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.
This time of year we have a lot of birthday parties to go to (my son is three). Due to rain (drizzle) one got moved to this western (Texas) style BBQ joint! Boy, is that a lot better than luke-warm delivery pizza! This isn’t a fancy joint, but tasty.
I’ve been waiting for Maison Giraud, the new local (just blocks away!) Pacific Palisades restaurant bakery from acclaimed LA French chef Alain Giraud to open for what seems like forever. Finally, the day has happened. Today is the first time they are serving at all, bakery and breakfast. By next monday they plan to be open from breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Ocean Ave Seafood has been a Santa Monica staple since I moved to California in the early 90s. It serves up reliable, albeit expensive, Pacific ocean fare.
Trés for lunch pretty much rocks everything (except the price, which is hotel high). The food is snappy, tasty, and very chic.
Restaurant: Jer-ne Location: Ritz-Carlton. 4375 Admiralty Way. Marina del Rey, California 90292 USA. (310) 823-1700 Date: October 29, 2011 Cuisine: Californian Rating: Solid _ When the Ritz-Carlton Marina Del Rey renovated and opened its new restaurant in the early 2000s the naming committee was obviously inspired by Steve Martin‘s classic LA…
Restaurant: Fraiche Santa Monica [1, 2] Location: 312 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401. Phone : 310.451.7482 Date: October 21, 2011 Cuisine: Cal French Italian Rating: Not a bad facelift. _ Fraiche and Fraiche Santa Monica have gone through a number of ownership and chef changes…