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All Day at 888

Sep11

Restaurant: 海珍大酒樓 888 seafood restaurant [1, 2, 3]

Location: 8450 Valley Blvd, Rosemead, CA 91770. (626) 573-1888

Date: February 12, 2023

Cuisine: Cantonese Dimsum & Banquet

Rating: good not great, but awesome room and a lot of fun

As has become a bit of a tradition, Superbowl Sunday hedonist style is an all day affair at 888 Seafood. Not one but two meals!

The frontage.

Nothing like hanging out in the hall with the hanging meat!

Jeffrey’s sauce bar.

We have been in this giant private room both with a single monster table and with the current two large table configurations.

Overall, dim sum here was very “meh.” It was certainly the worst I’ve had recently in the SGV (as I’ve been going to good places), but solid enough to be enjoyable. In general, skins were too thick and things were a bit overcooked. They do have a lot of variety but the “banquet” side of 888 is way better than the dim sum side.

Jellyfish. Pretty meh jellyfish with a decent texture but no flavor. Jellyfish needs an acidic sauce/marinate.

Cold meat plate. The pork was excellent, the duck solid, the chicken fine, and the pink pork “wurst” stuff incredible. Great “cured meat” quality.

Steamed Chicken Feet in Brown Sauce. People said they were gross.

Sparerib in Black Bean Sauce. Very piggy and unpleasant version of this typical dish. Texture was okay but the flavor was terrible.

Premium Har Gow. These weren’t so premium. The skins were a little thick and over-steamed and the interior, while fine and full of solid shrimp, was bland and under seasoned. Still not bad or anything, but bland.

Pork & Shrimp Siu Mai. A touch oversteamed but savory enough, so reasonably tasty.

Chiu Chow Style Pork & Peanut Dumpling. These had a heavy wrapper but the filling was delicious with a mix of peanuts, meats, and various veggies.

Shrimp & Chives Dumpling. Again the wrapper was a little thick and the inside okay but a touch underseasoned.

XLB. Pretty decent actually for dim sum XLB. The pork itself was very tasty but there wasn’t really any juice.

Bean Curd Skin Rolls in Brown Sauce. Actually one of the better dim sum here with a nice texture and decent flavor. Not as nicely white peppered as the best versions, but certainly enjoyable.

Steamed Rice Noodle Roll with Shrimp. Solid Chow Fun with good texture and lots of shrimp. Sauce wasn’t sweet but did work.

Steamed Rice Noodle Roll with BBQ Pork. Again, a pretty good Chow Fun as the BBQ pork here is good.

Pan Fried Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll. I think I actually tried to order the Red Rice Noodle Roll and got this instead. It was pretty good though, being basically a dried shrimp and chive Chow Fun that was pan fried. Tasty in a greasy way.

Steamed BBQ Pork Bun. THe pork inside was very sweet but there was a good amount of it. The dough was over steamed and soggy.

Baked BBQ Pork Bun. Decent but sweet filling, so-so bun.

Contents.

Pan Fried Dace Fishcake. Dense and very fried with an interesting flavor. Not to everyone’s taste but I kind of liked it.

Deep Fried Shrimp Spring Roll. Solid enough version of this with a heavy but crispy shell and lots of shrimp.

Pan Fried Water Chestnut Cake. We didn’t know what to expect from this, and certainly not what we got, but it did turn out delicious. It was gelatinous and vaguely sweet — quite yummy.

Eggplant with Shrimp Paste. The fried fish ball was good, but this kind of straight up baked or steamed eggplant not my favorite texture.

Egg Tofu with Fish Paste in Brown Sauce. I like the soft egg tofu texture and the fish paste (which might have been shrimp paste?) was good, so this was a pleasant dish. Could it have been better with a stronger peppery brown sauce and a more seasoned fish cake? Sure, but it was pretty good anyway.

Steamed Beef Ball. Solid and chewy version of this classic. Very stuck together.

Mushrooms and vegetables.

Sticky Rice Wrapped with Lotus Leaves. I didn’t get a chance to try.

Custard Egg Tart. Very meh version. Eggy, and certainly not offensive, but not great.

Wines.

The coma.

BBQ Suckling Pig. Absolutely awesome and probably one of the best Chinese pig’s I’ve had. It was porky in the best way with a crispy skin and that “sizzling pork fat” thing going on. Really delicious.

100 Flower Chicken. Nice version of this relatively rare dish with the crispy skin and the luscious shrimp paste. Could have been a touch more seasoned but still delicious.

Hot and Sour Soup. Just okay with a decent texture but wasn’t really hot or sour.

Beef Brisket in Chili Oil. Tasty but not amazing.

Crab in Salty Egg Yolk. I don’t love the salty egg yolk prep as it’s kind of heavy and has a grainy quality, but this was one of the best crab’s I’ve had with it. The shell’s were very tender and there was a lot of meat so one could crunch through and really enjoy the sweet meat.

Lamb, onion, cilantro, and mushroom stir fry. I guess this was a variant on cumin lamb (without much cumin). It was soft but quite enjoyable.

Typhoon Style Garlic Lobster. Really nice lobster with lots of meat and crispy garlic.

Eggplant and String Beans. Okay but not my favorite.

Cauliflower with Southern Chinese Sausage. Yum, that sweet porky sausage makes any vegetable good.

Yang Chow Fried Rice.

Kung Pao Fried Rice. Interesting.

Piggy!

New Flavor — Cherry Bakewell Tart Gelato — While watching every episode of the Great British Baking Show I was introduced to the Bakewell Tart, which I liked it enough to make a gelato — Sicilian Noto Romano Almond Custard Base is layered with house-made Honey Almond Graham Crackers and Cherry Preserves. For extra fun I made an Almond Icing and glazed the Grahams with it in the traditional pattern (first time trying it) — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Sicily #Almond #Cherry #GrahamCracker #BakewellTart #tart #bakewell #jam #icing

One of my earliest Signature Flavors —Tiramisu Gelato — The base is a highly technical Zabaione of Egg Yolk, Fresh Mascarpone Cheese, and Sweet Marsala with Fresh Brewed Espresso. It’s dusted with Valrhona Cocoa powder and layered with house-made Vanilla Rum Espresso syrup-soaked Lady Fingers — the final result is totally Tiramisu — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Tiramisu #Espresso #coffee #chocolate #Marsala #Zabaione #Eggyolk #Rum #Mascarpone

Wines.

Out in the main hall!

Dimsum at 888 was solid, but not particularly interesting or super fresh. Definitely a notch or two down from the made to order places. Shells were a bit “sticky” which indicates they have been sitting in the steamers for a bit. Also, because we were starting at 2pm the dim sum kitchen was closing and so they brought EVERYTHING out all at once.

The banquet food was better, pretty good actually. It’s not the best Cantonese restaurant in the SGV for dinner, but it’s certainly way way better than anything further west and really quite good. Service is very nice and good for the SGV. And that mega banquet room rocks. They have a couple of them too but ours is the best. Really great private party space even if a little garish.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: 888 Seafood, BYOG, Cantonese Chinese, Chinese Food, Dim sum, Gelato, hedonists, SGV

Monarch Madness

Aug27

Restaurant: Monarch

Location: 1212 S Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007. (626) 596-2818

Date: January 29, 2023

Cuisine: Hong Kong fusion

Rating: Very good, but I like Chifa better

The Leon family knew within the first week of opening their Peruvian Chinese restaurant Chifa in late 2020 that a sophomore effort was in the cards. Though no one in the family was especially well-versed in food service or hospitality, the tenacious squad that includes Humberto Leon, the co-founder of fashion brand Opening Ceremony; his mother, Wendy Leon; sister, Ricardina Leon; and brother-in-law, John Liu; navigated pandemic-related hurdles and ultimately found success. Now they’re ready to do it all over again with Monarch, which opened on South Baldwin Avenue in Arcadia on Saturday, January 14.

Dressed up diner outside is totally SGV.

Super cool dining room.

8 is THE number for these round tables!

Bead screen of Iguazu Falls!

Jeffrey with Mama.

The menu.

Accidental grab as this was a $495 wine for Chinese!

Michael Kaplan’s son’s home-made chili oil (excellent).

Trusting the manager, I put in the entire menu organized into 4 flights. This 3rd flight item came out first but he graciously took it back, sorted it out, and sequenced near perfectly after that.

Silken Steamed Egg. delicate steamed egg with monkfish liver. The texture on the egg was great. However, the monkfish liver was a bit underappreciated in this (very cooked) context.

Decadent Spiced Okra. wok stir-fried okra in a Szechuan spice. Not particularly spicy, but very very pleasant with that goopy and crunchy okra texture.

Filet Mignon Tartare. Westholme Australian Wagyu filet mignon with pickled snow cabbage, chili crisp and quail egg. We mixed this all up and the result was an extremely flavorful tartare.

Shrimp chips for the tartare.

Slippery Egg Crab Fried Fun. Cantonese wok fried rice noodle with egg, crab and salmon roe add Uni. The “Fun” was basically rice sticks but this thick starchy dish was awesome with that old school “lobster sauce” flavor + uni. Really lovely.

Steamed Seabass Olive Tapenade. slow steamed chilean seabass topped with Chinese pickled olive tapenade. Olives are an unusual feature of southern Chinese cooking, probably courtesy of the Portuguese. They certainly worked in this night light seabass preparation.

Black pepper lobster. This special order prep was absolutely to die for. This 5ish pound lobster was super juicy and the black pepper sauce on of the best stir-fry sauces ever. Putting it on those thick al dente noodles was absolutely to die for. Once the oily pepper sauce soaked into the noodles… oh yeah!

Again, just because.

The gang.

Monarch Bolognese. simmered pork and tomato ragu with Chinese egg noodle. Even on their return in proper sequence this was a contentious dish. The porky Bolognese, while a touch dry, was quite lovely. But the noodles tended to clump.

Addicting Curry Noodle. fragrant and spicy curry squid ink noodle with scallop, calamari and shrimp. We all much preferred this unusual noodle dish with its grainy yellow curry flavor. Really was addicting.

Garlic Sweet & Sour Pork. crispy fried pork with Popo’s sweet & sour sauce, onions and kiwi. Like a high end Panda Express Sweet & Sour Pork! Very fried and drowned in this sweet and jammy sauce.

Black Pepper Lobster Tail. Whole lobster tail wok tossed in sweet and spicy black pepper sauce — noodles added. The lobster (and its noodles) were so good that we ordered two tails worth of lobster with MORE noodles. However they were out of the thick round ones and substituted this linguine. The tail meat was easier to eat and I enjoyed its lobster flavor, but the shell had one up on it for being finger licking good. The new noodles were good, and if we had had them first would have been great, but they just weren’t as chewy and amazing as the larger noodles.

Our special order Tomohawk came at first “well done” but again they graciously took it back and swapped for…

Tomahawk, rare. Now this was an amazing steak and really delicious with its warm deep pink/purple center. I particularly enjoyed with the sauces.

Black Pepper Cognac au Poivre sauce. Roasted Garlic Red Wine Reduction sauce. And special Chifa Cucho Sauce. My favorite was the black pepper.

Braised Curry Lamb Shank. tender braised lamb shank in fragrant tomato curry with cauliflower puree. Great that this was on a cauliflower puree (low carb) and the meat was super tender and drowned in delicious sauce.

Trinity Fried Rice. garlic, ginger, scallion trinity fried rice with egg, shirmp and fish roe. Nice large shrimp.

Celery & Red Chidori Kale (V). simple wok tossed celery and kale with fresh garlic. This was a surprise stand out for me. I very much enjoyed the crisp crunch of the celery.

Dessert menu, but we had better:

Cremino al Siciliana Gelato — The base made with Galbani Whole Milk Ricotta and Sicilian Acacia Honey laced with house-made Bronte Pistacchio DOCG “Fudge” — 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 #ricotta #honey #pistachio #pistacchio #fudge

Overall, this was an amazing meal. It’s sort of an interesting fusion, as it’s essentially Chifa — both the restaurant and the cuisine. Specifically this is a Hong Kong Peruvian hybrid fusion. It’s good and the decor and service are fabulous. But it’s also more expensive than almost all SGV Chinese. And I’m not sure it’s exactly better, just different. I actually like my Chinese very Chinese. I don’t even love Hong Kong “style” Chinese as much as most mainland restaurants because of the European (aka British) influence.

My favorite dishes here at Monarch were many of the ones that were at Chifa as well, like the lobster and steak. I do have to say, however, that the black pepper lobster is INSANELY GOOD. Best Chinese style lobster I’ve had. It’s also pretty expensive, but worth it. And the version we had was off menu, as the on menu one is lobster tail (which is also really good and we also had).

My recommendation would be that anyone very into SGV Chinese, or Chinese food in general, try out Monarch and see what they think themselves. I imagine many people will love it. I’ll certainly be back.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Black pepper, BYOG, Chifa, Chinese cuisine, Gelato, Lobster, Monarch, Wine

Can there Bee too many Tacos?

Aug20

Restaurant: Bee Taqueria

Location: 5754 W Adams Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90016. (323) 452-9575

Date: January 25, 2023

Cuisine: Mexican Taco

Rating: Delicious, but a lot of tacos

Bee Taqueria was opened and operated by Alex Carrasco. He’s worked in the kitchen at some notable restaurants such as Viceroy, Joe’s Restaurant, Paiche, Mo-chica, Red Medicine, and Mozza. Carrasco caught the attention of LA foodies with LA’s first taco omakase menu — which is what we shall be trying tonight.

Normally, Bee’s is a delicious modern taqueria with casual seating.

And a colorful “shack” style.

The menu changes a bit daily.

You order from here.
However, they also have this lounge and Omakase space!

And a big charcoal grill.

So we set up in the “private dining” room.

Some Champagne to kick things off.

Jeff brought another pound of caviar!

Caviar bump.

7 musketeers!

And Jeff M with the chef.

From my cellar: 2012 Raul Pérez Rías Baixas Sketch. VM 93. Pale gold. Expressive, orchard fruit, honey and mineral aromas pick up hints of quinine and white flowers with air. Bitter pear skin and Meyer lemon flavors gain weight, with the wine maintaining vivacity and focus thanks to juicy acidity. Closes on a tangerine note, with serious, mineral-driven thrust and lingering floral character.

From my cellar: 2013 Veyder-Malberg Grüner Veltliner Liebedich. VM 93. Sourced from Bruck, Schön, Buschenberg and Hochrain, and bottled under the mock site name “love you,” this cuvée delivers a wonderfully cooling and succulent amalgam of green herbs and ripe honeydew melon in undulating interaction with stony, alkaline, subtly smoky and mouthwateringly saline mineral elements. The feel is polished and the overall effect delightfully buoyant. Crunch, bite and piquancy of cress, pepper, iodine, dark leafy greens and walnut oil add depth as well as energy to a palate-clinging finish. (Drink between 2015-2030)

2010 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Grand Cellier Rubis. VM 93. A classy, understated wine, the 2010 Grand Cellier Rubis offers striking depth and nuance. Now, nearly two and half years after its disgorgement, the 2010 is just starting to open up aromatically. The Rubis is deceptively medium in body, yet it possesses notable drive. There is plenty of depth in the glass, but it is more implied than overtly stated. The Rubis is 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay. Dosage is 8 grams per liter. Disgorged November, 2014. (Drink between 2017-2025)

The chef introduced every dish with its (extensive) personal story.

Nuts. Roasted peanuts/ chile de arbol/garlic/ roasted chulpe/ sea salt. Spicy peanuts and cornnuts with lime. Pretty tasty with a bit of burn.

Every dish!

Lobster aguachile. Kombu serrano broth/ ikura/ cilantro criollo. Very zesty ceviche with nice thick chips with excellent corn flavor.

Added some caviar!

Bugambilia mole taco w/ Queso fresco, Bugambilia chicken mole/onion/fried bugambilia leaf. Smoky meat and cheese taco. Delicious.

Chicatana & ahi tuna tostada. Wakame sesame tostada/chicatana rub /soyu/heirloom tomato pico de gallo/garlic oil. Fish and tomato taco with crispy fried tortilla.

Huitlacoche empanada/ Truffle Cream. Pipiche Salsa verde/Truffle carpaccio/epazote Truffle oil. Delicious! The sauce was incredible. The whole thing incredible actually.

Fish taco w/ Squid ink tortilla. Yellow tail/ house made ponzu/ Morita aioli/fried rice/ furikake/ caviar/ fried charales. Yellowtail, anchoivy, and caviar taco. Very interesting textures and the cool raw fish and salty fish flavors.

From my cellar: 2003 Valdicava Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna del Piano. VM 93. The 2003 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna del Piano is a super-ripe, opulent wine that resembles the 1997 in its generous, full-bodied personality. The tannins are surprisingly well-balanced within the context of this challenging vintage. The 2003 should drink well relatively early for this Riserva. All things considered, this is a superb effort. Production was down sharply in 2003. The estate bottled just 13,000 bottles of this wine compared to the typical 23,000 bottles. (Drink between 2013-2023)

2006 Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino Poggio alle Mura. VM 92. Good medium red, a bit less bright than the classico. Deeper and earthier on the nose, showing more oak and less lift today. Then sweet, silky and lush on the palate, broader and weightier than the basic Brunello. This initially displayed less clarity and definition but seemed to gain in energy and depth as it opened in the glass. Finishes with sweet tannins and serious weight and length.

Some monster.

And more monster.

Pork taco. Cecina/aciento/guacamole/Salsa borracha/ prosciutto/speck chips. Pork X ways taco with prosciutto and crispy pork rind. To die for great.

