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Vespertine at Home

Sep22

Restaurant: Vespertine [1, 2, 3]

Location: 3599 Hayden Ave, Culver City, CA 90232. (323) 320-4023

Date: September 11, 2020

Cuisine: Modern chef’s take on Japanese

Rating: Top flight takeout

Boy it’s been a long time since I made a food post. Sigh, quarantine life. I still haven’t been in a restaurant since March 11, 2020. Total record for my life as I’m sure that from my birth 4-5 weeks was the record (during summer camp in the early 80s!). Now, that being said I have been cooking up a storm but they aren’t elaborate enough to write up unless I start cooking posts. And we’ve had some good takeout but the pictures are usually ugly. But this particular dinner was a bit different and photoed fairly well.

Vespertine is a very unusual confluence of all sorts of artsy weirdness. It’s helmed by Jordan Kahn formerly of Red Medicine and currently of Destroyer across the street. I’ve generally been fond of Jordan’s unique culinary style. Since the pandemic started he’s been doing “out of the box” fancy takeout meals, and this one has a Japanese theme.

Above is the building where the restaurant is located, but I wasn’t there, Erick picked up the food and we ate elsewhere socially distanced.

Vague intro.

The instructions and menu were irritatingly available only online and referenced via QR code — true this saves on paper — but it did require me to squint at them on my phone all night.
Japanese style hand towels!

And a nice chopstick box.

Paul brought: 2011 Domaine Matrot Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. VM 94+. One of the brighter wines in the range, the 2011 Meursault Les Perrières bristles with pure energy and pedigree. White flowers, crushed rocks, white peaches and graphite all take shape in the glass. Elements of razor-sharp minerality support the vivid, crystalline finish. Today, the Perrières is pretty buttoned up, but it should open up with further time in bottle.

agavin: clean and nice

The menu for the night.

Along with reheating instructions. The problem here is that while these would work okay for a couple sharing the meal by themselves it doesn’t work so great with a couple of us social distanced (in far corners of the patio not physically interacting). There is no easy way to get it heated so we just dealt with the luke-warm temp.

From my cellar: 2011 Joseph Drouhin Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. JG 94+. The 2011 Meursault “Perrières” from Maison Joseph Drouhin is also outstanding, offering up a deep and very classic bouquet of apple, passion fruit, iodine, hazelnuts, chalky minerality and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, crisp and very minerally in personality, with a rock solid core, excellent focus and balance and a very long, pure and laser-like finish. This is a stunning example of Perrières, and like the Laguiche Morgeot, it will only need a handful of years in the cellar to start drinking at its peak.

agavin: lovely

Setup for the tofu dish.

Fresh silken Tofu “Kingugoshi”. Fresh silken tofu made to order. Inspired by Tousuiro, served with a variety of Shojin Ryori accompaniments.

This was one of the less successful dishes. The tofu itself had a very nice texture but a slightly bitter taste, probably from the base used to set the tofu (sometimes ash or calcium sulfate). The vegetables were better, with that definite Japanese vegetable taste and some good textures.

It should be noted that the dish shown here, and all the dishes, were intended for two people to split. We gluttons got a “pair” each because even if we had wanted to share it would have been unsafe and complicated.

Vegetables to top the tofu with.

A salt that’s probably basically natural MSG.

Erick brought: 2007 Etienne Sauzet Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. JG 95. The Sauzet parcel in Combettes were planted in 1950, and these old vines have produced a magical wine in this great vintage. In fact, premier cru Puligny simply does not get any better than this! The bouquet is a beautiful and classic mélange of lemon oil, peach apple, crystalline minerality of enormous complexity, spring flowers and a gentle framing of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very pure and racy, with a rock solid core, brilliant focus and balance and a very, very, very long and racy finish. Pure liquid beauty.

agavin: sadly a bit advanced

Handmade Soba “Hourai.” Cold buckwheat noodles cooked and chilled to order. Served with traditional accompaniments inspired by Honke Owariya.

The toppings.

What’s most likely a dashi (and shiyo) broth.

This dish was much more successful than the tofu. Pretty excellent anyway. And it was cold, so the lack of heating didn’t matter. Basically it’s just good soba. Maybe not as good as at a top flight soba spot, but very impressive for a non-Japanese chef.

From my cellar: 1996 Alain Hudelot-Noellat Clos Vougeot. JG 93+. I am a very big fan of the Clos Vougeot at Domaine Hudelot-Noëllat, which I find consistently to be one of the best examples in the Côte d’Or. The 1996 is a lovely example of the vintage that hails from the plus and buffered camp, with a lovely core of pure fruit fully carrying the structure of the vintage. The bouquet is deep, complex and quite sappy in its blend of plums, black cherries, woodsmoke, a touch of venison, coffee, a great base of soil and a stylish framing of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and impressively pure on the attack, with a fine core, ripe tannins and a long, focused and tangy finish. This is certainly approachable today, but in terms of complexity, it is still a tad on the primary side and a few more years of bottle age should be rewarded with even greater aromatic and flavor complexity. A lovely 1996.

agavin: pretty excellent.

Black Cod “Hitsumabushi”. Black cod grilled over Japanese Charcoal, charred and lacquered with kabayaki glaze. Prepared in the style of Atsuta Houraiken Honten.

The toppings and some green tea to turn it into tea rice later.

Instructions.

More or less assembled. This is basically like BBQ eel, but black cod. Now he did a good job, but it would’ve been much better with the eel. It was pretty good with cod, but a touch blander (aka less fatty). The sauce wasn’t as sweet as usual either.

Erick brought: 1996 Camille Giroud Pommard 1er Cru Clos des Epeneaux. The nose is slightly fuller than the 2000 but stylistically similar. The palate has a little extra dimension, but there is an amazing family resemblance to the 2000 – amazing considering the different vintages and elevages. I’d say they need a similar time to maturity too. Would be a great buy.

agavin: nice

Kurobuta “Tonkatsu.” Breaded Japanese cutlet with accompaniments. Prepared in the style of butagumi.

Some miso soup, tomatoes, tonkatsu sauce, ginger, and cabbage.

This was a good dish, but the batter was excellent, but it suffered from being too “cold” (reheating was hard). Additionally I wasn’t sure what to do with the cabbage as it normal tonkatsu places I always eat it with a vinegary dressing which wasn’t here. Actually love the stuff with the dressing.

Sashimi. Inspired by the preparations of Takayoshi Yamaguchi. This was very solid sashimi. Nothing complicated but very good.

Toppings.

Matcha Cream Puff. Crispy choux pastry filled with matcha cream. Inspired by the “yatsuhashi” cream puffs of Kiyomizu Kyoami. Very nice cream puffs. There was a very strong green tea note to the cream which was bracing but nice.

Fruit Sando. Japanese milk bread filled with whipped cream and fresh fruits. Inspired by the beautiful fruit sandos of Coffee Nikki. These are VERY Japanese, and I’ve had them and similar many times in Japan, but I can’t say that I love them. Like white bread with whipped cream and fruit. haha.

Taiyaki. A warm crispy waffle, shaped like a fish, filled with sweet vanilla custard. Inspired by the epic “Magikarp fluffy custard taiyaki”.

Actually kind excellent. Would have been better warm and fresh from the oven, but still good.

Our wine lineup.

Overall, we had a great evening. Great company, great wines, and great takeout.

Now in absolute terms the meal wasn’t totally epic by my standards, but it was one of the best “fancy takeouts” I’ve ever had. They really do a good job packaging it and things survived the transit and the considerable length of our leisurely evening quite well. Yeah, it would have been better there, but considering, it was about as good as you get. Trying to imagine how it would have been on site, and therefore forgiving temperature issues and the takeout plating (which is awesome for takeout plating) I’d say that some dishes would even there have some of the same issues, like the cod not being as “rich” as a great piece of Japanese BBQ eel. But it would have been even better. Still this was an incredible job for a non-Japanese chef stepping out of his comfort zone. Strongest savory dish was the soba which was excellent.

I do have a minor beef with the enforced “2 person” sizing as it only really works for close couples. These things as plated don’t split well. Given that we are huge eaters (at least Erick and I) it was okay to have 2 full meals each, but that’s not cheap.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Burgundy, Champagne, Foodie Club, Japanese Food, Jordan Kahn, Sashimi, Sushi, Vespertine, Wine

Yasu = Yummy

Apr22

Restaurant: Yasu

Location: 265 S Robertson Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90211. (424) 355-0257

Date: March 5, 2020

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: Awesome ingredients and technique. One of the best sushi places we’ve found in a while

With Foodie Club co-founder Erick back from several months in Asia, we decided to hit up a new place.

After some debate we ended up at a new sushi bar we found on one of our news feeds. This time around, new Foodie Club member Jeffrey joined us as well. Yasu is located just a few stores down from the very mediocre Summer Fish.

The decor is clean and modern, and somehow, despite the fact that they “only” had a 8:15 reservation, we had the restaurant all to ourselves. No matter, the food and service turned out to be amazing.

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

Sashimi plate: Japanese Amberjack (kanpachi). New Zealand Scampi. Hokkaido Uni.

Japanese Amberjack (kanpachi) sashimi. Had a nice bite to it.

New Zealand Scampi. Element of brine “sea” taste and a great chewy texture.

Hokkaido Uni. Soft and delicate.

From my cellar: 2008 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clavoillon. BH 92. A highly expressive, even exuberant nose of white peach, pear and acacia blossom aromas nuanced with citrus hints that are also reflected by the rich, full and nicely concentrated medium-bodied flavors that possess ample mid-palate fat that buffers the moderately firm acid spine. This is really quite stylish and crafted in a more generous fashion than the upper level 1ers. (Drink starting 2015)

agavin: our bottle was almost premoxed, so golden and rich, but totally delciious.

Erick brought: 2008 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Corton-Charlemagne. VM 93. Pale green-tinged color. Lemon icing and minerals on the reticent, pure nose. Densely packed but with a light touch, combining vibrant elements of flowers, minerals and crushed stone. This may be better than the Combettes owing to its stony minerality-or at least it will outlast it.

agavin: Really nice wine with a lot of legs.

Boston Scallop nigiri. Lovely bite of scallop with lots of scallop flavor.

Remaining muscles of the scallop returned cooked in a bit of soy sauce. Also quite delicious and chewy.

Japanese horse mackerel (aji) with wasabi.

Baby sea bream. Much smaller more tender version of the fish.

Boston monkfish liver (Ankimo). I’m not sure I’ve had it very often as nigiri, but this was a stunning example. He apparently braises it instead of steaming it like most chefs do.

Striped jack (Shima aji).

Baby squid with miso paste. Super tender.

Hokkaido freshwater “cherry salmon” (a kind of trout) being cured on fermented rice.

Hokkaido freshwater “cherry salmon” as nigiri. Very soft and lovely.

Fresh Fanny Bay Canadian oyster from Vancouver. I’m not sure I’ve had an oyster as nigiri, but it was delicious.

Octopus (tako). From miyagi Japan. The chef massages it for 1 hour. With a bit of BBQ sauce. This was super tender and one of the best cooked octopus bites I’ve had.

Mix of chu and otoro with caviar. No sauce. The lack of sauce brought out the briney caviar flavor. Quite lovely.

Fish broth soup with snapper. Rich and savory.

Trio of blue fin tuna all from the same fish. Right to left: tuna marinated with soy sauce, chu-toro, and o-toro. All to die for. The tuna had the strongest taste but the o-toro totally melted in your mouth.

Map of the tuna belly.

