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More Awesome Dimsum – King Hua

Jun21

Restaurant: King Hua

Location: 2000 W Main St, Alhambra, CA 91801. (626) 282-8833

Date: April 14, May 15, and August 2, 2014

Cuisine: Cantonese Dimsum

Rating: Maybe the best yet in town

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My brother and I continue our epic quest to find the best dimsum in Southern California. King Hua was one of our top picks so I also brought my Hedonist friends by. This post combines several meals for an epic review of the cuisine. Wines are from the August 2 Hedonist lunch.




The menu (with photos!)

2002 Delamotte Champagne Blanc de Blancs Millésimé. Burghound 91. A relatively high-toned nose of green apple, baker’s yeast, floral and citrus peel hints precedes the distinctly effervescent, even slightly foamy flavors that possess good depth on the bone dry finish. This is clearly still on its way up as the focused finish is still compact and while this is certainly refreshing and there is enough depth present to make for an interesting drink, it will be better in due course. In sum, there is good development potential and will especially please those who prefer very dry vintage Champagne.


BBQ pork. I like this kind with the sweet soy sauce.


Roast chicken. Moist and succulent.


Jelly fish. Crunchy texture and a bit of a kick. What isn’t to love. Check out the jiggle below.

[youtube http://youtu.be/esxmqs0adz0]


Chicken salad bun. One might wonder what’s in here exactly:


Chopped up chicken and stuff. Tasted good though. The outside was sweet.


From my cellar: 2011 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Saint-Aubin 1er Cru en Remilly Cuvée Nicholas et Mathis. 93 points. I’ve been drinking a lot of this wine. Really fabulous young 1re cru. Lots of acid and strong vanilla notes.


Baked BBQ pork pastry. Pretty much flaky bun stuffed with sweet BBQ pork!


Steamed shrimp and scallop dumpling.


Sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf.


Poached mustard green. Good thing Foodie Club co-founder Erick’s wife was there to order a vegetable.

2012 Gilbert Picq Chablis 1er Cru Vosgros. Burghound 90-92. A beautifully well-layered nose features notes of mineral reduction, green fruit and ocean breeze nuances. There is impressive scale to the concentrated and powerful medium weight flavors that are both intense saline and mineral-inflected on the mouth coating and lingering finish. As is usually the case this is less refined than the Vaucoupin but there’s better underlying material.


Shrimp and Pork Dumpling (Shu Mai). Erick’s 4th grade daughter dubbed these “meat popsicle” (she eats them impaled on a chopstick).


Chicken feet in black bean sauce.


Pork dumpling supreme. With a title like that, who could refuse. Both the dumplings and the broth were delicious.


Here is a bowl of it.


Pan Grilled Pork Bun w/ dried scallop.


Mixed filling in here.

2004 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Spätlese. IWC 89. Apricot, lemon oil and a hint of flint on the nose. The succulent tropical fruit flavors are nicely balanced and framed by mineral salts. More appealing than complex on the finish, but makes for excellent drinking.


Shrimp dumpling (har gow). Excellent classic.


Steamed dumplings with pork, peanuts, and veggies. Yummy.


Another dumpling, not sure what was inside, but it was good.


Steamed dumplings with chestnut and shrimp. Really awesome, with a nice crunch.


Steamed shrimp and pea tips dumplings.

Lobster and shrimp dumpling. Really tasty.


Pork & Shrimp dumpling in broth. Very tasty, but hard to split.


Interesting seafood and mushroom inside.

2003 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel. 90 points. Apricot preserves, gardenia, quince and honey in the nose. On the palate, quince and honey are accented by brown spices. Fat and creamy but buoyant and elegant. Long and refined on the finish, with its high residual sugar admirably buffered.


Steamed pork dumpling (XLB). Add vinegar and happily burn one’s mouth. These are the bomb, although perhaps the ones at elite are a hair better.


Deep fried durian puff. Hmmm.


Steamed Chinese sausage bun. Like Chinese pig in a blanket.

Baked BBQ Pork Bun. Awesome classic.


Shrimp rice noodles. Good version.


Rice Crepes with Steamed Spareribs. This was different than I expected. The meat is pretty hideous, and quite fatty, but boy, did it taste good. Really succulent. The rice crepes rolled this way feel a bit thick, and not as soft and pleasant as the enchilada style.


Deep fried shrimp roll w/ seaweed. Pretty awesome, like a fried shrimp California roll.

1976 Hugel et Fils Gewurztraminer Vendange Tardive. 94 points. A testament to what a great vintage 1976 was for the top alsacians. This wine has kept all the fruit flavours but is now no longer sweet, more off dry. Super complex and just perfectly balanced. Really hard to put the glass down as the fantastic nose lures you back. Notes of honey, nuts and exotic fruit.


Deep fried pork dumpling. Delicious almost sweet interior with a chewy outside.


Here you can see the porky inside.


Sticky rice on lotus leaf with shrimp and XO sauce. Pretty awesome actually.


Bean curd with vegetables. Delicious.


Fried tofu. Hot, soft, and tasty.


Deep fried tofu in abalone sauce. I like the sauce. This was a bit heavier, but tasty.


Deep fried dumplings with shrimp. Sort of an amazing shrimp empanada!

1996 Champalou Vouvray Trie de Vendange. 93 points. Rich gold and really nice.


Fish balls in curry sauce. The squid-like things are noodles. The sauce was very strong.


Fried Noodle & Vermicelli with XO sauce. An excellent version of this Singaporean classic.


Fried Spareribs. Really, really amazing. Gross looking, yeah, but tasted oh so good. The fried balls on the left were some kind of fried custard. Bizarre but yummy.


Roast pork belly with jellyfish. Odd combo, but the jellyfish are good and the pork nice and moist.


Mango pudding. Weird thick texture, but very mild and refreshing.


Coconut and almond jelly. I like this stuff, kind of like cookies and cream jello.


Custard egg tart. Yum again.


King hua coconut roll. Like a sweet roll stuffed with coconut custard. Awesome.

I have to say, King Hua was awesome, even by the competitive standards of the SGV. I’ve tried lots of good places, but on average, this might be one of the best so far. There is real variety here, and everything is very fresh. If you like dimsum, don’t fear the drive. What we have in LA proper just can’t compare.

For more LA Chinese food reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. XLB – Soup Dumplings!
  2. Din Tai Fung Dumpling House
  3. Dim Sum is Shanghai #1
  4. Christmas is for Dim Sum
  5. Elite Dim Sum
By: agavin
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Lucky Ducky

Jun19

Restaurant: Beijing Duck House

Location: 6420 Rosemead Blvd. San Gabriel, CA 91775. (626) 286-5508

Date: June 14, 2014

Cuisine: Beijing Chinese

Rating: Tasty stuff

_

This is my third time this week out to the SGV for scrumptious Chinese. My mother apparently ate a lot of Chinese when she was pregnant with me (true) and I’ve loved it ever since I was a kid.


Tonight’s entry is Beijing Duck House which is funny enough, a Beijing style restaurant specializing in… you guessed it… Peking Duck!


The room is typical enough.


2002 Delamotte Champagne Blanc de Blancs Millésimé. IWC 92. Pale yellow-gold. Fresh citrus and orchard fruit aromas are complicated by notes of gingerbread, white flowers and sweet butter. Toasty lees and mineral qualities gain power with air, adding depth to the wine’s gently sweet pear, honey and tangerine flavors. At once rich and lively, finishing with excellent clarity and alluring mineral and floral character. This Champagne, which I’ve tasted from three different disgorgements now, is proving that it’s built for the long haul.


Marinated cucumbers, mushrooms, and boiled peanuts. This dish had an almost Vietnamese flavor too it with the slightly sweet sauce and the strong cilantro notes. Yummy.


Beef tendon. A cold dish, the tendon was chewy and the meat parts some kind of cured beef. The beef was delicious and there was a good bit of heat to the dish, plus the cilantro.


1999 Forey Père et Fils Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Gaudichots. Burghound 88. Less expressive and open than the ’99 Les St. Georges without the forbidding firmness of the Petits Monts. This still has plenty of the pinot baby fat and the substantial tannins are completely wrapped though there is sufficient structure to permit this to improve for a decade. Pure, long and pretty.

agavin: needs a little more time to open.


The duck comes up early. Our professional carver gets to work.


Beijing Duck. The meat itself served with the pancakes in the background.


And the condiments: spring onion, cucumber, jicama/radish, and the plum sauce.


All elements are combined into the pancake. Delicious and greasy as always!


2009 Maison Roche de Bellene Savigny-lès-Beaune Vieilles Vignes. BH 86-89. Here the nose is bursting with Savigny-style earth on the ripe and pretty red pinot fruit nose that introduces nicely rich, round and fleshy middle weight flavors that are also admirably delicious and while there is a touch of rusticity to the supporting tannins, the overall impression is a straightforward wine that should drink well relatively early.

agavin: surprisingly drinkable for being so young.


Duck second way. Bits of duck meat and vegetables in lettuce wrap.


Add a little plum sauce and one is good to go. PF Changs eat your heart out.


2005 Longoria Pinot Noir Fe Ciega Vineyard. Burghound 92. A really lovely nose of beautifully complex and deeply pitched red berry fruit complements the rich and ripe medium full flavors that display a fine sense of restraint and underlying reserve as well as a gamy hint, all wrapped in a moderately structured finish and fine balance. This will clearly be capable of mid-term aging and as I say, this is indeed ripe but it’s the restraint and focus that really sets it apart from the typical pinot. Recommended.


Duck Soup. This is the third way. Boney bits of duck (with meat) are cooked up in a duck version of chicken soup.


It looks normal enough in the bowl. And it basically tastes like slightly rich chicken soup.


A neighboring table featured all sorts of unusual goodies so I took a few shots.


Like duck feet and wings!


1999 Domaine du Pegau Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Reservee. Parker 92. A powerful, concentrated 1999 Chateauneuf du Papes was produced at Chateau Pegau. The dense ruby/purple-colored 1999 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Reservee boasts a powerful bouquet of pepper, garrigue, black fruits, and earth. Full-bodied and expansive, with sweet tannin giving it a more open-knit, accessible style than most young vintages of Pegau, this is a wine to drink while waiting for the 1998 and 1995 to become fully mature. Like all of this estate’s red wines, it was bottled with neither fining nor filtration.

agavin: This had a barnyard  quality. It went well with the lamb below, but got to me after a bit.


Cumin lamb. Skewers of tasty lamb loaded with cumin.


2004 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Riesling Clos Hauserer. Parker 87. The many insufficiently attentive wine aficionados who can be heard lamenting a supposed absence chez Zind-Humbrecht of dry wine should have their mouths rinsed out repeatedly with the 2004 Riesling Clos Hauserer! (And, by the say, it is the Humbrechts, not I, who have re-introduced the Umlaut.) Mint, boxwood and lime zest on the nose suggest a Sauvignon. Firm acidity, peach pit bitterness, adamantly chalky minerality, and almost explosive acidity in the mouth make for a brash and relatively spare impression, despite palpable thickness of extract and sense of amplitude. Humbrecht imagines that if he planted Riesling in the Goldert, this is the sort of wine it would become. These grapes were very ripe – “turning blue- in fact, he says – but the deeper the roots go into the mother chalk (and these vines now average thirty years of age) the longer, he claims, the wine requires to unclench, even in a less acid-retentive vintage than this. Plan not to even revisit this wine for two or three years.

agavin: disappointingly austere


Dumplings. Standard Beijing dumplings with vinegar. Shanghai XLB are better, but these are certainly tasty too.


1994 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Heimbourg Vendange Tardive. RJ Wine 95. I love extremely young ZH wines for their youthful vigor. As they age, some gets a bit to heavy and cloying showing a hint of alcohol. Also the beauty of a great desert wine is the airy/cotton candy like palate. This was an exceptional showing. Nicely focused nose displaying yellow peach, dry mango, apricot and sweeten ice tea. Lovely airy palate. The wine remains quite fresh and precise despite the dense fruit a la D’Yquem. Lovely showing.
I highly recommend.

agavin: awesome!


Corn. The sauce here had some added sugar and I found it too sweet. Otherwise, it was basically succotash.


BBQ Pork. Can anyone say bacon? I picked off most of the fat/skin later but the meat was sweet and super tasty.


2007 Nikolaihof Riesling Reserve Steiner Hund. RJ Wine 93. So serene, delicate and understated; this is a wine that really needs time and air to show its best. It’s utterly compelling though with an amazing purity to the fresh fruit flavours, greener herbal and leafy accents and a base of pure stone beneath the fruit.


Sweet and sour fried fish. Super awesome version of this typical dish.


1994 Grgich Hills Zinfandel Sonoma County. 92 points. Dark fruit, prunes. Very lively.


Spicy eggplant. In a delicious garlic sauce.


1995 L’Ecole No. 41 Merlot Seven Hills Vineyard. 91 points. Immediately greeted by the rich unbelievably ripe cassis perfume which sets you up for a fruit bomb, but instead the wine was very poised and restrained on the palate. Tannins are fully integrated at this stage which rewards with a velvet mouthfeel. High quality fruit here which showcases the brilliance of Seven Hills. These should be drank now. For me I’m beginning to understand L’Ecole now because they are shy, backwards and sometimes austere in youth as they reward so much with age.


Pig’s feet. Not my favorite.


Mixed fried rice. Simple and delicious.


Cabbage and glass noodles. This Chinese hot coleslaw is rather delicious.


Frog hot pot. Probably close to the Wuman dry hot pot, this had a bit of heat. It was fine, but not the best dish of the night.

Overall, another highly enjoyable Chinese meal. The duck was on par with Tasty Duck and the other dishes were arguably better. I like the Beijing style and some of these dishes were fabulous. Perhaps Beijing Restaurant is a little better within this style, but then again, there is the duck!

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

  1. Shin Beijing Cubed
  2. Birthday Party, Hedonist Style
  3. Hedonists go to Beijing
  4. Shin Beijing Again
  5. Hedonists at Shanghailander
By: agavin
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Melisse Madness

Jun17

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

Location: 1104 Wilshire Blvd.Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 395-0881

Date: June 12, 2014

Cuisine: California French

Rating: Awesome in all ways

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It’s always a challenge to come up with a new spot for my birthday dinner. I tried a couple new places and after struggling with annoying policies and restrictions came back to proven slam dunk Melisse. They have the private room. They have the food. They can handle all the wines effortlessly.

I brought a lot of good stuff and so did my friends.


Liz set the tone with this mag of 1995 Pol Roger Champagne Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill Brut. IWC 93. Medium straw, with a powerful mousse. Dense and earthy on the nose, with strong toasty and buttery tones layered on ripe apple and pear fruit. This is both very ’95 in a positive sense and very Pol Roger. Fat and round in the mouth, with extravagant flavors of buttered toast, ripe orange and poached pear, complemented by subtle notes of cinnamon and mace. A lush, velvety Champagne that completely fills the mouth with flavor and creamy texture. This would go wonderfully with absolutely anything-or on its own.


Oh, and then this 1988 Pol Roger Champagne Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill Brut. IWC 94. Classic, subtly complex Champagne aromas of toast, toffee, citrus peel, and yeasty fresh apple. Rich, full and ripe, with great depth of flavor and truly insinuating intensity. Complex notes of butterscotch and toasted nuts. Ripe, harmonious acids give this remarkably smooth wine excellent backbone for further aging. Extremely long. I rated this wine 93(+?) a year ago, and it has certainly delivered on its early promise. A pinnacle of the ’88 vintage.


Tomato two ways. Usually the initial amuse at Melisse is grapes, but this time, it’s tomatoes, both goat cheese and pistachio crusted and sphereized.


The white Burgundy flight!


1979 Marquis de Laguiche (Joseph Drouhin) Chassagne-Montrachet. 85 points. The wine has seen better days, and had strong notes of sherry. But it wasn’t totally without virtue. As it sat in the glass for an hour or two it rounded out a bit.


1989 Bouchard Père et Fils Montrachet. 93 points. Soft and with classic Montrachet terrior this was a really delicious example of fully mature great white burg.


