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Archive for A5

Tata’s Two

Jul26

Restaurant: Tata’s Cafe [1, 2]

Location: 12627 Hawthorne Blvd, Hawthorne, CA 90250. (424) 675-4168

Date: October 20, 2022

Cuisine: New American

Rating: Great ingredients and a lot of fun

_

My good friend Jeff Bovon owns and operates this unusual restaurant in Hawthorne. He’s part chef, part food importer and supplier, being a purveyor of super high quality seafood and meats and he basically took over this little cafe and turned it into a very unusual destination. Chevy setup a big custom group dinner.

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The interior is basically a little Hawthorne cafe that’s been mildly scaled up.

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60 day dry aged Tomohawk — too old — but ambitious.
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Giant lobsters
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Cold Seafood plater. Very nice. The red sauce on the scallop (a sweet chili sauce) was pretty good too.
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Steamed Littleneck Clams. With a mild curry flavor.
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Seared Branzino. The fish was nice, but the green spicy tomatillo sauce was amazing!
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Leering at us.
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Seared A5 Wagyu. Super tender and probably the best “main.”

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60 day dry aged Tomohawk. I actually didn’t like it at all, too “cheesy” and funky.
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Baked Lobster Tails. These, however, were awesome. I think I had three.
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Creamed spinach — rich but great.
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Sautéed mushrooms. Nice.
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Brussels. Also good.
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My personal plate.
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Cheese plate.
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Dessert plate.
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Pure and Concentrated Evil — Kentucky Mud Pie Gelato — Expresso Knob Creek Bourbon Custard Gelato base with layers of house-made Crushed Oreo Valrhona Fudge Ganache, and house-made Vanilla Coconut Cream Cheese Icing — The Plaid Mode of Gelati and includes a hefty Caffeine kick — 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 #valrhona #chocolate #ganache #expresso #bourbon #custard #oreos #icing
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Summertime calls for — Yuzu Meyer Lemon Sorbetto — Japanese Yuzu Juice, Fresh Meyer Lemon Juice — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #yuzu #meyer #lemon
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We had a very fun time. Big group and diverse wines with a LOT of food. I mean a LOT of food, even by our standards!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Soot Bull Jeep
  2. Teatime at Tata’s
  3. China Red by Day
  4. Không Tên – Brunch
  5. Sauvages – LQ goes Italian
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: A5, BYOG, fish, Foie gras, Gelato, Jeff Bovon, Seafood, Steak, Tata's Cafe, Wagyū

Yakiniku Osen

Oct22

Restaurant: Yakiniku Osen

Location: 3503 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026. (323) 426-9455

Date: March 18, 2022

Cuisine: Japanese Yakiniku

Rating: Good, but I hoped it’d be better

_

Yakiniku Osen is a newish A5 Yakiniku place in Silverlake. I imagined it was somewhat like Yazawa.
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It’s just street-side on Sunset in busy Silverlake.
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There is a fairly tight interior.
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And a small but nice set of patio tables with built in grills.
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We sat outside.
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From my cellar: 2005 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. JG 95+. The 2005 Comtes de Champagne is a stunning young wine. The bouquet is deep, pure and youthfully complex, as it offers up a very classy blend of pear, delicious apple, fresh almond, incipient notes of crème patissière, chalky minerality, brioche and just a whisper of vanillin oak in the upper register. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, focused and rock solid at the core, with exquisite balance, refined mousse, crisp acids and simply superb length and grip on the seamless, youthful and oh, so promising finish. The style of the 2005 vintage gives this some early accessibility that was not evident with the more tightly-knit 2004 out of the blocks, but this wine has the structure to also age long and very, very gracefully. It has been a year since I last tasted this wine and it has started to show more precision to go along with its early generosity and is a classic in the making. My gut feeling today is that it will be superior to the 1989 version, to which I compared it to a year ago. Brilliant wine. (Drink between 2015-2045)
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2010 Dominique Lafon Meursault. 93 points. The 2010 Meursault emerges from the glass with notable elegance and class. This is a slightly more restrained, nervous style than fans of Comtes Lafon have become used to over the years. The 2010 is made from parcels in Petit Montagne, Charmes and Narvaux that belong to Dominique Lafon and that were once used in the Comtes Lafon Meursault. (Drink starting 2013)

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1976 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle. 92 points.