Bistek Con huevos taco. Blue corn tortilla/dry aged rib eye/brie cheese/Truffle roasted sauce/Lobster veal demi glaze/ sunny side up quail egg. Steak and egg taco.

Churros w/ Dulce de leche. Mezcal sugar/ Mezcal oaxacan hot chocolate/amaranto. Churros filled with delicious cream and mezcal coffee liquour. Really great churros.

Pure and Concentrated Evil — Kentucky Mud Pie Gelato — Expresso Knob Creek Bourbon Custard Gelato base with layers of house-made Crushed Oreo Valrhona Fudge Ganache, and house-made Vanilla Coconut Cream Cheese Icing — The Plaid Mode of Gelati and includes a hefty Caffeine kick — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #coconut #valrhona #chocolate #ganache #expresso #bourbon #custard #oreos #icing

Added some of the mezcal sauce.

The wine lineup.

Overall, each dish was super super yummy. As a meal however, there were a few too many “tacos.” It didn’t feel exactly like a progression of dishes but a series of tacos (which it was). Some of these dishes would have been better served in a slightly different form favor, perhaps without the tortilla.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Alex Carrasco, Bee Taqueria, BYOG, Caviar, Foodie Club, Gelato, Mexican, Tacos, Taqueria, West Adams

On Fire – Wasn’t

Aug12

Restaurant: On Fire Hot Pot

Location: 500 N Atlantic Blvd Ste 201 Monterey Park, CA 91754. (717) 966-6666

Date: January 15, 2023

Cuisine: High End Hot Pot

Rating: Evidently golden toilets don’t bring luck

This high end hot pot joint in located in a hard to find spot upstairs near Atlantic Seafood.

Lots of cheap marble.

The main dining room.

Golden urinal.

Golden toilet!

Cheesy bling by the sink.

Our 8-10 person private room with two pots. Very undecorated.

Snacks and the “sauce bar.”

Green onion, cilantro, lime, garlic/ginger paste, chilies, chili oil.

Peanuts and jicama. Not sure what the jicama was for.

Sesame paste was available on request. This is just straight sesame paste.

The menu.

Some starter wines.

On the left, Pepper with Hog Maw and Chicken Soup. On the right, Tom yum soup. The Tom Yum was nice and included a couple of shrimp, but the “hog maw” had lots of pig stomach in it and that lent it that stinky smell (which permeated the room) and funky taste. Okay, but a bit stinky.

On the left, Golden Soup Fish Maw Chicken Pot. On the right, Taiwanese Spice Abalone Duck Blood Pot. The maw was added later to the maw pot and was very tender and delicious. This pot was mild but good. The Spicy pot was medium spicy and had great tofu in it to start as well as a tiny number of duck blood slabs, which were good. But I only saw 1-2 small abalone. Very different from the picture where it was loaded with abalone.

The fish maw for the golden broth. At least there was plenty of this and it was fabulous.

The big seafood platter with two lobsters, shrimp, scallops, oysters, clams, a few abalone, and salmon.

Get in close.

Angus Sirloin Steak.

Snowlake Short Ribs.

Premium Ribeye. This was one of the best cuts. We also had a wagyu in here somewhere but not sure which one it was or if I missed the photo. It was definiately softer.

Premium Lamb Shoulder.

Beef Tongue. Always like some tongue.

Pork Neck. This was porky, soft, and super delicious.

Assorted balls and fish tofu. Some of these were beef and some were fish and there were two were roe “dumplings.”

Beef Balls.

Luncheon Meat (aka spam). Always one of my favorites.

Pork Sausages. Very tasty.

Assorted tofu plate. The fried tofu balls were particularly delicious.

Assorted green vegetables.

Spinach and glass noodles. I’ve never had wide glass noodles like this.

Yin yang.

Vickye at work as hot pot mom.

Truffle Rice. This got dumped in the spicy broth and simmered down to form a gumbo-like bowl of yum.

The rice and broth.

Pure and Concentrated Evil — Kentucky Mud Pie Gelato — Expresso Knob Creek Bourbon Custard Gelato base with layers of house-made Crushed Oreo Valrhona Fudge Ganache, and house-made Vanilla Coconut Cream Cheese Icing — The Plaid Mode of Gelati and includes a hefty Caffeine kick — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #coconut #valrhona #chocolate #ganache #expresso #bourbon #custard #oreos #icing

Overall, a very fun night. This is an interesting hot pot format. It’s more seafood focused and there is more emphasis on the different pot flavors. Some were good, like the abalone one, and some not so good, like the pig ass flavor. The place clearly has a lot of competition. There are tons of much cheaper and easier to find hot pot places. It was deserted and that obviously took its toll — as they seem to be out of business. It’s a shame though because it was on the different side and I like variety.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Chinese Food, Gelato, hot pot, On Fire, SGV

Champagne Sauvages

Aug10

Restaurant: 71Above [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13]

Location: 633 W 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071

Date: January 13, 2023

Cuisine: New American

Rating: Awesome in all ways

71Above is one of my favorite LA restaurants and I’ve been many times. In fact there are 10 previous write ups! Original Chef Vartan Abgaryan has moved on to his own new place, Yours Truly (which the pandemic has sadly done in), and 71Above is now seamlessly helmed by his disciple, Chef Javier Lopez. Today the location plays host to a special Sauvages lunch — the “infamous” January Champagne Lunch.

Besides being located on the 71st floor (950 feet up!) of the US Bank building, being the highest restaurant west of the Mississippi, it’s owned and operated by my friend Emil Eyvazoff!

On one of these visits, Emil gave me a quick tour of their new “patio” on the 70th floor below where they are serving up Mezzes and drinks.

Gorgeous build out upstairs for the main event.

Look at the crazy view and the crazy fog on this weird spring night.
The pre-lunch crowd.

2018 Dönnhoff Roxheimer Höllenpfad Riesling im Mühlenberg Großes Gewächs. VM 92. This bottling from the stand of very old vines in Höllenpfad is full of juicy white peach fruit that I hadn’t expected from this site – but after all, we are talking about fruit-dominated vintage 2018. That’s not to say that certain elements conducive to austerity are absent: peach kernel piquancy, ash, crushed stone. On top of which, there is only one lone gram of residual sugar. The feel is full and firm, the minerally concentrated finish persistently pithy but juicy, and there is a welcome, saliva-inducing hint of salinity. “This is my new favorite child,” quipped Dönnhoff, “but it still has to finish school,” meaning not that these old vines need to be taught anything, but rather that he and Cornelius are still learning how to best channel this site’s and those vines’ potential. (For extensive background on this bottling and its site designation, consult my review of the inaugural vintage 2017 installment.) (Drink between 2020-2027)

2019 Domaine de Chantemerle Chablis La Chantemerle.

2014 Domaine Billaud-Simon Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. BH 93. A spicy nose grudgingly liberates notes of citrus, floral, wet stone, oyster shell and iodine. There is a fine blend of power and finesse with outstanding punch, complexity and balance on the beautifully lingering and markedly dry finish. A classic Montée de Tonnerre of refinement and grace. (Drink starting 2022)

From my cellar: 2016 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Saint-Aubin 1er Cru En Remilly Cuvée Nicholas et Mathis. 92 points.

Crispy Chicken Bites. Mustard Emulsion, Dill. Crispy with just a touch of heat.

Caviar. Brioche, Dashi Gelee, Chives.

Truffle eggs.

Our private room.

Chilling out.

Today’s special menu.

1995 Charles Heidsieck Champagne Blanc des Millénaires. VM 95. The 1995 Brut Blanc des Millenaires shows just how compelling this often overlooked vintage can be. Layers of lemon, pastry spices, crushed rocks and savory herbs literally jump from the glass in this exquisite, perfumed, beautifully delineated Champagne. The 1995 shows lovely flavor complexity and nuance from its extended time in bottle, yet it also retains plenty of freshness, verve and acidity. This is a great showing from Charles Heidsieck. The 1995 was made before the tenure of the house’s current team, headed by CEO Cécile Bonnefond. It will be very interesting to see what develops at this historic property over the coming years. (Drink between 2013-2022)

1996 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon. BH 97. A distinctly reticent but elegant nose with a purity of expression that is truly impressive to experience as it’s relatively high-toned and while the yeast comes up with air, it’s relatively muted at presence, combining with intense, precise and superbly detailed and complex flavors that culminate in an explosive and wonderfully long finish. This may very well rival the sublime ’90 in time even if it’s not quite as concentrated. This is still a baby so there is absolutely no rush whatsoever.

1998 Krug Champagne Clos du Mesnil. VM 97+. The 1998 Blanc de Blancs Clos du Mesnil has developed beautifully since I last tasted it. What a wine. For the first few years of its life, the 1998 seemed to lack personality, then, suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, it blossomed. Today, the 1998 is rich, powerful and explosive, none of which was a few years ago. Layers of textured fruit, pastry, spices and crushed rocks jump from the glass. Still an infant, the 1998 promises to drink well for two to three decades. This is without question the best bottle of the 1998 I have ever tasted. Time to do another complete vertical? (Drink between 2013-2038)

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)

Hiramasa Crudo. Passion Fruit, Mandarin, Avocado, Jicama, Furikake, Cilantro, Habanero. Super fabulous crudo with a really zining sweet, spicy, savory, tangy marinate. 71 Above often has these really interesting complex flavors.

2002 Dom Pérignon Champagne. VM 98. I remember the first time I tasted the 2002 Dom Pérignon with then-Chef de Caves Richard Geoffroy at Hautvillers. It was the upcoming release at the time. As was his custom, Geoffroy served the 2002 in a flight that included a number of previous releases. The bouquet was immediately stunning for its audacity. I had never tasted anything like it. Two thousand-two was a year marked by extreme ripeness in the Chardonnays, and that opulence has always been a big part of the wine’s profile. Today, what strikes me most about the 2002 is its timelessness. That youthful opulence remains, yet the 2002 is still vibrant, almost shocking in its freshness. Apricot, ripe peach, tangerine oil, butter and dried flowers all build towards a captivating crescendo of aromas and flavors that saturates the finish. Readers can look forward to another two decades of exceptional drinking. (Drink between 2022-2042)

2002 Piper-Heidsieck Champagne Cuvée Rare. JG 94. It is funny how often I drink the 2002 Rare from Piper-Heidsieck, given that I cannot get a sample out of this Grande Marque of the 2008 Rare or any other recent releases these days. In any case, the radio silence has not soured me on the beauty of the 2002 Rare, which remains one of the finest wines I have had the pleasure to taste from Piper. The bouquet is complex, deep and refined, offering up scents of apple, lemon, fresh-baked bread, chalky minerality and a nice touch of upper register smokiness. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a fine core, lovely balance and grip, elegant mousse and a long, focused and still vibrant finish. At age twenty this wine is cruising along beautifully at its plateau of peak maturity and still has plenty of life ahead of it. (Drink between 2022-2045)

2012 Pol Roger Champagne Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill. VM 96. Pol Roger”s flagship Brut Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill is fabulous in 2012. Rich, open-knit and seductive, the 2012 will drink well right out of the gate, although it certainly has the pedigree to age well for decades. Lemon confit, chamomile, dried flowers, mint, spice and a kick of brioche infuse the 2012 with notable textural richness and resonance. Time in the glass brings out gorgeous aromatic lift to round things out. The 2012 is classy and polished all the way. (Drink between 2022-2037)

Crispy Octopus. Smoked Paprika, Morita Chili, Fingerling Potatoes, Celery, Lemon. Very nice crispy octopus.

2007 Piper-Heidsieck Champagne Cuvée Rare. 93 points.

2004 Paul Bara Champagne Grand Cru Annonciade. 92 points.

2003 Dom Pérignon Champagne. VM 95. The 2003 Dom Pérignon is in a gorgeous place right now. To be sure, it is a powerful Champagne that reflects the personality of a year marked by frost, that took out 70% of the Chardonnay, and then record heat and drought over the summer. The 2003 is just starting to head into its first plateau of maturity. Brioche, baked apple tart, lemon confit and marzipan build into the rich, layered finish. (Originally published in May 2021) (Drink between 2021-2038)

2006 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs. VM 98. We started with the 2006 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne, which is every bit as racy and seductive as it has always been. It’s a great, great vintage for Comtes. (Drink between 2022-2046)

Lettuces, Market Vegetables, Labne, Cumin, Cilantro, Parmigiano-Reggiano. Very nice interesting cumin notes. Good texture.

Risotto Milanese. Saffron, Crispy Bone Marrow, Parmigiano-Reggiano. Perfect risotto, if very rich. I only had a bite as I was saving my blood sugar.

NV Jacques Selosse V.O. Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut. VM 95. The NV Extra-Brut V.O. (Version Originale) (2015) is super-expressive right out of the gate. It marries richness with translucence in stunning style. Dried flowers, mint, pine, spice, baked apple tart and brioche add gorgeous aromatic presence. In this release, the V.O. is so compelling. As always, V.O. is a blend of parcels on the upper slopes of Avize, from vintages 2015, 2014 and 2013 in this release. Disgorged: April 5, 2021. (Drink between 2023-2033)

2008 Piper-Heidsieck Champagne Cuvée Rare. 93 points.

2008 Dom Pérignon Champagne. VM 98. The 2008 Dom Pérignon is a huge, powerful Champagne and also clearly one of the wines of the vintage. This is one of the most reticent bottles I have tasted. So much so that I am thinking about holding off opening any more bottles! The 2008 has always offered a striking interplay of fruit and structure. Today, the richness of the fruit is especially evident. Readers who own the 2008 should be thrilled, but patience is a must. (Originally published in May 2021) (Drink between 2028-2058)

2008 Veuve Clicquot Champagne Brut La Grande Dame. 92 points.

Murray Cod. Little Neck Clams, Celadonian Prawn, Celery Root Chowder, Fennel. Very nice seafood flavors. The Cod was perfectly moist and flakey. Excellent seafood dish.

Sweet champ!

Mignardise. Choux au Craquelin, Pate de Fruits, Madeleines. My diet only allowed me a nibble of each, but the pastry cream Choux seemed awesome.

Pure and Concentrated Evil — Kentucky Mud Pie Gelato — Expresso Knob Creek Bourbon Custard Gelato base with layers of house-made Crushed Oreo Valrhona Fudge Ganache, and house-made Vanilla Coconut Cream Cheese Icing — The Plaid Mode of Gelati and includes a hefty Caffeine kick — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #coconut #valrhona #chocolate #ganache #expresso #bourbon #custard #oreos #icing

Orange Old Fashioned Sorbetto — Cold Pressed Orange Juice, Knob Creek Bourbon and Angostura Bitters! Topped with cherries — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Really tastes like an Old Fashioned –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #orange #tangerine #bourbon #KnobCreek #bitters #Angostura

The gang.

The chefs and to the right, our awesome Somm, Katherine.

Heading down!

Overall, 71Above is just a seriously well conceived and executed one-of-a-kind restaurant. Really, it’s more like a NY, Singapore, or Tokyo kind of concept. First of all, the view is just awesome. I can’t wait to come back on a really clear day. Particularly once they begin brunch service, a nice winter day will offer an observation deck like panorama.

But then Emil and crew built out such a lovely space to capture the drama. It’s modern, but welcoming. Not too loud, you can hear the conversation and the music both. And from when you enter off the double elevator ascent it folds from one experience to another: lounge, dining room, more intimate corridors, chef table, quiet and romantic view areas in the back, and a series of two adjustable private dining rooms. The attention to architectural detail is amazing.

Today’s lunch excelled on all counts. Service, food, company, and of course the wines. Years ago I used to complain about too much Champagne… no longer!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: 71above, BYOG, Champagne, Emil Eyvazoff, Gelato, lunch, Sauvages, Wine

I don’t think that word means what you think it means

Aug06

Restaurant: Blooming VIP Restaurant [ 1, 2]

Location: 8118 Garvey Ave A, Rosemead, CA 91770. (626) 280-2288

Date: January 8, 2023

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: There are better

The latest Dirty Dozen white overlaps with Sunday Chinese. Truth is, I prefer just straight Sunday Chinese, but having a wine theme is ok. It was Champagne again this time.

We went out to relative newcomer Blooming VIP — which has pretty decent dim sum – and a very over the top decor.

This time around we needed white wine to begin, as Champ was the main event.

Peanuts Yarom brought in from Sichuan Delicious. They were pretty good, nice bit of spice and Chinese flavor.

Smashed Cucumbers. Very solid classic smashed cucumbers with garlic. Not spicy but nice crunch.

Chicken Feet. Bleh. Only Yarom ate these as usual.

Geoduck Sashimi. It looked good, but these were tasted like a bait and tackle shop. Not even close to the quality of Longo. I actually had a hard time finishing what I took. It didn’t taste unfresh, and this should have a briney quality, but this was too strong.

Close up.

Fried Geoduck. The neck fried salt and pepper style. Edible, but not really good, particularly in comparison to Longo (whose version of this dish is awesome).

Walnut Shrimp. Excellent version of the gweillo classic. Large shrimp, lightly fried with the sweet mayo. Guilty pleasure.

Ginger Scallion Lobster with Noodles. The lobster was tiny, very little meat, but it was juicy. Ginger balance was way too strong here. I also don’t love this kind of sloppy noodle, but it is typical.

White Pepper Jellyfish. Someone in the kitchen accidently dropped an entire cannister of white pepper into the dish. It was disgusting and I like white pepper. Almost sneeze inducing and none of the vinegar thing that this dish should have.

More wine (getting lazy).

