An update after returning to the 1940s hooker motel for more awesome Chinese BBQ.
Click here to find out what it’s all about.
Jeff ordered a Pig Head for the fun of it.
Archive for bbq
Restaurant: Dinner at the Borgese’s [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
Location: Santa Monica
Date: October 11, 2022
Cuisine: Italian influenced gourmet home cooking
Rating: Awesome
Dinner at the Borgese’s is a special house dinner in Santa Monica cooked by the stunning pro-level home chef Borgese couple. Tonight’s dinner follows hot on the heels of a Billecart dinner I did here a few weeks before. It’s so close that the Halloween decorations were even more opulent.
The Borgese’s LOVE Halloween and so their house was already decorated for the spook season in epic style!
The dynamic Borgese team consists of Rocco, his lovely wife (and the main kitchen chef), and his daughter (helping out with service).
Plus all this incredible wood fired oven set up.The wine lineup. Not too shabby.
NV Moussé Fils Champagne l’Or d’Eugène Blanc de Noirs Brut.
Tonight’s menu.
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)
Ricciola Sashimi Cucchiai. Yellowtail Sashimi Spoons.
2018 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Bougros Côte Bouguerots. VM 94. The 2018 Chablis Bougros Côte de Bouguerots Grand Cru is well-defined on the nose. Quite stony and terse at first, it opens with orange rind and crushed pebble scents. The palate is well balanced with fine acidity, tight and energetic with a zesty, minerally finish. This meliorates in the glass, ending up quite nuanced and tensile. Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2018 white tasting. (Drink between 2024-2040)
From my cellar: 2005 Mongeard-Mugneret Grands-Echezeaux. JG 96+. The 2005 Grands Echézeaux from Domaine Mongeard-Mugneret is going to be a great, great wine, but it is still a puppy and needs at least another decade in the cellar. The bouquet is young, but stunning, as it soars from the glass in a blaze of red plums, red and black cherries, a hint of blood orange, a gorgeously complex base of soil, cocoa powder, gamebirds, woodsmoke and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and still quite primary , with great depth of sappy fruit at the core, seamless, ripe tannins, outstanding soil signature and a very, very long, tangy and laser-like finish. This is an utterly brilliant bottle in the making. (Drink between 2025-2100)
Cozze con Guanciale. Mussels with Pork Cheek. The sauce on this mussel dish was essentially like a all’amatriciana except that it was also saturated with mussel-juice. Pretty awesome actually, particularly the crispy little guanciale chunks.
1989 Château Latour Grand Vin. JG 95. The 1989 vintage of Château Latour was not considered a great year for this superb property, which was purported to have started a mini-slump after the release of the brilliant 1982 vintage at the estate. However, though I did not buy this wine on release (believing the critics of the time and their assessment of its relative inferiority), on the couple of occasions where I have been lucky enough to drink it again in recent times, it has been clear that this wine was underrated at the outset and really is an excellent vintage of Latour. The most recent bottle was getting close to full bloom, but not quite there yet, offering up a deep and complex bouquet of cassis, sweet dark berries, cigar ash, Latour’s classic gravelly, dark soil signature, cedary oak and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and plenty deep at the core, with firm, well-integrated tannins, excellent mineral drive, very good acids for the vintage and a very long, balanced and complex finish. This is getting close to really drinking well as it closes in on its thirtieth birthday, but it is an old school Latour and will still be an even better drink at age forty than it is today. (Drink between 2018-2085)
1990 Château Latour Grand Vin. VM 98. Tasting the 1990 Latour is like running into a long-lost friend. Still dark, deep and spectacularly flamboyant, the 1990 possesses remarkable textural richness from the very first taste. Time in the glass brings out a whole range of pencil shaving, dark fruit, chocolate, licorice and spice flavors, but more than anything else, the 1990 is a wine of pure and total voluptuousness. While I never think of wine as a competition, the 1990 is quite a bit more complex, layered and intriguing than the 1982 served alongside it at the same charity dinner. Its longevity will ultimately be determined by the quality of the cork and storage conditions, as the wine has several decades of truly exceptional drinking still to offer. In a word: magnificent! (Drink between 2019-2039)
1995 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque. VM 96. Griotte and kirsch complicated by roast coffee, smoke, mocha and a whiff of game; complex and ineffable. Lush, sweet and very intensely flavored; sappy cherry flavor complicated by a peppery quality. Seems a bit higher in acidity than Guigal’s ’95 La Mouline, and the tannins are distinctly firmer. Again, quite explosive on the aftertaste.
Pasta Fresca di Tonna. A fresh spaghetti with tuna and olives. This lent it a slightly “Spaghetti alla puttanesca” vibe, although not as pungent as that dish. Quite delicious and perfectly textured.
1996 Château Haut-Brion. JG 94. The 1996 Haut Brion is less hermetically sealed than the 1998, and is beginning to hint a bit at its secondary layers of aromatic complexity, though it still remains a very young wine. The bouquet is deep and classic, as it jumps from the glass in a mélange of black cherries, dark berries, Cuban tobacco, incipient notes of the black truffles to come, and a fine base of Graves earth. I assume that the 1996 saw the same amount of new oak as the 1998, but there is little sign of the wood at the present time. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, deep and very intense, with a quite powerful profile for Haut Brion. The wine is rock solid at the core and very tannic, though the tannins are ripe and well-integrated into the wine. The finish is very, very long and soil-driven, and this will clearly be one of the most powerful vintages of Haut Brion to emerge since the 1959. It will be superb, but one will require plenty of patience. (Drink between 2025-2075)
1996 Château Latour Grand Vin. VM 94. The 1996 Latour is a wine that I often find overrated and did not achieve everything that might have been possible in this favourable growing season. That said, this might well be the best of around two dozen bottles I have encountered over the years. As usual, the 1996 is decidedly austere at first, standoffish, looks down its nose at you. Yet it coalesces with time and develops engaging cedar-scented black fruit tinged with pencil box and a touch of iris with time. The palate (again) is a little muted at first but it soon found its voice and evolved very fine tannin allied with a crisp line of acidity. It is not quite as demonstrative as it was even just a couple of years ago, gained some detail and perhaps it will continue to meliorate. Very fine, very fine indeed – but not a patch of say, the Château Margaux or perhaps even Léoville Las Cases. Tasted at the International Business & Wine Latour dinner at Ten Trinity. (Drink between 2018-2040)
1997 Château Mouton Rothschild. VM 90-91. Very good red-ruby color. Currant, cassis, roasted nuts, gunsmoke, chocolate and a note of surmaturite Fat, sweet and expansive, but with sound underlying structure. Lowish acids and a confit note (due at least partly to passerillage, or drying of the grapes by the wind and sun) contribute to the wine almost voluptuous texture.
Quaglie Ripiene. Stuffed Quail. Stuffed with sausage (and some veggies) on a bed of polenta. We’ve had this several times before and it’s a fabulous dish.
1998 Penfolds Grange. VM 97. Very deep red-ruby. Smoky, deeply concentrated fruit bomb of a nose: blackberry, dark plum, cassis; creamy vanilla and lightly toasty coconutty oak; and ethereal background notes of white pepper, smoked meats, musky spices, tar and licorice. Profoundly concentrated but velvety-smooth and seamless; impressively muscular and thickly coated with oak, and bound by drying, astringent tannins. Without question the most concentrated Grange of all time, utterly steeped in blackberry flavors; a real show pony. It’s also the most alcoholic Grange ever made, and at a declared 14.5% does taste warm and spirity – the first Grange to do so. It also ventures to some degree into the realm of currant and prune. No doubt a brilliant wine, but only time will tell if, with its elevated alcohol and its superripe flavors, this 1998 version ranks with the very best Grange vintages.
1999 Penfolds Grange. VM 91+. Full ruby-red. Sexy aromas of raspberry, cola, root beer and coconut. Thick, dense and concentrated, with exotic, slightly candied dark fruit, caramel, toasted coconut and mineral flavors nicely shaped by firm acids. Shows strong fruit and a major dose of oak on the powerful, backward finish. This can’t quite match the 1998 for sheer depth of fruit, but it’s built to age.
2003 Penfolds Grange. VM 93. Inky purple. Seductively perfumed nose offers cassis, blueberry, cherry-cola, violet and dried fig scents, with a suave undercurrent of smoky minerals. Deep, finely etched cherry and dark berry flavors are complicated by mocha and candied licorice, becoming riper with air. Cured meat and black cardamom notes arrive with air, adding further interest. Full, fleshy and sweet on the impressively long finish, which is nicely braced by dusty tannins. This is more energetic than most wines from this vintage.
Risotto a Costine. Short Rib Risotto. Chef Jen made a 2 day short rib ragu and then it was integrated into this fresh risotto. Yum, now that’s my kind of risotto! Actually I love most good risottos but this one is particularly great.
2005 Sine Qua Non Grenache Atlantis Fe2O3~2a, b & c. VM 100. The 2005 Grenache Atlantis Fe203-2a has been absolutely thrilling both times I have tasted it within the last year. A huge, vertical wine, Atlantis graces the palate with deep, voluptuous red fruit, crushed rocks, smoke, tobacco and mint. Even with all of its intensity and explosiveness, the wine remains light on its feet, with great balance and class to burn. The inclusion of whole clusters adds gorgeous lift and perfume, especially on the finish. At nearly ten years of age, the 2005 Grenache Atlantis is in a perfect spot right now and should continue to drink well for another 5-10 years, perhaps longer. (Drink between 2014-2024)
2013 Sine Qua Non Grenache Jusqu’à l’os Eleven Confessions Vineyard. VM 96+. A darker, more potent side of Grenache comes through in the 2013 Grenache Jusqu’a’ l’Os. This powerhouse wine is nowhere near ready to drink. Swaths of tannin enshroud a core of plum, dark fruit in this muscular, brooding Grenache from Sine Qua Non. Readers will have to be patient. The 2013 is 79% Grenache, 18% Syrah and 3% Petite Sirah, all from Eleven Confessions, done with 89% whole clusters. (Drink between 2023-2033)
Braciola di Vitella Ripiena. Stuffed Veal Chop. Perfectly cooked and super juicy. The white meat was similar to a great pork chop, but milder. It was stuffed with provolone, prosciutto, and tomatoe.
With veggies.
You can see the stuffing here.
Funghi. Wood fire grilled 3 mushroom medley.
Melanzane. Grilled eggplant.
The return of the polenta, this time with the shortrib ragu on top — insanely good.
Hazelnut Hojicha Gelato – Nocciola (hazelnut) base made with Pure PGI Piedmont hazelnut paste and infused with Ceremonial Hojicha Roasted Green Tea — 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 #matcha #Hojicha #GreenTea #hazelnut #Piedmont
Chocolate Nutter Butter Gelato – a base made from 100% Valrhona Chocolate and South American Peanuts layered with chopped “Nutter-Butter” cookies — 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 #chocolate #valrhona #peanuts #PeanutButter #reeses #NutterButter #cookies
The wine lineup.
The gang.
The lovely ladies of the house.
Overall, this was another amazing dinner, and the Borgese’s just keep amping up the quality.
First of all, the Borgese hospitality was awesome, the house lovely, and the food absolutely incredible. One of the best “home cooked” meals I’ve had. Maybe ever if you restrict it to chefs cooking in their own home kitchen. Just amazing. Every dish was great. Rustic but extremely delicious style. Superb homemade pastas.
Service was handled by the youngest Borgese (teen daughter) and was better than most restaurant staff. Super friendly and you can tell they do this a lot.
Wines have crept up in “biggness” here — and I don’t mean their caliber (which is fine) but too many big reds. This food has a bit of a ramp and there were two seafood dishes and then a quail, so we could have ramped through Champs, 2 flights of whites, and then red Burgundy before getting to a few bigger wines. Not everything needs to be gigantic — or SQN (at least there were only 2).
This meal was a slew of Rocco staples, like the quail, but it also featured the unique veal chop.
For more LA dining reviews click here.
Restaurant: Lucille’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que
Location: Westfield Topanga. 6220 CA-27 Suite 1480, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
Date: September 21, 2022
Cuisine: BBQ
Rating: Not bad for a giant chain
As I eat over in Woodland Hills fairly frequently (by myself) I was googling around for lower carb options and found this place. I actually had no idea it was a chain, or even worse, in a mall. I just picked it from Yelp because it was nearby and BBQ (which offers lots of meat).
I hate when restaurants are attached to mall complexes. I don’t shop retail — 95% online — so I find malls to be annoying, crowded, and vestigial remnants of the 20th century. Parking was a PITA.
Interior is large. The menu can be found here. I forgot to photo it but it was structurally very interesting as it’s kinda modular and you can expand, modify, or add on to the basic components. I actually really liked this as it suits my ordering style (different and large).
Smoked Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread. I couldn’t resist this carb.
This was a three meat “Build your own Bar-B-Que Combo,” including baby back ribs, pulled pork, and rib tips! Sides were Creamy Coleslaw and Southern Braised Greens. The BBQ was pretty good. Sauces were a touch sweet for my diet, very classic American BBQ, but pretty well cooked. At a lot of chain places it might have been dry. It wasn’t.
I was surprised that Lucille’s was decent (for a chain). As I mentioned, I hate chains and malls, and this was good enough that I would go back again — better off hours though when the mall parking isn’t so jammed up and one can actually park nearby.
Restaurant: MK BBQ [Crawl: MK BBQ, Peking, Bafang, Spicy Home, Beijing Tasty ]
Location: 18414 Colima Rd, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 616-1826
Date: July 31, 2022
Cuisine: Chinese BBQ
Rating: Not bad
This was part of an extensive (but ultimate meh) crawl in the far SGV.
Yarom found this BBQ joint online, and being a sucker for any kind of straight meat, put it on the list. But it turned out to be a counter tucked in a skeezy market.