Decanted into a narrow/tall water beaker. Moderate sediment. Initially, watered down and a muted nose of red fruits. Two hours later, aromatics increased – the most unbelievably ridiculous nose of dried red berries . Light bodied. Moderately long finish. A gorgeous wine. I don’t know if it improves, but it held in the beaker and only improved with air.

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1978 Rioja.
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1997 Altesino Brunello di Montalcino Montosoli. VM 92. Intense garnet with ruby reflections. Opens with wonderfully sweet tobacco scents and spicy cedar. In the mouth there are nicely delineated, fresh flavors of anise, mocha and roasted coffee, the whole supported by very soft tannins, and the rather smoky close conveying an essence of raspberry. Although there are no hard edges in this sleek and mellifluous medium-bodied wine, it does not possess quite the depth and concentration of the best Brunellos of this vintage. (Winebow, Hokokus, NJ)
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1997 Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Volcanic Hill. 93 points. Dark red violet color; intense, ripe cassis, berry, plum nose; tasty, berry, cassis, plum, cedar palate; medium-plus finish.

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The menu is long. We ordered almost everything!
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A5 Wagyu Beef Uni. A5 Wagyu Beef Tartare with Uni, Garlic, Crispy Sea Trumpet and Caviar. Delicious. Sweet sauce on the beef pretty much hid the uni.
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A5 Wagyu Gyoza. Groudn A5 Wagyu Beef, Tofu, Mixed Vegetables, Glass Noodles. So (temperature) hot that it could have been anything inside.
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Chawanmushi. Japanese Steamed Egg Custard with Uni and Caviar. Fairly runny custard.
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Amaebi Carpaccio. Yuzu oild dressing, Red Pepper, Black Pepper, Chive. Not the greatest shrimp, but the pepper and dressing were pretty good.
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Staemed Awabi (abalone) with abalone innards dressing.
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Lobster Carpaccio with Caviar and Somen Noodle, Creamy Dressing. Butter-like sauce was reat on the noodles.
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A5 Wagyu Tataki Salad with Spicy Citrus Dressing. Delicious strong tanyg/sweet sauce. Microgreens had a nice bite. Meat was quite cold.
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A5 Wagyu Beef Diced Steak with Sweet Shrimp and Chimichurri Dressing. This is was one of the weakest dishes.
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Honey Citron Sorbet.
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Gas grills.
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Tallow to grease the grill.
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3 Kinds of sauce: salt and pepper, house-made wasabi, and yuzu-koshu
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Assorted Vegetables and Mushrooms.
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Veggies on the grill.

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Mushrooms at the ready.

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3 Kinds of Japanese A5 Wagyu. It comes on this cool tower.
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On the grill.

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Beef cooked.
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Beef Tongue.
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Cooked.
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A5 Japanese Wagyu Sukiyaki.
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Marinated A5 beef for the sukiyaki.
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Egg to dip it in.
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Truffle A5 Wagyu Beef Hot Pot. A5 Wagyu Beef, Chive, Ala Minute Dashi Rice, Fresh Black Truffle, Sesame Oil, Tsuyu, Shoyu Marinated Egg Yolk.
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Smash that yolk.
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Sukiyaki pot beginning to boil. For those that don’t know, Sukiyaki is like the sweet soy/dashi stock version of shabu shabu. You coat the beef in raw egg and then cook it briefly in here, or cook it then coat it with raw egg (which will cook on the hot beef).
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Short Rib.
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Special Alligator from the chef.
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Cooked gator.
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Berry Panna Cotta.
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Red Bean Ball.
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Sesame Ice Cream and dried fruit.
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Sesame Ice Cream, Red Bean Cake, and Syrup. Like most of these very Japanese desserts, sweet without intense flavor.
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Sesame Ice Cream, Cake, and Syrup.

