscled, broad-shouldered yet tangy full-bodied, notably ripe and sophisticated flavors of striking depth and length plus absolutely impeccable balance. What is perhaps most impressive though is that such a big wine retains such solid precision that continues on to a palate staining, wonderfully intense and bone dry finish. In short, this is a seriously impressive, indeed brilliant Corton-Charlemagne that should age for years.

agavin: Voted #1 WOTN as it was drinking nice and fresh. LEC was therefore winner of the coveted title and able to lean back and enjoy a free meal, all being quite fair as he treated most of us to dinner a week ago.


Risotto al Tartufo Nero. “Carnaroli” Rice simmered with a Shaved Fresh Summer Black Truffles. Lovely.

Cappellacci di Funghi al Tartufo. Large Fresh Made Ravioli filled with Baby Portobello, Porcini, Wild Mushrooms sautéed in a Light Butter and Summer Black Truffle Sauce.

2001 Château Laville Haut-Brion Blanc. VM 90+. Bright silvery color. Semillon-dominated aromas of dried apricot, wet stone and earth. Fatter and richer than the 2002, but less tightly wound and gripping today. But this has lovely underlying sweetness and really spreads out and lingers on the finish.

agavin: older, acidic, with no fruit. Again. This is one of the problems with no supervision of what people are bringing: repeats. What are the odds?


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: drinking pretty nice. Weird and rich, with a LOT of stone fruits, but very interesting and nice.

From my cellar: 2000 Domaine Jacques Prieur Montrachet. VM 93+. Bright but reticent aromas of iodine, clove and nutty oak. Fat, round and silky, with superb weight and volume. By far the richest and longest of this set of wines, with the most volume. Very suave and mouthfilling, but with plenty of underlying backbone and power. Very tightly wound but also very long on the aftertaste.

agavin: Sigh. This bottle was corked. Otherwise, under the nasty cork there was a nice Monty lurking, but it was ruined by the cardboard. I hate when this happens. I should just resort to bringing some young Boillot Batard to blind white dinners, I have plenty of them and they are always reliable. haha.

2004 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage Blanc. Parker 95. The 2004 Hermitage blanc, which hit 15% natural alcohol, is another superb effort, continuing a succession of totally profound white Hermitages from 2003, 2004, and 2005. As many readers know, this small family producer has been making wine in Hermitage since 1481! The 2004 (about 1000 cases) reveals a light gold color, terrific finesse and elegance in spite of its enormous power, unctuosity, and richness. Of course, it is not as honeyed as the otherworldly 2003 (which hit 16% natural alcohol) but it is an amazingly full-bodied, powerful wine with pervasive honeysuckle, peach liqueur, and nectarine notes intermixed with licorice, quince, and acacia flowers. This is gorgeous wine which should evolve for 20-25 years.

agavin: old and honeyed. Kinda icky, tasted like $6 Ethiopian honey wine.

Medaglioni di Vitella. Grilled Boneless Veal Loin served with Tortino Saffron Risotto, sautéed Spinach and a Blueberry Porto Sauce.

Braciola di Maiale con Granchio. “Berkshire” Premier Bone-In Pork Chop stuffed with Imported Fontina Cheese, Crab Meat and Sautéed Spinach served with a Porcini Mushrooms Grappa Sauce. This was an odd dish. The meat was tasty, but the sauce was pretty old school, not bad, but not a great white pairing (the sauce) and totally oddball with the cheesy crab stuffing.

The polenta was dry and crumbly, more like a carrot cake with no sugar.


1959 Moulin Touchais Anjou Blanc. 93 points. Light straw color with open nose of straw and honey. Perfect acidity and balance. Not a heavyweight but still bright. Delicious and could probably keep another 50 years.

agavin: not sweet at all, but very nice acidity.

TORTA DI CIOCCOLATO. Chocolate Flourless Cake served with Raspberry Sauce.

TORTA DI MELE. Sliced Apple baked in a light puff pastry served with caramel sauce.

PANNA COTTA. Italian Vanilla Custard served on a Strawberry Coulis.

TORTA DI PERA. Sliced pear baked in a light puff pastry served with caramel sauce.

Our Somm, Massimo, did a great job considering the complexity of the task and the lack of info and preparatory time he had.

Overall this was a fun evening. I’ll bring apart commentary into different areas.

Service: The restaurant did a great job managing a group of our size. They were on top of things for the most part and extremely nice and accommodating. Whoever helped pick the menu for white wines did a good job pairing out all those red tomato sauce dishes.

Food: The food was good. Some dishes were excellent like the prosciutto salad, pastas, and desserts. Some were just nice. It all feels a little 90s Italian-American (which it is), but isn’t fully contemporary or fully Italian. But it’s good. Plating is very 90s.

Wine: Mixed bag. Everyone stepped up and brought the right kind of bottles for the most part, but we had a lot that just didn’t drink well. Some of this was because of the mix of Chardonnay and Rhone varietals — they just don’t mix well in the same flights. Some was shitty luck with the White Burgs. 4 out of 7 were flawed, 3 badly so. Only the 89 Monty was old enough to make that likely, although Jadot 97s have a lot of premox. Still we were unlucky to have cork on 2 bottles that shouldn’t have. The “expensive” part of the picking precludes a lot of nice fresh white wine types that might actually have impressed.

Format: While this and the last Dirty Dozen dinner were better than the earliest ones in terms of format, we still have some issues. Tonight we had 15 drinkers, which is the max possible and perhaps 2-3 more than would be best. It forced us into 2 tables which is far from ideal. If we were going to have 15-16 we need to find and prearrange a place with a huge square table that can seat 4 to a side. On a similar note we need to choose somewhere that can handle providing 8 or so glasses per person — or at least 4. If 3-4 of us hadn’t brought our own stems we wouldn’t even have had enough for everyone to have one flight in the glass! We need to go over that with them in advance. Food handling/format was fine this time around with 4 + dessert distinct courses. That worked well. But most importantly we need to designate a “wine czar” to collect what people are brining in advance, ensure no duplicates and that they are on theme, and then organize them into flights properly. It’s impossible to do unless you know wine and can see all the bottles. No casual restaurant wine guy will have the time to do that, particularly when they are already wrapped (mostly). This is really important because you need to get the varietals lined up in flights. The Rhone grapes fought against the Chards. If they had been against their own kind (Cali Chard can mix with Burg) they all would have tasted better. We also need a little more bandwidth for labeling the bottles properly and stripping the capsules. Maybe the wine czar could bring preprinted number labels. A “somm” who is also handling the rest of the restaurant will rarely have time to do that kind of stuff.

Anyway though, a very fun evening.

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

  1. Dirty Dozen Ride Again
  2. Eating Assisi – Locanda del Podesta
  3. Eating Cervia – Locanda dei Salinari
  4. Locanda Portofino – In the Neighborhood
  5. Babykiller Birthday
By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: , , , ,

Eating Assisi – Osteria dei Priori

Jul22

Restaurant: Osteria dei Priori

Location: Via Giotto, 06081 Assisi PG, Italy. +39 075 812149

Date: June 20, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Can’t go too wrong in Umbria

_

Another night in Assisi, another dinner.

We found Osteria dei Priori reading the internet restaurant reviews. It’s located fairly close to the main square.

The menu.

The vaulted interior definitely has old bones.

2007 Terre di Capitano Sagrantino di Montefalco. Sagrantino is the most traditional local Umbrian red grape..

Flan di melanzone e scamorza con crema di basillico. Eggplant flan with scamorza cheese and basil sauce.

Good stuff with a nice fluffy “flan” and a great creamy basil sauce.

Umbricelli al ragu di cinghiale profumato al ginepro. Long pasta in a boar and juniper sauce!

Maccheronini alla Norcina con salsiccia, funghi e tartufo. Short pasta in a sausage, mushroom, and truffle cream sauce.


Baccala dei sacrestano. Cold codfish with mixed salad, olives, anchovies, tomatoes and oranges

Tagliata di manzo irlandese con rosti di patate. Beef grilled with aromatic potatoes.

Insalte Mista.

Not bad at all, although probably not as good a kitchen as the previous night’s.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Assisi – Locanda del Podesta
  2. Eating Poggibonsi – Osteria da Camillo
  3. Eating Modena – Osteria del Pozzo
  4. Eating Modena – Osteria Francescana
  5. Quick Eats: Osteria Latini
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: , , ,

Eating Assisi – Locanda del Podesta

Jul20

Restaurant: Locanda del Podesta

Location: Via S. Giacomo, 6, 06081 Assisi PG, Italy. +39 075 802455

Date: June 15, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: More hearty Umbrian goodness

_

After finishing with Lazio with continue inland into Umbra, Italy’s rural Etruscan heart.

Our first dinner in the hillside pilgrimage city of Assisi. We had to walk UP quiet some way to get to this restaurant. Work off 10% of the cream.

Like most of Assisi the buildings are all old medieval stone structures, heavily restored and in great shape. Apparently JC watches over modern Italian dining. The city is older than him though, as it has a Roman forum under the main square — and they weren’t the first either. There was a town here when the Etruscans took over before that.

2012 Goretti Grechetto Colli Perugini. Some local Grechetto.

Antipasto of meats. It seemed appropriate to sample the local pigs.

Raddicio, pecorino, and walnut salad.

Cacio pasta. Simple pasta for the kid.

Cacio e pepe. The peppered version.

2008 Scacciadiavoli Sagrantino di Montefalco. AG 91. Smoke, tar, licorice and a host of dark aromas and flavors develop as the 2008 Montefalco Sagrantino opens up over time. This remains an essentially fruit-driven style of Sagrantino, but at the same time the wine’s balance and sense of harmony are both impeccable. The 2008 Sagrantino is another harmonious, beautifully balanced wine from Scacciadiavoli.

Penne Norcina. An Umbrian speciality. Pasta with pork sausage in a light cream sauce with truffles! Yum yum. Really great stuff.

Chicken breast with rosemary.

Lamb chops. My dad loves lamb chops.

Scrambled egg and truffle. This is some serious Italian comfort food!

Insalate Mixte.

Fava beans with truffle. The fagioli felt left out when the eggs got truffled, so they had to join the party.

Overall, nothing fancy, but a very nice meal showcasing the Umbrian love of truffles.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

The Basilica of St Francis in Assisi (Sun set just as we hiked past)

Related posts:

  1. Eating Cervia – Locanda dei Salinari
  2. Eating d’Agliano – La Tana dell’Istrice
  3. Locanda Portofino – In the Neighborhood
  4. Eating Orvieto – Maurizio
  5. Eating Modena – Osteria del Pozzo
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: , , , , , , , , ,

Epic Ocean Party 2015

Jul17

I was lucky enough to be invited again to a absolutely fabulous wine dinner hosted by Eric Cotsen at his lovely Malibu pad. The group was mostly Hedonists, with a few other wine pals of Eric’s mixed in. Eric has these diners regularly and they feature an awesome setting, great company, wonderful food, and amazing wines provided by both him and the guests.


You can see the ocean is right there! Like under the house.


Eric has these crazy high tech nitrogen dispensers that preserve (and aerate) the wines. He even has sets of glasses with etched number and letter combos so you can pair to the wines. Tonight there were two white wines in here as the set of 6 reds he opened had bottles too big to fit.

During this early phase of the party all the wine is served as a blind free-for-all. Eric himself served up seven wines (blind) as follows, with a red theme of “syrah.”


2009 Mollydooker Verdelho The Violinist. 90 points. Floral and flashy Verdelho with a pretty, light golden hue and fresh cut flowers on the nose. Behind a veiled buttery texture, sweet grapefruit, star fruit and quince shine with a round and full mouthfeel. This Portugese white grape provides a real twang on a long, detailed finish.

I really hate this Sine Qua Non lead “no vintage etc on the front” trend.

2012 Sine Qua Non In the Abstract. VM 94. The 2012 White Wine In The Abstract represents a return to a much more opulent style after a few years in which the Sine Qua Non whites were a bit more energetic than is typically the case. Honey, apricot, mint, orange blossom and spices meld together in a huge, viscous wine that covers every inch of the palate. The purity of the fruit here is simply striking.

2005 Pax Syrah Cuvée Christine. VM 90. Deep violet. Strongly perfumed aromas of raspberry and baking spices, complicated by a sexy floral tone. Immediately appealing, with vibrant strawberry and raspberry flavors, energetic mineral notes and fine-grained, silky tannins. Very suave stuff, with deeper cherry and dark berry flavors developing with air. This is 100% syrah this vintage, sourced from seven different sites.

agavin: tannic mess

2007 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Landonne. VM 95. Vivid purple. Heady aromas of candied red and dark fruits, incense, violet and smoky minerals. Cherry-cola and blackberry compote flavors show an intriguing blend of richness and vivacity, with bright mineral snap on the back half. Finishes sappy, sweet and extremely long, with resonating floral and spice notes. This wine blends the richness and power of the Turque with the vivacity of the Mouline and should age effortlessly.

agavin: I thought this had a nasty funk to it, almost corky.

2002 Shafer Relentless. VM 88. Good full ruby. Musky aromas of bitter chocolate and espresso turned oakier with aeration. Bright, penetrating black raspberry fruit offers excellent intensity but comes across as a bit hard-edged. Turned a bit drier on the back end under its load of oak.