Roast Chicken. A very solid roast chicken. Not the best I’ve ever had, but nice and juicy. It was served with an odd “jus” gravy.

Roast Quail or Pigeon. Solid 7/10 version of this classic dish and certainly enjoyable.

Pseudo Peking Duck with buns. Thin Cantonese hoison and spring onions (no cucumbers, no pancakes). The duck itself was pretty tasty although this was like 1/2 a duck as it was on top of a huge pile of shrimp chips to make it look bigger. To find out more about Peking Duck, consult my Ultimate Peking Duck Guide.

Thin Cantonese hoison.

Yarom brought these carb free egg-white pancakes which actually served quite well as duck pancakes.

Duck Lettuce Cups. Fine.

The lettuce itself.

Tofu with Mushrooms. I added to the order because we had nothing from the wok — Yarom has a thing for straight meat dishes. This tofu had that lovely soft egg custard texture. The mushrooms were nice but covered with a slightly sweet cornstarch sauce. There were not actually very many mushrooms however, and they were bulked up with a bunch of soggy iceberg lettuce underneath.

Clay pot with satay beef and vermicelli. More vermicelli than beef. The satay sauce was decent and the beef was nice and tender.

Roast Suckling Pig. Excellent 10/10 Chinese style crispy roast pig. Best dish for sure with awesome crispy skin and nice slightly porky flavor.

Cremino al Siciliana Gelato — The base made with Galbani Whole Milk Ricotta and Sicilian Acacia Honey laced with house-made Bronte Pistacchio DOCG “Fudge” — 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 #ricotta #honey #pistachio #pistacchio #fudge

The scores.

Overall, it was a fun evening, but the food was really hit or miss. Blooming is good at roast birds and pig, but all the seafood was really meh, almost bad. Not “really bad”, still better than a westside Chinese, but not up there with the good Cantonese seafood places. The wok dishes were decent but not outstanding. But again, the birds and pig were excellent. So they know how to BBQ. Service was great and we had a nice private room.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Blooming VIP, BYOG, Cantonese, Chinese Food, Dirty Dozen, Gelato, hedonists

Niku X – Hits the Spot

Aug03

Restaurant: Niku X

Location: 900 Wilshire Blvd Ste 212, Los Angeles, CA 90017. (323) 920-0302

Date: January 2, 2023

Cuisine: Chinese-owned Japanese Korean BBQ (cultural A for the win!)

Rating: Excellent neighborhood Italian

Every New Year demands a big celebration!

Niku X is Yakiniku (Japanese Korean BBQ), but it’s Chinese owned and operated which means it has a certain extra blind factor — at the expense of Japanese obsession with quality and detail. They describe themselves as:

JAPANESE TRADITION MEETS GLOBAL INFLUENCE
Located in the heart of downtown Los Angeles at The Wilshire Grand Center, NIKU X offers modern
contemporary Japanese cuisine with global influences. NIKU X incorporates the classic yakiniku style
of cooking, a traditional Japanese technique utilized to grill meats. Michelin-starred chef, Shin
Thompson, offers an extraordinary culinary experience characterized by the use of artisanal
produce and “ranch-to-table” ingredients, including certified Japanese A5 Wagyu, in a harmonious
fusion using global techniques.

The space is HUGE and elaborately built out.

This is our “private” room.

Meat hook!

The menu.

From my cellar: 2011 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. 92 points.

Crudo. A5 Toriyama Ribcap Wagyu. Spanish Bluefin Tuna. 7 Days Dry Aged Panama Kanpachi. Tamago. Fresh Wasabi, sudachi jelly, sweet shoyu creme fraiche. This was one of the weaker dishes. The beef was meh. The sweet jelly made an odd and not particularly effective contrast. I did like the sweet shoyu sauce, which tasted like maple cream. Overall it needed acidity instead of sweet.

More white.

Lobster Sashimi. Lobster Tail, black vinegar ponzu, wasabi root. They topped it with some uni and caviar and it was quite lovely.

From my cellar: NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Réserve. JG 92. This particular bottle of Brut Réserve had been in my cellar since 2008, and it has aged beautifully and was drinking very well when opened this past spring. The excellent nose wafts from the glass in a mélange of apple, peach, warm bread, a touch of ginger, a lovely base of soil and plenty of upper register smokiness. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bdoied, complex and still rock solid at the core, with fine mousse, bright acids and lovely length and grip on the wide open, complex and classy finish. This particular release of Brut Réserve had been particularly steely out of the blocks, which is why I tucked some away to see how it evolved with bottle age. Yet again, a pretty strong argument for treating non-vintage Brut bottlings like other fine wines and cellar them for some time before starting to drink them! (Drink between 2014-2025)

Uni and caviar ready to mix up.

Caviar. Astrea Oscietra Caviar, Hokkaido Uni, Stone Axe Wagyu Tarare, Senbei, Nori. The whole of this is mixed up and then served on a choice of crackers or nori. Quite nice and the nori was dry and crispy.

Crackers and nori to eat it with.

From my cellar: 2016 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Saint-Aubin 1er Cru En Remilly Cuvée Nicholas et Mathis.

12 Days Dry Aged Tyee Ora King Salmon. Sekokani Salt. Smoked.

Raw.

On the grill.

12 Days Dry Aged Tyee Ora King Salmon. Sekokani Salt. Smoked. The salmon was seared and topped with a bit of Teriyaki-like sauce. Quite nice.

Radish and lettuce salad with passionfruit dressing.

Live Boston Hotate (Scallop) with Hokkaido Uni Butter. I didn’t love the scallop, not sure why.

Tilting fast into red Burgundy.

Port Wine Yakiniku Tare, Jidori egg yolk.

The show begins.

Tomohawk, already cooked.

Salty base.

Seared over fire.

After searing it’s sliced.

Then out comes the truffle!

Full Blood Dry Aged Wagyu Tomahawk Steak with Piedmontese White Alba Truffle. The “lighter fluid” they used to flame the steak could still be lightly tasted and I found that midly offputting.

Bordeaux time.

Wagyu Oxtail Pot Stickers. Masami Ranch, Orange, Tokyo Negi. Very nice delicate bite, more like an XLB than a potsticker — and better for it.

And more.

The meat IS nicely presented.

Masami Ranch Wagyu Beef Tongue. Mushroom Duxelles, Japanese Black Vinegar, Tokyo Negi.

Stone Axe Misuji (top blade). Chrysanthemum.

Stone Axe Ichibo (top sirloin).

Masami Ranch 45 Days Dry Aged Striploin.

Masami Ranch Shortrib. Umeboshi Salted Plum Chimichurri.

A5 Miyazaki Tenderloin. Served on the toast below.

Before cooking.

Tomahawk Tallow Fried Parmentier Potatoes. Masami Ranch Wagyu Butter, Valery Potatoes. These were great.

On the grill. They cook it for you.

Some of the cuts on the plate.

And more wine.

This was my favorite one.

Miyazaki A5 Ribeye & Wagyu Rice Donabe. Hijiki Salt, fresh wasabi Covered with Piedmontese White Alba Truffle. Pretty yummy.

More meat.

Miyazaki A5 Ribeye & Wagyu Rice Donabe. Hijiki Salt, fresh wasabi Covered with Umbrian Black Winter Truffle. Pretty yummy.

Mixed up.

The bone.

Standing ovation.

And more meat.

Ick!

A5 Miyazaki Tenderloin. Ginza Nishikawa Milk Bread, foie gras, blueberry gastrique. This was rich and delicious. The sweetness of the gastrique paired nicely.

The meat keeps on coming.

The wine keeps on flowing.

The raw A5 before grilling.

On the grill.

Fried rice at the ready.

A5 Miyazaki thin cut, with Wagyu Rice and Port Wine Yakiniku Tare, Jidori egg yolk. Really yummy with that slightly sweet tare.

Japanese Pickles. Nice and crunchy but didn’t have that sweet vinegar thing I really like about Japanese pickles.

Macha Mochi with fruit. The macha was way too strong here.

I love this flavor — Peppermint Bark Gelato — Base is pure peppermint milk (subbed the sugar with crushed peppermint candies) and it’s laced with house-made double-sided peppermint bark, Valrhona Dark Chocolate and Ivoire White! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — The Peppermint Bark recipe was developed by a famous pastry chef and author, the mum of a Naughty Dog Alum @nancy_baggett — this year I added the two layer thing which is awesome — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #dessertgasm #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #peppermint #bark #Valrhona #chocolate

Meat larder.

Overall, this was an incredibly fun night. However, it looks slightly better than it tasted. I mean it tasted good. And we had a blast, but being Chinese they rushed the service. They were super nice and super well intentioned, but they favor theatrics and they basically deluge you with food and theatrics AT THE SAME TIME. Several of the major events like the Wagyu reveal and the Tomahawk flaming were literally happening simultaneously. It should totally be sequential, but Chinese favor fast service. There is also that “fancy but cheap” Chinese build out. Ingredients are good, but they don’t quite have the flavors in perfect balance in the same way that a fully Japanese place would. But then again, given all the high end ingredients the value proposition is actually quite high. It’s just a little different than you might expect if you are used to high end Japanese dining.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Chinese Japanese, DTLA, Foodie Club, Gelato, Japanese BBQ, Niku X, Wagyū, Wine, Yakiniku

DimSumQuest – Bistro 1968

Aug01

Restaurant: Bistro 1968

Location: 402 S San Gabriel Blvd Ste A, San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 766-1968

Date: December 30, 2022 & January 4, 2023

Cuisine: Chinese Dim Sum

Rating: One of the current best

Bistro 1968 opened with considerable fanfare (for the SGV) at the tail end of 2022. It serves up a large but focused menu of Cantonese dim sum and unusually is not two restaurants in one like most of the Cantonese places. Instead they have the same (dim sum focused) menu for both lunch and dinner.

The underground parking lot here sucks. Upper level was full and the lower level had this mechanical gated “resident only tow zone” that was poorly labeled and easy to get trapped in.

Escaping the parking lot involved this endless corridor.

Brand new!

Double-sided order sheet

The long form menu.

The main dining room. Several private rooms spawn off the sides.

At first we were in this claustraphobic interior room, but then we moved.

Into this much nicer (and larger) room. It had a window!

Holds a good sized group.

Jasmine Tea.

Basic sauces. They put several on the table, plus some chili oil.

Black and Red Vinegar.

XO Sauce was an extra $4, but totally worth it.

Chili oil is always better than paste.

Bean Curd Skin Roll in Soup. Great texture but very mild in flavor.

Shrimp Har-Gow. Fairly perfect textbook har-gow. Shrimp was delicious and skin was light.

Golden Har-Gow. I think these had a little bit of truffle inside plus the dark (squid ink?) skin. Normally I don’t like these “amplified” classics but these were excellent.

Pork Siu-Mai. Awesome version. Light, meaty, tasty. We had 5-6 orders.

Abalone Tart. A “lard short crust” pastry with shredded pork and abalone. Gorgeous. The tart was very crumbly. The pork itself was sweet and very nice, the abalone was great, not at all chewy — well it was abalone but it wasn’t too chewy.

Pumkpin Dumplings. Seasonal. Very mild and pleasant.

Leeks and Shrimp Dumpling. I really liked these. I’m not sure the wrapper tasted different, but the interior had a nice leek and shrimp (big surprise) vibe.

Shanghai XLB. Usually at dimsum houses the XLB are heavy and just “kinda nice.” These were delicate with fabulous pork soup flavor inside, arguably better than at specialty places like DTF. Really great.

Spicy Minced Pork Dumpling. Chewy and a bit sweet with that sweet porky filling. I’m not sure what was spicy about it but it was good. Sometimes this dumpling type, which is normally light brown, is underfilled. These were generous.

Stuffed Morchella Elata Fungus. They spelled it Fungas. Lol. This was one of the best dishes. It was a nice shrimp paste ball with a “fungas” wrapper” and a sweet soy sauce. Delicious.

Shrimp Noodle. The shrimp were large and succulent and the chow fun texture was excellent. The sauce could have used slightly more punch.

Wagyu Beef Noodle. I’ve never had chow fun with wagyu. It was silky soft, a touch sweet, and did pack quite a bit of flavor.

BBQ Pork & Mixed Fungus Noodle. Again they spelled it “Fungas.” Lol again. These were actually some great Chow Fun with nice Sweet BBQ Porky filling and a hint of mushroom.

House Special Seafood Congee. I didn’t try because of the carb factor — hey it’s all carbs — but some of my friends complained that it wasn’t jammed with enough goodies.

Close up.

Sticky Rice Wrap. This is the usual lotus leaf wrapped sticky rice. It was fabulous though with all sorts of flavor goodness and perfectly sticky rice.

Sticky Rice. These were mild, a bit sweet, and filled with Chinese sausage, ginkos, egg yolks, etc. Not nearly as good as the lotus leaf sticky rice.

Pan-fried Turnip Cake. I didn’t try because of the carbs.

Crabmeat Egg-Roll. I didn’t try but everyone else toasted them in two seconds.

Seaweed and Shrimp paste cake. Nice firm shrimp cake with an interesting spongy texture and a bit of crispiness from the seaweed. The mayo complemented.

House Special Crispy Lobster Roll. Very fluffy and crunchy texture stuffed with noodles and tiny bits of lobster. Interesting.

Steamed BBQ Pork Bao. The bun was a bit soggy and the filling overly sweet.

Snow Capped BBQ Pork Bun. This version was leagues better than the steamed version. Great slightly cirspy donut style bun with nice pork filling.

Deep Fried Taro Puff. Pretty but carb on carb — plus I hate taro. Anyway there were some little bits of pork in there too.

Supreme Beef Balls. Great spongy texture. I ate a ton of these.

Ground Minced Pork. Not a very descriptive label but these were delicious pan-fried pork patties. Nice and greasy.

Wonton w/ Chili Oil Sauce. This was one of the weakest dishes. The wrapper was soft and pillowy, but the chili sauce was weak, and the filling was shrimp (would have been better as pork). Mostly it just didn’t have the chili oil punch this dish deserves.

Lobster with Ginger and Scallions. Pretty nice lobster in the “wet” style.

Soy Sauce Chicken. A bit sweet, but very aromatic and juicy so a lovely chicken.

Hongkong Style Roast Duck. This was probably the best Hongkong style roast duck I’ve had. It was extremely juicy with fabulous skin and lots of great flavor.

Smaller sized portion of the same dish.

Slightly Sweet Sauce for the duck.

Sichuan Sauce Hen Chicken. Cold chopped Hainan Chicken style chicken with nice numbing sauce. Really good.

Sauce for that.

Barbecued Iberian Pork w/ Honey. Classic sweet red Chinese BBQ pork. Very sweet sauce but pretty damn tasty!

Deep Fried Quail with Spicy Salt. Yummy, but extremly salty and mostly bones with little bits of meat on them.

Roasted Squab. Leave it to Yarom to order every bird on the menu. These were solid, but not in the top tier.

Crispy German Pork Knuckle. Very piggy, nice crispy skin, succulent meat. I enjoyed these.

Oxtail Stew with Wine Sauce Clay Pot. There was the oxtail bone factor, but this did taste great. Moderate amounts of tasty meat clung to the tail bones and the whole thing was drowned in some sort of gravy.

Poached Watercress w/ Fish Ball. Basically a nice light broth with lots of greens and fish/shrimp balls. I actually really liked this dish, particularly given the nasty rainy weather. It was very soothing and provided needed carbs.

Creamy Egg-Yolk Bao. Tasty and the yolk inside almost exploded out. I just nibbled for dietary reasons.

Macau Egg Tart. A classic. Nice and eggy.

I love this flavor — Peppermint Bark Gelato — Base is pure peppermint milk (subbed the sugar with crushed peppermint candies) and it’s laced with house-made double-sided peppermint bark, Valrhona Dark Chocolate and Ivoire White! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — The Peppermint Bark recipe was developed by a famous pastry chef and author, the mum of a Naughty Dog Alum @nancy_baggett — this year I added the two layer thing which is awesome — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #dessertgasm #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #peppermint #bark #Valrhona #chocolate

The wines.

Yarom and the owner and the manager.

The whole gang.

They collect all the steamer trays in rolling huskee’s!

Overall, I thought Bistro 1968 is currently one of the best dim sum places in the SGV — and therefore in SoCal. Not every dish is perfect but they have a big menu, many interesting dishes, and an overall standard of execution that is just higher than most of the older places. Sure, there are a lot of good (and even great) options in the SGV but you totally can’t go wrong with this one!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Bistro 1968, BYOG, Cantonese, Cantonese Chinese, Chinese cuisine, dimsum, DimSumQuest, dumplings, Gelato, SGV

Orange Opulence – Chang’an

Jul24

Restaurant: Chang’an

Location: 13051 Newport Ave, Tustin, CA 92780. (949) 324-5558

Date: December 10, 2022 and February 23, 2023

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Best Chinese in the Southland

Among my friends Chang’an is a highly controversial Chinese restaurant. Personally, I think it has hands down the highest quality Chinese food in California, really the best I’ve had outside of China. But it’s high end, and in Tustin, and very expensive. There is a certain contingent who likes their Chinese grungier and at a better QPR feeling this is “more authentic.” The reality is that both are different aspects of modern China. Chang’an is extremely “authentic,” just to the style of recent high end eatery cropping up in China’s major cities. A good example would be Shanghai Tang.

They are also known for their elaborate table-side Peking Duck and are the winner of my in depth Ultimate LA Peking Duck Guide.

It’s located in this “French Chateau” like structure way down in Tustin. The drive is a real pain.

The decor is at a different level.

Details.

The have a dedicated peking duck oven!

