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Third Republique

Jul01

Restaurant: Republique [1, 2, 3]

Location: 624 S La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036. (310) 362-6115

Date: May 13, 2014

Cuisine: Modern Bistro French

Rating: Nice (loud) space, tasty hip food, great service

Republique is certainly one of LA’s most anticipated recent openings. Taking over the gorgeous old Campanile space, this replacement is helmed by Walter Manzke and Margarita Manzke (of Church & State and Milo & Olive). As you’ll see, while the core cuisine marries Brasserie with neo-tapas, this is a place that draws intensely on the current (2013-14) trends. LA Zeitgeist for sure.

On this particular night, I was invited again by Liz Lee of The Sage Society. She’s a friend of mine, wine dealer, and overall awesome foodie. She sure organizes an amazing evening. This one was mostly top flight Burgundy, and 13-14 bottles for 7 people! (Good thing I never drive to wine dinners)

The building is an interesting fusion of pre-war factory…

The main interior is nearly church-like. It’s been all opened up and looks great, but it’s big, tall, and covered in hard surfaces. That means loud!

The bar is packed and setup with all those fancy little fixings that are the hallmark of the fancy mixologist style of expensive yummy weak drink making. Being a wine guy, I don’t much care.

Along with the hard (read loud) surfaces, open kitchen, mixologist and the like, our obligatory aged wood communal tables are graced with this paper menu.

As we sit we are offered some yummy bread sticks (a.k.a. grissini). The bakery here is clearly first rate, although there was nowhere to really put them and half of mine ended up tumbling to the floor.

Our Sommelier for evening, Taylor Parsons. Unlike my mostly more chaotic Hedonist Dinners, he opened and poured the wine properly in flights, and even ordered up food to match.

NV Pierre Gerbais Champagne L’Originale. 90 points. Pinot Blanc, single vineyard planted 1904. Lovely purity, floral note of camomile, some mineral notes, freshly cut fennel and dill Strong mineral notes and back bone, floral, fennel, clay, pear, yellow plums with long finish.

Mixed oysters on the half-shell.

Asparagus and pepper tempura.

Warm Baguette with Normandy Butter. A completely first rate piece of bread. Utterly classic and unadorned. The taste reminds one of France.

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Chips & Dip. Scottish king salmon tartare, cucumber, mint, yogurt, crispy pork rinds.

For vegetarians there were potato crisps.

And the tastier chicarones.

2009 Trimbach Pinot Gris Reserve. 88 points. No formal note. This had a reasonably complex, smoky peach nose, with a hint of orange rind, was full bodied and plump on the palate, reasonably attractive stone fruit with creamy notes and low acidity. Paired fabulously with the pasta below.

English pea Agnolotti. Fresh blanched peas. Really a great pasta.

1996 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Valmur. Burghound 91. Moderate but still very fresh secondary notes that reflect nuances of bee’s wax and the first hints of sous bois lead to intense, vibrant and mineral-driven flavors infused with ample citrus, all wrapped by a firm, edgy and pure finish. While this has plenty of legs left, it has arrived at its peak though as noted, it should be capable of holding for another two decades. From another bottle affected by a touch of premature oxidation – The color is a more advanced gold than I expected and certainly more so than the bottle of ’96 Blanchots tasted a few days earlier. The nose reveals a trace of oxidation and while it’s by no means enough to kill the enjoyment of the wine, it does detract as well as give one pause as to how this will evolve over the next few years. The flavors are classic Valmur with its incredibly precise and mineral-laden, moderately austere flavors and laser-like focus. As is the case with so many ’96s, the nose is out in front of the structure and while I certainly liked this wine, it’s not clear that this is going to reward further cellaring.

Live Santa Barbara Spot Prawns. Romanesco cauliflower, brown butter, lemon capers, almonds.

