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.
Zaytinya, which means “olive oil” in Turkish is part of José Andrés’ little culinary empire — which started first here in Washington D.C. and then spread to various other outpsts in the country including LA and vegas. Zaytinya, however, is neither Spanish or particularly molecular. It focuses on the Eastern Mediterranean cuisine of Greece, Turkey, and Lebanon. These are all former Ottoman zones and despite their political animosity toward each other share much in common — foodwise.
Back “home” in DC we wanted a quick and easy meal and so headed out to Reston to this reliable place. I reviewed Coastal Flats last year, another member of the same small chain. This isn’t really chef driven cuisine. It’s basically comfort food. But it is well done.
Part of the tradition for the ThanksGavin weekend of gluttony is a Saturday deli brunch. As we celebrate in Philadelphia, we have access to all sorts of good deli and the like. Each component comes from a specialty place, including fried to order donuts!
Given that we went out to the Zoo all day while my cousin Abbe cooked up this followup to the official Thanksgiving dinner, she insists that it should really be called the ThanksFlitter (her last name). Regardless, the gluttony continued. Abbe cooked up a wonderful pseudo-Mexican feast.
It’s Friday afternoon after Thanksgiving and we head down to the Philadelphia Italian market to channel our inner Tony Soprano. A great hoagie from Sarcone’s, Cannoli from Isgro Pasticceria, cheese from Di Bruno’s!
Every year my mom and her sister cook up an incredible feast for the family. And every year, incredibly, the food gets slightly better. In a tradition developed over the last twenty years, the Gavin Thanksgiving weekend is defined by four major meals. This is the second — and most important — of them.
And with a blast the ThanksGavin 2011 is off. Canonically, in a tradition developed over the last twenty years, the gavin Thanksgiving weekend is defined by four major meals. The Wednesday night dinner (out somewhere, usually in downtown Philly), the main event on Thursday, the Friday night dinner at my cousin Abbe’s, and the Saturday deli brunch. For this year’s kickoff a downtown intimate French restaurant was chosen. This was a very good meal. Classically French, yet with a slightly updated palette and a deft touch. If you are in Philadelphia I highly recommend.
As we rapidly approach the season of ThanksGavin I would like to take a moment to relive last year’s week of ultimate gluttony in anticipation of another fat and flavor filled week of food blogging. The full list of ThanksGavin 2010 posts…
Sfixio is a brand new Italian in downtown Beverly Hills with a modern Tuscan slant. It’s owned and by a husband and wife pair: Chef Massimo Denaro in the kitchen and his wife managing the front. LA is full of Italian restaurants, and there wasn’t anything radical here, but this is certainly a chef operating at a high level, with a good palette, excellent ingredients, and really solid execution. So I recommend, and we’ll go again.