Hanging meats.
Wieners in juice.
Duck or pork, that is the question.
!?!
BBQ duck we ate on the hood of our cars. Actually not bad at all.
See, glamorous.
I can’t say I’d recommend this unless one lived nearby and was grabbing some takeout. But for that, it’s actually pretty good.
Restaurant: Charcoal Venice [1, 2, 3]
Location: 425 Washington Blvd, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292. (310) 751-6794
Date: June 14, 2022
Cuisine: New American Grill
Rating: Some great meats
Josiah Citrin’s (owner/chef of Melisse) newish more casual eatery has been open for a while — and although I bike past it weekly and went once for brunch, this is my second official dinner visit — and we are enjoying the lovely back patio.
It’s located on Washington Blvd about 2 blocks in from the ocean.
Inside at night. By the middle of dinner service it was hopping.
This is one of those pandemic “parking lot” patios. Not sure it’s actually the parking lot, but it has that informal look but I love al fresco, so totally works for me.
The menu.
NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 168eme. JG 96+. The new release of Krug Grande Cuvée “168ème Édition” is from the base year of 2012, with the reserve wines in the blend stretching all the way back to 1996. The final cépages has ended up as fifty-two percent pinot noir, thirty-five percent chardonnay and thirteen percent pinot meunier. Forty-two percent of the blend is made up of reserve wines in this beautiful iteration of Grande Cuvée. The bouquet is superb, wafting from the glass in a mosaic of apple, white peach, a touch of Clos du Mesnil-like fresh apricot, almond, a beautifully complex base of soil tones, fresh-baked bread, hints of the caraway seed to come and a whisper of buttery oak (which is particularly evident when the wine is first poured, but quickly is subsumed in the other elements on the nose). On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and very complex, with a lovely core of fruit, fine soil signature, utterly refined mousse and a long, perfectly balanced and very energetic finish. This is one of the most effortless and seamlessly balanced young releases of Grande Cuvée in several years and is utterly brilliant wine. (Drink between 2020-2080)
2014 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Cuvée A Tempo. VM 95. Vivid yellow. Mineral-tinged citrus and orchard fruit aromas show excellent clarity and pick up a suave floral accent with air. Silky and precise on the palate, offering bitter lemon pith and pear skin flavors that show fantastic power and a subtle, slow-building suggestion of iodine. A distinctly mineral, Chablis-like quality characterizes the remarkably long, penetrating finish, which strongly echoes the floral and citrus fruit notes. This deeply concentrated yet vibrant wine is one the most mesmerizing versions of white Châteauneuf that I have ever tried and, in fact, it measures up to some of the best white Rhônes, period. (Drink between 2018-2025)
Oysters on the Half Shell, Garnished Traditionally and Creatively.
Bread with Beurre De Baratte.
Yellowfin Tuna, Pickled Cucumber, Avocado, Citrus Vinaigrette. Classic, but good.
Crisps for the tuna tower.
Smoked Mushroom and Beet, Crème Fraiche, Currants. Tastes like liquid smoke, but really nice actually.
2000 Domaine de la Vieille Julienne Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve. 95 points. Unique and fantastic Pape! nose with remarkable note of Grappa as well as roses, tar, asphalt, wild raspberries, raisins. Extremely concentrated, lush, silky and sensuous on the palate. Character as a mature Barolo, long lingering on. At peak now.
2001 Le Clos du Caillou Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve le Clos du Caillou. VM 96. Saturated, bright ruby-red. Knockout nose of black raspberry, meat, minerals, spices, chicory and espresso. Like liquid silk in the mouth; an incredibly concentrated, nearly confectionery wine, with compelling flavors of blackberry, violet and game. As creamy as a molten Valrhona chocolate cake. The oak component serves to frame and intensify the flavors, enabling this wonderfully thick wine to retain a sappy character. Finishes with intriguing garrigue notes and a repeating espresso element.
2001 Domaine Pierre Usseglio & Fils Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réserve des Deux Frères. VM 91. Bright ruby-red. Superripe, roasted aromas of singed red fruits, carob, marzipan and walnut. A huge, roasted wine showing strong evidence of surmaturite; flavors of dried fruits and walnut. With alcohol in the 16% range this is undeniably massive, but I found myself wishing it had more primary fruit and verve. Quite different in style from the Cuvee de Mon Aieul. A rare and expensive bottling, recommended for fans of the type. (Wines from France, Mountainside, NJ)
Smoky Grilled Chicken Wings, Oregano, Chili, Vinegar. Good, but I like Vietnamese wings better.
Smoked Lamb Ribs. Fatty, smokey, awesome.
California Avocado Pesto, Cherry Tomatoes,Fresh Tagliatelle. Really nice “green” minty flavor.
Oxtail Bolognese, Gremolata, Horseradish, Cavatelli Pasta. First class meaty pasta.
21 Day Aged Half Liberty Duck, Honey, Coriander. Amazballs. Sweet but very ducky and delicious.
Little Gems, Shaved Market Vegetables, Bread Crumbs, Grilled Scallion Vinaigrette.
2007 Domaine de la Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée XXL. VM 94. Inky purple. Wild, highly expressive aromas of kirsch, blackberry and fruitcake, with complementary notes of anise and violet. Broad dark fruit flavors show exotic spice and herb nuances, with velvety tannins providing support. Finishes sweet, sappy and long, with smoke and spice notes lingering. This wine, which fermented its sugars for two years, will be bottled in March of 2010.
2007 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape. VM 95+. Deep ruby. Powerful, pungent aromas of kirsch, dark berries, smoky herbs and spicecake, with notes of black olive and tobacco coming on with air. Chewy, palate-staining dark fruit flavors are complicated by bitter chocolate, licorice and black cardamom. Acts like a 2005 today, with serious structure but also superb depth of powerful, densely packed fruit. A hint of cherry skin adds grip and refreshing bitterness to the long, smoky, focused finish. Not an easy read right now: this demands cellaring. (Wines of France , Mountainside, NJ)
16 oz Prime Ribeye. Nice meat.
Cabbage Baked in the Embers, Yogurt, Sumac, Lemon Zest. Really great veggie. This is actually one of my favorite dishes here.
Grilled Vermillion Rock Cod, California Citrus, Port Wine, Brown Butter, Mint. I didn’t try.
Steak Fries with Ketchup, Mustard.
Roasted Wild Mushrooms, Parsley Breadcrumbs, Fermented Garlic Dressing.
Coal Roasted Carrots, Sheep’s Milk Ricotta, Herbs, Honey, Black Pepper. Bad photo, I know, people were “Langing” it.
Hpnotiq Blue Hawaiian Sorbetto — like a frozen cocktail — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Thai Coconut Milk, Pineapple, Lime, and Hpnotiq liqueur –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #Hpnotiq #BlueHawaiian #pineapple #coconut #lime
Hazelnut at the Ritz Gelato — Nocciola (hazelnut) custard base made with Pure PGI Piedmont hazelnut paste then mixed with house-made caramel and crushed Ritz Crackers (for that salty offset) — 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 #hazelnut #nocciola #caramel #caramello #ritz #crackers
Apple Crumble, McConnell’s Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Cake, McConnell’s Double Peanut Butter Chip Ice Cream. Really nice.
I was impressed by our meal here. Not everything was perfect, but some of the dishes: duck, cabbage, lamb ribs were exceptional and most of the rest really good. A couple were a bit flat (like maybe the salads). The name, Charcoal, implies wood cooked, and they deliver on that promise with an experience that has a bit of a non-Spanish Asador feel.
Tonight we had a great evening out on the patio. BIG wines for pretty big food! These were some serious Chateauneufs!
Restaurant: Toku Unagi & Sushi
Location: 1106 N La Cienega Blvd #201, West Hollywood, CA 90069. (310) 854-7285
Date: May 12, 2022
Cuisine: Japanese BBQ Eel
Rating: D-eel-ishish
Our Foodie Club / Sushi Series group decided to hit up this Unagi (Japanese freshwater eel) speciality spot.
Unagi or Japanese freshwater eel, has been consumed in Japan for centuries. Unajyu and Ohitsu are couple of the staple dishes and the recipes for these ever-popular Japanese traditional foods is said to have been around since the Edo period (1603 ~ 1868).
Their restaurant was founded in 1909 as an Unagi market in one of Japan’s renowned Unagi locations, Hamamatsu in the Shizuoka prefecture. Their special Unagi sauce has been carefully passed down from generation to generation and to this day, they continue to offer our original flavor. Toku Unagi and Sushi opened its door in the fall of 2019 on La Cienega Blvd, one of Sourthern California’s premier dining areas. Their specialty, the Unagi, are directly imported from Japan every week and continuing the legacy of their founder, Toku Unagi & Sushi is proud to offer Unagi using the same cooking method and the special sauce created over a century ago.
The interior.
Big menu actually.
2008 Bollinger Champagne La Grande Année. VM 97. Bollinger’s 2008 Grande Année is rich, ample and full-bodied, with all of the pedigree of the vintage on display. Dried pear, dried flowers, chamomile, red plum and mint develop as the 2008 shows the breadth and creaminess that are such signatures of the Bollinger house style. A whole range of brighter, more floral and chalky notes appear later, adding translucence and energy. The 2008 is 71% Pinot Noir and 29% Chardonnay taken across 18 crus, and it is the Pinot that very much informs the wine in both flavor and texture. More importantly, the 2008 is one of the best Grande Années I can remember tasting. Bollinger fans won’t want to miss it. Disgorged November 2018. Dosage is 8 grams per liter. (Drink between 2020-2048)
2008 Dom Pérignon Champagne. VM 98. The 2008 Dom Pérignon is a huge, powerful Champagne and also clearly one of the wines of the vintage. This is one of the most reticent bottles I have tasted. So much so that I am thinking about holding off opening any more bottles! The 2008 has always offered a striking interplay of fruit and structure. Today, the richness of the fruit is especially evident. Readers who own the 2008 should be thrilled, but patience is a must. (Originally published in May 2021) (Drink between 2028-2058)
Amuse of macaroni salad. Delicious, actually.
Sunomono. Very “prepared.” A little bit of chili heat to the marinate.
Monkfish liver. Great sunomono-style kelp underneath.
Cold Tofu. Nice. Great silken texture.
Ago-dashi tofu. Great.
Some of the tofu pulled out.
Yuzu Cervice. Nice and bright.
Unagi liver. Bitter and not that pleasant. This is a traditional dish Eel BBQ restaurants in Japan and I’ve had it there many times — still not my favorite.
Unagi Chawanmushi (egg custard).
2002 Louis Jadot Latricières-Chambertin. BH 90-93. This sample displayed heavy oak and was largely “un-Jadot-like” in style, which again makes me wonder about how the cask sample was pulled. The full-bodied flavors however are round, supple, sweet and wonderfully intense with obvious minerality and a long, pure and beautifully balanced finish. The overall impression, aside from the wood, is one of power and grace and my score offers the benefit of the doubt with respect to the oak influence. (Drink between 2009-2017)
2002 Domaine Launay Chambertin. BH 94. This is extremely ripe and aromatically forward, offering notes of game, leather, tea, spice and plenty of Gevrey earth plus big, intense, muscled and robust yet supple flavors that are structured and deep on the powerfully long finish. The tannins are pronounced if ripe and the supple mid-palate makes this wine seem deceptively approachable yet it should age for years. A great effort. (Drink between 2012-2022)
Unagi Terrine. Jelly-like texture. Not that much flavor.
Unagi Yanagawa. Delicious. Some very fibrous vegetables.
Rib Eye. Not that much flavor.
Unagi (and vegetable) Tempura. Quite nice.
Eel box. Unajyu. These eel meals come as sets with the eel, rice, and pickles.
Pickles. I love Japanese pickles.
Grilled Eel. This is the classic and it was lovely. There is a great combination of the char, the sweet sauce, and the fatty texture of the meat. The textural and flavor contrast with that great Japanese rice is fabulous too.
Special soup. More or less a dashi.
Ohitsu eel with tea. You pour the tea over the eel and rice.
Here is the eel, “pre tea.” You just pour the tea right over it, helps cut the fat.
Macha Cream Brulee.
Vanilla Cream Brulee.
The wines.
This was a super fun evening. Like most traditional Japanese restaurants Toku has great service. The best part was the eel. I always love BBQ eel and while even cheap BBQ eel is kinda enjoyable, this was some of the best I’ve had in the US. It’s nice to have a specialty shop here in town. We didn’t try anything from the sushi side tonight.
The wines were awesome, of course.
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.
It’s just street-side on Sunset in busy Silverlake.
There is a fairly tight interior.
And a small but nice set of patio tables with built in grills.
We sat outside.
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)
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)
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.
1978 Rioja.
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)
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.
The menu is long. We ordered almost everything!
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.
A5 Wagyu Gyoza. Groudn A5 Wagyu Beef, Tofu, Mixed Vegetables, Glass Noodles. So (temperature) hot that it could have been anything inside.
Chawanmushi. Japanese Steamed Egg Custard with Uni and Caviar. Fairly runny custard.
Amaebi Carpaccio. Yuzu oild dressing, Red Pepper, Black Pepper, Chive. Not the greatest shrimp, but the pepper and dressing were pretty good.
Staemed Awabi (abalone) with abalone innards dressing.
Lobster Carpaccio with Caviar and Somen Noodle, Creamy Dressing. Butter-like sauce was reat on the noodles.
A5 Wagyu Tataki Salad with Spicy Citrus Dressing. Delicious strong tanyg/sweet sauce. Microgreens had a nice bite. Meat was quite cold.
A5 Wagyu Beef Diced Steak with Sweet Shrimp and Chimichurri Dressing. This is was one of the weakest dishes.
Honey Citron Sorbet.
Gas grills.
Tallow to grease the grill.