1990 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne. Burghound 93. This is one of those whites from the ’90 vintage that is trapped in a time capsule as it remains unusually youthful for a 20 year old wine even if no longer young as the nose displays the first hints of sous bois along with dried flower and citrus aromas. The delicious and highly mineral-infused middle weight flavors are racy, intense and beautifully delineated before culminating in a lingering and pure finish. This is in extraordinary condition if well-stored and should continue to drink well for years to come. In a word, impressive.

Hamachi Crudo. Pineapple, fresno chili, cilantro.

From my cellar: 1996 Maison Leroy Meursault 1er Cru. Burghound 92. This is still very fresh with only the initial hints of development to the airy white flower and hazelnut aromas that give way to rich, pure and gorgeously precise flavors that culminate in a mineral-infused and impressively linear finish that lasts in the mouth for several minutes. A stunner of wine that is still improving.

agavin: I was disappointed, nothing too obvious wrong with it, just too closed and reserved.

From my cellar: 1996 Marquis de Laguiche (Joseph Drouhin) Montrachet. Burghound 96. Classic white burg aromas of immense breadwith and depth with white flower notes, minerals and knockout complexity. This is a big, rich yet delineated wine that has near perfect balance. In short, this is flat out superb with an intensity, complexity, depth and stony minerality that is something special to behold. The length lasts for minutes and for my taste, this has finally arrived at its full maturity though there is certainly no rush to drink up as it should maintain this level for years. Consistent notes.

agavin: sadly, and I cry as I write this, the wine was heavily premoxed (oxidized) and not really drinkable. The finish had promise. 🙁

Fresh white Asparagus and black truffle butter sauce. Just in season and fabulous.

From my cellar: 1990 Robert Ampeau & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. Burghound 93. A truly wonderful nose of simply knockout complexity features notes of yeast and baked bread along with now fully mature aromas of a variety of floral notes and spice hints that gives way to mineral-suffused round intense and detailed medium full flavors that also offer outstanding depth on the sappy and mouth coating finish. This is drinking perfectly now. A beautiful effort of real style and grace.

agavin: a third fail for me tonight. This bottle was pretty oxidized. I’ve opened around 20 of this wine (all from the same source) and about 2/3 of them are fabulous, but a few are kinda oxidized.

Black Stripped bass with a butter sauce and vegetable puree. Perfectly crispy.

1993 Domaine Leroy Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Narbantons. 93 points. Mme Bize-Leroy makes the best wines in the world. At least this was my hypotheses when we drank this wine. Domaine Leroy is superior to DRC and her wines are as a consequent also more expensive. When she dies, the prises will soar and eventually exede Henri Jayer’s. This Sauvigny is perfectly mature now, with smooth concentrated red fruits. My guess was an Echezeaux from the 90ies. More or less everything she does is of Grand Cru quality.

1996 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Ruchottes-Chambertin Clos des Ruchottes. Burghound 90. The nose on the ’96 Clos des Ruchottes is stunningly elegant with really dazzling purity of fruit and leads to relatively supple though barely medium weight flavors underpinned by moderate structure and healthy acidity. As it usually is, this is quite earthy and I suspect it will come around over the mid-term as the tannins are completely ripe and integrated. I would give this 3 or 4 more years of cellar time and then probably drink up whether or not the tannins are fully resolved as the lack of full phenolic maturity suggests that the acidity may come to dominate the finish.

agavin: great, but retained a surprising amount of oak/spice.

Mary’s Organic Rotisserie Chicken. Red russian kale, roasted fingerling potatoes. The rotating spit was right in front of me and all night I watched a procession of these tasting fowl orbiting. Just classic roast chicken en jus but absolutely perfectly cooked. All good.

1988 Domaine Leroy Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts. Burghound 92. Still quite reserved on the nose but the flavor profile is dense, rich and wonderfully complex with terrific length. As with the Boudots, the buffering extract is more than sufficient to envelope the substantial tannins though there is a touch of finishing astringency.

agavin: a lovely mature burg.

Liberty Duck Breast. Cherries and Brussels sprouts.