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Very fun meal and good food. Far away (Silverlake is not only far but one has to battle some significant traffic). Many of the dishes, particularly the straight up grilled A5 and the sukiyaki, were quite good, but many of them were hit and miss. The chef is trying some new things here, but not always successfully. It’s not nearly as focused nor as good as Yazawa, although it is quite a bit cheaper.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Ima Had Too Much Meat
  2. Yazawa – Marble or Meat?
  3. Mucho Matu
  4. Totoraku – Secret Beef!
  5. Alexanders the Great
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: A5, bbq, Foodie Club, Meat, Wagyū, Wine, Yakiniku, Yakiniku Osen

Ima Had Too Much Meat

Nov25

Restaurant: IMA

Location: 9669 S Santa Monica Blvd #1, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 734-7829

Date: October 16, 2019

Cuisine: Japanese A5 Shabu-Shabu

Rating: Rich!

_

For tonight’s meal the minimum Foodie Club heads out to try something few others would dare…
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$400 a person Shabu-Shabu!

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This is IMA, sister restaurant to Yazawa, the super A5 Yakiniku joint in Beverly Hills. They use the same meat.
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And have a similar (adjacent and with connecting doors) modern Japanese vibe.
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The tables have little induction burners built in and stylish hoods.
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The small menu is some shabu-shabu and sukiyaki variants. We of course ordered everything!
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Erick brought: 1985 Château Rausan-Ségla. VM 91. The 1985 Rauzan-Ségla is a vintage that I have tasted several times from bottles I picked up cheaply some years ago. I was particularly effusive about the 1985 although, I feel that it has decayed a little since my last note in 2010. Soft red berry fruit, hedgerow, sage and mushrooms on the loose-knit nose, very typical for a 1985 though it is less intense nowadays. The palate is very savory in style with roasted chestnut and ferrous notes infusing the finish that has an appealing rounded texture. Maybe there are better bottles out there? In any case, don’t hesitate to crack one of these open. Tasted from a bottle from my personal cellar. (Drink between 2019-2027)

agavin: really nice bottle
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From my cellar: 1997 M. Chapoutier Ermitage Le Pavillon. VM 94. Bright deep ruby. Blackberry, violet, tar, shoe polish and game on the nose, plus a light floral note; at once vibrant and surmuri. Superconcentrated, remarkably intense flavors of crystallized black cherry, cassis and licorice. An extremely persistent wine of noteworthy finesse, yet also one with a powerful structure for aging. One of the standouts of the vintage.
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The appetizer flight that comes with the “Chef’s Special” set course.
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Lobster with mushrooms and radish and soy sauce. Bright acid dressing. Very nice.
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Hokkaido Uni Tofu with dashi jelly. White creamy quality.
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Brussels sprouts with pepper and anchovies. Nice.
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A5 Wagyu tartare and Russian Caviar. The caviar is Calvisius ars Italica Caviar. Delicious dish. Although I slightly miss the wasabi ponzu typical on the toro version at Nobu.
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Beef Cheek stewed in Saikyo Miso, Topped with Parmesan Cheese. Rich fatty beef chew — like Japanese grandmother’s beef stew.

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Grilled Beef Tongue and Vegetables. Thickest tongue I’ve ever had!
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Salt and lemon for the tongue.
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Toro with salt. Lightly seared. So good we ordered 2 (for the 2 of us).
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Steamed Oyster Wrapped in Wagyu with Japanese Salsa. Kinda a bit odd.
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The sukiyaki pan arrives.
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Sukiyaki meat. Yazawa beef loin. With beef tallow for seasoning.
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Sauces and tools.
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Raw egg yolk for dipping.
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They coat the cast iron pan with tallow then cook.
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And dump in sukiyaki sauce (which is a sweet soy).
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Here is the tallow and sauce deglazing.
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Then you roll your barely cooked piece in the egg yolk — scrumptious. Soft velvety meat, sweet soy flavors, and the rich egg coating.
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Broth for the shabu-shabu.
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Dipping salt.
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First meat (for the shabu): Beef Tongue.
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She boiled it in the broth and served it next to the salt. You just eat it with a bit of salt. Super tender and delicious.
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More meats, right to left: filet tenderloin, Ichibo, Shin-Shin, rib.
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Sauces, a light dashi one and a sesame one.
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Chopped mini-green onions for the sauce.
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My sauce blend (lighter sauce) with some meat.
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Mixing up the sesame sauce.
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Veggies and tofu for the shabu (one side).
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The other side with glass noodles and a carrot cow.
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Pureed Corn Topped with Sea Urchin. I thought I’d love this, but too corn mushy. Cold too and a bit odd.
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Noodles for the “ramen” that is coming from the broth.
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Flavorant for the broth.
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The ramen, brothed up, with noodles.
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Special soup to finish, rice porridge.
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Dessert time: Pannacotta with soy powder.
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On the left, mixed fruit, on the right Passionfruit Sorbet.
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Special roasted tea.
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I don’t usually post the bill, but this one is useful for the discussion that follows.