From my cellar: 1993 Maison Roche de Bellene Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières Collection Bellenum. 90 points. Other than the 79 this was the least complex of our whites, but it was still very MP and quite delicious.


Naked Cowboy Oyster. Apricot Lane Avocado, lemon cucumber, meyer lemon granite. A truly delicious and bright flavored oyster prep. The granite in particular was lovely, standing in for a squirt of lemon.


And a version with no oyster.

Have a few white burgs!


Egg Caviar. Soft Poached Egg, Lemon creme fraiche, american Osetra. Delicious as always. As Larry commented, “I could have eaten 3-4.”


The amazing Melisse bread, including bacon bread!


And really really rich butter.


Wild Japanese Snapper. Wild radish pods, cilantro and apple milk. Soft and bright flavored again.


Sweet Pea Veloute. Whipped Black Truffle. This is the inside of the soup.


And with the soup itself.


From my cellar: 1998 Jacques Prieur Montrachet. Burghound 92. Quite closed and borderline austere on the nose with reticent aromas of fresh cut citrus followed by powerful, almost painfully intense flavors. This is completely unevolved and quite angular just now though it stops short of actually being hard. However, there is terrific sève and such solid underlying material that this should mature into a marvelous Montrachet but it will require a few years before the steel backbone softens.

agavin: 96 points. Outstanding, and oh so Monty.


From my cellar: 2000 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Chevalier-Montrachet. IWC 92. Complex, subtly perfumed aromas of apple, pear, minerals and nutmeg. Dry, steely and penetrating, with brisk acidity giving the wine an almost painful firmness today. Extremely closed, even dry-edged, but very long on the back end.

agavin: 93-94 really grew and grew in the glass with serious grand cru complexity.


2001 Coche-Dury Meursault. Burghound 90. Relatively deep golden. A pretty and fully mature nose of really lovely complexity, especially for a villages level wine, dissolves into intense, round and utterly delicious medium-bodied flavors that offer exceptionally good Meursault character and an abundance of minerality on the long finish. This still vibrant effort continues to pack plenty of flavor authority and one that has arrived at its peak of maturity. I would suggest drinking this up over the next 5 to 7 years or so as there is no additional upside development potential. In sum, this is a simply terrific wine for its level. Tasted twice with consistent notes.

agavin: 96 points. Meadows never gives these village Coche’s their due. Pretty much the whole table found this to be the best white Burg of the night. A lot of reduction and a long finish really sold it.


Forbidden Fruit. Apricot and Date. This is not the fatty liver of a water fowl. Definitely not.


Wagyu Beef Tartare. Black Olives, capers, cornichon and smoked tomato. Here one smeared some meat on a crisp, and then added some of the aioli-like orange stuff. Delicious!


We began to run low on white so Liz opened this! 2011 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. Burghound 93. This is also highly perfumed with a pronounced floral component dominating the other aromas that are composed of citrus, seaweed, iodine and mineral reduction while leaving no doubt that this could be nothing other than Chablis. There is excellent size, weight and muscle to the overtly powerful and well-concentrated flavors that exude a fine minerality on the extract rich finish. This explosive effort is almost aggressively saline and should improve for up to a decade in bottle.


Santa Barbara Spot Prawn. Fava beans, morel mushrooms, young garlic.


And with a bit of “jus.” Delicious!


The red Burgundy line up.


From my cellar: 1969 Maison Roche de Bellene Volnay 1er Cru Santenots Collection Bellenum. 86 points. Interesting but the fruit was pretty faded and it had this vegetal menthol red pepper taste that wasn’t very pleasant. Bummer. The 66 I had of same was awesome.

From my cellar: 1983 Domaine Clair-Daü Bonnes Mares. John Kapon 94. The 1983 Clair Dau Bonnes Mares was excellent, and another solid 1983, which I have been enjoying here and there over the past couple years. Black licorice dominated initially, opening up into nutty, Burgundian fruit. The flavors were also licorice, and the wine was fleshy and tasty with a nice finish, in a good spot and a good showing for this oft forgotten vintage in Burgundy.

agavin: This was my third bottle of this wine, and while it was still good, it didn’t have nearly as much fruit as the others.


Lobster Bolognese. Perfect, just so small!


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From my cellar: 1985 Joseph Drouhin Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots. Burghound 91.  Pale ruby but not yet bricking. A lovely and expressive mix of now mostly secondary aromas yet with traces of primary and still fresh fruit, spice and subtle earth aromas that are very Vosne in basic character. The sweet, rich and still quite precise middle weight flavors offer a mouth coating and culminate in a still somewhat firm finish that suggests ample minerality just below the surface. This is an impeccably balanced and understated wine that is classic Drouhin and classic ’85 that is drinking perfectly now and should continue to do so for another decade, perhaps a bit longer.

agavin: 90 points. This wine had a touch of funk or unbalance to it, but was still very vosne and quite enjoyable.


From my cellar: 1990 Georges Lignier et Fils Clos de la Roche. Burghound 88. A pretty cherry-fruit infused nose that is still relatively fresh leads to rich and vibrant medium full flavors that are bit edge and tannic on the now slightly astringent finish. While the mildly rustic tannins are not resolved, I would be drinking this anyway as it risks drying out with extended bottle age. No other recent notes.

agavin: 93 points. Lots of fruit, fully mature, delicious.


Oregon Porcini. Asparagus, young garlic and parsley


And with a bit of green foam.


Sockeye salmon. with mushrooms and beure blanc.


Stonington Maine Halibut. Courgettes and Lemon basil.


1994 Domaine Jean Gros Richebourg. 92 points. Nice.


1996 Bouchard Père et Fils La Romanée. Burghound 93. Medium ruby color. Fresh and still entirely primary, elegantly perfumed violet and black fruit aromas introduce round, sweet, brilliantly delineated middle weight flavors of considerable breed and class deliver a racy, long and stunningly pure finish. The basic character here is interesting as the strikingly seductive nose is wonderfully expressive yet the flavors, and especially the finish, are somewhat somber and reserved though notably less so than they used to be when I last tasted this four years ago. While with 60 minutes or so of aeration this can be enjoyed now, it’s clear that several more years of cellar time is in order first. Tasted thrice with consistent notes.

agavin: 94 points. Deeper colored than the other red burgs and really fab.


Aged liberty duck. The meat had that gamey aged quality and was delicious.


With the serious meats, a few “beefier” reds.


1990 Lafite-Rothschild. Parker 96-97. Medium garnet-brick colour. Earthy, Provence herb seasoned aromas of warm cassis and stewed plum with nuances of smoked duck, cracked black pepper and dark soy. The palate leads with structure – medium to high, finely grained tannins and medium to high acid. Plenty of complex fruit to flesh out the mid-palate with a long, layered finish.


1982 Leoville-Las Cases. Parker 100! Still stubbornly backward, yet beginning to budge from its pre-adolescent stage, this dense, murky ruby/purple-colored wine offers up notes of graphite, sweet caramel, black cherry jam, cassis, and minerals. The nose takes some coaxing, and the decanting of 2-4 hours prior to service is highly recommended. For such a low acid wine, it is huge, well-delineated, extremely concentrated, and surprisingly fresh. Perhaps because I lean more toward the hedonistic view of wine than the late Michel Delon, I have always preferred this to the 1986, but the truth is that any lover of classic Medoc should have both vintages in their cellar. This wine has monstrous levels of glycerin, extract, and density, but still seems very youthful, and tastes more like a 7 to 8-year-old Bordeaux than one that is past its twentieth birthday. A monumental effort.


1982 Penfolds Grange. Parker 97. The 1982 is another superb example of that. One of the jammiest, most precocious Granges when it was released, it has never gone through a closed stage and continues to drink beautifully. A full-bodied, opulent Grange, it reveals an inky/purple color to the rim as well as a beautiful nose of crushed blueberries, blackberries, smoke, toast, roasted herbs, and road tar. This dense, plush, expansive, seamless, seductive 1982 has not changed much since I had it nearly a decade ago.

agavin: awesome!


Prime beef rib eye cap. Young leeks and Chanterelle mushrooms.


With the jus.


Egg, grains, and beans.


Ron felt we needed some more white Burg, so he pulled out this 2000 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. Burghound 90. Interesting notes of fennel, green Chablis fruit and straw introduce medium weight, slightly austere, understated, precise flavors that deliver plenty of complexity and length but lack the same density as the 2001 Montée. To be sure, this is an excellent wine and Raveneau may have been a bit too modest in his comments about the vintage as this is really lovely if not genuinely incredible.


Tartiflette. Reblochon, smoked bacon, and potato. A delicious bacon version of potatoes Lyonnaise. Sort of.


And Stewart really wanted to open his Champagne! 1985 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. JK 96. A quick glass of 1985 Krug got me ready for the trip back home. Full of vitamins, spice and intense game, this fresh and perfect bottle of 1985 was great with a spicy and long finish, still young!


Strawberry. Balsamic, Sheep’s yogurt, graham cracker, and black pepper. Sharp and delicious!


Ron brought this crazy 115 year old port that came in a cool box.


Here’s the bottle.


And the port. Check out the viscosity. Like motor oil! But delicious.


Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate. Soufflé, mouse, and tarte.


A different chocolate dessert.


White Nectarine. Boysenberry, ginger, and vanilla. Like a miniature fruit ala mode.


Petite Fours. Gels, peaches, chocolates.


Cookies, macarons, cannelles.


Most (but not all) of the wines!

All in all, a rather amazing birthday. An embarrassment of great wines, company, and food!

Melisse has two Michelin stars, and it deserves every ounce of them. The service is amazing too. The setting is not as fully formal as some French three-stars, or the service quite so orchestrated (that level is more amusement than actually pleasant), and there are no zany carts for teas and sugars, but the food and creativity demonstrate Melisse’s deserved position as one of America’s top kitchens. I ‘ve gone several times a year for a decade and it keeps getting better and better!

For another Melisse meal, click here.

Or for other Foodie Club meals, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Mostly Montrachet at Melisse
  2. More Michelin at Melisse
  3. Mercado Madness
  4. Burghounds at Melisse
  5. Big Bottle Madness at Kali Dining
By: agavin
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Game of Thrones – Episode 40

Jun15

gameofthronesseasonreleasedate-1396104840n4k8gGame of Thrones

Genre: The Children

Watched: Episode 40 – June 15, 2014

Title: The Watchers on the Wall

Summary: Great ep, sad to be done for the year

ANY CHARACTER HERE

This episode has a lot to wrap up. Pretty much every story line is in flux and it would make sense to visit them all and close out (or at least position) their position. I’ll break them down thread by thread for convenience.

Jon and the wall – picking up where last week ended, Jon wanders out through the field of corpses (including the giant being picked apart by crows). He wanders into the woods and surrenders in front of Mance’s tent without even being searched. They have a fairly civil discussion about his loyalty and Ygritte, and even toast to her and other dead companions. Mance wants to pass through the wall. Also, in variation from the books we never see Mance’s wife or child. Jon is contemplating making a suicidal bid at Mance when–

Stannis’ army appears out of nowhere, a giant sweep of cavalry. Where he actually got all these troops we may never know, but he pretty much lays waste. Stannis and Davos show and take Mance captive.

Later, Maester Aemon says the prayers for the dead Black Brothers and they burn the bodies. Stannis and family watch on, and so does Melisandre, peering at Jon through the flames. After, Jon goes and talks to Tormund. He doesn’t threaten him but asks if he wants to say anything over his bodies. They talk of Ygritte which leads to Jon taking her body north of the wall and burning it.

His name was Mak the Mighty

His name was Mak the Mighty

Bran – and crew trudge through a Blizzard. Jojen isn’t doing well but then Bran sees the tree. It is an impressive sight sunlit, red leaves the only growth in the forbidding Icelandic landscape. They approach and animated skeletons burst through the snow and attack them. That’s new! (at least by my reckoning). This results in a tense but slightly Sinbad battle in which Bran possesses Hodor again for some half-giant on skelly pummeling and Meera tries to defend Jojen. But the poor boy is stabbed by a wayward skeletal hand and the gang is saved by a fireball tossing little girl (apparently a Child of the Forest). They rush into the cave minus Jojen. I appreciate throwing in a little more action, but I have slightly mixed feelings about the scene (and particularly the fireballs). Inside, it’s covered with roots and bones, and is almost as creepy as that other HBO 2014 finale that included a rooty lair (True Detective). There, hidden in the roots is the three-eyed crow / root guy. Certainly he is related to  The Green Man (a celtic mythological rendering). I’m not sure I felt he was “grown into the tree” enough, but the final exchange was good: “You’ll never walk again, but you will fly.”

Watch out for hidden skeletons!

Watch out for hidden skeletons!

Dany – Concluding her season of doing very little, Dany is in her throne room holding audiences. One old slave tutor wants to go back to being a slave, then a peasant comes in with a charred little corpse and claims Drogon lit up his kid like a torch. Dany discusses with her advisors and then lures the two smaller dragons (Drogon being missing, off on a joy flight) into the catacombs and chains up her wayward reptilian children. The catacombs, by the way, for those of us well versed in ancient buildings, are easily recognizable as the basement of Diocletian’s Palace in Split Croatia. Normally, this is full of tourist vendors, but they clearly emptied it out for the shoot. This is a cool place, and one of the better preserved structures from (late) antiquity.

 

Poor babies

Poor babies

King’s Landing – The Mountain lays dying, victim of not only a good stab or two by Oberyn but of “Manticore blood,” a horrible poisoning. Grand Maester Pycell pronounces him a goner, but Qyburn is all too happy to “experiment” with “cures” on Cersei’s behalf. I think Cersei allowed this in the books, but I can’t remember if it came to fruition (and Qyburn has some kind of Gregor Frankenstein monster).

Cersei is feeling the man of the hour, because she takes on Tywin over the issue of her marriage to Loras. When he insists, she threatens to tell the world about her incestuous relationship with Jaime. It’s not even clear if he believes (her or the incest), but he is certainly shaken. Charles Dance is fabulous as always and the hidden shake in his hand is great.

Next, Cersei and Jaime argue of Tyrion and she kisses him, claiming to chose “him.” They sleep together on the table in the Kingsguard meeting hall.

Jaime may have accepted Cersei’s illicit love, but he isn’t buying her judgement of their brother, because he lets Tyrion out of his cell, offering him a way out to Varys and a ship. But after a heartfelt goodbye, Tyrion is drawn away from escape and up the secret passage to the tower of the hand. There he finds Shae in his former (and now his father’s) bed. She goes for a knife and he ends up strangling her. As usual, Peter nails it, and the expression on his face and his postmortem apology is perfect. This scene always bothered me in the books. Here they manage to make Tyrion’s role in it perfectly in character and reasonable. He is caught with something unexpected, and reacts out of passion and in self defense. Now what I don’t and never did understand was Tywin’s role here. Shae maybe, feeling betrayed and out of options would sleep with Tyrion’s father. Maybe. But Tywin? He just doesn’t seem the whore type. And, to sleep with Tyrion’s whore? The idea would just gross him out.

Anyway, Tyrion grabs a crossbow and heads to the privy. There is Tywin apparently having skipped his Konsyl (because he’s in the bathroom a long time). Tywin as usual, tries to talk the situation down, but when he uses the “whore” word a second time, Tyrion puts a crossbow quarrel in him. Then another. Returning to the door, he finds Varys, who seals him into a crate and loads him on a cargo ship. In the background, bells toll out for Tywin’s death.

Brienne and Pod – loose their horses as they near the Eerie then come across Arya practicing with Needle. This is a new development from the books. They ask after the location of the Bloody Gate then when the Hound shows up, and Pod recognizes him, Brienne puts it together and recognizes Arya. Verbal sparring between Brienne and the Hound leads to a real battle. The dialog about “safety” is priceless. I think the Hound is actually trying to do what he thinks is right (protect Arya). This is a tough fight, and well matched. First with swords, then when Brienne gets the better of him, with fists and teeth and rocks. Eventually, the Hound takes a dive off the cliff. But Arya is nowhere to be found, and Breinne and Pod wander off looking for her.