2012 Sine Qua Non Syrah Stock. VM 94-96. The 2012 Syrah Sticks & Stones is gorgeous. The radiance and suppleness of the year comes through in spades. Dark red cherries, plums, cloves, violets and rose petals wrap around the silky, super-expressive finish. The 2012 should drink beautifully pretty much right out of the gate. This is the last vintage in which White Hawk fruit is part of the blend.

agavin: big and a bit grapey

2007 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Mouline. VM 94. Deep ruby. A highly complex bouquet evokes dark berry preserves, potpourri and cola, with a smoky overtone. Juicy and precise, with penetrating black raspberry and bitter cherry flavors firmed by zesty minerality. Rich but light on its feet, with a bright, focused finish that features suave floral pastille and spice nuances.

2007 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque. VM 93+. Opaque ruby. Dark berries, cherry-cola, licorice and Indian spices on the pungent nose. Deeply pitched blackberry and floral and licorice pastille flavors brighten with air and show an intense spicy quality, along with a touch of mocha. Clings tenaciously on the finish, which strongly repeats the cherry and licorice notes. In a more brooding style than the Mouline and years away from maturity.

During this early phase, there are a variety of munchables:


Cheese plate. Lots of fermented milk.

Spreads.

Carbs.

This steak quesadillas were pretty awesome.

Tomato cheese toasts.

I list the wines brought my myself and the other guests in one big block. In practice these were consumed first blind before dinner, then brought to the table to be revealed and finished.


From my cellar: 2001 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. Burghound 92. Ripe and extremely opulent intense citrus fruit and white flowers coupled with medium weight flavors dripping with minerality and enough fat to buffer the bracing acidity. There is a subtle underlying complexity and this is remarkably intense, assertive and precise yet there is excellent power and depth as well.

agavin: Meadows is so stingy, this was a very nice, even reductive white Burg.

2003 Domaine Perrot-Minot Mazoyères-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes. VM 93. Bright ruby-red. Musky aromas of minerals, cola, licorice and chocolate. Then juicy, powerful and fresh, with highly concentrated flavors of blackberry, violet and licorice; fruitier in the mouth today than on the nose. This boasts terrific volume and density. Finishes with round, sweet tannins and superb length. With extended aeration this showed a deep roasted nut character without losing its fresh blackberry and blueberry flavors.

agavin: Many of us thought this might be wine of the night. It was certainly great for a “cheap” Grand Cru Gevery.

1996 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. VM95+. Deep ruby-red. Very sexy aromas of currant, blackberry and brown sugar, all lifted by an ineffable floral quality from the thoroughly ripe cabernet sauvignon that comprises three-quarters of the blend. Dense, fresh and thick with extract; a wonderful combination of texture and guts. Has a core of steel and a powerful structure I haven’t found in more recent vintages from this chateau. A very serious style of Pichon-Lalande, with much less merlot than usual. Finishes with terrific length and grip. Drink between 2005 and 2025.

agavin: nice. good thing too as I have 6 bottles of it in my cellar.

1990 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. Parker 96. Two great back to back vintages are the 1990 and 1989. The more developed 1990 boasts an incredible perfume of hickory wood, coffee, smoked meat, Asian spices, black cherries, and blackberries. Lush, opulent, and full-bodied, it is a fully mature, profound Beaucastel that will last another 15-20 years.

agavin: a little cloudy/funky, but good.

From my cellar: 1998 Guigal Cote Rotie la Mouline. Parker 97-100. The 1998 Cote Rotie La Mouline boasts a dense purple color in addition to an astonishing, pure nose of jammy blackberry, currant, and cherry fruit intermixed with honeysuckle/apricot liqueur. Exceptionally seamless, full-bodied, and voluptuously-textured, with extraordinary flavors, this fabulous La Mouline is structured and tannic. Anticipated maturity: 2003-2020.

From my cellar: 2007 Paolo Bea Sagrantino di Montefalco Secco Pagliaro. 94 points. This is a big, powerful, and absolutely beautiful Sagrantino from Bea. The fruit is lush, rich and dynamic. Acid is right and tannins are still strong. It was an amazing wine on all levels, but I think it will be even better in a few years when the tannins calm a bit more. When it hits that spot, it will be truly majestic.

agavin: I brought this bonus both because I was just at the winery and because I wanted to show off an unusual grape. The format isn’t so great for it though. Blind there are too many wines, people might enjoy it, but don’t notice. Revealed they focus on the big names.

1959 Marqués de Murrieta Rioja Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial. 93 points. Drinking quite well and not really showing 50+ years of age. Drinking like a 10 to 15 year old Rioja. I believe Jeff said he bought it in the late 1980’s. The nose has cherries, slight dried herb notes, a bit of an old wood note; very pretty. Great acidity without being out of whack. Cherries, cherry juice layered on the palate with earthy notes. Long finish. Happy Birthday Jeff and thank you for quite a treat!

agavin: an oldie but a goodie!

1994 Dominus Proprietary Red Wine. Parker 97. Deep garnet-brick colored, this has quite a perfumed nose with notes of potpourri, game, anise, baking spices and kirsch plus hints of toast and yeast extract. Generously fruited and full bodied, it offers a medium-firm level of grainy tannins, crisp acid and a long, layered finish.

1993 Harlan Estate Proprietary Red Wine. Parker 95-97. The 1993 should be as prodigious as the 1992. It is an opaque purple-colored wine with spectacular ripeness, purity, and potential. Dense, full-bodied, with a chocolatey, toasty, mineral, and blackcurrant-scented nose, this wine has a rich, full-bodied, chewy texture nicely buttressed by ripe tannin. In addition, the wine reveals more noticeable tannin in the finish, particularly when it is compared to the 1992 or 1994. This is another 20-25 year wine.

2002 Pride Mountain Vineyards Reserve Claret. Parker 96-100. The 2002 Reserve Claret (two-thirds Merlot, one-third Cabernet Sauvignon and a tiny dollop of Petit Verdot) is the most flashy, exuberant and flamboyant of this trio. Close to full maturity, it offers complex, intense, pervasive notes of unsmoked cigar tobacco, licorice, graphite, spring flowers, blueberries and blackberries. Gorgeous ripeness, full-bodied opulence, decent acidity, and ripe, silky tannin make for a hedonistic as well as intellectually provocative wine. This rich, mountain-styled proprietary red can be drunk now and over the next 10-12 years.


2006 Sine Qua Non A Shot In The Dark (Syrah). Parker 100! The soon-to-be-released 2006 A Shot in the Dark is composed of 96.5% Syrah and 3.5% Viognier from the 11 Confessions Vineyard in the cool Santa Rita Hills. Performing better from bottle than it did from barrel, this prodigious red exhibits incredibly velvety tannins, a seamless style, and no noticeable oak (which is remarkable given the fact it spent 32 months in barrel). Dense purple to the rim with an extraordinary perfume of blueberry pie, blackberries, soy, Asian spices, and hints of forest floor and charcoal, this is a complex, rich, seamless, well-balanced tour de force in winemaking. A full-bodied, exuberant, unabashedly California Syrah, it will offer stunning drinking over the next 10-15+ years.

1992 Bryant Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. Parker 91. Over the next year readers should be on the lookout for some of the 1,000 case production of Don Bryant’s Cabernet Sauvignon from an old vineyard on Pritchard Hill near the Chappellet Vineyard. Bryant’s 1992 Cabernet Sauvignon offers an impressive black/purple color, rusty tannin, immense concentration, full body, and enormous richness in the finish.

2005 Colgin IX Syrah Estate. Parker 95. Colgin is one of the reference points for just what heights mountain-grown Cabernet Sauvignon, Bordeaux varietals, and more recently, Syrah, can achieve in Napa Valley. This beautiful estate and winery overlooking Lake Hennessey is owned by Joe Wender and his wife, Ann Colgin (equally renowned for her auctioneering skills), who are assisted by David Abreu, the well-known Bordeaux wine consultant, Dr. Alain Raynaud, and Allison Tauziet, who has skillfully replaced the brilliant Mark Aubert. As the scores and tasting notes suggest, this was an exceptional tasting. Colgin’s 2006s are among the finest wines produced in the vintage.

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+.

agavin: slutty!

2007 Gargiulo Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Money Road Ranch. Parker 92. The least expensive offering, the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Money Road Ranch (a 1,000-case blend of 97% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Merlot), offers copious aromas of espresso roast, new saddle leather, cassis, spice box, and red currants. A judicious touch of oak provides a spicy character, the tannins are sweet and soft, and the wine is fleshy, full-bodied, expansive, and savory. The most approachable of these cuvees, it should drink beautifully for 15 or more years.

2009 Cliff Lede Cabernet Sauvignon Cinnamon Rhapsody. Parker 93. The 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Cinnamon Rhapsody is quite a bit richer and rounder than the Stags Leap. It boasts striking inner perfume and gorgeous textural richness all the way through to the generous, creamy finish. The blend is 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc, 4% Petit Verdot, 1% Malbec and 1% Merlot. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2024.

2012 Wayfarer Pinot Noir Mother Rock. Parker 89+. The 2012 Pinot Noir Mother Rock was made from Dijon clones 777 and 37. It reveals an attractive dark ruby color as well as beautiful strawberry and black cherry fruit, underbrush and spice characteristics. Medium to full-bodied and earthy, with good acidity, it should drink nicely for a decade. 400 cases were produced.

agavin: hear is an outlier!


Dinner itself was enjoyed here at the outside table and its warming firepit.

Pea soup with parmesan crisp.

Pasta with asparagus and mushrooms. Quiet nice actually.

Salad of tomatoes, corn, and mozzarella.

Lamb chops with curried spinach. Yum!

Part of the crew as the evening wears on.

Grabbed from Eric’s cellar (by me actually):

1988 Climens. Parker 96. The 1988 reveals layer upon layer of honeyed pineapple-and orange-scented and -flavored fruit, vibrant acidity, high levels of botrytis, and a fabulously long, yet well-focused finish. It is a great wine.

Bread pudding with vanilla ice cream.


The night included a tour into Eric’s large, crowded, and chaotic cellar (only partly pictured).

Related posts:

  1. Epic Hedonism at Totoraku
  2. Totorakuly Epic!
  3. Birthday Party, Hedonist Style
  4. House Party from Laos
  5. Big and Bold on the Beach
By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: , , , ,

A’postrophe – Filipino Fusion

Jul15

Restaurant: A’postrophe

Location: Downtown LA

Date: July 11, 2015

Cuisine: Modern Filipino

Rating: Really fabulous flavors

_

Liz Lee of Sage Society put together this special popup dinner at the apartment of chef Charles Olalia.


The chef (above) is a young Filipino with an instinctive knack for cooking. Over the last 12 years he has cooked at such establishments as the French Laundry, Patina, Coi, Mar’sel, and more.

The crew helping us out (+ Edith). Chef on right next to his lovely wife.


His downtown apartment plays host to the dinner for 13.

The menu is essentially Filipino comfort food reinvented through Charles’ fine dining experiences.

It should be noted that this was a BYOB event with most people bring roughly 2 bottles. They were loosely organized by course. Liz brought a whole bunch of great champagnes like…

NV Robert Moncuit Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut. VM 91. Pale gold. Pungent, mineral-laced aromas of pear, honey, lemon pith and white flowers. Densely packed orchard and citrus fruit flavors are enlivened by chalky minerality and a hint of ginger. Refreshingly bitter and precise on the finish, with the mineral note strongly repeating.

Amuse of toast with onion jelly and green onion. A nice crunch and sweet onion flavors.
2009 Bochet-Lemoine Champagne. A bit richer than the first one.


2005 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon. VM 95. The 2005 Dom Pérignon opens with the classic Dom Pérignon bouquet. Warm toasty notes meld into expressive fruit in a supple, silky Champagne endowed with stunning depth, nuance and complexity. Sweet floral notes add lift as the wine opens up in the glass. Overall, the 2005 is a relatively delicate, gracious DP, but what it lacks in depth it more than makes up with persistence and its open, totally inviting personality. Today it’s hard to see the 2005 making old bones, but it is a gorgeous wine to drink while the 2004 ages. In 2005, the release is scheduled to last about six months, which means production is down around 50% over normal levels. All I can say is the 2005 is fabulous, especially in a vintage that required considerable sorting to eliminate rampant rot in the Pinots.

Brand new!

Duck egg with uni. Yum! Plays up both these ingredients.

The pandesal or salt bread. The outside is a bit salty but the inside nice and sweet.

And it is served with this sweet distillate of coconut milk, basically a coconut caramel.

Coco jam. Really fabulous with the bread.

1999 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Cuvée Creation. VM 93. A big, explosive wine, the 1999 Brut Cuvée Création is gorgeous today. Perhaps it is the extra time in bottle or the magnum format, but the 1999 has really come along nicely over the last few years. Yellow stone fruits, licorice, flowers and spices are all framed by French oak in a voluptuous, full-bodied Champagne that should drink well for the better part of the next decade. Disgorged: December 2012.

2005 Domaine Michel Niellon Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Clos St. Jean. Burghound 93. Chez Niellon, among his 1ers I almost always find the best in class to be either the Clos Truffiàre or the Champs Gain but much to my surprise, in 2005 that distinction goes to this wine. The nose is wonderfully complex and broad with ripe but reserved floral, citrus and menthol hints introducing rich, full and intensely mineral-driven flavors that coat the mouth on the explosive finish. This is an exceptionally impressive effort that will age beautifully on its impeccable balance.

agavin: I wouldn’t have thought this was a white Burg. It had a golden premoxy color, but didn’t taste premoxed — more like a mature Cal Chard.