Now I liked IMA a lot. The food was very good — delicious in fact — and this was the best/most elevated shabu-shabu I’ve had. And the sukiyaki even better. The meat is incredible (as it is at Yazawa). Service was awesome. Our server was incredibly nice and even helped us cook our food.

Wines were great too (pat ourselves on the back). Corkage isn’t outrageous (at least for the first 2 bottles).

But I wonder how they are going to do and who the market is for this. Only a small set of people (in America at least) even know what Shabu-Shabu is — and even less sukiyaki — and I doubt too many of them are looking for a $400/person shabu/sukiyaki experience! Some high end Asian customers will dig it for sure. I did. But the menu is very limited, so I wouldn’t come back particularly often.

So interesting.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Yazawa – Marble or Meat?
  2. More Meat at Totoraku
  3. Yojie – Deep Boiled Noodles!
  4. Totoraku Double Meat Madness
  5. More Meat – Chi Spacca
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: A5, Foodie Club, Ima, Japanese cuisine, Shabu-shabu, sukiyaki, Wagyū, Wine

Alexanders the Great

Oct09

Restaurant: Alexander’s Steakhouse

Location: 111 N Los Robles Ave, Pasadena, CA 91101. (626) 486-1111

Date: August 28, 2017

Cuisine: Steakhouse

Rating: Asian fusion & some of the best steakhouse I’ve had

_

People have been saying that Alexander’s is the best steakhouse in the city and so the Foodie Club braves the most hideous traffic to cross town on a weeknight to…

Old Town Pasadena.

Here is the imposing entrance, right there next to the California Pizza Kitchen… lol.


 The menu.

The manager set us up spectacularly in the private dining room at this awesome 12 person square table. SO SO much better than a long table.

Right next to the wine cellar too, which we didn’t sample from, but certainly revealed some great bottles peeking out.

Charlie brought: NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 164eme. JG 95. The 164th Edition of Krug “Grande Cuvée is absolutely brilliant and one of the best iterations of this iconic wine that I have ever had the pleasure to taste. This is not surprising, as it is from the base year of 2008, though the team at Krug utilized reserve wines all the way back to 1990 in this version. The final cépages is forty-eight percent pinot noir, thirty-five percent chardonnay and seventeen percent pinot meunier, with the wine spending eight years in the Krug cellars sur latte. The beautiful bouquet wafts from the glass in a blend of apple, white peach, fresh-baked bread, very complex soil tones, white flowers, incipient smokiness and just a hint of the caraway seed to come with bottle age. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and seamlessly balanced, with a great core, utterly refined mousse, superb focus and grip and a very, very long, complex and zesty finish. The vibrancy of the exceptional base year of 2008 is very much in evidence here and this is destined to be one of the all-time great Grande Cuvées.

Ron brought: NV Krug Champagne Brut Rosé. BH 94. Medium rosé hue. A cool, restrained and highly complex nose that is not especially fruity displays a moderate yeast character along with slightly exotic aromas of mandarin orange and Asian tea, all wrapped in an enveloping array of beguiling rose petal scents. There is very good richness with a relatively firm supporting mousse that adds to the impression of richness to the superbly complex and highly textured flavors, indeed one could aptly describe this as more wine that Champagne. As such this is indeed a sumptuous Krug rosé that is difficult to resist already though it should reward extended keeping if desired. As I noted in the original 750 ml review, that while I am not always wowed by the Krug Rosé, this latest incarnation in magnum is strikingly good.