3 Kinds of sauce: salt and pepper, house-made wasabi, and yuzu-koshu
Assorted Vegetables and Mushrooms.
Veggies on the grill.
Mushrooms at the ready.
3 Kinds of Japanese A5 Wagyu. It comes on this cool tower.
On the grill.
Beef cooked.
Beef Tongue.
Cooked.
A5 Japanese Wagyu Sukiyaki.
Marinated A5 beef for the sukiyaki.
Egg to dip it in.
Truffle A5 Wagyu Beef Hot Pot. A5 Wagyu Beef, Chive, Ala Minute Dashi Rice, Fresh Black Truffle, Sesame Oil, Tsuyu, Shoyu Marinated Egg Yolk.
Smash that yolk.
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).
Short Rib.
Special Alligator from the chef.
Cooked gator.
Berry Panna Cotta.
Red Bean Ball.
Sesame Ice Cream and dried fruit.
Sesame Ice Cream, Red Bean Cake, and Syrup. Like most of these very Japanese desserts, sweet without intense flavor.
Sesame Ice Cream, Cake, and Syrup.
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.
Restaurant: No. 1 Charcoal BBQ
Location: 112 N Chandler Ave #101, Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 281-5288
Date: August 22, 2021 & March 13, 2022
Cuisine: Chinese BBQ Skewers
Rating: Fabulous food — Highly recommended for the adventurous
Yarom and I discovered this Chinese BBQ joint while exploring the area (and eating at a nearby Northern style place).
It’s around the corner from Garvey, not far from the lots of places I’ve frequented.
Inside is amusingly peculiar, the current Chinese BBQ place having clearly taken over a space that was once an 80s or 90s Japanese restaurant, complete with sushi bar and wood paneled tatami private dining rooms. In typical Chinese fashioned they didn’t redecorate. As far as I can tell most of the business in summer of 2021 is takeout.
The magic occurs here in this sloppy looking (but tasty) charcoal grill under the hood.
You can still see the sushi freezers on the bar. Everything is just cluttered with random crap.
We used this private dining room, which while a bit awkward to climb into was very cute and the atmosphere was way better than the messy front room and its constant stream of takeout customers.
The menu.
Western Chinese skewer powder.
Jellishfish — quite good, although it could have been tangier. Notice the “plates” that consist of styrofoam takeout containers ripped in half.
Tofu with century egg — delicious with awesome savory notes.
Cucumbers with slightly peanuty dressing.
House Special Beef — there was a delicious brown MSG sauce (pictured below).
Crack sauce.
Pig ears.
Cold lamb with house special sauce.
Cold sesame noodles.
Lamb “Casserole”. Not bad.
Shredded potato. Great.
Stinky Tofu. Stinky!
Spicy tofu sauce.
Dumplings with 3 ingredients. Typical boiled dumplings.
Spicy Crawfish — great sauce, hard to eat as usual.
Spicy “casserole” (aka Mala hot pot).
Extra spam.
Beef tongue
Lamb skewers. All these skewers had a lovely charcoal flavor and were sizzling hot and delicious. The awesome tablewares continue with some cheap paper plates.
Pork.
House special spare ribs — boney but incredible flavor.
Sausages — a bit sweet and awesome.
BBQ Leek — great.
Beef tendon.
Chicken Feet.
Fish Tofu — a touch sweet and spicy.
Lamb Brisket. Good enough we ordered seconds.
Cabbage with garlic — incredible. Really stunning cabbage dish.
King Oyster Mushrooms.
Enoiki Mushrooms.
Grilled BBQ Squid — a touch fishy but good.
BBQ Garlic!
Ball of Quail.
Reminds me a bit of:
Sliced potatoes.
Garlic with a side of eggplant. Also awesome.
Crispy Chicken Bones. Amazing sauce and crunch.
Mascarpone Coffee Crunch Gelato — A base infused with Mascarpone Cheese then blended with house-made Coffee Crunch — created 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 #cheesecake #mascarpone #cheese #coffee #CoffeeCrunch #candy
Grapefruit Aperol Tarragon Sorbetto — 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
Strawberry Jam Gelato — an awesome dairly Strawberry base swirled with Strawberry Jam — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — sugar time! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #strawberry #jam
Our fun little room.
Our wines for the night.
No. 1 Charcoal is one of those surprising SGV finds that make the drive east so so worth it. Despite the amusingly “casual” (or ad hoc) hole-in-the-wall style of the restaurant and the crappy disposable “serving dishes” the food here was actually incredible. It was just full of flavor. Highly recommended for the adventurous.
A second visit in March of 2022 reconfirmed that this is a darn tasty place with a fun room.
For more LA dining reviews click here.
For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.
Restaurant: Mister Bossam
Location: 338 S Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90020. (213) 388-5379
Date: January 26, 2020
Cuisine: Korean Ribs
Rating: Awesome, but heart burn central
On a chilly, quiet Sunday night — where in the best of worlds we should have had a Chinese dinner going — Yarom and I met up for a small Korean dinner.
Yarom saw this sign and we couldn’t resist trying it out.
The interior is very small and casual.
The menu is pretty specific with just a couple variants on two main themes (bossam and cheesy ribs).
Banchan.
pickled spicy raddish or turnip.
kimchee.
macaroni salad — our least favorite.
pickled cabbage.
fish cakes — I ate 3 bowls of this one, love the chewy texture.
marinated daikon.
Sauces. A spicy one left and a sweet one right.
Lettuce wraps.
The burner.
green onion + garlic bossam and sliced pigs feet — the luke warm pork (bossam) was much better than the feet.
Bossam is a pork dish in Korean cuisine. It usually consists of belly pork that is boiled in spices and thinly sliced. The meat is served with side dishes such as spicy radish salad, sliced raw garlic, ssamjang, saeu-jeot, kimchi, and ssam vegetables such as lettuce, kkaennip, and inner leaves of a napa cabbage.
Cheesy spicy pork ribs with cheesy eggs, corn, and hot dogs.
The cheese melts and they cut up and stir up the ribs. This part is scrumptious and very rich. At first it’s a little weird eating a Korean flavored spicy pork rib covered in cheese, but it tastes amazing. We ordered medium spice and it was actually very spicy with a long chili oil type heat. Gave me some heartburn. Cheesy eggs and hot dogs were good too.
Overall, this is a small place with a small menu. The bossam was I suspect good for bossam, but it’s not my favorite dish ever. The cheesy ribs were pretty awesome. Not a place you’d come all the time, but really interesting and tasty to try.
Restaurant: Chosun Galbee
Location: 3330 W Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90019. (323) 734-3330
Date: November 2, 2019
Cuisine: Korean BBQ
Rating: Solid KBBQ fun
Instead of a wine dinner night, this dinner is a big school parent KBBQ and Karaoke night.
We had two huge tables at K-Town classic, Chosun Galbee — above is the ladies table (guys table behind the camera).
We drank beer and solju — together in my case as I learned from some of my Korean friends 2 weeks before.
Salad.
Glass noodles with beef. Slightly sweet and tasty.
Banchan.
Love the potato salad with the raisins.
But my favorite is the chewy spicy squid (orange shredded carrot looking stuff).
Kimchee and pickles.
Seafood pancake. Delicious.
Shrimp and veggies on the grill.
Almost done.
The beef comes out.
Various condiments.
Like this lettuce wrap with included beef and sauce.
Chicken.
More meats.
Fried Rice with stuff.
Interesting fermented tofu soup — quite nice.
More beef.
And even more.
This was an enjoyable dinner — of course they only ordered about half the beef rounds I would have (it was a group set menu) but it was delicious regardless. Very classic K-Town style.
Then off to Pharaoh for some private room Karaoke.
Walk like an Egyptian.
But sing like a bunch of LA school parents!
Restaurant: Majordomo [1, 2, 3, 4]
Location: 1725 Naud St, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (323) 545-4880
Date: August 8, 2019
Cuisine: Korean Fusion
Rating: Big dishes amazing
It’s with gigantic expectation that NY restaurateur David Chang opened his first LA outpost last year and since then it’s become a regular foodie and wine destination among my friends. Tonight is my fourth visit, but my first time with the Hedonists — not that I don’t see them several times a week elsewhere. We also had along Elisabeth An from Crustacean.
Looking on the map, I was pretty skeptical of the weird between Chinatown and Dodger’s Stadium location — a totally annoying spot for me to get to during traffic! Two brutal hours!
The area is extremely warehousey, much like the “Arts District” but even newer. This particular time, dropping off at night, we joked about our life expectancy. 
The have a sort of hipster city built down here out of old warehouses.
With lots of bespoke graffiti.
And Majordomo, of course.
Which has a pretty big enclosed and outside space (which we ate in this third time). Have to say, the outside space was actually preferable. Less crowded and quieter.
As you can see.
Inside is one of those cavernous loud warehouse spaces.
High naked ceilings. Don’t come here when it’s raining! They also have the currently hip bathroom setup with the coed shared sinks exposed out in the main room. Not my thing. What if you want to clean up in private?
The current menu.
Larry brought: 1995 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. JG 95. The 1995 Krug in magnum is really starting to drink with style and grace, but it remains a wine that has just reached its plateau of maturity and has years and years of life still ahead of it. The lovely and quite classic nose wafts from the glass in a constellation of apple, peach, caraway seed, a lovely base of minerality, a touch of walnut, rye bread and a gently smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, crisp and complex, with a wide open attack, a fine core, elegant mousse and really lovely length and grip on the focused and classy finish. Fine juice.
Baja California Uni. Broken tofu, avocado, yuzu. The tofu was what the Koreans (I think) call Soon Tofu, the soft silky tofu — and probably my favorite type. It went very well with the uni, rich avocado and the tangy yuzu.
From my cellar: 2006 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot. JG 95. The 2006 Blanchots is also profound. The magical bouquet jumps from the glass in a blend of mineral, apple, lemon, grapefruit,, more mineral, a hint of anise and floral tones. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, deep and very pure, with brilliant transparency, great cut and focus, and a magnificent long finish. Not much to say about this wine except wait for it to apogee before drinking it, as I have to imagine it will shut down for several years after bottling. But it will be humbling at its peak.
Bing is this Korean bread thing. Pretty much like a thick crepe or pita bread. They have various “toppings” you can get with the bing.
We got some free shaved chilled poultry liver.
Pork and Spicy Pineapple. I guess vaguely Hawaiian, but more or less like Char sui — and tasty at that — with pineapple and some spicy sauce.
Spicy Lamb. The lamb was vaguely Greek/Turkish or something with the yogurt and the stewed meat quality. Yummy though. The eggs were more complex and pretty excellent. You mash it up a bit to get the roe, egg, chips etc on the bing. I put the ham on at the same time for max effect and it was very good.
Marinated Mushrooms. Pistachio, radish. The pistachio turns out to be a paste underneath.
Stuffed Peppers. Benton’s sack sausage, buttermilk ranch. Hehe, I said sack. These are like Jalepeno poppers — sort of. Shishito poppers.
1995 Giorgio Pelissero Barbaresco. VM 88. Good medium red. Warm, smoky aromas of red and blackcurrants and earth. Lush, sweet and palate caressing; an easygoing, forward style of Barbaresco that could use more clarity and grip. The tannins are slightly dry but even, and there is good lingering sweet fruit. Drink over the next three or four years.
Crispy Butterball Potatoes, salsa seca, chili, peanuts. Sort of like a spicy potato granola mix? Tasty, and very seedy with a lot of crunch.
Fried Cauliflower. Fish sauce vinaigrette, red onion, cilantro. Cauliflower is the new Brussels Sprout. But I actually love the vegetable and particularly when paired with acid like this.
Marinated Black Cod. Hozon, bok choy, nectarine. A bit of a polarizing dish. I and several others thought it very moist and well cooked. Some thought it dull.
Jefferey brought: 2009 Château Beausejour (Duffau Lagarrosse). RP 100. This big wine (nearly 15% natural alcohol) is a blend of 77% Merlot, 19% Cabernet Franc and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon. It boasts an opaque blue/purple color along with a gorgeous bouquet of charcoal, incense, truffles, blackberry jam, black currants, raspberries and flowers. While enormous in the mouth, the limestone soils in which the grapes are grown give the wine good freshness as well as laser-like clarity and precision. Amazing to taste, this massive, super-concentrated powerhouse comes across as ethereal and almost feminine despite its extravagant fruit, density and richness. It is a modern day legend for sure! Anticipated maturity: 2025-2050+
Whole Steamed Rockfish. Sichuan black bean, herbs. Tasted good, but lots of bones.
White rice.
Macaroni & Chickpea. Hozon, black truffle.
And here’s the truffle. This was delicious, like cacio e pepe with black truffles. I ate a ton, despite the carbs and the fact that I can’t really digest chickpeas effectively.
Arnie brought: 2011 Sine Qua Non Syrah Patine Eleven Confessions Vineyard. VM 96. The 2011 Syrah Patine is deep, powerful and intense, with huge fruit and texture, especially within the context of the year. Mocha, plums, violets, bittersweet chocolate and dark spice meld into the deep, voluptuous finish. As good as the 2011 is, it could use another few years to fully meld together. The 2011 is 97% Syrah, 2% Roussanne and 1% Viognier, all from Eleven Confessions, done with 22% whole clusters and aged for 39 months in French oak barrels, 63% new. (Drink between 2018-2026)
We also pre ordered Boiled Whole Chicken (2-3 people) rice, morels, hand torn noodles.
The hand torn noodle soup was like some of the best (Chinese) mushroom noodle soup you’ll ever have, and they have amped it up with not only truffle butter.