Live Santa Barbara Spot Prawns dance about the table.

Hey there!

Chef takes charge. Chef Yasu Kusano was born in Fukushima in Japan, where his parents owned a small fish store. When he was a young boy, his father took him to an upscale authentic Japanese restaurant, and after that experience he decided to become a chef.

His first cooking job in 2000 was at the landmark Gonpachi Restaurant, a Japanese Izakaya, in Tokyo, Japan. In 2007, Kusano moved to the United States for a sous chef position at Gonpachi in Beverly Hills, Calif., and one year later became their executive chef.

In 2013, he moved to Seattle to join I Love Sushi in Bellevue, before heading to Shiro’s Sushi in 2014.

After moving back to Los Angeles he worked at Sushi Zo. Now he has his own place.

Live Santa Barbara Spot Prawn, lightly blanched. A stunning bit of ebi.

Santa Barbara Uni melts in your mouth.

And the chef put a piece of Hokkaido uni to the right of it. Also delicious, but I liked the Santa Barbara a touch better.

Buri shabu shabu with dashi and micro chive. Lovely too.

Erick brought: 2001 Joseph Drouhin Echezeaux. VM 87-90. Dark red. Smoky aromas of redcurrant and tobacco. Sweet, round and fruity, but with less density than a few of Drouhin’s better premier crus. Rather accessible today, but the finish shows a faint dryness.

agavin: drinking very nicely

Pickled saba with pickled daikon. Nice vinegar flavor.

Sea eel. Delicious and very soft.

Snow crab. Lots of nice crab flavor.

Silver fish steamed with cherry blossom leaf. This gave it an unusual bitter herbal tone.

Black cod with marinated and grated daikon.

Toro Takuan hand-roll — to die for. We made these at Ramen Roll too — and they were good — but this one was better.

The contents of the roll.

Kyoto unagi nigiri done two ways: with salt and lemon juice (pictured) and with sweet sauce (not pictured).

Seared toro. Insanely rich bite. He sears stuff on a little charcoal hibachi — none of that blow torch nonsense.

Dashi tamago. Not very sweet with a light bonito tone.

Yuzu sorbet. Very rough granita texture was quite pleasant and with an intense and very fresh yuzu flavor.

Overall, this was some absolutely first rate sushi. I’d call it modern traditional in style. It’s not “newfangled” at all with ponzu or very many toppings. Instead it showcases first rate seafood from all around the world, each treated delicately but with great respect in a way that really brings out the flavors. This is my favorite type of sushi as it’s very Japanese and extremely “pure” in its expression of the seafood. Besides the awesome eats, the service was really really nice and friendly. The chef was very chatty and our young (to me) server was fabulous as well. Of course our Champ and Burgundy went great too. We will be back!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beverly Hills, Champagne, Foodie Club, Japanese cuisine, Sushi, White Burgundy, Wine, Yasu, Yasu Kusano

Chinois Champy

Feb28

Restaurant: Chinois On Main [1, 2, 3]

Location: 2709 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90405. (310) 392-9025

Date: January 10, 2020

Cuisine: Asian Fusion

Rating: Still good decades later

When I first moved to LA 25 years ago, Chinois was already a vibrant pillar of LA’s hot high end dining scene. It represented the kind of cool “fusion” of east/west cuisines that was so novel at the time, and almost never seen (by me) back on the East Coast.

The outside remains tres (80s) LA.

The interior has been kept up, and still has that funky late 80s hip modern style. And while this is a long way from the starker more “rustic/urban” decor that is popular now, I still think it looks good.

For today’s Sauvages lunch — which is the annual Tête de cuvée Champagne lunch — we set up “next door” in the private room. I’d no idea this was even here, but it’s huge.

Closer in with the gang.

Our special menu.

The wine order.

Flight 0:

2014 La Chablisienne Chablis 1er Cru Mont de Milieu. BH 93. This is notably ripe though the nose stops just short of expressing exotic fruit aromas and I particularly like the plethora of Chablis characters present on the pear and citrus scents. There is excellent richness, volume and density to the full-bodied flavors that possess plenty of minerality on the powerful lemon-inflected finale that is both persistent and quite dry. Very fine quality here. (Drink starting 2021)

Slightly spicy/sweet toro cones. This has been a puck staple for decades and it’s still fabulous.

With this begins what is one of the most extensive passed appetizer “flights” I’ve ever seen. Eight types and plenty of each!

Same with the Jewish Pizza, which is creme fraiche and lox. Delicious! This variant had a potato latke crust — I prefer the regular pizza crust.

Spring rolls with sweet and sour sauce.

2008 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Valmur. BH 95. The reflections are the classic light gold-green hues of a fine Chablis. The barest touch of oak highlights the green fruit, menthol, saline and iodine aromas that precede the extremely stony, concentrated and driving flavors that are also blessed with ample amounts of dry extract that provides a much needed balancing element to the ripe acid backbone on the chalky and sappy finish. When Valmur is really good, it rivals Les Clos for the best grand cru in Chablis and this 2008 is really good. (Drink starting 2015)

Wagyu with asparagus. An amped up version of the cocktail classic.

Sweet and sour scallops. Very nice.

Lamp chops with mint sauce — full sized.

Vegetable spring rolls.

Veggie pizza. Just okay.

Flight 1:

2007 Gosset Champagne Celebris Rosé Extra Brut. 95 points. Really big, tight wine – so much so that this is difficult to assess. There’s really not much to say about this right now. 60% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir.

2007 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. VM 96. Taittinger’s 2007 Comtes de Champagne will be nearly impossible to resist upon release. Soaring aromatics, mid-weight structure and soft contours give the 2007 its alluring personality. Lemon oil, white flowers, mint, chamomile and green pear add brightness and freshness throughout, with a persistent, clean finish that makes it impossible to resist a second taste. Today, the 2007 comes across as a slightly more open version of the 2004, with freshness that makes that wine so appealing, and a touch of textural richness that recalls the 2002. Although the 2007 does not have the explosive energy or verticality of the profound 2006, it will drink better earlier. The 2007 has been positively brilliant on the three occasions I have tasted it so far. (Drink between 2018-2047)

2008 Champagne Suenen Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Millésimé. 91 points. Steely. acid backbone, and with a bit of a chalky soil in the finish. Better the second day as the fruit showed more.

2008 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut La Grande Dame. CW 90-92. Big, rich and ripe fruit meets taut acidity and an energetic bead. Great mouth coating fruit. In a good spot right now.

Sweet onion parmesan soup, crab cake and yuzu lemon.

With the soup. I was very skeptical reading the description for this dish, but it was lovely. Really delicious.

Flight 2:

2004 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. VM 96. I am thrilled with the way the 2004 Comtes de Champagne continues to evolve in bottle. A few years ago, the 2004 was quite focused and linear, in the style of the vintage, but more recently, the wine has begun to fill out beautifully. The 2004 remains bright, with a full range of citrus, white flower and mineral nuances that dance on the palate. A brisk, saline-infused finish rounds things out beautifully in a Comtes that impresses for its crystalline purity. I expect the 2004 will always remain a bit cool next to the more opulent 2002, but it is still drop-dead gorgeous. (Drink between 2014-2034)

2006 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. VM 97.5. The 2006 Comtes de Champagne is striking, especially in the way it brings together elements of ripeness and freshness in a hypothetical blend of the 2002 and 2004. Smooth and creamy on the palate, the 2006 is all about texture. There is a real feeling of density and weight in the 2006, qualities I expect to see grow with time in the bottle. All the elements fall into place effortlessly. The 2006 has been nothing short of magnificent both times I have tasted it. Comtes de Champagne remains the single best value (in relative terms) in tête de cuvée Champagne. I suggest buying a case and following it over the next 20-30 years, which is exactly what I intend to do. There is little doubt the 2006 Comtes de Champagne is a magical Champagne in the making. (Drink between 2016-2046)

2007 Ferrari Giulio Ferrari Riserva del Fondatore. VM 93. Golden-tinged straw yellow. Enticing aromas and flavors of yellow apple, peach, puff pastry and herbs. Rich and with ripe, bright, lively lift extending the flavors nicely on the long creamy finish. (Drink between 2018-2025)

2006 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut La Grande Dame. JG 94+. The final blending of the 2006 La Grande Dame was completed prior to Dominique Demarville joining the team at Veuve Clicquot, so we will have to wait for the release of the 2008 version to see his impact on this bottling. The 2006 Grande Dame is a blend of fifty-three percent pinot noir and forty-seven percent chardonnay and was finished with a dosage of eight grams per liter. The wine is excellent, wafting from the glass in a complex blend of apple, pear, wheat toast, fine minerality, a touch of smokiness and a nice note of caraway seed in the upper register. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, deep and complex, with elegant mousse, fine focus and grip and a very long, vibrant and zesty finish. This is drinking beautifully, but has the balance to age long and gracefully as well. High class juice. (Drink between 2016-2040)

Tempura Ahi tuna sashimi with fresh uni sauce.

Flight 3:

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

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

1997 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut. JG 92. The 1997 vintage in Champagne was characterized by damp and cool conditions through August, but September was scorching. The resulting grapes were very high in malic acidity according to Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon, but there was no malo in the Cristal base wines this year. The 1997 Cristal is a very pretty wine for current drinking, offering up a reasonably mature, transparent and classy nose of apple, lemon zest, a touch of smokiness, chalky soil tones, fresh almonds and a whisper of honeycomb. On the palate the wine is deep, fullish and à point, with good, but not great depth, refined mousse and very good length and grip on the complex finish. One gets used to the rock solid cores of most vintages of Cristal, and while this is far from fluide, there is still a touch less depth here than in most recent vintages of this fine cuvée. (Drink between 2012-2022)

2002 Dom Pérignon Champagne Luminous. 95 points. Absolutely fabulous right now, very dry for a Dom (e.g compared to 2006 we also had that evening), great balance. Drink or hold.

Potato wrapped seabass, wild mushrooms, red wine sauce. Interesting. A bit breaded.

Flight 4:

From my cellar: 1993 Ruinart Champagne Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs. VM 94. Among the wines of the 1990s, I especially liked the 1993 Dom Ruinart, which was beautiful, especially considering this was an original disgorgement. Layers of honeyed fruit, licorice and mint were woven together in a captivating fabric. We also caught this wine at near peak, as it was firing on all cylinders. What a beautiful wine.

1996 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon. VM 95. One of the more accessible wines of the year today, the 1996 Dom Pérignon impresses for its exceptional balance and class. Lemon peel, white flowers and mint are laced together in the glass. The 1996 is in a terrific place today where it can be enjoyed or cellared for a number of years. (Drink between 2014-2030)

1996 Henriot Champagne Cuvée des Enchanteleurs Brut. VM 94. Vivid yellow-gold. Kaleidoscopic aromas of citrus fruits, poached pear, mango, lees and licorice, with slow-building florality. Supple, palate-coating orchard and exotic fruit flavors are complicated by notes of herbs and buttered toast, with a smoky quality in the background. Seems younger than it did last year, showing excellent finishing clarity and persistent smoke and spice character. This really won’t let go of the palate, which is fine by me. I’d still hold this. (Henriot Inc., New York, NY)

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)

Filet Mignon, garlic steak.

Dessert:

Grapefruit Aperol Tarragon Sorbetto — Cold pressed Fresh Grapefruit juice from my garden, Aperol and fresh Tarragon! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Unique and bracing — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #grapefruit #aperol #tarragon

Passion fruit cheese cake with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. Nice cake actually.