An amuse of tater tot with a bit of cheese and whipped something.

Charlie also brought (blind): 2000 Arcadian Chardonnay Sleepy Hollow Vineyard. JG 92. This was my first introduction to the wines from Joe Davis at Arcadian and I was very, very impressed with what I tasted. While the 2000 Sleepy Hollow chardonnay is not the current release from the winery, the estate’s philosophy of holding back their wines several years prior to release obviously is a testament to their commitment to producing truly cellar-worthy wines. This 2000 chardonnay is drinking beautifully and is at its apogee of peak maturity, offering up a deep and complex nose of pears, acacia blossoms, a touch of beeswax, lemon curd, a very pretty base of soil, citrus oils and buttery oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and still quite zesty, with a great core of fruit, excellent focus and balance, fine structure and a long, complex and tangy finish that closes with a bit of citrus peel. This is a lovely bottle at its apogee, but still with plenty of life ahead of it. Impressive juice.

agavin: our bottle was premoxed and tasted like an 80s white burg. I actually enjoyed its nutty tones as it wasn’t very hot like some premoxed bottles.

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

Ron Brought: 2009 Philippe Colin Chevalier-Montrachet. BH 90. This is aromatically quite similar to the Demoiselles though the medium weight plus flavors are bigger, richer and more powerful with even more dry extract that are given lift by the solid minerality though again, the finish is distinctly sweet. To be sure, there will be some who appreciate that sweetness but it’s too much for me.

HAMACHI SHOTS 3.0. dashi / avocado / fresno / ponzu / negi / arare. Very bright flavors and mixed textures.

DRY AGED TATAKI. wasabi mustard / charred ginger ponzu / crispy yuba. Strong ponzu tastes but it left much of the beefy flavors intact.

UNI TAMAGO. egg salad / potato chip / celery. The omelet (tamago) made a nice bed for the uni, a Japanese take on the uni egg toast thing.

GRILLED OCTOPUS. calabrian chili / honeynut squash / pickled onion / ink crumble. Tender with a nice char.

GRILLED PORK BELLY. golden beet miso puree / fennel / truffle balsamic. Lol, fried pork belly.

CHILLED FOIE GRAS. kaya toast / pandan gel / soy egg yolk emulsion. This was an amazing foie terrine formulation. We started with 3 of them and ordered 3-4 more extra. It was crazy!

From my cellar: 1985 Domaine Jean Grivot Echezeaux. 95 points. Lots of bright red fruits and good penetrating acid. In fabulous shape.

Erick brought: 1991 Gros Frère et Sœur Grands-Echezeaux. 94 points. Deep and still youthful, although fully integrated.

(blind): 1996 Domaine Heresztyn/Heresztyn-Mazzini Clos St. Denis. 94 points. Beautiful and perfumed: spicy and sweet, baking spices, nutmeg, cinnamon, some meaty and savory. Somewhat similar to the nose on the palate – savory, meat, sweet spice, lots of 96 acid: tart but still enough perfume and depth. Finish is tart cherry and spice.

Vahan brought: 2000 Emmanuel Rouget Echezeaux. BH 92. A gorgeously scented and wonderfully complex nose of black fruit, spice and warm earth aromas introduce forward, complex, intense and seductive medium-bodied flavors that display excellent power, all wrapped in a sappy and largely, if not completely, resolved finish of excellent length. This is lovely juice that is could either be approached now with pleasure or held for a few more years in the cellar first as it has only just arrived at the front edge of its drinkability. Tasted several times with consistent notes.

agavin: most people here thought this was the best red burg of the night. It certainly had the most intense finish with a ton of fruit, just entering maturity.

The bread was amazing. The dark one was squid ink, then there was a cheese and a milk bread.