One of their several bars.

The menu.

For our first meal we ate out on the “floor” near the giant screen (oddly playing Christmas videos). For the second, we had the awesome private room.

Gotta have champagne for:

Bovon brought 16oz of caviar!

Fist bump time!
And in a new first new BYOU (bring your own uni) — two trays of fresh Santa Barbara Uni!

They serve a Shaanxi bread and this spicy bean sauce.

Some Dec 22 wine.

Out comes the “main event” – LA’s best Peking duck.

Close up.

The table-side Peking Duck Show really gets underway!

The duck was covered in Baijiu and lit on fire to crisp (and flavor) the skin.

Carved table-side.

Skin was thin and mildly crispy, aged ducky flavor, served with traditional brown sugar. But still this way of doing the duck, better for the meat, compromises the skin ever-so-slightly = 6.

Natural cane sugar for dipping the skin into.

Pancake was thin and translucent and there were plenty of them = 10.

Accoutrements were scallion and cucumbers as usual plus pear = 9. Hoisin was good to great. Slightly thin maybe, sweet and savory, quite pungent = 8.

Meat was served 2 ways, both with some skin on the white meat, straight up = 10 where it was really juicy and full of flavor.

The burrito/bing together was a 7/10 or perhaps 8/10 as I didn’t pack it right. I should have made a second but I didn’t want the extra carbs.

The smoke machine was used to smoke this second batch of duck meat.

Watch it in action.

A second half of the meat was served smoked which was very different, a bit more like ham, and quite lovely = 9.

Dec 22 wine. It takes something racy like this to pair with numbing clam.

Spicy Arctic Surf Clam with Green Sichuan pepper 青花椒炝北极贝. Fabulous dish with chewy clam and pungent citrus-tinged peppercorns and a slightly sweet soy base. Underneath were unwraveled green onions. We ordered two of these they were so good.

And Bovon just had to “do his thing” to the dish for the photo. The combo certainly didn’t clash with the clam and even the peppercorn, but it did mute the peppercorn, which to me was a slight distraction.

Crispy Beef Tongue 脆皮牛舌. Fried, rich, but very delicious. The center was dense and chewy and the fry nice and light. The sweet and “spicy” sauce livened it up a bit.

A touch thin and oxidative.

Tons of lovely chevy minerality.

Lovely.

Cold Crispy Jellyfish With Hot and Sour Sauce 浆水海蜇. Incredible texture and a refreshing taste. Great jellyfish. The jellyfish itself was exceedingly firm with a great bite.

Taking it up to the next level we “decorated” with uni and caviar! Actually the caviar really helped the dish.

Tossed Cilantro, Scallion & Red Peanut Salad sweet & sour vinaigrette 陕西大拌菜. Extremely elegant salad. I could have eaten 2 all by myself. Very tangy with great texture, crunch, and tangy flavor.

Cucumber & Cold Noodles in chili sesame or hot and sour sauce 老陕凉皮 (麻酱/ 酸辣). There were two variants here, the spicy bean sprout noodles and a less spicy sesame cold noodles. They were fairly good, and better than last time as they started the meal. Texture was great on both. I particularly liked adding some of the even spicer “bread sauce” to the spicy noodles.

48-Hour Braised Sea Cucumber (per person) twenty-two different herbs and spices 招牌葱烧海参佐黑松露饭(每位). Wow! This was hands down the best sea cucumber I’ve had. They make a supreme stock and then slowly rehydrate the dried sea cucumber in it so that it absorbs the lovely and complex flavor. The rice is special Japanese snow rice with a very aromatic sauce. Really special.

Stir- Fired Lychee Prawns with Sweet Sour and Spicy Sauce 贵妃荔枝虾球. Very sweet. The cashews were candied. The sauce was sweet. The shrimp were perfectly cooked and quite nice. The fried balls were lychee deep deep fried covered in caramelized sugar.

Snow Crab with Egg pancake 风花雪蟹配鸡蛋煎饼. Eggy versions of the spring pancake with a very salty and delicious crab and seafood mix. Almost like a dry XO sauce it had little dried shrimps and scallops in there. Insanely savory.

The ultimate umami salt pancake with the crab mix and a huge blob of caviar!

Dec 22 wine.

Live Fish (Seasonal/Reserve only) Market Price 时价. In this particular case Turbot. Steamed with scallion and soy. I usually find this a bland dish but the succulent quality of this lovely fish and the perfect sauce made this dish insanely good. It was even better topped with lots of caviar!

Turbot in action.

On our second visit we decided to prep the Turbo a different way: Live Turbot Soup. I’m not sure what this was called, but this soup prep of the Turbot was incredible. The broth was mixed fish and chicken and seasoned liberally with white pepper. It was stunning. The chunks of fish were melt in your mouth and filled with that gelatinous softness that great turbot has. Amazing!

Out comes our friend, the soon to be dinner, his highness, King Crab.

Live King Crab “ginger and scallion.” I’ve never had this particular variant on the ginger and scallion. Instead of being a wet wok version, this was deep fried and then stir-fried with ginger and scallions in a spectacularly effective manner than leant it amazing Wok Xi (aka char flavor). Really delicious.

Live King Crab legs steamed with garlic and vermicelli. Perfect light and sweet version of the leg meat.

Jeff just had to Uni and Caviar this up too!

The crab shell returned with steamed “tofu egg.” Very loose light version of this dish. It was good but I actually prefer it as a more “solid” mass of custard.

Very nice, bright and deep. Not showing at that amazing level though.

Dusty at first, but it blew off. More berries than the 2001 and also not amazing.

Chang’an Squab 长安乳鸽脆皮/椒麻两种口味 Crispy/Peppercorn chili. Very nice classic Cantonese squab. Maybe a touch drier than the best ever, but really still quite lovely and amoung the better ones I’ve had.

Spicy Stir-Fried Wild Mushroom Morels with Shanghai Bok-Choy 辣炒羊肚菌配小棠菜. Delightful veggies. I just love morels.

Cucumber & Cold Noodles in chili sesame or hot and sour sauce 老陕凉皮 (麻酱/ 酸辣). I didn’t see any cucumber. These noodles were just spicy. They were fairly good, but the monotone of flavor made them one of the “worst” dishes of the night (given that every thing was great).

For his birthday Erick was given a special Xi’an style soup with long knife cut noodles (for long life) and a fried egg (for good fortune).

Sautéed Pea-Tips with Garlic 蒜蓉豆苗. Excellent version. Very delicate.

Dec 22 wine.

Extremely clean and concentrated.

Qin Style Roast Lamb Leg 秦味烤羊腿. This dish was insane. I didn’t deal with the buns but the lamb was super hot and intensely flavorful. It just melted off the bone and had this sizzling fat and intense smoked and crunchy chili flavor. Insane!

Close up of this perfect spicy meat.

Buns for the lamb.

Bovon caviared the buns!

Braised Abalone and Pork Belly with hand made steambuns 一品鲍鱼红烧肉. Not the strongest dish. The pork was very good with that braised star anise flavor and tons of fat.

Peppercorn Ice Cream 花椒冰淇淋 (每位). Very mild peppercorn flavors and very cold (and hard). But still good.

Tangerine Ice cream was hard but had a delightful flavor.

Strawbaccio Gelato — an awesome dairly Strawberry base with house-made Bronte Pistacchio DOCG “Fudge” — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — whacky combo day — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #strawberry #pistachio #pistacchio #fudge

Dec 2022 wine.

Feb 2023 Wines (up a notch!)
In one of the main dining rooms.

Private room gang.

Overall, I think this is some insanely good Chinese food. It’s not just great for Chinese, it’s really up there in terms of meals available in Southern California. The downside is the distance — easily over 2 hours in traffic — and the price (can be several hundred $$ a person if you are getting King Crab, etc.). I feel it’s worth it, and so do all the people I went with, but some of my other friends do not like the QPR. It’s definitely not a “value.”

Decor is great too. The atmosphere is “interesting.” Service is earnest and quite excellent for Chinese but still fighting its own instincts. They want to serve in Chinese order and they want to serve FAST! (almost everything at the same time). We have our own preferences for order, designed to match the wines. Many items here are pre-order only, like the duck and crab. The duck in particular is a bit odd. The very strangely limit you to one a table. Really two would be good with a large party. And they have an extremely specific pre-arranged time where they are GOING to serve the duck. By default this is the minute of your reservation — like start milling around the table discussing seating and here comes the duck! So it’s very important to arrange this specific time some distance (perhaps at least 30 minutes) AFTER your reservation time. And it’s then difficult to arrange for it to be after all the seafood (because you don’t know how long that will take). But these little idiosyncrasies are well worth putting up with (IMHO).

Chang’an also blends a number of Chinese regional styles. It’s nominally celebrating the city of Xi’an and so has significant Shaanxi influence, but certainly isn’t a classic Shaanxi place. It has Beijing dishes (like Peking duck) and some somewhat Cantonese dishes. All are filtered through both a higher end and slightly western Chinese lens.

Highly, highly recommended — but know what you are getting into.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOC, BYOG, BYOU, Caviar, Chang'An, Chinese cuisine, Fancy Chinese, Gelato, Orange County, Peking Duck, Shaanxi, Tustin, Uni, Wine, Xi'an

Arcadian Pastures

Jul18

Restaurant: Meizhou Dongpo

Location: 400 S Baldwin Ave #2045, Arcadia, CA 91007. (626) 538-4136

Date: December 4, 2022

Cuisine: Beijing/Szechuan Chinese

Rating: A bit better than its Century City brother

I’ve been to the Century City Meizhou many times, and I’ve even been to this Arcadia branch (which oddly opened LATER) for lunch, but I was always skeptical of going out here for dinner as there are so many other places in the SGV (and after all, we have one close by).

But off I went anyway.

They do have EPIC private rooms. This one is huge, decorated, and has a nice “sitting area.”

Sichuan Dumplings. Pork dumplings with chili oil. Pretty nice version with soft skins, good filling, and a tangy/spicy sauce.

Spicy cucumber salad. Very solid version. A touch spicy, nice sweet and tangy sauce.

Dongpo sausage. Two types. Actually a touch spicy/sweet. The light colored one was incredibly delicious in a sweet pork sort of way.

Cold mung bean noodles with chili. This was a spectacular version of this Chengdu street dish. Tons of flavor and a hot of heat.

Cold noodles with chicken and spicy sauce (not pictured). You mix it up and douse in the sauce. Quite nice cold noodle dish with good texture and flavor.

Sole Filet with green onions. Very lovely as well with nice thick filets. Super silky texture.

Lobster with Ginger and Scallions. The meat was tender and the sauce flavor was great.

Meizhou Special Fried Rice.

Condiments for the peking duck.

Out comes the peking duck!

For more detail on the whole duck thing in LA, check out my Ultimate Peking Duck Guide.
The do it table side, which is sadly rare here.

MDP skin was very thin and crispy but there was less of it because of the split skin cut = 6

Carving away.

The meat is served with legs in a separate dish. Each duck turns into two of these plates. We had three whole ducks this time around!

Meat was super juicy, even a touch pink, with real jus. Excellent. Some was served with the skin on = 9

Great thin pancakes. Pancake was thin and resilient = 9

The condiments. They include sugar for dipping the skin.

Hoisin was very good, but a touch savory = 7

Accoutrements were scallion and cucumbers as usual, but extra point for sugar = 8

The “burrito/bing” together was a 7/10 because the pancake/hoisin is the most important component of that.

Cumin Duck Bones. A bit boney and dry, but great flavor.

Duck Soup. They gave us this for free. Actually very pleasant, with a flavor like a great chicken soup.

Eggplant in chili garlic sauce. Nice but a little sweet. Texture was very good though. Very temperature hot as is typical with this dish.

Wok-Fried String Beans. Nice version of the dish.

Beef Filet with Black Pepper. A bit boring, but nice enough.

Steamed lobster with garlic and vermicelli. As good as the first lobster was (we actually had two of each!) this one was even better. Super moist and tender, just great lobster meat with garlic flavor!

Braised pork hock with special sauce. Super delicious umami/msg/savory sauce. Rocked.

Kung Pao Shrimp. It’s supposed to be a touch spicy — it wasn’t — it was sweet with nice crunchy peanuts. Despite the sweetness, it was delicious and addictive. Maybe a little too addictive. Texture was great.

Chocolate Butterfinger Crunch Gelato – The base is made with Valrhona 62% Satilla Chocolate and then layered with Peanutbutter Cream Cheese Ganache and chopped Butterfingers! — 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 #peanut #butterfinger

A rarity with our Asian dinners, people under 30! (some adult children of some of the other guests).

The wine lineup.

Overall this was actually an excellent Chinese meal. Not only do they have the great private rooms (which really elevate Chinese dinners and make them a lot more fun) but MDP Arcadia is a touch more precise than the Century City version. Service is good at both, and the menus are almost the same, but there seems to be an extra level of consistency here that takes it up a notch.

I just wish they would balance a little bit less “sweet” and a little bit more sour/spicy. That would take it up from an 8 to a 10!

For more LA Chinese reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Arcadia, BYOG, Chinese cuisine, Gelato, Lobster, Meizhou Dongpo, Peking Duck, SGV, Wine

Kinn Again

Jun28

Restaurant: Kinn [1, 2]

Location: 3905 W 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90020. (213) 291-0888

Date: November 15, 2022

Cuisine: Korean Fusion

Rating: Really tasty & a great deal

After Erick and I had such a great “Round 1” of our double dinner at Kinn a few months back we decided to return with the whole gang for a “real” Foodie Club dinner.

It was way more crowded this time around.

We had a mega table which took up about 1/3 of the restaurant.

Our special expanded menu. The normal menu is about half this size.

NV Jacques Selosse Initial. 95 points.

Steamed Abalone. Potatoes, squid ink. You slurp the contents out of the shell. Essentially it’s like a “abalone chowder.” Quite nice if a bit potato focused.

Bluefin Tuna Collar Tartare. These seaweed cigars were very crispy and filled with an unctuous tuna filling.

Caviar, Squash Ice Cream, and Chungju. The caviar is astrea which Eve brought. I wasn’t that big a fan of the squash ice cream, but it was mild and creamy and so went well enough with the caviar. Still, caviar this good is best by itself. The white creamy stuff must be the Chungju, which is a sake-like rice wine (in this case I guess whipped?).

2007 Domaine Roulot Meursault Les Luchets. VM 90. Ripe but reduced aromas of vineyard peach and spices. Ripe but quite dry and stony, with orange and mineral flavors dominating. I find this a bit less vibrant than the Meix Chavaux.

2010 Domaine Roulot Meursault 1er Cru Les Poruzots. VM 92. The 2010 Meursault Porusot shows the distinctive richness of the vintage. Juicy yellow stone fruits, flowers and mint flesh out in this radiant, expressive Meursault. Although quite extroverted, there is a centeredness and poise to the Porusot that is striking. (Drink starting 2014)

2017 Domaine Roulot Meursault Les Vireuils. BH 90-92. Notes of matchstick, petrol, white flower and discreet citrus zest nuances comprise the cool and restrained nose. As is usually the case, the medium-bodied flavors are not as rich as those of the straight Meursault but there is noticeably more minerality and cut and particularly so on the sappy, long and bone dry finish. This offers excellent quality for a villages level wine. (Drink starting 2025)

Truffled Egg. These were excellent white truffles with a very lovely eggy base beneath.

Steamed Shirako. The cod sperm sakes were perfectly delicate and coated in a butter caviar sauce with parsnips. Great butter sauce and shirako texture, but there was a slight bitter tone.

Non shirako fish substitute. Someone couldn’t “handle the cream.”

Spanish-Style Crispy Octopus. The sauce is a creamy aioli with Korean Chili Paste. Perfectly cooked octopus with a crispy outside and tender inside, I was able to cut it easily with a spoon. The aioli, basically a Korean inspired take on Bravos Sauce, was very thick and “creamy” with an egg, oil emulsion. Lovely take on this classic Spanish dish.

2001 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Bonnes Mares. VM 94. The 2001 De Vogüé Bonnes Mares exhibited uncommon depth and richness in the luxuriousness of its vibrant fruit, with a personality that was delicate yet powerful. Still very much an infant, it was a privilege to catch this gorgeous wine in its youth.

2002 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Bonnes Mares. VM 93. Bright medium red. Explosive aromas of cherry and iron lifted by high-toned exotic spices. Hugely rich and fleshy, plush and full, with the powerful spice character following through on the palate. Finishes with terrific breadth and substantial dusty tannins. Millet finds the 2002s less subtle than the 2014s. The wines are a bit sweeter as well as higher in alcohol, he added. I should note that this sample came from a 375-milliliter bottle, so the same wine in a 750 almost certainly has a lot more life ahead of it. (Drink between 2016-2025)

Dry aged duck.

The chef reveal.

Dry aged duck. Awesome chewy rare duck with a rich buttery sauce and a meaty reduction. Delicious.

Crispy Tilefish with a Fish Broth. The Crispy Topped fish was perfectly cooked, served with a Fennel Salad, and underlayed with a delicious Korean Fish Bone Broth spiked with Serrano Chili and Tarragon Oil. Really lovely.

1998 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Landonne. VM 97+. Full dark ruby. Sauvage, multidimensional aromas of dark berries, leather, meat, pepper, gunflint, fresh blood and brown spices, along with torrefaction notes of mocha and smoke. Hugely rich, dense and sweet; a wine of great volume and suavity. Finishes with big, ripe tannins and great persistence. Even the empty glass boasted extraordinary aromatic complexity.