2003 E. Guigal Ermitage Blanc Ex-Voto. VM 96. Medium gold. Incredibly complex bouquet of yellow plum, dried apricot, peach, floral honey, yellow Chartreuse, blonde tobacco and anise (among other things). Deeply concentrated and almost surreal in its expression of honeyed, ripe and dried fruits; its sappy, clinging texture; and its powerful impression of extract. The endless finish is surprisingly bright, with no tiring or cloying qualities. This should be served in homeopathic doses, such is its intensity and depth of flavor.

agavin: very gold and complex. I continue to have mixed opinions about these white hermitages. I have a moderate collection of them, but they might be too intense and hot for my taste.

Summer tomato salad. Salted egg, scallions, rice crisp. According to fellow Foodie Club founder and Filipino Erick, this is traditionally a condiment eaten with rice and salted with the salted egg. Here it is served as a salad. The vinegar and salted egg helped really compensate for the sweetness of the tomatoes to give it a very nice balance.

1989 Château-Grillet (Neyret-Gachet) Château-Grillet. 93 points. A bit closed in the beginning, the wine opened up with time in decanter. Intense mineral nose of flint, stone, white pepper, some beeswax, stone fruit. Very clear and impressive depth. In the mouth the wine is medium + body with some fatness in the beginning. The acidity is high giving perfect contrast to the fatness. Lively, vibrant with intense aromas in the mouth. Length is long with mineral, salivating finish. My first old Château Grillet and this wine really need patience in contrast with many other Viognier from Condrieu.

agavin: our bottle had a touch of cork.

2013 Caro’s Ridge Chardonnay Cavalleri. Hot hot cal chard. Not my thing at all.

Avocado Ravioli. Fried anchovies, black rice, lemon aioli. I really liked the salty/fishy crunch of the anchovies. I could munch on them as a snack food.

From my cellar: 1999 Louis Jadot Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 91. Big, powerful and rich aromatics of honey, oak spice and limestone merging into intense, medium weight flavors and a penetrating, relatively fine finish. While not especially big or complex by the standards of classic Bâtard, it is quite intense with beautifully textured, luxuriant, almost opulent flavors.

agavin: 93-94 points. Rounded, as seems typical for 99. Honied almost. Drinking very nicely.

2003 Henri Boillot Chevalier-Montrachet. Burghound 93. The nose is ultra elegant and pure with virtually no trace of oak yet curiously, the crystalline and mineral-driven flavors presently display more than a trace of wood toast. That niggle aside, this is an explosive effort with near perfect balance and huge length. This is my favorite of all the Boillot ’03s, not because it is necessarily qualitatively superior but in terms of sheer class it has no equal.

agavin: More minerality than the Batard. Very very nice.

Longsilog. Creamed rice, soft cooked egg, caramelized longganisa. This redefined Filipino breakfast food was pretty awesome (and I’m sure the original greasier version is too). The sausage was both spicy and sweet and paired awesomely with the rice and eggs. A 9 or 10 by my book.

2011 Emrich-Schönleber Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Großes Gewächs. VM 95. Savory aromas of cling peach, wild herbs and lemon peel. Luscious passion fruit and saline minerality form infinite layers on the palate. Densely packed, elegant and spicy on the dazzling finish, this is without doubt one of the three best dry rieslings of the vintage. Hats off!

agavin: Awesome. 95 points. Laced with grapefruit peel.

1997 Marcassin Chardonnay E Block Hudson Vineyard. 94 points. Golden color;fresh baked bread, light vanilla,nutmeg bouquet;subtle tangerine,lime flavors,complex, creme brulee flavors become stronger with time; unlike younger Marcassin’s this has very lively crisp acid in the finish- very Burgundian in it’s light touch instead of usual Calif heaviness; no hotness on the finish, just slowly fades to brioche.


Another Liz champy: NV Krug Champagne Brut Rosé. Burghound 94. Medium rosé hue. A restrained and highly complex nose, that is not especially fruity, displays a moderate yeast character along with slightly exotic aromas of mandarin orange and Asian tea, all wrapped in an enveloping array of beguiling rose petal scents. There is very good richness with a relatively soft supporting mousse that adds to the impression of richness to the superbly complex and highly textured flavors, indeed one could aptly describe this as more wine that Champagne. As such this is indeed a sumptuous Krug rosé and as such, while this could be drunk now with much pleasure or held for further development; it is going to be extremely difficult to stay away from! In short this is stunningly good and should only serve to add to the mystique of this cuvée. I should note that while I am not always wowed by the Krug Rosé this latest incarnation is strikingly good.

agavin: really nice, and a great pair.

Santa Barbara Prawns. Glass noodles, shrimp roe. Another perfect dish. The prawns were moist and succulent with yummy roe and prawn guts. All this soaked down into the glass noodles. They were baked perfectly such that a crispy layer formed at the bottom of the pan and could be scrapped off to enjoy.

F.X. Pichler Grüner Veltliner Reserve Dürnsteiner Kellerberg. Missed the vintage, but it was very good.

2001 Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Clos Windsbuhl. VM 90. Highly aromatic nose combines candied apple, mint, lime and a suggestion of banana chips. Dense, rich and chewy, with spiced apple and light resiny flavors over a firm mineral spine. Gives a softer, less adamantly dry impression than the Clos Hauserer but finishes with palate-cleansing freshness.

Steamed Black Cod. Lumpia Vegetables, soy garlic sauce. Super tender fish served over a mixture of the vegetables usually used in lumpia, Filipino spring rolls. Very nice.

From my cellar: 1996 Domaine Bruno Clair Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Fontenys. agavin 91. Nice lively ruby in the glass, the nose had notes of black pepper, roasted meats and lots of cherry – the palate was dense with a real iron/meat character to it, alongside some evident tannins- a fairly big wine.

2002 Domaine Bruno Clair Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Petite Chapelle. Burghound 89. Gorgeous crushed red fruit aromas lead to slightly dilute if seductive flavors underpinned by relatively fine tannins and a dusty finish. There is very good intensity here and if the flavors add weight, my score may be conservative.

What Filipino dinner would be complete without some suckling pig? In this case just the belly!

Lechon Cebu. Lemongrass, On Choi, Liver jus. Look at those fatty slabs. Served over rice and smothered in the rich liver sauce this was pretty incredible, although about 80% of the way through my slab I hit a wall of intense fullness. The skin was BBQed to that perfect crisp too.

1993 Louis Jadot Bonnes Mares. Burghound 92. Earthy, deep and wonderfully fresh fruit leads to dense, solidly tannnic, beautifully delineated and focused, rich flavors of exceptional purity and length. While the finish is firm, it is by no means hard and there is excellent buffering sève all underpinned by vibrant acidity. There is plenty of wine here but this is a wine for the patient and it should live for years to come.

2010 Caro’s Ridge Malbec. Rounded, big, hot, young Malbec. Not really a pairing for anything we were eating, but would have been a nice grilled meat wine.

Bulalo. Braised mushrooms, bok choi, bone marrow broth. For a bone marrow soup dish this was surprisingly “light” and incredibly tasty simple broth.

2011 Saracco Moscato d’Asti. VM 90. Saracco’s 2011 Moscato d’Asti wraps around the palate with serious depth and richness. Green apples, pears and white flowers flow through to the expressive, nuanced finish. Like most wines of the vintage, the 2011 is richer than normal, but there is no shortage of personality or pure class here.

agavin: I loved this frothy blend of fruit and aromatics. Really quiet nice.

1998 Müller-Catoir Mußbacher Eselshaut Riesling Eiswein. variously 94-98. Lemon candy and pear drops in the nose. Juicy and elegant in the mouth, featuring pear nectar and peach preserve, with just a faint sharpness to the acids. Finishes with peach, vanilla and mineral salts.

agavin: a much more classic intense sweet wine, very different from the Moscato.

Iced Buko. Macapuno, sweet red bean, micro greens. Basically a coconut sorbet popsicle served over sweet candied red beans. Pretty awesome actually.

The chef and his lovely wife.

Family members helped out.

Overall, this was a really fabulous meal (as always when Liz Lee is involved). Certainly the best Filipino food I’ve had. Charles really took it to the next level with better ingredients and presentation than the usual buffet action I’m used to. That being said, I’ve never been to the Filipines itself where I’m sure there is much excellent eating to be had. But even independent of these relative judgments this was just a very good, very lively meal.

We had a fun time with the wine too. At Liz’s request Charles toned down certain of the wine phobic ingredients (garlic and vinegar) to pair better with our exotic mix.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Liz introduces the chef

Related posts:

  1. Paiche – Fusion Panache
  2. Factory Kitchen – Fabulous
  3. Third Republique
  4. Saint Martha Modern
  5. Homestyle Korean Double Dinner
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: , , , ,

Eating Orvieto – Maurizio

Jul13

Restaurant: Ristorante Maurizio

Location:Via del Duomo, 78, 05018 Orvieto TR, Italy. +39 0763 341114

Date: June 14, 2015 (lunch)

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Hearty good

_

During a quick day trip to scenic Orvieto we selected this attractive looking restaurant just down the street from the Duomo.

Really, half the reason we sat down was because it was raining heavily.

The vaulting is ancient, but the rest of the restaurant is modern.

The menu.

2013 Barberani Orviéto Classico Vallesanta Secco. Orivieto is a pleasant fruity white, great with food.

Crostino di polenta, caciotta e tartufo. Toasted polenta, truffle, and caciotta cheese.

Grand Antipasto di Maurizio. Another of these great deal big antipasto plates. Various local meats and pecorino.

Plus it includes these various “spreads”: chicken liver, fava beans, tomatoes, a kind of tomatoes sauce, and bacon chips (yeah, just very fatty crispy bacon).

The spreads can but put on the toasts. I loved the liver. Plus there were all those fried vegetables and little fried meat balls.

Caprese. Tomatoes and mozzarella di buffalo.

Insalta Miste.

Penne Pomodoro. You’ll see a lot of these, Alex loves it.

Spaghettoni con pomodori grigliati e recotta salta. Spaghettoni with grilled tomatoes and ricotta cheese.

Ciriole al ragu d’agnello. Big spaghetti with lamb ragu. I loved this hearty pasta.

Pollo alla cacciatora. Chicken cacciatora with tomato and chili.

Piccione in salmi con crostone. Pigeon “Salmi” with toasted bread. Pigeons being a big thing in Orvieto (they used to raise them here in the middle ages), we had to try this. It turns out that “salmi” is a kind of sauce made from the liver of the pigeon and olives. Sounds awful, tastes great. This was a fabulously meaty dish. The rich pigeon meat and the rich livers. Yum.

Agnello alla scottadito. Grilled lamb.

Overall, a very good restaurant and a great lunch to weather (haha) out the rainstorm. This shows off some of the hearty cuisine of Umbria.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Poggibonsi – Osteria da Camillo
  2. Eating d’Agliano – La Tana dell’Istrice
  3. Eating Milano Marittima – Palace Hotel Breakfast
  4. Eating Colle di Val d’Elsa – Arnolfo
  5. Eating Santa Margherita – La Paranza
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: , , , , , ,

Cassia – Vietnamese Reinterpreted

Jul10

Restaurant: Cassia

Location: 1314 7th St, Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 393-6699

Date: July 7 & November 10, 2015, July 7, August 26, and October 3, 2016 and January 28, 2020

Cuisine: French Vietnamese Brasserie

Rating: really tasty

_

My friend Liz Lee of Sage Society organized this July excursion to the brand new French Vietnamese Bistro from Chef Bryant Ng and the group that brought us the excellent Sweet Rose, Rustic Canyon, and Milo & Olive.

Also, merged in, are photos from dishes we ordered at an impromptu Hedonist dinner in November.

Ng made himself famous the other year with Spice Table Downtown, now I’m happy to have him Westside.

The space is oddly located on 7th street (never been to a restaurant there before despite 21 years in Santa Monica) but its large, light and airy.

Check out those high ceilings.
1A0A0390
A specialty cocktail. Mango Mezcal Fizz. Mango infused mezcal, Brovo dry vermouth, passionfruit, lime, egg white.


The creative menu. This is not your usual brasserie. I mean, it feels like one, but the dishes are so Vietnamese inspired. I ate my way through Vietnam last year, and the ingredients feel very authentic. The presentation is all new.
7U1A6502
The menu January 2020 — a few dishes have changed.

Liz as usual orchestrated our wine brings, in this case Champy, Riesling and the like.

From my cellar: 1990 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut La Grande Dame. VM 96. Rich, multidimensional, highly aromatic nose of pear, red berries, apple, honey, toast and spice. Extremely rich and concentrated, with its medium to full body leavened by bright citrus notes and compelling minerality. Great inner-mouth aromas. Conveys an impression of powerful yet remarkably fine raw materials. The spicy finish offers exceptional persistence and richness.

agavin: our bottle was a bit oxidized and tired. sigh.
1A0A9408
Kaya Toast. Coconut jam, butter, slow cooked egg. This is listed under appetizers, but really tasted like a dessert. It was pretty awesome though, with the flavors of sweet coconut French toast.

Jellyfish Salad. Shredded organic chicken, crispy rice, green leaf, sesame-bacon dressing. Delicious, with the jellyfish adding a nice crunch/chew.

2004 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon Rosé. VM 94+. Relative to many other recent vintages, the 2004 Dom Pérignon Rosé comes across as quite delicate, feminine and graceful. Floral notes are woven throughout, adding to a very appealing and attractive sense of lift. It will be interesting to see if the 2004 puts on weight in bottle. At the moment, the 2004 is a bit understated, but I will not be surprised if at some point it takes off given the extremely positive way in which the 2004 blanc has developed over the last few years.

agavin: This was not tired at all!