Plus some fabulous butters, Strauss Creamery butter, bone marrow butter with honey, and a rendered beef tallow!

KOSHIHIKARI RISOTTO. squid ink / shrimp / uni / braised celery. Great congee-like texture, really nice blend of fresh ingredients.

CRISPY PATA. pork shank / achara / vinegar soy / creamed taro. A whole crazy pig leg deep fried. Super crispy and succulent inside. Yum! Filipino style!

1986 Ritche Creek Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. All of our old Cabs were in great shape!

1973 Mount Eden Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Estate. JG 93. The 1973 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon was the second vintage crafted by the Richard and Peter Graff here at Mount Eden, and the wine is really very lovely and still right in its prime fully forty-three years out from the vintage. This was a small crop that was picked between October 7th and 12th and the wine was fined, but not filtered prior to bottling. The wine is showing beautifully today, offering up a deep and tertiary bouquet of cassis, cigar ash, complex, dark soil tones, menthol, woodsmoke and a touch of red curry in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and at its absolute apogee, with a good core, a wide open and inviting personality, lovely focus and balance and a long, velvety and very pure finish. Just a lovely vintage of Mount Eden cabernet in its prime.
 The next bottle Vahan brought blind:

Vahan brought (blind): 1970 Cheval Blanc. 90 points. The ’70 Cheval Blanc has moved into the latter stages of its useful life, and while it remains a reasonable mouthful of wine, it has begun to drop a bit of its fruit and is more defined by its smoky and earthy characteristics today. The nose offers up a rather flat blend of anonymous black fruit, menthol, charred wood, tobacco smoke and damp earth. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, smoky and earthy, with solid mid-palate depth, but a rather flat personality that could do with a bit more acidity, but solid length on the rather tobaccoey finish. Flavor-wise, there is not much fruit left here, but the wine is not fraying or collapsing as of yet, but simply dominated by its smoky and damp earth character.

CAB PRIME RIB. until it’s gone / horseradish duo / natural jus. Soft and meaty.

With the jus.

And two types of horseradish.

AURORA ANGUS FILET MIGNON 8OZ. illinois black angus / negi salad. A nice filet. Filet is contentious among the carnivores. I have always liked it, but I’m not a steak guy. Some others prefer a gamier bit of meat.

MACARONI AND CHEESE. udon / caramelized mornay / truffle panko. This Japanese variant of Mac & Cheese was pretty fabulous actually. I liked the use of the udon.

ERYNGI MUSHROOMS. roasted garlic / thyme / lemon vinaigrette. Solid buttery mushrooms.

A selection of gourmet salts, mostly intended for the wagyu (below).

From my cellar: 1985 Leoville-Las Cases. RP 94. The 1985 is a gorgeously open-knit Las Cases with a sweet nose of lead pencil, sweet black cherries and currants, and a hint of underbrush and new oak. Medium to full-bodied with expansiveness, supple tannins, and outstanding concentration, this is a beautifully made wine that still tastes like it is an adolescent and may even have an even greater upside as it continues to age in bottle. The low acidity and sweet tannin, however, suggest it has entered its plateau of maturity. Anticipated maturity: Now-2018.

Michael brought: 2002 Palmer. RP 93-95. A successful wine for the vintage, this blend of 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, and 8% Petit Verdot boasts complex notes of menthol, black currants, plums, licorice, and a hint of cappuccino in its stunning aromatics. Dense, medium to full-bodied, with high levels of tannin in a big, full-bodied style (much in the spirit of such classic Bordeaux vintages as 1966, 1986, and 1996), this wine possesses superb purity and serious length, but should be purchased only by those with considerable patience and a good, cold cellar, since it will need plenty of time.

agavin: the baby of the night, but a great wine.

T-BONE 18OZ. grilled sudachi / chive butter / chives.

AURORA ANGUS RIBEYE CHOP 20OZ. illinois raised prime black angus / grilled lemon

BLUE LAKE BEANS. flash fried / garlic / sansyo. Awesome beans, like Szechuan green beans, but no pork. Reduced soy.

TRUFFLE FRIED POTATOES. truffle butter / togarashi / furikake. Solid potatoes too.