Yarom brought: 2014 Schrader Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon CCS Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard. RP 98. Another one of my favorites is the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon CCS, which is clone 4 from the To Kalon Vineyard in Oakville. This is aged in 100% new Darnajou and is one of the larger cuvées at 510 cases. Wonderfully sweet, velvety tannins, a big sweet nose of white flowers, blackberry and cassis along with cedar wood, charcoal and graphite are all present in this full-bodied opulent wine that also retains wonderful elegance. It finished at 14.6% alcohol and will drink beautifully now as well as over the next 15-20 years.
agavin: And a giant fruit and alchohol bomb like this finally has a food to go with it (see below).
If you go, you must order this even though it’s very expensive! Whole Plate Short Rib (4-6 people). Smoked bone-in APL-style ribs. Served with beef rice, shiso rice paper, ssämjang & condiments. Lettuce wraps — yay, no carbs. Kimchee, pickled daikon, and a spicy Korean paste that is delicious and salty.
The huge chunk of Texas style cow comes out on the cart with the stuff.
The carver not only did an awesome job carving, but later called me a “gelato god” so I’m a fan of hers forever :-).
The “thin sliced” mode, which was amazingly flavorful. The fattier end cap slices which were to die for tender.
And the knaw on the bone for extra flavor bones.
And some of it goes back into the kitchen and emerges as beef fried rice — crazy good.
Mixed up.
I brought gelato again. The staff remembered me (or more precisely the gelato) and were very excited. I live for the positive feedback.
Hpnotiq Blue Hawaiian Sorbetto — like a frozen cocktail — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Thai Coconut Milk, Pineapple, Lime, and Hpnotiq liqueur –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #Hpnotiq #BlueHawaiian #pineapple #coconut #lime
White Chocolate Peanut Gelato — I hadn’t made a White Chocolate base in a while so in light of my rent “experiments” in chocolate took another pass at it — came out awesome, using all Valrhona Ivoire chocolate layered with house-made Peanut Dulcey Ganache — 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 #peanut #WhiteChocolate #valrhona #ganache
Tonight’s wine lineup.
On the right is Catherine An, owner of Crustacean. We (as a group) have become friendly with her and she’s going to do a special meal for a return visit to her place in November.
Overall, we had a great time at Majordomo. You do need a decent sized party for the awesome large dishes and you need to preorder. One time, even when we got there at 6:45pm there were only 1 each of the beef and pork left! Tonight we had 8, which is perfect as the big dishes easily go around 8 ways and the smaller ones you can order two of.
The service and wine service were both spectacular. I was really surprised as these loud hipster places often don’t have good wine service but we were really taken care of and this added a lot to the evening. We had a great (large) table in the back corner of the patio and a huge unused table next to it for our gear, wines, etc. They were super attentive. Really unusually good service for this level.
The larger pre-order dishes like the rib and chicken are amazing and insane. Tonight the food seemed even better than the first time, even if we did have a lot of (delicious) carbs. Pastas and the fried rice were amazing too. Really liking everything about Majordomo other than the distance to get there.
Restaurant: Majordomo [1, 2, 3]
Location: 1725 Naud St, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (323) 545-4880
Date: February 28, 2019
Cuisine: Korean Fusion
Rating: Big dishes amazing
It’s with gigantic expectation that NY restaurateur David Chang opened his first LA outpost last year and since then it’s become a regular foodie and wine destination among my friends. Tonight 6 of us core Foodie Club guys head on out for another great evening.
Looking on the map, I was pretty skeptical of the weird between Chinatown and Dodger’s Stadium location — a totally annoying spot for me to get to during traffic! Two brutal hours!
The area is extremely warehousey, much like the “Arts District” but even newer. This particular time, dropping off at night, we joked about our life expectancy.
The have a sort of hipster city built down here out of old warehouses.
With lots of bespoke graffiti.
And Majordomo, of course.
Which has a pretty big enclosed and outside space (which we ate in this third time). Have to say, the outside space was actually preferable. Less crowded and quieter.
As you can see.
Inside is one of those cavernous loud warehouse spaces.
High naked ceilings. Don’t come here when it’s raining! They also have the currently hip bathroom setup with the coed shared sinks exposed out in the main room. Not my thing. What if you want to clean up in private?
Tonight’s menu.
From my cellar: 2007 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne. VM 96. Taittinger’s 2007 Comtes de Champagne will be nearly impossible to resist upon release. Soaring aromatics, mid-weight structure and soft contours give the 2007 its alluring personality. Lemon oil, white flowers, mint, chamomile and green pear add brightness and freshness throughout, with a persistent, clean finish that makes it impossible to resist a second taste. Today, the 2007 comes across as a slightly more open version of the 2004, with freshness that makes that wine so appealing, and a touch of textural richness that recalls the 2002. Although the 2007 does not have the explosive energy or verticality of the profound 2006, it will drink better earlier. The 2007 has been positively brilliant on the three occasions I have tasted it so far.
Bing is this Korean bread thing. Pretty much like a thick crepe or pita bread. They have various “toppings” you can get with the bing.
We got some free shaved chilled poultry liver.
Spicy Lamb. The lamb was vaguely Greek/Turkish or something with the yogurt and the stewed meat quality. Yummy though. The eggs were more complex and pretty excellent. You mash it up a bit to get the roe, egg, chips etc on the bing. I put the ham on at the same time for max effect and it was very good.
Eggs & Smoked Roe bing. This was pretty excellent. You mash it up a bit to get the roe, egg, chips etc on the bing. I actually skipped the bing itself this time in a vain effort to avoid some carbs.
Jacob brought: 1996 Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne. BH 93. A stunning nose that offer simply wonderful complexity leads to racy, pure, intense and mineral-laden flavors of real length. This is an elegant wine that will require many years to come together completely even from a regular 750 ml bottle. An extremely pretty wine and one of Latour’s best recent efforts with this wine. Mostly consistent notes though I should point out that another recent magnum seemed a bit thin on the mid-palate and while the essential character remained the same, it didn’t have the same buffering material that the wine described above did.
Fried Cauliflower. Fish sauce vinaigrette, red onion, cilantro. Cauliflower is the new Brussels Sprout. But I actually love the vegetable and particularly when paired with acid like this.
Stuffed Peppers. Benton’s sack sausage, buttermilk ranch. Hehe, I said sack. These are like Jalepeno poppers — sort of. Shishito poppers.
Fried Oxtail. Salsa seca, chili, peanuts. Very interesting and different dish. You gnaw the bone for the meat. Then it was covered with the breakfast granola-textured but vaguely Chinese flavored pile of goodness. Great texture too. Like spicy trail-mix.
Kirk brought: 2011 Sine Qua Non The Moment. VM 93. Bright yellow-gold. Ripe pear, creme brulee and candied ginger on the powerfully scented nose, with notes of anise and smoky lees adding complexity. Pliant but focused candied citrus and orchard fruit flavors gain weight with air, picking up a dried fig nuance. The pear and smoke notes carry through a smooth, palate-staining and strikingly long finish that shows surprising vivacity. This wine was raised in a combination of concrete eggs, new French oak, used barrels and stainless steel tanks.
agavin: Rhone style. Kirk likes to bring these.
Uni pasta special. Always amazing and a good pairing with the Rhone style wine.
Walker brought: 1998 Prunotto Barolo. VM 89. Moderately saturated medium red. Flinty aromas of marzipan, underbrush and violet. Fat, sweet and smooth; this is quite accessible already. Solidly structured wine with nicely buffered tannins. Still a bit youthfully aggressive but tasty right now.
agavin: sadly our bottle was gone.
Walker brought: 1971 Fratelli Revello Barolo. Nice and still in good shape.
Mafaldine. Dungeness crab, bread crumbs, lemon. Mafaldine twice in a week or two! This one had a less tripe-like texture. Blew my “no carbs” thing for the night (along with the uni and several other dishes).
Warm Raclette cheese. This was for some other dish but they just gave us some on the house!
Erick brought: 1996 Sylvain Cathiard Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Malconsorts. BH 88. There is still enough wood to notice on the attractively spicy dark berry fruit nose that reflects moderate secondary development. There is good detail and vibrancy to the middle weight flavors that suffer from a slightly hole on the mid-palate before culminating in a mildly edgy if persistent finish. The edge to which I am referring is not astringent or excessively acidic yet there is clearly an element that is not as well-integrated as it might be. In sum, this is pretty enough but it lacks the concentration it needs to avoid its shortcomings.
agavin: sometimes Allen Meadows is insane. This wine was much better than 88, maybe like 93 (Burg 93).
From my cellar: 2003 Gros Frère et Sœur Grands-Echezeaux. BH 89-92. This too is very toasty but the spicy black fruit nose manages to transcend the wood and complements powerful, dense, borderline massive flavors of superb depth, all wrapped in dusty, firm and ripe tannins. This is a big wine and while it’s no model of elegance, one has to admire the muscle and sheer concentration. This will take its time coming around.
Roasted Duck Crispy Rice. Citrus, dates, turnips.
There was a kind of “jus” that was poured in.
Then it was all mixed up — amazing fried rice. Loved the egg in it too.
Smoked Cabbage. Brown butter, macadamia. We would have sworn that this excellent cabbage dish had bacon in it — but no, it was just the smoked factor — awesome!
Kirk brought: 1999 Cavallotto Barolo Riserva Bricco Boschis Vigna San Giuseppe. VM 95. A powerful, imposing brute, the 1999 Barolo Riserva Bricco Boschis Vigna San Giuseppe blasts across the palate with serious intensity. Next to the Vignolo, the San Giuseppe comes across as lacking finesse, but it is still super-impressive. Melted road tar, smoke, licorice, plums and black cherries race across the palate in a pulsating, tense Barolo that is all about structure. Readers who like virile, imposing Barolos will flip out over the 1999. Today, the only real competition comes from the Vignolo, Cavallotto’s other Riserva.
If you go, you must order this even though it’s very expensive! Whole Plate Short Rib (4-6 people). Smoked bone-in APL-style ribs. Served with beef rice, shiso rice paper, ssämjang & condiments.
The huge chunk of Texas style cow comes out on the cart with the stuff.
Lettuce wraps — yay, no carbs.
Rice paper for those who don’t mind.
Kimchee, pickled daikon, and a spicy Korean paste that is delicious and salty.
The “thin sliced” mode, which was amazingly flavorful. The fattier end cap slices which were to die for tender.
And the knaw on the bone for extra flavor bones.
And some of it goes back into the kitchen and emerges as beef fried rice — crazy good.
Jacob brought: NV Gosset Champagne Grand Rosé Brut.
They always have a shave ice (modernized Korean). This one had various exotic fruits and was light and delicious. Very refreshing.
A banana chocolate pudding. Not bad, even though I hate banana.
This time, no cake cutting fee for my BYOG. The staff loved it too!
Apricot Aperol Sorbetto – This is an old RnR favorite but I haven’t made it a while. Apricots from Avignon — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #sorbetto #apricot #aperol
Noce e Heath Gelato – trying out my new Northern Italian Walnut I decided it needed something else, and something sweet, so Heath bar seemed to fit the bill — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #walnut #noce #HeathBar #heath #toffee
Danish Lakrids Licorice Gelato – I haven’t made this in 2 years and wanted to update the recipe. Polarizing, but surprisingly addictive — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #lakrids licorice #LoveItOrHateIt
and a tiny bit of:
Strawberry Basil Hendrick’s Sorbetto – Strawberry and Hendrick’s Gin Sorbetto laced with Fresh Basil. Strawberries from Avignon — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #sorbetto #strawberry #basil #Hendricks #Gin #cocktail
The wine lineup.
Overall, we had a great time at Majordomo. You do need a decent sized party for the awesome large dishes and you need to preorder. One time, even when we got there at 6:45pm there were only 1 each of the beef and pork left!
The service and wine service were both spectacular. I was really surprised as these loud hipster places often don’t have good wine service but we were really taken care of and this added a lot to the evening. We had a great (large) table in the back corner of the patio and a huge unused table next to it for our gear, wines, etc. They were super attentive. Really unusually good service for this level.
The larger pre-order dishes like the rib and chicken are amazing and insane. Tonight the food seemed even better than the first time, even if we did have a lot of (delicious) carbs. Pastas and the fried rice were amazing too. Really liking everything about Majordomo other than the distance to get there.
Restaurant: 8 BBQ
Location: 863 S Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90005. (213) 365-1750
Date: December 24, 2018 & March 17, 2019
Cuisine: Korean Pork BBQ
Rating: Tasty Stuff
Christmas Eve (and day) are great excuses to go eat Asian food because — l it’s just tradition — and they’re open.
I was sorta hankering for SGV Chinese but Yarom wanted to keep it “local” and head to KTown.
The debate as to which place to grace with our rambunctiousness eventually settled on 8 BBQ — which was good by me because I’d never been and it was on my list.
8 BBQ, which used to have some other name, is a KBBQ place that specializes in pork belly BBQ — specifically 8 different flavored variants!
It was packed (we had to wait a bit) and was equipped with the usual Korean ventilation.
The table was preset with banchan and these interesting looking perched grills — which struct me as a burn/spill waiting to happen.
The banchan parade included spicy pickled bamboo or radish (hard to tell).
Noodle salad.
This awesome spiced cold tofu.
These pickles.
And this incredibly addictive but simple salad — Yarom and I ate two bowls of it ourselves (there was another bowl on the other side of the table and like most banchan it was “infinite refills”).
Pineapple on the grill?
Oh, and these marinated daikon are less for munching but for wrapping meat in.
We ordered combo A to start which included 8 flavors of pork belly, seafood soybean stew, banchan, salad, and mozzarella kimchi fried rice on 12/24/19. On 3/17/19 we ordered combo A and a beef combo.
And they immediately start grilling up an infinite supply of kimchee and spicy bean sprouts.
This is the seafood soybean stew, which was pretty tasty — although it’s always hard to eat those crab claws.
I think some kimchee went in here to “spice it up.”
A different kind of kimchee soup — no seafood.