Cucumber Salad Watercress, grilled avocado, charred tomatoes, clay oven bread croutons. A fine salad, although not mind boggling.

7U1A6509
Green Papaya Salad. Watercress, purslane, spiced walnuts. Not bad, but not as “Vietnamese” as we expected.
1A0A9406
Masumoto Farms Nectarine Salad. Bibb lettuce, herbs.
7U1A6544
Vietnamese Caesar Salad. Anchovy croutons, dried figs, herbs, red onion, white anchovies.

IMG_5908
Raw spicy scallops. A very small dish, with a bit of corn, dried shrimp, ham, onion and mint for flavor and crunch. Tasty, and despite the white look, not too mayo-ish, but hard to get onto the spoon.

7U1A6518

Grilled Chicken Wings. Cucumbers, sweet chile sauce. Not bad at all. Nice tangy salty spicy sauce. I actually liked the cucumbers soaked in it.

7U1A6508
Vietnamese “Sunbathing” Prawns. Fresno chiles, garlic, Vietnamese hot sauce — very hot actually.


2013 Zardetto Prosecco Zeta. Pairs great with food. A very simple wine, but its simple fruit allows it to go with anything.
1A0A9404
CHARCUTERIE PLATTER. Salted Pork with Grilled Bread, Sichuan Lamb Ham, Singaporean Grilled Candied Pork, Vietnamese Meatloaf, Smoked Red Sausage, Cabbage Relish.

The Singaporean Grilled Candied Pork had a substantial heat and was sweet and delicious. The Sichuan Lamb Ham was a bit like Spanish ham. The smoked sausage was great, and I particularly loved the rich meatiness of the “meatloaf” — not unlike dumpling filling. The cabbage relish added to the softer ones as well, plus the herbs. Mixing the herbs and pickles with the meat in the same bite was quiet lovely.
1A0A9401
Smoked Salmon Dip. Pickled shallots, horseradish, grilled country bread. Nice kick from the horseradish and an interesting mix of textural elements between the soft spread and crunchy bread. I really liked this dish.

7U1A6522
Chopped Escargot. Lemongrass butter, herbs.

Spread on the pizza-like bread this was staggeringly good. It might have been the dish of the night.

Vietnamese Pâté. Pickled chiles. A similar presentation. Looks a little like barf.

But it tasted great. Super rich and meaty. I’m a big pate fan and this didn’t disappoint. I liked the added crunch of the pickles.
1A0A0393
Fried Cauliflower w/ fish sauce. So fried they were like fried shrimp.
1A0A0394
Cold Sesame Noodles. Young soybeans, cucumbers, crushed walnuts. Spicy with blue crab. I had to try this because I make my own Dan Dan Mein. This had some spice, but none of the savory complexity of my version.


1997 Prager Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Weissenkirchen Ried Klaus. agavin 93. Herbal and complex, delicious.

7U1A6515
Spicy Wontons. Cod, shrimp, country ham, napa cabbage, roasted chile oil. These had some heat, not unlike Numb Taste Wontons, but with a bit of a fishy tone.

2001 Prager Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Trocken Zwerithaler. agavin 90. More oxidized than the 1997, this had an unusual cilantro/basil finish!

Chino Valley Egg Custard. Sea urchin roe, braised mushrooms. Very soft egg custard was extremely pleasant, although the sea urchin just didn’t stand out like one might hope.

2001 Hessische Staatsweingüter Kloster Eberbach Steinberger Riesling Kabinett Goldkapsel. agavin 91. Medium sweet. Quiet nice.

Cereal Scallops. Hazelnuts, chiles. These were super tender and reminded me of Eastern Shore fried scallops from my childhood.

1996 Domaine Touchais Coteaux du Layon Réserve de nos Vignobles. agavin 94. Super sweet and delicious.
1A0A9409
Coconut lemongrass curry. I don’t remember what was in here, but it was an awesome creamy coconut and lemongrass curry with a bit of spicy heat. Pretty similar to the amazing snail curry I’ve had at Phong Dinh.

Pig tail. Special order. Looks at that disgusting thing and all the fat.

I tried carving off some of the meat and not much fat and wrapping it with the herbs. The first bite was piggy, but the finish was actually quiet nice. Erick gnawed on the bone!

1998 M. Chapoutier Châteauneuf-du-Pape Barbe Rac. Parker 94-96. Chapoutier’s 1998 Barbe Rac is close to full maturity. It exhibits an abundance of Provencal herbs intermixed with new saddle leather, kirsch, framboise, and spice box. The intoxicatingly heady, complex aromatics are followed by a full-bodied, lush, succulent style of wine with a relatively high alcohol/glycerin content and loads of fruit. This wine is drinking terrifically well after going through an awkward stage about two to three years ago. Drink it between now and 2020.

agavin: Nice and grapey. Young, but drinking great right now.

Vietnamese Pot Au Feu. Creekstone farms short rib stew, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, bone marrow, grilled bread, two sauces.

We had five people and it was a few too many to really split this. The broth was very nice, and quiet interesting when doped with the sauces — but I didn’t get much and it was hard to experiment.

Grilled Lobster. Shallots, Asian basil, pistachio butter (Half or Whole).

The meat itself had a wonderful grilled basil flavor. Hard to split five ways though.

Whole Singaporean. White Pepper Crab. Same splitting problem with the crab, and there wasn’t much meat on this Dungeness. But the sauce was great with a real potent white pepper kick. I love pepper crab. None beat the ones I had in Singapore.

7U1A6524
Black Cod. Anchovy broth, Chinese romaine, lychee relish, herb salad.
1A0A9417
Beef Rendang. Beef cheek curry, jasmine rice, sambal, kaffir lime, peanuts. This had some heat to it, but was a spectacularly delicious curry dish. That rich red/meat/nutty curry over rice and the interplay of soft and crunchy textures. Yum!

Grilled Spicy Lamb Breast. Sichuan peppercorn, cumin, sambal, jasmine rice, sesame sauce. This was a nice dish, fairly Indian in vibe. There was that loose lovely Indian rice, which although labeled as jasmine in the description sure seemed like Basmati. Then the juicy bits of pork and a bit of heat. Nice stuff.

Grilled Chinese Broccoli. Caramelized fish sauce. Pretty good for straight up veggies.

1A0A0402
Grilled Dwelley Farms Corn. Scallion-coriander butter. Sort of like Mexican street corn!

Charcuterie Fried Rice. Chinese bacon, lap cheong, salt pork, salted fish, lettuce. Really tasty fried rice. Loved the sweet Chinese sausage.

Grilled Pork Belly Vermicelli. Thin rice noodles, oysters, pickled kohlrabi & carrots, herbs, green leaf, peanuts.

Again a hard dish to split five ways as that little bowl of meat/broth didn’t stretch far enough. It was delicious and Pho-like with the noodles and herbs.

Here is the combined soup, which was quite excellent.
7U1A6532
Smoked Beef Short Ribs. Spicy Chinese BBQ sauce, pickled Chinese cabbage, Bibb lettuce, herbs.

Laksa. Rice noodles, spicy coconut-seafood soup. Basically udon noodles in a red curry broth. I liked the dish, as I love red curry. Others complained that the curry flavor was a touch mild and “short” and it was (although there is some considerable heat). This doesn’t have the depth of a great red curry like at Jitlada. Still, I enjoyed it. It’s just been “toned down” for the Santa Monica crowd.
IMG_5911

Wok-tossed Yard beans & avocado. Preserved turnips, ginger, chili oil. Interesting contrast between the crunchy yard beans and the soft avocado. Not bad at all for a string bean dish.

The dessert menu.

Chocolate Banana Tart. Banana chips, candied walnuts, vanilla whipped cream. The weakest of the five desserts. A little sweet and not enough chocolate flavor.

Blackberry, Cherry Napoleon. Green tea Bavarian cream. This was great and refreshing with bright berry flavors.

Deep fried Paris-Brest. Housemade lemongrass ice cream, candied lemon. That lemongrass ice cream was awesome. The whole vibe was key lime pie like. Really refreshing.

Summer Fruit Floating Islands. Passion fruit creme anglaise, poached peaches, Santa Rosa plums, Pudwill raspberries & fresh mint. And this was amazing with a rich creamy passionfruit flavor.

Vietnamese Coffee Pudding. Coconut shortbread. Plus I loved this “pudding,” which is more like a pot-a-creme. The coffee cream thing worked just as well as a dessert.
1A0A0403
Coconut ice cream balls.

Overall, commenting after my first visit, I’m really psyched to see this new addition to the long subdued Santa Monica restaurant scene. I love Vietnamese food and while this isn’t strictly Vietnamese, but more like Vietnamese, Chinese, Singaporean fusion with a very modern brasserie sensibility. Fairly unique and really quiet fun and excellent. I hope they evolve and refine and aren’t forced to backpedal to pander to the local tastes. There is some tendency in Santa Monica toward just that. For example, all of the more interesting (and not really that bold) new mall places of a couple years ago have shuttered and been replaced by a Cheesecake Factory. Cry.

And readdressing my opinion a few months later in November, Cassia has continued to come on strong. It was mobbed on a cold Tuesday November night, the food was perhaps a touch more consistent, and service was good. It was extremely friendly, although pacing was a little uneven (but not enough to be a problem). Since it’s busy, the menu hasn’t backpedalled — because people seem to be responding well. Sure it’s a little “white-a-fied”, but it’s it’s still great to have it here on the Westside.

And reassessing again July of 2016, the food has tightened up even further. The menu may have changed a dish or two, but it’s still aggressive (a good thing), but the execution has tuned up even further. These dishes were on fire, offering some really serious and interesting flavor that hits its own unique spot between traditional and California Vietnamese.

Returning in January 2020, the food continued to be excellent. My favorite dishes were still great. I’m reminded that Cassia is still quite spicy — which I like — but surprisingly so for a mainstream restaurant. Service itself was pretty good but their wine service is a little wonky, or at least my unusual perception of wine service. They seem to have the dreaded (and totally inane) “two bottle limit” now. Sucks. Stupid. Counterproductive to making money and good customer service. I’ve ranted about it many times before like here. And they didn’t want me to open the wines myself, saying their ABC license didn’t allow it. That’s a new one, and I’m pretty sure totally false. Even if vaguely true, probably has never been enforced. I’ve certainly opened 1000s of bottles in restaurants.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or compare to some Vietnamese Vietnamese (in Vietnam).

Some wines from the 1/28/20 dinner:

7U1A6504
7U1A6523

Related posts:

  1. Phong Dinh – Hedonists go Vietnamese
  2. Hedonists Noodle over Hoy-Ka
  3. Coconut Curried Snails?
  4. Hedonists at Dahab
  5. Hedonists at Jitlada
By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: , , , , , , , , ,

Eating d’Agliano – La Quercia

Jul08

Restaurant: La Quercia

Location: Loc. Madonna del Portone 6, Civitella d’Agliano, Italy

Date: June 12 & 13, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Surprisingly good local kitchen

_

The epic 2015 Italian dining continues as we explore northern Lazio. It turned out to be good enough that we went two nights in a row!

Our hostess at our hotel recommended this local restaurant (the name means “the oak”).

It offers both al fresco dining with a view of the charming countryside.

And a spacious interior.

_

The sizeable menu is divided into both meat and seafood sections.

Bread.



2014 Santa Maria La Palma Vermentino di Sardegna Aragosta. Not a bad white at all.

I ordered a mixed seafood antipasta. These are the bargains because they come with dish after dish of good stuff. That includes these “shooters”, a fish spread bruschetta, a shrimp one, some cured fish and marinated anchovies.

This squid and olives in red sauce.

Mussels.


Even a portion of creamy seafood risotto (also pictured below when I ordered it another night as an entree).

Basic salad.

Insalate mixta. Gets some added color.

Fiocchi di Formaggio e Pere. Pasta parcels filled with cheese and pears.

Spaghetti alle Vongole. The classic spaghetti with clam sauce.

Agnolotti al Tartufo Nero. Meat ravioli with truffle. Pretty darn delicious.


Risotto in Crema di Gamberi. Creamy prawn risotto. I loved this stuff. So creamy good.

Risotto alla pescatora. Fish risotto.


2009 Bibbiano Chianti Classico Montornello. 88 points.  Taste like Italy, with plenty of earth. Black pepper and cherry, with plenty of oak and tannins. Comes across a bit hot, at 14% alcohol.

Vegetable pizza.

Pizza Margherita.

Grigliata Mista. Mixed grilled seafood.

Zuppa di Pesce. Big fish soup. They weren’t kidding about the big. That plate is about 15 inches long!

Frittura Mista. Crispy fried seafood mix.

Cinghiale in Agrodolce. Sweet and sour boar stew. A bit chewy, but that’s boar. Flavor was nice.

Grilled seabass.

Overall, a great little place. The service wasn’t always the fastest, and the first night was mobbed with a giant 50 person party, and outside we were dived bombed by mosquitos, but the food was really quiet delicious and the prices extremely reasonable.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Poggibonsi – Babette
  2. Eating Monteriggioni – Il Pozzo
  3. Eating Cervia – Locanda dei Salinari
  4. Eating Milano Marittima – Lo Sporting
  5. Eating Cinque Terre – Gianni Franzi
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: , , , ,

Eating d’Agliano – La Tana dell’Istrice

Jul06

Restaurant: Sergio Mottura / La Tana dell’Istrice

Location: Piazza Unità d’Italy 12. 01020 Civitella d’Agliano (VT) Italy tel. + 39 0761 914 533

Date: June 11, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Fun birthday dinner

_

On my birthday (most by coincidence) we drove up from Rome to Civitella d’Agliano, a cute little town in Northern Lazio (close to Umbria). Our hotel is owned and operated by a lovely couple. The husband, Sergio Mottura is a local winemaker as well.