Colorado Lamb Chop. Very nice rare chop with another delicious reduction and delicious onion.

Blackthroat seaperch rice. Very lovely Japanese/Korean style fish on rice.

Lime to squeeze on the fish.

Truffle Ice Cream with Chocolate Cake. Great truffles but this only confirms my longheld belief that truffles do not belong in dessert.

An old Ramen Roll classic — Matcha White Gelato – Ceremonial Matcha Green Tea base mixed with White Chocolate Chunks — 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 #WhiteChocolate #matcha #GreenTea

Chocolate Raspberry Pie Gelato – The base is made with Valrhona 62% Satilla Chocolate and then layered with Raspberry Jam, Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Raspberry Squares, and house-made Gluten Free Graham Cracker “crust” — 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 #raspberry #Ghirardelli #GrahamCracker #GF

The lineup.

Kinn was awesome. Not only was it intimate and the chef extremely friendly and interesting, but these were big bold flavors and quite novel. The cooking techniques are heavily “modern French” or “modern European” (some dishes like the Octopus are pretty Spanish) but a lot of Korean ingredients and flavors have been melded in. It’s simultaneously comforting and novel.

This larger dinner was more “filling” and we certainly didn’t need second dinner. Great stuff and great wines. I did miss the shiso sorbetto though — loved that the first time.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Foodie Club, Gelato, Kinn, Korean Fusion, Wine

Sauvages Bordeaux

Jun24

Restaurant: Private Chef, David Slatkin

Location: Pasadena

Date: November 11, 2022

Cuisine: American

This particular entry in my series of Friday afternoon wine themed Sauvages lunches was set at a member’s lovely Pasadena house with a Bordeaux wine theme. Food was by frequent Sauvages chef David Slatkin.

Champagnes at the ready.

Tuna Salad on Wonton Crisps. Lots of mayo.

Pigs in a Preztel Blanket.

Korean Short Rib Mini Tacos. Sweet and salty.

Table A.

Table B. I’m not a fan of the two (guys) table setup, actually. It’s just not as fun as a single table.

The Lady’s Table.

Because of the double table thing and the confusion and too many bottles I’m not going to write up the wines, just picture them. I can’t keep this kind of two table thing straight. I think this lineup of wines were ours at Table B.

Wines on the sideboard.

Brioche French Toast with Pan Seared Foie Gras and Sweet Apple Sauce. Pretty darn sweet!

What’s left after I ate just the foie.

Cavatelli with Meat Ragu and Ricotta Stuffed Squash Blossom. I have to say, putting a fried item on pasta is an interesting twist.

Stuffed Quail on Mashed Parsnip with Crispy Sweet Breads. Very nice dish. Quail was juciy and the parsnips (tasted a little) were delicious.

New York Steak with Crispy Cauliflower and Mashed Potatoes. The cauliflower was very good. The steak was medium well and a bit chewy.

Cheese Plate with pan baked buns.

For some reason I make this flavor in October — Key Lime Pie Gelato — base is a key lime egg custard, layered with house-made Graham Cracker and covered with house-made Torched Meringue — 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 #KeyLime #lime #custard #meringue #GrahamCracker #cookie

Citron au Courant Sorbetto – Fresh squeezed Lemons blended with French Currants (Cassis) — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #lemon #cassis #currents #lemonade #citron

Chocolate Souffle with Whipped Cream and Berries. The cream was not sweetened (good) and the souffle had a great texture but was only mildly chocolately.

Chocolate Chip Cookies. Fresh baked and very soft.

Party gifts. This were fabulous for packaged cookies.

The table split.

My notes.

Lineup.

Debauchery.

And more.

The sane table.

Overall, this was a fun lunch, but the two (three with the ladies) format kinda bites. It’s way too confusing, too competitive, less social, and generally less fun than a bigger single table. You can’t try all the wines either. I find this true at lunch or dinner, regardless of the group. So I think Sauvages needs to be capped at about 16 and even then only when the table and wine service supports such a careful pour.

Food was some of the best we’ve had from Slatkin, if a touch on the heavy side. He paired it extremely well with the wines — which given the Bordeaux thing worked.

The setting was lovely.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Lots more wines. Probably a mess of duplicate photos.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Bordeaux, BYOG, David Slatkin, Gelato, lunch, Sauvages

Petrified Peppone

Jun22

Restaurant: Peppone Restaurant

Location: 11628 Barrington Ct, Los Angeles, CA 90049. (310) 476-7379

Date: November 11, 2022

Cuisine: 1970s Italian American

Rating: Saucy!

Jeffrey was clamoring for months to visit Peppone in Brentwood for Old School Italian eats.

I, myself, hadn’t been in 15 or 20 years!

Not that the interior changed. It hasn’t changed since disco was king! This place opened in around 1971 and looks it. All the hot girls were there too (later) — just the girls who were hot in the 70s!

At the bar.

The petrified menu.

From my cellar: 2012 Borgo del Tiglio (Nicola Manferrari) Collio Studio di Bianco. 95 points. Borgo del Tiglio’s flagship 2012 Studio di Bianco is the most precise, sculpted wine in the range. Lemon peel, white flowers and crushed rocks are some of the nuances that take shape in a wine that deftly balances the richness and tension. As is often the case, I expect the Studio will need a few years in bottle to truly open up and show the full breadth of its personality. (Drink between 2017-2027)

Cheesy Garlic Bread with Marinara Sauce. I didn’t try these (avoiding the carbs) but people said they were pretty good. But they do start off tonight’s “sauce” theme, even if it’s a dipping sauce in that EVERY dish served was covered in a sauce.

From my cellar: 2018 Azienda Agricola Valentini Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo. VM 92. Bright pink. Minerals, fava beans, pomegranate and violet on the bright nose. Then very harmonious in its acid-fruit-tannin profile, with lively balanced acidity nicely extending the flavors similar to the aromas on the long back end. Strikes me as a rather refined, sneakily concentrated Cerasuolo. (Drink between 2019-2025)

Jumbo Artichokes Venetian. Not only is this pretty hideous (and decidedly messy) but it was probably the worst artichoke I remember having. The sauce was just vaguely salty and the artichoke itself was very thick and heavy and it was difficult to scrape any meat off of the leaves. This is an easy dish and can be delicious steamed with butter, garlic, and a bit of salt — don’t complicate it.

Baked Zucchini Blossoms. Ugly as hell, but actually fairly tasty. The overall texture was much like an omelet as the blossoms were smashed flat and slightly soggy. A fairly tasty brown sauce of some sort was sort of drizzled over it.

Escargots. Another looker! Passible, but these shelled snails were drowned in this mysterious brown sauce. Straight French-style garlic butter escargot are much better.

Scampi Vesuvio. Nicely cooked shelled shrimp were soaked in the vesuvio sauce which seams to be butter, lemon juice, and some seafood “juice.”

From my cellar: 1965 Badia a Coltibuono Chianti Classico Riserva. VM 97. Garnet-tinged red. Aromas of raspberry, red cherry, dried flowers, licorice and smoky spices complicated by white pepper and herbs. Suave on entry, then sweet but gripping in the middle, with harmonious acidity giving terrific definition and lift to the multifaceted flavors of red berries, minerals, iron and spices. A wonderfully creamy, almost fleshy Chianti with utterly silky tannins. Offers amazing vibrancy while saturating the entire palate without conveying any impression of weight on the extremely long finish. A great wine from a vintage that received mixed reviews at the time, with some producers liking it a lot, and others much less so. The general consensus, though is that it was inferior to both 1964 and 1966.

Would have been home on the original opening list!

Pasta Trio with Rigatoni with Italian Sausage, Fettuccine Alfredo, and Lobster Ravioli. Three “classic” pastas. The good one was the Rigatoni which was quite al dente and had a nice Italian American Sausage sauce. The Fettuccine was mushy and just tasted like cream. The Ravioli sauce tasted mostly like salt with almost no lobster shell (aka bisque) taste.

From my cellar: 2002 Romano Dal Forno Valpolicella Superiore Vigneto di Monte Lodoletta. VM 94. Dal Forno’s 2002 Valpolicella is a massively endowed effort revealing backward dark fruit, new leather, spices, herbs, roasted coffee beans and toasted oak on an imposing, tannic frame. Made in a super-concentrated style – even by Dal Forno’s standards – it will require several years of cellaring for the tannins to soften somewhat, although it is hard to imagine that will ever completely happen. Beginning with the 2002 vintage Dal Forno’s Valpolicella is made from 100% dried fruit, whereas in previous vintages the wine had been made only partially with dried fruit. (Drink between 2013-2017)

Sweetbreads Pompei, Sandabs in Padella, and Chicken Livers Flambee. These were all actually pretty good. The Sandabs were fabulous, albiet coated in another of those salty old fashioned sauces, but they were very delicate and moist (drowned). The Sweetbreads were also good, but hard to tell under the sauce. The Liver was my least favorite but it was still solid for liver of this sort as it was soft and not chewy or heavy.

From the ancient list: 1989 Gaja Barbaresco Costa Russi. VM 97. The 1989 Barbaresco Costa Russi is a thrilling wine that literally takes my breath away – and that comes from someone who usually isn’t the hugest fan of this particular wine. In 1989 the Costa Russi offers a touch more roundness and spiciness than the Barbaresco. The fruit here is super-luxurious and silky, while the tannins possess remarkable polish. The finish remains firm and full of life. Even 20 years ago Angelo Gaja and Guido Rivella were making wines most producers would kill for today. Simply put this is a magical bottle; I only wish I owned it. Wow. (Drink between 2013-2030)

Sausages Pizzaiola. This seemed more like sausages and peppers. But regardless the sausage itself was great, classic Italian America with a nice bit of fennel. Sauce worked well making it like a good street Sausage and Peppers. The old fashioned veggies lol. Steamed with maybe a bit of butter. Drowned in the sauce they were actually fine as they were still reasonably crunchy — but so old fashioned!

Vitello Saltimbocca. Hard to find the veal under all that sauce, and it was salty, but it was also tender and pretty delicious.

Lamb Osso Buco with Gnocchi. I usually expect Osso Buco to be vertical with more fat and collogen and this is more reminiscient as a cut to a Middle Eastern lamb shank, but the meat was delicious. The Gnocchi were a bit chewy, not the light fluffy ones that are best.

Sautéed Mushrooms. Ugly delicious for sure! Looks like a bowl of dog food, but these mushrooms, nearly invisible under the thick salty brown sauce were quite delicious. Certainly it was all about the salty mushroom (and maybe beef) sauce.

Yar! Ghostly skeletal praline pirates are marauding — Pecan Pirate Praline Gelato — An eggy Texas Pecan base layered with my creepy skull-shaped New Orleans style Vanilla Bourbon Pecan Pralines and Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Pumpkins — 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 #vanilla #bourbon #pecan #praline #candy #halloween #spooky

We were joined tonight by the lovely and vivacious Lisa of LisaEatsLA. Plus her boyfriend.

Overall, the room at Peppone is gorgeous. The clientele consists of 1968 California Girls dolled up and ready to party — in 2022. The waiters have all probably worked here for decades and they were great. Very nice, very knowledgeable, efficient. Our meal did take mysteriously long. They kinda did that thing where they ignored us a bit until the bulk of the crowd (which had seated before us, even though we at at 7pm) thinned out.
Food was better than I thought, but OMG the hideous plating and all that sauce. Literally every single dish is drowned in a barely identifiable heavy sauce. The driest dish was the Garlic Bread (which also included a sauce). And it’s just poured over. And it’s all so 1970s. I love sauce but this was a bit much. And we aren’t talking a precise french Beurre Blanc or even a peerless Marinara but these heavy sloppy butter based “brownish” sauces. Plus the antiquated veggies. However, must dishes were pretty tasty in a salty buttery way. Pastas were weak. We didn’t try dessert.

They do have a pretty well priced big wine list. It’s poorly spelled and only sometimes includes vintages but we did manage to find a fantastic 1989 Gaja Russi for $349 (which is probably about retail).

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Brentwood, BYOG, Foodie Club, Gelato, Italian cuisine, Lisa Eats, Peppone, Sauce, Wine

Aussie at Locanda Veneta

Jun12

Restaurant: Locanda Veneta [1, 2, 3]

Location: 8638 W 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90048. (310) 274-1893

Date: November 3, 2022

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: fun night w/ retro 90s Italian

I’m not historically a big fan of Locanda Veneta. It’s okay, and the owner is super nice, and execution on the food quite good, but the meal is always the same (maybe that’s Yarom’s ordering) and it’s very 90’s. I like a more modern style of Italian, frankly. This feels similar to Toscana or other good but slightly dated places. And we always end up eating steak — which just doesn’t feel that Italian — although actually it is in Tuscany — but I hate that kind of steak.

Anyway, I decided after many years of rejection to try it out again. This is also right at the start of my new low carb diet but they did very graciously offer substitutes for the pasta.

The location is Los Angeles classic, Locanda Veneta, a Beverly Hills Italian with several decades of history. Above, Chef Andre in the kitchen.

Our big outside table — which is great in nice weather.

From my cellar: 2011 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. 94 points.

2006 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. VM 98. We started with the 2006 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne, which is every bit as racy and seductive as it has always been. It’s a great, great vintage for Comtes. (Drink between 2022-2046)

2008 Drappier Champagne Grande Sendrée Submarine Edition. 96 points.

The menu.

Ron bonus: 2018 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Bougros Côte Bouguerots. VM 94. The 2018 Chablis Bougros Côte de Bouguerots Grand Cru is well-defined on the nose. Quite stony and terse at first, it opens with orange rind and crushed pebble scents. The palate is well balanced with fine acidity, tight and energetic with a zesty, minerally finish. This meliorates in the glass, ending up quite nuanced and tensile. Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2018 white tasting. (Drink between 2024-2040)

Bread with a “pesto” of parsley, olive oil, lemon juice etc.

Insalata San Remo. Mixed Greens served with Avocados, Tomatoes, Hearts of Palm, Zucchini, and Pine-Nuts tossed in our House Vinaigrette. Not a bad salad but certainly not great with wine either.

Penne Pomodoro.

From my cellar, and WOTN (haha but true): 2011 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. BH 95. As was the case from a bottle in 750 ml tasted in 2019 (see herein), a still strikingly fresh, elegant, airy and cool nose features aromas of wisps of acacia blossom, lemon rind, mineral reduction, green apple and a lingering hint of wood influence. The sleek, pure and stony medium weight flavors exude palpable underlying tension before culminating in a vibrant, driving, intense and impeccably well-balanced finish that goes on and on. This is textbook Perrières that for my taste is still on the way up, and particularly so in magnum format, and I would suggest allowing it another 5 to 8 years of cellar time. With that said, it wouldn’t be a crime to open one now – just be sure to allow for some air time. Impressive. (Drink starting 2028)

“Beluga” Sturgeon Caviar (1lb.) Sturgeon Roe (Imported Real Fine Black Caviar) served with Fresh Made Blini, Chopped Egg Yolks, Spanish Red Onion and Crème Fraiche.

Fresh Made Blini, Chopped Egg Yolks, Spanish Red Onion and Crème Fraiche.

A slight odd course, but delicious (and salty). Always a little amusing when there are 2 white courses (salad and caviar) and a whole lotta giant red.

2001 Penfolds Grange. VM 94. Inky violet with a bright rim. Explosive and utterly captivating on the nose, offering a range of aromas that encompasses red and darker berries, flowers, cigar box, minerals and sexy oak spices. Quite broad on the palate, and packing a real punch to its flavors of cassis, boysenberry, candied plum, bitter chocolate and fruitcake. Serious, harmonious tannins give plenty of structural support. This expands and grows even sweeter with aeration, finishing with outstanding persistence. Oak spices add sex appeal. A superb Grange.

1999 Penfolds Grange. VM 91+. Full ruby-red. Sexy aromas of raspberry, cola, root beer and coconut. Thick, dense and concentrated, with exotic, slightly candied dark fruit, caramel, toasted coconut and mineral flavors nicely shaped by firm acids. Shows strong fruit and a major dose of oak on the powerful, backward finish. This can’t quite match the 1998 for sheer depth of fruit, but it’s built to age.

1993 Penfolds Grange. 93 points. Slightly chemical nose, then herbs, anis. With time better and purerx On the palate much better, high toned red fruit, lots of ripe dark fruit, minerality, herbs, minty notes, again anis and spices. Very complex and layered. Highly precise. No faulty notes. Round but still very powerful but so round and sexy.

1990 Penfolds Grange. 94 points. Excellent 33-year old Grange – mid-neck level and perfect cork. The nose was fantastic and very complex with aromas of cedar, exotic wood, incense, dark cherries, leather and another “je-ne-sais-quoi”. The palate was excellent, but not as impressive. Balanced and very long. Still has the tannic structure and the stuffing to last 5-10 years, but will it improve? I don’t think so. Enjoy now.

Risotto al Tartufo Nero or Blanco. Carnaroli” Rice simmered with a Shaved “Alba’s” Fresh Black Winter or White Truffles. Very tasty and rich.

Antelope Carpaccio with arugula and truffles. The less carby variant.

2000 Chris Ringland Shiraz Dry Grown Barossa Ranges.

2003 Chris Ringland Shiraz Dry Grown Barossa Ranges.

1989 Henschke Shiraz Hill of Grace.

1991 Henschke Shiraz Hill of Grace.

“Tomahawk” di Manzo. USDA Prime Beef “Tomahawk” charbroiled to perfection, rubbed with Kosher Sea Salt, Black Pepper and our Secret Fresh Spices. We had several of these steaks at various levels of doneness (rare to well done). LOTS of beef. It was quite salted but the ones on the more rare side were delicious.