Here is the 8 ways of pork belly. From left to right: wine, original, black sesame, garlic, herb, curry, miso, and red pepper paste.
They start grilling up the first 4. Look like bacon — I wonder why?
And a bit like fish when half cooked.
Then it gets cut up. The waiter does most of the grilling. Of this set, I probably liked sesame and garlic best. Wine was kinda weird.
The second set starting off.
And done. This whole set was really yummy. Loved curry, miso, and red pepper.
Then we ordered some steak’ums — I mean Prime Beef Brisket.
Grilling. They keep replacing the kimche etc.
Finished beef. Nice, but not a TON of flavor.
Prime Korean Style Boneless Rib.
On the grill. This was meatier with a good steaky flavor.
Marinated Galbi Bulgogi.
On the grill. This was my favorite beef as the marinate gave it a ton of sweet/soy flavor.
A chunk of the beef plate.
Grilling.
The whole rib eye.
Grilling
And cut. Super juicy. Delicious. We ordered 2!
Thick cut pork belly.
Grills up nice and juicy.
Starting our mozzarella kimchi fried rice by throwing some of the already grilled kimchee in the pot.
Then here is the rice, seaweed, greens.
That goes in too.
And the mozzarella on top.
I snapped a picture of it all melted and while it’s hard to see the cheese it was insanely good. I always like kimchee fried rice but the mozzarella really takes it up a bunch of notches.
I convinced people to try this Spicy Buckwheat Noodle and it was also insanely good. The slippery noodles had great texture and there was a good bit of kick and a really nice tangy/spicy vibe to the sauce.
There was some vinegar and Korean mustard in case you wanted to have even more tang and (mustardy) spice.
Here are the noodles all mixed up.
Then we ordered the secret “9th pork belly” the Bulgogi style marinate.
On the grill. This was a great pork too as it had that signature Korean sweet/soy thing going on.
And to finish a steamed egg which was soft and pleasant.
On 12/24/19 I wasn’t drinking this evening and there were only 5 of us be here were the wines:
Piggy!
Overall, I was really impressed with 8 BBQ. The menu isn’t gigantic but it has just enough variety to make a really interesting meal and the food quality and taste was really good. You wouldn’t go every week because there isn’t a ton of variance here, but I’ll certainly be back as it was really delicious. Pretty “low carb” friendly too (except for the fried rice and noodles).
Afterward we wandered out into the cool misty Christmas Eve night in sear of Boba Tea — brining us to the Kung Fu Tea House!
Amusing snacks.
And the usual assortment of bobas and slushies.
A constant stream of old kung fu movies were playing on the TV!
Weird shrimp and squid chips.
And our quintet of teas. I got a passionfruit slush (40% sugar) with a bunch of bobas and jellies. They have a lot of jelly options here. Awesome night!
Restaurant: Hamji Park
Location: 4135 Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90019. (323) 733-8333
Date: July 10, 2018 & December 23, 2021
Cuisine: Korean Pork BBQ
Rating: Great ribs and pork
K-Town adventure time, with LA’s awesome Korean food scene.
Hamji Park has a couple outputs, but we go to the Pico one. The small chain specializes in Pork BBQ Ribs (Korean style, of course) and various other pork products.
The interior is pretty much all K-Town — down to the ceiling hoods.
This is a surprisingly short menu for a Korean place.
Ron brought some of the insanely good: 2006 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne. VM 97. The 2006 Comtes de Champagne is striking, especially in the way it brings together elements of ripeness and freshness in a hypothetical blend of the 2002 and 2004. Smooth and creamy on the palate, the 2006 is all about texture. There is a real feeling of density and weight in the 2006, qualities I expect to see grow with time in the bottle. All the elements fall into place effortlessly. The 2006 has been nothing short of magnificent both times I have tasted it. Comtes de Champagne remains the single best value (in relative terms) in tête de cuvée Champagne. I suggest buying a case and following it over the next 20-30 years, which is exactly what I intend to do. There is little doubt the 2006 Comtes de Champagne is a magical Champagne in the making.
Hamji Park is fairly old school so they have a minimalist array of banchan.
Cabbage with miso dressing.
Broccoli.
Marinated cabbage.
Marinated spicy something? A bit chewy, this was one of my favorites.
Bean sprouts.
Sweet potato.
Chewy fish cakes, always great.
Pickled veggies.
Spicy squid.
Bean sprouts.
Cabbage and chili paste.
Albert brought: 2015 Domaine Tempier Bandol Rosé. VM 93. Pale orange. Lively, expansive citrus pith and red currant aromas are complemented by suggestions of chalky minerals and white flowers. Sappy, concentrated and precise, offering palate-staining red berry and blood orange flavors and a hint of spicy white pepper. Shows excellent thrust and persistence on the mineral-driven finish, which emphatically echoes the floral and citrus fruit qualities. I’m impressed by the way this wine balances the opulence of the vintage with vivacity and I suspect it will reward at least another eight or so years of patience — standard behavior for this bottling, which ages more like a red wine than a pink one.
Stir Fried Octopus with Noodles. This is some great octopus. Nice and tender with a great Korean spicy sauce and sleek rice noodles.
From my cellar: 1990 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste. RP95-96. The 1990 Grand-Puy-Lacoste is a wine that I had not tasted for a number of years. For a long time it was stubborn and tannic, uncommon attributes in what was such a comely vintage. Now at 26 years of age, this bottle served by Xavier Borie suggests that finally the 1990 has come round. Deep in color, it has a gorgeous bouquet of black fruit, potpourri, graphite and melted tar. There is warmth here, but it does not impede upon the articulation of its origins in Pauillac. The palate has clearly melted in recent years, and maintains superb balance and weight. Sure, as Robert Parker himself remarked, it is evolving at a glacial pace—slower than the 1998 tasted alongside. That means its pleasure is going to be prolonged over many, many years.
Ron brought: 1973 Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Bello. JG 94. The 1973 Monte Bello was another wine that I had two bottles of from an auction purchase, and so when the first bottle did not show brilliantly well, I was able to let the second bottle rest and additional nine months, which seemed to settle the wine back down nicely. The second bottle was a glorious example of Monte Bello that very much showed the more “Graves-like” personality of this wine in many vintages, as it offers up a superb, “cool” fruit-toned bouquet of cassis, leather, cigar ash, a hint of eucalyptus and petroleum jelly, and a complex base of gravelly soil tones. On the palate the wine is fullish, deep and very complex, with beautiful focus, fine mid-palate depth and a very refined, poised and meltingly tannic finish of great length and dimension. The ’73 Monte Bello has retained excellent acidity (perhaps due to it only weighing in at 12.8% alcohol), which has kept the wine fresh, vibrant and showing great grip on the backend. A very finesseful and elegant vintage of Monte Bello, which is not short on either depth or power.
Pork Spare Ribs. A bit sweet and sour, tons and tons of porky meat. Really great ribs.
Beef ribs (bulgolgi).
From my cellar: 1995 Robert Ampeau & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. 94 points. Opulent but balanced, dignified without slathered oak or exagerrated maloloactic fermentation. Good show.
Salad. Nice acidic dressing, and really good.
Ron brought (but we didn’t open): 1990 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. JG92+. The 1990 Château Beaucastel is a lovely wine and is just about ready for primetime drinking, but will continue to improve over the coming five or six years and then cruise along for decades from that point forward. The bouquet offers up a fine blend of dried raspberries and red currants, roasted game, incipient autumnal tones (fallen leaves) and a potpourri of spice tones in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and a touch leathery in personality, with a good core, melting tannins and fine length and grip on the complex finish. Having had the good fortune to drink several older vintages of Beaucastel at peak maturity, my gut instinct with the 1990 would be to let it rest in the cellar for just a few more years and allow the last layer of aromatic complexity to emerge here, though it must be said that the wine is really lovely on the palate right now.
Albert brought: 1995 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. 93 points. Lovely, complex farmyard, truffles, undergrowth, ripe damson fruit mellow leather and spices. Beautiful wine drunk with five spice duck fried rice and was perfect.
Pork Neck Stew with Potato. This was the surprise of the evening for me. Super delicious Korean stew. Rich savory broth, succulent pork meat, hefty potato. Just all good if not much of a looker. 3 or so times they “added broth” to it too which rejuvenated the whole dish. This could feed a family of 4!
Erick brought: 2004 Bond Vecina. VM 95. A very pretty and expressive Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2004 Vecina is also the first wine in this tasting that shows some degree of aromatic development. Even so, the 2004 is huge on the palate, with a bold, exotic expression of very ripe fruit. Scorched earth, smoke, tobacco and leather give the wine its distinctive, brooding personality. This is impressive stuff.
Yarom brought: 1998 Schrader Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Upper Block Gaudeamus Vineyard. 94 points. Have always loved this wine…and have purchased and drunk my fair share of it. Lot of people panned it, so that’s why I was able to buy a bunch at crazy good prices over the last 10yrs! Well, last bottle I had was 6 yrs ago, which was another great bottle, but starting to show some age and sourness. In my best Mark Twain voice….”The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” THIS bottle tonight is spectacular! Starts off with a little funky barnyard brett, the good kind! Dark silky berry fruits…perfectly ripe and liqueured…with the slightest green streak of tobacco, sage and herbs, which I find fascinating in this wine…like you would Heitz Martha’s. Full bodied and rich with mocha oak barrel, cedar spice, cocoa powder…but NOT over the top sweet like you see in most Cabs now. Youthful, plush full mouth feel, complexities all over the map….and plenty left in the tank. I’ve only had a couple Schrader Cabs other than this one…but I can say that this 98 is still my fav!
Seb brought: 2014 Schrader Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon LPV Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard. RP 99. The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon LPV is from clone 337 from the Las Piedras Vineyard in St. Helena. This shows Mission Haut-Brion-like characteristics as it has in the past, with crushed rock, wet gravel, scorched earth, blackberry and blueberry fruit. It is clearly one of my favorites of this entire tasting. It has 14.5% natural alcohol and was aged in 90% new Darnajou and 10% new Taransaud barrels. This is a killer effort.
The pork cooker — actually used (by us) for beef.
Marinated Beef Sirloin.
Very tough, not too much flavor. Actually the only disappointing dish of the night.
Pork belly.
Pork belly cooking.
Bacon. Yes, it’s actually slightly different than the pork belly.
Spicy Soup.
This was great fun. Good food, particularly the ribs, neck soup, and octopus. The wines were awesome too and we brought both too many and way overkill stuff for KBBQ — but that’s how we roll!
Restaurant: Majordomo
Location: 1725 Naud St, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (323) 545-4880
Date: May 16, 2018
Cuisine: Korean Fusion
Rating: Big dishes amazing
It’s with gigantic expectation that NY restaurateur David Chang opens his first LA outpost.
Looking on the map, I was pretty skeptical of the weird between Chinatown and Dodger’s Stadium location — a totally annoying spot for me to get to during traffic!
The area is extremely warehousey, much like the “Arts District” but even newer.
The have a sort of hipster city built down here out of old warehouses.
With lots of bespoke graffiti.
And Majordomo, of course.
Which has a pretty big enclosed and outside space.
As you can see.
Inside is one of those cavernous loud warehouse spaces.
High naked ceilings. Don’t come here when it’s raining! They also have the currently hip bathroom setup with the coed shared sinks exposed out in the main room. Not my thing. What if you want to clean up in private?
The menu.
As always, Fred wanted to go all out so this is our modest wine lineup for 4.
Fred brought: 2010 Coche-Dury Puligny-Montrachet Les Enseignères. VM 92+. Reticent, pure aromas of white peach, hazelnut and minerals. Densely packed and urgent but youthfully tight, showing outstanding intensity and energy for village wine. The resounding, palate-staining finish displays outstanding structure and life. From a tiny crop, this almost painfully young wine should benefit from seven or eight years in the cellar.
agavin: I never understand how the pro reviewers will give a wine like this, which just sings, a lower score than some random Chablis.
There is a Korean fusion amuse cart.
Serving pickles.
Kombu Cured Diver Scallop, Pink Lady apple dashi. Very sweet.
Bing is this Korean bread thing. Pretty much like a thick crepe or pita bread. They have various “toppings” you can get with the bing.
Benton’s reserve ham bing. Put the ham on the pita.
Eggs & Smoked Roe bing. This was pretty excellent. You mash it up a bit to get the roe, egg, chips etc on the bing. I put the ham on at the same time for max effect and it was very good.
Marinated Mushroom, pistachio, radish, pea tendrils. Awesome mushroom dish. Nice flavors and textures. Good fiber too.
Special Foodie Club guest Andrew enjoys his wine.
Erick brought: 1999 Château Latour Grand Vin. Parker 93-95. A terrific effort, this sexy, open-knit, opulent effort possesses plenty of tannin, but it is largely concealed by the wine’s wealth of fruit, high extraction level, and noticeable glycerin as well as unctuosity. Dense ruby/purple-colored, with a sweet, evolved nose of black fruits (cassis, leather, and blackberries), cedar, spice box, and liquid minerals, this powerful yet seamless Latour will be surprisingly accessible at an unusually young age. Long and full-bodied, with the acidity, tannin, alcohol, and wood all beautifully integrated, it will be at its finest between 2007-2030. A classic!
Andrew brought: 2003 Haut-Brion. Parker 95. Clearly the best wine made in the Haut-Brion stable in 2003 (the last vintage of the great Jean-Bernard Delmas as administrator), the 2003 Haut-Brion is a blend of 58% Merlot, 31% Cabernet Sauvignon and 11% Cabernet Franc that hit 13% natural alcohol, which seemed high at the time, but given more recent vintages is modest. Dark ruby/plum in color, with no amber or orange at the edge, the wine exhibits an abundance of roasted herbs, hot rocks, black currants, plum, and balsamic notes. Quite rich, medium to full-bodied and more complete, with sweeter tannins than La Mission Haut-Brion, this full-bodied Haut-Brion has hit full maturity, where it should stay for at least a decade. Bravo!