Some 20 years ago when they went organic in the wineries the porcupine, having vacated during the pesticide years returned to the vineyards, so they chose him as their namesake (Istrice is porcupine in Italian).

The hotel and restaurant is situated in the lovely old square of the town.

Tonight, for my birthday, we had a sort of combined wine tasting and dinner.

2011 Sergio Mottura Civitella Rosato. Every warm evening deserves a nice rose.

Truffle cheese. Presumably some kind of pecorino.

“Pizza bianco” (aka focaccia).

Fried eggplant. A really delicious fry.

Onion rings. Also an amazing fry.

2007 Sergio Mottura Spumante Lazio IGT. One of the specialities of the winery is their Spumante. This is a 100% Chardonnay made in the Champagne style. It is very nice with good fruit and acid balance.

Tonight’s dinner menu.


2014 Sergio Mottura Orviéto Tragugnano. The classic Orvieto is a blend of various local whites. Regulations call for Trebbiano Toscano (Procanico) and Grechetto (min. 60%) grapes, and other white grape varieties, non aromatic, suitable for cultivation (max. 40%).

t

2013 Sergio Mottura Grechetto Poggio della Costa Civitella d’Agliano IGT. They served us two cuvees of all Grechetto, one raised in steel and the other in oak.

Fettuccine al limone. A light flavorful pasta with a hint of lemon!

2011 Sergio Mottura Nenfro Civitella d’Agliano IGT. They also make some wines from new world grapes like this Merlot.

Sliced veal with tuna and anchovy sauce.

Frittata for the vegetarians.

2011 Sergio Mottura Syracide Civitella d’Agliano IGT. And Sryah.

Cheese and homemade quince jam.

2011 Sergio Mottura Muffo del Lazio Passito. One of my favorites was this all Grechetto passito, made in the ripasso (raison) style. Very nice sticky.

They also made me some Zuppa Inglese for dessert.

This was the classic in its Italian/English glory. This sweet connection has one of those interesting and characteristic Italian flavor profiles with the mix of alcohol and citrus for a very complex flavoring. After this, I kept sampling Zuppa Inglese gelato, which is pretty awesome.

Overall this was a lovely evening, as much like dining at a friend’s villa as out at a restaurant! The host and hostess are so warm and personable.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Santa Margherita – Hotel Miramare
  2. Eating Santa Margherita – Miramare Breakfast
  3. Eating Milano Marittima – Palace Hotel Breakfast
  4. Eating Santa Margherita – La Paranza
  5. Eating Colle di Val d’Elsa – Dietro Le Quinte
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: , , , , , , ,

Eating Rome – Metamorfosi

Jul03

Restaurant: Metamorfosi

Location: Metamorfosi, Via Giovanni Antonelli, 30/32 – 00197 Roma

Date: June 10, 2015

Cuisine: Modernist Italian

Rating: Amazing modernist Italian

_

I found Metamorfosi simply by googling for “Rome Modernist Cuisine” or some such thing like that. I love experimental and modernist food, what we in the Hedonists group call “teacups” or “morsels” (some of my foodie friends are divided on the modernist issue, but I happen to adore but modernist and traditional cuisine). Anyway, Metamorfosi has one Michelin Star (although I think it should have 2).


The interior is appropriately… modern.

2009 Bellavista Franciacorta Gran Cuvée Satèn. VM 90. We began with this nice Italian bubbly.

There are tasting menus (at least 2) and ala carte. We, of course, went with the big tasting.


Various yummy bread options.

An amuse of some kind of whipped vegetable (like celery) with squid ink. Very light and lovely with a bit of brine flavor.
1996 Casal Pilozzo Malvasia Bianca. 90 points. Then on to this interesting old Malvasia. I haven’t had that much old Malvasia, so I don’t have much of a reference point, but it was an excellent food wine.

Raw tuna and herbs wrapped in chard leaves. A Modernist Italian tuna/lettuce wrap!

More breads, this is Italy after all!

Mozzarella and Spinach.

The Spinach clearly is the powdered green. The wrapper (ravioli?) over the top was actually made from Mozzarella, and had an interesting texture not unlike something skimmed off the top of milk, but it all worked quite well.

Charcoal roasted artichoke.

A crispy bit of puffed rice.

Foie gras, carrots and hazelnuts.

The simulated carrot, made of carrot, is actually stuffed with foie gras! Quiet delicious too.

The brioche for the foie.

Mackerel, green vegetables, meat glaze, smoked cream. An excellent “crudo” type dish.

Tortellini perfumes of the sea. Dill. These were rather amazing. Very nice and al dente pasta, and then filled with bursts of flavor like a white bouillabaisse. Extremely pure “seafood” taste too.
1998 Querciabella Batàr. 93 points. A blend of Chardonnay (50%) and Pinot Blanc (50%), grapes lovingly handpicked, 12 months in new French oak and quite a few years in the bottle result in liquid heaven. Honey-butter, creamy-vanilla and oak all come together in perfect harmony. The balance is truly quite stunning.

Encased risotto, mushrooms and hazelnut.

A peculiar dish made like a drum, with a sauce spread on top.

Then you poke through like a pot pie and the risotto is inside. The top had a texture like fruit leather, but the risotto was stunningly good. Really tasty.

Cod fish and “Black” friggitelli. Moist and perfect fish. I think the green was pea flavored.

Red mullet. Caponata.

“Pluma” of iberico pork, prune and chipotle chutney. Some nice chunks of meat and very tasty potatoes with a kind of salsa verde (parsley, olive oil, etc).

Gorgonzola lollipop with white chocolate and balsamic sauce. Awesome!

White chocolate with caramelized bananas and Armagnac. Extremely light and fluffy with only a subtle banana flavor (a good thing by me).

Cherries, laurel ice cream and Sangiovese. Very seasonal.

Chocolate, pear, and sage.

Various bon bons. Ice cream lollipops, jellies, and meringues.

And this one slightly different.

Overall, Metamorfosi was less formal than the previous night’s 3 star Michelin (La Pergola), with less carts and stuff — but the food was extremely inventive and tasty. Sometimes these highly modernist dishes fail, sometimes even quiet often. That was not the case here. There were perhaps 1-2 dishes that weren’t amazing, but for the most part the food was really spot on. And it was half the price too without the 3 star markup.

Now it was a LONG meal, 8-12 plus an unanticipated 45-60 minutes it took us to get a taxi, and with a 6 year-old! But really fabulous and if I was the Michelin reviewer I’d definitely knock Metamorfosi up to 2 stars. Inventive wine suggestions too. I appreciate the Ovid reference and a great way to wrap up the Rome section of our trip!

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Rome – La Pergola
  2. Eating Rome – Trastevere
  3. Eating Rome – Roscioli
  4. Eating Rome – La Campana
  5. Eating Colle di Val d’Elsa – Arnolfo
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: , , , , ,

Eating Rome – La Pergola

Jul02

Restaurant: La Pergola

Location: Via Alberto Cadlolo, 101, Roma

Date: June 9, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Carts, carts, and more carts!

_

And on to our first “fancy” dinner, Rome’s sole 3 star Michelin Restaurant, La Pergola. Even our six year old got to enjoy this one, earning himself more than 8 Michelin stars during the trip.

La Pergola is located high above the city in the Cavalieri hotel. This is a very elegant property but with a uniquely Italian blend of 60s, modern, and antique elements.

The view is spectacular. St Peter’s can be seen in the background.

The lovely main dining hall.
What would a 3 star be without various carts and trays. In this case the pepper tray, in case you really have a preference as to pepper.


Or the fancy salts tray (or trays).


And this giant block of crystallized salt.

Or balsamic. I think there was an olive oil one too.

Or sugars.

We chose some bubbly from the champagne bucket.

Then the bread carver set to work on the extensive basket.

A first flight of breads.

Tonight’s menu.


An amuse of smoked duck. Lovely smoky flavor.

Tuna Carpaccio with wasabi cream, cumin seed gelatine, and red beets. The rectangular slab was the tuna. The pink things had a light, almost Meringue-like texture.



2011 Villa Diamante Fiano di Avellino Vigna della Congregazione. The waiter recommended this lovely Southern Italian White, and it turns out I actually have 4 bottles of this exact wine in my cellar!

Frisella with croutons and red shrimps. Basically a dehydrated panzanella salad. The “bread” was probably freeze dried and had a light airy texture. The raw shrimps were lovely too.

I belive artichoke hearts.

S-campo. A bit of fresh shrimp with dehydrated ingredients, including seaweed.

Then rehydrated with consommé. It wasn’t so much of a looker afterward, but tasted good.

Fagottelli “La Pergola.” These amazing little tortellini were filled with liquid parmesan and exploded in the mouth. Plus there was some pancetta! Amazing.

White asparagus, topinambur puree, balsamic vinegar and strawberries.

Cod with chili pepper sauce and marinated anchovies. This salty sauce reminded me of certain Chinese sweet and sour fish sauces, but it was saltier. Rather delicious and the fish was perfectly moist.

1982 Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo Vigna Cicala. 93 points. Light red, fading into the browns. Lots of caramel and cedar, but still very nice fruit, tons of tannin, and drinking well. Probably a bit past its prime, but still a very nice wine.

Braised veal cheek with curly endive, burrata and spiced popped rice. A super tender chunk of meat.

Seabass and peppers.

The cheese cart. I do love a proper cheese cart.

Cheese. I went for the smelly strong ones.

And bread for the cheese, including an almost panforte like slab of fruit and nuts.

Candles.

And the special napkin plate.


Next up is the ultimate little dessert tower. Twelve little confections, each with one per person. They were amazing.

Iced sphere of red fruit on tea cream with crystalized raspberries.

The sphere was like a sphere of sorbet. This was basically like a chocolate and berries desert, with interesting texture and temperature. Rather delicious. The potency of berry flavor came from the raspberries.

Alex had his own “tasting menu” of penne pomodoro, a “parmesan” course (I forgot to photo).

And chocolate gelato (with accompaniments).

Then there were more bon bons, little delicate home made chocolates.

Certainly an amazing meal. A tad on the long side with a six year-old, as we started when they opened and finished at midnight when everyone else did. In fact, it seemed that no matter when you started, they rapidly had you on basically the same schedule. But everything was humming at 3 star level. The setting was fabulous, the service impeccable, the food inventive and delicious. Every dish worked, although perhaps not every dish was amazing. Some were, like the cheese filled pasta. Great stuff!

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Rome – Roscioli
  2. Eating Rome – La Campana
  3. Eating Rome – Trastevere
  4. Eating Siena – Trattoria Pepei
  5. Eating Colle di Val d’Elsa – Arnolfo
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: , , , ,

More Meat – Chi Spacca

Jun30

Restaurant: Chi Spacca

Location: 6610 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038. (323) 297-1133

Date: June 01, 2015

Cuisine: Italian Steakhouse

Rating: Rich but delicious, a carnivore’s paradise

_

The little Mozza empire on Melrose now includes the Pizzeria, the Osteria,  Chi Spacca, and Mozza 2 go. They do a great job with all their restaurants (annoying corkage policy notwithstanding), and I’ve been itching to sink my canines into Chi Spacca for some time. When a plan earlier this year for the larger Foodie Club gang to go to Chi Spacca failed, we ended up at Spear instead, and despite that being a great meal I still wanted to get here. But because of the annoying corkage policy (a complaint I will continue to reiterate from my soap box), we had to wait until a small dinner (3 of us), this time nominally for my birthday.

Chop chop.

The menu.


The small room.

The smoky in the room grill.


From my cellar: 1989 Paolo Scavino Barolo Bric dël Fiasc. VM 95. The 1989 Barolo Bric del Fiasc (3-liter) is still striking for its freshness. Some of that is a factor of the large format, but standard bottles have also develop very positively. Here we find a classic flavor profile of tobacco, herbs, spices, plums and licorice with the depth, muscle and concentration of the modern school. The 1989 is a touch more layered and aromatically intesne than the 1990, with a little more length and overall complexity. Tar, smoke and licorice linger on an eternal finish.

Pickles. spring onions, carrots, fennel. Nice crunchy pickled vegetables. The acidity is a nice contrast to all the fat to come.

Affettati Misti-Daily Selection of Cured Meats. Calabrese salame, oregano salame. pork butter. That white stuff that looks like butter, pure lard (smoked and aged).

Pate & Terrine. butcher’s pate, trotter fritti. The fried things are stuffed with pig feet meat. Now, I’m not normally a fan of pig’s feet at all, but these were delicious (maybe because you can’t SEE the trotter). The terrine was also very good, classic country pate.


Bread for the meats.

Erick brought: 1979 Chateau Margaux. Parker 93. This wine is just now reaching full maturity, much later than I initially expected. It is a classy, elegant example of Margauxpossessing a dark ruby/purple color, and a moderately intense nose of sweet black currant fruit intermixed with minerals, vanillin, and floral scents. The wine is medium-bodied, with beautifully sweet fruit. This linear, more compressed style of Margaux possesses a good inner-core of sweet fruit, and a charming, harmonious personality. Although not a blockbuster, it is aging effortlessly, and appears to take on more character with each passing year. Anticipated maturity: Now-2010.