1970 Louis Latour Romanée St. Vivant Les Quatre Journaux. agavin 94. Stellar wine. All that I love in old Burgs. Lots of fruit, acidity and long berry finish.

A selection of cheeses. Always good with so much wine.

Pistachio and Strawberry ice cream. Refreshing.

Overall, Republique is a first rate place. It updates the classic French fare in a way that is contemporary without being ultra modern. And the whole everything here is so painfully (and I don’t mean in a bad way) contemporary. It just couldn’t be more “in” with the current dining trends. Not that I actually have a problem with that — in fact, my only problems with the restaurant was the volume (almost too loud for conversation) and a seeming total lack of large square or circular tables (I eat out in large groups and hate long skinny tables for more than 6). Most importantly, not only are these fresh takes on the classics, but the cooking is really on point. Even only being three months old this kitchen is executing very well.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (2)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Brasserie, Foodie Club, Los Angeles, République, Sage Society, Walter Manzke

Republique of Jadot

Mar06

Restaurant: Republique [1, 2]

Location: 624 S La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036. (310) 362-6115

Date: March 4, 2014

Cuisine: Modern Bistro French

Rating: Nice (loud) space, tasty hip food, great service

This is my second visit, and like the first, it was arranged by the awesome Liz Lee of The Sage Society, wine dealer, and overall awesome foodie. Tonight she staged an epic Jadot wine tasting featuring 17 of the domains fabulous wines spanning nearly 40 years — plus, a custom food pairing by Walter Manzke. Also attending our dinner is Jadot master winemaker Frederick Barnier.

The building is an interesting fusion of pre-war factory and classic LA vibe.

The main interior is nearly church-like. It’s been all opened up and looks great, but it’s big, tall, and covered in hard surfaces. That means loud!

They dry age their meats to rather gory looking perfection.

Flight 0: Champagne

2004 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne. Parker 96. It’s fascinating to taste the 2004 Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne after the 2002, something I have been able to do on a few occasions. The 2004 is all about minerality, precision and tension. It doesn’t have the sheer richness or power of the 2002, but it makes up for that with its crystalline purity and sheer energy. Bright hints of lemon oil, white flowers and crushed rocks are layered into the pointed, vibrant finish.

French bread with burrata, peas, mint, and almonds. This was an interesting and very refreshing combination.

Eggs on Toast. santa barbara uni, soft-scrambled eggs. The eggs substantially cut the briny quality of the uni. The taste was great, but I had two textural/physical problems with it. One, the bread was very toasted and hard to bite through, and so cut the mouth.

Our amazing special menu for tonight.

The dinner was hosted by my friend Liz Lee, head of Sage Society and foodie and wine dealer extraordinaire.

Taylor Parsons, the wine director. This dinner sure kept him busy! Also, he did a truly stunning job with the wine service (details below).

Walter Manzke, the chef/owner.

Taylor and his gang took the wine service to a new level. Not only did they have all these individually staged glasses, but they: opened and tested the wines beforehand, put little labels on every glass with the wine and vintage, and seasoned each glass properly with the correct wine (rarely done anymore). There were two bottles of almost everything and 14 people so the pours were huge too! Bravo.

Flight 1: Young 1re Whites

2009 Louis Jadot Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles. Burghound 91-93. This is also quite expressive with a ripe, high-toned and wonderfully fresh nose of honeysuckle, acacia blossom and spiced pear. The rich, full and very fleshy medium-bodied flavors possess a seductive mouth feel as well as excellent complexity on the intense and highly persistent finish. I very much like the balance and sense of harmony of this classy effort.

agavin: Rich and surprisingly approachable for such a young 1re crus. Very hedonistic and enjoyable, with lots of vanilla.

2010 Louis Jadot Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles. Burghound 92-94. A notably ripe orchard fruit nose also displays subtle spice notes on the classic honeysuckle and citrus blossom aromas that slide seamlessly into textured, silky and lightly mineral-inflected flavors that possess terrific depth and outstanding length on the mouth coating finish. This is very classy and refined.

agavin: Much more classic, with a powerful minerality and racy acidity. Not as open, but actually more my style.