If you go, you must order this even though it’s $190! Whole Plate Short Rib (4-6 people). Smoked bone-in APL-style ribs. Served with beef rice, shiso rice paper, ssämjang & condiments.
The huge chunk of Texas style cow comes out on the cart with the stuff.
They carve it up into various modalities.
The “thin sliced” mode, which was amazingly flavorful.
The fattier end cap slices which were to die for tender.
And the knaw on the bone for extra flavor bones.
And some of it goes back into the kitchen and emerges as beef fried rice — crazy good.
From my cellar: 1999 Gros Frère et Sœur Richebourg. 95 points. Bright, deep ruby-red. Complex nose melds violet, bitter chocolate, earth, meat and a hint of medicinal austerity. Dense, rich and thick; a wine of compelling richness and sweetness, but also solidly structured despite its accessibility today. Finishes with lush but firm tannins and exhilarating notes of cassis and violet. Lovely pinot noir.
We also pre ordered Boiled Whole Chicken (2-3 people) rice, morels, hand torn noodles. This amazing dish has apparently changed and no longer has the fabulous noodles.
This was some absolutely first rate chicken. Pretty much Hainan chicken with the spice already rubbed on, much more Chinese than anything else.
The hand torn noodle soup was like some of the best (Chinese) mushroom noodle soup you’ll ever (not) have (as they discontinued it :-().
The dessert menu. I didn’t have the guts to BYOG (Bring Your Own Gelato) on our first trip to Majordomo.
Strawberry Trifle. Buttermilk panna cotta, chiffon cake.
Horchata Kakigori. Coffee, riche, dulce de leche. This was basically a good shaved ice.
Overall, we had a great time at Majordomo. They have some annoyances, like the custom website reservations a month or so ahead of time that book up instantly. We ignored those and scored a late (9pm ish) reservation 2 days out. I don’t do that long advance planning thing.
The service and wine service were both spectacular. I was really surprised as these loud hipster places often don’t have good wine service but we were really taken care of and this added a lot to the evening.
The larger pre-order dishes like the rib and chicken were amazing and insane. The other dishes were good but not as memorable. But I’d totally go back for either ribs or chicken, and I hope they keep mixing up the menu too.
Restaurant: Odys + Penelope
Location:127 S La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036. (323) 939-1033
Date: December 8, 2016
Cuisine: churrasco or asador?
Rating: Nice smoky flavors
Odys + Penelope has been on my list for over a year.
Located on La Brea, it’s not far from Republique and the like.
The interior has a great build out. Old brick walls, steel, wood, and this huge kitchen structure in the middle.
Odys + Penelope describes itself as a churrasco and grill (which is more or less what churrasco means). It’s certainly a grill, but also doesn’t really feel that South American to me. Anyway, they have a ton of wood fired stuff.
Here is some of the dancing flame — and a big smoker.
The menu.
Adam brought: 2006 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. VM 93+. Bright yellow with a green tinge. Cool aromas of crushed stone, citrus peel and white flowers. Dense, sweet and minerally, but quite youthfully closed and strict today, showing none of the honeyed character of the 2006 vintage. In fact, this broad, rich wine boasts terrific verve and finishes with palate-staining citrus and stone flavors. This is 13% natural alcohol with four grams per liter of acidity. It will be fascinating to compare this and the more austere 2005 a decade or so down the road.
Fried wild mushrooms, Persian garlic sauce. Nice fry.
Smoked lamb lettuce cups, green hummus, pickled onions, yogurt, mint. Savory.
Ginger chicken sausage, fresno chili-apple jam. Very soft, sweet sausage.
Grilled acorn squash salad, creamy parmesan slaw, pepitas. Very light, white and cheesy.
Bacon wrapped chicken thigh, lemon date sauce. This was one of the least successful dishes for me.
Smoked + grilled Mary’s chicken. Awesome for BBQ chicken, particularly given that it was minimal on the sauce. Super moist and tons of flavor.
Dry rubbed rotisserie pork, cherry mostarda, fingerling potatoes in grainy mustard butter, apple salad. AKA porcetta. Melt in your mouth perfect smoky pork belly. Wow!
Maple rosemary glazed beef ribs. Dish of the night. The fat was so integrated through the entire body of the meat, like Wagyu or as if they had massaged it — and the smoky deep flavor. This was some serious rib.
Charred broccolini salad, roasted beet hummus, hazelnut dukkah.
Creamy cauliflower + millet, walnut pesto. Another stand out. Hard to believe it was cauliflower. In combination with the beef this was like osso bucco over polenta.
From their list: 2006 Cecile Tremblay Echezeaux. BH 91. The best wine in the range, which is not completely a surprise given how many excellent to genuinely superb examples of Echézeaux were produced in 2006. A pretty red berry fruit that is highly spiced with hints of animale, mocha, plum and warm earth, all of which can be found on the rich, full and dense flavors that display chocolate and dry port nuances while finishing with a mouth coating, powerful and seductively sappy finish. I noted last year that this lacked a bit of freshness but that is not the case from bottle as there is actually good vibrancy present.
agavin: mature for it’s age. Very junior producer, but drinking nicely now.
The pastry menu.
Gingerbread copetta, mascarpone mousse, ginger-beer granita, butterscotch ice cream.
Warm caramel cake, poached pear, almond toffee, vanilla-almond ice milk.
Chocolate rye pie, peanut crumble, vanilla malted ice cream.
Overall, this was a great meal at Odys (my one and only so far) and I really enjoyed it for it’s unique “grill style”. Sort of like a BBQ crossed with a small plates place. Very old school and very modern at the same time. It bills itself as a churrasco, and there are certainly South American flavors here, but they don’t predominate. Certainly when I was last in South America (some time ago) the places were much more limited and old fashioned, not so far off from Fogo. Odys reminds me more of a Basque Asador — where all sorts of things are grilled up.
Doesn’t really matter because it’s good — as long as you like the taste of fire!
Restaurant: Yazawa
Location: 9669 S Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 275-2914
Date: July 12, 2016 & April 25, 2019
Cuisine: Wagyu Yakiniku
Rating: Like eating silk and gold
Totoraku, the ultimate Japanese Korean BBQ place evidently has a new challenger in town.
Yazawa is branch of a Japanese restaurant spun out from a super high end butcher. They serve up a variety of Yakiniku (Japanese take on KBBQ) done primarily with genuine A-5 Black Wagyu cows from Japan. The frontage is located on tony Little Santa Monica deep in Beverly Hills.
The interior soars upward with high ceilings, but doesn’t offer very many tables.
In fact, they all conform to this standard fairly small 4 top configuration.
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The menu, which takes a bit of time to explain the cow.
For wine tonight, as there were four of us, and the corkage steps up after 4 bottles, we just opened one each — but they were good ones:
Larry brought: 1996 Lynch Bages. Parker 90-93. The 1996 exhibits a dark plum/ruby/purple color that is just beginning to lighten at the edge, surprisingly velvety tannins and a classic Pauillac bouquet of lead pencil shavings, cedarwood, black currants, sweet cherries and spice box. This medium to full-bodied, elegant, savory, broad wine is still five years away from full maturity. It should continue to drink well for another 10-15 years.
From my cellar: 1996 Mouton-Rothschild. Parker 94-96. This estate’s staff believes that the 1996 Mouton-Rothschild is very complex. I agree that among the first-growths, this wine is showing surprising forwardness and complexity in its aromatics. It possesses an exuberant, flamboyant bouquet of roasted coffee, cassis, smoky oak, and soy sauce. The impressive 1996 Mouton-Rothschild offers impressive aromas of black currants, framboise, coffee, and new saddle leather. This full-bodied, ripe, rich, concentrated, superbly balanced wine is paradoxical in the sense that the aromatics suggest a far more evolved wine than the flavors reveal. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2030. By the way, the 1996 blend consists of 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, and 8% Cabernet Franc.
Erick brought: 1989 Mouton-Rothschild. Parker 90-92. 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.
Walker brought: 1989 Penfolds Grange. Parker 93. A very hedonistic, almost decadent style of Grange, this blend of 91% Shiraz and 9% Cabernet Sauvignon from three grape sources – Kalimna in the Barossa, Penfolds’ other sources in the Barossa, and McLaren Vale – is a gorgeously opulent, almost Pomerol-like Grange with an over-ripe characteristic to the fruit. Cherry liqueur intermixed with cranberry and cassis presented in a seductive, full-bodied, very soft, forward style is truly not the classic Grange in the sense of having huge structure and massive concentration, but this wine is loaded, very corpulent, and fleshy. The wine is going to last for up to two decades, but it will be uncommonly succulent and delicious to drink young, as it was several months ago. Among the young vintages of Grange, this is perhaps the most flattering wine that they have produced over the last 20 years, at least for such a relatively young wine. Anticipated maturity: now-2018.
Wagyu toro sushi. This is raw beef nigiri style. And because of the vinegared sushi rice it pretty much tasted like toro!
After the above ala carte item, we ordered the $200 a person “level 4” Omakase, then followed with some more ala carte in the form of carbs.
Trio of wagyu apps.
Tataki “Ponzu Sauce.” Thin sliced seared wagyu with onion slice. Tender little beef bits.
Wagyu Bresola. Dry aged and salted. With the truffle salt this was bright, salty, and had a bit of an “Italian” flavor.
Uni Wagyu Tartar / Truffles. Raw wagyu topped with uni and truffle.
Mix this puppy up and the uni stands in the same way that the raw egg usually would. Certainly a rich little concoction.
In April of 2019, the trio was slightly different.
Wagyu on a toast.
The tartare with uni, pretty much the same as before.
And Wagyu short rib with polenta.
Yazawa Garden Salad (4/26/19). Red Lettuce, Sweet Snap Pea, Bell Peppers, Broccoli and Yazawa dressing. This was a nice salad, probably mostly because of the zesty Japanese dressing.
Meat plate 1. And so begin the cuts of wagyu, ready to grill up. There is one piece each, served in pairs with a light sweet sauce, a “bbq” sauce that is pretty standard for yakaniku (slightly sweet soy), and a egg sauce (more on that later).
First up is the Ranboso (round) from the cow’s rump.
This is then cooked (very fast, just seconds a side) on the very smooth gas BBQ.
Flipped about 4-5 seconds later — then another 4 seconds then into the sauce. So soft and tender!
Next cut is the Jyo-Kalbi (chuckeye/rib eye). Notice how the fat runs in a different direction. A little more beefy and intense. Some really great beef.
Out comes this whipped egg/milk sweet sauce.
And Yazawa’s signature cut, the Yazawa-yaki! It’s a super thin cut sirloin, marinated.
The staff are required to cook this one (other cuts you can do it, or they can). The cutis so thin that we would probably just turn it into beef scraps.
It is then rolled and dropped into the egg sauce. Pretty amazing, with a sukiyaki-like flavor and tons of rich beefiness.
Plate 3.
Maki-loin (rib eye). A very evenly marbled cut.
Nakaniku (rump). This is down below the tail, sort of cow ass. Look at that fat striping! And cooked it was ridiculously soft and unctuous. I actually preferred the leaner cuts.
Plate 4.
Misuji (brisket). Not like Mom’s BBQ brisket!
Zabujan (chuck eye). Up under the shoulders with a heavy diagonal marbling. Nice and tender and a bit more beefy.
Then another signature cut, the Chateau Briand (center cut filet).
Look at that candy-striping.
And from the front.
On the grill. This was one incredible piece of “steak.”
We placed an ala carte order of tongue too.
On the grill. Good stuff, but this cut wasn’t super different than other good tongue I’ve had.
After all that meat we decided to “fill up” on some carb dishes.
Japanese Wagyu curry rice. Minced Japanese wagyu curry rice with an egg. This was certainly the best curry rice I’ve had — and I love curry rice. The egg upped the richness but it was the depth of flavor of the curry itself that won out. I just missed the red pickles.
Uni Gyu Toro Don Bowl. Minced raw Japanese Wagyu on rice with uni and pickles.
A very interesting umami taste. Great stuff.
Yazawa special rice. Umami rice topped with ginger and Japanese Wagyu, served in a very hot clay pot.
They mix it up for us.
This is a teapot filled with dashi and some wasabi.
Tons of garlic in there. Optionally, you pour some dashi in to up the umami factor. Pretty incredible like that.
Cold Tan Tan Noodle. Sesame and chile ramen. Since I’m such a dan dan fiend, I figured I’d try this. Not like Chinese dan dan at al. Pleasant enough, with a touch of heat and a cool sesame vibe, but not the hot nutty intensity I was looking for. Still, that would have been weird.
White chocolate semi-freddo with berries. My favorite, light and fluffy and delicious.
Macha green tea ice cream with crunchies.
Almond panna cotta.
Special tea at the end.
The service at Yazawa was absolutely first rate. Not only did they explain the menu in detail, and cook some of the meat (they will cook however much or little as you like), but they were highly attentive, changing out the grill after every course and the like. Colin, who helped us, was highly knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and like a wagyu evangelist.
The food itself was uniformly excellent. All the meat was super fresh and “clean” (if super rich as well). The taste was lovely, although different, richer, and less beefy than Totoraku. Is it better? Just different, as this is just such a different type of meat. Both are fabulous.
The atmosphere was nice, but the format is a bit rigid with their fixed 4 person tables. And those tables don’t have much extra space at that. I had to keep my wines on a seat, my camera between me and the next guy, and constantly juggle around my (only) two wine glasses and other stuff. They need larger tables for our kinds of groups and they need MUCH larger tables with multiple grills for parties larger than 4. It’s also a general restaurant, and therefore doesn’t offer the “taking over the house” factor that is one of Totoraku’s many charms.