Burrata Primavera. Snap peas, carrots, mint. Very nice salad with good contrast of sweet and acidic.

Pane bianco. Fett’unta. Super light, crispy cheese “pizza.”

Whole Branzino. herb salad, olive oil. Extremely herby and fabulous, with an almost Thai like lemongrass flavor.

Grilled Octopus. pureed & fried ceci, parsley leaf. Very soft tender octopus.

2003 Di Prisco Taurasi.

Braised Lamb Ribs. Castelvetrano olive, preserved lemon. Nice rich lamb meat.

Grilled Lamb Sausage. Calabrian peppers, roasted onion. Basically Merguez with a bit of heat. The herby salad is a nice counterpart.

2005 Emidio Pepe Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. JG 94+. Beautiful dark rose color. Really unusual nose with an off note I can only describe as like something you might smell in a petroleum refinery or maybe cordite. Mild notes of Indian spices and perhaps a bit of prune. This wine is very hard for me to describe. It is spicy with deep red fruits.

Tomahawk Pork Chop. fennel pollen. The top (far) part is the pork chop itself, wonderfully tender and with a lovely flavor. The bottom long parts are the pork belly, similar flavor but WAY richer.

Dessert menu.

Cocoa Nib Caramel Tart. whipped creme fraiche. Rich.

Butterscotch Budino. sea salt & rosemary pine nut cookies. OMG, I love these creamy puddings.

Seasonal Gelati & Sorbetti. Mint, coconut Stracciatella, and a berry flavor. Nice complex Italian flavors.

Overall, I thought the food at Chi Spacca was quite awesome, if not exactly authentically Italian. Certainly more to my taste than any normal steakhouse. They should import some pastas over from Mozza though :-). From the menu I thought prices looked crazy, but the total turned out to be reasonable ($130 a person before tip) even though we went to town. Really to town as the above was for 3 people!

Service was great too, and the atmosphere fun. My only complaint is with the bottle limit. The $30 corkage is fine, and you can even wave the corkage ordering off the list — again great. But the 2 bottle hard limit, apparently very strictly enforced (we brought the Barolo and the Margaux), is quiet annoying. It barely worked for 3 people and totally breaks down for wine dinners. Their list has interesting Italians, but the wines are two young. Plus I just resent having to buy off wine lists altogether (beyond the occasional white or rose). If they priced a fixed $30-50 markup, and had my kind of wines, it would be fine, but they always use a multiplicative markup. I’m not paying $400-600 for a $200 bottle!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

More Foodie Club craziness.

A post dinner yummy cucumber gin drink

Related posts:

  1. Spear your Meat
  2. Forget the Duck Soup, More Meat!
  3. Totoraku Double Meat Madness
  4. Lasagne Bolognese Minus the Meat
  5. Food as Art: Capo
By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: , , , , , , , ,

Eating Rome – Trastevere

Jun26

Restaurant: Eating Italy Rome

Location: Trastavere, Rome

Date: June 8, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Fun and tasty

_

Just a week or so before leaving for Italy my mom learned that one of my second cousins actually lived in Rome, and not only that, that he ran a gourmet food tour business. Turned out some of our other cousins had been on one of the tours and loved it — so we hastily signed up.

We met in this typical looking church square on an island in the Tiber. This particular tour was a four hour later afternoon/evening stroll around Trastevere trying out all sorts of various little eats.

Our lovely and vivacious guide was Jasine.



Here is the map and menu so to speak.

First stop is Da Enzo, a popular trattoria.

Not a giant place as you can see. We began with some Prosecco, but I forgot to photo it.

Burrata, Prosciutto, melon. A classic bit of antipasto. The burrata might have warmed up a bit much as it was making a valiant effort to return to the milk from which it came. Still, a yummy start.

And the vegetarian version featured eggplant instead.

Next up is Spirito di Vino — an auspicious name.

And down into the ancient cellar.

Really down.


2013 Molino a Vento Nero d’Avola Sicilia. A robust Sicilian red. Not my usual wine “level” and a bit over-oaked, but nice enough.

Baked pasta. A layered baked dish of pasta, cheese, and tomato sauce. Like lasagna meets baked ziti.

Ancient pork. A pork shoulder recipe from ancient Rome!

Cheesy grits. Not really, but mashed potato or polenta mixed with cheese. Delicious.

Third is a bit of mid dessert. Innocenti biscotti (cookies).

They make traditional tarts.

And various cookies. This kind had an apricot  jam layer.

Then on the left chocolate dipped and on the right hazelnut macaroons, not so different than my mother’s Passover macaroons, but those use almonds.

Fourth is cheese at Anitica Caciara.

Dairy on display.

And the fresh stuff that never is that great in the states.
It goes on and on.

But we came for the Pecorino Romana, here seen aging. Notice the olive oil drip to the right. It literally oozes oil as it dries.


Fresh Pecorino. Nutty and mild.


Aged Pecorino Romano. Stronger and delicious.

After cheese is meat! Antica Norcineria.

Specializing in the famous Porchetta!

Have a few cured meats.

Or olives.
The “white pizza”, otherwise known as focaccia.

And the porchetta itself, drizzled with olive oil.

These last two are assembled into the “sandwich.”

And the vegetarians got some olives, ricotta, and honey.

Next, on to I Suppli for more snacks.

Fried stuff.

And this kind of Roman pizza by the slice.


The Suppli is really well fried and served piping hot.

Inside is a delicious mix of risotto, cheese, and meat. Really delicious.

Enotecca Ferrara is where we will fill up apparently.

Typical cute inside.

Some slightly sweet prosecco.

This Italian Merlot doesn’t even make it onto Cellar Tracker. It wasn’t too bad for a YOUNG merlot.
Ricotta with cheese and pomodoro sauce. A bit of a peppery kick too, quite nice.

cacio e pepe. The classic Roman pasta. Love it.

Gnocci with scamorza (smoked mozzarella).

And what would an Italian food tour be without gelato? Fatamorgana.

All organic, this gelato place was has very interesting flavors like “pears, porto wine, and elder”!

I got passionfruit and grapefruit with orange or lemon. The grapefruit in particular was amazing, with a 10 minute finish! This place is a little less creamy (I think they use less dairy) but VERY tasty.

And they have gelato sushi!

Or some of these Italian ice cream confectionaries.

All in all, a delightful evening of really yummy treats. If you are in Rome and love food I highly recommend it. The wine was too young and casual for my taste, but the food, without being fancy, was fabulous. It showed up the kind of street food and ingredient focused items that would easily be overlooked, but make Italy just so tasty.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Rome – Roscioli
  2. Eating Rome – La Campana
  3. Eating Staggia – Pozzo dei Desideri
  4. Eating Tuscany – Boar at Home
  5. Eating Milano Marittima – Lo Sporting
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: , , , , ,

Sushi Gen DTLA

Jun24

Restaurant: Sushi Gen

Location: 422 E 2nd St, Los Angeles, CA 90012. (213) 617-0552

Date: April 7, 2015

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: B+ sushi factory!

_

People have been talking about Sushi Gen for some time, but given the surplus of great sushi on the Westside I don’t usually head Downtown (to little Tokyo) for it. But I saw it recently next to Kinjiro and decided to hit it up with my buddy Sebastian.

The interior is actually fairly large for a sushi bar, bigger than even this Pano makes it look.

And they have the usual sushi bar list of “rules.”

We sat at the sushi bar and had the chef make us a lunch omakase.

o-toro. Great fatty slabs.

Amberjack.

Ama-ebi (sweet shrimp).

Kasugo (Sea bream). With yuzu and chili.

Shrimp miso. The shrimp heads return!

Sawara (Spanish Mackerel).

Baby squid with sweet sauce. Yum! And in season.

Needle fish. Second time recently I’ve had this.

Ankimo (monkfish liver). Rich and tangy as usual. Very nice cut of it.

Shima-aji (White trevally).

Uni (Sea urchin). Always one of my favorites.

Toro and scallion hand roll.

Scallop hand roll with roe.

Sushi Gen was huge and mobbed. This place is like a factory, just churning out a volume of sushi that is rather astonishing. Probably at least 10x the volume per hour of a place like Zo or Sushi Sushi. Maybe 20x. The quality was quite good. Not as good as those above or an omakase at Shunji or Shiki or anything, but quite good. And it was relatively reasonable for very good sushi. I don’t know if I’d come here for dinner, but if I was downtown for lunch and hankering for sushi I’d be happy to return.

For more LA sushi reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Sushi Sushi – Small Omakase
  2. Sushi Sushi = Yummy Yummy
  3. Echigo Sushi
  4. Food as Art – Sushi Sushi
  5. Mori Sushi – A Top Contender
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: , , ,

Eating Rome – La Campana

Jun22

Restaurant: La Campana

Location: Vicolo della Campana, 18, 00186 Roma

Date: June 7, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Oldest trattoria in Rome

_

La Campana is one of Rome’s oldest restaurants, perhaps 500 years old — although one would have to speculate that the kitchen traditions have changed a bit in this vast swath of time.

Nevertheless, it remains a well respected trattoria in the Roman tradition.

Today’s menu.

2009 Arnaldo-Caprai Sagrantino di Montefalco Collepiano. 90 points.

Self serve antipasta bar.

My plate.

Baked Scamorza cheese. Delicious and gooey.

Paccheri pomodoro. Classic.

Fettuccine Porcine. Another classic.

Paccheri all’amatriciana. Like the pomodoro, but taken to the next level by the pancetta.

Ricotta ravioli with butter and sage. Simple but delicious.

Cod, pan fried, with french fries. Like a fish version of veal scaloppini.

Fried cod. Fish minus the chips.

Bresolla with arugula and parmesan.

Porchetta. This version seemed more roasted with the natural jus, plus roasted potatoes.

Apple tart.

La Campana was simple, traditional, and very well executed. It is a bit more old fashioned than Roscioli, and so slightly less to my taste, but this was a good meal, standing on the plinth of Italian tradition that makes the country one of the best places to eat in the world.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Rome – Roscioli
  2. Eating Siena – Trattoria Pepei
  3. Eating Monteriggioni – Il Pozzo
  4. Eating Poggibonsi – Osteria da Camillo
  5. Eating Milano Marittima – Lo Sporting
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: , , ,

Game of Thrones – Episode 50

Jun19

Melisandreseason-5-the-wars-to-come-copyShow: Game of Thrones

Genre: Fantasy

Watched: Episode 50 – June 14, 2015

Title: Mother’s Mercy

Summary: Grim but great

ANY CHARACTER HERE

NOTE: SERIOUS SPOILER WARNING. This review/discussion contains tons of spoilers about the episode and even ones crossing over from the books. It’s really my free-for-all musing given all the information at my disposal.

Stannis – We start our series of thread wrap ups with Mr. Grim and and Grammar, Stannis. Things are thawing at Camp Snowbound, and Melisandre claims success in her murderous spells, but Stannis isn’t showing her any love. Still, he is a man on a mission and commands they march. But some officer informs him half the men have deserted and taken the horses with them. Another comes and leads him to the forest where they find his wife, the unlikeable Lady Selyse, who has hung herself. Obviously she isn’t as good at compartmentalization. He cuts her down but Melisandre is somehow realizing that she either misread the Lord of Light, or his divine brightness urgently wants her elsewhere, as she hops on a horse and gets out of town fast.

Later, Stannis’ ragtag remainder of an army marches up toward Winterfell. I guess it was right over the ridge as they supposedly had no food or horses. This is intercut rapidly with Brienne and Sansa’s threads, but I’ll leave the Love Luckless Stark’s for a second. But Pod notices the Stannis forces and runs to tell Brienne. They gather weapons.

Brienne-kills-Stannis-Official-HBOStannis orders up a siege, but he gets instead a big cavalry charge from the Boltons (presumably under the command of Ramsay). The horsemen surround and outflank his meager forces in a nice CGI maneuver and we are left with a few quick shots of this horrendous defeat. Oh, and in case we had any doubts that Ramsay was a sadistic scum, we see him torturing a few helpless Baratheon soldiers.

Stannis is fight off a few Bolton troops in the forest. He’s tough, so he kills them, but he takes a bad wound to the leg and slumps against a tree. Out of nowhere Brienne appears. Ready for revenge at last. She accuses him of using blood magic to kill his brother Renly, and Stannis, ever in character, admits it. Really this is just sad sad for Stannis. He’s made the most horrible sacrifice ever for what he wants, and it’s proved to be worse than useless. He’s done. When Brienne sentences him to death he almost welcomes it with another typical droll Stannis one-liner, “Go do you duty.” She swings the sword, but we are left without seeing the death itself. It’s enough to make us wonder.

This is all slightly advanced of the completely unclear bit in ADWD. Consistent though, even though Brienne has no part in the book version of those events. And it’s so grim and dark. Bad choices. And what the hell was the Red Lady’s game? Did she read things wrong? Or is this how she wanted to to play out?

stannisSansa – meanwhile has used the corkscrew (barrel tap or whatever) she snagged during Ramsay’s walk of horrors to pry open her door while Evil Bastard (literally) is away playing hide the sword in the back with Stannis. She sneaks all over the castle, avoiding looking anyone in the eye, takes note of the Broken Tower and climbs. But she runs afoul of Myranda, Reek, and a bad case of bow-pointed-at-face. Myranda is psyched, to get a little revenge in before taking her back to her room, and somehow this pushes Theon over the edge where watching Sansa get wife-raped does not. He knocks Myranda’s bow aside and tosses her down into the courtyard. She isn’t as lucky as Bran and there is a distinctly satisfying smack as she hits the pavement. He hauls Sansa up onto the battlements and they are confronted with a 50 foot drop to some snow below. The pair is desperate enough to leap for it. We can presume that because Theon and Jeyne Poole made it out in the books, so do they.

