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Sebi Mastro’s 2019

Feb17

Restaurant: Mastro’s [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Location: 246 North Canon Dr, Beverly Hills, Ca 90210. 310-888-8782

Date: December 20, 2019

Rating: A top LA Steak joint

For the fourth year (sort of) in a row, my friend Sebastian picked Mastros for his birthday dinner — no complaints here — so we all hauled out the wines and headed across town. Wine theme: First Growth Bordeaux.

We setup in the luxurious Penthouse!

The current menu upstairs (the Penthouse has a different menu).

From my cellar: 1990 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon. BH 95. This is a wine that I know extremely well from 750 ml and it’s one that is beginning to tire though I hasten to point out that it’s still enjoyable and just beginning to show signs of fatigue. However there are no such concerns with the same wine from magnum that remains magnificently fresh and while it’s clear that the aromas are mature, that’s not at all the same thing as describing the yeasty and baked apple suffused nose as tiring. There is equally good depth and vibrancy to the beautifully delineated flavors that are supported by a fine and firm mousse that allows the texture of a well-aged Dom to be easily appreciated. For my taste this has arrived at its peak though note well that it should easily be capable of effortlessly holding for years to come. (Drink starting 2015)

2008 Dom Pérignon Champagne. VM 98. The 2008 Dom Pérignon is once again stunning. More than anything else, I am surprised by how well the 2008 drinks given all the tension and energy it holds. Then again, that is precisely what makes 2008 such a unique vintage – namely that the best wines are so chiseled and yet not at all austere. Lemon peel, almond, mint, smoke and crushed rocks are all finely sculpted, but it is the wine’s textural feel, drive and persistence that elevate it into the realm of the sublime. The 2008 will be even better with time in the cellar, but it is absolutely phenomenal even today, in the early going. Three recent bottles have all been nothing short of magnificent. (Drink between 2020-2048)

1995 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. BH 95. A knock out and still quite youthful nose that has everything that you could want in a luxury cuvée including notes of green apple, yeast, white pear and peach and very subtle spice hints merges into sophisticated and classy flavors presented on a base of firm but not aggressive effervescence and better acid support than many examples from ’95 have. A wonderful effort that is only just now beginning to unwind and for my preferences, it needs at least three more years in the cellar first before drinking well over the next two decades.

Mustard, cocktail sauce, atomic horseradish.

A seafood tower. The quality of the seafood here is impeccable! Amazing shrimp, claws, king crab (didn’t taste frozen), crab cocktail, and oysters. This year’s tower was well sized (last year was a bit skimpy).

Bluefin Tuna Carpaccio.

From my cellar: 2017 Maison Leroy Bourgogne Blanc. 91 points. A nose of stewed apple and poached pear. Sappy and full on the palate, with plenty of richness and a note of cotton candy on the finish in addition to the apple and pear.

From my cellar: 1993 Robert Ampeau & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. BH 92. A fully mature and expressive nose of elegant secondary fruit and floral aromas introduces intensely mineral-driven, pure and beautifully well-detailed middle weight flavors that possess excellent depth and fine length. This is drinking perfectly now and should continue to do so without effort for at least another decade. Tasted only once recently. (Drink starting 2012)

2016 Bouchard Père et Fils Beaune 1er Cru Beaune du Château Blanc. BH 90. In contrast to the Pouilly-Fuissé, the reduction is sufficiently prominent that I would advise decanting this first. Otherwise there is excellent concentration to the sappy and palate coating flavors that possess a lovely texture that extends to the solidly complex and sneaky long finish. (Drink starting 2022)

Beef Carpaccio with capers, arugula, and parmesan. Awesome and a bit lighter.

Caesar salad. A bit too mild for my taste.

Spanish Octopus Carpaccio. WIth a lot of green sauce.

1983 Latour. Parker 88. Tasted from my cellar, this wine is fully mature, not terribly concentrated, and slightly herbaceous, exhibiting aromas of sweaty saddle leather, melted asphalt, tobacco, and red as well as black fruits. Notions of caramel and roasted nuts also emerge. A medium-bodied effort with soft tannin, but little persistence and length, it requires consumption over the next decade.

From my cellar: 1986 Château Margaux. Parker 98. A magnificent example of Chateau Margaux and one of the most tannic, backward Margauxs of the last 50 years, the 1986 continues to evolve at a glacial pace. The color is still a dense ruby/purple with just a hint of lightening at the rim. With several hours of aeration, the aromatics become striking, with notes of smoke, toast, creme de cassis, mineral, and white flowers. Very full-bodied, with high but sweet tannin, great purity, and a very masculine, full-bodied style, this wine should prove nearly immortal in terms of its aging potential. It is beginning to budge from its infantile stage and approach adolescence. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2050. Last tasted, 12/02.

Pretzel bread — gotta love it.

Escargot and pastry. One of my favorites of the aps.

Beef tartar.

Bone marrow and toast — have a bit of fat! Actually not my favorite as I don’t love the texture of bone marrow straight up.

1998 Mouton Rothschild. Parker 97. Composed of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc, the 1998 Mouton Rothschild is deep garnet-brick in color with lovely crème de cassis, dried roses, hoisin and baking spice notes with underlying notions of dried cherries and mulberries plus touches of wood smoke, incense and forest floor. Medium to full-bodied and packed with rich fruit framed by firm, chewy tannins, it is stacked with complex, evolving flavors and finishes with incredibly long-lasting perfumed notes. According to winemaker Philippe Dhalluin, this needs about three hours of decanting at this stage. I simply love the place this wine is in right now, possessing plenty of mature, tertiary characters yet still sporting bags of fruit. It won’t be fading anytime soon either and should cellar nicely for 20-25+ more years.

1999 Lafite Rothschild. Parker 95. The 1999 Lafite Rothschild sports an engraved “1999” on the bottle along with an eclipse to mark that significant historical event of August, 1999. It is a quintessential offering from Lafite Rothschild. This prodigious wine is both elegant and intensely flavored, and almost diaphanous in its layers that unfold with no heaviness. An opaque ruby/purple color is accompanied by a complex bouquet of lead pencil, graphite, cedar, creme de cassis, toast, and vanilla. It is medium-bodied, with extravagant layers of richness yet little weight, and a finish that is all sweetness, ripeness, and harmony. This extraordinary Lafite increasingly appears to be a modern day clone of the majestic 1953. A mere one-third of the crop made it into the grand vin! Anticipated maturity: 2007-2030.

The empty plate.

Rack of lamb.

Roasted Vegetable Risotto, shaved black truffles.

Shoestring fries. I love these crispy fries.

Wild sautéed mushrooms.

2002 Latour. Parker 96-98. The wine of the vintage? There are only 10,000 cases of this extraordinarily rich, dense 2002 that is as powerful as the 2003 (even the alcohol levels are nearly the same, 12.85%) . It is dark ruby/purple to the rim, with notes of English walnuts, crushed rocks, black currants, and forest floor, dense, full-bodied, and opulent, yet classic with spectacular aromatics, marvelous purity, and a full-bodied finish that lasts just over 50+ seconds. Huge richness and the sweetness of the tannin are somewhat deceptive as this wine seems set for a long life. Administrator Frederic Engerer seems to be more pleased with what Latour achieved in 2002 than in any other recent vintage. Hats off to him for an extraordinary accomplishment in a vintage that wouldn’t have been expected to produce the raw materials to achieve something at this level of quality. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2045.

2003 Latour. Parker 100! 2003 was one of the hottest, earliest Bordeaux vintages ever. Some vines suffered from lack of moisture, but old vines and clay subsoil at Enclos saw this vineyard through. The Merlot harvest occurred between September 8 and 13, and the Cabernet Sauvignon was picked between September 22 and 30. The 2003 Latour is a blend of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot. Six percent of the press wine was added to the final blend. It has a medium to deep garnet-purple color, then wow—it explodes from the glass with bombastic black and blue fruits, followed up by meat, wood smoke, sandalwood and Indian spice accents with underlying floral wafts. The palate is full, rich, velvety, seductive and very long on the finish. There were only 10,800 cases made (rather than the normal 15,000-20,000).

Snake river farms American Wagyu 40oz.

Branzino.

Bone in filet — a bit overcooked.

Second one, more rare.

New York Strip.

Sautéed asparagus.

Alaskan King Crab Black Truffle Gnocchi. One of my favorites.

Creamed corn. My wife loves this (and so do I).

2002 Alois Kracher Sämling Trockenbeerenauslese Auslese.

The all important Butter Cake. This is “Mastro’s signature warm butter cake ala mode.” Basically a pound cake with an extra four sticks of butter or something. It’s really sweet and really good. Goes well with the magic whipped cream (see below).

Real whipped cream.

And fresh berries.

Moose Avenue Gelato — Ice cream fans should get the joke — pure Tahitian Vanilla gelato base layered with Valrhona Milk Chocolate Ganache and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups –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 #vanilla #valrhona #chocolate #ganache #Reeses #PeanutButterCups

Mango Coconut Cheesecake Gelato — this one is serious — Mango Cheesecake base layered with house-made Graham Crackers and house-made Coconut Cream- Ceese Icing and sprinkled with Candied Mango –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 #mango #cheesecake #creamcheese #coconut #icing #GrahamCracker #CandiedFruit

Seb’s girlfriend brought a special wine themed birthday cake.

The wine lineup.

The birthday boy and his girl.

Mary and Chevy.

Shirley and Will.

My wife and I.

Mastro’s, while a zoo, and expensive, is a spectacular steak house experience. You can really feel your heart palpitating as you roll out of here! Food is very good, but the steaks themselves are the weakest point — particularly as they seem to have a consistent problem cooking them right. This doesn’t bother me hugely, as I don’t actually really like steak, and steakhouses are always about the other for me, but Mastro’s best dishes are things like the seafood tower, buttercake, and starchy sides. Service is good, but we encountered some slightly funny interactions between the staff and our quirky party members — haha — it happens.

Overall, another great steakhouse birthday!

In terms of organizing for the “steakhouse wine problem” for this dinner I came into it with the same kind of plan I used the week before at BOA, with a seafood course, white apps, red wine apps, then three sets of steak/side courses. This worked out much better than the “all at once” style we used recently at The Royce but was a bit subverted mid dinner when the the birthday boy merged my 2nd and 3rd meat courses — this would have been better as separate courses. But he also (correctly) tamed down my admittedly overzealous carby side and dessert plan into a more manageable (but still totally gluttonous) volume. I had planned 4 butter cakes! We barely managed to kill 2 (because we also had gelato and the giant wine cake. haha).

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beverly Hills, birthday, BYOG, Gelato, Mastros, steakhouse

Dirty Dozen at Capital Seafood

Jan13

Restaurant: Capital Seafood Beverly Hills [1, 2, 3]

Location: 50 N La Cienega Blvd #130, Beverly Hills, CA 90211. (310) 855-1234

Date: November 25, 2019

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Good for this far west

For the second time in a single weekend, I return to the only really good Cantonese west of the SGV.

Capital is the latest SGV place to move west, occupying the Newport Seafood Beverly Hills location that failed to work out. Not that I love even the original Newport, but Capital is fairly straight up banquet / dimsum Cantonese.

This event is the Dirty Dozen white, our blind tasting sub group of the Hedonists. Theme is Champagne tonight. I worked with the manager King to do this custom menu that has only one repeat dish from the Sauvages lunch a few days before.

The space looks pretty Chinese, even in Beverly Hills.

Coves. Gotta have the coves!

We are back in the private room — same as 3 days before, and same as years ago when this place was Newport Seafood.

This time I photographed the giant nighttime menu.

Wines before the meal:

1982 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon. VM 97. Both 1982 Champagnes are utterly spellbinding. It is amazing to taste these wines at 30 years of age and see that their signatures are all very much intact. Of course, the magnum format is so ideal for Champagne. The 1982 Krug Vintage is warm, toasty and totally expressive, with gorgeous exotic orange peel and white truffle overtones. This is one of my very favorite Krug vintages. Although fully mature, the 1982 is going to continue to develop at a glacial pace. The 1982 Dom Pérignon is just a little more focused and vibrant in style. Here it is the wine’s salivating minerality that really sings. It, too, is quite youthful and vibrant for its age.

1997 Didier Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Silex. Peter 91. Caramel, roasted nuts, nectarine pit, sweet richness with elevated acidity, juicy and mouthwatering, complex and long. Really liked the age on this which turned slightly rich, ripe and tangy on the palate. Capital Seafood for DD.

2014 Hubert Lamy Saint-Aubin 1er Cru Derrière Chez Edouard Vieilles Vignes. BH 89-91. An expressive and slightly more elegant nose offering up notes of red currant, wild flowers and spiced tea, leads to detailed, stony and energetic middle weight flavors that possess a relatively refined mouth feel before terminating in a moderately austere but well-balanced finish. This beautifully delineated effort will need at least 3 to 5 years of bottle age first. (Drink starting 2021)

Edamame.

Peanuts.

2002 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas-François Billecart. VM 94. The 2002 Cuvée Nicolas François Billecart comes across as rich, powerful and opulent. This latest release of the 2002 was disgorged in July 2015 and finished with a Chardonnay-based liqueur whereas the previous release, disgorged in May 2014, was finished with a Pinot Noir-based liqueur. This is a distinctly vinous, almost shockingly raw, visceral Champagne from Billecart-Salmon. There is no shortage of volume or intensity, that is for sure. Stylistically, this year’s release inhabits a whole other world relative to last year’s release. Dosage is 4 grams per liter. (Drink between 2018-2042)

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)

2007 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. 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. (Drink between 2018-2047)

Deluxe Combination Cold Appetizer Platter: Roasted Pork Belly, Capital BBQ Pork, Jellyfish.

Jellyfish. Nice and tangy.

Roasted Pork Belly. Basically Macau style.

Capital BBQ Pork. Similar, but a bit less fatty.

Fish Maw Crabmeat Soup. Mild and delicious, but packed with MSG.

2004 Dom Pérignon Champagne. VM 97. Another stellar wine, the 2004 Dom Pérignon is just starting to show the first signs of aromatic development, as well as a bit of added weight it did not have as a young wine. The 2004 remains a bright, mid-weight DP built on persistence and length more than overt volume. I have always had a soft spot for the 2004. This tasting does nothing to dampen that enthusiasm. (Drink between 2019-2039)

2006 Dom Pérignon Champagne. VM 96. Powerful, dense and tightly wound, the 2006 Dom Pérignon is fabulous today. To be sure, the 2006 is a broad, virile Champagne, but I find it compelling because of its phenolic depth and overall intensity. Chef de Caves Richard Geoffroy adds that August was quite cold and wet, and that ripening only happened at the very end of the growing season. Although numbers alone can never explain a wine, I find it interesting that the 2006 has more phenolics than the 2003. Readers will have to be patient, as the 2006 is easily the most reticent Dom Pérignon in the years spanning 2002 and 2009. I am confident the 2006 will have its day, but in its youth, it is not especially charming or easy to drink. (Drink between 2026-2056)

From my cellar: 2006 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut. VM 96. The bouquet is drop-dead gorgeous, lively and broad, and beautifully defined as always, offering scents of citrus fruit, toasted walnuts and a hint of brioche. The exquisitely balanced palate displays spine-tingling mineralité and real tension and grace. The long, quite deep finish makes me wonder whether this 2006 will meliorate with further bottle age. Should I care, when it is so delicious now? Just superb. (Drink between 2019-2032)

Lobster in Causeway Bay Style. Aka with TONS of great crunchy garlic.

Stuffed Bean Curd with Shrimp Paste. Interesting.

2008 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut. VM 98+. The 2008 Cristal is a wine that takes over all the senses and never lets up. The brilliance and cut of the Chardonnay finds an extra kick of resonance from the Pinot Noir to carry the mid palate and finish in this stunningly beautiful, chiseled Champagne. Lemon oil, almond, flowers, dried herbs and Mirabelle plum are some of the many aromas and flavors that develop as the 2008 shows off its pedigree. The 2008 is a regal, towering Champagne from Roederer. That’s all there is to it. (Drink between 2023-2058)

NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 160eme. JG 94. The Krug Grand Cuvée “160ème Édition” is from the base year of 2004 and is now starting to really drink well today. It was disgorged in the spring of 2014 and the oldest reserve wines used in this iteration being chardonnays from the villages of Avize and Oger dating back to the 1990 vintage. The final cépages ending up forty-four percent pinot noir, thirty-three percent chardonnay and twenty-three percent pinot meunier. I had not tasted this bottling in a year and it was every bit as beautiful at the estate as I remember it when it was paired with the 2004 vintage during its inaugural showing in New York last autumn. The wine offers up a classic and blossoming bouquet of apple, pear, almond, fresh-baked bread, a superb base of soil tones, a touch of upper register smokiness and an exotic topnote of fleur de sel. On the palate the wine is pure, focused and refined, with a full-bodied format, lovely focus and grip, elegant mousse, a lovely core and a long, vibrant and seamless finish. I love this version of Grande Cuvée and would love to have a case waiting in the cellar to start drinking ten years from now, as that is when it is really going to start firing on all cylinders! (Drink between 2018-2050)

2004 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. VM 97+. Krug’s 2004 Vintage is absolutely mesmerizing. Layers of bright, chiseled fruit open up effortlessly as the wine fleshes out with time in the glass. Persistent and beautifully focused, with a translucent sense of energy, the 2004 captures all the best qualities of the year. Moreover, the 2004 is clearly superior to the consistently underwhelming 2002 and the best Krug Vintage since 1996. Readers who can find it should not hesitate, as it is a magical bottle. (Drink between 2017-2044)

Peking Duck.