The wine thing at Yazawa is weird. There are nice beers and sake, but the red wine selection is tiny. Not too great too. And oddly, looking around, we saw only one other table with any red wine at all — and just one glass! Most of the tables were Asian women, which is a bit odd for such a meat focused place. This combines with a very rigid corkage policy. Thankfully they don’t limit the number of bottles brought in, but they have an escalating corkage of $35/$35/$50/$50/$70/$80 and then maybe even more. I’m not one of those that argues for no corkage at fine restaurants. The $35×2/$50 would be steep but fine, but going above $50 is always insulting. And to boot, they don’t have anything on their list! A $50 corkage is a flat $50 of profit to the restaurant. It’s way more lucrative than any wine on the list under a $100. Why complain? Why try to massage the system to irritate or exclude “wine guys”? It just doesn’t make sense. And for a restaurant that specializes in high end meat? What better excuse to drink first growths and the like?
Overall, Yazawa was so tasty that I’d certainly go back. It’s expensive but way more repeatable than the high end tempura. But we are limited to 4 people by the tables and the wine rules, so it only fits certain circumstances.
Restaurant: Totoraku [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
Location: 10610 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064.
Date: May 18, 2016
Cuisine: Japanese Yakiniku
Rating: Best beef in town!
About twice a year my Hedonist group makes a regular pilgrimage to Totoraku, LA’s “secret beef” restaurant. Toto (as its affectionately known) serves a refined version of Japanese Yakiniku, which is Beef BBQ originally from Korea but filtered through Japanese sensibility.
We often oscillate between 30 person mega dinners — quite the madness — and more intimate 10-15 person affairs. This was the later, with 12 drinkers, and I much prefer this size. You can talk to everyone, bottles go all the way around, and the quality of the wines is generally more consistently higher.
The outside is basically a shell. The “Teriyaki House” has nothing to do with the food within, and the phone number is incorrect. The place is like a beef speakeasy!
The interior is a tad “minimalist.”
Here, chef Kaz Oyama, himself a part time Hedonist, sharpens his knives. Uh oh!
Stewart brought bonus: 1996 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut La Grande Dame. VM 95+. Deep, highly complex aromas of citrus skin, nutmeg, porcini mushroom, toasted almond and clove. Rich, dry and impressively deep; superconcentrated and oily. A chewy, spicy Champagne that seemed to grow fresher as it opened in the glass. Really explosive on the aftertaste, finishing with a clinging quality and powerful spicy, nutty flavors. A major mouthful of Champagne, at its best at the dinner table. Displays the combination of high ripeness and high acidity of this vintage at its best. This thick, rich, very powerful wine is still a bit youthfully disorganized and will be even better for a few years of additional aging. One of the standouts of my recent tastings.
The appetizer plate. Lots of yummy little tidbits.
Scallops and/or clam bits.
Sesame tofu with pea.
Kirk brought bonus: 2004 Marcassin Chardonnay Marcassin Vineyard. VM 97. Pale yellow-green. Knockout nose combines stone fruits, minerals, fresh herbs, honey, flowers, grilled nuts and earth. Round and lush yet racy and light on its feet, with compelling flavors of pineapple, grapefruit and crushed stone. A huge but classy wine with considerable finesse. Wonderfully rich yet subtle on the back end, where it stains the palate with fruits, minerals and soil tones.
Some seared and marinated fish on seaweed.
Salmon wrapped in daikon, stuffed with avocado and other vegetables. On the right Egg with pear, potato, and some kind of crisp.
Shrimp with caviar.
I brought as bonus: 1993 Georges Noellat Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts. 91 points. A bit tart at first, but some air helped the flavors flesh out a bit. Earthy, meaty, spicy, and floral, this had all the components of great Burgundy. The flavors seemed to be a bit muted, though, so the wine had a dulled sense to it…the intensity wasn’t there I guess. Certainly improved with more air, but I’ve had better bottles of this.
Foie gras, some kind of fruit. On the right a vegetable jelly.
Uni risotto balls.
Larry brought: 1998 Château Mouton Rothschild. Parker 89-96. Like many of its peers, the 1998 has filled out spectacularly. Now in the bottle, this opaque black/purple-colored offering has increased in stature, richness, and size. A blend of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, and 2% Cabernet Franc (57% of the production was utilized), it is an extremely powerful, super-concentrated wine offering notes of roasted espresso, creme de cassis, smoke, new saddle leather, graphite, and licorice. It is massive, with awesome concentration, mouth-searing tannin levels, and a saturated flavor profile that grips the mouth with considerable intensity. This is a 50-year Mouton, but patience will be required as it will not be close to drinkability for at least a decade. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2050.
Danny brought: 1999 Mouton-Rothschild. Parker 93-94. Made in a soft style, many readers will prefer this “friendlier” blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot, and 4% Cabernet Franc. A very sexy Mouton, it exhibits a dense ruby/purple color, sweet cassis fruit, coffee, and smoke. Long and lush, with low acidity, ripe tannin, and medium to full body, it should be reasonably approachable upon release, yet evolve nicely for 20-25 years.
Beef carpaccio with special salt, flowers, and some onion family derivative. Very yummy. This is eaten raw.
Two kinds of beef sashimi, eaten nearly raw. From the same cow! On the left beef tataki (rib eye) and on the right (in the cup) beef throat sashimi. Also on the plate is a bit of Korean style hot sauce (the red stuff), some intensely strong garlic (yum) and micro julienned ginger.
The throat was very chewy, more about texture. The rib eye soft and more flavorful. All went well with the garlic and ginger — I particularly liked the garlic.
A raw beef dish. Marinated raw beef is seen here with ginger, raw egg, cucumber, daikon, pine nuts, and something orange. Apparently, this is a Korean dish called Yukhoe. Actually, I’ve had it at Korean places, but in any case it’s delicious.
The elements are mixed together and then eaten. It’s hard to describe why it’s so good, but it is, with a very complex flavor and texture interplay.
The tabletop grill we cook the rest of the dishes on.
Stewart brought: 1983 L’Evangile. Parker 88-91. A gorgeous bouquet of black-raspberries, minerals, spices, and cedar is an immediate turn-on. The deep ruby color is followed by medium-bodied, beautifully concentrated, well-focused flavors. The exotic side of l’Evangile so noticeable in its top vintages comes across in this plummy, rich, viscous, medium to full-bodied, fleshy wine. More tannin was evident in this tasting than in the past, which makes me think the wine might be starting to display more structure. One of the best right bank wines of the vintage, it should be drunk over the next 12-15 years.
Larry brought: 1989 Palmer. Parker 96. Deep garnet-brick. Dark chocolate covered cherries, espresso, cinnamon, rose petals, tree bark and loam. Medium to full body with layers of concentrated fruit and spice flavours supported by crisp acidity and a medium+ level of fine tannins. Very long finish.
agavin: most of us thought this was Wine of the Night!
Beef tongue with salt. After cooking, you dip it in lemon juice.
Do put your tongue on the grill!
Filet Mignon with bell peppers, onions, and sisho pepper.
Filet on the grill.
The “salad.” Cucumbers, carrots, daikon. The vegetables do help to move along the fat and protein heavy meat.
They are served with this spicy sweet miso dip.
Momotaro tomatoes with a vinaigrette. These are supposedly incredibly good tomatoes, as a hater, I didn’t try them. I think Oyama-san gets them from some special place in Orange Country.
From my cellar: 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: also stunning
1989 Guigal Cote Rotie la Turque. Parker 99-100. The precocious, sweet, jammy 1989 La Turque’s smoky, licorice, and black-raspberry aromas, as well as its phenomenal richness, make for another extraordinary tasting experience. Full-bodied, dense, and thick, this wine possesses the essence of black cherries. Still youthful, it is already gorgeous to drink. Anticipated maturity: now-2012.
agavin: another amazing wine
Outside rib eye with special salt and garlic. After being flipped, green onion is added.
Inside rib eye.
Looking serious about the meat!
You have to special order the lamb, which like all of Kaz’s meats, is pretty wonderful.
On the grill. One hell of a chop.
Ron brought: 1981 Penfolds Grange. Parker 97. The 1981 stood out as slightly superior. Winemaker John Duval always felt this was a tannic style of Grange, but the wine has shed its tannins, and this is one of the few vintages where the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon was above 10%. Sweet notes of creme de cassis, cedarwood, charcoal, and barbecue spices are followed by a full-bodied, opulent wine displaying heady amounts of alcohol, glycerin, and density in its full-bodied, skyscraper-like texture. I was drinking this wine with great pleasure in the mid-nineties, yet here it is nearly 15 years later, and the wine does not appear to have budged much from its evolutionary state. This is a testament to how remarkably well these wines hold up, and age at such a glacial pace.
Yarom brought: 1997 Penfolds Grange. Parker 94. The 1997 Grange (a blend of 96% Shiraz and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon) looks to be a classic Grange, although slightly softer and more forward than the backward 1996. The saturated purple-colored 1997 offers a gorgeously sweet nose of blackberry liqueur, cherries, camphor, chocolate, plums, and mocha. The wine is opulently-textured, extremely soft, layered, and seductive, with Grange’s tell-tale personality well-displayed, but in a seamless, seductive style. This is a superb Grange that can hold its own against the more heralded 1996.
A kind of short rib.
On the grill.
Light it up!
Ilana & Ron brought: 1999 Latour. Parker 93-95. Deep garnet colored with a touch of brick, the nose offers notes of cassis, tobacco leaf and tar with hints of tree bark and earth. The palate is taut and savory / minerally with very firm chewy tannins somewhat dominating the restrained fruit at this stage.
Some other kind of short rib.
Cooking.
Arnie brought: 2002 Paul Hobbs Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard. Parker 100! One of the greatest young Cabernet Sauvignons I have ever tasted is the 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard (which I also rated 100 when it was first bottled). This wine has hardly changed since its release. Still incredibly youthful, it reveals a blue/black color along with notes of black currants, camphor, graphite, high quality unsmoked cigar tobacco, blackberries and a touch of oak. Full-bodied and multilayered with terrific texture and richness as well as a 60-second finish, this young, exuberant, slightly flamboyant classic offers an interesting contrast in style with other top producers (such as Schrader Cellars) that also farm parcels of the Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard. Like most young Cabernets, this wine can be drunk now because of the sweetness of its tannins, but it is a good decade away from full maturity. It should last until 2040-2050. Bravo!
Mark brought: 2007 Kapcsandy Family Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Grand Vin State Lane Vineyard. Parker 100! Absolutely riveting, and even better than I predicted last year is the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon – Grand Vin State Lane Vineyard. Made from 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, and the rest tiny dollops of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot (400 cases produced), in two weeks of tastings, this wine stood out as one of those singular efforts that it is impossible to get out of your mind and off of your palate. A flawless, seamless, profound example of Napa Cabernet, it exhibits an opaque purple color along with a gorgeous perfume of lead pencil shavings, cedar, creme de cassis, ink, flowers, and espresso roast. With phenomenal depth, a multidimensional personality, unbelievable length, and an impeccable integration of all its component parts, this stunning wine lasts and lasts, with a finish approaching a full minute. Give this profound wine 3-5 years of cellaring, and drink it over the following 25-30 years.
A new one tonight, house special pork.
Cooked very well. Super super tasty.
Toto veterans
Stewart brought: 1964 Miguel Torres Cabernet Sauvignon Penedès Gran Coronas Reserva. 89 points. In quite good shape for its age.
Skirt steak.
Phil brought: 1928 Izidro Gonsalves Madeira. Pretty yummy!
Mark brought bonus. 1990 Graham Porto Centenary Malvedos. 90 points. Very good port. Lot’s of dark fruit and some chocolate flavours at the end. Very hot.
Toto serves homemade ice creams and sorbets as dessert. So chaotic was this giant night that they brought out all five flavors on each plate and just placed them about the tables. I like the ice creams better than the sorbets here. The white chocolate was fantastic. Still, it’s all great. So great we ordered 3 plates for 4 of us!
1990 Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey. VM 93. Wonderfully complex, quintessential Sauternes aromas of apricot, smoke, truffle, game and licorice. Thick and mouthfilling, but kept fresh by strong, harmonious acidity. Conveys a tactile, layered texture and strong noble rot character. Really lovely balance. Finishes with powerful fruit and great persistence. Stunning wine.
Mark brought bonus this cognac — in tiny little airplane bottles! 🙂
This place is all about the beef, which is arguably some of the best I’ve ever had. Certainly the best yakiniku/Korean BBQ I’ve ever had. There is a perfect tenderness to every cut that’s fairly transcendant. I’m not even that much of a steak fan — but I’d take this stuff any time over even a spectacular cut from Mastros or Cut. The food here does not vary much from visit to visit. There is no menu. The quality however is utterly consistant. So while it isn’t an everyday sort of dining experience, perhaps once every 6-9 months, I love to return for my fix.
This evening was quite awesome. We had a smaller party (12). Thus every wine easily made it all the way around. Additionally, everyone really stepped up and we had some pretty epic grapes. Every wine was drinking well and some were just total stunners!
More crazy Hedonist adventures or
First time at Toto can be A LOT to take in!
Restaurant: Park’s Finest BBQ
Location: 1267 W Temple St, Los Angeles, CA 90026. (213) 481-2800
Date: October 13, 2015
Cuisine: Filipino BBQ
Rating: Rich & tasty
Park’s Finest BBQ is a sort of Filipino / American BBQ hybrid located over in the North corner of Downtown.
The location isn’t much to look at, nor is the back of the building which literally abuts on the 101 freeway!
The menu.
Elote. Corn off the cob served with mayo, freshly grated parmesean cheese, topped with cayenne pepper. Delicious stuff. The cheese knocked up the corn.