Roasted Rosemary Garlic New Potatoes. Great potatoes but I only had one because of carb avoidance.

Sautéed Baby Asparagus. Solid.

Sautéed Baby Carrots.

Branzino with “no fry” Eggplant Parmigiana. This was an unusual branzino, not quite as light as the classic greak/italian prep, but very tasty. The eggplant was fabulous and tomato sauce forward.

1986 Penfolds Grange. 95 points.

1982 Penfolds Grange. JG 95. The 1982 Penfolds Grange Hermitage has always been an impressive bottle, and since its debut in the second half of the 1980s, this has been a head-turner of a vintage for this great wine. Despite its fairly early appeal (where there was more than enough beautiful fruit that one had no trouble drinking it with great pleasure and just ignoring its fair chassis of tannin), this was always a wine meant to age gracefully and it has done so in no uncertain terms. Today, the bouquet is deep and complex, offering up a moderately jammy blend of cassis, black raspberries, coffee, meaty tones, menthol, dried berries, a touch of leather, new oak and a good base of soil. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and complex, with fine focus and grip, a plush core of fruit and impressive length and grip on the meltingly tannic and well-balanced finish. This is a classic vintage of Grange and has decades of life still ahead of it, but is fully into its apogee. (Drink between 2017-2050)

1981 Penfolds Grange. 93 points.

“New York” Steak di Manzo. USDA Prime Beef “Tomahawk” charbroiled to perfection, rubbed with Kosher Sea Salt, Black Pepper and our Secret Fresh Spices. There were a lot of these steaks too — just tons of meat.

Almond Amaretto Fudge Gelato — Amaretto Zabaglione (egg yolk, amaretto, and sugar custard) Sicilian Almond gelato base with a swirl of house-made Valrhona Cream Cheese Fudge Icing — 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 #almond #amaretto #icing #chocolate

Apple Tart with Vanilla Ice Cream and Caramel. Delicious.

Panna Cotta. Italian vanilla custard served on a strawberry coulis. Lovely and soft.

Wines tonight.

The gang.

The kitchen.

Overall this was a fun evening. I’ll bring apart commentary into different areas.

Service: The restaurant did a great job managing a group of our size. They were on top of things for the most part and extremely nice and accommodating. Whoever helped pick the menu for white wines did a good job pairing out all those red tomato sauce dishes.

Food: The food was good. Some dishes were excellent like pastas. Some were just nice. It all feels a little 90s Italian-American (which it is), but isn’t fully contemporary or fully Italian. But it’s good. Plating is very 90s.

Wine: Grange is always good, but I always feel weird not drinking Italian at Italian restaurants. These wines are monsters, BTW, even at 30-40 years of age. No point in cracking them at <25 years.

Anyway though, a very fun evening.

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
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Tagged as: BYOG, Gelato, hedonists, Locanda Veneta, Steak, Wine

Sauvages Crustacean

Jun08

Restaurant: Crustacean Beverly Hills [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

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

Date: October 28, 2022

Cuisine: Vietnamese Fusion

Rating: Awesome as always

Crustacean is one of our regular haunts and features a great patio in these “outside is better” days. Tonight’s meal was a Sauvages wine lunch, with a Red Burgundy theme.

We’ve had a couple awesome meals here in the last couple of years.

Lots of champagne to start.

We are situated in their patio room as usual.

The ladies have a spot nearby.

Cocktail “hour.”

Our menu.

And wine list. Look how organized they are!

2005 Domaine Ponsot Griotte-Chambertin. VM 92-95. Good ruby-red. Sappy, liqueur-like aromas of griotte cherry and black raspberry. Wonderfully intense and concentrated, with a nearly confectionery sweetness to its explosive fruit flavors. Like the Cuvee des Alouettes, this comes across as a bit high-toned and will require careful attention during its final months of elevage But offers great potential.

2005 Camille Giroud Latricières-Chambertin. VM 92-95. A subtle dash of oak influence highlights the equally dense dark berry fruit nose of surpassing elegance and refinement that complements perfectly the texture and very Gevrey medium full flavors that in contrast to the nose seem less refined than usual. Indeed, this is a powerful Latricières that at present anyway seems to under emphasize the underlying minerality so typical of this cru though the finish is long, velvety and mouth coating. A qualitative choice though the respective characters are very different. (Drink starting 2018)

2007 Joseph Drouhin Griotte-Chambertin. VM 92. Medium red with a palish rim. Enticing aromas of crushed red fruits perked up by pepper, spices and herbs; more evidence of stems here. Then densely packed and juicy, with a suave, smooth texture and enticing inner-mouth perfume. A peppery note adds to the vibrancy of this sappy grand cru. Finishes with fine-grained tannins and considerable class.

2003 Domaine Maume Mazis-Chambertin. BH 93. An absolutely gorgeous nose of black fruit, anise, violet and cassis coupled with a smoked meat and wild herb notes introduce big, intense and explosive flavors that are sappy and seductive. There is a deeply buried but steely tannic spine that will take its time resolving but I’d like to see this wine at age 15 or so. This is really a stunner as it’s very fresh for the vintage and absolutely one to buy. (Drink starting 2011)

Tuna Cigars. Instant Smoke, Feuille de Brick, Avocado Silk, Vidalia Onion, Tobiko Caviar. Lovely little “cigar.” It actually tastes somewhat cigar-like with the “smoke” and after that fades out is more reminiscient of the Spago tuna cone. The tobiko is more textural and doesn’t have the richness of a real (sturgeon) caviar.

2003 Dominique Laurent Charmes-Chambertin. VM 91-94. Deep red. Floral aromas of red cherry, red licorice, spices, mocha and iron. Sweet on entry, then precise, perfumed and sharply delineated in the mid-palate, with juicy, harmonious acidity. Lifted by violet and rose notes. Finishes very pure and long, with nicely integrated, rather gentle tannins. Classic Charmes. (A separate cuvee of Mazoyeres seemed very ripe and was in an oxidative phase.)

2001 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Musigny Cuvée Vieilles Vignes. BH 96. One of the finest wines of the vintage, this is simply a spectacular effort that has captured every bit of the potential it originally displayed in cask. Restrained and backward nose of a fantastically complex mix of blackberries, spice, cedar, soy, anise and dried herbs followed by full-bodied, multi-layered flavors of amazing length. Opulent and lavish yet all remains exquisitely balanced and this is astonishingly precise. A real stunner of a wine that is as classy and graceful as they come. As good and classy as the ’02 if not quite as structured. (Drink starting 2016)

1999 Domaine des Lambrays Clos des Lambrays. BH 94. I was quite surprised to find just how open for business this was in magnum format as I expected something far more reserved but such was not the case. A beautiful and highly expressive nose of ripe black cherry, earth and the hallmark red pinot fruit is followed by medium weight yet concentrated flavors of bacon, smoke and sappy pinot extract that are given lift and verve by the intense minerality and outstanding length. This has added a good deal of weight and seems more powerful than before yet it remains very stylish and classy with excellent potential though like the same wine in 750 ml (see herein), this is so well balanced and harmonious that it could easily be drunk now with pleasure. That said, unless you are lucky enough to have this in quantity, I would counsel cellaring it for another 5 to 10 years. In a word, terrific. (Drink starting 2014)

2002 Louis Jadot Bonnes Mares. VM 95. Ruby-red. Flamboyantly rich aromas of blackberry, minerals and chocolate. Fat, rich and powerful; compellingly sweet and dense but with terrific thrust as well. Superripe flavors of chocolate and black plum. Finishes very long and powerful, with big but thoroughly ripe tannins. Offers great potential.

Kagoshima A5 Wagyu Tartare. Rau Rum Chimichurri, Quail Egg, L’Amuse Golda, Sesame Rice Cracker. Great beef tartare. Tons of flavor, umami from the cheese, and the rice cracker was nice and light.

Roasted Bone Marrow. Escargot Brunois, Garlic Baguette, Rau Ram. This is the best bone marrow I’ve had. There was a lot more of the actual “meat” (aka fat) and it was bulked up with the far tastier garlic snail mixture. Normal bone marrow is just a scraping of tasteless fat but by pair that with the savory escargot and balanced with a bit of lime it was just way better.

1998 Joseph Drouhin Grands-Echezeaux. VM 91. Deep red. Wild aromas of medicinal cherry, mint and coffee; subtle and fine. Full, sweet and silky but very unevolved and dominated today by its structure. A moderately ripe wine that’s not especially sweet or expressive but shows excellent backbone and freshness. Finishes with slightly tough tannins. But very backward and hard to judge today.

1999 Remoissenet Père et Fils Grands-Echezeaux. 98 points. Wow! An extraordinary wine! Gorgeous lush fruit, just the right amount of barnyard, complex notes of earth, leather, and ripe fruits. Perfectly balanced, a BIG wine with loads of structure and a finish that just won’t quit. If you can find this wine, mortgage the house and buy it! It’s drinking incredibly well now, but still has years of life in it.

1989 Mongeard-Mugneret Echezeaux.

1999 Château Latour Grand Vin. VM 92. The 1999 Latour is a vintage that I have not encountered for four or five years. It has a pH of 3.80 and a yield of 38hl/ha, representing 58% of the total crop. Interestingly, this includes 14% vin de presse compared to the 9 to 10% used nowadays. It has a classic Latour bouquet of blackberry, pencil box and undergrowth aromas, quite strict and conservative in style, and fairly intense but not firing on all cylinders; orange zest aromas evolve gradually. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin and nicely detailed, offering blackberry, black truffle, pencil shavings and a touch of spice toward the finish, which shows more grip and density than the 1989 Latour tasted alongside, probably because of that pressed wine. This is beginning to reach its drinking plateau, although judging by this showing it will give another two decades of drinking pleasure. Tasted from an ex-château bottle at the estate. (Drink between 2019-2039)

Pork Belly Salad. Black Mission Fig, Lemongrass, Yuzu Vinaigrette, Butter Lettuce, Point Reyes Blue Cheese Snow, Hazelnut. Some people didn’t like this salad but I did. It was very light and bright, a bit like a punchier version of a lardon and frissee salad. The pork belly was bacon smokey and nicely pervaded the dish.

Mongolian Lamb. Char-Grilled, Market Vegetables, Twice Cooked Potatoes. Very tender, sweet, and tasty. Still basically a lamb chop.

1996 Louis Jadot Chambertin. VM 92-95. Rather delicate aromas of crystallized berries, smoke and sandalwood. Velvety and very sweet in the mouth, with pungent oak spice and a firm mineral underpinning. Ripe acids are in harmony with the wine. Great concentration. No hard edges.

1996 Louis Jadot Chapelle-Chambertin. VM 93+. Saturated red-ruby. Fabulously complex, thoroughly ripe aromas of black raspberry, animal fur, mocha and chocolate, plus a distinct hint of surmaturite. Thick, creamy and very concentrated on the palate, and already quite expressive. Has a complicating herbal note that complements the wine sweetness. Finishes very long, with silky tannins and a hint of marzipan.

1995 Claude Dugat Griotte-Chambertin. VM 96. Deep ruby. Fabulously complex but extremely primary aromas of black raspberry, orange zest, smoke and black pepper; even higher-pitched and finer than the Charmes. This and the Charmes offer just the slightest hint of the animal complexity to come with development in bottle. Dense and pristine in the mouth; conveys a black peppery note of sheer extract. At least as long as the Charmes but suaver, finer. Amazing juice.

1996 Domaine Perrot-Minot Mazoyères-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes. VM 92+. Excellent red-ruby color. Knockout aromas of smoky black raspberry, black cherry, coffee and roasted oak. Thick, sappy and sweet, with powerful cherry and raspberry fruit. Dense but given shape by strong acidity. Long, firm, sweetly tannic finish.

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.

Himalayan Saltblock Steak. Prime all-Natural Rib Eye, Horseradish Crema. Meat.

Bloody Apple Pie Gelato — A Tahitian Vanilla Custard base layered with my house-made cinnamon bourbon apple pie filling, house-made Vanilla Caramel Blood, and house-made Grave Soil Charcoal Graham Crackers (GF) — 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 #applepie #apple #cinnamon #caramel #GrahamCracker #halloween

Yar! Ghostly skeletal praline pirates are marauding — Pecan Pirate Praline Gelato — An eggy Texas Pecan base layered with my creepy skull-shaped New Orleans style Vanilla Bourbon Pecan Pralines and Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Pumpkins — 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 #vanilla #bourbon #pecan #praline #candy #halloween #spooky

Vino.

The ladies table in full swing.

Us gents.

Overall, this was an awesome lunch. Boy did the Ans treat us right and we had an incredible menu, amazing service, and great wines. They turned out to be home run unique dishes that really knocked it out of the park.

Wines were great too.

Discussing the food analytically. Very good, and most dishes varied from good to great. 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 particularly during these last two dinners have really knocked it out of the park.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: An Family, BYOG, Crustacean, Gelato, Red Burgundy, Sauvages, Vietnamese cuisine, Vietnamese Fusion, Wine

Kato DTLA

Jun02

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

Location: 777 S Alameda St Building 1, Suite 114, Los Angeles, CA 90021. (213) 797-5770

Date: October 13, 2022

Cuisine: Omakase Asian

Rating: Even better, but too far

In late 2021 Kato, a longstanding modern Asian omakase/kaiseki in Santa Monica shut up shop and moved downtown to a larger, far more glamorous space. Erick and I were bummed because there are so few unique places on the westside — and well the Row is FAR!

The nominal excuse for tonight’s dinner was the rare appearance of Reisa back in LA, so Eve organized this dinner. She’s an investor (and caviar supplier) for Kato.

Kato is right around the corner from Hayato.

The interior is sleek.

We had this nice large sized table.

Most of the gang.

The minimalist menu (not much in the way of descriptors).

I think we bought this off the list. Despite Eve being very tight with Kato, no one senior was in and she had forgotten to arrange something with regard to the corkage — and they have that idiotic 2 bottle limit. What sense does it make that a 2 person table and an 8 person table can open the same number of wines? The Kato list is decent, but it’s young, small, and pretty marked up. Plus we just have way too much wine to be buying off LA lists. After a while they forgot about us and our wine hijinks and we manged well enough.
Chicken Liver, genmaicha, date. Super yummy “liver macaron” style bite.

Sweet Shrimp, seaweed, shaoxing wine. Very interesting blend of flavors being part Japanese and part Chinese. The Shaoxing wine is very distinct.

Scallop, soy preserves, doubanjiang. Yummy little scallop tart with nice textures and a bit of heat to finish.

More champgane.

Sea urchin, Iberico ham, brown butter. Basically a puff pastry/donut hole stuffed with uni and wrapped in ham.

2017 Dr. Loosen Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Großes Gewächs. Probably. Loosen has so many cuvees it was hard to tell which dry Ürziger Würzgarten this was. I picked it off the list.

Black throat sea perch, Tomato and tomato water jelly, shiso. Awesome dish with very pleasant tomato flavors and a bright acidity. I don’t even like (raw) tomatoes and I loved it.

Caviar, dungeness crab, garlic. This is more or less a Kato classic and I’ve had it a bunch of times but it’s still creamy and delicious.

Milk bread. Awesome sweet and fluffy bread. Addictive in fact.

Normandy style butter. Bread was even better with this nice butter.

From my cellar: 2009 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. BH 93. Subtle wood sets off aromas of flowers, oyster shell and tidal pool that complement perfectly the racy, pure and strikingly well-detailed medium plus weight flavors that brim with minerality on the delicious, mouth coating and impressively long finish. This beautifully vibrant and concentrated effort should drink well young and age well too plus it’s more classic in style than many wines from this vintage. (Drink starting 2016)

Tilefish, fish fragrant sauce, Szechuan peppercorn. This is like that French seabass dish with the crispy scales but with a sticky numbing sauce!

1985 Faiveley Latricières-Chambertin. BH 92. Some bricking. The nose is a complex mixture of Gevrey earth, spice, game, underbrush and an evident nose of minerality followed by powerful, intense and still moderately structured flavors with plenty of punch and length. The finish is still firm though by no means hard and while this is certainly approachable now, I would give it 45 minutes or so of air. Note: another recent bottle was similar in character but did not possess the same degree of freshness and in particular, the finish seemed somewhat light and diffuse.

Duck, menegi, duck sausage. Great duck. Super tender, a bit sweet and delicious. The spring rolls off to the side with the sausage were even better.

1999 Domaine Marquis d’Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Ducs. VM 96. Good dark red. Seriously rich, deep aromas of black cherry, currant, tobacco, chocolate and sexy soil tones, plus a whiff of leather that adds complexity. Wonderfully rich, deep, tactile Volnay with a remarkably chewy texture and outstanding dimension to its flavors of strawberry, redcurrant, mocha, tobacco and cocoa powder. The salty, monumental finish features huge, mouthcoating tannins and outstanding rising length. This very complete wine boasts uncanny depth of flavor, particularly in light of the vintage’s healthy yields. By far the best bottle of this wine that I have tasted to date. (13.45% alcohol; September 24 harvest; 41 h/h; 3.37 pH) (Drink between 2019-2039)

A5 Wagyu, beef tendon, sour Chinese mustard. Super tender and rich. Quite nice.

2011 Jean-Claude Boisset Echezeaux. BH91. A ripe, spicy and violet-inflected nose of primarily plum and cassis gives way to opulent, rich and pliant medium-bodied flavors that possess very good depth on the attractively well-balanced finish where a touch of wood can be discerned. In much the same fashion as several other wines in the range this isn’t a great 2011 but it manages to avoid any shortcomings of the vintage and indeed about the only nit is a slight touch of warmth. Note that this could easily be enjoyed now if desired though it should also be capable of rewarding up to a decade of cellar time. (Drink starting 2018)
Freshwater eel, rice, cucumber. More or less like a Japanese rice, but without that Japanese flavor.