Served with buns in the Cantonese style. Meat was good. Not amazing, but good. I wish there were pancakes.

Here is a bun ready to eat.

The “meat” or “bones” from the duck. Hard to eat this particular version.

Sautéed Sea-cucumber with Greens.

A zoom in. Sea cucumber is mixed in with some mushrooms and bok choy. I liked this dish — I generally like sea-cucumber — but a couple white boys complained slightly.

2002 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. BH 97. There is a distinctly phenolic character to the secondary-tinged yet super-fresh nose reflects notes of bread, yeast, pear, baked apple, spice and a hint of citrus. The bold and full-bodied flavors possess superb complexity while being underpinned by a notably fine but dense mousse, all wrapped in a gorgeously persistent finish. This is a seriously impressive effort and one of the best of the Krug Brut vintage series released in many years. Note that while this should continue to age effortlessly, it could certainly be enjoyed now. (Drink starting 2017)

some other fool didn’t declare and just brought the same wine I did: 2006 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut. VM 96. The bouquet is drop-dead gorgeous, lively and broad, and beautifully defined as always, offering scents of citrus fruit, toasted walnuts and a hint of brioche. The exquisitely balanced palate displays spine-tingling mineralité and real tension and grace. The long, quite deep finish makes me wonder whether this 2006 will meliorate with further bottle age. Should I care, when it is so delicious now? Just superb. (Drink between 2019-2032)

1995 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. VM 94. The 1995 Krug is gorgeous. I chose it because one of my guests loves Krug and I thought the 1995 would have the right amount of complexity to pair beautifully with the smokiness in Saison’s caviar. Although the 1995 Krug is not a truly epic wine, it is in a sweet spot right now. (Drink between 2018-2023)

The one repeat from the Sauvages lunch: Filet of cod, Virginia Ham with Chinese vegetables (Double Pleasure Rock Cod). This is an unusual dish, but in looks and ingredients. Having the cod, mushrooms, vegetables, and Smithfield ham is really… interesting. The ham dominates with its strong salty flavor.

Scallop with Snow Pea Leaf. Instead of just getting the plain snow pea leaf with garlic, this version was covered in scallops — two for one!

Random cab. Not part of the blind tasting. Some people wanted some reds.

1996 Domaine du Colombier Hermitage. 87 points. Fading, delicate, not much primary fruit, a little tannin left.

Crispy Sesame Chicken. Very nice mild chicken.

Lamb with scallions. I liked this. Some cumin flavor.

Prime Ribs in House Special Sauce. This is an odd “modern” Chinese dish. Not my favorite. Chinese don’t know how to cook “steak”.

Baked Seafood Fried Rice with Coconut Curry Sauce.

Never had this one before — King suggested it — a curry fried rice with seafood drowned in curry sauce and then baked crispy. Delicious — if a touch heavy after a long meal.

Fruit (aka Chinese dessert).

Strawberries and Cream Gelato — A dairy strawberry base with Avignon Strawberries plus Strawberry Jam Ripples and Strawberry Wafer 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 #strawberry #cream #jam #wafer #cookies

House favorite and my son’s birthday pick: Triple Chocolate Cloud – As usual the base is made with Valrhona 62% Satilla Chocolate and then layered with Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese Ganache and the rotating ingredient is crushed Oreos — 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 #Valrhona #chocolate #creamcheese #ganache #icing #Oreos

The wine lineup.

Results.

And the gang.

Overall, Capital Seafood is quite solid SGV-style Cantonese banquet (as well as dimsum). I’d say that the food quality is about on par with middle of the road SGV Cantonese. Price is higher, but still not bad. I worked with the manager, King to create this very interesting menu and we had a variety of nice wines. Service is excellent, particularly with a special party like this. We did all the wine service, and there wasn’t really enough space for more than 3 glasses (too few) but they did this interesting hybrid food service where they brought out the large dishes, then individually plated about 2/3 of the dish and served it to each person, but leaving enough for repeats for us gluttons. This worked out quite well and was less chaotic and much neater than the lazy-susan craziness across so many wine glasses.

Great night. They did “bait and switch” up the price of the menu at the end of the evening, but it was still fairly cheap considering all the great stuff we had.

For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beverly Hills, BYOG, Cantonese cuisine, Capital Seafood, Champagne, Chinese Food, Dirty Dozen, Gelato, hedonists, Wine

Loosen at Spago

Jan08

Restaurant: Spago [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]

Location: 176 N Canon Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 385-0880

Date: November 20, 2019

Cuisine: New American

Rating: Still great

As you can see from the links above I’ve done a lot of wine dinners at Spago — and for good reason because with the right person planning they do a spectacular job. Tonight’s was organized and hosted by Liz Lee of Sage Society and she is the best wine dinner organizer in the city. It features wines by Dr Loosen and the Dr himself, Ernst Loosen. This is my second Sage/Loosen dinner, the first being several years ago at Republique.

Spago has been an LA institution for over 30 years!

We are in this side private room again — been there for a lot of dinners.

2006 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas-François Billecart. 90 points. A powerful Champagne, large scaled and luxurious, prominent yeast, buttered multigrain toast, preserved and grilled lemon, golden apple, chalk dust, grainy texture, firm acid backbone, didn’t last long enough for it to unfurl a bit; delicious.

Tomato & Goat Cheese Arancini. Ricey cheese balls.

New Potatoes, Creme Fraiche, Caviar. A bit too potatoey.

Parmesan Cheese “Marshmallow”, Olive oil. Neat marshmallow texture — tastes like Parm and Olive Oil.

Have a few glasses!

Wines chilling.

Our hostess, Liz Lee of Sage Society.

Ernst Loosen of Dr. Loosen — generations of Riesling.

Chef Wolfgang Puck greets Ernst in German.

Our special menu for the night.

Bread to fill up on.

2016 Dr. Loosen Graacher Domprobst Riesling Großes Gewächs. VM 90-91. Tasted in late July 2017 and slated for bottling around the end of September, this delivers a brash amalgam of chewy, seed-tinged apple and zesty grapefruit. The palate is firm and substantial, the finish blazingly bright and mouthwateringly salt-tinged – a Grosses Gewächs conveying real energy as well as refreshment.

2016 Dr. Loosen Erdener Treppchen Riesling Alte Reben Großes Gewächs.

2016 Dr. Loosen Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Großes Gewächs Alte Reben. VM 91-92. Tasted in late July 2017 and slated for late September bottling, this delivers a fascinating combination of coolness and incisiveness by way of greenhouse-like scents of foliage and flowers, seedy kiwi, zesty lime and cress. Glycerol-rich but with underlying firmness, the palate is not at all weighed down by its 12.5% alcohol. This finishes with penetrating, refreshingly juicy persistence and admirable animation, salinity and impingements of cress and crushed offering saliva-inducement and invigoration.

Crudo of Japanese Red Snapper, Osetra Caviar, Lemon, Olive Oil. Nice bright lemon / olive flavors.

2014 Dr. Loosen Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Großes Gewächs Alte Reben. VM 90. Pungent lemon and grapefruit peel with a dusty crushed stone overlay in the nose lead into a firm, brightly juicy but also sizzlingly piquant palate performance. Full in feel and impressively gripping, this brings along considerable apple and citrus seed bitterness that I don’t envisage moderating with bottle age. The result is one of those many GGs that are more formidable than fun.

2014 Dr. Loosen Erdener Treppchen Riesling Alte Reben Großes Gewächs.

2014 Dr. Loosen Bernkasteler Lay Riesling Großes Gewächs. Alte Reben Reserve. VM 90. A site-typical mélange of apple and cherry displays satisfying juiciness and fullness without heaviness. Basil and cress add a sense of coolness and cherry pit lends invigorating piquancy to the seriously sustained, slate-lined finish. This texturally polished performance avoids austerity or overt bitterness and may well reveal further nuances with time in bottle.

Maine Lobster “salad”. Vanilla vinaigrette, sorrel. Huge chunk of perfectly cooked lobster — although the strong vanilla was a touch sweet and distracting.

A non lobster version for the shellfish adverse.

2013 Dr. Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Großes Gewächs Alte Reben Reserve. VM 93. Bottled soon after the 2015 harvest, this leads with intriguingly mossy and stony scents along with narcissus-like, musky floral perfume and a vaguely spirituous intimation of site-typical apple and vanilla. The silken-textured palate delivers enough primary apple and lemon juiciness to refresh, while the long finish reprises the mossy, stony notes familiar from the nose and adds invigorating black tea smokiness as well as mouthwatering, maritime mineral salts. There is still a subtle, efficacious spritz here, incidentally, so evidently CO2 did not dissipate significantly during the wine’s two years in cask, and the effect adds to an overall impression of dynamism and finesse.

2013 Dr. Loosen Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Großes Gewächs Alte Reben Reserve. VM 92. Fresh lime, basil, strawberry eau de vie and wet stone introduce a satiny palate satisfyingly juicy in its evocation of fresh strawberry and cooling in its green herbal aspect. Hints of cress and lime zest lend incisive, zesty invigoration to a lingering, mouthwateringly saline finish. The corresponding Wehlener is more intriguingly nuanced but this Würzgarten is more winsome. I suspect that both will outlast their “regular” Grosses Gewächs counterparts, which were not nearly as interesting, charming or indeed juicy and mouthwatering when I last tasted them soon after their mid-2014 bottling.

2013 Dr. Loosen Erdener Prälat Riesling Großes Gewächs Alte Reben Reserve. VM 89. As with the corresponding 2011 and 2012 – but more emphatically – I find this Prälat reserve less convincing than its two siblings. The pungency and piquancy of kumquat on the nose as well as on a substantial and subtly oily palate, when reinforced by underlying nuttiness, generate a sense of opacity and borderline bitterness at odds with the refreshment and transparency to mineral nuances displayed by the corresponding Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Ürziger Würzgarten. That having been noted, this bottling’s austerity is certainly coupled with impressive sheer persistence and smoky, stony intrigue. It’s too early to hazard a guess as to whether Prälat is inherently less amenable to longer élevage, or perhaps even whether it simply needs more than two years. But Loosen has additional Grosses Gewächs material still in cask to test the latter hypothesis.

Austrian Cheese “Knodel” Dumplings, white truffle. Delicate poofy cheese balls with butter and truffle. Lovely.

2015 Dr. Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett Alte Reben Reserve. VM 90. Lily and heliotrope garland cidery apple on the enticing nose, while the palate impression is snappy, tart-edged, and even a bit spare. I like the tang, invigoration and refreshment of the finish, though, which predictably features fresh lime and apple over a bed of wet stone. As with the corresponding Lay, it could be that screwcap closure is playing a significant role here.

2015 Dr. Loosen Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese Alte Reben Reserve. VM 91. Fresh strawberry and lime laced with cress offer a bracing aromatic and palate impression, and bright, infectious juiciness carries into an invigoratingly zesty and mouthwateringly salt-tinged finish. As befits Riesling of Mosel origins, wet stone runs like a cantus firmus through this entire delightful performance, whose supportive sweetness knows when to back off in the interest of clarity and refreshment.

2008 Dr. Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Alte Reben Reserve.

Loup de Mer En Croute. Scallop Mousseline, Sauce Beurre Blanc.

A delicious and very rich fish dish with the pastry and the buttery sauce. Now here is a whitefish I can get down with!

A simpler version with no pastry and no scallop.

2005 Dr. Loosen Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett. VM 89+. Pale yellow. Stately aromas of quince, honeysuckle and nut oil.With its rich papaya fruit and subdued minerality, this is the most aristocratic of these ’05 kabinetts and the one that is most clearly a spatlese in character. At the same time, it’s the most closed and in need of patience.

2011 Dr. Loosen Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett. 90 points. Superb Riesling with lots of tropical fruit. Creamy texture and great acid who balance well with the fruit. If you like the style you like the wine. Works wonderfully on its own as well.

2017 Dr. Loosen Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett.

Slow Roasted Pork. Cardamon, star anis, savory glaze.

Rich almost “bbq” style pork.

Eggplant instead.

Savory Consommé.

A different version.

1983 Dr. Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese.

1989 Dr. Loosen Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese. 92 points. A rounded style, complete. Very nice though.

1997 Dr. Loosen Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese. VM 93. Strawberry chiffon nose. Again, a rather delicate, easy wine, but there is extract underneath, plus a distinct note of slate.

2002 Dr. Loosen Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese Goldkapsel Auction.

Kaiserschmarren. Basically super fluffy pancake with strawberry sauce. I was blown away by how delicious this dish was. The strawberries were super intense and the cake ultra fluffy.

1976 Dr. Loosen Erdener Prälat Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel.

1985 Dr. Loosen Erdener Prälat Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel. 95 points. One of the best bottles from this old stash of rising I bought about ten years ago. The wine was harmonious, complex and very long. It offered s prism of golden orchard fruit, mineral and savory notes.

1993 Dr. Loosen Erdener Prälat Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel.

2011 Dr. Loosen Erdener Prälat Riesling Auslese Lange Goldkapsel Auction. 97 points.

1959 Dr. Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Lange Goldkapsel.

Cheese Course. Brabander Gouda, Robbiolo Bosino, Manchego 1605.

And some cheese / cherry toast — very Austrian.

And a special birthday layered pastry and creme!

This was just an epic procession of epic riesling. So many wines! 25 distinct wines, ranging from 1959 to 2016 and from bone dry to ultra sweet. Most of these were special Alte Reben Reserves or Goldkapsels, all very rare. A stunning tour-de-force of this under-appreciated grape.

Food, as usual for a Sage Society dinner, was perfectly paired. Spago really does a good job at these special dinners when care is taken with the menu — and service was perfect as always. I enjoyed the slightly German/Austrian vibe to some of the dishes. We had labeled glasses for every wine — which is always the best way.

Great night!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Beverly Hills, Dr Loosen, Ernst Loosen, Liz Lee, Riesling, Sage Society, Spago, Wolfgang Puck

Posh Taverna – Avra

Jan03

Restaurant: Avra Beverly Hills Estiatorio

Location: 233 N Beverly Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 734-0841

Date: November 18, 2019

Cuisine: Greek

Rating: Pricey, but the quality is excellent

New York City’s famed, authentic Greek restaurant Avra Madison Estiatorio has opened its first west coast outpost, appropriately named AVRA Beverly Hills. Located in the “Golden Triangle” of Beverly Hills, AVRA Beverly Hills is designed by award-winning architecture and design firm Rockwell Group. The firm has created an atmosphere similar to that of an open-air villa in Greece, with fresh lemon trees, imported limestone, and stone washed walls. The new 11,000-square-foot eatery, with private spaces for all types of events, features traditional Greek cuisine with an emphasis on fresh seafood.

Now I have to admit, as much as I like Greek food (and I do), this is an odd, very Beverly Hills concept. It’s SO built out — millions I’m sure.

There is a huge Beverly Dr patio.

That blends indoor outdoor — perfect on a lovely LA day.

And the enormous white tablecloth interior.

Complete with booths.

Like in Greece they have fresh seafood in the ice case for the picking — although I’ve never seen it this fancy in Greece.

Look at those huge Santa Barbra prawns!

The lunch menu.

I’m not sure if we had to explicitly pay for this flatbread, olives, etc. The olives were great actually — too bad there were exactly 4 of them!

SALMON TARTAR. Faroe Islands salmon, fresno peppers, cilantro, shallots. Great potato chips too, super crispy.

SPANAKOPITA. oven baked filo, fresh spinach, feta, leeks. Some of the freshest, most elegant Spanakopita I have ever seen. Super flakey.

TUNA TARTARE. Hawaiian big eye tuna, shallot vinaigrette, serrano peppers. Colorful!

Grilled Mediterranean fish of the day, vegetables.

HALIBUT. Carcoal grilled fillet, spanakorizo (spinach rice).

Grilled Jumbo Shrimp. Savory eggplant potato moussaka. I ordered this because of the Moussaka. I love Moussaka and it wasn’t on the menu per se. Moussaka was very good, if small, hints of nutmeg. Grilled shrimp were excellent, although “basic” enough.

Side of Tzatziki. It was good. The size was laughable.

The dessert menu.

CHOCOLATE-YOGURT CHEESECAKE. Raspberry-Rosewater Sauce, Chocolate Bark. Very very rich.

BAKLAVA. Almonds, Honey Syrup. Maybe the best Baklava I’ve had? Super moist, sweet, with lots of nuts and a very crunchy pastry.

The build out is lovely. Service was excellent. Quality was excellent. The atmosphere amazing. Portion sizes tiny. The menu needs some more of the classics like a real moussaka, baby lamb kleftiko, etc. It’s got too much “Filet Mignon” and “lamb chops.” You don’t see that in Greece! That’s to please the Beverly Hills white hairs. Still, I’d like to come back for dinner — although perhaps on someone else’s dime!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Avra, Beverly Hills, Dessert, Greek cuisine, Moussaka

Kings at Crustacean

Jun09

Restaurant: Crustacean Beverly Hills

Location: 468 N Bedford Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 205-8990

Date: May 3, 2019

Cuisine: Vietnamese Fusion

Rating: Still great

A couple months ago while at OOToro my Hedonist group dined with Catherine An of Crustacean and she invited us to come to her place to experience it Hedonist style.

I haven’t been to Crustacean in maybe 10 years — not exactly sure why — other than maybe that it’s pricey, as I do love Vietnamese food. So it’s about high time I get back there and give it a good testing and write up.

Yarom with An sister Elizabeth. So Elizabeth and her sister Catherine set us up big time.