2000 Chapoutier • Chateauneuf du Pape Barbe Rac. RP 95. There are approximately 500 cases of this wine. It is a large-scaled Chateauneuf du Pape that represents the antithesis of La Bernardine. This wine has been spectacular, and I have been a frequent buyer and consumer of this wine since the first vintage Michel Chapoutier made, 1989.

2000 Domaine du Pegau • Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Reservee. RP 92. Fully mature, with a ruby/amber color that shows some lightening at the rim, it offers classic Pegau garrigue, olive tapenade, beef blood and wild herbs to go with a medium to full-bodied, seamless and resolved profile on the palate. It still has a core of sweet fruit and is drinking nicely now, so don’t make the mistake of waiting too long on this. It should be consumed over the coming couple of years.

Larry brought: 1998 Domaine de la Janasse • Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Vieilles Vignes. RP 96. A bigger, richer wine than the Cuvee Chaupin, the 1998 Chateauneuf du Pape Vieilles Vignes is full-bodied, rich and silky on the palate, with classic Janasse notes of barbecue smoke, licorice, peppery herbs and smoked black fruits. I’ve been lucky enough to have multiple bottles of this recently, all of which have shown beautifully. There’s no upside, but it will continue drinking nicely through 2023.

Chris brought: 2004 Henri Bonneau • Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Celestins. RP 95. Classic Bonneau with its knockout perfume of sweet kirsch, blackberry, saddle leather and roasted herbs, the 2004 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Celestins is medium to full-bodied, supple and elegant, with fine, sweet tannin on the finish. Showing more depth and richness than just about any other wine in the vintage, with a fantastic mix of aromatic complexity and textural richness on the palate, it’s drinking beautifully now, and should continue to shine for another decade.

滋賀県 SHIGA OHMI JAPAN A5. extremely rare / complex flavor / prized in japan. The first of the super marbled A5 wagyu monsters!

北海道 HOKKAIDO JAPAN A5. château uenae / farmed in below freezing temperatures. And even more amazing!

KING CRAB FRIED RICE. lap xuong / egg white / chive. Really great fried rice. Better than almost all the ones I’ve had at Chinese restaurants (and that’s a lot).

Special medal for the Hokkaido snow beef — only sold into 2-3 places in the US!

And look how marbled it is!

We were too full to order much dessert.

This intermezzo of tangy and sweet fruit and various textures was awesome.

Trio of sorbetti. Watermelon, strawberry balsamic, peach. All were way too sweet. Way too sweet. Texture was good though.

Various Petite Fours. Can we say wafer thin mint?

And a parting biscotti.

Refuse. Probably not even all of them.

And the lineup. They had a lot of stems too. Not all the same type, but even some Riedel Somms.

Overall, an amazing meal.

Service was knock down, drag out awesome. The manager and the maitre d’ took care of us personally, they helped design the meal, and really made sure we had an incredible time.

Food was really fabulous. I can’t really evaluate steak vs other good steakhouses as I’m not a steak guy, but they seemed up there with the best, but the appetizers and sides were both different and interesting (with their Japanese fusion) and extremely well executed. Every dish was pretty much awesome. Not all your typical American steakhouse stuff either.

Wines were great. Only major flaw was the premoxed Cali Chard (which I still enjoyed), and maybe a little bret on 1-2 of the Rhones. I like that we had old stuff. I’ve had too many of the giant young cabs recently. Nice progression too and well timed with our 6-7 waves of food.

Ordering (Emil and I did it) was spot on if very slightly too much. We reordered foie (even if it was great), ate a bit too much awesome bread, and maybe had 1-2 too many steaks — so there was no room for dessert. But better a bit too much than going out for ramen later! Price was even quite reasonable considering what we had, the service, and all that A5 (which has a steep premium).

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Great Grenache
  2. Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the Sun
  3. Spear your Meat
  4. Steak in the Blind
  5. Hedonists at STK
By: agavin
Comments (7)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: A5, Alexander's, beef, Foodie Club, Pasadena, Steak, Steak House, steakhouse, Wagyū, Wine
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