GOT510_112614_HS__DSC20951Arya – We watch Meryn Trant get ready for another evening of brothel fun. This time he has three young girls and a stick to hit them with. Not only does he hit women. Not only is he a total jerk. Not only does he like little girls, but he wants to hit them too. This is about 3 extra reasons to kill him off. The last girl doesn’t scream when hit, and when we see her face it’s not Arya. Trant punches her in the gut and she changes into Arya Faceless Man style and goes all Hannibal Lector on him. She stabs him in the eyes and jumps all over him. Not only is it pretty crazy but it does make sense as a way for a smallish woman to take down a big warrior like Trant. She torments him for a bit and tells his who she is, calling him no one. This of course isn’t by accident as clearly she isn’t no one herself, but still Arya Stark. Then, unlike with Oberyn and the Mountain, his luck is up and she slits his throat.

Back in the basement of the House of Black & White she slips the girl’s mask back on the rack. Jaqen and the waif are there, however. Uh oh, caught unmasked. Jaqen tells her that she killed the wrong man and that the Faceless God demands a death, threatens her with the poison, then takes it himself and dies. She crouches down and rips off his mask to find a pile of other faces, and finally her own. They the waif changes her face into Jaqen and continues chastising her. Arya’s sight melts away and she is left blind — and more or less where she is at the end of A Feast of Crows. We have reordered slightly but this is all consistent enough with her isolated storyline.

All and all an excellent sequence, and while dark, at least not as bleak as some of the other threads. The magic of the Faceless Men is a little confusing. Did Jaqen put the wait up to playing him for a bit? Is he a spirit that may possess any of them? How did Arya’s face, symbolic as it was, end up on the bottom of the face pile? She after all isn’t dead and didn’t pass through the mask masking process.

GOT510_112014_HS__DSC09811Jaime – is getting ready to depart for Kings Landing with Trystane and Princess Myrcella (way too many M girls: Melisandre, Missandei, Myrcella, Myranda, Margaery!). For some reason the whole gang is there, including Doran, Hotah, Ellaria, and the sand snakes. Ellaria gives the Princess a big smooch on the lips and they get on the boat. Then in a cabin below decks Jaime has a nice bonding scene with his daughter where he awkwardly tries to admit she is his daughter, but she already knows. It really is very well played on both sides and you feel for him finally connecting to his children he’s had to ignore… then it all goes bad and her nose starts to bleed and she slumps into his arms.

the-kissBack on the docks Ellaria, nose also bleeding, is swigging some of Tyrene’s antidote. So the whole bit with Bronn and the poison now makes some sense, as it existed only to explain the whole poison/antidote thing. No wonder it felt strange. And all in all a very sad tragic thread in the middle of a sad tragic episode. Myrcella, although we didn’t know her well, was so sunny that it’s all the more depressing.

Tyrion and crew – hang out in the throne room (boy do they love that set). We have to wonder who mopped up the Harpies too. This scene is a bit of a throw-a-way as Grey Worm comes in and they all haggle about who will go after Dany and who will stay. In the end, it’s decided that Jorah & Dario go, and Ty, Grey Worm, and Missandei will stay and “rule.” There is a great line from Dario though, calling Grey Worm the “toughest man with no balls he’s ever known.”

After, Tyrion surveys the city and Varys teleports in behind him. Obviously he offered sexual favors to the guards. They have a typical fun exchange in which it’s agreed that Varys will lend his little birds to the cause of ruling Meereen. Clearly Ty and Varys are taking over for Barristan’s boring chapters in ADWD (while Dany is away).

Jorah-Daario-and-Tyrion-in-Meereen-Official-HBODany – speaking of the great Queen, she’s hanging out in North Ireland with Drogon who is doing his best to rest up on a bed of bones on top of a cliff. She tries for awhile to roust him and get back in the saddle but he’s having none of it, so she sets off to find some food. Interestingly, the show decided to keep her clothes on (in the books Drogon roasts them off her back). Anyway, somehow she climbs down the steepest cliffs ever and reaches the valley where she meets, one, three, then about a thousand Dothraki. They swirl about her in a CGI horde better looking than the season 1 horde ever was. She drops a ring as a breadcrumb (presumably Jorah/Dario will find it next year) and is surrounded. Second monarch to be surrounded by cavalry this episode alone!

Cersei – kneels before the High Sparrow/Septon to confess her crimes in the big scene we’ve all been waiting all season for. She actually isn’t very contrite or convincing and only confesses to boinking Lancel’s skinny ass — with excuses all the way. She blames the incest “lie” on Stannis, which the Septon seems not to mind (the maybe late king is after all a Lord of Light worshipping infidel). Perhaps the Septon is a fairly political after all. He tells Cersei they’ll sort it out during her “trial” but she can visit with her son back at home after her “penance.” So here comes the real work for Lena, as she is stripped naked (body double) and has her head shaved. Outside, in front of the Sept, she is made to walk naked through the entire city to the Red Keep. Some Sparrows keep the ugly (literally and figuratively) crowd at bay, the annoying nun chants “shame shame” over again. They trudge through Dubrovnik, particularly spending a lot of time in that  stair lined square right inside the uphill gate. It’s a hard walk and the show lingers on it. We have a lot of fake Lena full frontal (and back frontal) and she is pelted with dung and rotten food. Lena nails it. Cersei’s resolve slowly melts and crumbles until she nearly breaks and runs into the keep.

Cersei-begins-her-walk-of-atonement-Official-HBOThere, she meets the hard faces of uncle Kevan, Pycelle, etc. But Qyburn is there on her side. Not only does he have a blanket for her, but he has another gift: Mecha-Greggor or Franken-Greggor, or Ser Robert the Strong: the enormous silent (I like the vow of silence), rotting eyed, Kingsguard version of Greggor. Cersei gets that old nasty gleam back in her eye.

Given that the show has no access to Cersei’s inner monologue, this scene was extremely well done. As good as I could imagine.

cerseis-walkJon – has a final powwow with Sam, giving us a quick recap of the disaster from 2 weeks ago (Hard Home). He makes sure to point out that Longclaw is Valayrian steel, but that this still probably won’t be enough. Sam asks to be sent with Gilly and her baby to Old Town to study and be a Maester, skipping Bravos clearly, but getting him back on track with the books and setting us up for some Tarly action next season. I know that line about Old Town in the middle of the season meant something. And Sam’s reasons for leaving make sense enough (for him). Their chemistry is great as always, probably mostly because of Sam’s likability and acting chops. Jon knows they “did it” and they make some jokes about it. Like the Davos/Shireen convo this is setup as a sad farewell. Next, Sam and Gilly ride out of the gates because GOT loves to show people come and go — really people do it so much they kinda need too.

Much later, Davos shows up to pleads for help for the now probably dead Stannis. And after him the Red Lady shows too, which is all too convenient and Davos asks after the Queen and Princess. The silence he receives isn’t encouraging. We have to continue to wonder, what is her game? Why is she here? Is she on hand to raise someone who might soon be dead?

Speaking of which, Jon is having a hard time concentrating on his letters when Olly enters with news that Benjen Stark might still be alive. Sneaky, and very sneaky of the show to tease Benjen in the “previously on.” Straightforward guy that he is, Jon charges out Ned Stark style and runs into a crowd and Throne’s knife in his gut. They each say “For the Watch” as they stab him, Julius Caesar style. Olly puts the final blade in his heart. Sigh.

No sign of Ghost at all, not since he saved Sam and Gilly, so I think the Warging is off the table.

The Melisandre does the Dondarian on him option is still very much on the table. The producers and actor have gone to great lengths to declare him dead and gone. But the R+L=J breadcrumbs strewn liberally through this season seem really important. It just wouldn’t be like George (and even more so of D&B) to set that up for no purpose. So I have hope.

jon-is-dead

All in all, a awesome TV, but so dark. Hands down the darkest hour of GOT yet, even worse in some ways than the Red Wedding. The bodycount was high: Jon (probably), Stannis (maybe), Selyse (2 inches taller), Myrcella (likely), Myranda, Trant (good riddance), and the Waif. Even worse are the unsettled endings:

  • Jon probably dead, wall has exactly 1 friendly face: Edd
  • Stannis probably dead
  • Margaery, not even mentioned
  • Sansa/Reek in a snow drift
  • Myrcella poisoned, war with Dorne up in the air
  • Dany circled by hostile Dothraki
  • Cersei/Kings Landing balance of power
  • Bran, playing the tree
  • Rickon AWOL
  • Ramsay still alive!

So bleak it left me with that catharsis. But it was so well executed, and it’s rare that TV works this many emotional ups and downs. Sigh, the 9 month wait will be tough.

If you liked this post, follow me at:

My novels: The Darkening Dream and Untimed

or all my Game of Thrones posts or episode reviews:

Season 1: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]

Season 2: [11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20]

Season 3: [21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30]

Season 4: [31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40]

Season 5: [41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50]

Season 6: [51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57]

HBO’s official inside the episode videos:

Related posts:

  1. Game of Thrones – Episode 49
  2. Game of Thrones – Episode 46
  3. Game of Thrones – Episode 47
  4. Game of Thrones – Episode 45
  5. Game of Thrones – Episode 48
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Television
Tagged as: , , , , , , , , , ,

Flores & the Ladies’ Gunboat Society

Jun17

Restaurant: Flores & the Ladies’ Gunboat Society

Location: 2024 Sawtelle Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025. (424) 273-6469

Date: April 4, 2015

Cuisine: Southern American

Rating: Tasty

_

This non Asian spot in Sawtelle Japantown has been on my list for some time.


This peculiar name has some kind of Southern history attached to it. I’m from the south, and I don’t remember.


Nice modern interior.


And a cosy patio. They kept it TOASTY with the heaters.


The menu.


From my cellar: 1998 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Parker 96. This wine performed even better than my high accolades in issue #131 suggested. The 1998 Chateauneuf du Pape is the greatest effort produced since Beaucastel’s 1989 and 1990. It reveals more accessibility, no doubt because the final blend included more Grenache than normal. Its dense purple color is followed by sweet aromas of blackberries, licorice, new saddle leather, and earth. There is superb concentration, full body, low acidity, and high tannin, but it is surprisingly drinkable for such a young Beaucastel. Ideally, it needs another 3-4 years of cellaring, and should keep for 25-30 years.

agavin: has opened back up and is drinking fabulously.

Potato dinner roll. maple butter, sea salt.


Kanpachi carpaccio. Fresno, page mandarin, citrus creme fraiche, cilantro. This is good, but I sure don’t remember kanpachi crudo on any southern menu growing up!


Grilled lamb sirloin, black lentils, lamb bacon, parsnip, carrot, cumin jus. The sauce in particular was amazing!


Whole grilled branzino, fennel, preserved lemon, castelvetrano olives, bagna caulda.


Roasted and fried brussel sprouts. sorgum bacon marmalade. Bacon made this an awesome veggie.


Chocolate banana ice cream bar, candied hazelnut, dulce de leche.


Coconut cream pie, meyer lemon curd, toasted meringue. The blessed child of of coconut cream pie and his zesty consort lemon meringue pie.

Overall, a satisfying repast.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: ,

Eating Rome – Roscioli

Jun15

Restaurant: Roscioli

Location:Via dei Giubbonari, 21/22, 00186 Roma

Date: June 6, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Really superb updated trattoria food

_

Kicking off my Eating Italy 2015 is this update on the traditional Roman trattoria. I found it by extensive online searching for top Roman restaurants.

Roscioli is also a Salumeria.

Some of the wares up front.

A small section of tables crammed into the typical (and attractive) Roman interior.

The breads were pretty amazing. At least one was sweet.

These pizza-like flatbreads were delicious.






The long menu.

2006 Azienda Agricola Bucci Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Riserva Villa Bucci. VM 90. The summer’s Verdicchio Classico Riserva 2006 Villa Bucci flows with gorgeous layers of ripe apricots, peaches, flowers, smoke and minerals. This is a wonderfully rich, expansive Verdicchio That blossoms on the palate with notable complexity and nuance. At four years of age, it is still incredibly vibrant! The 2006 reserve can be enjoyed today, but it looks to have anche a very bright future ahead of it.

agavin: The server recommended this, and as I’ve never had an aged Verdicchio before I really wanted to try it. Very interesting and aromatic with a touch of oxidation and a nose almost like a white Burgundy. Really dry and complex.

This is also another local summer favorite, a blend of a Campari-like liquor and Prosecco.

Roman Arancini. Fried risotto.

Inside is rice, cheese, and a ragu. Really creamy and delicious.

BURRATA FROM ANDRIA WITH RAW PRAWNS TARTARE. king prawns tartare served with burrata cheese and finished
with favignana botargo curls.

Unusual but delightful combination of burrata with the raw prawn and the slight briny crunch of the botarga. Eaten in tiny mouthfuls to be savored, and an amazing pairing with the aged white wine.

PUGLIESE “BURRATA” WITH ANCHOVIES. anchovies from cantrabian sea (fished in 2014).

I haven’t generally paired burrata with fish, but it certainly worked here to showcase this even creamier version of the cheese.

FRIED ANCHOVIES. Fresch fried anchovies with pepper sauce and chilli.

A more elegant take on the classic little fried bait fish.