We had (most) of the private room. Technically Crustacean had a big remodel since I was here last, but it’s been so long that I can’t remember how it was before. It’s upscale attractive now — still sort of late 90s high end restaurant in vibe, which is way less industrial than most newer places.

Our special giant tasting menu.

2004 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut. VM 97. The 2004 Brut Cristal has put on quite a bit of weight since I first tasted it earlier this year. It is a powerful, structured Cristal layered with considerable fruit. Chardonnay seems to play the leading role in 2004, at least today. Cristal is often accessible young, but that is far from the case here. This is a serious, painfully young Cristal that will require considerable patience. Readers who are willing to spend some time with the wine today will find a super-impressive, complete Cristal.

2004 Dom Pérignon Champagne. VM 97. A wine of nuance, precision and understatement, the 2004 remains all grace. Time has softened some of the contours, but the flavors remain fresh and vibrant. Medium in body, the 2004 can be enjoyed now or cellared for several decades. This is a gorgeous showing from the 2004, a wine that has been captivatingly beautiful from the first time I tasted it years ago. There is something effortless about the 2004 that is hard to capture with words. The 2004 doesn’t quite have the obvious breeding of the 2008 and 2002, nor the obvious power of the 2003 or 2006, and yet it is harmonious, sublime and totally sensual.

2008 Dom Pérignon Champagne. VM 98+. The 2008 Dom Pérignon is fabulous, but quite remarkably, it was even more open when I tasted it a year ago. Bright, focused and crystalline in its precision, the 2008 is going to need a number of years before it is at its best. Lemon peel, white flowers, mint and white pepper give the 2008 its chiseled, bright profile. Several recent bottles have all been magnificent. What I admire most about the 2008 is the way it shows all the focus, translucence and energy that is such a signature of the year, and yet it is also remarkably deep and vertical. In other words, the 2008 is a Champagne that plays in three dimensions.

2000 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. BH 96. A wonderfully layered and nuanced nose features an intense yeasty character to the maturing fruit that displays interesting phenolic characters, in particular petrol, along with aromas of apple, pear and soft citrus hints. In contrast to the nascent maturity expressed by the nose the flavor profile is still tight and backward with a genuinely gorgeous texture, all wrapped in a strikingly persistent and highly complex finish. For my taste the 2000 Brut is at an inflection point as the nose does offer enough maturity so that it’s really quite pretty whereas the palate impression is substantially younger. As such it really just depends on how you prefer your Champagne because I suspect that the nose will be very mature by the time the still very youthful flavors attain their majority. For my taste preferences it would be no vinous crime to begin enjoying this now but be aware that this will age for a very long time. The best approach is probably to buy 6, or even 12, bottles and enjoy them over a longer period of time.

Champagne caviar flute. There is a bit of buttery toast for scooping it up.

The “it” is a creamy stuff with caviar and foam. Delicious.

Tuna Cigars. Instant Smoke, Feuille De Brick, Avocado Silk, Vidalia Onion, Tobiko Caviar.

They were packed with dry ice.

These were really delicious. A bit like the classic Wolfgang Puck tuna cone. Complex salty/sweet flavors. Yum!

From my cellar: 1993 Robert Ampeau & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. BH 92. A fully mature and expressive nose of elegant secondary fruit and floral aromas introduces intensely mineral-driven, pure and beautifully well-detailed middle weight flavors that possess excellent depth and fine length. This is drinking perfectly now and should continue to do so without effort for at least another decade. Tasted only once recently.

2012 Faiveley Montrachet Le Montrachet. 95 points. Actually guessed both the vineyard and the producer here (the wine was served by the importer); proud was I. Surprisingly advanced wine, very rich, smooth, layered, long with notes of honey, butter and some confit d’orange. Great wine, rich – and too young, I think.

This wine needed TIME! But was amazing.

Surf and Turf Sashimi. A-5 Wagyu, Crispy Garlic, Purple Potato, Tabasco Chili Ponzu.

Crispy Garlic, Purple Potato.

A-5 Wagyu, Tabasco Chili Ponzu. Yummy bits of succulent beef.

2004 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles. BH 93. A mildly reduced nose features honeysuckle and acacia blossom notes introduces sweet, rich and beautifully complex flavors of impressive purity and vibrancy with brilliant length. A terrific effort that has the hallmark softness of Pucelles while retaining a firm and tangy, indeed almost linear finish that displays more minerality than usual.

Braised Lamb Dumpling. Tom yum jus, galangal, Japanese Sweet Potato, Butternut Squash, Puffed Rice.

With the jus — which was basically the broth from Tom Yum soup — delicious.

Marcassin — I can’t read the vintage.

2014 Domaine Ponsot Clos de la Roche Vieilles Vignes. BH 94-97. There is enough wood to notice along with a hint of menthol on the markedly earthy red and dark berry fruit aromas where background hints of spice and floral elements are in evidence. The overtly powerful and concentrated broad-shouldered flavors display almost painful intensity before culminating in an explosively long and very firmly structured finish where once again a hint of bitter cherry appears. This is an interesting wine of contrasts as the mid-palate, even with all of its intensity, possesses a caressing palate feel yet the finish is bold, robust and unyielding. As the description confirms, this is going to require a long snooze in a cool cellar.

agavin: NOTE that the start drinking date on this wine is 2031!

From the “Secret Kitchen”:

AN’s Famous Garlic Roasted Dungeness Crab with AN’s Famous Garlic Noodles. This was a special personal version of the crab and noodles. I remember when I first came here that you had to pay an extra few dollars for them to crack it! But now that’s included if you like. We didn’t have to crack it at all. The meat was delicious and so were the noodles.

So good. Great by themselves, and even better with the crab.

1978 Gaja Barbaresco. VM 92. Dark red. Gaja’s 1978 Barbaresco is a study in contrasts. The nose suggests a mature wine, with aromas of leather and cocoa dominating, although on the palate the wine shows generous amounts of dark fruit in a concentrated style with much persistence, length and the structure of the vintage. My impression is of a beautiful wine that lacks the balance to be a truly great wine.

2005 Château Pape Clément. VM 97. The 2005 Pape Clément is a fabulous contrast to the Haut-Brion. The former represents modernism at its best, while the latter is one of the archetypes of classicism. Both are striking. Compelling and seductive from the outset, the 2005 Pape Clément races out of the glass with notable opulence and ripeness. Soft contours and heady aromatics make the 2005 a real joy to taste today. Just beginning to show the first signs of aromatic complexity, the 2005 Pape Clément looks like it won’t be as long-lived as some of the other wines in this tasting, but it is extraordinarily beautiful today. The style is unapologetically flamboyant, yet all the elements are in the right place. When it comes to pure hedonistic pleasure, it’s hard to match the 2005 Pape Clément.

Lamb chops.

2006 David Arthur Cabernet Sauvignon Elevation 1147. VM 91. Bright ruby-red. Very ripe and aromatic nose combines cassis, blueberry and complex soil tones. Lush and pliant in the mouth, with a restrained sweetness to the nuanced flavors of dark berries, mocha, chocolate and earth. Tactile and broad wine with very good inner-palate energy. Finishes long, with a positive medicinal quality.

More Marcassin I can’t identify.

“Cha Ca” Broiled Red Snapper Banh Mi. Spicy Aioli, Traditional Banh Mi Pickles. A slightly fancy looking version of the very traditional Vietnamese fish with herb salad. I had this in Vietnam, at the very old school Phong Dinh, and recently even in somewhat different form at fusion Khong Ten. It was good in all cases, and certainly delicious here! I really like the turmeric thing.

2013 Ladera Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. 91 points. I don’t pay much attention to these Cabs.

2014 La Jota Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain. VM 92. Graphite, smoke, incense, lavender, plum and sweet French oak hit the palate in La Jota’s 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon. Winemaker Chris Carpenter has done a tremendous job in crafting a Cabernet that is both deeply expressive of Howell Mountain, but with enough sweetness in the tannins and overall juiciness to drink well with minimal cellaring.

Landing spot for the next course.

Himalayan Salt Block Ribeye. Horseradish Crema. Great steak.

‘XO’ Garlic Fried Rice. Poached Egg, Pork Belly XO. So good!

We had to get more XO!

Kungpao Eggplants. Thai Basil, Thai red chili gastrique. Not as good as a great Szechuan version, but still enjoyable.

Steamed garlic broccoli.

Let the good times keep on rolling.

Oh boy — Calvados!

Coconut sorbet with blackberry. Not made by me. Intense coconut flavor. No dairy, so not super creamy.

Yarom with Catherine and a friend.

And Tokaji Aszu 5 Puttonyos.

A trio of crazy gelatti I made:

Reimagining an old flavor Cocoa Samoa Gelato — Coconut dairy base, new super delicious formulation, house-made caramel and Valrhona chocolate ganache, with Girl Scout Samoas — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Crazy Choco Caramel Nostalgic Goodness! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #coconut #caramel #samoas #girlscoutcookies

Chocolate Orange Pistachio Gelato — my classic 63% Valrhona chocolate base but with orange infused milk, and laced with house-made Bronte Pistachio Valrhona Gananche — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Just say it again: Bronte Pistachio Valrhona Ganache — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #pistachio #orange #chocolate

Moscow Mule Sorbetto — new highly technical sorbetto made with lime, cucumber, ginger beer, and Stoli Vodka — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — yeah, there is actually a lot of vodka in here — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #MoscowMule #lime #cucumber #GingerBeer #Stoli #vodka

Coconut Dream. Fresh Coconut Flakes, Rum Syrup, Creme Chantilly, Vanilla Creme Anglaise. This was a dream — loved it.

Warm Beignets. Vietnamese Coffee Creme Anglaise. Also great.

Chef Helene’s Classic Banana a La Mode. Turbinado Brulee, Baileys, Caramel, Tahitian Bean Ice Cream.

Pineapple Financier. Brown Butter, Oat Honey Streusel, Creme Fraiche Cremeux, Dole-Whip.

Warm Chocolate Cake, Raspberry, Vanilla Wafer which then

gets this made up:

Signature Table-Side Ice Cream. Nitro vanilla ice cream.

Pretty scrumptious.

Passion Fruit Pavlova. Pavlova, Tropical Fruit, Strawberry Gel, Coconut Sorbet.

Cheers!

And the crazy wine lineup.

Overall, this was a kingly evening. Boy did the Ans treat us right and we had an incredible menu, amazing service, and great wines.

Discussing the food analytically. Very good, and most dishes varied from good to great. Best being the fish, crab, and cigars (plus some of the desserts). The Vietnamese influence is far more subtle, less heavy handed, then at most newer fusion places like Little Sister / LXSO or the more contemporary small plates style Khong Ten. Definitely more roughly 2000 in formal fine dining style — which I don’t mind at all. In some ways it feels like a millennium event fine dining place with Vietnamese — and to a lesser extent Thai and Chinese — notes. It’s a pretty fancy place, and priced accordingly — but they do knock it out of the park.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Beverly Hills, BYOG, Crustacean, Gelato, hedonists, Vietnamese cuisine

Matsumoto Maxsumoto

Jun05

Restaurant: Matsumoto

Location: 8385 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048. 323) 653-0470

Date: May 10, 2019

Cuisine: Japanese

Rating: Very good, and interesting, but expensive

Erick, Larry, and I kept hearing through the rumor mill that Matsumoto in Beverly Hills had one of the best Japanese Omakases in town so of course the Foodie Club had to saddle up and go.

They are located on Beverly in a busy strip mall — like most other good LA Sushi joints. The “Beverly Hills” location is more like West Hollywood.

It’s non-assuming for sure.

The interior is pretty typical Japanese restaurant.

We had prearranged this giant special menu! It was so long, they refused to start dinner later than 6:30!

From my cellar: 2006 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon. VM 94+. The 2006 Rosé Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon is powerful, intense and also classically austere in its make up. Crushed flowers, mint, red berries and cranberries are all finely sketched. The 2006 finishes with striking mineral-driven precision, and while it doesn’t have the opulence or exuberance of the 2002, it is still a very pretty and appealing Champagne. The Elisabeth Salmon is 50% Pinot Noir and 50% Chardonnay, with about 8% still Pinot Noir. Dosage is 6 grams per liter.

1995 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. VM 94. The 1995 Krug is gorgeous. I chose it because one of my guests loves Krug and I thought the 1995 would have the right amount of complexity to pair beautifully with the smokiness in Saison’s caviar. Although the 1995 Krug is not a truly epic wine, it is in a sweet spot right now. (Drink between 2018-2023)

Appetizer plate:

Uguisu Tofu (back left). Sugar snap pea tofu.

Hotaru Ika Sumiso (lower right). Cooked firefly Squid (seasonal) with miso vinegar.

Nasu Agebitashi (back right). Eggplant cooked in sweet soy and dashi.

Wagyu Miso Zuke Negi Maki (left). White green onions wrapped with miso marinated wagyu beef.

Hotate Ebi Satsuma Age (front). Light fried fish cake made of scallop and shrimp.

Ama Ebi Ceviche (center). Diced Sweet Shrimp with home-made yuzu salsa.

From my cellar: 1993 Robert Ampeau & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. BH 92. A fully mature and expressive nose of elegant secondary fruit and floral aromas introduces intensely mineral-driven, pure and beautifully well-detailed middle weight flavors that possess excellent depth and fine length. This is drinking perfectly now and should continue to do so without effort for at least another decade. Tasted only once recently.

2015 Bret Brothers Viré-Clessé La Verchère. VM 88. Pale, bright straw-yellow. Ripe peach, orange zest and passion fruit on the nose, with a touch of leesy complexity. More exotic than the Les Crays but less harmonious today, showing a more glyceral texture, then surprising acidity. The stone fruit flavors convey very good depth, plus a slight mineral edge.

Soup (Suimono). Hama Sui. Cherry stone clam in clear soup.

Kim brought this great unfiltered sake.

Sashimi (Otsukuri). Hon maguro (blue fin tuna), shima aji (striped jack), aji (Japanese grunt), sakura masu (wild cherry salmon), hotate (scallop).

Notice the fin beneath the fish.
Grilled (Yakimono). Hokke Matsumae Yaki. Grilled atka macherel marinated with kelp (overnight).

Fried (Agemono). Chi-ayu tempura & Soramame Kakiage. Deep fried young sweetfish w/ Sansho Pepper sea salt & depp fried fava beans with sea salt.

Side Dish (Naka-Zara). Kani Miso Cheese Koura Yaki. Hairy crab innards (mixed with crab meat, egg & scallions) grilled with cheese in the shell. This was a unique prep of crab guts — awesome and slightly like a Japanese crabby tuna melt.

Uni Flight. Three kinds of uni. I think all Japanese.

1987 Cellier des Samsons Fleurie!

Small Dish (kobachi). Mushi awabi. Tender cooked abalone with okra.

1978 Joseph Drouhin Beaune 1er Cru Grèves. BH 89. Mostly bricked through. The expressive and attractively layered nose is composed of full-on sous bois, earth and herbal tea scents. I very much like the complexity to the well-delineated and punch middle weight flavors that exhibit a subtle minerality on the linear finish that displays an acid-tang that is enough to mildly dry the finish. This is pretty and very ’78 in character though the balance isn’t quite perfect. Drink up.

We added a wagyu sushi flight.

Pretty bowl for:

Steamed (mushimono). Kinki and kabu nibitashi. Rockfish steamed with sake and turnip cooked in light soy and dashi.

And because that giant menu wasn’t enough we added some more meat — I think this was duck.

Then the sushi (shokuji) started to come:

Sumi ika (squid) and kegani (hairy crab).
Nodoguro (seared black throat perch) and toro (supreme toro).

Kuruma ebi (prawn).

Hokkaido uni (sea urchin).

Plus we wanted MORE. A final flight of sashimi!

2005 Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Clos Häuserer. VM 90. Pale straw-gold color. Aromas of orange liqueur, white flowers and minerals. Vibrant and clean, with ginger and nutmeg spice notes contributing energy to the peachy fruit. I find this brighter and more precise than the Clos Windsbuhl. It’s sweeter but also livelier, thanks to a juicy sugar/acid balance.

Bessert (mizugashi). Baked sweet potato cake and fruits.

Overall, Matsumoto was really good and we had an epic meal — their super sized omakase + a bunch of extras. Certainly we were full. The courses were all extremely well prepared, but it is a very pricey place and leans toward a highly traditional Japanese taste tonality that isn’t that splashy. Newer style places like ootoro are more flashy and crave-worthy — and Hayato, which is also very traditional, is somehow more refined and modern at the same time. So Matsumoto ends up being a lot of money and very good, but you can get more bang for your buck elsewhere. Certainly glad I tried it though.

1959 Franchino Marco Gattinara Lo Spanna. Old, old Gattinara (which is like baraolo, being a Nebbiolo, but made up in the far north of the Piedmont).

Afterward, we stopped by Kim’s resteraunt, Khong Ten and kept drinking — combining with the sake to make me very slugging in the morning.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Beverly Hills, Burgundy, Foodie Club, Japanese cuisine, kanimiso, Matsumoto, sake, Sashimi, Sushi, tempura, West Hollywood, Wine

Still Cuts It

Mar01

Restaurant: Wolfgang Puck’s Cut [1, 2]

Location: 9500 Wilshire Blvd. Beverly Hills, California 90212. P: 310-276-8500

Date: February 1, 2019

Cuisine: Steak House

Rating: Top quality

It’s been since 2012 that the Foodie Club has been to Cut and so this year for Erick’s birthday we decided to hit it up again.