Haven’t made this in almost 3 years — Rocky Road Gelato — Valrhona Chocolate base with marshmallows and pecans and house-made caramel and toasted kosher Marshmallow topping! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — oh my! — #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #chocolate #valrhona #RockyRoad #marshmallow #caramel #marshmallow #pecan

The wine lineup.

My notes.

Overall, Chinois still has a sharp kitchen and great service. This was an atypical meal for Chinois in that everything was custom, nothing off the menu. It was less “fusion” or less “Chinese” than the menu food with more subdued flavors (to pair with the Champagne). But I think the food was a bit better last year. Small variants this time around. The appetizers and soup were awesome this year, but flavors were too straight up on the other dishes. Execution was solid though.

The Champagnes were amazing. Not a bad bottle in the group and both the older and younger ones were delicious in their own rights.

I think the decor has aged great and is actually more unique now.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

To see all the Sauvages posts, click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Champagne, Chinois, Gelato, Sauvages

Astrea Caviar + Heroic Wine Bar

Jan27

Restaurant: Heroic Deli and Wine Bar [1, 2, 3]

Location: 516 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 490-0202

Date: December 3, 2019

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Pretty awesome, actually

Our friends Eve and Riesa, who own Astrea Caviar wanted to do a dinner with Erick and I so we enlisted Jeffrey Merrihue and his chef Barbara Pollastrini to make a custom caviar menu at Heroic Wine Bar.

They took over the old Real Food Daily / Erven space on Santa Monica Blvd.

This is an unusual space, divided into two halves, each of which has a separate loft. The build out is attractive though.

Here’s the main side loft.

Here’s Jeffrey, who like me at Ramen Roll is very hands on operationally.

Hand painted Zodiac ceiling.

The back space is much more dinner-like. But we were upstairs above this in the very dimly lit (but large) private room.

Our special menu.

Erick brought this “rare” Piper and it comes in a special case. Champagne houses love their gimmicks.

1988 Piper-Heidsieck Champagne Cuvée Rare. JG 94. I love the 1988 vintage of Rare, which is a very, very fine example of this underrated, but excellent year in Champagne. The wine is now fully mature, but still bright and zesty, as it delivers a fine aromatic constellation of pear, peach, a nice dollop of honeycomb, toasted almonds, plenty of smokiness, brioche and plenty of smokiness in the upper register. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and shows off lovely mid-palate depth, with frothy mousse, fine focus and soil signature, excellent focus and grip and a very long, utterly classic and beautifully balanced finish. A superb vintage of Rare with years and years still ahead of it. (Drink between 2014-2030)

From my cellar to match: 1988 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. VM 97. I am blown away by the 1988 Comtes de Champagne. Still incredibly fresh, the 1988 Comtes flows with intense mineral notes that frame a vibrant core of Chardonnay fruit. The color, aromatics and flavors are all remarkably youthful, while the crystalline purity of the finish suggests the 1988 will drink well for another two decades, if not longer. Readers who enjoy mature Champagne will need to be patient. Still, I see no reason to deny gratification; this is a rock star wine! (Drink between 2013-2030)

Just some of the caviar that Astrea brought for the dinner.

This one, a new “breed” was just for munching on.

Here it is open.

Amuse of NONNA’S GNUDI. Ricotta & spinach, sage infused housemade brown butter, fluffy Parmigiano Reggiano. This is basically a ball of soft spinach and cheese, topped with cheese, and soaked in perfect butter sauce. It’s richly cheesy — and buttery — very rich actually. Quite yummy. But you gotta like butter and cheese at its best!

Strange Bedfellows. Live oyster with Live Santa Barbara Uni and caviar. A delicious paring of raw — caviar, oyster, and uni — with the champagne.

Mad Hatter. Crispy fried egg yolk topped with caviar and house made creme fraiche. The fried egg was delicious, but tasted strongly of both “fry” and egg yolk — big surprise — so it wasn’t quite as good a caviar showcase (although it was great).

Night and Day. Squid ink spaghetti with live Santa Barbara Stone Crab and caviar. This was a “too die for” pasta. Fabulous by itself and even better with all that caviar and even better with old champagne.

From my cellar: 2011 Coche-Dury Meursault Les Vireuils Domaine et Selection. 94 points. Wow, even the “negotiant” Coche doesn’t disappoint. The intensity of this wine was unreal. Blazing. Struck like lightening both deep into the palate and broadly across at the same time. Just unreal that this is a village wine.

Erick brought: 2005 Domaine Ramonet Chevalier-Montrachet. BH 93. This continues to show somewhat oddly because while it now appears to be much more backward than it did when I originally tasted it for review in 2007, there still isn’t the elegance or refinement that I’m used to seeing chez Ramonet with this wine. Ripe and airy white flower and citrus blossom aromas offer excellent complexity if less elegance than I’m used to seeing are followed by still tight full-bodied flavors that possess impressive volume and concentration, all wrapped in a nicely long finish that displays less depth than promised by the nose. One change that is evident though is that if this is going to come together, it will take longer than I initially imagined and thus I have extended my initial drinking window by several years. (Drink starting 2015)

Red Planet. Poached live Santa Barbara lobster with champagne and caviar and beurre blanc. Another great dish. Perfectly cooked Pacific lobster is always great with beurre blanc — then add the caviar!

Secret Garden. It’s a (healthy) secret. Zucchini with vegetables, cured egg, and crab. This was a fine dish, but not nearly as good as the other (maybe because it wasn’t nearly as rich).

Castaway. Marinated Japanese A5 Wagyu tartare with live uni, thin scallop and caviar. Again — didn’t suck. Haha. Great, although not quite as good a pairing as the all seafood dishes.

Reisa brought: 1999 Domaine G. Roumier / Christophe Roumier Chambolle-Musigny. JG 90+. The 1999 Chambolle villages is deep, lush and powerful, with a style not dissimilar from a hypothetical blend of the 1990 and the 1995. The bouquet is quite primary, delivering notes of black cherries, herb tones, a bit of smoke, minerals, chocolate and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is quite full-bodied (the biggest Chambolle since the 1990), with lovely freshness and shape, plenty of tannin buried in the wine’s formidable fruit, and fine length on the complex finish. Like so many Roumier village Chambolles, it deserves, nay demands, cellaring time. (Drink between 2009-2020)

Adding an item “from the regular menu”: PASTA CARBONARA. Mezzemaniche, house made guanciale, pecorino Romano. Chef Barbara shows off her Roman chops with this scrumptious carbonara. The Mezzemaniche also has a really nice bite, and the pork cheeks the perfect crunch and porcine flavor. Very roman and again maybe the best Carbonara I’ve had in a long time. It maybe could have been a touch creamier — as this is an pork and cheese forward prep, but the guanciale alone is worth the price of admission.

Bacon & Eggs. Pork belly confit and caviar and truffle. Inspired by the Republique dish this wasn’t quite as good — but was still really great — and opulent.

Again from the regular menu: TOURNEDOS ROSSINI. Central Valley Rib cap, chicken liver parfait, King Oyster mushroom, Italian summer truffles. This was rich, but boy was it good! How can you go wrong with those ingredients?

Next we sat around drinking — for a while!

Erick brought: 1973 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon. JG 93. The 1973 Dom Pérignon is at a beautiful point in its evolution and is a great pleasure to drink. The deep and mature nose offers up a complex mélange of rye seed, oranges, fresh figs, honeycomb, a gentle touch of walnut, a beautiful base of soil that is both chalky and shows some signs of clay and a very gentle hint of DP’s signature herbal streak. On the palate the wine is fullish, very deep and utterly seamless, with impeccable balance, lovely focus and complexity, very gentle bubbles that frame the wine these days, rather than offer up youthful effervescence and a very long, refined and vibrant finish. I would opt for drinking the ’73 Dom Pérignon up over the next decade in regular-sized formats, while it remains at its apogee of peak drinkability, as there is not anything left in reserve at age thirty-five. Of course magnums (which should be absolutely brilliant right now) will cruise along significantly longer. A lovely bottle. (Drink between 2008-2018)

From my cellar: 2006 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut Rosé. VM 98. One of the highlights in this tasting, the 2006 Cristal Rosé is simply stunning. A vertical, towering wine, the 2006 Cristal Rosé is a thrill a minute, with a compelling interplay of aromatics and exquisitely layered fruit, all supported by a real feeling of phenolic intensity. While the 2007 is seductive, the 2006 is virile and imposing, with the statuesque lift of a Giacometti sculpture. All the elements meld together in a complete, alluring Champagne that will continue to drink beautifully for many decades. In 2006, the Pinot Noir was already being farmed biodynamically, while the Chardonnay was still under conversion. (Drink between 2016-2041)

Tightrope (dessert). Puff pastry with chocolate mousse and caviar. I’m not sure the caviar added here (hence the tightrope) but it was a nice dessert.

I went nuts here and brought not one, not two, not three, but four gelato flavors:

Mint Meringue Strawberry Sorbetto — An intense dairy-free base made from Avignon Strawberries and layered with house-made Spearmint Meringue — created by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #strawberry #sorbetto #mint #Meringue

True Tiramisu Gelato — after long hiatus, one of my best flavors remerges for a holiday party — This is a genuine tiramisu in gelato form, with a Marsala Egg Yolk Zabaione, fresh Mascarpone Cheese, and real Espresso. Then it’s layered with Valrhona Cocoa and Lady Finger’s soaked in house-made Espresso Rum Syrup — 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 #Tiramisu #Espresso #coffee #chocolate #marsala #Zabaione #Eggyolk #Rum #Mascarpone

Root Beer Float Gelato — Sarsaparilla flavored gelato base with house-made vanilla cream cheese layers — 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 #RootBeer #RootBeerFlaot #Sarsaparilla #vanilla #creamcheese

Toasted Almond Truffle Gelato — My new egg yolk based nut formulation with Toasted Sicilian Noto Romano Almond makes a sublime base stacked with layers of house-made Valrhona Almond Amaretti Ganache — 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 #amaretti #cookie #ganache #ChocolateTruffle

The wine lineup.

Left to right, Reisa, Eve, and Erick.

This is actually some really serious Italian and in a style that is very unusual for LA. Ingredients are all either top flight Italian or really good fresh local California. It’s an interesting hybrid, but Chef Barbara’s flavors are great and really taste very Italian Italian (as opposed to Italian American) in flavor.

She’s quite a creative and flexible chef too and when tasked to make this special caviar menu came up with a bevy of really interesting and fabulous dishes.

Plus the wine, food, caviar, company, and gelato were all spectacular.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more Foodie Club dining, click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Astrea Caviar, Barbara Pollastrini, BYOG, Caviar, Champagne, Foodie Club, Gelato, Heroic Deli, Heroic Wine Bar, Italian cuisine, Jeffrey Merrihue, pasta, White Burgundy, Wine, Wine bar

Dirty Dozen at Capital Seafood

Jan13

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

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

Date: November 25, 2019

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Good for this far west

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

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

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

The space looks pretty Chinese, even in Beverly Hills.

Coves. Gotta have the coves!

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

This time I photographed the giant nighttime menu.

Wines before the meal:

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

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

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

Edamame.

Peanuts.