Cucumber with a bit of Szechuan peppercorn. I really liked the pickles and was munching them for a while.

Off the list grappa.

Passionfruit, buttermilk, guava. I love passionfruit and I love custard, so this “pot ‘o creme” with passionfruit was an easy sell.

Creme Puff, salted egg. Fine.

Hazelnut, caramelized white chocolate. Like a sweet spaghetti with a white chocolate meatball hiding inside.

Double Mint Oreo — Base made with Fresh Spring Mint infused milk and then laced with Crushed Mint Oreo Thins and Chopped Valrhona 70% Chocolate! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — lovely strong mint flavor and color is all natural — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #dessertgasm #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #mint #valrhona #chocolate #oreo ///// Triple Chocolate Cruch Gelato – The base is made with Valrhona 62% Satilla Chocolate and then layered with Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese Ganache and chopped Nestlé Crunch! — 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 #NestléCrunch

Eve brought several tubs of bonus Astrea Caviar! Yummy!

Take home gift.

Almond sesame “cookies.”

Emotional damage!

The wine lineup.

Food at Kato is better than ever. It’s just as cryptic, but there are perhaps slightly more courses and a few of them are slightly larger. The net effect is that it’s not completely necessary anymore to go for second dinner. Back in Santa Monica, even with all the supplements, it always required something else. Now it’s a full meal, and surprising and delicious at that. But it’s also a trek to downtown. And that whole wine thing dragged out what was like a 8:30pm start into a 9:30pm start and we got home at about 2am.

Still, awesome and unique food, and highly worth checking out if you haven’t been.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Astrea Caviar, BYOG, Eve, Foodie Club, Gelato, Kato, Reisa, Taiwanese Cuisine, Wine

Back to the Borgese’s

May30

Restaurant: Dinner at the Borgese’s [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]

Location: Santa Monica

Date: October 11, 2022

Cuisine: Italian influenced gourmet home cooking

Rating: Awesome

Dinner at the Borgese’s is a special house dinner in Santa Monica cooked by the stunning pro-level home chef Borgese couple. Tonight’s dinner follows hot on the heels of a Billecart dinner I did here a few weeks before. It’s so close that the Halloween decorations were even more opulent.

The Borgese’s LOVE Halloween and so their house was already decorated for the spook season in epic style!

The dynamic Borgese team consists of Rocco, his lovely wife (and the main kitchen chef), and his daughter (helping out with service).

Plus all this incredible wood fired oven set up.The wine lineup. Not too shabby.

NV Moussé Fils Champagne l’Or d’Eugène Blanc de Noirs Brut.

Tonight’s menu.

From my cellar: 2005 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. JG 95+. The 2005 Comtes de Champagne is a stunning young wine. The bouquet is deep, pure and youthfully complex, as it offers up a very classy blend of pear, delicious apple, fresh almond, incipient notes of crème patissière, chalky minerality, brioche and just a whisper of vanillin oak in the upper register. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, focused and rock solid at the core, with exquisite balance, refined mousse, crisp acids and simply superb length and grip on the seamless, youthful and oh, so promising finish. The style of the 2005 vintage gives this some early accessibility that was not evident with the more tightly-knit 2004 out of the blocks, but this wine has the structure to also age long and very, very gracefully. It has been a year since I last tasted this wine and it has started to show more precision to go along with its early generosity and is a classic in the making. My gut feeling today is that it will be superior to the 1989 version, to which I compared it to a year ago. Brilliant wine. (Drink between 2015-2045)

Ricciola Sashimi Cucchiai. Yellowtail Sashimi Spoons.

2018 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Bougros Côte Bouguerots. VM 94. The 2018 Chablis Bougros Côte de Bouguerots Grand Cru is well-defined on the nose. Quite stony and terse at first, it opens with orange rind and crushed pebble scents. The palate is well balanced with fine acidity, tight and energetic with a zesty, minerally finish. This meliorates in the glass, ending up quite nuanced and tensile. Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2018 white tasting. (Drink between 2024-2040)

From my cellar: 2005 Mongeard-Mugneret Grands-Echezeaux. JG 96+. The 2005 Grands Echézeaux from Domaine Mongeard-Mugneret is going to be a great, great wine, but it is still a puppy and needs at least another decade in the cellar. The bouquet is young, but stunning, as it soars from the glass in a blaze of red plums, red and black cherries, a hint of blood orange, a gorgeously complex base of soil, cocoa powder, gamebirds, woodsmoke and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and still quite primary , with great depth of sappy fruit at the core, seamless, ripe tannins, outstanding soil signature and a very, very long, tangy and laser-like finish. This is an utterly brilliant bottle in the making. (Drink between 2025-2100)

Cozze con Guanciale. Mussels with Pork Cheek. The sauce on this mussel dish was essentially like a all’amatriciana except that it was also saturated with mussel-juice. Pretty awesome actually, particularly the crispy little guanciale chunks.

1989 Château Latour Grand Vin. JG 95. The 1989 vintage of Château Latour was not considered a great year for this superb property, which was purported to have started a mini-slump after the release of the brilliant 1982 vintage at the estate. However, though I did not buy this wine on release (believing the critics of the time and their assessment of its relative inferiority), on the couple of occasions where I have been lucky enough to drink it again in recent times, it has been clear that this wine was underrated at the outset and really is an excellent vintage of Latour. The most recent bottle was getting close to full bloom, but not quite there yet, offering up a deep and complex bouquet of cassis, sweet dark berries, cigar ash, Latour’s classic gravelly, dark soil signature, cedary oak and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and plenty deep at the core, with firm, well-integrated tannins, excellent mineral drive, very good acids for the vintage and a very long, balanced and complex finish. This is getting close to really drinking well as it closes in on its thirtieth birthday, but it is an old school Latour and will still be an even better drink at age forty than it is today. (Drink between 2018-2085)

1990 Château Latour Grand Vin. VM 98. Tasting the 1990 Latour is like running into a long-lost friend. Still dark, deep and spectacularly flamboyant, the 1990 possesses remarkable textural richness from the very first taste. Time in the glass brings out a whole range of pencil shaving, dark fruit, chocolate, licorice and spice flavors, but more than anything else, the 1990 is a wine of pure and total voluptuousness. While I never think of wine as a competition, the 1990 is quite a bit more complex, layered and intriguing than the 1982 served alongside it at the same charity dinner. Its longevity will ultimately be determined by the quality of the cork and storage conditions, as the wine has several decades of truly exceptional drinking still to offer. In a word: magnificent! (Drink between 2019-2039)

1995 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque. VM 96. Griotte and kirsch complicated by roast coffee, smoke, mocha and a whiff of game; complex and ineffable. Lush, sweet and very intensely flavored; sappy cherry flavor complicated by a peppery quality. Seems a bit higher in acidity than Guigal’s ’95 La Mouline, and the tannins are distinctly firmer. Again, quite explosive on the aftertaste.

Pasta Fresca di Tonna. A fresh spaghetti with tuna and olives. This lent it a slightly “Spaghetti alla puttanesca” vibe, although not as pungent as that dish. Quite delicious and perfectly textured.

1996 Château Haut-Brion. JG 94. The 1996 Haut Brion is less hermetically sealed than the 1998, and is beginning to hint a bit at its secondary layers of aromatic complexity, though it still remains a very young wine. The bouquet is deep and classic, as it jumps from the glass in a mélange of black cherries, dark berries, Cuban tobacco, incipient notes of the black truffles to come, and a fine base of Graves earth. I assume that the 1996 saw the same amount of new oak as the 1998, but there is little sign of the wood at the present time. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, deep and very intense, with a quite powerful profile for Haut Brion. The wine is rock solid at the core and very tannic, though the tannins are ripe and well-integrated into the wine. The finish is very, very long and soil-driven, and this will clearly be one of the most powerful vintages of Haut Brion to emerge since the 1959. It will be superb, but one will require plenty of patience. (Drink between 2025-2075)

1996 Château Latour Grand Vin. VM 94. The 1996 Latour is a wine that I often find overrated and did not achieve everything that might have been possible in this favourable growing season. That said, this might well be the best of around two dozen bottles I have encountered over the years. As usual, the 1996 is decidedly austere at first, standoffish, looks down its nose at you. Yet it coalesces with time and develops engaging cedar-scented black fruit tinged with pencil box and a touch of iris with time. The palate (again) is a little muted at first but it soon found its voice and evolved very fine tannin allied with a crisp line of acidity. It is not quite as demonstrative as it was even just a couple of years ago, gained some detail and perhaps it will continue to meliorate. Very fine, very fine indeed – but not a patch of say, the Château Margaux or perhaps even Léoville Las Cases. Tasted at the International Business & Wine Latour dinner at Ten Trinity. (Drink between 2018-2040)

1997 Château Mouton Rothschild. VM 90-91. Very good red-ruby color. Currant, cassis, roasted nuts, gunsmoke, chocolate and a note of surmaturite Fat, sweet and expansive, but with sound underlying structure. Lowish acids and a confit note (due at least partly to passerillage, or drying of the grapes by the wind and sun) contribute to the wine almost voluptuous texture.

Quaglie Ripiene. Stuffed Quail. Stuffed with sausage (and some veggies) on a bed of polenta. We’ve had this several times before and it’s a fabulous dish.

1998 Penfolds Grange. VM 97. Very deep red-ruby. Smoky, deeply concentrated fruit bomb of a nose: blackberry, dark plum, cassis; creamy vanilla and lightly toasty coconutty oak; and ethereal background notes of white pepper, smoked meats, musky spices, tar and licorice. Profoundly concentrated but velvety-smooth and seamless; impressively muscular and thickly coated with oak, and bound by drying, astringent tannins. Without question the most concentrated Grange of all time, utterly steeped in blackberry flavors; a real show pony. It’s also the most alcoholic Grange ever made, and at a declared 14.5% does taste warm and spirity – the first Grange to do so. It also ventures to some degree into the realm of currant and prune. No doubt a brilliant wine, but only time will tell if, with its elevated alcohol and its superripe flavors, this 1998 version ranks with the very best Grange vintages.

1999 Penfolds Grange. VM 91+. Full ruby-red. Sexy aromas of raspberry, cola, root beer and coconut. Thick, dense and concentrated, with exotic, slightly candied dark fruit, caramel, toasted coconut and mineral flavors nicely shaped by firm acids. Shows strong fruit and a major dose of oak on the powerful, backward finish. This can’t quite match the 1998 for sheer depth of fruit, but it’s built to age.

2003 Penfolds Grange. VM 93. Inky purple. Seductively perfumed nose offers cassis, blueberry, cherry-cola, violet and dried fig scents, with a suave undercurrent of smoky minerals. Deep, finely etched cherry and dark berry flavors are complicated by mocha and candied licorice, becoming riper with air. Cured meat and black cardamom notes arrive with air, adding further interest. Full, fleshy and sweet on the impressively long finish, which is nicely braced by dusty tannins. This is more energetic than most wines from this vintage.

Risotto a Costine. Short Rib Risotto. Chef Jen made a 2 day short rib ragu and then it was integrated into this fresh risotto. Yum, now that’s my kind of risotto! Actually I love most good risottos but this one is particularly great.

2005 Sine Qua Non Grenache Atlantis Fe2O3~2a, b & c. VM 100. The 2005 Grenache Atlantis Fe203-2a has been absolutely thrilling both times I have tasted it within the last year. A huge, vertical wine, Atlantis graces the palate with deep, voluptuous red fruit, crushed rocks, smoke, tobacco and mint. Even with all of its intensity and explosiveness, the wine remains light on its feet, with great balance and class to burn. The inclusion of whole clusters adds gorgeous lift and perfume, especially on the finish. At nearly ten years of age, the 2005 Grenache Atlantis is in a perfect spot right now and should continue to drink well for another 5-10 years, perhaps longer. (Drink between 2014-2024)

2013 Sine Qua Non Grenache Jusqu’à l’os Eleven Confessions Vineyard. VM 96+. A darker, more potent side of Grenache comes through in the 2013 Grenache Jusqu’a’ l’Os. This powerhouse wine is nowhere near ready to drink. Swaths of tannin enshroud a core of plum, dark fruit in this muscular, brooding Grenache from Sine Qua Non. Readers will have to be patient. The 2013 is 79% Grenache, 18% Syrah and 3% Petite Sirah, all from Eleven Confessions, done with 89% whole clusters. (Drink between 2023-2033)

Braciola di Vitella Ripiena. Stuffed Veal Chop. Perfectly cooked and super juicy. The white meat was similar to a great pork chop, but milder. It was stuffed with provolone, prosciutto, and tomatoe.

With veggies.

You can see the stuffing here.

Funghi. Wood fire grilled 3 mushroom medley.

Melanzane. Grilled eggplant.

The return of the polenta, this time with the shortrib ragu on top — insanely good.

Hazelnut Hojicha Gelato – Nocciola (hazelnut) base made with Pure PGI Piedmont hazelnut paste and infused with Ceremonial Hojicha Roasted Green Tea — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #matcha #Hojicha #GreenTea #hazelnut #Piedmont

Chocolate Nutter Butter Gelato – a base made from 100% Valrhona Chocolate and South American Peanuts layered with chopped “Nutter-Butter” cookies — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #chocolate #valrhona #peanuts #PeanutButter #reeses #NutterButter #cookies

The wine lineup.

The gang.

The lovely ladies of the house.

Overall, this was another amazing dinner, and the Borgese’s just keep amping up the quality.

First of all, the Borgese hospitality was awesome, the house lovely, and the food absolutely incredible. One of the best “home cooked” meals I’ve had. Maybe ever if you restrict it to chefs cooking in their own home kitchen. Just amazing. Every dish was great. Rustic but extremely delicious style. Superb homemade pastas.

Service was handled by the youngest Borgese (teen daughter) and was better than most restaurant staff. Super friendly and you can tell they do this a lot.

Wines have crept up in “biggness” here — and I don’t mean their caliber (which is fine) but too many big reds. This food has a bit of a ramp and there were two seafood dishes and then a quail, so we could have ramped through Champs, 2 flights of whites, and then red Burgundy before getting to a few bigger wines. Not everything needs to be gigantic — or SQN (at least there were only 2).

This meal was a slew of Rocco staples, like the quail, but it also featured the unique veal chop.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: bbq, Bordeaux, BYOG, Dinner at the Borgese's, Gelato, Grange, Grill, Italian Cusine, Lala, Wine

Big at Bistro Na

May26

Restaurant: Bistro Na’s [1, 2, 3]

Location: 9055 E Las Tunas Dr #105, Temple City, CA 91780. (626) 286-1999

Date: October 9, 2022 and January 7, 2023

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Upscale Chinese, solid kitchen

Chinese Restaurants in the SGV are slowly going more upscale in a way that’s different than the Cantonese palaces of Monterey Park of yesterday. I’ve been here several times before, even celebrating a birthday, but Jeffrey wanted to go, and we figured we’d check it out post pandemic (10/9/22) and then not long after Arnie wanted to try it too, so we went back (1/7/23).

And one of the latest is Bistro Na’s located on Las Tunas near this cool:

Teapot fountain!

The interior is very elegant Chinese, almost traditional but in a new way typical in China today. Ornate wood carvings, lanterns and antique music instruments abound. Technically it bills itself as “Imperial Cuisine”. Maybe there is some of that, but it’s also a bit of Chinese greatest hits. Still, it’s a different cuisine than nearly every other place in the SGV with more ornate plating.

The menu is a hardcover thick paged photo tome!

We reserved the private room again. You basically HAVE to do this at Na if you want a great experience. The regular area is just too cramped and restrictive. Food somehow seems better in here too. But they have annoying policies with the regular room. It has a minimum, which isn’t THAT high, so it’s okay, EXCEPT for the fact that you can only reserve at either 5 or 7:30pm and you only get 2 hours. So if you want a different time, say 6:30pm, you need to PAY for both blocks!

In contrast on 1/7/23 about 10 of us were smushed into this booth out in the main dining room as that was the largest table they had. Yarom hovered as usual.
The menu. A lot of dishes at Na are bland so Jeffrey and I spent hours in advance plotting the best things to order.

Chili Tofu Skin Salad (10/9/22). Very nice texture and a little bit of heat.

Na’s Spicy Chicken (10/9/22 and 1/7/23). The classic Sichuan cold dish. Super tasty with a nice balance of salt, tang, and heat. Some numbing as well. Very tender chicken.

Celtuce Jellyfish Salad (10/9/22). A combo dish of smashed cucumbers and jellyfish. Now while it’s expensive ($42!) it was a fabulous jellyfish (and cucumber) dish with a great tangy/sweet soy.

Jellyfish Salad (1/7/23). Not bad, although not much jellyfish — and it replaces the now discountined Jellyfish with Cucumbers (above) that was amazing. Poor direction to go in.

Chef Su’s Pork Feet Jelly (1/7/23). Kind of bland, although the pork meat part was okay.

Smoked Pork Ribs (1/7/23). Bleh. Kind of like lame ribs at a lamb American BBQ joint.

Beijing Zhajian Noodles (10/9/22). They are served all mixed up. It’s very mild but plesant. The meat and mushrooms add some heartiness. The bean sauce is subdued.

Mixed up.

Alaskan King Crab Typhoon Style (10/9/22). Spectacular version using the crab body. Shell was cooked down to be very tender and the crispy garlic was awesome.