Hound, we shall miss thee

Hound, we shall miss thee

Arya – hiding, goes down to the Hound. He’s funny (in his houdy way) as always. “Killed by a woman.” And to Arya at the idea of her going off alone, “You won’t last a day.” “I’ll last longer than you,” she retorts. Great stuff. He asks her to kill him. Tries to incite her to anger to do it, then begs. In the end, she takes his money and wanders off, leaving him to die.

Arya, having drummed up a horse? Rides up to a costal town where they make salt. She asks the Bravosi accented captain of a ship for passage to the Wall. He isn’t going there, only to Bravos, and has no time for her. Then she pulls out Jaqen H’ghar’s coin and says the magic words “Valar morghulis” (All Men Must Die). This buys her a cabin and passage. She is last seen sailing out to sea.

Valar morghulis

Valar morghulis

All in all, a great episode, with a lot going on. The writers took their time with the stories they had, and this has relatively few cuts and a lot of extended time in one or another view point. We do miss out on a few, like Sansa, who’s wrap up occurred in Episode 38. Other characters like Theon or Margaery are just left wherever they were last visited. Like in the book we never really get the scoop on how/why Stannis came to the wall. There are also a lot of changes from the books. The whole bit with the skeletons was slightly over the top. The new fight between Briene and the Hound makes sense. His book death is sort of senseless and her journeys seemingly pointless. This draws them together in a structurally more coherent way that is typical of TV (where avoiding new characters is a major concern — paper characters are much cheaper than actors). As usual, the body count was high among regulars: The Hound, Tywin, Jojen.

It’s been a great season. The problem from season 1 of “too small” has been fixed by production efficiencies and bigger budgets. The rushing problem of season 2 by the division of book 3 into two seasons. If I had any complaint, and it’s minor, it would be that structural issues between the threads have led to somewhat uneven emotional pacing. A major example would be the season long wait between Jon and Ygritte’s “breakup” and her death. But these are challenges brought forth by the source material and logistic considerations. Now the question is can the show runners make sense of the incoherence of book 4 and 5 and by reordering and welding them together make season 5 better than A Feast of Crows?

Oh, and what happened to Lady Stoneheart?

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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]

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  2. Game of Thrones – Episode 35
  3. Game of Thrones – Episode 31
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By: agavin
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Hedonists at Shanghailander

Jun12

Restaurant: Shanghailander Palace [1, 2]

Location: 1695 South Azusa Ave. Hacienda Heights, CA 91745. 626-839-7777

Date: June 7, 2014 and December 9, 2018 and July 25 & September 11, 2021

Cuisine: Shanghai Chinese

Rating: Excellent – best Shanghai food I’ve had in the US

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Hedonist trips to the SGV and its requisite Chinese adventures are among my favorite dinners. Shanghailander specializes in Shanghai style cuisine (obviously). On the downside, it’s far — in Azusa — almost 40 miles from my house! But it’s so good it’s really worth a once a year visit. Unfortunately, it was 4.5 years between my first two, but I’ve been back a number of times since.


The atmosphere may not be the fanciest, but these big communal dinners are great fun.


2005 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Spätlese. IWC 90. Pale yellow. Rich aromas of lichee, lemon oil and pine.Luscious yet piquant tropical fruit flavors accented by smoke. In spite of the wine’s substantial depth, subtle acidity brings spice and finesse to the finish.

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Peanuts (12/9/18) to start.

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Real Chinese always begins with cold appetizers. Smoked fish (2014 & 12/9/18) is a classic Shanghai dish. Sort of like sweet crunchy fish chicken mcnuggets.


Marinated radish. A little sweet with a delightful crunch.
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A different kind of slightly sweet marinated vegetable.

Cold chicken (2014).

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Hainan Chicken (12/9/18). I think this was different than the above cold chicken from 2014. It was perfectly cooked and came with a garlic sauce.

Lamb in jelly. Tastes better than it sounds.

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A slightly different “meat jelly” on 12/9/18.


Marinated lima beans.


Shanghai style bran curd. Love this stuff. It has a sweet taste and spongy texture. It’s made from bran or wheat gluten or something.


Dates. Never had dates in a Chinese restaurant before.
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Greens with a peanut sauce. Not the most exciting.

Spinach. Kind of like spinach or broccoli soup — but not a soup.


Three cup chicken. Basically chicken with soy sauce — but boy, it was delicious. The sauce was sweetened and thickened perfectly.


2000 Mestre-Michelot Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières. 91 points. Lots of reduction (which I like).

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Sautéed shrimp (2014 and 12/9/18). Simple but tasty. I’ve had this dish dozens of times at many Shanghai restaurants and this was for sure one of the best versions I’ve had in the US.

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Fried fish with herbs (12/9/18). Lovely fried fish actually.

1984 Gros Frère et Sœur Clos Vougeot Musigni. 95 points. This is a great wine (good location in the vineyard and top winemakers) from a very off year — and it’s 29 year-old pinot noir. But somehow (and I’ve had 3 bottles) it’s still in great shape. Really quite lovely with a complex tar and cherry thing going on. I happen to find it fabulous.


Shanghai style braised pork in brown sauce. A huge hock of pig that falls off the bone. This is about as good as roast pork gets.

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Grandmother’s BBQ pork belly (12/9/18). Perfect version of this rich, sweet Shanghai dish. Amazingly tender.

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Meatballs stuffed with egg (12/9/18). Very unusual dish (here, typical in Shanghai). A kind of fried meat ball with a gooey duck egg yolk INSIDE!


Crab with rice cakes and ginger sauce. This was also delicious. We ordered two and I couldn’t resist the soft chewy rice cakes in that sauce.

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Crab in a salty yolk sauce.


Tofu soup. Basically chicken broth with tofu and a bit of ham. Actually very tasty.

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Sea cucumber with shrimp roe (2014 & 12/9/18). Sea cucumber, the white stuff was roe, shrimp and fish. Weird soft textures but very pleasant. Not exactly a looker, but quite tasty.


West-like style whole fish.
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Squirrel Fish. Similar fish, but deep fried and in the super thick, super sweet and tangy sauce.

2009 Anderson Oaks Pinot Noir. 90 points. They weren’t kidding about the oak.


Tasty frogs. Bull frog Schezuan style in chili oil and peppers. Had some heat.

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Shanghai steamed dumplings (XLB) (2014 & 12/9/18). Always one of my favorites. The dough was great, the meat needed a hair more flavor, but I still ate about 6.

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Shanghailander pan fried buns (2014 & 12/9/18). A fried version of same. So hot they were hard to eat, but oh so tasty.


2003 Bennett Lane Cabernet Sauvignon Primus Reserve.


Shanghai duck (2014). Like Peking duck but… well not quite as good.

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Same dish 12/9/18. Prep was more elaborate and I think it was better.
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Here on 2 plates.

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Stir fried duck (2014 & 12/9/18). Delicious.
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Three cup chicken. They have a perfect version here, even if this isn’t my favorite dish.

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Cumin lamb with pancakes (12/9/18). Different and quite nice in the pancake.

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French style beef. This gets order too often (not by me!)


Vegetables. Some kind of greens, mushrooms, and bamboo.

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Stir-fried green beans.

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Spicy eggplant with garlic and fish sauce (12/9/18). Fish sauce is just the name of this kind of sauce. This was a great version. Nice soft texture and TONS of garlicky flavor.

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Eggplant in sweet soy sauce. A very different take on eggplant.


1997 Greenock Creek Cabernet Sauvignon. 93 points. Pretty dark purple color, showing some sign of age towards the rim. Very expressive nose of dark fruits (black currant/cassis, blackberries and blueberries), some elderflower berries, a touch of green bell peppers, some cedar wood and some sweet spices. Hits the palate with a full body, medium-low silky tannins and medium (to medium-low) acidity. There is tons of dark fruit on the palate, cassis and some sweet spices again. This is a pretty massive wine with good length. There is a touch of heat, but it’s not really disturbing since the fruit is very generous. Not the most complex wine, but powerful, balanced and totally mature now. It’s drinking really beautifully.

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Glass noodles with egg (12/9/18). Very pleasant.
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Pepper rib eye with lettuce (12/9/18). Fine, but not my favorite. Not as typically Chinese somehow either.


Shanghai style eel in pot. This was delicious. Soft and rich in a savory slightly sweet sauce. I tried to order it on 12/9/18 and our (very nice) waitress kept dodging the order under the theory that we white folk wouldn’t like it!

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Oftentimes a soup comes right before dessert, in this case a cabbage and pork meatball soup.
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The meatball was amazing and thee broth was tasty.
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Shanghai Noodles. Wokked with soy sauce.

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The the Chinese desserts like these deep fried red beep spring rolls (12/9/18). Chewy in texture.


Fresh fruit.


Sesame ball in wine soup. This is one of those odd sweet Chinese “soups.”


You can see the boba-like sesame balls. They were squishy and had a pleasant sesame taste. All very sweet and mild.

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The first of many large batch holiday flavors — Peppermint Gelato (12/9/18) — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — peppermint candy base laced with peppermint bark! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #IceCream #peppermint #candy #holiday #winter
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A new variant on an old flavor — Cold Pressed Expresso Gelato (12/9/18) — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — cold pressed expresso base (usually I hot brew it) with Valrhona Dulcey Stracciatella! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #IceCream #expresso #Dulcey #Valrhona #Stracciatella #ColdPressed #ColdPressedCoffee #coffee
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Grapefruit Aperol Tarragon Sorbetto (9/11/21) — Cold pressed Fresh Grapefruit juice from my garden, Aperol and fresh Tarragon! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Unique and bracing — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #grapefruit #aperol #tarragon
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Coconut Cream Pie Gelato (9/11/21) — Coconut dairy custard base, house-made GF Graham Crackers, and house-made Coconut Caramel — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #coconut #caramel #grahamCrackers #cookies
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Yarom and the owner on 12/9/18.

All in all, our 2014 was a fabulous Chinese banquet. Perhaps it is slightly better even than the similar Shanghai #1 Seafood village. The drive is killer though, as it’s 15 miles PAST our usual SGV haunts.

On our 12/9/18 return the meal was insanely good. Almost every dish was on point and many were unusual. Food was really really good. Service was great too but this was certainly the best Shanghai style food I’ve had outside of China — and this is just a couple months after my most recent visit to Shanghai and incredible means like Shanghai Tang. Shanghailander has an Arcadia branch too and we will also have to try that — although it’s not clear if that’s really closer as it’s so far north off the 10.

For more LA Chinese reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Some members of our party posing in front right before foot massage — 2014.

Wines from the 12/9/18 dinner:7U1A2538
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By: agavin
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Naughty Dog at E3

Jun10

What would E3 be without a Naughty Dog trailer?

Oh, and there’s another one too, The Last of Us remastered!

Uncharted-4-A-Thief-s-End-Gets-Confirmed-for-2015-New-Trailer-Released

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By: agavin
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Sauvages – East Borough

Jun10

Restaurant: East Borough Fraiche Vietnamese

Location: 9810 W Washington Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232. (310) 596-8266

Date: May 9, 2014

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Fantastic Modern Vietnamese

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In recent months I’ve had quite the education in Vietnamese food — centered around a two week trip to Vietnam (and the lengthy catalog of my dining adventures). But East Borough isn’t so far afield, being located in busy downtown Culver city.


This is a casual spot, presumably mostly taking advantage of the lively Culver City lunch trade. But let’s see how they handle the influx of 11 Sauvages du Vin members and a lot of wine!


This is the regular lunch menu — but we had our own set lunch designed to pair with the wines.


2005 Domaine Huet Vouvray Demi-Sec Le Mont. 90 points. Light yellow to yellow color in the glass, clear looking throughout. Nose of brown spices, peach cobbler and carmalized apples. Flavors of spice soaked pears, apple pie and fresh peaches. Medium to bright acidity, full bodied. Drink or hold. No rush. Should be long lived.

agavin: really nice semi-oxidized vibe going on.


2005 Zind-Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Hengst. IWC 93. Bright yellow. Mirabelle, marzipan and nutmeg on the expressive nose. Sweet, dense and highly concentrated, with real generosity and freshness to its fruit flavors. There’s a spiciness here from botrytis. Finishes tactile and powerful. With its 14.4% alcohol and 48 g/l r.s., this could hardly be more different in its balance from the dry and somewhat topheavy 2004, which is 16.2%, with just 4 grams of sugar. It would be a shame to drink this too soon.

agavin: great semi sweet Alsatian


Tilapia Cerviche. Wonton crisp, cilantro, red onion. Bright flavors. The cerviche itself doesn’t seem so Vietnamese, but the herbs do.


From my cellar: 1990 Zind-Humbrecht Tokay Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal Vendange Tardive. 94 points. Brilliant. This was clearly one notch up – a fine example of how good a ZH Pinot Gris can be when given enough time in the bottle. Opened a couple of hours before serving, it had a lovely nose that was classic late harvest Pinot Gris – honeysuckle and orange peel, sweet fruit oils, some nuts, a toss of earth, a little layer of yellow plum aromas – all very subtle, especially when compared to the exuberantly exotic Gewurztraminer, but really pretty nonetheless. It was on the palate where the gulf in class showed up though. This was simply lovely. There was great depth to its delicious flavours of orange peel and marmalade, dried longans and apricots sprinkled with baking spices, yet it was so wonderfully balanced and integrated with beautiful clean acidity that it was always graceful, elegant almost in the way it skimmed across the palate in spite of its weight and complexity. Immensely drinkable, yet classy and intellectual at the same time, the wine ended with a lovely detailed finish where a halo of sweet spice ringed its yellow fruited flavours. This should improve even more in the next few years, but it was a beauty of a wine even now.


1975 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. Parker 88. This wine reached full maturity early and has taken on an increasing amount of amber/orange. It exhibits a dusty, herbaceous side as it sits in the glass. Although the wine is beginning to dry out, it is still an excellent claret, with classic, cedary, curranty fruit, combined with herbs and spices. Medium-bodied, with some sweetness on the attack, the wine narrows out and tastes more compressed and compact after it sits in the glass for 5-10 minutes.


Spring rolls. Lemongrass chili tofu, peanut sauce, grilled pork sausage, spicy tomato sauce. Extremely yummy spring roll. Bright fresh tastes and a very spicy sauce. Plus that sausage was awesome.


1995 Grand-Puy-Lacoste. Parker 95. Another unbelievably rich, multidimensional, broad-shouldered wine, with slightly more elegance and less weight than the powerhouse 1996, this gorgeously proportioned, medium to full-bodied, fabulously ripe, rich, cassis-scented and flavored Grand-Puy-Lacoste is a beauty. It should be drinkable within 4-5 years, and keep for 25-30. This classic Pauillac is a worthy rival to the other-worldly 1996. Anticipated maturity: 2002-2025.


1996 Grand-Puy-Lacoste. Parker 93. This is unquestionably a profound Grand-Puy-Lacoste, but it is excruciatingly backward. It reveals an essence of creme de cassis character which sets it apart from other Pauillacs. The wine is displaying plenty of tannin, huge body, and sweet black currant fruit intermixed with minerals and subtle oak. Massive, extremely structured, and with 25-30 or more years of longevity, this immensely-styled Grand-Puy-Lacoste will require 7-8 years of patience, perhaps longer. A superb, classic Pauillac. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2030.

agavin: a little more sour and tannic than it’s younger brother, but birds of a feather. You can really taste the terroir here.


Green papaya salad. Green papaya, duck jerky, cucumber, rau ram, cashews, red onion, spicy nuoc mam. This was the weakest dish — not that it was bad — but the dressing on the papaya was a little flat compared to these delicious ones in Vietnam. The duck however was amazing.


2003 Leoville-Poyferre. Parker 98. I have had this wine three times out of bottle, rating it 97 once and 98 twice. It is a colossal success and a potential legend in the making. Its saturated, dense inky/blue/purple color offers up notes of crushed rocks, acacia flowers, blueberries, black raspberries, and creme de cassis. A synthesis of power and elegance, this multi-layered wine has spectacular concentration, sweet but high tannin, and low acidity A stunning effort that showcases this legendary terroir, it is a brilliant, brilliant success. The quintessential Leoville Poyferre? Anticipated maturity: 2009-2030.