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

2008 Bollinger Champagne La Grande Année. VM 97. Bollinger’s 2008 Grande Année is rich, ample and full-bodied, with all of the pedigree of the vintage on display. Dried pear, dried flowers, chamomile, red plum and mint develop as the 2008 shows the breadth and creaminess that are such signatures of the Bollinger house style. A whole range of brighter, more floral and chalky notes appear later, adding translucence and energy. The 2008 is 71% Pinot Noir and 29% Chardonnay taken across 18 crus, and it is the Pinot that very much informs the wine in both flavor and texture. More importantly, the 2008 is one of the best Grande Années I can remember tasting. Bollinger fans won’t want to miss it. Disgorged November 2018. Dosage is 8 grams per liter. (Drink between 2020-2048)

2007 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. VM 96. Taittinger’s 2007 Comtes de Champagne will be nearly impossible to resist upon release. Soaring aromatics, mid-weight structure and soft contours give the 2007 its alluring personality. Lemon oil, white flowers, mint, chamomile and green pear add brightness and freshness throughout, with a persistent, clean finish that makes it impossible to resist a second taste. Today, the 2007 comes across as a slightly more open version of the 2004, with freshness that makes that wine so appealing, and a touch of textural richness that recalls the 2002. Although the 2007 does not have the explosive energy or verticality of the profound 2006, it will drink better earlier. The 2007 has been positively brilliant on the three occasions I have tasted it so far. (Drink between 2018-2047)

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

Jellyfish. Nice and tangy.

Roasted Pork Belly. Basically Macau style.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stuffed Bean Curd with Shrimp Paste. Interesting.

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

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

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

Peking Duck.

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

Here is a bun ready to eat.

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

Sautéed Sea-cucumber with Greens.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Crispy Sesame Chicken. Very nice mild chicken.

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

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

Baked Seafood Fried Rice with Coconut Curry Sauce.

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

Fruit (aka Chinese dessert).

Strawberries and Cream Gelato — A dairy strawberry base with Avignon Strawberries plus Strawberry Jam Ripples and Strawberry Wafer Cookies — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #strawberry #cream #jam #wafer #cookies

House favorite and my son’s birthday pick: Triple Chocolate Cloud – As usual the base is made with Valrhona 62% Satilla Chocolate and then layered with Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese Ganache and the rotating ingredient is crushed Oreos — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #chocolate #creamcheese #ganache #icing #Oreos

The wine lineup.

Results.

And the gang.

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

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

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

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

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

Hard to Find – Inn Ann

Jan06

Restaurant: Inn Ann

Location: 6801 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028. (323) 677-5557 (inside Hollywood & Highland)

Date: November 19, 2019

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: Great sushi, hard to find

We Foodie Club guys always like to try great sushi, so when we heard that Mori — founder of Mori Sushi — had taken up in Hollywood, off we went (took a bit of rescheduling too).

Translating to “hidden retreat,” INN ANN offers a high-end, seasonal Japanese tasting menu dining experience within JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles, evoking a serene sanctuary on the fifth floor of the bustling Hollywood & Highland. Bringing a taste of Japan to Hollywood, the innovative new dining room fosters discovery and curiosity, showcasing Japanese culture, traditions, and rich heritage through the lens of its cuisine. Rooted in the revered Japanese culinary philosophy, the menu incorporates local ingredients embracing Californian farmers’ market elements.

They weren’t kidding about the hidden retreat — Japan House is located in the deepest hardest to reach bowels of the top floor of the super annoying to reach and park at Hollywood & Highland. Past the junk shops and box stores and Forever 21, way up top, behind the elephants.

Then you must progress down a service coordidor into a realm you suspect that no one but mall staff ever go, beyond trash dumpsters to your sanctuary.

And while the build out is gorgeous, spacious, and sports a lovely Hollywood view there isn’t even a bathroom. You have to hike back through the strange Japanese library in Japan House proper. Very weird.

But it is chic (although not crowded. haha).

An esteemed sushi master, Chef Mori Onodera once told Los Angeles Magazine, “Rice is 70 percent, fish is 30 percent,” highlighting the importance he places on the quality of the rice he serves. He grows his own short grain rice in partnership with Tamaki Farms in Uruguay, further establishing his renown as a rice connoisseur. Chef Onodera also meticulously sources fresh fish for his signature sushi, placing a major emphasis on sustainable seafood. At INN ANN, Chef Onodera brings his expertise in sushi and rice to the table, as well as a singular “mobile” sushi cart of his own design.

The menu is omakase. We just told Mori to bring us everything!

Erick brought: 1993 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon. JG 92+. I have drunk a few magnums of the 1993 Dom Pérignon to start off tastings in the last handful of months and this is at a lovely place in its evolution at age twenty-five. This is not a great vintage of DP, but a very good one that has retained a nice sense of its “good green” personality, as it offers up an aromatically complex mix of green apple, menthol, stony minerality, lime peel and plenty of upper register smokiness. On the palate the wine is crisp, full-bodied and still quite steely in personality, with a good core, elegant mousse and lovely grip and cut on the long, complex and energetic finish. This was a slightly leaner vintage of Dom Pérignon in its youth and it has retained this personality as it has started to blossom, but it remains a fine drink with a long future ahead of it. (Drink between 2018-2040)

Tofu and wasabi.

Then covered in special soy sauce. Simple, but scrumptious. Gorgeous soft tofu texture.

Japanese seaweed, Japanese sunchoke, Pumpkin, Mountain peach, blanched peanut, chestnut, burdock, eggplant. The giant bowl of Japanese veggies. Kinda nice and very Japanese tasting.

Sunomono. Red clam. Cucumber. Japanese shallot. I always love marinated stuff, particularly with the sweet rice vinegar typical of sunomono.

Sashimi. Buri. Japanese mackerel. Saba. Maybe some clam thing.

Dobin mushi. Seasonal soup. Harvest season. Matsutake mushroom. Fried shrimp ball. Rock fish. Mitsuba. Ginko nuts. Slightly Smokey. This was one of those really like Japanese mushroom broths with a bit of seafood flavor (from the shrimp ball) and a good dose of Japanese citrus.

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

Grilled King crab. Grilled Yellowtail. Wild arugula.

Tempura. Abalone. Abalone liver. Shisito. Baby corn. Mission figs. Matcha salt. Very rich and delicious.

The Matcha salt and tempura sauce.

A5 wagyu. Wasabi. Purple Okinawa. Homemade radish pickles. 2 year old yuzu kosho. The yuzu kosho and wasabi stands in for “mustard” with the beef.

Erick brought: 2008 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. BH 94. Readers may remember that last year the ’08 Combettes had not even started its malo at the time of my February visit (more than 16 months after the harvest!) and thus it was not rated. Well, I am very happy to report that it has turned out marvelously well with an ultra-fresh nose of mildly exotic yellow orchard fruit aromas trimmed in floral and wood components. There is excellent richness, size, weight and punch to the medium weight plus flavors that brim with dry extract that both coats the palate and buffers the very firm acidity on the driving, even explosive finish that is stunningly long. This is quite simply an extraordinary wine and it is not an exaggeration to say that the ’08 is the best young Leflaive Combettes that I have ever seen.

Really good homemade ginger.

Tai snapper. Sea bream from Japan. Wasabi.

Needle fish from Japan.

Chu-toro.

Marinated Kohada.

Aji. Spanish Mackerel.

Marinated tuna from New Jersey.

Ikura (salmon eggs).

From my cellar: 2008 Domaine Leflaive Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. BH 91-94. A subtle touch of pain grillé highlights citrus notes that, like the Pucelles, exhibit hints of honeysuckle and fennel nuances that complement perfectly the textured, rich and sweet medium plus weight flavors that are quite supple yet remain detailed, energetic and strikingly long on the explosive finish. This is a relatively powerful Bienvenues. In a word, terrific. (Drink starting 2018)

Santa Barbara Uni (sea urchin).

Hokkaido Uni.

Golden snapper. Seared skin. Nice smoked seared taste.

Special sea eel.

Lovely bowl.

Contains miso soup. Nice dashi flavor.

Clam and Cucumber roll.

Dashi whitefish shrimp tamago. Salty version, not sweet at all.

Chu toro again. How could we not.

Buri belly from Hokkaido.

Persimmon. Fruit.

This pair of gelati I made for my son’s birthday:

simple but awesome.

Chef Mori.

Hard to find place, but outstanding sushi. Some of the best classic sushi in LA. Pricey, as it always is, but worth it. Mori is one of the local masters.

NOTE: apparently as of 12/31/19 Inn Ann is now closed. Perhaps the ridiculously weird location didn’t help! I’m glad we got to go!

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, Champagne, Dom Pérignon (wine), Foodie Club, Gelato, Hollywood, Japanese cuisine, Morihiro Onodera, Omakase, Sushi, White Burgundy

House of Krug 2019

Dec02

Restaurant: House of Krug

Location: You wish you knew

Date: October 21, 2019

Cuisine: Modern

Rating: Great food, great champagnes

Sage Society organizes some of the best wine maker dinners around and they’ve done quite a number with everyone’s favorite Champagne house…

Krug! This one, organized as usual by Liz Lee, featured a rare appearance by Krug family scion Olivier Krug.

They really know how to do up a place.

Krug greats you as you enter (and everywhere).

The main room of the rented “House of Krug”.

Even the closets have been Krug-a-fied.

We start out with:

NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 167eme. JG 96. The new release of Krug Grande Cuvée “167eme Édition” is stellar. The wine is from the base year of 2011 and utterly transcends that vintage, but, of course, it includes nearly two hundred different wines in the blend, with the oldest reserves dating all the way back to the 1995 vintage. Fully forty-two percent of the cuvée this year is made up of reserve wines. The cépages for the 167eme Édition is forty-seven percent pinot noir, thirty-six percent chardonnay and seventeen percent pinot meunier. The wine shows its lovely preponderance of pinot noir on the nose, wafting from the glass in a beautifully complex blend of apple, white peach, a touch of patissière, very complex soil tones, caraway seed and a gently floral contribution in the upper register from the pinot meunier in the blend. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, complex and nicely broad-shouldered, with great depth at the core, refined mousse, bright, seamless acids and outstanding focus and grip on the very long, complex and beautifully balanced finish. This is simply outstanding and should age effortlessly for fifty to seventy-five years! (Drink between 2019-2090)

Scallop and caviar.

Caviar. The good stuff!

I can’t remember but they were really good.

“Chicken” liver truffles. Delicious.

The crowd gathers to begin the learning part of the evening.

The amazing Liz Lee starts off and introduces…

Olivier Krug!

Then we move into a side room to do a side by side tasting.

There is a place for everyone with their own Krug comparison placemats.

2006 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. 94 points. Seems to live in a league of its own. This is way too young and I’m sure we baby killed, but it was fun to get to try. So complex. Some annise, some coriander, some more herbal notes. It’s got a lot less toast than I usually associate with the house. Served in a burg glass which worked well for it. Very nice wine.

NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 162eme. 95 points. This is Jungian archetypal Krug. Rich and concentrated, with a balance of oxidative nutty tones and plenty of bright acidity-driven freshness. It’s really a complete package. These older GCs are really some of the best champagnes out there (I’m thinking of an older 2005 disgorgement that I drank recently, too).

Our special mats.

The kitchen.

And the dinner table.

Crowd gathering to sit.

The menu.

Nice place settings.

Caviar, crab gelee, braised onion, yuzu, parsley. This dish was light and airy as a fluffy cloud to “support” the caviar.

Housemade linguine, celeriac puree, leeks, lemon, truffle. Very light lemon truffle pasta. Quite lovely.