Cut is located inside the Beverly Wilshire Hotel (think Pretty Woman) and is Wolfgang Puck’s take on redefining the American Steak House. In this, it succeeds very well. While it adheres to the Steak House basics: slabs of beef served plain on the plate, Cut upgrades things in a number of ways. But we’ll get to this in good time.

Fancy cars in the causeway.

They don’t build ’em like they used to!

We were early and had this view for half an hour while waiting to sit.

The dining room looks light in this photograph but it wasn’t! And they didn’t allow flash, so the photography was challenging to say the least. I had to shoot mostly wide open at 1.8 and so depth of field is tiny.

The current menu.

Erick brought as bonus: 2012 Georges Laval Champagne Les Hautes Chevres. VM 94. Laval’s 2012 Brut Nature Les Hautes-Chèvres, 100% Pinot Meunier, is a dense, powerful wine. The old-vine gravitas of this site, planted between 1930 and 1971, comes through loud and clear in the wine’s ample frame. Dense, powerful and broad on the palate, the 2012 is all class. Dried pear, hazelnut, smoke and dried herbs add tons of complexity. The finish is substantial and intense in all of its dimensions.

Cheesy puffs as an amuse.

Smoked Burrata Cheese. Oro Blanco, Cara Cara Oranges, Tangerines, Charred Fennel. Everyone has a burrata salad but this was a good one — what you can see if it in focus. Colorful, and the combination of greens, cheese, and citrus was nice.

Sea Urchin. Horseradish custard, dungeness crab, bergamont vinegar, avocado. This was more crab than uni by a long shot but was delicious.

And sadly you really can’t see much at this depth of field.

Bread sticks and pretzel bread. I love good pretzel bread.

Wine service started off a touch slow, but was very good, and they have us our own sidecar table and multiple decanters.

Speaking of the wine, Seb convinced us beforehand to coordinate a 4 bottle mini vertical of Château Léoville Las Cases. He, Erick, and I brought them and I swapped an extra one with Erick’s friend Sijie Xiang — who brought me an excellent non-LLC bottle of Bordeaux in exchange.

From my cellar: 1985 Château Léoville Las Cases. VM 96. The 1985 Léoville Las-Cases is quite simply one of the finest Saint-Julien wines of the decade and over a dozen encounters have reaffirmed this as the most pleasurable Las-Cases ever made. This is a stupendous bottle, perhaps the best that I have ever encountered. It has a brilliantly defined bouquet that soars from the glass: red berry fruit, crushed stone, pressed flower, a hint of blood orange and woodland aromas. You could nose this all day. The palate is medium-bodied with the depth and structure one expects from this Second Growth. But what the 1985 has in spades, a virtue not always found at this address, is charm. Silky smooth in texture, the pure red fruit seduces the sense with a shimmering sense of energy on the finish. It is drinking now after three decades and based on this showing could give another three before it declines.

agavin: awesome bottle and WOTN

From my cellar (for Sijie Xiang): 1989 Château Léoville Las Cases. JK 93. A gorgeous, perfectly mature LB Bordeaux. Concentrated with mature, complex fruit and loaded with secondary and tertiary notes of aged cedar, dried tobacco leafs and bell pepper. Elegant with a leanness that doesn’t compromise forward, fleshy fruit. Can hold but really no reason to hold — drink now and enjoy a great, mature Bordeaux.

agavin: very good too, and smooth, but not as powerful or complex as the 1985.

Bluefin Tuna Toro. Smoked Soy Sauce, pickled daikon radish, apple sorrel. We didn’t get much each, but what we did was a lovely sashimi-like bite.

Prime Sirloin Steak Tartare. Herb aioli, grilled sourdough, shallots, dijon mustard. We mixed it all up, including the quail egg. Delicious tartar — really good. Right balance of tangy, meat, pepper etc.

Erick brought: 1995 Château Léoville Las Cases. VM 94+. Deep ruby-red. Deep, lively aromas of red- and blackcurrants, licorice, tobacco and grilled nuts. Great sweetness and silky texture in the mouth currently overshadows the wine strong supporting acidity and tight core of spice and minerals. The toothcoating tannins don’t cover as much of the mouth as those of the ’96 do, but this wine offers uncanny length.

Seb brought (decanted way in advance): 2005 Château Léoville Las Cases. VM 98. A wine for the ages, the 2005 Léoville Las Cases is slow to come out of the gate, but its beauty and pedigree are evident. The 2005 Las Cases is one of the only wines in this tasting that still needs time in bottle, something that won’t come as a surprise to fans of this St. Julien estate. The 2005 offers plenty of the typical Las Cases power, but it is also remarkably nuanced and translucent for a wine of its sheer size. When all is said and done, it is in my top three or four wines of the night.

agavin: the powerhouse monster of the night. Amazing wine and good thing Seb decanted it early that day.

A duo of Snake River Farms Filet Mignon and Nebraska Dry Aged 36 Day Petite Cut New York.

On the side there was some Cavatappi Pasta “Mac & Cheese” with Quebec cheddar. We also ordered Soft Polenta with Parmigiano Reggiano but it was gone faster than I could photo it (given the low light and the fact that I was using a tripod).

A set of sauces including Red Wine Bordelaise, House Made Steak Sauce, and a couple others. I like extra flavor so I’m a sauce guy.

Cauliflower, vadouvan, coconut, curry leaves. Nice interesting veggie.

Celery Root, salsify, carrots, wildflower honey.

Wild Field Mushrooms, shishito peppers, mirin, yuzu. Loves this version of the sautéed mushrooms. The shishitos were great.

The dessert menu.

Baked Alaska. Tangerine Sherbet, Vanilla Gelato, Buttermilk White Chocolate Cake, Candied Kumquats.

They light it on fire in the traditional manner.

Wow this was a great dessert, one of the best baked alaska versions I’ve tasted. Nice hot and cold and texture variance going on.

Orange Honey Nougat Glace. Passion Fruit Granita, lemon yuzu curd, winter citrus. Another dessert winner as it had all those tart flavors.

And for Erick’s birthday: BCP. Caramelized banana, tahitian vanilla custard, puff pastry, banana sorbet, salted caramel sauce. I assume BCP stands for Banana Custard Pastry. It was enough in control banana-wise that I could try it.

The full wine lineup.

Overall, Cut is very very good, if a little expensive. It does succeed in taking the Steak House format and shaking it up a bit, elevating the ingredients and presentation, etc. Partly by offering unusual cuts of beef, partly by having newer more modern appetizers and sides. Execution is very good. Service is very good. It isn’t as over the top as Mastro’s. Not that Cut is lightest meal ever, but I definitely felt less “bombed” than at some other steakhouses, which was nice. Maybe they use less butter. Cut is probably the best Steakhouse in LA, maybe tied with Alexanders on a good night.

More Foodie Club extravaganzas here.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beverly Hills, Bordeaux, Château Léoville Las Cases, Cut, Dessert, Foodie Club, Leoville Las Cases, Steak, steakhouse, Uni, Wagyū, Wine, Wolfgang Puck

Veuve Clicquot at Spago

Dec26

Restaurant: Spago [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Location: 176 N Canon Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 385-0880

Date: November 12, 2018

Cuisine: New American

Rating: Still great

Spago is always fun but it’s especially good when it’s a Sage Society arranged Veuve Clicquot dinner. I love great Champagne and this sort of dinner is a fun way to learn more about different houses.

Spago has been an LA institution for over 30 years!

Tonight Veuve Clicquot has taken over the private dinner area.

We have this lovely long table.

And they take it seriously, as does this guy who has way more gear than even I do!

Lots of “displays.”

Etc.
Tonight’s special menu.

Tonight is partially about introducing a new NV blend cuvee:

NV Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Extra Brut Extra Old. 93 points. At least 6 years old, only reserve wines, dosage 3 gr. a champagne with a great character, very classic, also in its bitters, firm, but not severe and a long aftertaste.

Caviar Blini with creme fraiche.

Cheese (and maybe foie) Gougeres.

Spicy Tuna Tartare, Sesame-Miso Tuille Cone. I’ve had it a million times but it’s still great. The counter play between the crunchy-sweet cone and the soft-spicy interior.

Crab and uni and flowers in a crispy/chewy sesame ball.

Jewish pizza. Smoked salmon with creme fraiche and ikura (salmon roe). I love this too. I even make it at home.

Place settings.

Various folk from Veuve get up to talk.

This is Dominique Demarville, the wine maker! He told us all about each cuvee and a lot about the history of the house — really fascinating.

Wild Hamachi. Beet Ponzu, ginger oil, sea grass. Great fish quality. Very bright strong vibrant flavors. Super delicious.

2004 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut La Grande Dame. VM 93. Vivid gold. Heady aromas of orange, white peach and smoky minerals, with a note of buttered toast adding depth. Densely packed citrus and pit fruit flavors show chewy texture and a bright mineral quality that adds vivacity. Rich but lively and precise, finishing very long, with notes of candied fig and toasty lees.

2006 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut La Grande Dame. JG 94+. The final blending of the 2006 La Grande Dame was completed prior to Dominique Demarville joining the team at Veuve Clicquot, so we will have to wait for the release of the 2008 version to see his impact on this bottling. The 2006 Grande Dame is a blend of fifty-three percent pinot noir and forty-seven percent chardonnay and was finished with a dosage of eight grams per liter. The wine is excellent, wafting from the glass in a complex blend of apple, pear, wheat toast, fine minerality, a touch of smokiness and a nice note of caraway seed in the upper register. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, deep and complex, with elegant mousse, fine focus and grip and a very long, vibrant and zesty finish. This is drinking beautifully, but has the balance to age long and gracefully as well. High class juice.

2008 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut La Grande Dame. 92 points. Tasting, brief note. A new age for Grande Dame – 92% Pinot Noir. Berries really come through with some toasted almond and toasted rye bread. Rounded textures, very good length.

Spago always has great bread.

Main Diver Scallops. Matsutake Mushrooms, Sea Grass, Yuzu Emulsion.

The non shellfish version.

2004 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut Rosé La Grande Dame. VM 94. Vivid orange-pink. Seductively perfumed aromas of ripe red berries, Asian spices, rose and smoky minerals. Densely packed and palate-staining, offering vibrant red and dark berry flavors, along with floral pastille and buttered toast qualities. The strikingly long finish repeats the red fruit and mineral notes and lingers with serious tenacity.

The Madame Clicquot invented the technique of mixing red pinot noir into Champagne to make rose and so these (like many rose Champagnes) use that technique as opposed to leaving the pinot on the skins.

2006 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut Rosé La Grande Dame. JG 95. For both the vintage-dated and the Grande Dame Rosé bottlings, Veuve Clicquot uses their parcel of Clos Colin in the village of Bouzy for the still red wine that is used to add color to the final blend. The ’06 Grande Dame Rosé is comprised entirely of chardonnay and pinot noir, with thirty-three percent of the blend the former and sixty-seven percent of the blend the latter (with fourteen percent still pinot noir). The dosage is eight grams per liter and the wine is outstanding, offering up a pure and complex bouquet of tangerine, desiccated cherries, chalky minerality, orange peel and plenty of smokiness. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and complex, with a superb core, lovely focus and grip, elegant mousse and a very long, zesty and wide open finish. This is drinking beautifully right now, but will age very gracefully as well.

2008 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut Rosé La Grande Dame. CW 95-97. This is perhaps the best young Rose Champagne I can remember. Very fresh, frozen-berry nose, and on the palage this shows rich citrus and red fruits, and the characteristic ’08 electricity and density, dialed up to 11. Notwithstanding the massive concentration of raw material, this is pretty drinkable due to the excellent balance, saline freshness, and beautiful fruit. A real wow wine. Expensive but, dare I say, worth it.

The giant double mag of 1990 rose!

1990 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut Rosé La Grande Dame. VM 92. Salmon-orange with a pale rim. Deep, smoky aromas of strawberry, pear cider, cinnamon, earth and maple syrup. Very rich in the mouth, but also shows excellent verve for a wine with such volume; superripe flavors of strawberry, rose petal, iron and earth. In texture and size, this comes across more like a red wine than a rose Champagne. Spicy finish is long and gripping.

Marcho Farm’s Veal Loin. Chanterelle Mushrooms, Pancetta, Creme Sauce. Not usually a veal fan, but I know Wolfgang is, being Austrian — still this was fabulous.

Pasta for my wife who doesn’t eat veal.

1989 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Vintage Cave Privée. VM 92. Almonds, pastry and brioche are some of the notes that open up in 1989 Brut Cave Privée. The warm, resonant style is hugely appealing. Hints of toast and spice add complexity in a Champagne of pure texture and breadth. This is another terrific showing from Veuve Clicquot.

1982 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Vintage Cave Privée. 95 points. Wonderful expressions of toast and bread. Slight oxidation, dark hay color, lasting taste on the palate, went down smoothly. Drink.

House Made Seaweed Tamale. Main Lobster, Aonori Beurre Blanc. I wonder if this was developed at Rogue as it reminded me of the stuff from our visit to Wolfgang’s kitchen lab. Really great.

My wife got another pasta (gnocchi) where they emulated meat with mushrooms. I ate a few and quite excellent.

1979 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Vintage Rosé Cave Privée. 96 points. Delicately floral start with strawberry with ripe apple on nose and palate. Lots of power and textures start-to-finish with an incredibly persistent, long finish. Wow.

Chef’s Selection of Artisanal Cheese. Bandaged Bismark from Raw Sheep Milk. 3 Year Aged Gouda Beemster from Pasteurized Cow Milk. Saint Gil d’Albio from Pasteurized Goat Milk.

This was a great night and lots of fun. Set wine dinner meals are tough on restaurants, particularly with restrictive wine themes like “all champagne” but Spago did a fabulous job. I think they are actually one of the best at this kind of dinner. Liz Lee of Sage Society always arranges an impeccable affair. Plus our service was impeccable and our wines amazing — I left with a new appreciation for Veuve Clicquot!

The old Veuves like the giant 90, 82, 79 etc were just crazy good.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beverly Hills, Champagne, Dominique Demarville, Liz Lee, Lobster, pasta, Sage Society, Spago, Veuve Clicquot, Wolfgang Puck

Capital Dim Sum

Dec03

Restaurant: Capital Seafood Beverly Hills

Location: 50 N La Cienega Blvd #130, Beverly Hills, CA 90211. (310) 855-1234

Date: October 10, 2018 and August 1, 2019

Cuisine: Chinese Dim Sum

Rating: Good for this far west

Finding great Chinese west of the SGV has long been a problem, but the “great wall” between east and west has been cracking with lots and lots of new openings closer to (my) home.

Capital is the latest SGV place to move west, occupying the Newport Seafood Beverly Hills location that failed to work out. Not that I love even the original Newport, but Capital is fairly straight up banquet / dimsum Cantonese.

The space looks pretty Chinese, even in Beverly Hills.

Coves. Gotta have the coves!

The made to order dimsum Menu.

Sauces were great. The chili sauce and XO both awesome.

Cold Spicy jellyfish (8/1/19). Nice chew and great Szechuan-style spice flavor.

Shrimp and pork shui mai. Classic, but well done versions.

Spinach Mix Veggie Dumplings. We had a vegetarian in the house.

Shrimp Har Gow. Very nice, not too sticky either and kept together.

Tofu Skin Roll with shrimp. I like these bean curd wrapped thingies. The goji berries were a different touch.

Beancurd stuffed with shrimp (8/1/19). Great spongy textural play.

XLB (steamed pork dumpling). Solid versions of this amazing dish. A touch pasty, but oh so good.

Shrimp, scallop, and peanut dumplings. Dumplings always rule.

Baked BBQ Pork Pastry. Super rich lovely pastry and sweet BBQ pork.

Baked Honey BBQ Pork Bun (8/1/19). This is my favorite of the pork bun styles with the sweet bread stuffed with delicious sweet BBQ pork.

Stuffed Shrimp and Scallop Ball (8/1/19). The inside of this fried fellow is a shrimp and scallop cake/paste. Delicious with the provided mayo.

Steamed Cilantro Rice Noodle (Chow fun). I’ve never had it with just cilantro. A little bland but the rice noodle texture was excellent.

Minced Beef Rice Noodle (8/1/19). Tastier than the cilantro version.

Taiwanese Shrimp Egg Roll. I really liked these super hot, ultra fried, mega crispy cigarette-like spring rolls.

Deep fried mushroom egg roll.

Rice Noodle with XO Sauce. I loved these chewy rice cakes smothered in spicy XO sauce. Very soothing texture and a lot of salty umami XO flavor.

Lotus leaf wrapped sticky rice (8/1/19). Classic and filling.

Dried Shrimp and Pork Dumpling. The chewy fried bomb shaped dumplings were excellent.

Shrimp and chives dumpling (pan fried). Also greasy fried flavor.

Steamed Chinese Broccoli (8/1/19). Pretty tasty.

Roasted half duck (on the house). Really succulent and moist. Delicious.

Salt and pepper eggplant. Fried and salty and very hot (temperature) but delicious.

Seafood with Pan Fried Egg noodles (8/1/19). I’ve loved this dish for over 40 years!

On my 8/1/19 visit I brought these home-made (by me) gelati:

Strawberry Margarita Sorbetto! — like a frozen cocktail — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Strawberries from Avignon, blended with fresh lime, Reposado Tequila and Cointreau –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #strawberry #Margarita #cocktail #Tequila #Cointreau

Cioccolato Fondente Torrone Gelato — I’ve been working to squeeze the most chocolate humanly possible into a dairy gelato. This is 70% cocoa Valrhona and 100% Callebaut Chocolates — a total of 22.5% cocoa by weight — extremely intense — offset slightly by Italian soft nougat (torrone) — 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 #chocolate #valrhona #Callebaut #torrone

Overall, Capital Seafood is middling level dimsum for the SGV but excellent for Beverly Hills. Almost certainly the best west of the SGV. One of the only rivals is The Palace, which is good, but still the cart format. The manager/owner was awesome. Service was very attentive, but a little weird in that a few of the girls hovered uncomfortably close. They were trying though.