Hamachi Crudo, citrus dashi, and chili oil.

An excellent pairing, with a delicious citrus finish.

Flight 2: Young Grand Cru Whites

2010 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot. Burghound 95. A gorgeously elegant if highly restrained nose of citrus, acacia blossom and pungent wet stone aromas trimmed in just enough wood to notice is stunning. Not surprisingly, the medium-bodied flavors are much finer than those of the Bâtard or Corton-Charlemagne though not quite as big or powerful. The strikingly intense, lingering and impeccably well-balanced finish radiates minerality and the overall sense of harmony is flat out superb. A knockout, even by the incredible standards of this wine.

agavin: A great wine, if baby young. Surprisingly expressive considering.

2010 Louis Jadot Montrachet. Burghound 94-97. This is completely different and trades elegance for notably more aromatic complexity as here the nose is impressively broad-ranging with its panoply of ripe orchard fruit, rose, lavender and white flower nuances coupled with notes of citrus peel, stone and spices. There is a discreet touch of wood on the exceptionally rich, powerful and strikingly well-concentrated broad-shouldered flavors that brim with mouth coating dry extract before culminating in a massively long finish where, once again, the balance is flawless.

agavin: Like a cobra coiled in the glass. Tight, tight, tight, but with so much power.

Sea Scallop, cauliflower puree and bits.

Beef tartar and crisps.

Special house baked french bread. Liz swears this is the best in LA, if not the states. It is extremely classic (French).

And on special request (and fee) butter from Normandy is available. This is serious milk fat!

Flight 3: Old Grand Cru Whites

1990 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot. 95 points. It began like an impenetrable block of wax, but continually opened up and evolved over the entire evening, developing flavors of crême brulée, lemon custard, caramel, and exotic spices. Not an especially powerful wine for a grand cru white Burg, but superbly graceful and weightless. Also lacked the ultimate grip as the acidity was not high, but the subtle, sugary finish was still long and stunning. I could have smelled the empty glass all night long – those who had still had some left at the end of the dinner were singing its praises.

agavin: We had two bottles and the first one was a stunner and the second enjoyable, but more oxidized. The first was in an impeccable place.

1974 Louis Jadot Corton-Charlemagne Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot. Burghound 84. Very advanced nose of truffles, yeast and dried orchard fruits with remarkably fresh flavors that are quite rich and honeyed though avoid clumsiness or undue weight. The length is solid though this is more about the vintage than Corton-Charlemagne.

agavin: Burghound may not love this wine, but we did. In a lot of ways it was a 98 point wine. Just fabulously interesting and full of nots of botrytis, honey and flowers, almost like a dry D’Yquem (Ygrec).

1985 Louis Jadot Le Montrachet. 89 points. This started a bit disjointed with some slightly unpleasant, medical smell. But it evolved in the glass and gained composition.

agavin: This was the weekest of the flight. Certainly fascinating, but it had a bit of weird sour quality and sherry notes. Definitely would have been better a few years ago.

Spaghetti with Main Lobster. An absolutely stunning simple pasta. There were carrots in here with added some nice texture too. This is like a high class (lobster) version of a typical fabulous Neapolitan dish.

Risotto with truffles. Absolute classic.

Flight 4: Young 1re Cru Reds

2010 Louis Jadot Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Fuées. Burghound 92. There is a discreet application of wood to the elegant, pure and lightly spiced nose of layered black raspberry and cassis nose that is also barely visible on the mineral-driven, intense and tension-filled medium-bodied flavors. There is excellent volume and plenty of mid-palate stuffing because while this is certainly a wine of finesse, it does not lack for character or seriously impressive persistence on the gorgeously balanced if distinctly austere finish. A wine of class and grace that will need plenty of cellar time as it has already begun to shut down.