NV Krug Champagne Brut Rosé Edition 23eme. VM 94. The NV Rosé 23ème Edition is wonderfully nuanced and layered, with lovely richness to play off a core of bright red berry fruit. Although not especially complex in this release, the Rosé offers lovely immediacy and tons of pure pleasure. Crushed berries, chalk, mint and white flowers are nicely softened in this super-expressive, beautifully persistent Rosé. A few more years in bottle will only help. The 23ème is a Champagne of pure and total pleasure. This release is based on 2011, with reserve wines back to 2000. (Drink between 2021-2041)

Grilled duck breast, foie emulsion, pomme mousseline, truffle. A nice rare piece of duck and perfect with the incomparable Krug rose.

Brie d’affinois, tomme brulee, leonora, Parmesan Reggiano.

Mignardises. I particularly liked the white iced (almond?) cake.

The chef (right with the hat) and one of the Krug organizers.

Overall, another amazing evening. Krug really does an incredible job setting the scene and this was a unique evening. Food was very good but not quite the number of courses that Foodie Club beast Erick and I are used to — we like at least 10-15 — so we had to go out with some new friends to Korea Town for “second dinner.” Really, any excuse for second dinner is a good excuse!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Champagne, Hollywood, Krug, Liz Lee, Olivier Krug, Sage Society

O OOToro

Nov15

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

Location: 1569 Fairway Dr, Walnut, CA 91789. (909) 598-8299

Date: October 5, 2019

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi (with slight nod to China)

Rating: Ends of the earth, but very good

Chef Kaz of Totoraku, an occasional hedonist, sent us far east to this Sushi restaurant in 2016 and it was such a fun time that we had to return again for a sixth visit — it’s now become a twice a year thing.
And by far east I mean REALLY REALLY far east — to Walnut California. 40+ miles from my house. 20 miles past Alhambra (which most people consider to far to drive for food). It took an hour and twenty minutes on a Saturday night!

The slick looking location is in the heart of the affluent Chinese American San Gabriel Valley. But yes, it’s Japan, if perhaps catering to Chinese taste. This photo was shot at about 10pm after everyone else had left.

Here is the private room — the only way to go.

Yarom brought this ancient Burg. 1953 Chanson Père & Fils Beaune 1er Cru Bressandes. It was cloudy and we all swore it had no chance, but it was actually quite nice (for about 30 minutes before dropping off).

Ron brought: NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 167eme. VM 94+. Krug’s NV Grande Cuvée 167ème Edition is positively brilliant. Chef de Caves Eric Lebel and his team have always put tremendous emphasis on the craft of blending. Never has that discipline been more critical than here, with the 167, which is based on 2011, one of the most challenging harvests in Champagne in many years. Brisk and racy in the glass, the 167 is laced with a range of lemon peel, baked apple, brioche and floral notes. Readers should plan on giving the 167 at least a few years in bottle, as it is presently tightly wound and not at all expressive. The flavors are beautifully articulated. In many releases, the Grande Cuvée is richer and more overt. The 167, on the other hand, is airy, weightless and sublime. Most importantly, it is an unqualified success. This release is based on 2011, with reserve wines back to 1995. (Drink between 2021-2036)

Cod sperm with radish and ponzu. Looks like brain and has a soft squirmy texture — but tastes great.

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

Oyster with uni and ikura (salmon eggs).

Close up. Bright, briney, and delicious.

2002 Salon Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. VM 97. Another highlight in this vertical, the 2002 Salon is also fascinating to taste after the 2004. Rich, opulent and intense, yet also very classic in the Salon house style, the 2002 possesses superb persistence and depth. The radiant vintage has softened the contours and given the wine fabulous depth to match its decidedly powerful personality. At the same time, the 2002 remains quite youthful. Next to the brighter and more finessed 2004, the 2002 offers more of a baritone-inflected expression of Chardonnay. (Drink between 2016-2036)

Sashimi. Aji (Japanese horse mackrel). Wild snapper. Uni wrapped in halibut with shiso.

Left to right: Baby peach, Japanese pepper, Abalone, Whitefish tempura, and Japanese cucumber with miso paste.

2012 Louis Jadot Bâtard-Montrachet. BH 93. There is a hint of menthol sitting atop pretty aromas of acacia blossom, spiced pear and white peach scents. The delicious, muscular and pure broad-shouldered and powerful flavors possess fine size and weight that continues onto the concentrated and impressively persistent if presently compact finish. Those who enjoy their white burgs young should note that while this is very promising there isn’t great complexity at this early stage so I would very much be inclined to allow this to age for at least 8 to 10 years first. (Drink starting 2020)

Uni, Ikura, and house made tofu. The uni ikura pairing is a classic.

2013 Hubert Lamy Puligny-Montrachet Les Tremblots Cuvée Haute Densité. BH 90-92. An expressive yet cool nose is composed by notes of essence of pear and citrus that are nuanced with hints of apple and spiced tea. There is outstanding density and vibrancy to the relatively powerful and mouth coating flavors that possess plenty of sappy dry extract, all wrapped in a delicious, balanced and impressively lingering finish. This is a terrific Puligny villages and worth a special search to find. (Drink starting 2020)

Johnny crab — not sure how you spell that — but a lovely crab salad nonetheless.

2004 Bouchard Père et Fils Chevalier-Montrachet. VM 93+. Deep, bright aromas of pear, spring flowers and liquid stone. Penetrating and pure, with pear, citrus and stony flavors nicely framed by firm acidity. Still tight in the middle, but already conveys the precision of the vintage at its best. A real mouthful of wet stones on the very long finish.

Lobster sashimi, done 3 ways.

From my cellar: NV Krug Champagne Brut Rosé. BH 94. Medium rosé hue. A cool, restrained and highly complex nose that is not especially fruity displays a moderate yeast character along with slightly exotic aromas of mandarin orange and Asian tea, all wrapped in an enveloping array of beguiling rose petal scents. There is very good richness with a relatively firm supporting mousse that adds to the impression of richness to the superbly complex and highly textured flavors, indeed one could aptly describe this as more wine that Champagne. As such this is indeed a sumptuous Krug rosé that is difficult to resist already though it should reward extended keeping if desired. As I noted in the original 750 ml review, that while I am not always wowed by the Krug Rosé, this latest incarnation in magnum is strikingly good. (Drink starting 2020)

Roasted Blue fin tuna collar, kama-toro. This giant collar from a giant fish is one of the things that brought us back. The meat looked and felt like roasted lamb, but of course tasted more like tuna. It was very rich and solid and almost certainly the best cooked tuna I’ve ever had.

2009 Domaine Michel Niellon Chevalier-Montrachet. BH 94. Here mild reduction doesn’t materially diminish the appeal of the more elegant if ever-so-slightly less complex aromas that feature notes of stone, lemon zest, acacia blossom and spiced pear. There is superb intensity and simply gorgeous detail to the mineral-driven and impeccably well-balanced flavors and explosive finale. Still, as good as this is and it is indeed exceptional, the superior complexity of the Bâtard gives it the barest of edges in 2009. (Drink starting 2015)

Clam and the other clam.

Seared toro, uni mousse, actual uni, takuan, and gold flakes. This is incredible, partially because of the different textures: soft, mushy, smooth, crunchy.

Tempura vegetables and cold soba. First time I’ve had soba here and it was delicious.

1989 Clos Vougeot.

Chu toro sushi.

Kama toro sushi.

Seared red snapper sushi. Charred finish was amazing.

Kama toro again, slightly different way.

Some Grange from a previous night.

A5 wagyu sukiyaki.

The certificate for the beef, including cow nose print.

Here is the finished sukiyaki which was wonderfully beefy, and a touch sweet. I love sukiyaki.

Lobster miso.

Red Current Cassis Sorbetto! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Currents from Avignon, blended with Creme de Cassis –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #RedCurrent #current #cassis

I just can’t get enough of this flavor and had to use it as an excuse to practice my Italian Merignue —Italian Lemon Cookie Meringue Pie — Limoncello Zabaione base with lemon cookie flavor mixed with Italian Lemon Creme Cookies and Sicilian Candied Lemon and topped with house-made toasted 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 #lemon #LemonCookie #cookie #Sicily #Sorento #Limoncello #Meringue #LemonMeringuePie

Salted Caramel Peanut Gelato — House-made salted caramel and integrated Chunky Salty Peanut base mixed with Toffee Coated Peanuts and Dark Peanut Butter Cups — 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 #caramel #chocolate #peanut #SaltedCaramel #Toffee

Dandelion Dark Sorbetto — a super intense Dandelion Small Batch 70% Chocolate plus Valrhona 100% Cocoa plus Callebaut Cocoa Mass — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — the best no milk straight chocolate I’ve yet made — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #Callebaut #chocolate #cocoa #sorbetto

Zoom!

The house dessert, Taro coconut ice cream. Not like mine!

Tonight’s wine lineup.

Overall, OOToro — while always good — showed for the third time that the private room is really the way to go. This was a great meal and much more subtle and sophisticated than some of the front room fare. Really great stuff — although we should have gotten the largest omakase for max variety, but even one down I was more than full (mostly because I ate so much roasted tuna).

As we often do, it was back to the Marriot parking lot for some valley-view drinking.

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Champagne, ootoro, SGV, Sushi, walnut california, Wine

Billecart Republique

Nov13

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

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

Date: October 4, 2019

Cuisine: Modern Bistro French

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

This Sage Society dinner is like a return an old favorite as in the “old days” (a few years ago) they did most of their dinners here at Republique. Tonight is a special custom dinner featuring the wines of Champagne house Billecart-Salmon and a custom Walter Manzke menu designed by Walter and Sage Society chief Liz Lee. Additionally, Antoine Roland-Billecart is in the house to guide us through the epic wine tasting!

Still doing great even after 5 or so years.

We are, of course, in the private room. Way better than downstairs at this very loud but very good restaurant.

The somm for the evening gives some introductions…

The name speaks for itself.

Our starter wine was 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).

Our special menu tonight.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Extra Brut. JG 92+. Billecart-Salmon has been producing their Millésime bottlings as Extra Brut since the 2000 vintage. The 2006, which is comprised of a blend of seventy-five percent pinot noir and twenty-five percent chardonnay was twenty percent barrel fermented in this vintage, and received a very modest dosage of three grams per liter. The wine is very fine, offering up a bright and classy bouquet of baked peaches and apples, pain grillé, almonds, a touch of citrus peel, lovely minerality and a nice dollop of fresh-baked bread in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and rock solid at the core, with refined mousse, bright acids and fine length and grip on the wide open and classy finish. Fine juice, and like a lot of 2006s, it is already drinking very well indeed. (Drink between 2014-2035)

2007 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Extra Brut. 91 points. Fine bubbles, light yellow, this is pretty good, ultra elegant & finesse.

2008 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Extra Brut.

agavin: to my taste, the extra brut is a little “too brut”.

Caviar Flight.

Here paired with the champagne.

And the descriptions of the individual caviar.

Antoine Roland-Billecart of Billecart-Salmon gives an impassioned speech.

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)

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.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Sous Bois (disgorged 2014). I loved this one.
Mushroom Tarte Flambe. Delicious. Crispy cracker like base covered in flame broiled cheese and mushrooms. Like an oversized passing hors d’oeuvre.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru. 92 points. Very good. Nice nose showing citrus and good richness, with some vanilla and a touch of pastry cream. On the palate, lovely acidity, fine mousse, more citrus and some chalk. Clean finish.

2007 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Louis Brut Blanc de Blancs. 94 points. Light straw, refined bubbles. Crisp, with lemon and lemon curd, some creaminess paired with a nice chalkiness. (Would be easy to drink all day).