On our second visit service was clean and unobtrusive. Food was fresh and tasty. Really quite good. Not the BEST dimsum in the known world but still first rate.

For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beverly Hills, Brunch, Cantonese cuisine, Capital Seafood, Dim sum, dimsum, dumplings, hedonists, lunch, XLB

Family Spago

Aug15

Restaurant: Spago [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Location: 176 N Canon Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 385-0880

Date: June 29, 2018

Cuisine: New American

Rating: Still great

When looking for a “nice” place to go with my parents at the last minute guess what turned out to have space on a Saturday night:

This mainstay of the LA restaurant scene has managed to stay pretty current, which is impressive given it’s 3+ decades in business.
The current menu.

My mom and wife love champagne, so why not some: From my cellar: Jacques Selosse V.O. Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut. VM 94. The NV Extra Brut V.O. (Version Originale), taken from hillside parcels in Avize, Cramant and Oger, possesses striking aromatic presence allied to a rich, creamy expression of pure Chardonnay fruit. Beautifully textured and nuanced, the V.O. is superb on this night.

Bread.

Awesome crispy seed breads

Yogurt pesto like dip which was great.

Summer Endive Salad. Date Purée, Pine Nuts, Snap Peas, Baby Asparagus, Feta, Lemon-Herb Vinaigrette.

Heirloom Tomato Salad, burrata “Mozzarella”, basil-pinenut Aioli, Balsamic, Shaved Onions.

Big Eye Tuna and Kampachi “Chirashi Box”. Salmon Pearls, Ora King Salmon, Jalapeño-Yuzu Gel. Very good, nearly as good as at a top Japanese place, just very small.

Steamed Striped Bass “Hong Kong” Style. Bok Choy, Lotus Root, Sweet Soy, Jasmine Rice.

From my cellar: 1996 Domaine Jean Grivot Echezeaux. VM 92. Deep red-ruby. Very subtle, classy aromas of cassis, raspberry, coffee, mace and cardamom. Velvety, sweet dark berry and floral fruit offers enticing sweetness with perfectly integrated balancing acidity. Really silky and mouthfilling. Explodes and persists on the very firm aftertaste. Like the Beaumonts, this is quintessential ’96. Delicious.

agavin: 96 Tight. But pened up after a few min and was delicious.

Handmade Agnolotti with Sweet White Corn, Mascarpone, Parmigiano Reggiano. These are to die for.

And even better with truffles!

Ricotta Gnocchi. Braised Veal Ragout, Pecorino Romano, Parsley.

Pan-Roasted Half Jidori Chicken. Wild mushrooms, Yukon Gold Poato Puree, Natural Jus. (modded to reduce carbs so green beans instead of potatoes).

Devil’s Gulch Ranch Rabbit. Bacon Brioche Stuffing, Chanterelle Mushrooms, Shoulder Ragout.

And a little side of rabbit gnocchi.

The dessert menu.

A Sweet Take Away (6 piece). Plus some chocolate meringues.

Overall, a great dinner. Service was good, although not like it was when I came with Vahan 6 months before. Then we had all these bonus amuses etc. This was just a normal 5-top dinner. But it was very good.

I brought some good wines too 🙂

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beverly Hills, Family, Spago, Wine

Burgundy at Maude

Aug02

Restaurant: Maude [1, 2]

Location: 212 South Beverly Drive. Beverly Hills, CA. (310) 859-3418

Date: June 20, 2018

Cuisine: French Californian

Rating: Great Theme

When it opened several years ago, Maude was a big deal on the LA restaurant scene. For quite some time they had a unique “one ingredient, one month” theme. I had gone 4 years ago in late 2014. But that was back several chefs ago, and now-a-days they have a “season” (of 3 months I think) with a wine theme and food to match. Reversing their early hesitation about corkage, if you bring on theme — you now get free corkage. yay! And when we went it was Burgundy!

It’s still located on Beverly in Beverly Hills.

It’s still cute inside.

Quite small with an open kitchen.

Here is the Burgundy menu.

Some Bruno Paillard Champagne Rosé Brut Première Cuvée off their list.
And a plate of canapes.

An asparagus tart, some kind of foie crisp. A delicious savory macaron, and gougers. All very lovely.

2004 Henri Boillot Chevalier-Montrachet. BH 96. This is gorgeously pure and incredibly focused aromatically with an incredible breadth of aromas, from white flower to ripe orchard fruits nuanced by a panoply of spice notes. The unbelievably intense flavors are deep and strikingly transparent yet the level of dry extract this enjoys is nothing short of remarkable. The crystalline finish doesn’t just end but rather its ends with one complex wave after another and the sense of energy and drive here is palpable. Flat out terrific.

Vegetables warmed with goat’s butter. Not the kind of dish I would ordinarily order, but these were lovely vegetables, blanched probably, crunchy, and made better by the light butter sauce.

From my cellar: 1995 Robert Ampeau & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. 94 points. A good bottle, with lots of creme brûlée.

Escargot in herb butter. I love snails, and particularly the classic presentation with lots of garlic (and butter). These were excellent.

Brioche to complement.

Fred brought (blind): 1979 Domaine Roulot Bourgogne-Aligoté. 96 points. Fred served this blind and we thought it was old chard — amazingly it was Aligote! And Roulot. Totally gorgeous even at almost 40 years! None of us had ever had an aligote this old.

1987 Louis Jadot Montrachet. Past it’s prime (by a lot).

Prawn Bisque. Gorgeous bisque. Rich and delightful.

1955 Jacques Arnoul Freres Clos Vougeot. 93 points. Still in really good shape. Tertiary, but delicious.

Turbot, ham, parsley. Interesting prep with the ham broth and parsley pesto.

1990 Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier Chambolle-Musigny. 93 points. Bright disc with medium red/orange robe and orange rim. Absolutely beautiful nose of ripe plum, cherry, Asian spices and light cedar. Soft tannins, good acidity, medium-bodied on palate. Similar flavors as nose, essentially exploding at the mid-palate. Long, slightly acidic finish. This wine has evolved beautifully.

Charcuterie of Rabbit. And they REALLy mean rabbit — all of the rabbit!

Fred brought: 1992 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Bonnes Mares. 90 points. In a really nice spot right now. Nice spice and earth and bright cherry aromas. A little savory. Nicely resolved and no danger of decline.

From my cellar: 1998 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Bonnes Mares. BH 93. This may be one of the finest Bonnes-Mares I have ever tasted from de Vogüé and it’s as dense as the 1991. Packed with kirsch-laced fruit and possessing an intense sappiness with an almost painfully intense flavor precision and a forceful, not to be denied, persistence on the finish. I literally asked to pause a few minutes before proceeding to the Musigny, as the finish would not stop. Positively serene in its power and quiet understatement. In short, for all its greatness, it doesn’t shout at you, it just quietly and confidently delivers a remarkable performance. While the fruit and tannins have evolved somewhat, this still remains a baby and it’s quite possible that another 5 or so years will not be enough to really see this close to its peak.

Roasted Foie Gras with Peas and Morels. Excellent dish.

1996 Domaine Dujac Charmes-Chambertin. BH 91. An almost fully mature nose of earth and now mostly secondary red berry fruit aromas is followed by refined, succulent and balanced medium-bodied flavors of superior length. This is a successful ’96 that has aged well and has entered its prime drinking period which should last for the next decade, perhaps a bit longer. Consistent notes. One nit: the last 3 bottles that I have had were slightly cloudy and while it did not affect the nose or the texture, it could be a source of concern going forward.

Roast Lamb. Buttered Potatoes, spinach.

The lineup for the first part of the evening…

Then we moved upstairs. This is a new thing for Maude post format change and is really great. For cheese and dessert you move upstairs to the lounge.

Cheese board.

2011 Domaine Dujac Bonnes Mares. BH 94. This is highly expressive, indeed unusually so for very young Bonnes Mares, and offers up nothing short of a kaleidoscopic array of scents that include a wide range of floral, earth, stone and mostly red berry fruit aromas. There is fine if not special density and focused power to the big-bodied flavors that are overtly powerful and quite muscular yet there is no trace of rusticity or absence of refinement to the hugely long finish. This is a succulent yet formidable Bonnes Mares that should amply reward those who have the (considerable) patience to wait for its full maturity.

agavin: babykill, but we opened it anyway

Here was my cheese plate (part 1), we all got seconds!

We bought this unusual german pinot off the list — well right out of the cellar: 2007 Weingut Keller Spätburgunder Trocken ‘S’. 90 points. Could be 93 in a few years. Light red colour, cherry and rose petal nose, surprisingly strong and bold on the palate, again cherry notes and a little bit blueberry. Long finish of almost 50 seconds. Next one next year.

And we bought this too! 2002 Domaine Dujac Clos St. Denis. BH 93. A very floral and high-toned nose combines with aromas of earth, underbrush and a certain animale quality followed by rich, full-bodied, refined and notably elegant flavors that possess a subtle and understated complexity plus considerable grace. I very much like the balance here and this too is remarkably seductive yet sufficiently well structured to suggest up to a decade of potential improvement.

Now on to dessert. They have this gorgeous pastry buffet that you can help yourself too, repeatedly. Not that you paw over it. You point at stuff and the nice lady makes you a plate (or 2 or 3)!

Chocolate and hazelnut cakes.

Apple thingies.

Chocolate Tart — awesome.

A Vienna style torte.

A berry pastry thing.

Chocolate dipped Madeline’s.

Lemon Meringue Pie!

Mini macarons.

This was my first plate. I’ll be ashamed to admit it wasn’t my last!

Oh, and they have little “presents” for the morning.

I found this new format for Maude much more pleasant. The food was good. Some dishes were excellent, really good, and some just solid. The service was fabulous. We had incredible wine, a few from the list, most we brought. The whole no corkage thing is a welcome relief. I loved the 2 locations thing and the loungey location upstairs. All in all a super fun evening!

This was the first time in a while we had a near full complement of the Foodie Club, including regular members myself, Erick, Larry, and Fred but also with longtime core members like Walker and Amanda who always take it up a notch.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Beverly Hills, Burgundy, Curtis Stone, Foodie Club, Maude

Art and Ruinart

May31

Food: Petrossian Beverly Hills

Location: Gallery on Robertson Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90048.

Date: April 23, 2018

Cuisine: Caviar +

Rating: Great food

Liz Lee of Sage Society organizes some of the best wine maker dinners. Tonight’s showcases Ruinart Champagne.

While the food is from Petroissian down the street (yay caviar), the actually event location is actually at LeClaireur, a private gallery space.

We wind upstairs through the chic and elegant gallery to find this lovely spot.

And the impeccably set table.

A wider view.

It’s about 2 seconds before our first glass of Ruinart — poor us.

Photos so well in these surrounds.

And whoever uses these artsy glasses must have a very careful dishwasher — we didn’t dare.

Love the colors.

The evening even included some lovely modern violin.

Our menu for tonight.

Reception was covered by NV Ruinart Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut (which I subsequently bought a bunch of). VM 92. Pale yellow. Complex, high-pitched aromas of orange zest, lemon pith, iodine, smoky minerals, anise and jasmine. Sappy and tactile on the palate, offering impressive volume to its ripe citrus and orchard fruit flavors accented by smoke and minerals. Finishes tangy and long, with lingering smokiness and an echo of anise.

Smoked salmon with crème fraiche on cucumber.

Caviar with crème fraiche on blinis — had about 10 of these.

Read to sit.

Even smells great.

The incomparable Liz Lee, owner of Sage Society gives a bit of an introduction. She really knows how to put together an event where all the details are perfect.

This lovely woman is Julia Fitzroy, Western Regional Director of Ruinart/Dom Perignon.

And here is Ruinart Chef de Cave, Frédéric Panaiotis. He filled us in on all sorts of interesting details about Ruinart winemaking. I find these dinners are a great opportunity to explore the diverse individual house styles in Champagne.

And organizing the wine service is my friend Jeridan, who is now the brand ambassador for Ruinart!

The crew at the table.

Can’t resist another flower photo.

2006 Ruinart Champagne Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs. VM 96+. One of the highlights among this year’s new tête de cuvée releases, 2006 the Brut Blanc de Blancs Dom Ruinart is a powerful, almost tannic Champagne built on structure and intensity. Then again, much of the Chardonnay here comes from the Montagne de Reims, where wines tend to naturally be quite broad. Even though it’s now ten years old, the 2006 is much less expressive than either the 2002 or 2004 at a similar stage. I expect it will be quite a few years before the 2006 is truly ready to drink. Over the years I have been fortunate to taste Dom Ruinart back to the 1970s, and while I don’t think the 2006 will need decades to be at its best, it certainly does look like a long distance runner. There is plenty of citrus and floral driven intensity, although the bouquet is less toasty and open than it often is. In short, the 2006 Dom Ruinart is a wine for those who can be patient. It will be a fine investment for those looking for a wine to cellar to commemorate special occasions.

Petrossian Caviar Tasting Flight!

I wish I had written down the 6 varieties of caviar. The strongest, briniest was my favorite — but I like full flavor.

All were great though, and of course a perfect pairing with the champagne.

2004 Ruinart Champagne Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs. VM 94. Vivid yellow. Pungent, heady aromas of ripe pear, orange pith, brioche and toasty lees, with a stony nuance adding lift and urgency. Smooth and expansive on the palate, offering intense citrus and orchard fruit flavors that pick up minerality and smokiness with air. Finishes sappy, penetrating and very long, with slow-building sweetness and a note of buttered toast.

Blue Crab, avocado, grapefruit, tarragon. Wow, what a dish. Look at that giant pile of the best Petrossian caviar.

And a bunch of blue crab below. This was killer!

2004 Ruinart Champagne Dom Ruinart Brut Rosé. VM 95. A wine of exquisite beauty, the 2004 Dom Ruinart Brut Rosé has the pedigree to drink well for several decades. The 2004 is an especially vinous, textured Rosé. The berry, floral, spice and mineral-drenched flavors are finely sketched in this dramatic, strikingly beautiful Rosé from Ruinart.

Raviolo. Morels, English Pea Puree, Parmesan. The only bad thing about this dish was that there was only one raviolo! Otherwise, it was pretty much perfect.

NV Ruinart Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. Light orange. Sharply focused red berry and tangerine scents are complicated by suggestions of allspice and cinnamon, with a hint of smokiness in the background. Sappy and minerally on the palate, offering fresh strawberry and blood orange flavors lifted by juicy acidity. Packs a serious punch but carries no excess weight and finishes stony and very long, with echoing red berry character.

Scallops, lobster sauce, roasted fennel. Another amazing dish.

1998 Ruinart Champagne Dom Ruinart Brut Rosé. VM 94. (85% chardonnay from grand crus in the Cotes des Blancs and Montagne de Reims and 15% grand cru pinot noir from Sillery and Verzenay that was made as still wine and blended into the final cuvee ; Lot AGBEA0): Orange-pink. Pungent aromas of dried red berries, orange zest and buttered toast, with a suave floral overtone. The palate offers smoky, expansive strawberry and candied citrus fruit flavors, plus suggestions of rose pastille, brioche and iodine. Finishes smoky, spicy and very long, with excellent clarity and an echo of juicy red berries.

So good I actually bought a magnum!

1988 Ruinart Champagne Dom Ruinart Brut Rosé. VM 91. The 1988 Dom Ruinart Rosé is totally surprising,. Sweet tobacco, worn-in leather, earthiness, bramble and dried cherries meld together in the glass. The aromas and flavors are fully developed, yet the wine retains incredible density and pure power. Readers who enjoy fully mature Champagnes will adore the 1988 Dom Ruinart Rosé. The 1988 needs to be drunk sooner rather than later, as there is no upside from keeping bottles further. This is a rare vintage in which acidity was higher than alcohol!

Salmon, roasted rainbow carrots, carrot orange beurre blanc. A lovely butter poached salmon.

Speaking of salmon, look at the color of these champagnes.

Tete de Moine. Special “head of the monk” cheese. I’d never had this particular one of France’s 500+ cheeses. I liked it a lot and the texture was very interesting.

I even got a second chunk by having Frédéric show me “how” the flower-like shape is made.

Running out of steam and a lot of Champagne later.

The full lineup.

Another stellar dinner from Liz and Sage Society! Very educational with Frédéric Panaiotis there and the way in which Liz has arranged the wines. The gallery setting tonight was extra lovely and really took the whole event to the next level.

And Liz does an absolutely amazing job with the food pairings. Petrossian’s food was amazing tonigt. Particularly the crab dish which was incredible. I’ll have to go back with a smaller group to Petrossian proper.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beverly Hills, Caviar, Champagne, crab, Liz Lee, Petrossian, Ruinart, Sage Society

Quick Eats – Summer Fish

Apr28

Restaurant: Summer Fish & Rice

Location: 201 S Robertson Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90211. (424) 279-9111

Date: March 19, 2018

Cuisine: Casual Sushi

Rating: Decent Casual Sushi

I popped into this placed looking for a quick lunch on my way back from the doctor.

And only after I did realized it’s owned by the same people as Summer Buffalo.

Longish menu. Very casual.

The usual ginger and wasabi (actually probably just green ground horseradish)

Sashimi to start. Attractive. South Asian influences?

Very mushroomy miso.