Alaskan King Crab Legs, Steamed. Simple but delicious.

Alaskan King Crab Egg Custard. Pleasant texture and mild flavor.

Crispy Shrimp (10/9/22 and 1/7/23). This is Na’s signature dish and for a reason. The shrimp were perfectly cooked and the shells completely candied and edible. Delicious, if a touch sweet. They remind me somehow of cicadas escaping their shells.

3-4 lb Lobster “Typhoon Style” (1/7/23). Lobster itself was a little over cooked and the Typhoon was oddly soggy without the crisp and stong garlic flavor. A bit meh.

2.5lb Turbo steamed with Ginger and Soy (1/7/23). Okay but a bit bland. Nowhere near as good as the Chang’An version.

Braised Abalone and Sea Cucumber (10/9/21). Pleasant brown sauce. This dish is all about the texture. The Sea Cucumber had a nice mouth feel.

Black Pepper Lamb Chops (1/7/23). We asked for rare and got medium plus. Okay, but a bit too overcooked. These also replace the crispy lamb which was great.

Na’s Braised Pork Belly (10/9/22 and 1/7/23). Great version of this classic Shanghai dish. The pork was super succulent and the sweet brown sauce had a nice depth of star anise.

Crispy Pigeon (10/9/22). Fine, but actually one of the weaker dishes tonight as these were slightly dry.

Stir Fried Angus Beef with Garlic (10/9/22 and 1/7/23). Really interesting. The beef itself was tender and good, even if the piece size felt a little bit thick, but the real killer was the crispy candied chilies. These were incredible! Actually fairly spicy.

Braised Brisket with Quail Egg (1/7/23). Kind of sweet and savory, more or less a beef stew. Not bad though.

Stir Fried Pea Sprouts with Mushrooms (1/7/23). Excellently cooked. Could have used a touch more salt (or “flavor”) but otherwise nice.

Chili Pork with Cauliflower (10/9/22). Very tasty vegetable with nice crunch and a good porky flavor.

Stir Fried Cabbage with Dried Shrimp (10/9/22). The dried shrimp give this version of the dish a quite significant pungency. Weirdly they removed it from the menu by our return in January!

Fried Mixed Mushrooms with Rice Cracker Bites (10/9/22 and 1/7/23). OMG these were like potato-stick crack. They felt “hollow”, crispy, and coated in an almost candied shell. So good!

Shrimp Fried Rice with Bonito (10/9/22). Nice complex fried rice with a distinct bonito flake flavor.

Pan Fried Beef Buns (10/9/22). Very nicely flavored beef and chive filling. Pretty temperature hot at the start and could have used a little vinegar/dumpling sauce to balance the hot fat.

Fruit (10/9/22). I guess you only get this in the private room!

Key Lime Pie Gelato — base is a key lime egg custard, layered with house-made Graham Cracker and covered with house-made Torched Meringue — 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 #KeyLime #lime #custard #meringue #GrahamCracker #cookie

The emotional damage!

Overall, a complicated place (for the SGV) to review.

Service on 10/9/22 was good, better than before. They brought us wine glasses (not great ones, but they have them). We handled the wine service. There was a good amount of plate changing. Took a while to get going even though we had the pre-ordered menu. They seat all the private rooms in two seatings at 5pm and 7:30pm so all 5 of them were sitting at once (not to mention the limited time thing and the minimums). That doesn’t make it easy on the server. All in all it’s excellent service for SGV Chinese.

On 1/7/23 service was fine, but a bit different as we were smushed in outside. I was also annoyed with them because they had removed several of their best dishes from the menu and replaced them with even blander alternatives.

Food is interesting. Beautiful plating. Not the most flavor forward of the Chinese cuisines. Pretty good if you order very very carefully, but also expensive in a relative fashion. Ended up over $200 a person all in with a good tip because of the King Crab. If you go to a Top Island or the like you can get that much cheaper too. Still a novel and fun experience. Gorgeous room.

While a bit pricey for the SGV, the atmosphere is lovely and the plating much more elegant. Some dishes were excellent, some just pretty good, and some outright bland. I’m not really sure what regionality of Chinese it is. Sort of Beijing/Shanghai maybe? They say “Imperial.” It does feel very contemporary Chinese and is certainly not aimed at white folk. I have a general problem here with their “under-seasoning.” A lot of dishes just seem too sweet or too bland. On Oct 9, 2022 meal we ordered really carefully and leaned toward their more spicy (not actually spicy) dishes. This helped a great deal. On 1/7/23 the meal was considerably inferior. We weren’t in the private room and the “crowd” I was with wanted to order some of their meatier dishes that just fall a bit flat.

Hangry Rider made this excellent video summary of our 10/9/22 meal.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Bistro Na, BYOG, Chinese cuisine, Foodie Club, Gelato, hedonists, Private Room, SGV, Wine

This Location Again?

May16

Restaurant: Lady Yan’s

Location: 203 W Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA 91801. (626) 872-6677

Date: October 2, 2022

Cuisine: (Mostly) Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Medium level Szechuan

I’ve eaten at this location as at least 5 restaurants.

It’s the familiar spot that once housed Sham Tsem (Alahambra), New Bay, and Happy Table, and GV Yummy. That’s a lot of restaurant churn — probably the most different restaurants I’ve eaten at in a single location in the SGV. The current name seems to be Lady Yan’s, but the old signs are still up there. New Qing Dao seemed to have been the same as GV Yummy. Not totally sure. It was very confusing.

The menu. This time around I think it’s Szechuan, more or less.

Cucumber Salad. The typical smashed cucumber dish, but an excellent version being smashed, very garlic forward, and well sauced.

Jelly in spicy savory sauce. The Chengdu street mung bean jelly. Not a bad version at all. I would have preferred a slight extra bit of tanginess in the sauce, but it was good.

Sliced beef and ox tongue in chili sauce. Nice version of this dish with the appropriate cilatro and peanut vibe. Regular meat and what is probably tripe or lung. Not as good as at GuYi, but very good.

Spicy wonton “soup.” Nice, although as usual for this dish the wonton’s seemed a bit under-seasoned (maybe just overwhelmed by the chili) and the “soup” is slightly watery.

Our one claw 4lb live lobster.

Lobster with ginger scallion. This was by accident as it was supposed to by Tyhoon style. I think the chef just didn’t want to. The lobster meat itself was fine but the prep was meh. Heavy. One of the worst Chinese lobsters I’ve had in a while.

Live fish kung fu style. Very nice fish with plenty of meat, chilis, veggies, tofu, potato etc. Overall lovely.

Tea Smoked Duck. Excellent pastrami duck. Very juice and delicious.

Sichuan spicy chicken nuggets. Very nice salty/numbing version of this iconic dish. Quite enjoyable.

Double cooked pork belly. Twice cooked pork. Awesome version with a really nice smoke and black bean flavor.

Sichuan signature mixed meats in chili sauce. Pretty much the same chili “broth” as the fish etc. Included all sorts of weird parts. The spam and liver/blood type stuff was good. There was also the chewy tripe.

BBQ Lamb Ribs. Served piping hot. Very fatty and full of sizzling flavor. Nice. The sauces didn’t totally work.

Eggplant with spicy garlic sauce. A 7/10 version of this dish. Pretty nice.

Green beans with garlic. Fine but nothing special.

Shredded cabbage. This had the obligatory pork belly and was generally fairly delicious.

Dan dan mein. Pretty typical Chengdu version. No peanut or sesame but a fairly addictive flavor all the same.

Seasoned peanuts. Nice, although not like the crack peanuts at Haige Star.

MaPo Tofu. Surprisingly delicious. Solid 8/10 version of this dish.

Chengdu style fried rice. Not exactly sure what was in here (other than the obvious peas) but it was very tasty.

Free totally weird Chinese dessert. Pretty terrible.

Overall, this place was solid, but slightly “uninspired” SGV Chinese. Now for outside the SGV it would be excellent, as it’s way better than somewhere like Szechuan Place. Lady Yan’s has a wide range of dishes and they do “pretty well” with most of them, very good with a few. The service was nice and MUCH better than at Happy Table or GV Yummy. The build out was identical. It’s fairly low rent and not super crowded. The space must be cursed. There are better Szechuan places, several, but I’d go back to Lady Yans happily enough. And they do have some lingering dishes from other regions (like the BBQ lamb ribs).

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By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Chinese cuisine, fish, Gelato, offal, SGV, spicy, Szechuan, Szechuan Chinese

Borgese’s go Bille Boo

May14

Restaurant: Dinner at the Borgese’s [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]

Location: Santa Monica

Date: September 30, 2022

Cuisine: Italian influenced gourmet home cooking

Rating: Awesome

Dinner at the Borgese’s is a special house dinner in Santa Monica cooked by the stunning pro-level home chef Borgese couple. Tonight’s dinner is a “Double Team” as it’s not only at Rocco’s, but is a Billecart-Salmon winemaker dinner hosted by Liz Lee of Sage Society. This is actually the second Billecart dinner I’ve been to, the previous being at Republique some years back.

Billecart-Salmon is a highly respected Champagne house that was founded in 1818 in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, France, by Nicolas François Billecart and his wife Elisabeth Salmon. Over the course of two centuries, the family-owned and managed company has stayed true to its roots, maintaining its dedication to quality and tradition. Billecart-Salmon is famous for its refined and elegant style, characterized by its finesse, complexity, and consistency. The house has achieved worldwide acclaim for its remarkable Brut Rosé, but also produces a variety of other styles, including Brut Reserve, Brut Sous Bois, and various vintage and cuvée champagnes. Through its commitment to excellence, Billecart-Salmon has secured its reputation as one of the most prestigious brands in the Champagne region.

The Borgese’s LOVE Halloween and so their house was already decorated for the spook season in epic style!

The dynamic Borgese team consists of Rocco, his lovely wife (and the main kitchen chef), and his daughter (helping out with service).

Plus all this incredible wood fired oven set up.The wine lineup. Not too shabby.

Our lovely patio table.

Tonight’s menu and wine list.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Réserve. JG 92. Drinking very well when opened this past spring. The excellent nose wafts from the glass in a mélange of apple, peach, warm bread, a touch of ginger, a lovely base of soil and plenty of upper register smokiness. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bdoied, complex and still rock solid at the core, with fine mousse, bright acids and lovely length and grip on the wide open, complex and classy finish.

Fresh Oysters with Caviar.

Caviar on Toasted Brioche with Bordier Butter. You can really taste the great and distinctive butter.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Nature. 90 points. Rich for the style. Lemon tinges, biscuit, mild but not without intensity .

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Grand Cru Brut Blanc de Blancs. JG 92+. The non-vintage Blanc de Blancs is not a large production item for Billecart-Salmon, and one does not cross paths with it regularly. The current release is all 2007 vintage and was aged nearly five years on the lees prior to disgorgement. Billecart produces their Blanc de Blancs bottlings from fruit sourced in only three villages in the Côte des Blancs- Chouilly, Mesnil-sur-Oger and Cramant. The new release offers up a deep and lovely aromatic blend of pear, apple, stony minerality, bread dough, a hint of the pastry cream to come with bottle age and orange zest. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and very elegant, with a lovely core of fruit, refined mousse and excellent length and grip on the well-balanced, youthful and classy finish. This is a very fine bottle of Blanc de Blancs that will only improve as it blossoms a bit more structurally with further bottle age. (Drink between 2013-2025)

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Sous Bois. VM 92. Bright yellow. Pungent orchard fruit and lemon curd scents are complemented by suggestions of vanilla, anise and smoky minerals. Toasty and silky in texture, offering juicy pear and tangerine flavors plus a deeper suggestion of candied fig on the back half. Closes sappy, focused and long, with repeating smokiness and strong mineral cut.

Hokaido Scallops with Caviar. Maybe could have used a bit of lemon/lime/yuzu juice.

2009 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Millésimé. VM 93. The 2009 Vintage is another stellar wine in this range from Billecart-Salmon. This is the first time the Vintage includes Meunier in the blend. That approach has worked out so well here. Resonant and generous, the 2009 is so expressive today. The low dosage of two grams per liter is expertly judged. The 2009 is rich, but not heavy, while offering all of the natural generosity of the year. (Originally published in May 2021) (Drink between 2022-2034)

2008 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Louis Salmon Brut Blanc de Blancs. VM 95. The 2008 Brut Blanc de Blancs Louis Salmon (formerly the vintage Blanc de Blancs) and named after the maison’s first cellar master, is fabulous. Rich and ample, the 2008 is beautifully resonant in the glass. It offers up an enticing mélange of lemon confit, marzipan, dried flowers and spice. It’s a terrific 2008, especially for readers looking for a relatively affordable option to some of the super high-flyers in this celebrated vintage. The blend is 40% Chouilly, 33% Cramant, 20% Mesnil and 7% Avize, done 1/3rd in oak and 2/3rds in steel. Dosage is 7 grams per liter. Disgorged: October, 2020. (Drink between 2024-2038)

Grilled Spot Prawns with Caviar. Great dish. Chewed it up at the expense of my flesh like Daryl Hannah in Splash. With the caviar two kinds of eggs! Nice char flavor.

2007 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas-François. VM 97. The 2007 Brut Cuvée Nicolas François Billecart is positively stellar. Elegant, polished and sophisticated, the 2007 dazzles with effusive aromatics and gorgeous balance. It”s not an obvious wine, though, but rather a Champagne built for long, patient cellaring. The 2007 is 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay taken from Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, Ambonnay, Verzenay and Verzy for the Pinots and Chouilly, Avize, Cramant and Mesnil for the Chardonnays. In other words, as good as it gets for villages. The wine was done mostly in tank with about 15% of the lots vinified in oak. Dosage is 6 grams per liter. (Originally published in May 2021) (Drink between 2027-2047)

2002 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas-François Billecart. VM 96. The 2002 Cuvée Nicolas François Billecart is outrageously beautiful. The ripeness of the Chardonnay is front and center in a Champagne that delivers the goods, big-time. An infusion of apricot, orange peel, crème brûlée, chamomile, hazelnut and honey give the 2002 its racy, exotic personality. I enjoy it most with bottle age, but the 2002 is undeniably beautiful right now. The 2002 is a stunning NFB. The blend is 60% Pinot Noir from the Montagne de Reims and the Vallée de la Marne and 40% Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs, done partially in oak (20%). Dosage is 4 grams per liter. (Drink between 2020-2030)

1996 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas-François Billecart. VM 96. Fabulous nose combines lemon, orange zest, quinine and steely minerality with suggestions of toffee and brown spices. Wonderfully precise and vivid on the palate, delivering an impression of outstanding concentration and grip with a light touch. Extremely fine-grained Champagne with strong but integrated acidity. As young as this is, it’s harmonious from the outset. The building finish is pristine, chewy and extremely long. (Robert Chadderdon Selections, New York NY

Crab and Caviar Linguine. Very light and salty (and delicious) pasta.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. We started with a demi-bouteille of Billecart-Salmon Rosé: a safe option, but it does the job, even though I would say that a full bottle is better. (Drink between 2018-2025)

2008 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon. VM 97+. The 2008 Brut Rosé Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon explodes from the glass with a mesmerizing array of aromas, flavors and textures. Blood orange, cinnamon, mint and dried flowers. The 2008 is incredibly young, but it is also incredibly tempting. Patience will be rewarded. In the meantime, readers might enjoy adding a few bottles of the stellar 2007 to their cellars, as the nervy, taut 2008 needs time. The 2008 is 55% Pinot Noir (from Aÿ, Verzy, Verzenay and Mareuil) and 45% Chardonnay (from Chouilly, Avize and Cramant), with 9% still wine from Mareuil. It is the first vintage that includes a portion of wines (17%) done in barrel and the first vintage in which the magnums were aged on the cork rather than on crown seal. Dosage is 7 grams per liter. (Originally published in May 2021) (Drink between 2028-2043)

Branzino and Clams. Perfectly cooked juicy branzino and lovely clam flavor. The broth was fabulous (could have used some bread for it) and there was a distinct parsely flavor.

2006 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Les Clos Saint-Hilaire. VM 98. The 2006 Le Clos Saint-Hilaire is fabulous. In this radiant year, the Clos Saint-Hilaire has a touch more mid-palate sweetness and generosity, but that’s a good thing, as it balances some of the more austere leanings that can make young vintages hard to appreciate upon release. Apricot, lemon confit, ginger, graphite, spice and crushed rocks are strands in a gorgeous, captivating tapestry that dazzles right out of the gate. The precision here is just mind-blowing. Billecart’s 2006 Clos Saint-Hilaire is a very special Champagne, that much is very clear. (Drink between 2024-2036)

Fried Rosemary Quail. Perfect “fried chicken”. Super savory and delicious with a great crispy texture.

Roast carrots.

Roast eggplant.

Cheeses (all Italian). The truffle one was particularly tangy and delicious.

Truffle cheese.

The wine lineup.

Overall, this was an amazing dinner, and the Borgese’s just keep amping up the quality.

Service was handled by the youngest Borgese (teen daughter) and was better than most restaurant staff. Super friendly and you can tell they do this a lot.

Wines were, as you can, pretty darn impressive! Billecart is a fabulous champagne house with both great whites and reds. I buy a range of their wines all the time as they have both reasonable NVs and fabulous Tete de Cuvees — in both colors.

This meal has a different skew, being customized for Champagne, so there was more seafood and no big steaks — this is fine with me, I’ve had plenty of steaks. They did a wonderful job with the grilled prawns too. The quail is a classic of theirs but never grows old.

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