2010 Louis Jadot Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux St. Jacques. Burghound 91-93. Reduction renders the nose difficult to properly assess but there is good verve and intensity to the well-delineated and strongly mineral-inflected middle weight flavors that display a bit of wood toast. Like the Gevrey villages there is a lovely sense of underlying tension on the overtly austere, dry and clean finish that evidences outstanding depth and length. This is still very tight and compact but the material and balance are present to allow this to really blossom over the next 12 to 15 years.

Pan-Seared Wild Striped Bass, chicken jus, applewood-smoked bacon. The sauce had an extremely interesting hybrid east/west flavor. Part black bean, part bacon, it was all smoky richness.

Flight 5: Young Grand Cru Reds

2010 Louis Jadot Corton-Pougets Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot. Burghound 94. A highly complex nose speaks of pure wet stone, fresh cassis and ripe plum aromas. There is excellent detail to the mineral-driven and tension-filled sleekly muscular flavors that culminate in a precise, linear and driving finish that offers superb balance, wonderful depth and stunning length. As it always is, this is a relatively fine Corton; indeed it is consistently one of the most refined Corton reds made but note that is has an almost uncanny ability to age. In short, this is fabulous.

agavin: Young, but the complexity was highly seductive.

2011 Louis Jadot Chambertin-Clos de Bèze. Burghound 93-95. There is also enough oak influence to notice though not enough to materially detract from the high-toned and overtly spicy red currant, cherry and plum suffused nose. There is a lovely minerality to the supple, forward and refined middle weight plus flavors that possess a wonderfully refined mouth feel before culminating in a long, powerful, concentrated and palate drenching finish. While not truly a wine of finesse in the same sense as a fine Chambolle or Volnay, this is relatively subtle as the supporting tannins have the same fine grain as the best of these 2011s.

agavin: Young, and a structured monster, but surprisingly forward.

2009 Louis Jadot Clos St. Denis. Burghound 92. A ripe and notably somber but attractively spicy nose blends both red and blue berry fruit with earth nuances that can also be found on the rich, round, supple and refined medium-bodied tobacco and tar-suffused flavors that possess excellent, if not truly special, depth and length on the dusty, sappy and ever-so-mildly austere finish. However, like the Clos de Vougeot, it just feels as though there is more here than is presently being reflected and again, my score reflects this optimism that it will surface in time.

agavin: At the start particularly, the most closed of these babies.

The staff lined up with some duck.

Duck Breast, wild mushrooms. Another perfect pairing with the Burgs, and deliciously (under) cooked as well.

Flight 6: Old Vosne Romanee

1989 Louis Jadot Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots. 96 points. agavin: While other reds tonight much have more stuffing, this was for me, the most enjoyable. In a perfect place and just singing.

1990 Louis Jadot Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots. 95 points. Beautiful and elegant. Strawberries, cherries and forest floor with a goregous nose and an elegant frame. This was not overripe at all…just delicious fruit with some nice secondardy charatcteristics.

agavin: Also incredibly enjoyable, but still structured enough that it easily needs 10 years!

Chicken consommé, black truffle.

This dish was a total stunner. That white blob was a kind of terrine of pork and I don’t know what, and the soup was a classic souper (haha) savory chicken. The whole thing was so much savory / unami and truffle. Really amazing.

Just a few glasses on the table!

1990 Louis Jadot Corton-Pougets Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot. Burgound 92. A ripe and now mostly secondary nose of earth, spice, leather and hints of animale lead to rich yet elegant flavors underpinned by still noticeable but not hard tannins and a mineral-infused finish that offers admirable length and depth. This is aging beautifully and while ripe, the balance is such that the wine should continue to hold at this level for years though I don’t forsee much if any additional improvement from here. In short, a very successful ’90.

agavin: Wonderful, and from magnum, still oh so young.