2006 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Louis Brut Blanc de Blancs. 93 points. Incredible balance on this bubbly. Sweeter mature and ripe yellow fruit, creme brulee, nuttiness, yet also a lemon tart and herbal character. Quite impressed. Medium sized bubbles on the mouthfeel. This is a solid champers, rather youthful with a very long and large history ahead.

1999 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Louis Brut Blanc de Blancs. 97 points.

Spot Prawns (with roe). Perfectly cooked and juicy. Only problem was that I impaled the sensitive area under my tongue with a crispy leg and had to extract it from my flesh with my fingers! Still worth it!

Margarita’s Baguette and Normandy Butter. The reason many of us go to Republique, this is some serious temptation to the low carb diet!

2006 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas-François Billecart. 93 points. Pinot Noir dominant flavors and aromas, as the house style dictates, but also showing a linear Chardonnay brightness. Very good now.

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

1999 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas-François Billecart. VM 93. Bright yellow-gold. An exotically perfumed bouquet evokes fresh pear, iodine, white flowers and toasted brioche, with gingery spice and mineral notes adding vibrancy. Rich and weighty but quite lithe and focused, offering sappy orchard and citrus fruit flavors and a chalky mineral nuance on the back half. Closes on a smoky note, with excellent focus and lingering floral character. L422345 16273.

Dover Sole.

Filleted with a cauliflower mash. This is a “simple” fish prep but in Walter’s very capable hands is scrumptious.

2002 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Les Clos Saint-Hilaire. 96 points. Great.

1999 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Les Clos Saint-Hilaire. VM 96. Billecart’s 1999 Le Clos Saint-Hilaire is exotic and beguiling. Constantly changing in the glass, the 1999 offers exquisite aromatics, silky and a real sense of underlying phenolic structure. Crushed rose petals, licorice, smoke, game and tobacco add nuance as the wine opens up. With time in the glass, the personality of these Pinot vines becomes more and more expressive. The 1999 was bottled with no dosage, but that would be impossible to ascertain in a blind tasting. (Drink between 2016-2024)

Pork Belly Caviar. This dish apparently won on some kind of cooking show that Walter was on. It was rich, rich beyond belief. A cube of fatty steamed pork bellow, butter, some kind of puree, more butter, and caviar. Woah! Delicious too but I had to sit quietly for a few minutes to let my arteries recover.

1996 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas-François Billecart. BH 95. An absolutely sensational nose that is floral, spicy, yeasty and citrusy with exceptionally subtle hints of red berries that can also be found on the wonderfully fresh and still beautifully youthful flavors that are crisp, precise and layered. If there is a nit, the finish is perhaps not quite as long as one might hope for but as this ages and “relaxes”, the length will come. A potentially great wine and all it needs is a bit more time in bottle.

1998 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas-François Billecart. VM 94. The 1998 Cuveé Nicolas François Billecart (60% Pinot, 40% Chardonnay) is another beautiful wine. The aromas are especially captivating and highly suggestive of Pinot, but the Chardonnay seems to take center stage on the palate, where the fruit is highly expressive. Like the Bland de Blancs, the wine saw 50% malolactic fermentation and only 5% of the wine was aged in oak as the estate was in its early days of using oak and wisely chose a moderate approach. (Drink between 2013-2018)

1990 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Grande Cuvée. VM 95. Pale amber color. Extraordinary, ineffable nose of baked bread, oatmeal, toast, game, quinine, roasted nuts and ginger ale. Full-bodied, thick and utterly seamless, with superb, integrated acidity giving it great verve. Conveys a sensation of palate-gripping extract. Extremely long, slowly expanding finish throws off notes of pepper, ginger and nutmeg. Every time I returned to this wonderful Champagne I liked it more. (Robert Chadderdon Selections, New York, NY)

agavin: this might have been my WOTN. Amazing bottle.

White Truffle Risotto. Simple and perfect. Stunning creamy risotto with real fresh in season white truffles.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. Pale orange. High-pitched red berry, orange zest and jasmine aromas, with suave mineral and smoky lees notes adding complexity. Spicy and precise on the palate, showing very good punch to its strawberry and bitter cherry flavors. Opens up smoothly with air and picks up a bitter rhubarb quality that lingers onto the long, tightly focused finish. This bottling showed more brawny character than many past renditions of this cuvée, but with no lack of vivacity.

2006 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon. VM 94+. The 2006 Rosé Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon is powerful, intense and also classically austere in its make up. Crushed flowers, mint, red berries and cranberries are all finely sketched. The 2006 finishes with striking mineral-driven precision, and while it doesn’t have the opulence or exuberance of the 2002, it is still a very pretty and appealing Champagne. The Elisabeth Salmon is 50% Pinot Noir and 50% Chardonnay, with about 8% still Pinot Noir. Dosage is 6 grams per liter. (Drink between 2018-2031)

2007 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon. 92 points. Pink, slightly orange. Delicate bubbles. Hints of rose petal, and a touch of strawberry. Medium body, well balanced.

Chicken. That over simplifies the matter. There are mushrooms and reduction here. Delicious bird.

Cheese. The one course that was a let down. Actually rather lame — but we can forgive them after 7 perfect courses above.

My notes.

And the wine lineup.

Another amazing Sage Society dinner. Many of Sage’s wine maker dinners, all those that Liz puts together herself, are like this one, pulling out all the stops. This was a LOT of food — even for me — and the dishes were all custom for the wine and spectacular. And there was so much great champagne, really showing off both the house style and the very varied objectives of each cuvee. Quite educational too.

Too bad Erick handed me his cold that night (via the loaf of bread we shared) because I was sick the whole next week :-).

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Antoine Roland-Billecart, Billecart-Salmon, Champagne, Liz Lee, pork, République, Sage Society, Walter Manzke, Wine, winemaker dinner

The Valley’s Secret Sushi|Bar

Oct07

Restaurant: Sushi|Bar

Location: 16101 Ventura Blvd, Encino, CA 91436. 818.876.0818

Date: August 21, 2019

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: Very good, particularly for white guy sushi

I’ve wanted to try Sushi|Bar since I first heard about it as it’s an unusual sushi bar concept.

Not the fact that’s it’s located on Ventura Blvd — which is about as typical as you get for sushi bars — but that it’s a secret place tucked behind Woodley Proper and Scratch|Bar.

In this very 90s Valley mall.

Hidden behind his revered tasting menu restaurant Scratch|Bar, Sushi|Bar is Chef Phillip Frankland Lee’s Omakase Speakeasy that serves up a whimsy of its namesake fare in 17 courses. Behind an unmarked door lies an intimate counter housing 8 prized seats where you will sit right up to the chef’s cutting boards. Relax and enjoy as the chefs prepare a playful reverie on new wave nigiri and other delicacies from both land and sea in a free form interpretive take on the traditional sushi counter experience where you can expect unexpected riffs on beloved standards.
The front bar part of Scratch|Bar where we waited for our seating. It should be noted that Sushi|Bar has same day reservations via Tock or a “membership” which allows for advanced reservations and corkage discounts. Some of our party were members and booked the whole place for tonight.

They gave us an welcome cocktail, which I think had a sake base, but I can’t remember.

Eventually — and it was about 45 minutes late — we were moved into the secret Sushi|Bar room.

Unlimited Sunomono (marinated pickles). I must have eaten about 10 bowls worth.

The chef’s plating the first course.

1989 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut Collection. JG 96. The 1989 Krug Collection is absolutely brilliant Champagne and one of the best bottles of wine I have had the pleasure to taste this year. The totally à point nose soars from the glass in a regal blend of baked apple, buttered almonds, a touch of crème patissière, a beautiful base of minerality, brioche and a gentle topnote of smokiness. On the palate the wine is deep, pure and magical on the attack, with a great core of fruit, flawless focus and balance, refined mousse, brilliant complexity and a very, very long, crisp and vibrant finish. This wine is fully mature aromatically and flavor-wise, but still retains the structural bounce and grip of a relatively young Champagne and still has decades and decades of profound drinking ahead of it. A great, great wine at its magical summit.

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

Kushi Oyster from British Columbia with Italian sturgeon caviar, shari puffed “Rice Krispies,” and sake foam. Light and briny. Very pleasant, with an interesting textural play between the crispy, foamy, and slimy.

Blue Fin Tuna & Krasnaya Ikra. Spanish bluefin tail tartare, braced with dehydrated nori and covered with avocado mousse, house-cured ikura (salmon roe), and green onion. I really liked the contrast of the soft fish and the crispy seaweed. Great flavors too.

Japanese Yellowtail (hamachi) with sweet corn pudding, sourdough breadcrumbs, and soy sauce, and wasabi. This was good, but a touch less successful as I found the corn and breadcrumb mush a touch distracting.

Spanish Blue Fin Toro, scored, with sherry shisky, brown sugar, and a tiny slice of pineapple. Plus some house soy and wasabi. This more unusual topping really worked, adding an unctuous sweet tone to the rich fish not unlike pairing with Sauternes.

2013 Maison Leroy Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Chenevottes. Very nice!

Purple Peruvian Scallop. The mollusk was smothered with leche de tigre (the Peruvian zesty sauce). Of course the sauce is so zesty it’s hard to taste the scallop, but it was still very succulent.

2011 Coche-Dury Meursault. BH 90. An elegant, pure and very pretty nose is now displaying just touches of both wood and some secondary development though it’s clear that the ripe orchard fruit and citrus-infused aromas are still developing. There is a lovely sense of energy to the delicious, round and caressing middle weight flavors that exhibit a subtle mineralitly that continues onto the nicely intense and sappy finale that delivers excellent persistence and particularly so for a villages level wine. This is really lovely stuff and while it could easily be enjoyed now, I’d be inclined to allow it another 5 to 7 years of bottle age first.

2011 Maison Leroy Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. BH 93. An elegant, fresh and airy nose of that is distinctly floral and citrusy in character offers up notes of green apple and a nutty hint. There is excellent intensity and cut to the chiseled middle weight flavors that exhibit the classic minerality of a fine Perrières, all wrapped in a delicious, complex and classy finale. This is first-rate and particularly so for the vintage, indeed this more resembles a 2010 than a typical 2011. Impressive.

Tai Snapper topped with caviar, lemon, sea salt, and scallions. The caviar pairing also worked.

Black snapper with yuzu koshu made from fresno chilies. The little dab of heat paired nicely with the snapper.

2010 Domaine Leflaive Bâtard-Montrachet. BH 96. This notches up the ripeness just a touch more yet there are only the barest hints of exoticism to the peach, apricot, pear and acacia blossom aromas that display a top note of citrus zest. This is a classic Bâtard in the sense of being big, bold and powerful with imposingly-scaled flavors that coat the palate with dry extract before terminating in a massively long and borderline painfully intense finish. To be sure, this is a big wine yet it remains light on its feet with no undue sense of being top heavy. Indeed the balance is perfect though note that patience will be required. Marvelous. (Drink starting 2022)

Medium fat chu toro with caviar, lemon, sea salt, and scallions. Chu toro is always one of my favorite cuts and the caviar added a extra level of brine.

Smoked albacore soaked in garlic paste, wrapped in sake nori, topped with crispy onions, ponzu, and scallions. It’s fairly traditional to pair albacore with garlic and while this was a novel approach to it, it was ultimately sucessful.

New Zealand King Salmon, seared, lemon sea salt and pickled wasabi. Here the pickled wasabi takes the place of the pickled bit of kelp sometimes layered on the salmon. Also a great piece.