2000 Lynch Bages. Parker 97. Beginning to open magnificently, the still dense purple-colored 2000 reveals a blossoming bouquet of blackberries, cassis, graphite and pen ink. Full-bodied with velvety tannins that have resolved themselves beautifully over the last eleven years, this wine is still an adolescent, but it exhibits admirable purity, texture, mouthfeel and power combined with elegance. One of the all-time great examples of Lynch Bages, the 2000 is just beginning to drink well yet promises to last for another 20-25+ years.


Daikon rice cake & egg. Shiitake mushroom, cilantro, spicy soy. Seems simple and could be bland, but far from it. The spicy dressing had a real vinegar kick with I loved.


2003 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. Parker 95. The brilliant, opulent, fleshy 2003 Pichon Lalande (65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, and 4% Petit Verdot) possesses a high pH of 3.8 as well as 13% alcohol. Reminiscent of the 1982 Pichon Lalande (which never shut down and continues to go from strength to strength), the dense plum/purple-colored 2003 offers gorgeous aromas of blackberries, plum liqueur, sweet cherries, smoke, and melted licorice. Fleshy, full-bodied, and intense, displaying a seamless integration of wood, acidity, tannin, and alcohol, this beauty can be drunk now or cellared for 20 years or more.


Belly & Egg. Star anise braised pork belly, poached egg, pickled mustard greens over ginger jasmine rice. Wow! Wow! You mix it up and eat. An amazing dish, rich and delicious. The egg looks sous vide.


Our young chef/owner, Chloe Tran did an amazing job.


From my cellar: 1995 Chapoutier Ermitage le Pavillon. Parker 99. The 1995 Ermitage Le Pavillon is magnificent. The wine is more accessible than the 1996 (due to lower acidity and more immediately accessible glycerin and fruit), with a magnificent black/purple color, and layers of cassis fruit, smoky, roasted meat, and mineral characteristics that are the result of barrel fermentation and high extraction of fruit. It is huge, but not heavy, gorgeously proportioned, and dazzlingly well-defined. A monster Hermitage of immense proportions, it somehow manages to keep everything in balance. This backward Pavillon will require 10-12 years of cellaring. It should age well through the first half of the next century.

agavin: incredible grapy nose and flavor to match. This is clearly a big unfiltered wine.


Hanger steak. Pepper, spicy sauce, and greens. Fantastic as well. Some heat here, but delicious.


F. X. Pichler Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Loibner Loibenberg. 95 points. nose; gun metal, white peaches, cigar tobacco, and pine sap. palate; bay leaf, white pepper, peat, and strawberry-rhubarb pie. full bodied.
medium plus acidity. 60 plus second finish. everyone should be drinking more gruner veltliner.
and with wines like this one, it’s a no brainer. this wine clearly show’s why F.X. Pichler is regarded as one of the best in Austria. any serious wine drinker should try one.


1990 Domaine des Baumard Quarts de Chaume. RJ Wine 95. Medium apricot color; most unusual lime cream, lime honey, mineral, green apple, pear nose; tasty, elegant, pear, lime cream, green honey, green apple, mineral, lime honey palate; long finish 95+ pts.


Chocolate pot du creme. Creme fraiche, salt, coconut. This was a flawless dessert. I happen to love any custard based dessert, and this one was delightfully creamy. The coconut and hint of salt really spiced it up too.


Vietnamese coffee. You mix up the sweetened condensed milk then pour over ice. Really as good as coffee gets.

Overall this was a fabulous lunch. The restaurant is a bit loud (hard surfaces), and the menu is small, but the food is absolutely top notch. Having just come from Vietnam the flavors are authentic but it’s interpreted through the modern LA lens — not such a bad thing. Our wines were great, although the big Bordeaux didn’t pair with the food (they were still good wines). This is a meal that really begs for more German and Alsatian wines. But that’s a minor quibble. Company was top notch too, so really nothing to complain about.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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  3. Zaytinya – East made Easy
  4. Rustic Canyon Redux
  5. Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the Sun
By: agavin
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Game of Thrones – Episode 39

Jun08

gameofthronesseasonreleasedate-1396104840n4k8gGame of Thrones

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Watched: Episode 39 – June 8, 2014

Title: The Watchers on the Wall

Summary: Awesome fight, awesome ep

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Episode 9 is always a doozy in Game of Thrones. First it was Ned’s head attachment problem, then Blackwater, then the infamous Red Wedding. This week isn’t quite so shocking (even compared to last week), but for only the second time (since Blackwater) we have an episode with only a single main arena of conflict: in this case, Castle Black and the wall.

I have to admit, I had my trepidations. In the books the whole book 2-3 Jon Snow narrative was among my favorites (along with Arya), but in the show it just hasn’t resonated as well. Plus, after last week’s evil fun the idea of two weeks off from Tyrion and crew was a tough pill to swallow.

The episode opens with a big establishing shot of the fortifications atop the wall and the forest beyond. We’ve come a long way from the tight and static constructions of season 1. The camera nimbly points out the giant horn used to alert the castle of approaching invaders. Sam and Jon share a watch and the big guy gets to asking Jon about Ygritte, vows and all that. This is some delightful dialog, particularly as delivered by Sam. His little legal analysis of their vows and the technical omission of other activities is good fun and good character building. A telltale owl is joined to…

thewatchersonthewall2-630x419

Bonding time

A white eyed Thenn back in Tormund’s camp. Again, even after about 5 reminders I wonder if the noobs understand the whole Warg thing. Tormund is telling Ygritte about the “bear he fucked” and she’s not in a good mood. She goes a long way to emphasize her zeal for killing Crows and Big Thenn takes the opportunity to question her loyalty. She gets right in his face and lets everyone know that killing Jon Snow is her privilege alone. On the ridge above, Gilly creeps by.

Sam talks to master Aemon in the library. He’s clearly obsessed with Gilly and the ancient Maester knows it. Both these actors are excellent and Aemon says the same thing to Sam that he did to Jon, “Love is the death of duty.” But he admits he had a tryst when he was young. Sam goes outside and hears Gilly at the gate, forcing Pyp to let her in. He swears to stay by her side and keep her safe — but then they hear the horn.

The Warg owl hears it too and lets the Thenn/Tormund party know it’s time. Mance is coming. Atop the wall, Jon and the brothers watch the whole forest burn. They hastily man the defenses, dragging barrels into place. Thorne admits to Jon that he should have sealed the tunnel. This is typical of GOT, in that Thorne’s little speech shows a good side to an unlikeable character. Throne may be an ass, but he’s a patriot too, loyal to the Watch. Jon is respectful too. He’s grown up.

thewatchersonthewall5-630x354

Jon really comes into his own

Sam hides Gilly in the larder and she tries to stop him from fighting. But Sam too has come a long way from the cowardly fat boy. He has a duty he needs to serve, even if that means leaving her — but he does leave her with a kiss (we knew that had been on his mind). He then joins Pyp in manning the South Gate. They discuss fear. Sam has found his place. He’s a brother now, and that buffers him from his terror.

Outside, Ygritte is watching, and then sneaks back to camp. She knows it’s a thin crew and tells Tormund. They arm up and charge. This is told in an awesome areal shot that establishes the field of battle, rolling past the castle, up and over the wall. This is a complex battle with several main locations: the gate, the courtyard of Castle Black, the top of the wall, the wall and its approach (including the outer gate) and then tunnel to said gate. The direction in the episode does an excellent job setting this up and conveying the dynamics between.

North of the wall Mance’s army emerges from the woods. They hired a lot of extras, and grafted in 2-3 giants and a huge mammoth. Does it feel like a truly enormous army? Well… close but not quite. But for TV, this is as good as it gets. The giants and mammoth (singular) look good.

 

Thorne oversees from above, giving a rousing speech. He’s a dick, but again, you can’t help but admire his commitment and courage. In battle, he’s a solid leader. But the crew makes a few errors (dropping a barrel, etc). He yells them into shape and they fire arrows at the oncoming army.

Below Ygritte and company storm the gate, charging into the light arrow fire, then lay siege to the gate with grappling hooks.

When it’s clear the castle below is bing attacked, Thorne gives another good speech, puts Slynt in charge and heads down the elevator. Below it’s total chaos. Tormund breaches the gate and a big melee ensues. Sam flees the gate tower just before it’s overwhelmed. The castle and the fight look good. They built a serious set and put it to good use. No easy feat  given all the night shooting!

On top and over, as the Mammoth charges, Slynt falls apart and the gang tricks him down below. Jon takes over, marshaling the defense. Arrows are loosed and guys are hung out out to shoot down on climbers below. This all looks pretty defensible until a giant with a monster arrow starts picking off guys at the top.

Thorne does a great job fighting until he runs into Giantsbane. They duel for a while until Thorne is wounded and escapes. Slynt arrives below to find the Thenns (and a sharp shooting Ygritte) laying waste to the defenders. Unlike Thorne, he doesn’t have a likable bone in his body and instantly flees, finding his way into the larder with Gilly… uh oh.

Pyp and Sam  snipe with crossbows from above until Ygritte puts an arrow through Pyp’s neck. This episode takes out a lot of regular characters and Pyp is the first. Soon Jon won’t have any friends left :-(. Sam flees toward the elevator and a Thenn comes after him, at the last minute, he pulls it together and puts a crossbow in the bad guy’s face.

The giants and their mammoth are setting up to pull the outer gate out of its socket. They might look dumb, but they know their business. Jon sends Grenn down to “hold the gate” and proceeds to fire bomb the giants with some success taking out one and the mammoth. But the other is pissed, and starts lifting the gate himself. Plus, a jammed firebomb goes off up top and leads to the death of several defenders.

Sam has come up from below to warn Jon, so he passes command to Edd (his last core friend up top) and heads down.

Grenn’s crew is in the tunnel, but so is the giant. Despite their terror, they hold fast, reciting their oath as the giant charges. As always when the oath is pulled out, it’s an emotional moment.

Jon and Sam arrive below and Jon tears into the invaders. The camera pans about revealing the scope of the melee — and Ygritte nearby. Plus Tormund and Big Thenn going to town. Sam, on orders from Jon, releases Ghost, who starts ripping throats. Giantsbane takes an arrow but barely slows. Big Thenn hones in on Jon and they too get into one of those duels. I might say that’s Hollywood, but actually this kind of thing happened in ancient warfare at least. At the battle of Granicus Alexander the Great was said to have dueled several Persian noblemen in the center of the field.

Jon is man enough now, he can even handle a sub-boss!

Jon is man enough now, he can even handle a sub-boss!

Anyway, Jon is getting his ass handed to him by Big Thenn until he manages to grab a hammer and bash in the ugly scarred skull (exit another minor character). But Ygritte is waiting, bow drawn. When it comes time to shoot, she can’t — or at least doesn’t get the chance, because the elevator boy Olly puts an arrow through her heart. Now this next is all Hollywood, or at least subjective direction, as the battle fades and they have their final emotional moment. She tells him they’ll always have Paris — oops, I mean they should have stayed in the cave. He says they’ll get back there. And here it comes: “You know nothing, Jon Snow” -> blank stare of death. I guess in this case “duty is the death of love.” I’ll step aside for a second to comment that the structure of the show and watching it as it’s released mutes the emotionality of this parting. We haven’t seen them together since last year, and we haven’t seen any soft Ygritte (except maybe saving Gilly) at all this season. It’ll be interesting to see how it feels watching them all back to back of blu-ray or the like. More painful for sure.

But he doesn't get the girl (more than once)

But he doesn’t get the girl (more than once)

Back on the front of the wall the men atop take out the climbers with some well timed avalanches and a giant hook that sweeps through their ranks. This episode has been pulling out a lot of BIG SCALE shots. And the tide is turning.

Below Jon and crew round up a trapped Tormund acting very much like the cornered bear he described at the beginning. Jon, still in charge, throws him in chains. In further mop up, Sam rushes into the larder to check on Gilly to find her find — and a pathetic Slynt cowering in the corner. Jon and Sam take survey and Jon announces a crazy plan to confront/challenge/assassinate (it’s not clear) Mance before he can attack again.

He and Sam enter the tunnel and find everyone dead, including Grenn and the Giant. I had been hoping we would see the Giant fight in more detail, and probably for cost reasons they left out the blow by blow — still the book ends we got were emotionally effective. Sam lets Jon out into the great white beyond.

Wow, all in all, this was a different but massively successful episode. It managed to effectively capture a large scale multi-theatre battle both effectively and emotionally — and make it feel big. Plus it delivered fairly well on character, motivation, and all that good stuff. The team is pretty amazing as this would have been a tough episode to write, even tougher to direct, and probably crazy hard to orchestrate.

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]

Related posts:

  1. Game of Thrones – Episode 27
  2. Game of Thrones – Episode 26
  3. Game of Thrones – Episode 34
  4. Game of Thrones – Episode 29
  5. Game of Thrones – Episode 31
By: agavin
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Eating Hanoi – Green Tangerine

Jun05

Restaurant: Green Tangerine

Location: Hanoi

Date: March 30, 2014

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: A tad too experimental

_

Our final meal in Vietnam. Cry.


Green Tangerine serves what its website calls “French food with a Vietnamese twist.”





The usual big menu.

Shrimp salad.


Duck pastry mixed with eggplants, tomatoes, curcuma, onions on a red berries sauce.


Sliced beef cooked in oven topped with 2 kinds of chutneys: red pepper and pineapple in curry, served with homemade pastas and Gouda cheese.


Fish in saffron rolled with bacon served with rice noodle: “Cha ca” style, Green Tangerine way.


Chicken in mango, rum and cardamon sauce served with a tart of spinach enhanced with mango slices.


Lasagna of fishes cooked in white wine served with vegetables and a trio of mousses: red fruits, parmesan cheese, and basil leaves.


Mango stir fried with passion fruits sauce, in crumble served with vanilla ice cream.

Only some of the dishes here “worked.” They all looked pretty, but a few of them had weird flavor combinations that just didn’t quite get off the ground. They weren’t bad, just the truth is, none had the intensity and liveliness of good straight-up Vietnamese. Sometimes you can get too experimental — or perhaps lack the skill to pull it off.

For more Vietnam dining reviews, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Hanoi – Madame Hien
  2. Eating Hanoi – Club Opera
  3. Seasons of Hanoi
  4. Wake up Hanoi
  5. Eating Saigon – Hoa Tuc
By: agavin
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Eating Hanoi – Madame Hien

Jun03

Restaurant: Madame Hien

Location: Hanoi

Date: March 29, 2014

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Excellent neighborhood Italian

_

For our final dinner in Vietnam we head out to another “high end street food” restaurant, this time part of a group of establishments run by Didier Corlou a French chef who married a Vietnamese woman.

The chef says:

€This restaurant is a dedication to my wife’€™s grandmother and to all Vietnamese women of the past and the present. It is also a tribute to their way of cooking, their ancestral culture and the artisanal and regional knowledge of over one thousand years. The rich diversity of Vietnam, found in its two deltas, fifty four minorities, three thousand kilometers of coastline and many natural resources (rivers, forests, mountains and oceans) is reflected in its cuisine.


The location is in a lovely colonial courtyard.


Fresh spring rolls.


Banana flower salad. These salads are amazing. I think this one had chicken and believe it or not, mortadella!


Pupu platter. Well, for lack of a better name this appetizer sampler comes with all sorts of good stuff. Fried spring rolls, fresh ones, pickles, softshell crab, omelet.


More spring rolls, tofu sticks.


This is a fried softshell crab and crab salad.


And steamed Chinese broccoli with garlic.


Duck breast.


Sliced lamb, I think. Like most Vietnamese meats, scrumptious.

Overall, this was the tastiest meal we had in Hanoi, and probably in the top three of our trip. The chef had a great palette and the execution was very sharp.