The sushi took forever (relatively) to come and arrived in 1-2 big flights.

It was fine, Sugarfish level, but I don’t like it in big flights, prefer 1-2 at a time.

Hand-roll was good except for being soy paper wrapped — so Beverly Hills.
This was better. I love the toro takuan combo.

Overall, Summer Fish was in that new vein of casual sushi joints like Sugarfish or Sasebune express. The decor was very updated. I had to wait AWHILE though — and the place was empty — which defeats the point. Food was fine but not super cheap either. So I’d only go back if I was right there and in the mood. The menu was big though and I’m sure if it is crowded there are lots of attractive women taking a break from their Robertson shopping.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Beverly Hills, Summer Fish, Sushi

Dirty Dozen Cabernet

Oct02

Restaurant: Doma [1, 2]

Location: 362 N Camden Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 277-7346

Date: August 16, 2017

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Good food, big “formal” space

The Dirty Dozen is a sub group of the Hedonists that does themed blind tasting meals a couple times a year.

Tonight’s was again at Doma, a newish (2012) Beverly Hills Italian very much in a 90s (high end) vibe. The theme — again oddly for Italian — is California Cabernet. And even more oddly, Doma is “closed” supposedly for a month, but a skeleton crew came in and cooked our dinner. The manager pretty much served us. lol.

The Doma interior is large, formal, very white tablecloth and so different than more hip Italians like Bestia.

The white wines tonight were not blind and were served before dinner proper.

Jen brought this bonus: 2006 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne. VM 97.5. 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.

A bonus from my cellar: 2015 Vietti Roero Arneis. 90 points. Light, fresh, bright. Lemon meringue and green apples. Some mineral notes.

Flight 1:

Onion, balsamic, fontina cheese flatbread. Delicious. I could have eaten a whole pizza of these.

Warren brought: 2002 Blank Cabernet Sauvignon. RP 98. VM 88. This beautiful hillside vineyard is situated behind the Dominus Estate in Yountville. The 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon Paradise Hills Vineyard (100% Cabernet Sauvignon) has turned out even better than I predicted seven years ago. Made by Helen Turley when she was the consultant at Blankiet from tightly spaced, steep hillside vineyards planted by her husband, John Wetlaufer, it exhibits a beautiful nose of flowers, high quality unsmoked cigar tobacco, creme de cassis, chocolate, espresso and blueberries. Extraordinarily young, fresh and fabulously concentrated, this wine still impresses with its intensity, complexity and youthfulness. It will probably not peak in quality for a decade, and has 20-30 years of further aging potential.

agavin: eucalyptus, hot. 8 votes.

Dave brought: 2002 Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve. RP 95. Put them all together and you have the 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve, a sensational 14,000-case cuvee that is one of the benchmarks for what Napa Valley is capable of achieving. Its dense purple color is followed by copious notes of smoky barbecue, creme de cassis, white chocolate, blackberries, charcoal and truffles. Full-bodied, fleshy and succulent, with sweet tannins in the finish, this 2002 has not yet hit full maturity. Give it another 2-4 years of cellaring, and drink it over the following two decades. I asked the winemaking team what the final blend was for the 2002 Private Reserve, and to the best of their recollection, the largest component was from Steinhauer Ranch (50%), followed by St. Helena Home Ranch (23%) and tiny percentages of Bancroft, Rancho del Oso, Chabot, Marston, and some Cabernet Franc from Howell Mountain.

agavin: oak, hot. 7 votes.

Yarom brought: 1999 Philip Togni Cabernet Sauvignon. RP 91. I was never as enthusiastic about the 1999 vintage for Napa Cabernet as some of my colleagues, and the late-released 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate displays the green, herbaceous element that was one of my disquieting observations about this vintage when it was first reviewed. Still very young, with a deeper color than the 2007 with just a touch of lightening at the edge, it reveals notes of forest floor, roasted herbs, black currants, and a hint of mint. Medium to full-bodied, pure, and extremely youthful, it has another 20 years ahead of it.

agavin: corked in my opinion. 0 votes.

Flight 2:

Tartar with egg. Solid.

LEC brought: 1994 Mayacamas Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. JG 92+. The 1994 Mayacamas cabernet sauvignon is another stellar bottle in the making, that offers up a classic aromatic mélange of black cherries, dark berries, chipotle peppers, a fine, complex base of soil, cigar ash and woodsmoke in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and rock solid at the core, with impeccable focus and balance, bright acids and plenty of ripe, perfectly-integrated tannin on the long, complex and youthful finish. This superb bottle will need at least another six of seven years in the cellar to fully blossom, and over time should prove to be one of the very best vintages of Mayacamas cabernet from the decade of the nineties. If only all of the top wineries in California were still making wines with this sort of pedigree and cellaring potential! Fine juice.

agavin: bright and fruity. 2 votes.

From my cellar: 1998 Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Martha’s Vineyard. JG 94+. This was the first time that I had the pleasure to taste the 1998 vintage of Martha’s Vineyard and the wine is excellent. The bouquet wafts from the glass in a ripe and classic constellation of sappy cherries, blood orange, a touch of red currant, eucalyptus, a fine base of soil, cedar and fine spicy complexity in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and now nicely open for business as it closes in on its twentieth birthday, with a superb core, impeccable balance and a very long, complex and moderately tannic finish. A classic in the making.

agavin: nice, drier, long finish, eucalyptus. 10 votes. 3rd place overall. One of my better rankings.

Erick brought: 1995 Colgin Cabernet Sauvignon Herb Lamb Vineyard. RP 98. I realize perfection in wine, like perfection in anything, is in the eyes of the beholder, and there are those who believe perfection is simply unobtainable. But in my mind, the 1996 and 1995 come close to perfection. Why? First of all, these extraordinary expressions of Cabernet Sauvignon are awesomely concentrated and endowed, while at the same time elegant and amazingly harmonious. The equilibrium between the wines’ component parts – new oak, alcohol, tannin, acidity, and extract – is right on, with nothing out of place. The 1996 and 1995 could be mistaken for identical twins, although close examination reveals that the 1995 has a slightly firmer tannic edge, and the 1996 slightly lower acidity. However, both possess Colgin’s tell-tale opaque black/purple color, phenomenal aromatics consisting of blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, cassis, subtle new oak, and a notion of floral scents (is it acacia or lilac?). In the mouth, both wines are full-bodied, remarkably supple and opulent, with a purity and presence of fruit that must be tasted to be believed. Their finishes last for 45+ seconds. I suspect each of these wines will get even better over the next 5-10 years before reaching their full plateau of maturity, where they should remain for two decades or more. They are the quintessential examples of Cabernet Sauvignons that marry power with elegance. As a friend said after tasting a Colgin Cabernet Sauvignon, “they float like a butterfly, but sting like a bee.” I am not sure Mohammad Ali or Ann Colgin would agree with that, but it paints another picture of these extraordinary wines. These wines are made by Helen Turley, the prodigiously talented winemaker/consultant.

agavin: herby, tart, menthol. 11 votes. 2nd place overall.

Flight 2:

Walnut and radicchio risotto. I love risotto, and this was well cooked, but the walnuts could have been better and the radicchio gave it a touch of bitterness.

Avi brought: 1997 Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon. RP 98. A blend of 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc, the 1997 is just short of perfection from this great vintage in Napa Valley. A spectacular wine, it was the first made by Rosemary Cakebread. Production was quite high, as the new plantings started to fully produce, with 4,800+ cases declared. This is wine that fills the olfactory senses with gorgeous ripeness, blueberries, black raspberries, blackberries and cassis, while spring flowers and a touch of oak still lingers in the aromatics. When the wine hits the palate, the extraordinary intensity, purity and multi-dimensional complexity all seem to converge with a cascade of fruit, glycerin and richness. Like most Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignons, it is only 13.8% alcohol. This is a magnificent wine, a young adolescent in the scheme of its potentially fascinating evolution and should have a good 25-30+ years left in it – although it’s strutting its stuff at present. Certainly in the first two decades of Spottswoode wines this is clearly one of the most compelling efforts.

agavin: deep purple, rhone-like. 4 votes.

Robin brought: 2001 Paul Hobbs Cabernet Sauvignon. RP 91-94. The 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa has hit its plateau of maturity where it should rest for another decade. Sweet, juicy, sexy black and red currant fruit intertwined with licorice, earth and subtle oak aromas jump from the glass of this dense plum/purple-colored wine. Attractive, round, fleshy and voluptuously textured, this fully mature, loaded 2001 can be drunk now and over the next ten years.

agavin: deep. 4 votes.
Larry brought: 2001 Dominus. RP 98. A brilliant showing for Christian Moueix’s well-known Napanook Vineyard, the 2001 Dominus is a blend of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 10% Petit Verdot. A classic in the making, this is a flawless, seamless example of elegant, complex Napa Cabernet Sauvignon that possesses a Bordeaux-like personality. This gorgeous, sexy, opulent, dense ruby/purple-colored wine reveals sweet caramel, mocha, creme de cassis and kirsch notes intermixed with a hint of espresso roast as well as underbrush. Ripe, long and full-bodied with well-integrated tannin, acidity, alcohol and wood, this prodigious 2001 is drinkable now and over the next 25+ years given this estate’s longevity track record. A virtually perfect wine, it is one of the most complex 2001s at present.

Flight 3:

Parpadelle with ragu Bolognese. Very good, although not quite as good as Felix.

John brought: 2005 Colgin Cariad Proprietary Red Wine. RP 100. The blend that Colgin fashions from three vineyards owned by David Abreu (Madrona, Thorevilos and Howell Mountain) is called Cariad. The 2005 Proprietary Red Cariad consists of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc and 9% Petit Verdot. Offering up spring flowers and garden aromas, sweet blueberry and black raspberry fruit, a touch of charcoal embers, graphite and background toast, it is fleshy and full-bodied, and again, meriting a three-digit score. This is absolutely remarkable wine. As it sat in the glass, it developed some rather compelling chocolaty, licorice undertones. This is a great classic to drink over the next 20-25 years. By the way, for those interested, the cooperage generally chosen is dominated by Taransaud barrels, but there are at least four different coopers.

agavin: hot. 5 votes.

Brian brought: 2006 Shafer Hillside Select. RP 92-94. A slightly more compact version of the great Hillside, but nevertheless youthful, the 2006 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select has a dense purple color, some notes of damp earth, cedar wood, forest floor, red and black currants, and toast. Some austere tannins kick in in the finish, but the wine is full-bodied, ripe and rich. An outstanding effort, but not one of the monumental vintages for Hillside Select, it should be drunk over the next 20 years.

agavin: rich, hot, long finish, tropical skittles. 32 votes. First place of the night. Brian gets the free dinner!

Amanda brought: 2007 Bond Vecina Proprietary Red Wine. RP 100. A perfect wine, the 2007 Vecina provides a prodigious display of blackberries, charcoal, black currants, burning embers and a La Mission-Haut-Brion-like hot rock/gravelly character. The most tannic as well as most concentrated and layered of the 2007s, this is a long-term, but utterly brilliant wine. In many ways it reminds me of the Harlan Estate itself given its prodigious build and potential for extended longevity. It merits 4-5 years of bottle age and should drink well for three decades thereafter.

agavin: super dense, eucalyptus, coconut. 8 votes.
Mark brought: 2007 Maybach Materium. RP 99. The prodigious 2007 Materium exhibits an even more opaque purple color, and ratchets up the level of intensity and aromatic complexity. Blackberry, black raspberry, blueberry, and cassis aromas intermixed with notes of crushed rocks, spring flowers, and toasty new oak are found in this beauty. Outstanding intensity along with full-bodied power and beautifully integrated acids, tannins, alcohol, and wood suggest this 2007 should hit its peak in 5-7 years, and evolve for three decades or more.

agavin: dense & hot. 9 votes.

Only here did I start to get full. Veal with potatoes. Fine, but not exciting.

Dave was getting hungry also before this course and ran down the block and brought back parmesan truffle fries!

Flight D for Dessert:

2003 Château La Tour Blanche La Tour Blanche. RP 92-96. The La Tour Blanche ‘03 offers yellow flowers, melted candle wax and honey on the nose with Muscat-like aromas developing in the glass. The palate is well-balanced on the entry with lemon curd and honey notes, though it needs just a little more acidity to give it tension and freshness. The finish is quite linear, springs no surprises, and just drifts a little when you seek more tautness and race. Still, this is a pleasurable, if not profound La Tour Blanche. Drink now-2020+ Tasted April 2013.

Apple bread with ice cream. Tasted like French Toast.

My cryptic notes.

The lineupThe gang.

Overall the food was pretty good. Not as good as last time — noting that they are technically closed. Service was slow despite the place being empty, as the manager pretty much did it himself, but they were extremely nice and accommodating.

Wines were solid for the Dirty Dozen and being Cabernet (which I don’t really like). Only one “bad” or spoiled and a whole mess that were great.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beverly Hills, Cabernet Sauvignon, California Cabernet, Dirty Dozen, Doma, formal, hedonists, Italian cuisine, Wine

Drappier at Petrossian

Jul07

Restaurant: Petrossian Beverly Hills

Location: 321 Robertson Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90048. (310) 271-6300

Date: June 3, 2017

Cuisine: Caviar +

Rating: Perfect food for Champagne!

Liz Lee of Sage Society organizes some of the best wine maker dinners. Tonight’s showcases Drappier Champagne, a house in Southern Champagne near Chablis that splits the line between House and Grower.

And what goes better with Champagne than caviar? Not much.So she hosted it with a special meal in the private room at Petrossian Beverly Hills.

Before we step into our room I’ll show the front area which splits caviar bar and restaurant.
All sorts of high end delectables like macarons.

Chocolates.

Tons of caviar of course.

Fancy salts, etc.

And Louis XIII.

The private room is lovely.

NV Drappier Champagne Carte d’Or Brut. VM 89. Light yellow-gold. Pungent aromas of orange pith, dried apple and toasty lees, with a hint of chamomile in the background. Fleshy and broad on entry, then tighter in the middle, offering bitter pear skin and quinine flavors and a touch of blood orange. Finishes with good grip and cut, leaving a subtle smoky note behind.

While we sip champagne some foie gras gougers.

And buckwheat blini with with creme fraiche and caviar.

The first round of “official” Champy (more details later).

Tonight’s special menu, so long it ran to both sides of the paper!

And a special kosher-style variant for my wife!

Here is Liz introducing our guest:

On the left: Charline Drappier of Drappier Champagne! Charline is 8th generation (I think) owning and operating Drappier.

This flight is all zero dosage offerings:

NV Drappier Champagne Brut Nature Dosage Zero. VM 91. Light yellow. Vibrant quince, orange zest and green apple aromas are complemented by smoky minerals and honeysuckle. Stony, sharply focused citrus and orchard fruit flavors show very good energy, turning juicier and deeper with air and picking up a melony quality and a hint of anise. Finishes on intense notes of dusty minerals and ginger, with very good clarity and persistence.

NV Drappier Champagne Brut Nature Zero Dosage Sans Ajout de Soufre. VM 89. The NV Brut Nature Pinot Noir Zero Dosage André et Michel Sans Ajout de Souffre is the same wine as the Brut Nature Pinot Noir Zero Dosage (although from different base vintages) vinified and aged with no sulfur. This is a relatively soft, caressing zero dosage Champagne with a relatively round, open core of candied, perfumed fruit. Tasting the two NV Brut Natures together it is hard to say with precision how much of the wines’ characters are due to the sulfur treatments versus the underlying vintages themselves. Sweet, earthy tones add a touch of complexity to a very Aube-like expression of Pinot.

NV Drappier Champagne Rose Brut Nature. VM 90. Pale orange. Mineral-accented red berries and citrus fruits on the nose, complemented by hints of candied rose and white pepper. Stony and precise, offering lively strawberry and orange zest flavors that expand slowly with air. Closes spicy, stony and tight, with very good clarity and floral persistence.

Chilled Shellfish.

Oyster with Ponzu.
Blue Crab with Green Apple & Avocado.

Maine Lobster with Creme Fraiche. Perfect with the rose! Really nice and meaty lobster.

Quinoa Salad, smoked almonds.

This flight is all blended Champagne with different grapes and styles:

NV Drappier Champagne Charles de Gaulle Brut. VM 91. Light yellow-gold. Potent, mineral-tinged Meyer lemon, pear and buttered toast aromas show very good clarity and a hint of anise. Sappy and focused on the palate, offering bitter pear skin and blood orange flavors that deepen and expand with air. Rich yet lithe Champagne with strong finishing cut, lift and stony persistence.

NV Drappier Champagne Blanc de Blancs “Signature”. VM 91. Pale gold. Candied lemon, lime pith and white flowers on the fragrant nose, with deeper orange and buttered toast qualities emerging with air. Juicy flavors of pear and Meyer lemon show impressive depth and cut, with a gingery nuance adding energy. Bright, focused and mineral-driven on the clinging finish, which leaves behind notes of honeysuckle and brioche.

NV Drappier Champagne Quattuor IV – Blanc de Quatre Blancs. VM 91. The NV Brut Blanc de Quatre Blancs Quattuor is laced with hazlenuts, almonds, orange peel and dried pears. There is an attractive, oxidative quality that mkes the the NV Quatre Blancs quite appealing. A gracious, crystalline finish adds considerable finesse and weightlessness in this expressive, layered Champagn., The wine keeps getting better and better with time in the glass, so some advance aeration is probably a good idea.

Cool knife.

Toasted Brioche.

Smoked Fish Plate. Tsar Cut Natural Salmon, Smoked Sturgeon, Cold Smoked Trout, Creme Fraiche.