1990 Louis Jadot Chambertin-Clos de Bèze. Burghound 91. From a bottle in the big Chambertin and Clos de Bèze tasting: Somewhat stewed, roasted fruit nose cut with very ripe earth and pungent, very ripe plum/prune notes. The flavors are big, very structured and intense but without sufficient mid-palate sap to completely buffer than and thus this finishes with an edgy, dry, slightly astringent quality. Perfectly good but not better and I found this wine a bit perplexing because the 1990 Clos St. Jacques is a really beautiful effort. 88/2005-12 Note: from a bottle tasted in October of ’04 – While the aromatics are certainly quite ripe, indeed even slightly roasted, this bottle delivered much more youthful, balanced, intense and savory flavors that displayed only a touch of the finishing astringency of the above example. While not destined to be a genuinely great wine, it’s certainly a fine effort.

agavin: Fabulous, way better than 91 points, but still young.

1988 Louis Jadot Bonnes Mares. IWC 91. Medium, developing red, less saturated than the ’89. Subtly perfumed nose combines red berry liqueur and cherry with a cooler berry aspect, complicated by dark chocolate and underbrush. Dense with extract but quite laid-back. In fact this is rather austere, with firm acidity, a faint herbal character and excellent flavor definition. Not really rich or expressive but has spine and verve. Finishes with fine tannins and very good length. “We picked in early October, later than most. The maturity came late and the wine shows its acidity. We did our best to protect the suave side of the vintage.”

agavin: 88 was a funny year, but this was the most open and drinkable wine of the flight.

Cheese. La Salers (on the right), which is some kind of special cheese where the cows must be pregnant to be milked. The one on the left was richer, stronger, and creamier. Awesome stuff.

Some sorbet.

Only about 2/3 of the wines.

Overall, Republique is a first rate place. It updates the classic French fare in a way that is contemporary without being ultra modern. And it infuses that Frenchness with a distinct (and very LA) Asian sensibility. It’s light, but significant and very umami. This is my second visit and the food was even better (and it was great before). Really on point and exciting without being too formal. They also put on a spot on event. The private room upstairs is much cozier and quieter than the giant noisy hall. They had everything down to a T. From the A++ sommelier service to the perfectly cooked and timed food. Really not an easy task.

I’ll certainly be back.

My previous Republique dinner can be found here.

Or another Jadot dinner from last year.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

After, I took home some of this bad boy for my wife

By: agavin
Comments (3)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Brasserie, Frederick Barnier, Jadot, Liz Lee, Maison Louis Jadot, République, Sage Society, Walter Manzke

Vive la République

Jan10

Restaurant: Republique [1, 2]

Location: 624 S La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036. (310) 362-6115

Date: January 7, 2014

Cuisine: Modern Bistro French

Rating: Nice (loud) space, tasty hip food, great service

On this particular night, I was invited by Liz Lee of The Sage Society. She’s a friend of mine, wine dealer, and overall awesome foodie. She sure organizes an amazing evening. This one was mostly top flight Burgundy, and 13-14 bottles for 6 people! (Good thing I never drive to wine dinners)

The building is an interesting fusion of pre-war factory…

And classic LA vibe. This outside fountain is a remnant of the old space, as there used to be a bunch of them.

The main interior is nearly church-like. It’s been all opened up and looks great, but it’s big, tall, and covered in hard surfaces. That means loud!

The bar is packed and setup with all those fancy little fixings that are the hallmark of the fancy mixologist style of expensive yummy weak drink making. Being a wine guy, I don’t much care.

The front appears to be a kind of takeout(?) pastry and raw bar. The presentation was top notch.

Along with the hard (read loud) surfaces, open kitchen, mixologist and the like, our obligatory aged wood communal tables are graced with this paper menu.

1985 Krug. Parker 96 points. The freshest bottling I’ve had of the 85 Krug yet. It tastes so young, in the sense that there isn’t that heavy toast/oxidative character, but just all this vibrant acidity and bright lemon fruit. Really freaking delicious right now.