For more Vietnam dining reviews, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Hanoi – Club Opera
  2. Seasons of Hanoi
  3. Eating Saigon – Hoa Tuc
  4. Wake up Hanoi
  5. Eating Hoi An – Brothers Cafe
By: agavin
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Game of Thrones – Episode 38

May30

gameofthronesseasonreleasedate-1396104840n4k8gGame of Thrones

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Watched: Episode 38 – June 1, 2014

Title: The Mountain and the Viper

Summary: Wow, what a finish!

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Joff bit it (or drank it) in episode 33, but we’ve been waiting half a season to see how this all falls out for poor Tyrion. Then we even had to wait an extra week without an episode. Now the moment is at hand.

As usual, I’ll break down the threads into their sub plots for discussion.

At the wall – The moles town brothel might be loud, but the girls have nothing on Littlefinger’s places down south. These are some seriously ugly whores. And mean too, as we learn when a drunk one harasses Gilly about her baby. But they aren’t long for the world, Gilly recognizes the wildling warcries. Soon, Giantsbane, the Thenns, and Ygrite are pretty much killing everyone — until Ygrite notices Gilly and her baby and lets her go. Still, they make a point of showing her massacre a good number of men and women alike.

Back at Castle Black, Sam thinks Gilly is dead and the others reassure him she’s tough. Jon knows Mance is close and they contemplate how grim the odds are for the defenders. I.e. setup for next week’s invasion!

themountainandtheviper07

Sure he betrayed her, but that was a long time ago.

Dany – We’re treated first to a bit of book free love story between Grey Worm and Missandei (the translator). The Unsullied are bathing near the female servants (opportunity for nudity!) and he “spies” on her (overtly). Later, she tells Dany about this and they discuss eunuchs (I guess reminding the non-dorks that Unsullied have no parts). Pillar and the stones. Anyway, Grey Worm comes to apologize and they have a little “moment.”

A boy (I wonder if it’s the same one from season 1) brings Ser Barristan a letter. It’s the pardon letter Jorah got for spying on Dany years ago. Barristan goes to Jorah straight and tells him first. Then Jorah approaches Dany on her throne to plead his case. He’s honest with her, but she gives him no chance to explain himself. If there is a theme this week, it’s all about reversals, and so Jorah is banished from the city and the woman he loves. For the second time, stripped of everything he cares for. But us viewers are treated to an awesome shot of Meereen as he rides off.

Being queen can be tough

Being queen can be tough

Ramsay and Reek – Ramsay and his army are parked outside Moat Cailin. We can see it’s a swamp, but only in the distance. He gives Reek/Theon a combined pep talk and scare. Theon rides in under the white flag, past dead and rotting soldiers. Inside, the Iron Born aren’t doing so well. Most are dead, all are sick (sieges suck). Alfie Allen does a great job as Reek playing at being Theon. He offers the chance to surrender and live. The leader mocks him, but another kills him (ironically, just like he himself was taken out back at Winterfell). His exact words were “treat you honorably like he did me” and Ramsay is a man of his word, as the poor guys end up flayed.

Later, Ramsay brings his army back to Roose and gives him the banner from Moat Cailin. Roose shows him the North all around them and officially recognizes him as a Bolton (as opposed to Snow). If he wasn’t such an evil dude it might be an emotional moment.

Arya – is finally approaching the vale with the hound (return to the Bloody Gate or whatever it’s called). They have one of their hilarious conversations. We are reminded of the Hound’s infected wound, and treated to more of Arya’s interesting view point about “proper” killing. “I’d kill Joffrey with a chicken bone if I had too.” And when they find out her aunt is dead, Arya cracks up (which actually gives a glimpse of the old more childish Arya).

I'd kill Joffrey with a chicken bone if I had too

I’d kill Joffrey with a chicken bone if I had too

Sansa – her older sister is being anything but childish. Littlefinger is being interrogated by the grey-clad lords and lady of the Vale about Lysa’s “suicide.” When they bring Sansa in, she tells a carefully constructed story riding the line between fact and fiction. In fact, she clings decidedly close to the truth, revealing her identity and spinning the crucial parts (the nature of her kiss and the murder itself) to Littlefinger’s benefit. Both sisters have grown. Littlefinger is let off. He works the lords pushing them toward war with the Lannisters and getting Robin out of the Eerie to “tour” the Value.

themountainandtheviper02

Someone has finally learned how to play the game

Later, Litlefinger visits Sansa to ask her why she helped him. She looks at him coyly. And as Littlefinger ushers Robin off on his “adventure” she appears in a striking feather shouldered dress. It’s been awhile since I read her parts in the novels, but this all feels decidedly more overt and adult than in the source material. Not that that’s a bad thing — particularly on TV.

Tyrion – And finally, the man of the hour. Jaime vists Tyrion one last time and they have one of those wry conversations, discussing duels, methods of execution, and words for different kinds of killing. Then Tyrion launches into this long story about his moron cousin Orson the Beetlesmasher. It’s a credit to Peter Dinklage that he makes it so spellbinding, and great writing that it turns out the beetle smashing is probably an allegory for human violence. In the end, Jaime wishes him luck.

Taking a moment at Pycell's expense

Taking a moment at Pycell’s expense

And he moves on to the arena. This is a glorious set. Notched somewhere on the water in Dubrovnik the half circle of spectators looks out on the sea, and they’ve matted in a love Red Keep looming above. Oberyn is taking the whole thing lightly. Light armor and getting his buzz on. But the man is fast. He really does the grace and speed of The Viper credit — and the Mountain is huge. It is so George R R Martin that his character ultimate does him in. His need to toy with the Mountain and get the truth about his sister from the man leaves an opening for a huge last minute reversal. Oh it would be great to be a GOT virgin and experience it for the first time again.

Oh, and that is one seriously bad way to check out! Ouch!

They don't call him the Viper for nothing

They don’t call him the Red Viper for nothing

All in all, this was a fabulous episode, probably my favorites of this season so far — mostly due to the Tyrion scenes and the fight, but there is lots of good stuff going on. George R R Martin has a real talent for reversals. His basic mode of operation is to make you fall for the characters, even painting the villains sympathetically, and then jerk their fortunes up and down unpredictably. It’s a damn effective dramatic strategy.

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]

Related posts:

  1. Game of Thrones – Episode 31
  2. Game of Thrones – Episode 32
  3. Game of Thrones – Episode 34
  4. Game of Thrones – Episode 36
  5. Game of Thrones – Episode 33
By: agavin
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BOS – Nose to Tail

May30

Restaurant: BOS

Location:424 E. 2nd St. Los Angeles, CA 90012. 213.700.7834

Date: May 28, 2014

Cuisine: Exotic Cow Parts

Rating: Whacky concept / Excellent chef

_

BOS, a new opening in LA’s extended downtown, is quite the unique concept. It focuses on the cow — and all the cow. This is a very modern restaurant, serving up very contemporary (but not molecular) American food, using unusual proteins and all sorts of fusion influences.


The mini-mall frontage.


BOS is located in Little Tokyo’s Honda Plaza.


The menu.


Chef David Bartnes.


Owner Jun Isogai.


1999 Salon Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs. IWC 94. Bright yellow-gold. Deeply pitched, pungent aromas of candied lemon, pear skin, anise, buttered toast and smoky lees, with notes of ginger and white flowers adding lift. Densely packed yet vibrant, showing impressive power and clarity to its mineral-accented citrus and orchard fruit flavors. Expands on the finish but maintains its focus, picking up iodine and bitter lime notes that linger impressively. A more vibrant rendition of Salon than the 1997 version, but with a bit less concentration than the 1996. This should be a slow ager.

Matthew: to me, this was somewhat shut down. The nose had some fresh bready notes, but was kinda quiet. The palate had a dense lime and lemon note, with nice acidity and cream. I think this needs a helluva lot more time to flesh out the complexity that’s (most likely0 buried underneath.


2004 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clavoillon. Burghound 90. The reduction this displayed after bottling now dominates the nose and has become, in my view, permanent. Thus, how much you will like this wine necessarily depends on whether moderately strong reduction bothers you or not. By contrast, the highly energetic and vibrant rich, round and detailed medium-bodied flavors possess good extract for the vintage and plenty of punch and persistence on the finish. Partially because of the reduction and partially because of the firm acid spine, this is still quite young though if I am correct about the reduction being permanent, finding the proper drinking window is much more about taste preferences than actual maturity as the nose isn’t going to display much ever. For my taste, I would continue to cellar this for another 2 to 4 years. Note further that my rating is a compromise between a technical fault and an otherwise delicious, intense and balanced wine.

agavin: All reduction. I kind of like sulfur, but this isn’t a super approachable chard.

Matthew: 91 points. All about the sulphur at this point. Thought the egg shells would blow off with some time, but they never really left. I gave this about 4 hours of air before dinner, but it could have used far more. Will 2004 Leflaive’s ever resolve themselves?


Carpaccio of Tongue. Pea Sprouts | Avocado | Pickled Shallots | Issan Dressing. This dish had a very soft texture and a good amount of zing. Still, it wasn’t my favorite tongue.


2001 Paul Pernot et ses Fils Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 92. This is still admirably fresh with its pretty and impressively complex nose that blends mostly mature secondary fruit and floral aromas with attractive citrus elements that extend to the solidly rich but well-detailed, powerful and tautly muscled medium-bodied flavors that possess excellent verve and length. This is ever-so-slightly better than I originally envisioned when I reviewed it just after the bottling. While for my taste this is in fact ready, there is certainly no rush to drink up. In a word, lovely.

agavin: Very rich and more hedonistic.

Matthew: 93 points. had a really nice density to it. Batard is a powerful grand cru, and this really fit the bill with lots of seashell, sweet lemon, flint, and smoke. While this was drinking well tonight, I think there’s a HUGE upside to this bottle. Pernot produces some of the most underrated/undervalued white burgundies.


Grilled Miso Heart. King Oyster Mushrooms | Yuzu Miso Vinaigrette. Dense meat, and very nice flavors.


1998 Franz Hirtzberger Riesling Smaragd Hochrain. 92 points.

agavin: nice, but a bit sour for my taste in Rieslings.

Matthew: 91 points. served blind. Nose had Austrian notes of lychee, vanilla, and citrus. The palate was fleshy and powerful, but I thought it was much younger than a 1998. I guessed it was a Singerriedel, so I wasn’t too far off. Drinking very nicely with a lot of life left on it.


Fried Tripe “Calamari”. Cilantro Garlic Yogurt Dip.


2011 Maison Ilan Morey St. Denis 1er Cru Les Chaffots.

agavin: ok. young, blind I thought it was a gevery.

Matthew: 87 points. Seemed a bit simplistic and overly acidic to me (and I LOVE acidic pinot). This did have really nice floral notes, but never seemed to reach the levels of the other Maison Ilan’s.


Sweetbread Tacos. Salsa Verde | Pico de Gallo | Sriracha Sour Cream | Pickled Radish. These tasted amazing, but the idea of eating some Thalamus or Pancreas of the cow cave me a bit of a turn.


2011 Francois Confuron-Gindre Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaumonts.

agavin: Probably the best of this blind flight. Very young, but lots of fruit and a weird (but good) underlying flower.

Matthew: 92 points. Served blind. Definitely a powerful wine. Dark nose with some rose and lilac tones. Had a nice meaty edge to it, too. Palate was already drinking really well…will get better, but jeez, it’s already a winner.


Flat Iron “Thai-taki”. Thai Cucumber Salad | Crispy Shallots.


This was a super tasty dish with bright Thai flavors.


2011 Maison Ilan Volnay 1er Cru Les Robardelles. 88 points.

agavin: I liked this one more than most of this 2011 flight. I thought it was a Vosne Romanee, because it had that spice, but Volnay isn’t too far off.

Matthew: 88 points. I liked this a hair more than the Chaffots as it seemed to have more of a fleshed out floral note. I’ve always loved the floral complexity of Volnays, so maybe that’s where it’s coming from. The palate was delicious, but a bit simplistic. Interested to see where this goes with time.


Our fish waiting to cook.


Grilled snapper. Chilies and lime. An excellent grilled white fish.


2011 Maison Ilan Mazoyères-Chambertin. 93 points.

Mathew: 93 points. Served blind. Very impressive wine. Aromas of dark fruits, lots of steaminess, and flora notes. This was a powerful wine but seemed to have a lightness on the palate to it. This is really good.


Pig’s Feet and chicharron. Not my favorite dish in any light. The feet were too gelatinous for my taste (but I was told that’s how they are supposed to be). The fried skin was tasty, but it always makes me think of various dog treats I used to give Osiris.


From my cellar: 1986 Domaine Dujac Charmes-Chambertin. 94 points.

agavin: I loved this. It wasn’t perfect, perhaps a hair over the hill and would have been better if allowed a few days to settle from the car ride, but still, it had fruit, complexity, acid, and all that mature Burg goodness.

Matthew: 94 points. poured a tomato juice color, but the nose was really earthy, and I loved its complexity. The plate oscillated from tones of mushroom to more floral notes. This wasn’t a powerhouse…but had all the things I wanted in burgundy.


Whole roasted ox-tail. Roasted vegetables.


2001 Domaine Dujac Echezeaux. Burghound 92. A seductive black cherry fruit nose with abundant Vosne spice notes is just beginning to display hints of secondary development before introducing big, rich, full and mouth coating flavors that evidence a fine sense of underlying minerality and excellent finishing intensity. While this could be drunk now with pleasure, for my taste I would advise cellaring it for another 2 to 5 years first, depending on your taste of course. Whatever window that you choose, it should be well worth the wait as this is really lovely juice. Tasted twice recently with consistent notes.

agavin: Super young, but a very nice wine.

Matthew: 94 points. this needed time. Thank god for matt’s amazing decanter (you NEED to see it). After about 90 minutes in the decanter, the dark berries and spice notes really built up and fleshed out. The palate had this awesome grip to it, too…a real presence. Loved how the spice notes built up with time…I can only imagine how wonderful this will become with patience.


Prime NY Strip. Chimichurri | Heirloom Cherry Tomato Jam | Peewee Potatoes


1995 Domaine Denis Bachelet Charmes-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes. Burghound 90. Classic Bachelet fruit with a touch of earth and beautifully complex, round, sweet flavors that display exceptionally fine length. This is by no means a big wine, offering only a bit of finishing tannins yet plenty of buffering richness. It could be enjoyed now though its peak drinking period will likely require another 2 to 3 year wait.

agavin: One of my favorites of the night, but took an hour or two to get there.

Matthew: 94 points. took some time, but this turned into a really beautiful bottle of wine. Super sexy nose of roses, earth, and a touch of balsamic. The power on the palate built with time, too. This matured from a featherweight to more of a welterweight with time.


Dry-aged Ribeye Steak Frites. Parsley Garlic Butter.


1961 Château Léoville Las Cases. Parker 85. I tasted this wine with Michel Delon after I told him I had never had a great bottle of the 1961. After tasting it again, my original assessment remains unchanged. The wine reveals an austerity and under-ripeness that is reminiscent of the 1970. This fully mature Las Cases displays a garnet color with considerable amber at the edge, and a spicy, earthy, tobacco, and herb-scented nose. Some sweetness in the attack fades quickly to reveal a medium-bodied, tannic, compact wine that is good, but uninspiring. It will keep for another 10 years, but don’t expect any miracles to develop.

agavin: kind of nice mature Bordeaux, although the pencil note was a bit too pronounced for my taste.

Matthew: 93 points. beautiful nose of rose petals, sous bois, tobacco, and cranberries. The palate was lean and bright with a hefty dose of acidity and cranberries. It seemed to build out its floral notes with time and a bit of cedar/tobacco/earthiness developed with air. LLC has been such a disappointment for me over the years…so it was fun to finally open a bottle that was terrific.


A5 Japanese Wagyu NY Strip (Sendai, Japan). Trio of Sea Salts. Very tasty.


1947 Giacomo Borgogno & Figli Barolo. 93 points. Double decanted all day.

agavin: Tasted like tea. Very pale Burgundy color. But highly enjoyable.

Matthew: 93 points. beautiful nose of dirt, violets, minerals, and rust. Glad matt opened this so early today, because the glass I poured for myself was just beautiful. The tannis were there, but sweet and faint. This was all about the earthy/rose/plum/mineral tones that were intertwined on the palate. Drinking in a great place.