Smoked Fish Plate, Tsar Cut Natural Salmon, Smoked Black Cod, Cold Smoked Trout, Creme Fraiche.

2006 Drappier Champagne Grande Sendrée. VM 92. Vivid yellow. Potent citrus pith, poached pear and floral scents are underscored by a smoky mineral quality and pick up a buttery nuance with air. Fleshy and dry on the palate, offering ripe orchard and citrus fruit flavors and a deeper suggestion of buttered toast. Shows very good energy and thrust on an extremely long finish of building florality and spiciness.

2008 Drappier Champagne Grande Sendrée. 91 points. Big bodied, lots of newly baked bread, yellow apples, slightly nutty, softish – yet decent acidity.

Caviar Egg Royale. Soft Scrambled Egg, Caviar, Chive. A purer version than the richer Melisse take (with creme fraiche). This tastes like omelet with caviar — lots of caviar.

Celery Root Soup, candied chestnuts, croutons, chives. Really nice veggie soup, very creamy.

NV Drappier Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 89. Dark orange-pink. Exotically perfumed scents of raspberry, pungent herbs, candied rose and smoky minerals. Fleshy and supple in texture, showing a floral accent to its red berry compote and tangerine flavors. Lush and broad but lively too, finishing with a hint of spiciness and good floral persistence.

2008 Drappier Champagne Grande Sendrée Rosé. JG 94. The 2008 Drappier “Grande Sendrée” Brut Rosé is composed of a blend of ninety percent pinot noir and ten percent chardonnay. The wine is produced using only first pressing juice, with the saignée method utilized with a three day maceration for the pinot noir, before the chardonnay is added. The 2008 was finished with a dosage of six grams per liter and was aged six years sur latte. The bouquet is outstanding, offering up a superb synthesis of delicacy and complexity in its constellation of wild strawberries, white cherries, wheat toast, dried rose petals, a lovely base of chalky soil and gentle smokiness in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, crisp and complex, with a fine core, elegant mousse, brisk acids and excellent focus and grip on the very, very long and youthfully zesty finish. Very refined juice that will only improve with further bottle age.

1996 Drappier Champagne Grande Sendrée Rosé. 92 points. Very full, rich, and vibrant… many years left on this great grower champagne and a historic year.

Beef Tartare. Prime Flat Iron Steak, Capers, shallots, chives, crostini. Very nice tartar.

Beet Tartare, red beets, crostini.

2002 Drappier Champagne Carte d’Or Brut.

1995 Drappier Champagne Carte d’Or Brut. VM 93. The 1995 Brut Carte d’Or, tasted from magnum, is gorgeous today. Light honey, smoke, dried pears, spices and toasted almonds are some of the many nuances found in this rich, textured wine. This magnum was disgorged in December 2008, which has allowed the wine to develop gorgeous tertiary complexity. The 1995 is in a gorgeous place. It can be enjoyed today, or cellared for another decade-plus, especially of readers want to experience more tertiary nuance. This big, broad-shouldered Champagne captures the essence of the Drappier style to the fullest.
Grilled Octopus. Beurre Blanc, Leek Fondue. Super tender.Truffles Risotto. Very mild and spring-like.

1990 Drappier Champagne Grande Sendrée. VM 93. The 1990 Brut Grande Sendrée shows the warmth of the vintage in its dried apricots, flowers and honey, with pretty suggestions of mint on the finish that add an element of freshness. Soft and enveloping throughout, the 1990 Grande Sendrée impresses for its overall balance, restraint and enveloping sense of harmony.

1989 Drappier Champagne Carte d’Or Brut. 91 points.

Seared Foie Gras & Yellowfin Tuna. Ginger Ponzu, Cilantro, Sesame, Nori. Really nice combo of bright acidic fish (because of the ponzu) and the foie.

Yellowfin tuna, ginger ponzu, cilantro, sesame, nori.

1979 Drappier Champagne Carte d’Or Brut. VM 87. Pale copper color. Mature, enticing aromas of meal, toffee, brioche and melted butter. Creamy, toasty and soft on the palate; completely resolved and best suited for near-term drinking. Lacks real grip and verve but offers lovely ripeness and good depth of flavor. A bottle of 1969 Carte d’Or Brut was well past its best days.

agavin: under rated, really very very good

1976 Drappier Champagne Carte d’Or Brut. 92 points. Rather youthful, minty, ripe, honeyed nose – honey on a piece of rye bread. Very friendly and likeable.

1959 Drappier Champagne Carte d’Or Brut. 95 points. Super youthful. Very lively beautiful old moose. Long Carmelly finish.

Cheese from the Beverly Hills Cheese Shop. St Angel triple creme, cow’s milk. Le Secrete de Compostelle, raw sheep’s milk from Basque. Comte, 36-month aged raw cow’s milk from France.

The lineup.

And the water lineup.

Another stellar dinner from Liz and Sage Society! Very educational with Charline Drappier there and the way in which Liz has arranged the wines. Different flights explored different aspects of the Drappier style: like zero dosage, the broader blended style, or the more focused vintage styles. We wandered across the decades as well and the older vintage wines showed particularly well.

Plus Liz does an absolutely amazing job with the food pairings. There was plenty of food, and lots of different items, not the anemic 3-4 courses some people do with giant flights. Petrossian’s food was very good too. I’ll have to go back with a smaller group but it certainly won’t be this epic if I do!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Beverly Hills, Caviar, Champagne, Charline Drappier, Drappier, Liz Lee, Petrossian, Sage Society, Wine

Crafty Culina

Feb25

Restaurant: Culina Modern Italian [1, 2]

Location: 300 S Doheny Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90048. 310) 860-4000

Date: February 9, 2017

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Great Italian – Hotel or No

Hotel restaurants are always rebooting themselves, and so it goes with the 4 Seasons Beverly Hills. This time around they have brought in master Italian chef Mirko Paderno who just a year or two ago was cooking up amazing meals at the tiny Avalon Hotel and then had a brief stint at Downtown’s hot Officine.

The space has been redone in a more classy contemporary way. With a big eating bar too.

Market Oysters, Mignonette, Cocktail Sauce. Simple but great.

Crudo. Some kind of yellowtail, I can’t remember which. But the fish was superb and the olive or and bright citrus drizzle incredible. Really some great sashimi.

The wine list has some nice unusual Italians.

2014 Volpe Pasini Colli Orientali del Friuli Sauvignon Zuc di Volpe. 93 points. Dry, but intensely aromatic in a fruity, almost floral way. The fruitiness wafts up from the cup but is not fleeting or transient, but rather, evolves and persists as I drink it. Only lightly sour. Tastes very clean and leaves me feeling very good after drinking it.

Tuna tartar with quail egg and parmesan. You would barely know this was tuna, given that it was treated just like beef tartar. And an amazing tartar it was!

Sea bass on salt. A delectable chunk of fish served (cooked?) on a block of Himalayan salt.

Bread tower.

Cauliflower panna cotta with egg and truffles. A signature of Mirko’s and an AMAZING dish. Very classic and the light velvety base just brought out the intense truffle.

2005 Paolo Bea Sagrantino di Montefalco Secco Pagliaro. VM 94. The 2005 Montefalco Sagrantino Vigna Pagliaro has put on quite a bit of weight over the last year. Today it is a rich, sumptuous wine that totally covers the palate with dense, dark fruit. In 2005 the Pagliaro is impressive in the way it achieves superb density while retaining the elements of delicate, nuanced subtlety that inform Bea’s finest wines. This is a fabulous effort from Bea. The 2005 Pagliaro saw 46 days on the skins, followed by a year in stainless steel and two years in cask.

Gnocchi with truffles and mushrooms. Some incredible light and fluffy gnocchi, again showcasing the truffles.

They have a lot of good looking cheese.

Gorgonzola dulce on crisps. Amazing!
Chef Mirko above to mix some risotto with braised meat inside the half wheel of parmesan!

I first saw this technique at Forma.

Risotto with braised beef. Classic pairing, but awesome. The rich cheesy risotto perfectly mars with the succulent meat. Very Northern Italian.

Warm dark chocolate liquid tart. Mint chip gelato. Fabulous chocolate.

And a glass of great vin santo.

2005 Fattoria di Fèlsina Berardenga Vin Santo del Chianti Classico. 93 points. This is a great deal in nice dessert wine.

Not only is Culina now one of the best hotel restaurants in town, it’s one of the best Italian restaurants. Mirko has always been an amazing chef, and particularly when he just “makes stuff for you.” His particular classic but quite contemporary Northern Italian is very much you get at a great (high end) place in Northern Italy — and totally scrumptious.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: 4 seasons hotel, Beverly Hills, Culina, Dessert, Italian cuisine, Italian wine, Mirko Paderno, Wine

Oliverio 10x10x10

Feb09

Restaurant: Oliverio [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 9400 W Olympic Blvd. Beverly Hills, CA 90212. (310) 407-7791

Date: January 6, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Awesome Food & Wine

Like I do, Foodie Club co-founder Erick arranges his own mega dinner for his birthday, this year at the fabulous Oliverio in the Avalon Hotel. He went all out and got the chef to “whip” up a massive 10 course tasting menu. Plus, he and I brought about 20 wines together to serve as a palette for the evening. We ended up going through 10 for 10 people.

The atmosphere at Oliverio is tres LA. They have sexy poolside dining, but this being a “wintery” evening, we at inside.

Our big table.

My friend Liz at a previous dinner with master chef Mirko Paderno. If you want to read more about his background find it in this post.

The bread service. A like the crispy things!

From my cellar: 2012 Giovanni Almondo Roero Arneis Vigne Sparse. AG 88. Almondo’s 2012 Roero Arneis Vigne Sparse is brighter and more focused than the Bricco delle Ciliegie. Lemon, green pear, jasmine and crushed rocks inform a crisp white to drink over the next year or two.

Yellowfin tuna tartare with quail egg and crispy polenta chips. You could almost pretend it was beef. A little bit of a kick too.

From my cellar: 2010 Venica & Venica Malvasia. AG 88. The 2010 Malvasia is an attractive white, but I am not sure Venica has decided what road to take with their Malvasia, an aromatic grape with a strong personality. You either have to let Malvasia rip or try to reign it in, but this particular wine is made in a middle of the road style that does neither. It shows good varietal character, but lacks personality.

Vegetarian cannelloni (A). the (A) signifies an alternative substitute, in this case vegetarian.

From my cellar: 1994 Robert Ampeau & Fils Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. 91 points. Dark golden. Deep fragrance of honey and herbs. Very intense honey, textured. Long and delicious, slightly of wood.

Cauliflower soufflé parmigiano fondue black winter truffle. Yum! Love this dish.

Because we have a seared foie course coming I brought a serious straight up Sauternes to compliment.

From my cellar: 2001 Château Suduiraut. IWC 95. Medium yellow-gold. Flamboyantly ripe, complex nose combines pineapple, apricot, toffee, clove and vanilla. Hugely sweet and rich, with deep, powerful flavors of honey, marzipan and toffee. A major mouthful of wine, with great lingering sweetness. Today, this makes the Rieussec seem almost polite by comparison.

agavin: great wine. young, sweet, and no off notes at all.

Seared hudson valley foie gras with roasted squash and parmigiano fondue. I thought it would be funny to get Erick his candle with his foie! Good stuff, and a real slab of the fatty liver.

Squash ravioli parmigiano fondue (A).

From my cellar: 1993 Pieve Santa Restituta (Gaja) Brunello di Montalcino Sugarille. IWC 95. Denser ruby-garnet than the above. More concentrated aromas of black cherry confitura, black pepper, herbs and spices, plus some very Medoc-like licorice and resin scents. Full body. Powerfully structured, with rich, minerally fruit, but less velvety today than the above. Potent and crisp on the finish. Superb for the vintage.

Homeade ricotta cheese cavatelli pasta with braised veal sugo. Some serious meaty winter pasta. I love the bitey texture on these cavatelli.

Homeade ricotta cheese cavatelli eggplant & candied tomato (A).

1995 Coche-Dury Auxey-Duresses. 91 points. A Coche-dury red? I’ve never had one, and this was a very nice mature bright berry red burg that drank like a premier cru (it’s a villages).

Black winter truffle risotto with morel mushrooms.

1990 Joseph Drouhin Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Hauts-Doix. 90 points. Took a few minutes to open up, but was good when it did.

John dory filet in a delicate seafood broth.

1995 Gros Frère et Sœur Clos Vougeot Musigni. 93 points. Another consistent Showing. Needs about 30 mins to open up. No need to decant though. Full on red fruit nose, very open and in a way delicate though. Well aged and maybe past its peak but a beautiful wine. The only wrong is that it tails off a cliff in the end and lacks vitality. We would suggest to drink now.

Hudson valley duck leg confit. A huge portion. Rich and delicious with a great jus.

Branzino with white italian beans & tuscan cabbage (A).

From my cellar: 1990 Domenico Clerico Barolo Ciabot Mentin Ginestra. AG 95. The 1990 Barolo Ciabot Mentin Ginestra has developed a bit since I last tasted it about two years ago. Here the fruit is decidedly richer and more opulent than the 1990, but the early signs of maturity have also set in with slightly more advanced notes of coffee beans, mint and violets. The finish is long, powerful and utterly convincing.

Kagoshima a5 wagyu beef. Heavy and rich. I couldn’t have eaten another bite.

Porcini mushroom soufflé (A).

2001 Camus Pere & Fils Charmes-Chambertin. 88 points. Garnet with a touch of bricking at the rim. The nose is soft and smoky, delicate and showing some age. Living up to its name, it’s a charming wine; subtle and soft with fresh strawberry fruit and a touch of dried meat on the finish.

Selection of fine italian cheese. Gorgonzola, parmesan, brie. I loved the gorgonzola with the honey.

Bread for the cheese.

Homemade limoncello. This was the smoothest most pleasant limoncello I’ve had. I lovely nose of lemon rind too.

Nutella chocolate mousse with raspberries. I couldn’t really taste the nutella myself.

Erick with his lovely wife Amanda

Overall, this was another knock out meal. The food was fantastic. Each dish was really fabulous and very generous with the truffles, foie and the like. Mirko Paderno is a top top Italian chef, one of the best in town (and LA has very good Italian). The wines were also wonderful, with a lot of good variety.

LA dining reviews click here.

More crazy Foodie Club meals.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Beverly Hills, California

Multitextured Maude

Dec17

Restaurant: Maude

Location:212 South Beverly Drive. Beverly Hills, CA. (310) 859-3418

Date: December 11, 2014

Cuisine: Modern

Rating: Good, but slightly deconstructed

I’ve wanted to try Maude since it opened last February, but the annoying reservation system turned me off. They open reservations by phone only on the first Saturday of the month before for the whole month. I spent 40 minutes autodialing with 3 people on 4 phones and we ended up with two completely random reservations. Ours was at 5:30 on a Tuesday. Really, they should raise prices or use the website or both.

Anyway, the restaurant has a very unusual format. All prix fix. Chef Curtis Stone sums it up as follows: “One Key Ingredient. Nine Courses. Twenty-Five Seats. My dream little restaurant.” Each month has a different ingredient and a single fixed menu. Ours was Winter Squash.

The interior is really cute. It reminded me more of New York or some other “classier” city than LA. It’s tiny, but filled with elegant (but casual) little details. It’s not modernist or particularly hipster (thank God).

The kitchen is open and busy. There’s even a small “bar” (think 4 seat sushi bar) looking into the kitchen.

Tonight’s menu.

Soapbox time! They do have one of those annoying corkage policies too. $50, which would be fine, except it’s one bottle per couple. Now this is far, far more sensible than the fixed number per table, as it works tolerably for 6-8 person tables (which they barely have), but still I don’t get it. I understand that restaurants need to make money off beverages. I understand that they have a cute little wine list. But $50 a bottle should cover it, and the limit isn’t going to make serious wine people buy off the list. They don’t and can’t possibly have a list that serves us. Not without investing a fortune. We brought 3 bottles per couple. My friend Michael brought the whites and I brought the reds. They don’t have and couldn’t reasonably have any Burgundy we’d be interested in on the list. Nor unless they priced them stunningly low would I buy them at wine list price. So why have the limit? It only discourages serious wine guys from dining. If anyone in the restaurant business has any idea why this increasingly common policy makes any sense, I’d love to hear it in the comments.

On the plus side, the Sommelier/wine director was extremely nice, friendly, and knowledgeable. Extremely nice. He did a great job.

Picking the white was tough. We also has a 2002 Jadot Montrachet and a 2000 Domaine d’Auvenay (Lalou Bize-Leroy) Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières! I went with the Coche because — well I love Coche, but Michael and I promised to save our respective other wines to drink with each other at a later date. Great deal!

2000 Coche-Dury Meursault Les Chevalières. Burghound 92. The tightest and most precise of the three 2000 Meursault villages wines of stunning intensity and simply unbelievable purity and this stains and coats the palate with wet stones and an interesting chalky texture. This will require time and should age well for at least a decade as the acidity is ripe and vibrant, giving the flavors real lift, especially on the wonderfully persistent backend.

Pumpkin Lardo. Pumpkin wrapped in pig fat. Yep, that white stuff is the white part off a prosciutto, or close. The dish was very soft and mild.

A vegetarian variant with just pumpkin.

Pillows. These had some kind of pumpkin/squash in them along with sesame or something? They tasted nutty. The out bit was crispy. Delicious.

Maude does have its rules. No flash too 🙁 I had to use an iphone to get a modicum of light. After this, I’ve now ordered a bigass LED light with 160 diodes! haha! It may not flash, but it will be bright! But until then, these photos have a pathetic depth of field.

