My son’s first visit to San Francisco would not have been complete without a visit to Ghirardelli’s world-famous chocolate and ice cream factory.
Another foray into the wonderful world of San Francisco dining. This time to the lovely dining room of Jardinere.
Kokkari was a great “find.” In truth flavors are rarely even this pure in Greece, although there was this one restaurant I ate at on Rhodos that was very similar.
Waterloo & City is a choice member of the new wave of upscale Gastropubs bringing rich (but delicious) modern bar food to the city.
Lords of the forest, this was some unique stuff. The flavors were a bit more understated and far less Vietnamese than a year ago. Ultimately odder, more elfin, and celestial, but certainly more unique.
With the new year comes more Ultimate Pizza (see here for the whole series). In case you missed it, this is the totally hand crafted gourmet pizzas we cook at home.
Sam’s by the Beach is one of our favorite local places. Normally, Chef/Owner/Host Sam serves up a modern French fare with tastes of the middle east and Asia. He’s a native of Damascus and his mother comes to town once a year to cook a traditional Syrian dinner. I love really well done traditional food so I was excited to try this out.
Celestino Drago and his brothers have a bit of a mini Italian culinary empire here in LA with a number of different restaurants and concepts. Drago is the flagship restaurant of the empire, and its most formal.
The bacon sundae! Yes, it’s true. A scoop of caramel ice cream and a scoop of verve coffee ice cream with bourbon carmel sauce, candied bacon, pecan crumble and whipped cream.
I updated three of my regular restaurants with additional meals, dishes, and photos. These are all great places.
Continuing our brief Palm Springs foray we decided to check out a classic dining destination. And classic it was, so much so that it almost seemed like a 50-60 year time warp.
During the holiday break my wife, son, and I made a quick little visit to Palm Springs and I would be remiss as a food blogger in not chronically the culinary aspects of the journey. Foodwise, as in many other ways, this little desert oasis is a bit of a throwback.
Another brilliant omakase at Takao, my favorite “neighborhood” modern-style sushi place. Takao avoids the over-trendy miss while serving up impeccable modern Japanese.
Aframe is housed in a former IHOP — hence it’s architecture and the name. But this was a VERY tasty meal with a unique take on fairly uncomplicated food. Essentially, it’s very contemporary without being avant garde, and fuses eclectic flavors from around the world with American comfort foods.
I love dimsum so much I was willing to drive 45 minutes out into the wilds of Arcadia to try this place. And it was well worth the journey. The “juicy pork dumplings” alone were worth the price of admission.
Il Pastaio is one of the Drago brothers many many excellent Los Angeles Italians. This is probably the flagship of brother Giacomino Drago’s collection of seven restaurants. The pastas in particular (the name does mean the Pasta Maker) are incredible.
I’ve been waiting for Maison Giraud, the new local Pacific Palisades restaurant/bakery from acclaimed LA French chef Alain Giraud to open for what seems like forever. The day it did I was there for some pastries, and I’ve returned twice since. The food is essentially French comfort food with a bit of international adaption, but everything has been spot on fresh and well done so far, and the bakery is outrageously good.
Mark’s Duck house is an amazing Cantonese place I go to when I’m home in Washington D.C.. There’s nothing fancy about them other than the food but they make a lot of stuff, and they make it all really well.
Jaleo is like a good Tapas place in Spain but a little slicker, with perhaps more consistant quality. And they don’t have fresh anchovies! It is also a little (actually more than a little) more expensive than a typical Spanish tapas place in Spain. But considering the scarcity of good tapas places in America… worth it.
this Neapolitan style pizza joint just over the border into DC is the real deal. The dough here is incredibly good. Neapolitan flour and slow fermentation for sure. This was a pizza dough good enough to munch through all the remaining crust.