Uni and Lobster Pasta. Santa Barbara Sea Urchin | Maine Lobster | Caviar | Homemade Fettuccine


1966 Blandy Madeira Sercial. 92 points.

agavin: Not my favorite Madeira. A bit thin and sour. Not bad, but I’d take a great PX over it.

Matthew: 93 points. slow ox’d (is that possible with madeira???) for about 27 hours prior to dinner, and wish I had opened it earlier. Had some nickel tones on the nose with lots of dried florals and plums. Definitely a heat note on the nose too, but luckily that didn’t translate to the palate at all. Loved the raisin, sweet plum, and acidity on the palate. You would think that you were in store for a vicious desert wine, but this just flowed together nicely. Tons of life left (obviously), but I thought this showed well tonight.


Chocolate mousse.


This exotic fresh beer tasted of grapefruit rind and mango!


Vanilla Panna Cotta| Strawberries. Very soft and yummy.


Cheese cake. Cherries. Passionfruit. Bright and delicious.


Above is the world’s most disgusting spit bucket — consisting not only of the above wines but floating chunks of pig feet and the like!

Overall, this was a great evening. The wines and company were awesome. The food was delicious too. The chef clearly has an imagination and skill. The concept might however be a bit too much for some people. Even as aggressive an eater as I am, a few of the dishes were a little extreme.

For more LA dining reviews click here.


Related posts:

  1. Food as Art – Babita
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  5. Valentino – 2004 Red Burgundy
By: agavin
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Eating Hanoi – Club Opera

May28

Restaurant: Club Opera

Location: Hanoi

Date: March 28, 2014

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Upscale take

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Our second night in Hanoi brought us (accidentally) to an even more upscale take on Vietnamese cuisine. Of course, it still had the giant menu.














And fresh spring rolls. Just here, you get an individual sauce on a spoon!


Or these Friend Spring Rolls Hue Imperial Style impaled on a coconut.


Or these other fried spring rolls.


Mango Salad with Grilled Australian Beef. These are always great.


This was a kind of rice ravioli. It was a little bland.


Seafood rice noodle. There are glass noodles in there and all sorts of seafood including fish, shrimp, and squid.


Grilled Australian Beef tenderloin with lemongrass and chili.


Grilled pork ribs with Mandarin sauce. Apparently, like Mandarin oranges, Mandarin sauce is well… orange (and sweet).


Grilled Duck in Tamarind Sauce. Yum.


Grilled prawn with lemongrass.


Steamed prawn in passion fruit sauce. Great over rice.

Overall, things were quite tasty here, but the level of formality and “rigidity” of the place didn’t really fit the vibe we had grown accustomed to in Vietnam. It also wasn’t actually “better” than the good casual places. Sure, presentation was a little more elaborate — and it was still an on point kitchen — but I don’t think it was worth the price hike.

Another mysterious observation. Having grown a bit sick of beer, I went to the wine list. It was mostly French, but there were no German or Alsatian wines. And very few whites, maybe a Sancere or two. Nothing that really goes with this cuisine (I was looking for a dry or slightly off dry Riesling). Lots of Bordeaux, which the Vietnamese seem to like but which I think clashes terribly with the complex and slightly sweet flavors of the food.

For more Vietnam dining reviews, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Seasons of Hanoi
  2. Eating Saigon – Hoa Tuc
  3. Eating Hoi An – Brothers Cafe
  4. Enter the Mandarin
  5. Wake up Hanoi
By: agavin
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Seasons of Hanoi

May26

Restaurant: Seasons of Hanoi

Location: Hanoi

Date: March 28, 2014

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Lovely

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Hanoi has very good food. Our guide the first day took us to this upscale location.


Hanoi is filled with lovely colonial buildings and many of the city’s better restaurants seem to have taken them over as idyllic settings. From a glance, you can see this isn’t a local joint, which is more a plastic stools on the sidewalk kinda thing.


I was too hot and exhausted to photograph the 15 page menu.


Seafood salad. One of those delicious Vietnamese “fresh” dishes consisting of some protein, various vegetables, usually peanuts, and a slightly sweet, sour, sauce that really makes the dish.


Shrimp salad. This one probably also has some kind of plant material “filler” like papaya, bamboo, or the like.


Vietnamese Spring Rolls. The classic shrimp, pork, and noodle rolls.


Caramel Shrimp. Like Vietnamese gambas pil pil. But no garlic, shrimp boiled in a stick-sweet sauce. Delicious.


Particularly over rice!


Fried eel. With a peanut base sauce. Also delicious.

Overall, this was one of our more “modest” (in terms of dish count) meals, but it was super tasty. I would have liked a more epic sampling of their cuisine.

For more Vietnam dining reviews, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Wake up Hanoi
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  5. Enter the Mandarin
By: agavin
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Wolvesmouth – Cut Your Teeth

May22

Restaurant: Wolvesmouth: Cut Your Teeth

Location: ?

Date: May 16, 2014

Cuisine: Modern

Rating: Pretty awesome

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I’ve been wanted to try out Wolvesmouth for a long time, but the whole normal “application” process is highly irritating. I have so many elaborate dinners (several a week)  that I don’t feel the need to fill out lengthy applications selling myself or call places at exactly this time. But my friend Stewart who has been many times secured tickets for my wife and I to this special installation dinner.


I actually had no idea what to expect in advance. I hadn’t even bothered to Google it. Then we showed up at this sketchy South Glendale warehouse neighborhood.


But inside they had built a little fairy playground. Like a super-sized version of CR8 (which were some of my favorite meals ever).


The “game” (or hunting?) theme was reinforced all over by genuine stuffed animals! It’s hard from the photos to appreciate this, but there were dozens of the little beasts and a highly elaborate and atmospheric stage setting.


Tonight’s handwritten menu taped up in the kitchen area.


They cooked everything right there in the corner of the warehouse.


1989 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut Collection. JG 96. Recently disgorged. Dark honey colour. Rich and evolved nose, very ripe feel to it. Dense in character. Very “vinous”. Honey notes. This is a beautiful expression of Krug yet somehow lacks the vibrancy of the Krug wines. Maybe it’s the fact that 1989 was such a hot year. A beautiful wine nonetheless and could easily work very well with food.


Venison, hen of the woods, blackberry, cauliflower, blueberry meringue, pine gelee, cabbage, coffee. This was to be eaten with your hands. Of course it was also designed to look like a blood splatter experiment! It tasted great though with an intriguing mix of textures.


1995 Robert Ampeau & Fils Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. 94 points. Clear with medium+ intensity of lemon/gold. Very complex nose, medium+ intense and it smells fully developed with aromas of stonefruit (peach), green fruit (pear), spice (nutmeg and ginger). Secondary aromas of oak (smoke) and minerals (steely/stony). Palate: Dry, medium acidity, 13,5% alcohol which is well integrated, medium+ flavour intensity and the taste lasts long. Aromas of stonefruit, pear, minerals and nutmeg. An extremely good wine which is complex, delicate and well balanced with great length. Ready to drink but can keep for another 2-4 years.


The vegetarian version without the meat.


Squirrels have invaded the bar!


1985 Remoissenet Père et Fils Montrachet. Burghound 92. An elegant nose of bread crust and yeast wrapped in aged white flower notes leads to sweet, complex and deliciously mouth coating flavors that display fine length and good finishing punch. This is a lovely combination of power and grace and it is substantially better than Remoissenet’s other ’85 whites that I have tried. No other notes.

agavin: very closed and sleepy at first but opened after an hour or so to be awesome!


Fava bean, crab, dill, sourdough, strawberry, beet, cucumber. A yummy and inventive take on the beet salad.


1984 Gros Frère et Sœur Clos Vougeot Musigni. 95 points. This is a great wine (good location in the vineyard and top winemakers) from a very off year — and it’s 29 year-old pinot noir. But somehow (and I’ve had 3 bottles) it’s still in great shape. Really quite lovely with a complex tar and cherry thing going on. I happen to find it fabulous.

agavin: tea and berries. Yum!


Halibut, lemon gelee, zucchini flower, jalapeños, creme, red onion, radish, carrot, poblano. A lovely fish. I particularly enjoyed the gelees.


More cutesy dead things.


2008 Domaine Michel Gaunoux Corton-Renardes. Burghound 93. There is a hint of vegetal here that actually adds breadth to the sauvage, cool and wonderfully fresh and complex nose of red currants, earth and humus. The silky yet focused, intense and overtly austere big-bodied flavors possess an excellent sense of underlying tension on the still exceptionally tight finish that is supported by a very firm tannic spine. This is terrific as it has a strikingly sophisticated mouth feel and superb aging potential.

agavin: a surprisingly drinkable and lovely Burg for such a young Grand Cru.


Rabbit croquette, snap pea risotto, basil, blueberry, turnip, zucchini flower. The croquette was awesome, a fried rabbit meatball.


1989 Château Mouton Rothschild. Parker 90. Considering the vintages and the estate, Mouton’s performances in 1989 and 1990 are puzzling. I have tasted these wines multiple times since my last reviews appeared in print. The 1989 Mouton-Rothschild is the superior wine, but in no sense is this a compelling wine if compared to the Moutons produced in 1995, 1986, and 1982. The 1989 displays a dark ruby color that is already beginning to reveal significant lightening at the edge. The bouquet is surprisingly evolved, offering up scents of cedar, sweet black fruits, lead pencil, and toasty oak. This elegant, medium-bodied restrained wine is beautifully made, stylish, and not dissimilar to the 1985. It is an excellent to outstanding Mouton that should be close to full maturity in 4-5 years; it will drink well for 15-20.


1995 Mouton-Rothschild. Parker 95. Bottled in June, 1997, this profound Mouton is more accessible than the more muscular 1996. A blend of 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc, and 19% Merlot, it reveals an opaque purple color, and reluctant aromas of cassis, truffles, coffee, licorice, and spice. In the mouth, the wine is “great stuff,” with superb density, a full-bodied personality, rich mid-palate, and a layered, profound finish that lasts for 40+ seconds. There is outstanding purity and high tannin, but my instincts suggest this wine is lower in acidity and slightly fleshier than the brawnier, bigger 1996. Both are great efforts from Mouton-Rothschild.


Pork belly, sweet potato leather, green apple, yam, lobster, tarragon. Another intriguing combination. The blobs of yellow were some kind of spicy/sweet gelee and were awesome.


1995 Latour. Parker 96. I have been blown away by this wine on recent occasions, and all of my hopes for it being a prodigious example of Latour after bottling have proven to be correct. The wine is a more unctuously-textured, sweeter, more accessible Latour than the 1996. Wow! What a fabulous, profound wine this has turned out to be. It is unquestionably one of the great wines of the vintage, and will probably need 10-12 years of cellaring before it can be approached. The wine reveals an opaque purple color, and a knock-out nose of chocolate, walnuts, minerals, spice, and blackberry and cassis fruit. Exceptionally full-bodied, with exhilarating levels of glycerin, richness, and personality, this wine, despite its low acidity, possesses extremely high levels of tannin to go along with its equally gargantuan proportions of fruit. It is a fabulous Latour that should age effortlessly for 40-50 years.


Anther fritter, with chipotle, perhaps a little more conventional, but good too.


1995 Montrose. Parker 93. An explosively rich, exotic, fruity Montrose, the 1995 displays even more fat and extract than the 1996. There is less Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1995 blend, resulting in a fuller-bodied, more accessible and friendlier style. The wine exhibits an opaque black/ruby/purple color, as well as a ripe nose of black fruits, vanillin, and licorice. Powerful yet surprisingly accessible (the tannin is velvety and the acidity low), this terrific example of Montrose should be drinkable at a young age.


Asparagus, gnocchi, spinach, cherry avocado. Very clean and fresh tasting.


Vajra Lange Nebbiolo. Didn’t try this wine, too many bigger names.


Fried quail, chipotle, pimento cheese sandwich, green tomato, nectarine, blue lake bean. Basically mini fried chicken and combined with the chipotle a little like hot wings. The Kentucky style cheese sandwich was awesome.


Roar!


2006 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie Château d’Ampuis. IWC 93. Vivid ruby. Red and dark berry preserves and spice cake on the nose, with complicating floral qualities that gain strength with air. Very fresh, with intense black raspberry and bitter cherry flavors supported by a firm spine of minerality. Fine-grained and nimble, with admirable finishing clarity and precision.


A vegetarian version with fried broccoli.


2001 Rieussec. Parker 99. A monumental effort, the 2001 Rieussec boasts a light to medium gold color in addition to a fabulous perfume of honeysuckle, smoky oak, caramelized tropical fruits, creme brulee, and Grand Marnier. The wine is massive and full-bodied yet neither over the top nor heavy because of good acidity. With intense botrytis as well as a 70-75-second finish, this amazing Sauternes will be its apogee between 2010-2035.

agavin: needs some more time — like years — but still enjoyable.


A cool presentation of dessert. Honey in beehive configuration.


Honey cornbread, ice cream, honey crunch, ricotta, honey steamed cake. And it was to die for too, very honeyed with smooth and a nice crunch both, warm and cold.


Ice, strawberry, buttermilk panna cotta, lime parfait, pistachio. Another great dessert. The ice was just straight ice, but it really added.


For the final act, dry ice smoke surrounded this dead dear.


Then everyone got to “pitch” in and hurl their plate into the room smashing it against the wall Greek style. Crazy fun.

Overall, this was a highly creative and delicious event. The atmosphere, music (almost seemed like it was timed with the courses), food, layout, (and wine), all contributed to a unique evening. Cooking wise this was very refined and inventive cuisine. Everything was served efficiently (surprising for 9-10 courses and so many people) and was on point. The flavor, texture, and temperature modulations were sophisticated and complex, yet every dish basically worked. Bravo!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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By: agavin
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Food as Art – Babita

May20

Restaurant: Babita Mexicuisine

Location: 1823 S San Gabriel Blvd, San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 288-7265

Date: May 17, 2014

Cuisine: Modern Mexican

Rating: A rare find

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Chef Roberto and his wife Elba run this unique gem in the San Gabriel Valley. It’s family owned, upscale, tiny, chef driven and elaborate. And it’s Mexican food! Los Angeles has no shortage of Mexican restaurants, both of the classic and modernized formats, but we don’t have a lot (if any others?) that strive for an upscale ingredient focused style.


The tiny room is wood paneled (70s style) and lined with tequila bottles.


Speaking of bottles, we brought our own as usual:

1994 Williams Selyem Chardonnay Allen Vineyard. Our bottle was totally oxidized.


2001 M. Chapoutier Ermitage Blanc De L’Orée. Parker 93-95. The great American patriot and wine connoisseur Thomas Jefferson called Hermitage “the single greatest white wine of France.” Slightly lower-keyed, but still prodigious, the 2001 Ermitage Cuvee de l’Oree does not possess the muscle, volume, or weight of the 2000, but it is a beautifully etched, elegant, intensely mineral wine offering hints of white flowers, citrus oils, and earth in its dense, full-bodied, chewy personality. Like its older sibling, it will be delicious in its first 3-4 years of life, then close down, to re-emerge 10-12 years later. It will last for three decades or more.

agavin: Ours was nice, with that strange semi-oxidized taste older Hermitage blanc usually has.


Chips and salsa. Classic, but very very good.

2006 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape Roussanne Vieilles Vignes. Parker 98. The limited cuvee of 100% old vine Roussanne (50% vinified in barrel and 50% in tank), the 2006 Chateauneuf du Pape blanc Vieilles Vignes is an extraordinary wine. Since the debut vintage in 1986, I have been unable to figure out how to predict this cuvee’s aging potential, but I tend to agree with most sommeliers who feel this wine needs to be drunk in its first 4-6 years of life, then not touched again until age 12-15. It is so amazing, I usually drink it as quickly as I can get my hands on a few bottles. The sensational 2006 possesses a wonderful honeysuckle note interwoven with marmalade, tropical fruit, peaches, and buttery pastry characteristics, and zesty acidity despite a thick, full-bodied, rich texture. It is difficult to find a better white Chateauneuf du Pape than Beaucastel. Much like their reds, their whites are made in a style that is atypical for the appellation. It is put through full malolactic, and one-third is barrel fermented, then blended with the two-thirds that is aged in tank. Extraordinarily rich and honeyed, it is ideal for drinking with intensely flavored culinary dishes.

agavin: No oxidation here, but a pure intense weighty white that paired very well with the food.