From my cellar: 2002 Dom Pérignon Champagne Rosé. VM 97+. The 2002 Dom Perignon Rosé is deep and chewy yet amazingly refined. The Dom Perignon Rosé is still very taut and shut down, hinting at yet more complexity and fun to come with proper cellaring.

1995 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. JG 95. The 1995 Krug in magnum is really starting to drink with style and grace, but it remains a wine that has just reached its plateau of maturity and has years and years of life still ahead of it. The lovely and quite classic nose wafts from the glass in a constellation of apple, peach, caraway seed, a lovely base of minerality, a touch of walnut, rye bread and a gently smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, crisp and complex, with a wide open attack, a fine core, elegant mousse and really lovely length and grip on the focused and classy finish. Fine juice.

Wild caught Korean Escolar, house cured Ikura (salmon roe), scallions, wasabi, soy. A rich fish, balanced nicely by the briny roe.

King Crab Dynamite. Russian king crab leg covered with a beet mustard, brûléed to caramelize the sugars, then topped with lemon juice, rock salt, and puffed red quinoa. The sweetness went nicely with the crab (much like Spanish crab with raspberries) and the puffed quinoa added an interesting crunch.

Giant Clam, wasabi, house soy sauce, lemon sea salt, matcha salt. Chewy and delicious.

Bone Marrow. Roasted ox marrow with wasabi, soy, and rock salt. This was an unusual nigiri and was not my favorite. I never really like bone marrow as it’s soft and fatty without much heft.

Santa Barbara Sea Urchin with wasabi. Classic and delicious.

The menu is up on the wall. The things below come with the tasting, but underneath the name are a bunch of optional ala carte items. I ordered all that were available.

Uni handroll. So good I got 2.

King crab handroll. Mild, without mayo, but nice.

Unagi with bone marrow fat. Here the bone marrow served just to make the rich eel even richer — which I enjoyed.

Jellyfish with vinegar. I loved with, as it had a really nice “bite” (the chewy crunch) and a great acidic flavor.

“Kobe” Beef with salt and green onion. Very salty and rich. Fine, but maybe not worth the price.

White chocolate matcha shell, kafir lime ice cream, black sesame shortbread cookie. Delicious, both in flavors and in it’s textural play between the shell and frozen interior. I may emulate as a gelato flavor at some point.

Mocha Bourbon Butterscotch Gelato — expresso infused milk, Valrhona cocoa, Knob Creek Bourbon, and a house-made Butterscotch Sauce — 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 #mocha #expresso #coffee #chocolate #Valrhona #butterscotch #bourbon #KnobCreek

Tingly Passion Gelato — passionfruit variant, striped with blackberry coulis, but steeped with Chengdu Street Market Szechuan Green Peppercorns — 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 #passionfruit #blackberry #coulis #SzechuanPepper #SpicySweet #passion

Green tea with yuzu and honey. Sweet and tangy!

The wine lineup was amazing tonight!

One of our chefs looked like he was 16 — but he’s in his mid twenties. None of the chefs are Japanese from Japan. The main day to day sushi chef does have extensive sushi bar experience. I’m not sure all the guys know how to “pick fish and cut” in the traditional subtle Japanese way that helps make the texture and flavor of top flight fish so superlative. Here there is some distraction from that traditional Japanese focus with the “toppings.”

Overall, this was a great experience and the sushi was fabulous. For weird “topped” sushi it was far more successful than the odd Sushi of Gari. Almost all of the “pairings” were successful and many actually added to the flavor rather than subtracting.

There isn’t a ton of food by my standards, and so to be full I not only had to order ALL the supplements (2 of a couple) but I had to chow down on cucumbers (sunomono). In the end I was satiated. Price was reasonable for high end sushi as the base omakase is “only” $125 — which isn’t too bad (again for high end sushi). The experience, setting, and sushi style is unique too, which is always fun.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Champagne, Foodie Club, Gelato, Japanese cuisine, Sushi, White Burgundy, Wine

Little Saigon Mega Crawl

Sep16

Restaurant: Brodard Restaurant

Location: 16105 Brookhurst St. Fountain Valley, CA 92708. Phone number (657) 247-4401

Date: July 31, 2019

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Solid

Crawls are usually a lot of fun, and this super far, super extensive Garden Grove / Westminster Vietnamese Food crawl has been months in the planning. I collated several online lists of the best Vietnamese in Little Saigon and narrowed it down to 5 places (plus one coffee shop) and a list of their best dishes. I love Vietnamese food and have written up my full 2014 trip to Vietnam here. Bear in mind that 4 of us completed the entire crawl. Two joined for the 4 middle places.

We started furthest south at Brodard.

Their interior is fairly modern.

And they have a bunch of takeaway and bakery products. French influence in Vietnam I guess.

Vietnamese menus can be very long, and this is no exception.

Grilled Pork Spring Rolls (Nem Nuong Cuon). Heritage Berkshire grilled pork wrapped in rice paper with lettuce, cucumber, carrots, cilantro, chives, daikon and mint served with their house special sauce. These were a great spring roll, pretty much your typical “fresh” (soft, not fried) Vietnamese roll, except for the thick slab of amazing grilled pork. Really made the roll.

Jackfruit Salad (Goi Mit). Young jackfruit and steamed pork tossed with asian herbs, peanuts, shallots, and roasted sesame seeds, accompanied with rice crackers and mom tom (fermented shrimp sauce) dressing on the side. I was interested to get this because I hadn’t had it — can’t say I loved the weird sour and fish taste. It was edible certainly, but a bit odd.

Hue Style Beef Noodle Soup (Bun Bo Hue). A spicy and richly flavorful soup with rice vermicelli, tender beef shank, pork hock, and roasted shallots accompanied by asian herbs and bean sprouts. This was supposed to have liver, can’t say if it did. What it did have was PIG SNOUT. Really obvious snouty snouts. Pretty sketchy. Broth and noodles were great though.

Mixed up a bit to show off the noodles.

Overall, while I anticipated Brodard would be one of my favorites, it just turned out fine. Nice, modern, but I wasn’t blown away. Hard to tell though based on three dishes.

Restaurant: Quan Hop Restaurant

Location: 15640 Brookhurst St. Westminster, CA 92683. (714) 689-0555

Date: July 31, 2019

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Good

On to stop two, just down the street.

Clearly this wasn’t built as a Vietnamese restaurant originally.

The interior made me think it was once a sushi bar or something.

Another big menu.

Some riesling — they even charged us a little corkage!

Rice pancakes (banh beo). These were amazing. You put a little fish sauce on them and slurp ’em like an oyster. Really light, delicate, and exciting flavor.

Shaved filet mignon, stir-fried and tossed with finely shredded banana blossoms (goi bo). Very nice beef salad. Tangy with great textures.

Fried rice cakes topped with pork and shrimp dumplings (banh it ram). Extremely interesting carb on carb dish. Greasy (in a good way) rice cakes with, yeah, a dumpling on them. Kinda a bit breaded, but tasty.

Overall, All three of our dishes were great.

Restaurant: Song Long Restaurant

Location: 9361 Bolsa Ave, Ste 108. Westminster, CA 92683. (714) 775-3724

Date: July 31, 2019

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Old school, but amazing fish

I was wary of place number three, it felt too old school — but it turned out to be great.

Old school.

And not the most updated minimall.

Yeah baby, look at those curtains! This place has much more French influence.

Huge menu.

Rice crackers.

French bread.

Vietnamese style Chicken Wings (Canh Ga Chien Nuoc Mam). The wings were fine, very crispy, but that garlic butter sauce was to die for!

Sizzling fish (Cha Ca Thang Long). Catfish garnished with dill, onions, peanuts, served with pickles and greens and rice vermicelli.

The herbs and noodles. You pile it all together with the fish and add fish sauce. Absolutely amazing. 10/10 dish. Really really great fish with a lovely turmeric/dill flavor. Super addictive.

Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised by Song Long. Really by the fish dish — which as I had been told was worth the price of admission. Really fabulous. Garlic butter was crazy good too.

Restaurant: Banh Cuon Tay Ho 4

Location: 9822 Bolsa Ave Ste 101H. Westminster, CA 92683. (714) 531-5171

Date: July 31, 2019

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Very casual

Fourth place.

This has more the look of a lunch chain spot.

Interior is new, but bland.

Ice Tea? No, it’s a giant pitcher of fish sauce on the table!

Combo with wide rice noodles (banh cuon) and sweet potato and shrimp fritters (banh tom) and some liverwurst like meat. Interesting, and tasty enough with fish sauce. Almost the entire menu is various combos like this mostly including the same set of rotating items.

Beef noodles. You douse it in fish sauce and…

Mix it up. Surprisingly delicious.

Overall, this was my least favorite of the 5 places as it’s menu was so small (mostly version of the first dish). It would be okay for a quite cheap and tasty lunch by oneself.

Restaurant: Oc & Lau Restaurant

Location: 10130 Garden Grove Blvd, Garden Grove, CA 92843. (714) 636-2000

Date: July 31, 2019

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Great

I had high expectations for Oc & Lau too, as it was purported to be in the league of Garlic and Chives which we didn’t visit today, but I love.

The exterior, just down the block from Garlic and Chives — there are two locations.

Interior is.

Big menu.

Ruinart never sucks.

Frog legs (Ech Chien Bo). Fried frog legs. Excellent!

Fried quail (Chim Cut Rotti). Much like the Chinese style quail. Great!

Garlic butter queen clams (Nghieu Hoang Hau Chay Toi). Really tasty.

Creamy coconut periwinkle escargot (Oc Gao Dua). This sauce was a 10, rich with curry coconut flavor, but I messed up and got the tiny winkle snails which are impossible to eat. About 1 in 3 times you can pry one out (with some challenge) using the toothpick. Bummer. I just sucked the sauce.

Tamarind Lobster (Tom Hum Range Me). The sauce was too sweet — tangy sweet — but very sweet. Nice lobster though. We would have ordered with a different sauce.

Filet Mignon with udon (Bo Filet Xao Udon). Very tasty beef with onions and great thick udon noodles.

Weird purple yam and sticky milk free dessert.

Restaurant: Cafe Lu

Location: 636 S Harbor Blvd, Santa Ana, CA 92704. (714) 604-6347

Date: July 31, 2019

Cuisine: Coffee

Rating: Super weird

With just four of us left — and being very full — someone suggested we sample this oddity of the Orange County Vietnamese cultural scene:

Cafe Lu, a kind of bikini coffee bar.

Imagine a super divey bar where women in bathing suits and stripper heels serve you extremely over-priced Vietnamese coffee (or chicken wings). Very weird. Even weirder clientele. A certain hedonist managed to pound a giant coconut smoothy-shake (after our 5 restaurants) and THEN go to a huge Cantonese banquet in the SGV only 2 hours later. Woah!

In total summary, an amazing 4-5 hour journey through a California landscape not so often explored by the typical white-bread Los Angeles resident. One of the great things about our city (and I include the extended area we visited today) is the incredible wealth of culinary (and cultural) variety brought in by our vast immigrant populations. Keep ’em coming!

In terms of restaurant quality, none of these places blew me away quite as much as Garlic & Chives, but Oc & Lau is close and seems worthy of its own full meal visit.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Banh Cuon Tay Ho 4, Brodard, Champagne, Garden Grove, hedonists, OC, Oc & Lau, Quan Hop Restaurant, snails, Song Long, Vietnamese cuisine, Westminster, Wine

Kass has Class

Aug12

Restaurant: Kass Restaurant – Wine & Bar [1, 2]

Location: 320 South La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036. (323) 413-2299

Date: June 19, 2019

Cuisine: California French

Rating: Fabulous

Years ago I enjoyed Chef Christophe Emé’s Ortolan and have had attended private dinners he’s prepared.