1979 Louis Roederer Cristal. Parker 96. The 1979 Cristal remains one of my favorite vintages of this Champagne. This bottle is fully resolved, with pretty suggestions of honey, cinnamon, smoke, ash, menthol, hazelnuts and dried apricots. The bouquet remains deeply expressive and melds seamlessly into a succulent, expansive palate. Although the wine is mature, the mousse retains surprising elegance and finesse with a velvet-like softness. This bottle is an original disgorgement from around 1985/1986 and saw 13-14 grams of dosage. 25% of the wine was aged in oak.

Our Sommelier for evening, Taylor Parsons. Unlike my mostly more chaotic Hedonist Dinners, he opened and poured the wine properly in flights, and even ordered up food to match.

2008 Domaine Michel Lafarge Beaune 1er Cru Les Aigrots Blanc. Burghound 88-90. A less expressive and somewhat somber nose of dried flowers, wet stone and orange peel gives way to supple and detailed flavors that are also admirably pure and transparent culminate in an intensely minerality finish of good if not stunning length.

Escargots en Croûte. garlic, parsley

Like a mini pot pie containing a classic butter and garlic coated snail! Yum.

Eggs on Toast. santa barbara uni, soft-scrambled eggs.

The eggs substantially cut the briny quality of the uni. The taste was great, but I had two textural/physical problems with it. One, the bread was very toasted and hard to bite through, and so cut the mouth. Two, the compression caused the egg to squirt out and drop all over the place.

Warm Baguette with Normandy Butter. A completely first rate piece of bread. Utterly classic and unadorned.

1989 Domaine d’Auvenay (Lalou Bize-Leroy) Meursault Pré de Manche. 94 points. Real treat to try this wine, only 248 btls made! The wine was initially tight knit until about 30 minutes in the glass. After some time it opened up to a nose of nuttiness and ripe apples. On the palate it was alive and vibrant filled with acidity and lean fruit. It wasn’t the most expansive wine on the palate but it had a lively energy that made it an enjoyable drink.

Forest Mushroom tart. Comte, wild arugula. Lately, French restaurants (and some others) have been serving up these “tarts” as an excuse to basically serve pizza. I’m not complaining, as this was like a really nice cheesy earthy ultra thin bit of yummy.

Smoked Columbia River Sturgeon. Fingerling potato salad, baby beats, horseradish. This dish felt intensely Northern European (Dutch? Norwegian?) It had that dill, fish, potato, mayo thing going on. And it was white. Scandinavians love white food. However, it wasn’t mushy at all, with a nice firmness to all the components.

1950 Berberana Rioja Gran Reserva. Just enough corked to be annoying. Otherwise, lots of young fruit. I wonder if this bottle was re-conditioned. A little too youthful.

1964 Gomez Cruzado Rioja Gran Reserva Honorable. RJon Wine 92. Bricked medium dark red violet color; mature, tobacco, cigar box, cedar, dried black fruit, honeyed nose; mature, dried cherry, dried currant, tart black fruit palate with medium acidity; should go 7-8 years; medium-plus finish.

Our bottle was very young and red fruit.

Wild Atlantic Black Bass. Black trumpet mushrooms, potato gnocchi, brown butter, lemon. A nice classic whitefish in butter sauce. It was cooked perfectly. This is a very brasserie dish and was as good a take as I’ve had.

Spaghetti Rustichella. Dungeness crab. This dish was pretty Neapolitan in spirit. The pasta was perfectly al dente and the sauce a simple garlic, olive oil, white wine? It retained both the sweetness and sea quality of the crab with a bit of heat from the cayenne (which is also Southern Italian). No dairy, as it should be. One of my favorites.

Wood Oven Brussels Sproats. Frisee, applewood-smoked bacon, soft egg. This is like deja vu, as this dish would have been right at home at Playground where I went 10 days before. Can we get more LA Zeitgeist than brussels, pork, and sous vide egg? Still, it was darn tasty. No complaints. Like most other dishes here there is a real precision to the execution.