Spicy fresh guacamole, yellow chile stuffed with ceviche of salmon with strawberry sauce and brine poached large shrimp-cocktail with habanero sauce. Some real heat in this dish, particularly from the guacamole and shrimp sauce. Each element was delicious and different.


From my cellar: 1978 Marques de Murrieta Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial. Parker 93. The 1978 Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial spent 18 years in barrel and 10 years in bottle prior to release. It still has a deep cherry red color along with an aromatic array of underbrush, brier, tobacco, incense, and blackberry. It has slightly sweeter fruit and livelier acidity than the 1994. This lengthy effort is at its peak now where it should remain for another 20 years.

agavin: Very nice, arguably my favorite red of the night. Started a bit funky, but that quickly blew off. Way more fruit than one would expect for a 78 but Ygay lasts forever.


Duo of soups. Crema de jalapeno (right) and cuitlacoche (left) soup garnished with oaxacan chapulin and mezcal. There is actually a cricket in this dish, floating on the left of that toast. Both soup were wonderful, by themselves, and together.


1997 Luis Pato Bairrada Vinha Barrosa. Our bottle smelled and tasted like cork (cardboard). Others didn’t seem to mind it.


2005 Bodegas Sierra Cantabria Rioja Finca El Bosque. IWC 94. Ruby-red. Spicy red fruits and minerals on the nose, with a suave floral element adding complexity. More restrained than the 2004, showing a more elegant personality but no less intrigue. Sweet strawberry and raspberry flavors combine flavor impact with stylishness. Finishes with lightly chewy tannic grip and fresh mineral lift. There’s a deft quality here that’s really compelling.


Partridge Eggs “Huevos Rancheros”, beans, cream, ranchero sauce.


Bodega Numanthia Termes Toro Termanthia. Unfortunately I forgot to photo the year (anoyingly on the back).


2004 Torbreck Descendant. Parker 98. The 2004 Descendant, an old oak-aged blend of 92% Shiraz and 8% Viognier from a 12-year old vineyard, offers up notes of blackberries, ink, sweet truffles, and acacia flowers. There are 1,000 cases of this full-bodied, intense, rich blockbuster. It will drink well for 10-15 years.

agavin: can we say extracted? (but very good). Eucalyptus notes.


Colossal Sea Scallop seared, over herbed Squid ink Risotto. Yummy. Top flight scallop with a nice sweet squid ink sauce.


2004 Nit de Nin Nit de Nin. Parker 98. Only three barrels are made of Nit de Nin, made by Ester Nin, the vineyard manager for Clos Erasmus. The 2004 is 60% Garnacha, 30% Carinena, and 10% Syrah aged for 18 months in French oak. Purple/black, the wine has a fragrant perfume of mineral, truffle, creme de cassis, kirsch, and blueberry. Super-rich and layered on the palate, this opulent wine has exceptional depth and impeccable balance as well as a 60-second finish. Drink it over the next 10-12 years.

agavin: very nice.


Shrimp on pastry with squid ink sauce.


1996 L’ Ermita (Alvaro Palacios). Parker 95-96. The 1996 L’Ermita appears to be another blockbuster effort from Alvaro Palacios. The color is a saturated purple. The expressive nose boasts aromas of pain grille, roasted coffee, chocolate-covered, jammy cherry candy, minerals, and new oak. Full-bodied, dense, and thick, with an unctuous texture, lower acidity, and higher alcohol than the 1995 and 1994, this is a meaty, chewy, masculine wine with a flamboyant personality, in addition to a monster finish. It is super-intense, but exceptionally well-balanced, especially in view of its proportions. Anticipated maturity: 2003-2020.


Poached chicken in malbec-viognier, over Colachi Zucchini relish.


2004 Mas Doix Doix Costers de Vinyes Velles. Parker 98. The 2004 Costers de Vinas Viejas is 50% Carinena, 48% Garnacha, and 2% Merlot aged for 16 months in new French oak. Deep purple, the aromas are other-worldly with truffle, tar, graphite, kirsch, and wild blueberry among the array of scents leaping from the glass. Flamboyant and opulent, the wine has remarkable richness and depth of flavor leading to a 60-second finish. Drink this hedonistic effort over the next 10-12 years.

agavin: these priorats may be young and gigantic, but they are surprisingly drinkable (being so young).


2004 Sean Thackrey Orion Rossi Vineyard. 91 points. Beautiful, clear, deep, bright cherry color, very difficult to place the varietal blend based on this color, almost reminiscent of barbera or gamay. Similarly beguiling nose and palate of exotic spice, Penfolds-like eucalyptus and intense oak, blueberries, Rhone fruit and kirsch. Minimal acidity, pleasant tannins building late, and a kick of volatility and heat from the alcohol. A really interesting, cerebral wine that led to much opining around the table on this wine’s true quality, and much speculation on the unknown grape blend. This is not a wine I would enjoy drinking every day, but in an era when most California cult wines taste predictably similar, this seems more like what a cult wine should be, idiosyncratic and fascinating.


Braised Ox Tails over Carrot-Potato mashed and Cinnamon Mole. Loved this dish. Like Mexican osso bucco.


Look at that ox bone under the meat.


1972 Osborne Jerez-Xérès-Sherry PX 1827. agavin 98. I love PX, but this was just pure motor oil raisin pleasure. As good as sherry gets and intensely syrupy, balanced, and smooth.


1971 Bodegas Toro Albala Montilla-Moriles Don PX. 93 points. Also great, but fell in the shadow of the 1827. There was a lighter fruit note going on in the middle too.


Praline Semifredo with caramel sauce and fresh drizzles. This amazing dessert paired unbelievably well with the sherry. I love semifredo and caramel, and it was just amazing.

Yarom and Chef Roberto

This was just an amazing evening and quite different. I’m not sure what I expected (of a “fancy” Mexican in the SGV) but I was certainly blown away. Babita is just a unique gem of a place.

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

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By: agavin
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Game of Thrones – Episode 37

May18

gameofthronesseasonreleasedate-1396104840n4k8gGame of Thrones

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Watched: Episode 37 – May 18, 2014

Title: Mockingbird

Summary: Fabulous episode

ANY CHARACTER HERE

As I said last week: poor Ty. Quite a pickle he’s got himself into. Anyway, as usual, I’ll break down the threads into their sub plots for discussion.

Tyrion – Of course this is the thread we are most interested in. It takes the form of a test of three champions:

Champ 1: Jaime scolds Tyrion for throwing his life away. The dialog is so sharp — actually it’s so sharp this whole episode, and show for that matter. Lines like “You fell in love with a whore?” and “Careful, I’m the last friend you have.” Great back and forth zingers, plus there is a lot of emotion between the brothers. When Tyrion sideways asks Jaime to be his champion and Jaime turns him down it almost brought a tear to my eye. Whether this registered as a betrayal or a mere recognition of Jaime’s weakness is hard to say, and that very ambiguity is delicious. On mention of the opponent we cut to:

Heart to heart

Heart to heart

The Mountain. This new Mountain 3.0 looks just like 1.0 and is great. I don’t know what they were thinking with the unimpressive 2.0 version in season 2. That one was neither huge, obviously cruel, or so impressive. The show spares no punches with his brutal treatment (and enjoyment) of the prisoners. We are treated to several shots of the bloody entrails. And Cersei’s approval.

Now there's a Mountain that Rides!

Now there’s a Mountain that Rides!

Champ 2: Bronn has been bought out by Cersei. Ty is pretty screwed. There is the usual great delivery and an uncomfortable honesty. Bronn would LIKE to find a reason to help Tyrion, it’s just none of them make sense. With Cersei’s offer he has money and position now, and I think he’s honestly worried about the Mountain. The man is a beast, and the way he talks about it is more tell following on the show. I liked that they parted friends and the painful honesty of “Aye, I’m your friend, and when have you every risked your life for me?”

Champ 3: The unexpected. Oberyn talks of Cersei, and tells chilling tale of the young girl’s cruelty toward Tyrion. This is straight out of the books but the delivery is pitch perfect, retaining all the straight up meanness. This serves to lower Tyrion right to the bottom, then Oberyon spills out a fabulous little line about Justice and revenge, “and I shall begin with Gregor Clegane.” Great stuff. Plus, I really liked Tyrion’s witty insight that “masking manipulation with truth is one of Cersei’s greatest talents.”

Arya and the Hound – continue to “bond.” Sort of. They approach a burnt out farm and a dying man. Arya spins out her particular blend of bleak nihilistic philosophy: “Nothing is just nothing.” The hound kills the man out of mercy and is bitten by Biter and kills him while Arya dispatches Rorge with a clever bit of trick.

Later, he’s sewing up his bite wound and she offers to burn it to stop infection. Nasty looking cut but he refuses. Still, he tells the story again of being burned by his brother the Mountain, which serves both to reinforce how nasty the big guy is and to invoke sympathy. Arya responds by tending his wound (sans fire).

Jon – has a brief bit at Castle Black. Ghost is now huge (and CGI). The first of these is cool. Mance is approaching and he suggests in council that they seal the tunnel but Thorne, always a PITA will have nothing of it.

Sam gets about 1 second this week

Sam gets about 1 second this week

Dany – is lording over her rather cool sets in Meeren. Dario comes to her saying he is only good for two things: women and killing. Surprisingly, she actually takes him up on both (treating lady viewers to Dario backside). A rare bit of simple human comfort for her. In the morning, Dario runs into Jorah, who knows, and is a bit miffed. But he manages to convince the queen to offer mercy (partially) to Yunkai and put Dario in his place (slightly) by reminding him that Jorah still comes first when it comes to council. This is pretty fun stuff, particularly given the serious nature of her storyline.

Now there's a dress!

Now there’s a dress!

Melisandre – takes a bath in front of Selyse giving Stannis’ too women some screen time together. Not my favorite part, but it is amusing the way Mel uses both sexuality and piety. Selyse is all nun type. I really want to know what they see in that fire!

Brienne and Pod – visit that same inn where Lady (Sansa’s wolf) was murdered in episode 2. Hot Pie happens to be there, making for yet another cameo return. By being direct Brienne finds out about Arya was last seen with the hound — even if Pod was worried that such honesty might get them killed. Still Pod shows his value by knowing they might head for the Eerie. One might think they might actually find each other (or at least Sansa), but this is George R. R. Martin we are talking about! Pod and Brienne are fun together, although not as much fun as she was with Jaime — that was a hoot.

Not yet bosom buddies, but working on it

Not yet bosom buddies, but working on it

Sansa – finally we return to the Eerie. One might wonder why at the end of the episode, and why we wouldn’t end with Oberyn offering his services to Tyrion — but for good reason. Sansa has a few magical moments in the snowy Eerie courtyard. The snow takes her back to her childhood and she makes a snowy Winterfell (excellent snow sculpting skills BTW San). Robin joins and for a bit they have a nice moment, then the spastic Joff wanna-be goes nuts and she slaps him. As if this weren’t bad enough Littlefinger approaches. Sansa is becoming more of an active agent and she asks him point blank: “why did you really kill Joffrey?” Littlefinger is, like Cersei, a master of half truths. He appeals to his own love for Sansa’s mother and fingers it as revenge. I call B.S., Littlefinger doesn’t do anything for emotional reasons like that. But he makes a creepy move on Sansa and kisses her. Uh, oh. Lysa is watching.

I'm a dreamer

I’m a dreamer

The Lady of the Vale summons Sansa to the throne room with the Moon Door open. After a little setup about how the bodies burst apart on the ground below, she grabs Sansa. Littlefinger stops her, swearing (on his life) to send the girl away. Then he “comforts” Lysa, only to confess his love for Cat and toss her out the door. Trademark GOT ending and plus, he got a little extra taunt in before doing the deed.

And I build a mean snow castle

And I build a mean snow castle

All in all, this was a first rate episode, one of my favorites of this season. It just had a lot of good stuff, and only a few lesser scenes (like Mel and maybe Jon). Now we have to wait two weeks for “The Viper and the Mountain.” I wonder what that one is about…

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]

Related posts:

  1. Game of Thrones – Episode 35
  2. Game of Thrones – Episode 31
  3. Game of Thrones – Episode 33
  4. Game of Thrones – Episode 17
  5. Game of Thrones – Episode 36
By: agavin
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Yarom Shot Everything

May15

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

Location: 11359 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025. 310.477.7886

Date: May 12, 2014

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Awesome night!

_

About once a year, my Hedonist group heads to Il Grano for a game feast cooked up by master chef Sal Marino. This time, nearly every animal featured was shot by Yarom!


Tonight’s menu.

1990 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. IWC97+. Full copper-gold color. Initially restrained, brooding nose exploded with aeration, showing apple, orange, apricot, honey, iodine, smoke, hazelnut, macadamia and a suggestion of dry oloroso sherry. Dense, full, chewy and rich; an extraordinarily solid Champagne with an intriguing suggestion of Calvados. Broadens toward the back and goes on and on on the echoing aftertaste, with rich, mellow notes of toffee, brown butter and marrow. Like the ’92 Clos du Mesnil, this displays its powerful underlying acidity with aeration (Krug’s wines never go through malolactic fermentation) and should be long-lived.


Hamachi crudo with avocado.


1998 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. IWC 94. Bright gold. Ripe orchard fruits, peach pit, toffee, marzipan and dried flowers on the pungent, smoky nose. Broad and fleshy on entry, then tighter in the mid-palate, offering palate-staining pit fruit nectar, apple pie and brioche flavors, enhanced by a toffeed quality. Closes spicy and very long, with resonating smoke and toasted hazlenut qualities.


Capresi salad.


2004 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut. IWC 94. Light, bright gold. Spicy citrus and orchard fruit aromas are complemented by chalk, white flowers and a touch of smokiness. Taut, linear lemon and orange rind flavors give way to deeper pear in the mid-palate and pick up notes of honeysuckle and toasted grain with air. Still very young but shows excellent promise. Finishes with good mineral cut and sappy persistence.

agavin: A fruity hedonism that is hard to resist.


Boar tartar, spring red onion, quail egg. Soft and delicious. The egg really upped it a notch.


From my cellar: 1990 Robert Ampeau & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. Burghound 93. A truly wonderful nose of simply knockout complexity features notes of yeast and baked bread along with now fully mature aromas of a variety of floral notes and spice hints that gives way to mineral-suffused, round, intense and detailed medium full flavors that also offer outstanding depth on the sappy and mouth coating finish. This is drinking perfectly now and I wouldn’t hesitate to open one anytime as there is no further upside to be had. A beautiful effort of real style and grace.


Legumes and onions.


From my cellar: 1966 Maison Roche de Bellene Volnay 1er Cru Santenots Collection Bellenum. 95 points. Wow. A total fruit bomb still, with lots of soft berry and long acidic finish.


Rabbit milanese, shallot-stanwick apricot confit.


1961 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Châteauneuf-du-Pape Les Cèdres. 98 points. Initially, the nose showed a bit of horse/barnyard, but this mostly blew off to reveal a Graves-like expression of dark fruit, ash, smoke and floral notes — complex and incredibly seductive. The taste was equally youthful giving mostly red fruit and mineral with a slight tartness. Mid-weight. Flavors were great, though, through a long, satisfying finish. Brad indicated that this reminded him of 1959 Bordeaux (sadly I can’t comment on the linkage — I’ll just have to trust him). What a special bottle of wine!


Rabbit drumettes! Eat your heart out KFC.


Bread.


Condiments.


1990 Jacques Prieur Musigny. Burghound 92. I had not had this wine in many years as the last was in 2000 but that bottle showed better than this most recent one that was marred by both brett and some volatile acidity. A note that I believe is more representative follows: A classically styled Musigny with a superb nose of violets, black fruits and incredibly seductive secondary aromas followed by big, rich, structured flavors and a long, textured and velvety finish.

agavin: way better than 92 points.