BUTTER AND PARMESAN. short pasta – rigatone – with echirè butter “demi-sel”, parmesan made from red cow’s milk, seasoned for 36 months and “bruna alpina” parmesan seasoned for 30th months.

My son’s favorite cheese is red cow parm, so he HAD to get this.

“LA MATRICIANA O AMATRICIANA”. bombolotto paffuto pasta tossed with san marzano dop tomatoe sauce, crispy cheek pig and romanian dop pecorino cheese.

Classic Roman. The pork was crunchy!

ANCHOVIES PASTA. home cooked fresh anchovies and egg, wild fennel, chopped tomato and toasted hazelnuts.

A slight update to Pasta con Sardo, the very unusual medieval pasta.

CHEESE AND PEPPER (CACIO E PEPE). tonnarello tossed with romanian pecorino cheese dop, “cacio” from moliterno, pecorino di fossa from sogliano del rubicone and malaisian black pepper.

Amazing pasta and nicely cheesy. Maybe not as much pepper as I might like but delicious.

“LA CARBONARA”. spaghettone pasta tossed with crispy pork cheek, malaisian black pepper, paolo parisi eggs and romanian pecorino cheese dop.

Another Roman classic. Really done to perfection. The airy porky crunch of the fried pork cheek was to die for.

chicory tossed with garlic, olive oil and chilly flakes.

Colon sweeper!

SALMON SELECTION. selection of salmons: scottish from cutherland, norwegian from vetvikja island and marinated with dill garnished with fresh lemon juice. A whole lotta lox!

ROMAN MEATBALLS. roman meatballs tossed in a rich tomato sauce garnished with smoked ricotta cheese curls and chestnuts polenta.

Really savory meatballs here. Lots of complex porky flavor and super light and fluffy. Great tomato sauce too.

Some little shortbread cookies with chocolate dipping sauce.

Overall, really really tasty food. Takes the classic fare, and for the most part neither deconstructs or reinvents it, but by using both amazing ingredients, slick execution, and lively plating, brings it up to date.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Poggibonsi – Osteria da Camillo
  2. Eating Siena – Trattoria Pepei
  3. Eating Poggibonsi – Babette
  4. Eating Tuscany – Boar at Home
  5. Eating Santa Margherita – La Paranza
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: , , , ,

Game of Thrones – Episode 49

Jun12

season-5-the-wars-to-come-copyShow: Game of Thrones

Genre: Fantasy

Watched: Episode 49 – June 7, 2015

Title: The Dance of Dragons

Summary: Wow: sad and exhilarating

ANY CHARACTER HERE

NOTE: SERIOUS SPOILER WARNING. This review/discussion contains tons of spoilers about the episode and even ones crossing over from the books. It’s really my free-for-all musing given all the information at my disposal.

Jon – crunches southward toward the Black Gate, a ragtag group of Wildlings (and the giant) in tow. When he reaches the wall, he looks on, worried that Thorne won’t even open. And Ser Glower looks down from above and considers it. Not really that large a group considering the masses we saw last week — all of whom are now doing the zombie shuffle. Anyway, Throne relents and orders the gate opened. As the crew marches through into castle black, Olly gives Jon that total stink eye look and privately considers sneaking off to sharpen his dagger. Thorne just issues some dry comment, “You have a good heart Jon Snow, but someday it will get us all killed.” Sam for his part is happy to see Jon, but Jon unloads on him with a weight heavier than his hair: feeling depressed that he failed to save all of them. Sam points out the bright side. Oh, and watching the giant climb out of the tunnel and tower over everyone is awesome.

Everyone loves you Jon, you are totally misreading Olly's stinkeye

Everyone loves you Jon, you are totally misreading Olly’s stinkeye

Jaime – visits with Prince Doran in some Moorish palace. As dull as the Dorne thread is, it does have good sets. The whole noble crew is there: Ellariah Sand, Trystane, and Myrcella. Hotah looms over them. Doran, ever reasonable, asks why he “invaded” and didn’t just come and visit. He explains about the threatening message and Doran gives Ellariah a dark-eyed look. But he doesn’t want war so he drinks to Tommen, but Ellariah pours hers on the floor. Doran ignores it and suggests that Trystane and Myrcella go back to King’s Landing, but that young Trystane take Oberyn’s spot on the Small Council — essentially backing out of Dorne fast. Ellariah trades insults and Doran warns her that she walks on thin ice. Jaime is very thankful and asks about Bronn. Trystane says the sellsword can go free, but with one condition.

So speaking of our amusing mercenary, he’s watching the Sand Snakes play some kind of ridiculous slapping version of patty cake that devolves into a cat fight. Then Hotah comes to drag him upstairs and he gets one final chance to tell Tyrene she is the hottest babe in the world. Upstairs in the throne room he is set free, but discovers that “the condition” is that Hotah elbows him across the jaw hard (paying back Trystane). Well, Bronn’s probably had worse.

Later, Doran tells Ellariah that her rebellion is over and that she must swear allegiance or die. She wrestles with it, then kneels and swears. You have to wonder if she is sincere, and so perhaps does Doran because he tells her that he believes in second chances, but not thirds. Next, she goes and visits Jaime in a rather odd scene in which she is quiet cordial, although there is a line of hardness under it. She tells him she knows all about the incest, but emphasizes that “we don’t chose whom we love” thread that resonates with Jaime. He of course neither confirms nor denies the charges. Ellariah goes on to say that Myrcella, and perhaps he, had nothing to do with Oberyn’s death. I’m not thinking she’s let that one go entirely.

One big happy family

One big happy family

Arya – The most deadly Stark cruises the harbor with her oyster cart gunning for the thin man. As luck would have it, he orders up some oysters, but before Arya can slip him the special vinegar he gaze is distracted by a Lannister sail in the harbor and by Mac Tyrell and more importantly, Meryn Trant disembarking. Mace continues his brand of broad comedy as he is met by a representative of the Iron Bank. Which leads me to wonder why they do meet him instead of treating him to a few hours in the lobby like Stannis. Anyway, Arya totally ignores the thin man and sucks after Meryn (and Mace). They go visit the bank. She watches and waits. When they come out, Mace continues his comedy routine with a silly song. Arya follows Meryn into the evening as he seeks out a brothel. She follows him inside, hawking her wares. GOT sure loves a brothel scene, although this one has no nudity. Meryn is set up not only as the Sansa-beating thug from earlier seasons, but as a pedophile and all around ass. he bags on the Tyrells, he won’t treat his men. He keeps demanding younger and younger girls until the nervous madame drags one in from the kitchen or wherever. He even asks for a new one for the next night, setting up Arya with both motive and means to take him out. Alas, that waits for next week as she retreats to the House of Black & White where she lies to Jaqen about the status of her thin man assignment. He presumably sees through this, as he is the guy who always knows when a girl is lying, but we’ll have to wait to see what happens.

Why is no one surrounded by Arya Stark's things?

Why is no one surrounded by Arya Stark’s things?

Stannis – The Red Lady Melisandre looks over the snowy camp as tents burst into flame. Burning men and horses run from the conflagration. Ramsay of course, which is confirmed in the morning as Davos reports the damage. 20 men (sound familiar) have snuck in, torched the food and horses. Now they are in a really serious pickle.

Later, Stannis examines his game board. The king orders Davos back to castle black to secure more supplies. Total setup to leave him alone with his “difficult decision” visa via Shireen. Davos might know something is up, but it’s hard to tell. he protests (as usual) but is overruled. He walks past the men (in bad shape) to visit Shireen, in what is a touching little scene. They discuss the book she is reading, A Dance of Dragons! He gives her a carved wooden stag (the one he was working on an episode or two ago) and promises her to make it a pair. They have nice chemistry as usual.

Yeah, yeah, get all sappy before you throw the match on the pyre

Yeah, yeah, get all sappy before you throw the match on the pyre

Next Stannis visits her too. She is reading the same book and they have an oblique exchange (at least for her). Essentially, he is seeking her permission for serving her up to his destiny and she provides it, without knowing what it is she is supporting. Kind of sad really. He even apologizes, of course she has no idea what for until guards grab her outside and drag her to the handy dandy stake and Melisandre’s not so tender mercies. She screams and swerves. Wisely the camera leaves her at this point focusing on Stannis and his wife. At first lady Stannis is all gung ho burn the girl, but once the screaming starts she breaks and runs for Shireen only to be stopped in the snow. The screams amplify and it’s really tough to watch as they go on and on and the camera focuses on Stannis’ grim and determined face. Yeah, we had almost started to like him, but alas, there is no coming back from this bit of nastiness.

GRRM seems to have confirmed that Shireen’s terrible death happens (or will happen) in the books too, but there as there is only Davos’ point of view, and I can’t even remember if he was there, it likely doesn’t hold the same emotional impact, particularly given how much the show has invested in making her a likely character.

Not the face you want to see as your last

Not the face you want to see when getting dragged to a stake

Dany – Straight into the giant fighting pit, which is a serious upgrade from the “baby pit” of two weeks ago. In fact, it looks pretty much like a giant bull fighting ring in Seville. I wonder why. Oh, and crossed with the Colosseum in Rome as it has the big awnings (seen in Gladiator). But for TV this looks great. Arguably better than the aforementioned Russel Crowe movie. Lots of CGI and real crowds. Dany has a big box with Tyrion, Dario, and Missandei. Hizdahr (her annoying betrothed) is late, which is suspicious. Hiss for Hizdahr.

Best CGI on TV

Best CGI on TV

The MC comes out, announces the first pair, a big man and a quick man, and Dany is forced to clap them into action after the traditional salute. She clearly isn’t a fan and neither is Tyrion. Anyway, this first fight is background color to the conversation. Dario and Hizdahr take the pro side of the argument, but they use it to measure up their manhoods. But like every line of dialog in this show (which is carefully written and edited) they all have their purposes. In this case putting Tyrion and Dany on the side that moderns identify as “good” and showing that Hizdahr is an old fashioned ass. But the truth is there is also a complex and morally ambiguous point here in historical context. When is violence necessary? Do means justify the ends?

Good thing this marriage will never be consumated

Good thing this marriage will never be consumated

Someone die. 5-6 more gladiators come out and swear. One is Jorah.

We knew this was coming, but it’s a morally complex issue for Dany, personal this time and not so abstract. She could stop the fight. And she cares for Jorah, but she has exiled him twice and he keeps coming back. Anyway, he takes a beating but keeps winning. Then at the end, he chucks a spear apparently right at Dany, but no, it’s a Son of the Harpy. And there are more, dozens, maybe hundreds all over the arena. They start slaughtering the populace (not sure why) and gunning for Dany. Dario tries to protect her, and grey worm, and Jorah climbs up and helps save her, winning a hand grasp and redemption (is he contagious?). Tyrion is nearly killed. Mis and Dany escape with the men and he follows. Hizdahr takes a knife in the gut. They set him up as maybe a Harpy. They set him up as a jerk. No wonder he gets stabbed (and maybe killed).

Uh, oh!

Uh, oh!

The Dany group tries to run one way, but more Harpies pour in, then are encircled in the center of the arena. This part looks great and is well done. The Harpies are a bit timid, and while they outnumber the royalists they are poorly armed. Dario, Jorah, Grey Worm, and various Unsullied killed lots of them as they press in, and it’s a slow thing, but the outcome is clear, certainly to Dnay and Tyrion. She takes Missandei’s hand and closes her eyes. Then with a reptilian screen and a burst of flame Drogon appears out of nowhere (summoned by her stress?). He looks awesome as he circles the arena and lands. He then bites, shreds, and fireballs Harpies. Drogon himself looks great, but his flaming is a little staid and he only hits a few at once. This scene, like last week’s zombie attack, is as good as any ever shot for TV, but it still doesn’t have the budget per minute of a big feature film. It would have been cooler if Drogon circled again and fricasseed hige swathes of Harpies. Bit it’s still great. They start pelting him with spears and piss him off. Dany yanks one out and he howls at her, but then recognizes her and turns soft. She climbs up his back (which looks a little) fake and yells “fly” in Valayrian. He builds up speed and the two of them take to the air, leaving slack jawed Tyrion, Jorah, Dario, etc starring.

A face only a mother could love!

A face only a mother could love!

A few effects flaws aside this scene brought geeky tears to my eyes, even on the second watch. It was both epic and had the proper emotional effect. Check it out yourself if you haven’t:

All in all, a solidly awesome episode. We have Arya. We have emotional awfulness in the north. The Dorne bit was as good as the Dorne bits have been (which isn’t so great). And most importantly we had pure combat and dragon awesomeness at the end.

Hard to say if this was even better than Hard Home!

If you liked this post, follow me at:

My novels: The Darkening Dream and Untimed

or all my Game of Thrones posts or episode reviews:

Season 1: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]

Season 2: [11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20]

Season 3: [21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30]

Season 4: [31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40]

Season 5: [41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50]

Season 6: [51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57]

HBO’s official inside the episode videos:

Related posts:

  1. Game of Thrones – Episode 45
  2. Game of Thrones – Episode 36
  3. Game of Thrones – Episode 44
  4. Game of Thrones – Episode 46
  5. Game of Thrones – Episode 31
By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Television
Tagged as: , , , , , , ,
« Newer Posts
Older Posts »
Watch the Trailer or

Buy it Online!

Buy it Online!
96 of 100 tickets!

Find Andy at:

Follow Me on Pinterest

Subscribe by email:

More posts on:



Complete Archives

Categories

Favorite Posts

Archives

All Things Andy Gavin
Copyright © 2025 All Rights Reserved
Programmed by Andy Gavin