From my cellar: 1978 Remoissenet Père et Fils Richebourg. 89-90 points. This is a controversial wine. It had a little funk that blew off and, I thought, a very expressive berry nose. There was a lot of red fruit and forest floor with good spice. Some didn’t like it. I happen to drink (and like) my Burgundy old, so I thought it was delightful if not as well made as a few of the other red Burgs tonight. It’s certainly not over the hill, merely not a perfectly balanced wine.

1988 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée St. Vivant. Burghound 92. The perfumed nose has now gone almost completely secondary with hints of sous bois adding nuance to the classic spice box character of a fine RSV. I particularly like the purity of expression (yet no lack of power) which combined with the outstanding length make this an excellent effort that should continue to hold at this level for a number of years.

I liked this a lot, and it had that searing acidity typical of the 88 vintage, but there was plenty of fruit and finish.

1998 Domaine Leroy Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts. IWC 91-94. Just two barrels made. Deeper ruby. More complex, sweeter aromas of blackberry, minerals, flowers and smoke. Firm, highly concentrated and very fresh, with terrific gras and volume partly hidden today by firm structure. The ripe tannins coat the entire palate on the very long finish.

This was still a baby, with a bit of oak, not fully resolved, but old enough to have lost that woody harshness I don’t like in young structured wines. Quite excellent. Lots of Vosne spice.

Liberty Duck Breast. Braised taiwanese cabbage, spatzle, whole grain mustard sauce. Another first rate adaption of a classic. Does anything get more French than duck breast and cabbage with mustard sauce? Well, baguettes, steak frittes, and poulet rosti, but we had those too.

Berkshire Pork Belly. Escarole, fuji apple, bacon, cider-peppercorn sauce. This was fabulous too, and not that fatty (which was great). This puppy was probably cooked in the sous vide and finished with some flame. It was awesome.

1995 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Chambertin-Clos de Bèze. Burghound 94. Superbly spice aromas just explode from the glass leads to wonderfully concentrated flavors of impressive depth and simply incredible balance for such a big, structured, powerful wine. The length though is what separates this wine from the “merely” great and it just goes on and on. The material here is so good that it would not surprise me if this eventually merits an even higher score as this is a most impressive effort and it has the rare gift of presence, something very few wines have even at the highest levels. In sum, this is killer juice.

Thanks Liz for this bottle, which was pretty clearly WOTN. Rousseau is just so good. It was young, but not a baby and just so so so good.

1995 Emmanuel Rouget Echezeaux. Burghound 91. Remarkably supple and forward with elegant red fruits framed by traces of earth and a touch of oak followed by sweet, sappy, modulated, round flavors that offer excellent detail and fine length and the slight astringency that this displayed for years has finally rounded out. For my taste, this has arrived at its peak and while there is certainly no rush to drink up, neither is there any reason to hold for further upside development. Multiple, and consistent, notes.

Mary’s Organic Rotisserie Chicken. Red russian kale, roasted fingerling potatoes. The rotating spit was right in front of me and all night I watched a procession of these tasting fowl orbiting. Just classic roast chicken en jus but absolutely perfectly cooked. All good.

I don’t know if this was the Prime Strip Loin or the Prime Dry-Aged Cote de Boeuf, I suspect the latter. It was a fatty beefy perfectly cooked bit of cow.

Frittes of course. Just as I like them (crispy).

2011 Domaine Leflaive Mâcon-Verzé. 88 points. A bit of bitterness and some other flaws but frankly it’s nice drinking tipple, esp for the price. It’s clean and crisp at a cool temp.

Freshed baked goodies.

Cherry tart. Griottines, pistachio ice cream. Classic.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake. Milk eau de vie. Good stuff, although I could have easily tried a bunch more desserts (yes I’m a glutton).

And a selection of cheeses, always good with so much wine. However, at this point I was pretty drunk and more worried about getting too drunk than I would have liked. Basically we had too much good stuff.