Porchetta!


1990 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Musigny Cuvée Vieilles Vignes. Burghound 89. As long time readers know, I have never thought very highly of this wine and I have had on the order of 3 cases of it without ever finding one that I thought was very good, let alone great. This would include a bottle that was air expressed directly from the domaine so my objections have nothing to do with storage, provenance or shipping. However, the bottle in this tasting displayed the best fruit/acid/tannin balance of any ’90 VV that I’ve yet had and while I would stop well short of according it the accolades that it once received in abundance, it didn’t not display the green finishing tannins and overtly advanced aromas that its predecessors have. In short, a wine of moderate promise and while by no means great, at least acceptable in the context of the extremely high standards of this wine and this vintage.

agavin: started a little closed, but opened up to just wow.


Porchetta, sal’s garden arugula, parmigiano.


1994 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche. Burhound 95. This too is sublime in its subtlety and grace with ineffably pure aromas and it strikes a balance between the opulence of the RSV and the restraint of the GE with an expressive yet ultra fine nose of rose petals, violets and seductive spice notes that introduce unbelievably refined flavors that seem crafted from silk and lace, culminating in a linear, mouth coating finish that detonates like a bomb and lasts and lasts. At present, this is taut and precise with the lithe muscularity of a world class gymnast yet it is not lean or unduly tight as there is a generosity to the mid-palate that serves to buffer the underlying tannic spine that will permit this to age for decades. This is clearly a great wine that epitomizes the concept of power without weight.

agavin: Typical of 2004 with that greeny pepper taste.


More greens for the vegetarians.


2002 Domaine Michel Lafarge Beaune 1er Cru Grèves. Burghound 89-91. Very ripe red cherry, strawberry and pinot fruit aromas explode from the glass and introduce exceptionally fresh and exuberant, sappy and pure medium weight flavors underpinned by dusty, textured tannins and plenty of finishing velvet and silk. There is an utterly seductive inner mouth perfume and the length is most impressive. As good a young Lafarge Grèves as I can recall at this stage.


White pizza, venison sausage, ramps. Not sure I’ve ever had deer pizza, but it was awesome.


1996 Chapoutier Ermitage l’Ermite. Parker 99. One of the candidates for France’s wine of the vintage is unquestionably Chapoutier’s 1996 Hermitage l’Ermite. In October, 1997 I reported that this was a virtually perfect wine made from a small parcel of vines, believed to be over 100 years old, located close to the tiny white chapel owned by the Jaboulets on the highest part of the Hermitage Hill. Yields were a minuscule 9 hectoliters per hectare. Now that this wine is in bottle, it is unbelievable! Unfortunately, only 30 cases were exported to the United States. The wine boasts a saturated black/purple color, as well as a phenomenal nose of rose petals, violets, blackberries, cassis, and pain grille. In the mouth, it is phenomenally rich, with a viscous texture, and a multidimensional, layered finish that lasts for over a minute. Its purity, perfect equilibrium, and unbelievable volume and richness are the stuff of legends. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2050.


Gazpacho.


1990 Guigal Cote Rotie la Landonne. Parker 100. The 1990 La Landonne is a perfect wine! Fortunately, more than 800 cases were produced. It possesses an opaque black color, and a huge, truffle, licorice, cassis, and peppery-scented nose. While it is one of the most concentrated wines I have ever poured across my palate, it is perfectly balanced, with adequate underlying acidity, huge extraction of ripe fruit and tannin, and a phenomenal 70-second or longer finish. This is the essence of Syrah!

agavin: oh, yeah!


Pheasant breast, fava, fava tendrils.


1993 Guigal Cote Rotie la Landonne. Parker 88. The great glories of this house are its Cote Roties, of which there are now five separate offerings. The 1993s, which have just come on the marketplace, are from a troublesome vintage for everyone in Cote Rotie, rivaling 1984 in difficulty. Nevertheless, the single-vineyard wines have turned out well. As for the single vineyard wines, they are all excellent in 1993, but more herbaceous and clearly marked by the green pepper smells of slightly underripe Syrah. The most tannic of the three famous single vineyards is the 1993 Cote Rotie La Landonne. It is amazingly powerful and rich for the vintage, and reveals more fruit and intensity than it did prior to bottling. It exhibits a saturated ruby color, and copious amounts of pepper, tar, olives, licorice, and black cherry fruit in the nose. It remains the most muscular and structured of the three wines, and has managed to avoid the hollowness and vegetal character that plague so many 1993 northern Rhones. This Cote Rotie should age gracefully for a decade or more.


An the boring sans pheasant version.


2000 Guigal Cote Rotie la Landonne. Parker 93. The 2000 Cote Rotie La Landonne is the most powerful and primordial of the 2000 La La’s, not surprising given this cuvee’s telltale earthy, leathery characteristics that are intermixed with notes of truffles, licorice, blackberries, and pepper. Medium to full-bodied, with moderate tannin and good density, it should hit its prime in 2-3 years, and last for 14-15.


Pappardelle pheasant veneziana. I love this kind of wintery game pappardelle.


2007 Domaine de la Janasse Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Vieilles Vignes. Parker 100. The perfect 2007 Chateauneuf du Pape Vieilles Vignes (tasted on four separate occasions) is composed of 85% Grenache, 10% Syrah, and the rest Mourvedre and other authorized varietals from 60- to 100+-year-old vines. The wine is aged in both tank (75%) and small oak barrels (25%). Its inky/purple color is followed by a phenomenal nose of spring flowers, creme de cassis, blackberries, boysenberries, licorice, truffles, and spice. Displaying massive body, incredible freshness, laser-like focus from the excellent acids, and a finish that goes on well past a minute, this prodigious Chateauneuf du Pape is the most extraordinary wine yet made at this estate. While accessible (as most 2007s are), ideally it needs 4-5 years of cellaring, and should keep for three decades.

agavin: can we say fruit bomb? yes, but in a great way!


Vegetarian pasta.


1995 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage A Jacques Perrin. Parker 96. The two limited cuvees of Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage a Jacques Perrin are spectacular in both 1994 and 1995, but each will require 10-15 years of cellaring. Less than 300 cases were made in each vintage. The textbook blend of 70% Mourvedre, 15% Syrah, 10% Grenache, and 5% Counoise was utilized in 1989, 1990, and 1994, but in 1995, the Mourvedre component was reduced, with the amount of Counoise and Syrah increased significantly. The 1995 reveals more of an aged beef, smoked duck-like component, no doubt because of the higher percentage of Counoise and Muscardin. Although there is less Mourvedre in this cuvee, it still possesses the massive richness, opaque purple color, and sweet, earthy fruit that oozes over the palate with extraordinary intensity and purity. The change in the 1995’s blend gives the wine a more spice-driven, animal character, with the distinctive aged beef/Asian spice/smoked duck characteristics more exaggerated. This wine needs 12-15 years of cellaring, and should last 40-50 years. It is a modern-day classic. No Hommage cuvee was produced in 1996.


Pea pasta lamb Bolognese. Yum!


2001 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage A Jacques Perrin. Parker 99. The 2001 Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage a Jacques Perrin is a blend of 60% Mourvedre, 20% Grenache, 10% Counoise, and 10% Syrah. Full-bodied, excruciatingly backward, and nearly impenetrable, it boasts an inky/blue/purple color in addition to a promising nose of new saddle leather, melted asphalt, camphor, blackberries, smoky, roasted herbs, and Asian spices. A huge lashing of tannin as well as a formidable structure result in the antithesis of its more flattering, forward, and voluptuous sibling, the classic Beaucastel. Readers lucky enough to come across this cuvee should plan on waiting at least a decade before it begins to approach adolescence. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2040.

agavin: a brooding monster


A pomodoro pasta for the meat challenged.


1985 Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia. Parker 100. I had this wine in a blind tasting – I have had it frequently, and have never failed to give it a perfect rating. At the same time, I have often mis-identified it in blind tastings as the 1986 Mouton-Rothschild. In this tasting, the wine was phenomenal. The color remains an opaque purple. The bouquet is beginning to develop secondary aromas of cedar and truffles to go along with its intense cassis, black-raspberry, blackberry, tarry, toasty personality. Exceptionally dense, concentrated, and full-bodied, this wine possesses layers of concentrated fruit that are beautifully balanced by the wine’s sweet tannin and well-integrated acidity. The finish lasts for nearly a minute. A monumental Cabernet Sauvignon, it is one of the greatest wines made this century. Tasting after tasting continues to confirm this wine’s surreal level of quality. Despite being 11 years old, it remains youthful. My best guess for when it will reach full maturity is between 2000-2025. What a wine!


Boar piccata. Like old school veal piccata, but boar!


Boring! But not boaring.


1961 Chateau d’Yquem. Parker 84. The year 1961 was only a mediocre vintage for Barsac and Sauternes; however, the sales of these wines have long been helped by the greatness of this vintage for the red wines of Bordeaux. I have consistently found Yquem’s 1961 to be a muscular, out of balance wine, with a burnt character to the bouquet, and overly oaky, aggressive flavors that lack this estate’s ripeness and great richness. The wine is now beginning to dry out and become more awkward. Drink it up.

agavin: It might be a mediocre year and a deep color, but it was pretty fun.


Boar ribs! You have to love these suckers. Plus, you can club your rivals over the head afterward.

This was another knock down great evening and it was fun to see Sal cook in a different style. He really rose to the occasion and treated the game just right. And the wines! Wow, everyone really stepped up and we had some real gems!

Click here for more LA restaurant reviews,

Or for Hedonist extravaganzas.

Related posts:

  1. Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the Sun
  2. Never Boaring – Il Grano
  3. Tasty Duck Lives up to its Name
  4. Burgundy at Providence
  5. Tar & Roses got your Goat?
By: agavin
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Wake up Hanoi

May13

Restaurant: Hanoi Metrolpole

Location: Hanoi

Date: March 28, 2014

Cuisine: International

Rating: Much better than at the Hilton

_

Moving north through the DMV into Hanoi we come to rest at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi.


This is a seriously nice hotel. It’s up there with some of the best city hotels I’ve stayed in like the Tokyo Park Hyatt and the Four Seasons Istanbul.


Plus there’s that lovely colonial vibe. Back when labor was EVEN cheaper (read even more exploited) they really knew how to build.


The breakfast buffet is pretty impressive.


Juices. I’m partial to the mango which is like a mango lassi.


No place in Vietnam would be complete without pastries.


Lots of them!


And lots.


And more lots.


Or exotic fruits.


Yogurts and yogurts with fruit.


Or even a milk bar (sorry, no Droogs).


Cereal.


And a pretty good looking cold cut spread.


I don’t know who wants salad with their coffee, but I guess some do.


Cheese.

A cool “live” honeycomb.


Notice the giant vat of Nutella — and mysteriously, the Vegemite. Those Australians.


Now we get into the Asian section. Tofu, grilled fish, various Asian condiments.


The elaborate Miso and Congee station.


Some dimsum and sauces.


Like these pork shu mai.


Or steamed buns without any filling.


And the omelet bar plus others.


Veggies.


More veggies.


Fried rice.


Odd gelatinous rice “tamales.”


Pork stuffed sticky rice.


You can see one of the cooks unwrapping and cutting it here. Lotus leaf or banana leaf?


The all important Pho station.


Surprisingly, Pho works for breakfast.


And the jump start is rather necessary.


So decadent was their service that someone brought this tray around periodically to tempt you. Ho Chi Minh must be rolling in his grave. Wait, I checked out his grave and he was just lying there looking at the ceiling.


Yum flan.


And last but not least, bread pudding with creme Anglais!

All in all a great breakfast. More offerings, but the food perhaps wasn’t QUITE as on point as the Saigon breakfast. Close though, real close.

For more Vietnam dining reviews, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Hoi An – Riverside
  2. Good Morning Vietnam
  3. Oxymoron? – Upscale Street Food
  4. Eating Saigon – Hoa Tuc
  5. Apocalypse Dhou
By: agavin
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Game of Thrones – Episode 36

May11

gameofthronesseasonreleasedate-1396104840n4k8gGame of Thrones

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Watched: Episode 36 – May 11, 2014

Title: The Laws of Gods and Men

Summary: Good stuff

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Joff’s death set it up, but the next big event is finally here: the trial of Tyrion Lannister. Poor Ty.

Anyway, as usual, I’ll break down the threads into their sub plots for discussion.

Davos & Stannis – Have made the journey across the narrow sea to Bravos. This isn’t in the books as far as I can remember, and it’s our first (but not last) glimpse of the city. And it’s certainly a small glimpse as we see them sailing in, under a giant colossus that was clearly borrowed from the Colossus of Rhodes. Other than that, we see the inside of the bank. The Iron Bank officer sure is insightful, and Stannis isn’t getting anywhere. Davos gives a speech and we don’t know exactly how it goes except…

He shows up at the bathhouse and throws his friend Salladhor Saan a bunch of money to sail with him.

thelawsofgodsandmen4

Bank employes have gone downhill since the Middle Ages

Yara & Theon – Yara sails on her mission to save Theon, and she reads the letter from Ramsay to motivate her troops while we intercut with Ramsay and his murderous bedwarmer. The Iron Born storm the Dreadfort and locate Theon (aka Reek) in the kennels. But Reek isn’t Theon and he’s terrified to go with Yara. A blood streaked and crazy Ramsay confronts them, battle ensues, but Reek is so much Ramsay’s creature that Yara flees, claiming her brother is dead.

After, Ramsay has another creepy scene with Reek where he gives him a bath as a reward and tells him he’ll need him to pretend to be Theon to take Moat Caitlin. Creepy. What’s up with the bathing?

I couldn't resist a shot of the Titan of Bravos

I couldn’t resist a shot of the Titan of Bravos

Dany – A Shepherd’s boy in North Ireland (I mean Meereen) has his goats barbecued for dragon food. The father appears before Dany in her throne room with the bones and is given money. A young noble asks to bury his crucified father. Dany agrees and finds there are 212 more cases — ah, being a real ruler is hard work — no wonder Robert and Joff hated small council meetings!

thelawsofgodsandmen5

A cozy throne room

Oberyn – Joins the small council with his amusing know-it-all attitude. Mace (Marg’s father) is, as his mother Olena has said, not the brightest bulb. They discuss the house and Dany back in Meereen.

Oberyn and Varys talk in front of the Iron Throne (does Varys meet anywhere else?). Both are perceptive. I’m not sure what to make of Varys’ claim to be free of desire.

Tyrion – Then the meat of the episode, perhaps 25+ minutes. Jaime visits Tyrion in jail, but manacles him and takes him to the throne room and trial. Tommen names the judges and leaves. What follows is a litany of inconclusive but damning evidence. Kings Guards, Pycell, Cersei herself — all paint a story of his culpability.

thelawsofgodsandmen3

And this one too, particularly the chair in the middle

During a break Jaime takes Tywin aside and pleads for Tyrion. They strike a deal: Tywin will send Tyrion to the wall and Jaime will throw away his cloak and become heir again.

But back at Trial the crown calls Shae (obviously not across the narrow sea). She paints a terrible picture, claiming to know of his whole plot with Sansa (of course not the case). She even confesses to be his whore, telling their intimate secrets. It really is heart wrenching. Tyrion, taking a play from his own hand back in the Eerie during season 1, “confesses” (not as humorously) to being a dwarf, and on trial for it. He pulls out the emotion. Then demands trial by combat. All eyes (or at least the camera’s) are on Jaime.

thelawsofgodsandmen1

Sucks to be the dwarf

A great episode, particularly the second half. The first covers most of the bits and pieces left out of last week, but the second focuses on Tyrion, and as we all know, that means good times — well, perhaps not for the Imp — but certainly for us loyal watchers of this brilliant combination of character and actor brought to life.

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:

Related posts:

  1. Game of Thrones – Episode 32
  2. Game of Thrones – Episode 30
  3. Game of Thrones – Episode 33
  4. Game of Thrones – Episode 24
  5. Game of Thrones – Episode 23
By: agavin
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