Ann’s Cornbread Bibingka. A special take on cornbread – cornmeal is combined with rice flour, baked on a banana leaf bringing elements of a traditional filipino dessert. Wow was this tasty! Like cornbread with a bit of a sugar glaze.
Mt. Taal chicken. seasoned and smoke-roasted chicken. Pretty straight up.
Beef tri tip. tender season-crusted sirloin beef, cut deli thin and paired with home made horseradish sauce. Good, and lean as it goes for today’s fare.
Mt. Mayon hot link medley. smoked, sliced spicy sausages with sweet filipino longanisa. Awesomely tender, flavorful, and fatty.
Mt. Malindang pork ribs & riblets. seasoned, slow-smoked st. louis pork ribs and rib tips. Rich, fatty, and very smoky tasting.
Mama Leah’s coconut beef. smoked chuck roll, cubed, and stewed in a coconut cream. Awesome creamy beef — a must over rice.
Steamed white rice. a warm bowl of long grain jasmine rice.
Coconut banana leaf flan. Incredibly soft, rich, and delicious flan.
This wasn’t light fare by any means, but it sure was tasty. Definitely some of the most flavorful BBQ I’ve had in LA.
Restaurant: Totoraku [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]
Location: 10610 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064.
Date: October 14, 2015
Cuisine: Japanese Yakiniku
Rating: Best beef in town!
About twice a year my Hedonist group makes a regular pilgrimage to Totoraku, LA’s “secret beef” restaurant. Toto (as its affectionately known) serves a refined version of Japanese Yakiniku, which is Beef BBQ originally from Korea but filtered through Japanese sensibility.
We often oscillate between 30 person mega dinners — quite the madness — and more intimate 10-15 person affairs. This was the later, with about 10-12 drinkers, and I much prefer this size. You can talk to everyone, bottles go all the way around, and the quality of the wines is generally more consistently higher.
The outside is basically a shell. The “Teriyaki House” has nothing to do with the food within, and the phone number is incorrect. The place is like a beef speakeasy!
The interior is a tad “minimalist.”
Here, chef Kaz Oyama, himself a part time Hedonist, sharpens his knives. Uh oh!
Bonus from my cellar: NV Vilmart & Cie Champagne Grand Cellier Brut. VM 92. Lemon peel, white flowers, mint, crushed rocks and almonds are some of the notes that meld together in the NV Cuvée Grand Cellier. The flavors are brisk, nuanced and pure in this refreshing, saline-inflected Champagne. Chardonnay plays the leading role in the Grand Cellier, and that comes through in the bright flavor profile. This release is 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir, 50% vintage 2010 and 25% each 2011 and 2012.
The appetizer plate. Lots of yummy little tidbits.
Uni risotto balls.
Salmon wrapped in daikon, stuffed with avocado and other vegetables.
A very soft gelatinous thing that probably had some crab in it, certainly veggies.
Fish with tomatoes.
2005 Aubert Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard. VM 95. It’s interesting to taste the 2005 Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard next to the Lauren. Here the flavors are quite a bit more mineral-driven, with plenty of graphite and crushed notes. Hints of orange peel and white truffles add the final layers of nuance. The 2005 Ritchie is a bit more forward than the Lauren, and has also aged with a bit less overall finesse, but that is a pretty small critique at this level.
Egg with pear, potato, and some kind of crisp.
Foie gras, some kind of fruit.
A white fish sashimi.
Shrimp with caviar.
Sesame tofu with pea.
Scott brought: 1977 Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia Vino da Tavola. 91 points. I’ve never had a Sassicaia this old and at first it was a touch thin, but it really opened up and was quiet nice and interesting.
Beef carpaccio with special salt, flowers, and some onion family derivative. Very yummy. This is eaten raw.
1988 Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia Vino da Tavola. 90 points. Perfectly matured yet fresh Cab nose, lovely red fruits, mineral, also cassis, lead pencil, strong presence of iron which is different than the last bottle, a hint of ash and tar and flower. Medium concentration, silky palate, strong presence of iron/mineral, nicely integrated tannins and seamless long finish. Other than a hint of tar, I would guess it as a perfectly mature classic cab if served blind. Lovely.
agavin: consensus at our dinner was that the 77 was a bit better than the 88
Two kinds of beef sashimi, eaten nearly raw. On the left beef tataki (rib eye) and on the right (in the cup) beef throat sashimi. Also on the plate is a bit of Korean style hot sauce (the red stuff), some intensely strong garlic (yum) and micro julienned ginger.
The throat was very chewy, more about texture. The rib eye soft and more flavorful. All went well with the garlic and ginger — I particularly liked the garlic.
From my cellar: 1986 Leoville-Las Cases. Parker 100! The late Michel Delon always thought that this was the greatest vintage he had produced. We often tasted it side by side with the 1982, because I always preferred the latter vintage. Of course, the two vintages are quite different in style, with the 1986 a monument to classicism, with great tannin, extraordinary delineation, and a huge, full-bodied nose of sweet, ripe cassis fruit intermixed with vanilla, melon, fruitcake, and a multitude of spices. The wine has always been phenomenally concentrated, yet wonderfully fresh and vigorous. The wine still seems young, yet it is hard to believe it is not close to full maturity. It is a great example of Leoville Las Cases, and another compelling reason to take a serious look at the top Cabernet Sauvignon-based Medocs of 1986. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2035.
agavin: really fabulous. Super smooth and balanced, mature with a youthful power. Long way to go here.
A raw beef dish. Marinated raw beef is seen here with ginger, raw egg, cucumber, daikon, pine nuts, and something orange. Apparently, this is a Korean dish called Yukhoe. Actually, I’ve had it at Korean places, but in any case it’s delicious.
The elements are mixed together and then eaten. It’s hard to describe why it’s so good, but it is, with a very complex flavor and texture interplay.
The tabletop grill we cook the rest of the dishes on.
Mark brought: 2000 Vega Sicilia Unico. Parker 93-98. In the absence of a 2001 Unico, Vega Sicilia has re-released the 2000 Unico which I reviewed in Issue 189. The 2000 Unico is deep crimson-colored with an ethereal perfume aided by its extended upbringing. Aromas of Asian spices, lavender, incense, truffle, and confiture of black fruits are compelling. Sweet, forward, rich, and hedonistic, it nevertheless has the balance and structure to continue evolving for another 5-10 years. In strong vintages Vega Sicilia drinks well at age 50 and I would expect the same of the 2000.
Beef tongue with salt. After cooking, you dip it in lemon juice.
Don’t put your tongue on the grill!
Larry brought: 2001 Penfolds Grange. Parker 98+. It is always a treat to taste Australia’s most famous wine, Penfolds’ Grange cuvee (the word Hermitage has been dropped because of legal issues). The 2001 Grange is one of the few vintages of this cuvee to be composed of 100% Shiraz (the others being 1951, 1952, 1963, 1999, and 2000). Aged 17 months in 100% American oak, and tipping the scales at 14.5% alcohol, the 2001 is undeniably one of the top examples of this wine. At this stage, it appears to eclipse the 1998 and 1996. Inky/blue/purple to the rim, with a stunning perfume of blueberries, blackberries, chocolate, graphite, and earth, it boasts good acidity, huge tannins, magnificent concentration, and a multilayered, textured mouthfeel. It is a big, but impeccably well-balanced Shiraz that should shed some of its structure and tannin over the next 4-5 years, and be at its best between 2010-2030+.
agavin: regarded by most at our dinner as the WOTN!
Filet Mignon with bell peppers, onions, and sisho pepper.
Filet on the grill.
2008 Penfolds Grange. Parker 100! Very deep garnet-purple in color the 2008 Grange reveals a truly decadent nose with tons of spices, fruit cake and black & blue fruit compote notes along with nuances of chocolate and potpourri. The full and rich, multi-layered palate has a little oak still showing, it is going through a little bit of a structural stand-out stage, but it doesn’t detract on the long and complex finish. It still needs a good few years to develop, though this very opulent, expressive Grange shows the very best of this vintage and the vineyards it hails from.
The “salad.” Cucumbers, carrots, daikon. The vegetables do help to move along the fat and protein heavy meat.
They are served with this spicy sweet miso dip.
Momotaro tomatoes with a vinaigrette. These are supposedly incredibly good tomatoes, as a hater, I didn’t try them. I think Oyama-san gets them from some special place in Orange Country.
Brock brought for Crystal: 2007 Vietti Barolo Riserva Villero. VM 96+. Vietti’s 2007 Barolo Riserva Villero is a flat out stunner. Dark red fruit, Villero spices, leather, tobacco, smoke and menthol come alive in a rich, sensual Barolo that captures the essence of this site. Rose petals, mint and sweet red berries flesh out on an inviting wine loaded with class and personality. Over time, the powerful, explosive style of the year becomes more evident. The fruit turns darker, more balsamic and also more intensely mineral.
agavin: too young, but you can tell it was an enormous and balanced wine.
Outside rib eye with special salt and garlic.
The outside rib eye on the grill.
After being flipped, green onion is added.
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Yarom brought: 2001 Hundred Acre Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Kayli Morgan Vineyard. Parker 98. Having performed spectacularly well last year in the retrospective of ten-year old Napa Cabernets, this 2001 remains incredibly young, with all of its potential waiting to burst forth. Its dense purple color is followed by notes of mulberries, creme de cassis, blackberries, licorice, graphite and subtle smoke. The wine reveals fabulous fruit along with full-bodied power and a seamless integration of acidity, tannin, alcohol and wood. Forget it for another 4-5 years and drink it over the following 25-30 years.
agavin: really nice “for a California.” Very balanced and smooth.
Inside rib eye.
The inside rib eye on the grill. Probably my favorite cut.
Another bonus from my cellar: 2010 Dominique Lafon Meursault. 92 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.
As any regular Totoraku goer knows, any new dish is a big deal here, as the menu is very consistent. This is one of TWO new specials chef Kaz whipped up for us tonight, Sawara, a kind of Spanish Mackerel. It is considered the best kind of Mackerel in Japan. Not only it is a big variety, but its comparatively white flesh is succulent in almost any kind of cooking! Here we have it miso marinated and raw. We lightly seared it on the grill and enjoyed!
Awesome and very rich! One hell of a piece of grilled fish.
Kirk brought: 2002 Abreu Cabernet Sauvignon Madrona Ranch. Parker 100! The 2002 Madrona Ranch possesses an opaque blue/purple color as well as an extraordinary, enveloping, massive aromatic profile consisting of spring flowers, charcoal, lead pencil shavings, blueberries, raspberries and blackberry liqueur. In the mouth, there is sensational texture, full-bodied intensity, and terrific freshness, precision and vibrancy, despite what is undeniably a massive, rich, intense wine that should age well for another 25-35 years. The 2001s were about as profound as I have ever tasted from Abreu, but the 2002s may be even sexier since they are slightly more evolved.
“Special” beef. I think it was a form of sirloin. It was certainly good, very salted.
Grilling.
Brock brought: 2003 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage A Jacques Perrin. Parker 95-98. The 2003 Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage a Jacques Perrin is a blend of 40% Mourvedre, 40% Grenache, 10% Syrah, and 10% Counoise (normally this cuvee includes 60% Mourvedre and 20% Grenache). A 50-year effort, it is closed, backward, and formidably tannic at present, but the color is a deep ruby/blue/purple, and the nose offers up scents of graphite, blueberries, black truffles, earth, smoke, and licorice. Ripe, full-bodied, and powerful, but searingly tannic, it will need at least a decade of cellaring. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2050. The irony is that in spite of the much higher percentage of Grenache, it is still extremely tannic and backward, even more so than the 2001, 2000, 1999, or 1998.
You have to special order the lamb, which like all of Kaz’s meats, is pretty wonderful.
On the grill.
One hell of a chop.
We char broiled it.
So much so that ash rained down from our efforts.
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Brian brought: 2012 Sine Qua Non Grenache Stein. Parker 97-66. Starting with the Grenache release, the 2012 Grenache Stein is a blend of 76% Grenache, 16% Syrah and 8% Mourvedre, aged in 14% new French oak (15% was in concrete), that comes mostly from the estate’s Eleven Confessions Vineyard in the Sta. Rita Hills, but also includes grapes from the Cumulus, Third Twin (Syrah) and Bien Nacido vineyards. Checking in at 15.7% alcohol, it’s no lightweight, yet it has considerable elegance in its sweet blackcurrants, white pepper, licorice, baking spices and hints of violet-like aromas and flavors. Possessing the hallmark purity of the estate, it’s full-bodied, concentrated, rich and textured, with sweet tannin barely noticeable on the finish. I don’t think it’s one of the greatest Grenaches from the estate, yet it’s still an incredible effort that will benefit from short-term cellaring and have 15-20 years or more of overall longevity.
Skirt steak.
On the grill.
Toto serves homemade ice creams and sorbets as dessert.
So chaotic was this giant night that they brought out all five flavors on each plate and just placed them about the tables. I like the ice creams better than the sorbets here. The white chocolate was fantastic. Still, it’s all great.
To show the epic white chocolate raspberry, I had to turn around the plate.
This place is all about the beef, which is arguably some of the best I’ve ever had. Certainly the best yakiniku/Korean BBQ I’ve ever had. There is a perfect tenderness to every cut that’s fairly transcendant. I’m not even that much of a steak fan — but I’d take this stuff any time over even a spectacular cut from Mastros or Cut. The food here does not vary much from visit to visit. There is no menu. The quality however is utterly consistant. So while it isn’t an everyday sort of dining experience, perhaps once every 6-9 months, I love to return for my fix.
This evening was quite awesome. We had a smaller party (12-15), with a few non drinkers. Thus every wine easily made it all the way around. Additionally, everyone really stepped up and we had some pretty epic grapes. At least 3 official Parker 100s!
More crazy Hedonist adventures or