Squash Salad. Duck breast, Farro, watercress, Pumpkin.

And a reverse shot of it that shows off the duck better. All the elements of this dish were very nice, and there were LOTS of textures going on. The foam. The sauce blobs. Shaved vegetable. Leaf. The dusty freeze-dried stuff. The meat. The problem was there was no was to get any great number of them in your mouth at once, so the whole thing felt a bit deconstructed and discombobulated.

Hiramasa Crudo. Bottarga, Pumpkin Cured Salmon Roe, Dashi Gel. This dish gelled better. haha. The hamachi, the tangy sauce, and the crunchy bits (probably the bottarga?) made a nice pairing.

A vegetarian substitute.

Striped Bass. Little gem. Anchovy. Chicken. I’m guessing the chicken was in the form of the cracklings (which were awesome), and the fish was nicely done. Although again it was a bit hard to get the other elements in one bite.

The consume for the next dish came out in this cool chemistry set.

Which continued to boil the broth up into the rosemary!

Consomme. Squid, Beech, Fennel. Here is the soup before the soup. You can see all the little bits

Then with the broth added. This was a nice dish and I’m a big fan of a good consomme.

I brought the reds. We also has a 93 Jadot Beze and a 98 Bachelet Charmes VV on hand.

From my cellar: 1997 Domaine Anne Gros Richebourg. JG 92+. Fresh, expressive and elegant aromas of cherries, black berries and pinot extract followed by medium weight, relatively fine, nicely detailed flavors that lack a bit of mid palate density. There is better acidity than most of the wines in this group and one is struck by the finesse, unusual for both the appellation at such a young age and certainly the vintage. In sum, this is beautifully detailed rather than dense with fine but prominent finishing tannins. While it could be drunk and enjoyed now, it should continue to improve.

Oxtail Raviolo. Spaghetti Squash, truffle, Rye Crumble. A tasty dish, it had a light foamy quality with an unusual mixture of textures that I’m now picking up as a Curtis Stone signature. The soft foam, the squirmy squash, the crunch crumble.

Pheasant. Kabocha squash, parsley root, pearl onion. Very tasty dish. The poultry was small but very tasty.

A vegetarian version.

Pork Foul. Beef Tendon, pomegranate, crosnes. The crunchy puffs were like chicharrones. Tasty dish, if somewhat obscured by the flashless photography.

Pumpkin caviar!

To go on this Vacherin blini. The texture was like that of a Chinese pan fried dumpling, but inside it was mildly cheesy.

A delicious pre dessert consisting of a soft meringue and that other thing. It was yummy.

Kuri Squash Beignet. Rice Sorbet, Carmel, Cinnamon. Nice fancy donut balls and accompaniments.

Petite Fours. Gels, little macarons, and some other pastry.

Pumpkin spice cake to go. A nice touch!

Overall, we had a great time. Our wine was fabulous. The atmosphere is wonderful, the staff warm, and the food extremely interesting. It’s a highly intellectual cuisine, playing off a lot of forms and textures. Nothing clashed or failed, but sometimes the dishes didn’t seem fully integrated. Mostly it was all those textures and separate elements. It was hard to see exactly how they combined. The flavors err on the subtle, which made them compliment extremely well with the Burgundy. I really want to go back — although I’m not thrilled at the idea of autodialing and having little choice about date!

And what’s with grandma’s old china? 🙂

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beverly Hills, Curtis Stone, Maude

Wolfgang Puck’s Cut – A cut above?

May05

Restaurant: Wolfgang Puck’s Cut

Location: 9500 Wilshire Blvd. Beverly Hills, California 90212. P: 310-276-8500

Date: April 12, 2012

Cuisine: Steak House

Rating: Great, but I think Mastro’s is slightly better at the over the top steak house thing

The Foodie Club rolled out on the town for the first time in a while (I was slowed up by my broken wrist) and it was founding member Simon’s birthday and he wanted to go to Cut.

The modern kitchen turns stuff out in full view.

Puck himself was in attendance as well, he came by the table to admire my wines.

And self-help guru and modern Rasputin Tony Robbins was just a couple of tables over. Cut is definitely a place to be seen, and you can totally tell from the crowd.

Erick brought this Burgundy to start. “Displaying a bright, medium-to-dark ruby color as well as a cherry and ground white pepper-laced nose, this is a refined, thickly-textured, concentrated, and broad wine. It has outstanding depth of sweet cherry fruit, admirable structure, and a long, precise, and satiny finish. This gem has the requisite fruit, backbone, and concentration for extended cellaring. Projected maturity: 2002-2010.”

Out come the breadsticks. Given that this is passover, I had to abstain.

Which got even harder when the cheesy balls emerged. Simon and Erick snarfed the whole basket to save me.

Cut isn’t in any hurry. After about twenty minutes the menu showed. You can see that the center is a wide variety of “slabs of undercooked beef.” Also present are appetizers, sides, sauces and the like.

This is a presentation of some of the special “Kobe style” beef. The black ones are Japanese cattle, bred in America. The white ones are American cattle in a Kobe style. At the top is the American Kobe style filet mignon which Simon will later eat.

More temptation arrives in the form of a very delectable looking bread plate. The guys said it was great.

Then keeping with kosher tradition we have: “Maple Glazed Pork Belly, Asian Spices, Watercress, Persimmon, Sesame–Orange Dressing, Bosc Pear Compote.” Pretty fantastic actually. Like bacon in maple syrup.

Then the first in a trio of raw. “Big Eye Tuna Tartare, Wasabi Aioli, Ginger, Togarashi Crisps, Tosa Soy.” A nice take on the familiar dish.

As I’ve mentioned recently, I’m loving the steak tartare. “Prime Sirloin “Steak Tartare”, Herb Aioli, Mustard.” This was good, with sour dour (I didn’t eat it) and horseradish and various aioli on the side.

Plus a quail egg we dumped on top. It had a nice delicate flavor, but wasn’t as good as say this one I had in Chianti. Probably because it wasn’t from Chiana cattle!

And more raw beef, because I love it so. “Kobe Steak Sashimi, Spicy Radishes.” This was a wonderful dish too, although I liked the similar take at A-Frame a little better.

Now we pull out the big guns wine-wise. From my cellar. Parker gives this a 96 and it earned every point. “This fabulous, blockbuster has been totally unevolved since bottling, but at the Jaboulet tasting, it was beginning to reveal some of its formidable potential. A saturated opaque purple color is followed by aromas of cassis, minerals, and hot bricks/wood fire. Super-ripe and full-bodied, with a massive mid-section, teeth-staining extract, and mouth-searing tannin, it is a monster-sized La Chapelle. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2050.”

Now, coming to the main course. I’m not really a straight up steak man. I don’t enjoy plain beef. It’s too simple and I’m a more is more kind of guy. So I went for “Kobe Beef Short Ribs “Indian Spiced”, Curried Pumpkin Puree, Garam Masala, Slowly Cooked For Eight Hours.” Above is the curry like sauce.

Then they settle the succulent short ribs on top. This is beef my style. Not only is the meat itself rich and flavorful, but the sauce provides an intense medley of Indian spices. Love this.

For those going plain, they provide a bunch of “free” sauces like salt and three kinds of mustard. We also ordered a $2 thing of “Shallot-Red Wine Bordelaise” (not pictured) which was a really incredibly wine reduction sauce.

Simon’s “American Wagyu / Angus “Kobe Style” Beef From Snake River Farms, Idaho, Filet Mignon 6 Oz.” Looks beefy. You can see it raw above in the raw steak photo.

Erick settled on a classic “U.S.D.A. PRIME, Illinois Corn Fed, Aged 21 Days, Bone In Rib Eye Steak 20 Oz.” Now that’s a man’s piece of meat. I had some. It tasted great, smothered in Bordelaise!

“Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Smokey Bacon, Pearl Onions.” Pretty good, but Cut doesn’t have the full array of massively decadent sides like Mastro’s.

“Roasted Campania Artichokes, White Asparagus, Guanciale.” The white asparagus are a nod to Puck, Austrians love them. But it was the artichokes that dominated this pleasant dish.

“Cavatappi Pasta “Mac & Cheese,” Québec Cheddar.” This is a little richer, and it was good, but it didn’t totally match up to a Mastro’s “Gorgonzola mac & cheese!” or “king crab truffle gnocchi.”

Out comes the dessert menu.

“Dark Chocolate ‘Marquise’, Black Cherries, Chocolate Brioche, Red Wine Ice Cream.” This was good, rich, but a little chocolatey for my taste. The wine ice cream was very subdued.

“Valrhona Chocolate Soufflé, Whipped Creme Fraiche, Gianduja Chocolate Ice Cream.” Excellent classic Soufflé, if not quite as perfect as the one at Maison Giraud (I have photos of it, but haven’t written them up yet).

However, it did come with this superlative collection of sauces. Left to right, chocolate hazelnut ice cream (yum!), creme fraiche, and deep Gianduja chocolate sauce. All excellent.

“‘Baked Alaska’ Meyer Lemon Gelato & Blackberry Sorbet, Toasted Pistachios.” This was mine and it was good. Really good. The whole meyer lemon blackberry thing completely and totally worked. It was almost as good — and very similar to — the semifredo at Capo which is one of my all time favorites.

Then to finish, some little lemon and chocolate tarts. Both were excellent.

Overall, Cut is very very good, if a little expensive. It does succeed in taking the Steak House format and shaking it up a bit. Partly by offering unusual cuts of beef, partly by having newer more modern appetizers and sides. Execution is very good. Service is very good. It isn’t as over the top as Mastro’s. Not being focused on the pure beef, I can’t speak to the steak itself (both seem good to me). Mastro’s does, however, have a serious decadence factor — not that Cut is light. After coming out of Mastro’s my heart is usually palpitating. Perhaps that isn’t a good thing.

More Foodie Club extravaganzas here.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills California, Beverly Wilshire Hotel, California, Cut, Dessert, Foodie Club, Kobe, Rodeo Drive, Steak, Wolfgang Puck

Red Medicine – Elfin Feast

Feb11

Restaurant: Red Medicine [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 8400 Wilshire Blvd. Beverly Hills, Ca. 90211. 323-651-6500.

Date: February 6, 2012

Cuisine: Elfin Fantasy Food

Summary: A feast for for Elrond’s table

For some reason it took me a year to get back to Red Medicine, even though I very much enjoyed my previous visits. Anyway, as it’s the new year and my partner in Foodie crime Erick is back in town, and having a birthday, we made it 2012’s first official Foodie Club meeting.

The frontage.

The easier to read version

And the new menu. Things look vaguely similar, but most of the dishes have changed up since last time.

Red Medicine technically has a $35 dollar corkage (except no corkage on Fri and Sat), but they nicely allowed us their original policy of waiving a corkage for every bottle of their wine we bought. This ended up being 2 and 2, theirs being this excellent JJ Prum Kabinett (a fav of mine). Parker 91: “Extremely bright in aroma as well as palate impression, the Prums’ 2008 Bernkasteler Badstube Riesling Kabinett is dominated by lemon and grapefruit, with village typical cherry and cassis manifesting themselves as an invigorating chew of fruit skin that is delightfully complimented by estate-typical impingement of CO2. Lush yet light, this finishes with not only blazing brightness but a cress-like pungency and strikingly intense salinity and suggestions of wet stone, making your palate stand to attention, wide awake! Plan on following it for a couple of decades, although, unlike many Joh. Jos. Prum wines, I find it (and many of the estate’s 2008s) downright irresistible already.”

“FOIE GRAS / mousse, tete de cochon, beet, kohlrabi, chicory, croissant.” First, let’s not some of the unique elements of this cuisine, what we came to call “dollop and dust” was just as present as last year. But this time the vegetal/natural/flower thing is out of control. Every seemed like that crazy forest elemental from Hellboy 2 had snuck into the kitchen. This one has difficult to get all the flavors in one bite. What I had was good, but I had the feeling that if I had gotten a more substantive chunk it would have been better (we were splitting 5 ways and it was difficult).

“AMBERJACK / red seaweed, buttermilk, lotus root, tapioca, succulents.” The flowers overwhelmed the fish a bit, but it was tasty. And the dish looks like a Christmas crown for a fairy!

“WINTER PEAS / yuzu, soymilk-yogurt, trout roe, purple cabbage, coconut.” More dust. As instructed, we mixed this up and it then looked kinda like a pea pasta. It was actually really good that way.

“RABBIT / five flavor berry, pandan custard, roots, tubers, black currant, sesame leaf.” There are 2-3 rabbit loins hidden under the foliage. Again very tasty, but hard to get all the elements in the mouth, particularly with they very long and fluffy leaves.

“DUNGENESS CRAB / passion fruit, brown butter, black garlic, vietnamese crepe, hearts of palm.” Besides being wrapped in another fairy wreath, this is one giant ravioli but it was darn good. Really good. I just wish I had more than one bite.

“HEIRLOOM BLACK CARROTS / guava, winter kale, dulse, young walnut, tamarind.” Legolas, sir, have you seen the Ent? He was last observed heading into the kitchen! Seriously, while this dish was actually very tasty it looks like the forest floor!

“WILD STRIPED BASS / charred mustard leaf, boiled peanuts, wild garlic, burnt onion syrup.” Is there a striped bass in there under all those flowers?

Indeed, there is!

“CHARRED LEEKS / taro “vichyssoise”, parsley root, chinese celery, vietnamese herb.” And here we have the wild garden of doctor Suess!

“HEIRLOOM RICE PORRIDGE / egg yolk, hazelnuts, ginseng, echire butter + SANTA BARBARA RED UNI.” This frightened me slightly, looking as it does a lot like congee (Chinese rice porridge). But we stirred it up and it turned out to taste incredible, like a fantastic creamy uni risotto!

After two bottles of the Kabinet, we decided to go red (the Auslese on the left we had later for dessert) with the meat. Parker gives this lesser known Bordeaux 91 points. “A fully mature, elegant 1990 with an exceptionally flowery, berry, white chocolate, and smoky oak-scented nose, this fleshy, mid-weight La Lagune exhibits a velvety texture and no hard edges. It is an endearing wine that needs to be drunk over the next 5-6 years.”

Then the riesling: Parker 93-94. “A Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese offers an impressive combination of white raisin-studded apple jelly, mango, caramel, honey, and vanilla in a creamy textural context, with a remarkable, parallel, and somehow perfectly-integrated sense of fresh apple and pear juiciness that guarantees a finish of genuine refreshment, enhanced by near-weightless buoyancy. This is quite thrilling to savor even now, but deserves at least a dozen years’ cellaring and is likely to perform well three decades or more hence.”

Then the meats. “LAMB / glazed in tamarind, hibiscus onion, swiss chard, salted plum.” Tasty!

“WAGYU BEEF / creme fraiche, garlic chive, cashew, lovage, charred cucumber.” Some tasty beef, although not as fatty as one might expect. The creme went very nicely, although again I felt like a rabbit with all those big leaves sticking out of my mouth.

“PORK / caramelized black vinegar, goji berry, spring onion, dried almond.” Underneath this little forrest of green was one of the tastiest dishes of the night, some delectable pork!

“BEEF TARTARE / water lettuce, water chestnut, nuoc leo, chlorophyll, peanu.” This is the first real “repeat” from the menu a year ago, although it’s gone to seed — but it still tastes fantastic.

Shrimp chips to go with the tartare. One puts some steak on a shrimp chip, adds some dust and eats. It’s a pretty wonderful flavor combo.

“MAITAKE MUSHROOMS / cauliflower, snake beans, bacon x.o., walnut.” Sauron’s curse! Someone stole Elrond’s crown! But seriously this was a difficult dish to cut as the wreath of beans snaked around. But it was worth it as it was surprisingly tasty. Perhaps because of the bacon.

The dessert menu.

“COCONUT BAVAROIS / coffee, condensed milk, thai basil, peanut croquant.” This was the most successful dessert — wonderful in fact. The peanut, chocolate, coconut cream thing was pretty amazing.

“BITTER CHOCOLATE / kecap manis, oats, parsnip, brown butter, soy milk sorbet.” Dust and dollops! But this was also very good.

“RHUBARB / mahlab cremeux, hibiscus, gentian, lemongrass meringue.” And so was the rhubarb, although the texture is very fluffy and airy.

“PEAR / wild anise, cream, raw chestnut, mead syrup infused with pear skins.” Where’s it hiding? Inside this natural fortress?

Quick, break down the walls to find… white stuff and pear.

One of the dominant flavors here was anise. It was all pretty good, although probably the weakest of the four.

Overall, I was pretty surprised to find out how far the chef’s cuisine had evolved (see the older meals), and in such an unexpected vegetal direction. Lords of the forest, this was some unique stuff. The flavors were a bit more understated and far less Vietnamese than a year ago. Ultimately odder, but certainly more unique. Still, although every dish was successful in some way, and many were fantastic. They just pursue a unique visual and textural vision. Despite basically ordering the entire menu it was pretty light too.

All in all, unique and playful, but we could have used a little more light in the forest, it was so dark we could hardly appreciate the masterpieces. On a technical note this was the first night that I used my Canon 5D Mark II with a little table top tripod. I found that I still needed to use the flash otherwise (the restaurant being VERY dark) I needed like a 3s shutter time. The tripod was a tad awkward and I’m glad it was only us foodies at the table, but the pictures did turn out very well. I ended up gong full manual and stopping down to about 7, setting a 1/15 (quarter second) exposure and just relying on the flash to fill.

For more LA food reviews, see here.