So it was exciting that he opened a new place on La Brea — supposedly a bit more casual this time (as is in vogue).

I think the sign was completed in 2018, I believe the restaurant itself opened in 2019 :-).

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

Erick and I, then Ron, sat outside for a bit drinking our Champagne while we waited for the full crew to assemble.

This is the inside after dinner when we outlasted everyone. Clean and cosy.

The kitchen was small and neat and you can see Chef Christophe Emé in the center, carefully managing every detail.

Grilled Sardines with Eggplant Caviar. Delicious and perfectly cooked sardines. The eggplant beneath had a Lebanese sort of flavor. Delicious!

The next dish makes an arrival.

Egg Caviar. The classic, with scrambled eggs and Kaluga caviar.

Close up. This was a perfect pairing with the 2002 Krug!

Ron brought: 2012 Domaine de la Vougeraie Vougeot 1er Cru Clos Blanc de Vougeot. VM 92. Pears, white flowers and quince meld together in the 2012 Vougeot Le Clos Blanc de Vougeot. This is another rich, inviting white with lovely resonance and an inviting, soft personality beautifully suited to near-term drinking. The oak still needs to become a bit more fused with the wine, but there is a lot to look forward to.

Tuna Sashimi. Arima Sansho Infusion. Crispy Rice. The textural play here was perfect, with the soft tuna and crunchy rice. But the flavors were amazing. There was some olive oil, giving it an Adriatic Italian vibe, and a perfect zing from the Sansho.

From my cellar: 1993 Robert Ampeau & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. 93 points. This has aged well, and I think the second time I have encountered the wine in the last four years, as Howard Cooper also brought it to another holiday dinner a couple of years ago, if I recall correctly. It may not have as much precision as the Ramonet, tasted just before, but I really like how it combines grace and “fat” at the same time. Indeed, the palate is more broad than long, but always pleasing. I am not sure how much longer anyone should hold on to this. It seems fine now and likely just on its plateau.

Housemade Tagliatelle. Lobster Bolognese. Caviar. Another amazing dish. Petite, but the pasta was cooked perfectly and paired fabulously with the rice lobster. Very umami.

Erick brought: 2002 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. JG 100. It is hard to believe that two and a half years have now passed since Champagne Krug unveiled its long-awaited 2002 Vintage Brut. I do not know if there have been different disgorgements of this bottling, but this one is the same as the last bottle that swept me off of my feet back in the spring of last year, having been disgorged in the autumn of 2015. The wine is a blend of forty percent pinot noir, thirty-nine percent chardonnay and twenty-one percent pinot meunier in 2002 and is already one of the legendary vintages of Krug ever produced. The bouquet is deep, pure, ripe and vibrant, wafting from the glass in a marvelous blend of pear, apple, almond, a stunningly beautiful base of soil tones, subtle spice shading, patissière, a touch of citrus blossoms and that signature Krug smokiness in the upper register. On the palate the wine rock solid, mineral-driven and shows off stellar purity, with its full-bodied format seamlessly supported by great structure and grip. The mousse is impeccable, the complexity still youthful and growing with each visit and the finish, long, refined and absolutely perfect. This will last almost forever and I suspect at age fifty-seven, I will never drink it at its absolute zenith of evolutionary perfection. But, I admit very much enjoying my occasional visits as the wine is in climbing mode to that future peak!

Grilled Octopus. Basil mashed potatoes, red pepper coulis. A very nice and tender leg of octo.

Seared Maine Scallop. English peas, salmon roe, beurre blanc sauce. Awesome. Totally brought together by the peas in butter and elevated with the briny bits from the roe.

Ron brought: 1998 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. VM 92. Good medium red. Aromas of red fruit syrup, cola, milk chocolate, humus, graphite and prune. Sweet, lush and rich, with the fruit syrup flavor showing a distinctly roasted quality. Grew fresher and juicier with a bit of aeration and held its shape nicely, but eventually the pruney element became more pronounced. With little in the way of primary fruit remaining, this doesn’t really come alive, in spite of its complexity.

Grilled quail breast. Meaty, almost livery like. Delicious.

Larry brought: 2001 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage. VM 94+. Good bright medium ruby. Subtly complex, granitic nose melds cassis, blueberry, smoky gunflint, pepper, tar, bitter chocolate, roast coffee, leather, game and animal fur. Wonderfully juicy but currently rather folded in on itself. But this has brilliant acidity, precision and penetration on the palate. Almost painfully intense and wonderfully long and gripping on the back. Very firm and structured but not at all dry. This will need a good decade of additional cellaring.

Braised Lamb Shank. Jus. Gnocchi. Super rich and meaty. Absolutely delicious. Needed bread. haha.

Cheese and raison bread. The left one was barely cheese, pretty much fromage blanc. All lovely.

Cherry tart. Perfectly in season and a fabulous cherry flavor.

Poached Rhubarb. Strawberry sorbet. Very nice light dessert. I don’t even normally like rhubarb. Sorbet has that paco jet thing where the structure starts to melt instantly (a gelato maker’s complaint). Tasted great though.

Tarte au Citron. Orange Granite. Crunchy, meets cold, this had amazing textures and bright orange flavors.

Tarte aux Pommes. Vanilla Ice cream. A perfect classic Tarte Tartin. Ice cream again was delicious but instantly starting to lose structure. It’s a pacojet thing, because it wasn’t formulated perse but is just frozen and whipped.

But this is the real thing, even if a bit ugly in this container. My home-made gelato:
Arancia Crema Fiorentina Zabaione — Marsala Orange Vanilla Zabaione base with Orange Variegate — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Very close to the oldest gelato flavor!! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #orange #Zabaione #CremaFiorentina

Salted Caramel Chocolate — House-made salted caramel forms the core of this base which then is layered with house-made Valrhona dark chocolate ganache and Valrhona milk chocolate chips — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — my best salted caramel yet — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #caramel #chocolate #Valrhona #ganache

We spent at least 30 minutes talking with Chef Christophe Emé after dinner.

Overall, this was an amazing meal. Our wines were nice, and service was really spot on, but it’s the cooking that really showed everything else up. Every dish was amazing. 8 out of 8 for the savory and 4 out of 4 for the dessert. Even the cheese course was really nice. Bravo!

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, Champagne, Christophe Emé, French Cuisine, Gelato, Kass, Krug, La Brea, Los Angeles, Wine

Perfect Atmosphere – LSXO

Jun17

Restaurant: LSXO

Location: 21022-21148 Pacific Coast Hwy, Huntington Beach, CA 92648. (714) 374-0083

Date: May 16, 2019 and January 30 & February 19, 2020

Cuisine: Vietnamese Fusion

Rating: Awesome flavors

LSXO, a concept-within-a-concept, inside Bluegold at Pacific City, is the brainchild of Chef Tin Vuong of Blackhouse Hospitality. Cuisine is inspired by District 1 in Saigon (where Tin’s family hails from) and dishes range from more traditional to innovative amongst a stunning hideaway overlooking the Huntington Beach pier. Behind an unmarked door adjacent to the wine room, guests are transported to District 1 (China Town) in Saigon via Blackhouse’s 28-seat restaurant-within-a-restaurant, LSXO. A spinoff of the Little Sister brand (Manhattan Beach and Downtown Angeles), LSXO is love letter to the culture, heritage, and lineage of Vietnam (Vuong’s relatives hail from the region). While Little Sister is known for its French Vietnamese menu, LSXO follows the same Southeast Asian inspiration with a more refined, expat feel.

LSXO draws inspiration from Southern Vietnam with a number of Chinese influences. While the menu is 90% different from Little Sister, a handful of signature dishes are offered, such as the Beef Tar Tare, Imperial Rolls, and Salt & Pepper Lobster. Lunch & Dinner items range from cold plates from the garde manger to salads, rice paper rolls, fish & shellfish, meat & poultry, both dry and soupy noodles, and banh mi (lunch only). A unique addition, LSXO debuts Afternoon Tea, featuring a selection of open-faced finger sandwiches, French pastries, and specialty sweets to complement an array of international tea blends

Bluegold is located on the top level of Pacific City at 21010 Pacific Coast Hwy., Huntington Beach, CA 92648. The restaurant serves California coastal cuisine alongside craft wines, beers, and inventive cocktails. Bluegold is open Monday-Sunday for breakfast, lunch, “in between,” and dinner (9am to close). For more information please call (714) 374-0038 or visit website, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

LSXO draws inspiration from Southern Vietnam with a number of Chinese influences. Check out the cool Indochina-style room with it’s ocean views.

The view.

So OC too, as the big table had a huge part of OC moms and their babies living it up — must have been a Mommy & Me group or something.

On my first visit, in May of 2019, our threesome was Foodie Core members Erick, Fred and myself, kicking back ocean-side to enjoy some Champagne and White Burg just hours BEFORE our epic and crazy evening white burg dinner.

Elegant touch.

Hot sauce! They have two different kinds of house-made hot sauce and a “sweet” fish sauce. All are fabulous.

The menu.

From my cellar: 1996 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne. 97 points. Taittinger’s 1996 Comtes de Champagne is another highlight. The flavors are only now beginning to show elements of complexity, a great sign for aging. Gently spiced and buttery notes suggest the 1996 is about to enter the early part of its maturity, where it is likely to stay for another decade or so.

Red curry spiced pork rinds, chili oil & scallions. Nice crispy shrimp chip textured pork rinds. A touch of heat. I expected more curry flavor.

Pickled cabbage, crushed peanut, chili. Light little snack/side.

Goi du du. Green papaya salad, Viet beef jerky, peanuts, chili lime vinaigrette. Awesome bright salad.

Beef tartare, Viet herbs, fried aromatics, quail egg, lobster rice crackers. Pretty decent meaty tartare.

Grilled pork spring roll. Nem Nuong red leaf lettuce, mint, carrot, cucumber, house sauce.

Autumn roll, sweet potato, jicama, egg, herbs, Chinese sausage, candied shrimp, coconut peanut sauce. Incredible take on the classic Vietnamese sausage roll. So much flavor.

Pork, shrimp & crab dumplings. Spicy black vinegar dressing, chives, spinach, peanuts. Very tasty. Lots of complex herby flavor.

“Ga xao xa ot” spicy lemongrass chicken. Fried garlic & dried chilies. This was the most incredible “fried chicken”. It had this sweet and tangy and crunchy thing going on and a really bright complex savory flavor.

Pho banh cuon with beef and tendon, herbs, lettuce, pickled onion. These can basically be seen as either deconstructed pho or pho flavored soft rice rolls. It’s a rice crepe roll, with the pho components, and a bit of a sweet and sour sauce. Great texture and flavor.

Vietnamese crepe. Bánh xèo. Sizzling pancake. PRawns, pork belly, bean sprout, herbs and greens, house dressing.

Here are the herbs. This is actually a very traditional Vietnamese dish. You take some of the omelet and add herbs and sauce and eat. Delicious.

“Bun Rieu” omelet, soft shell crab & tomato chili sate, Viet herbs and condiments. Delicious, with a good amount of crab.

XO sticky rice, lap cheung pork flass, crispy shallots, slow egg, roasted chili vinegar. I’m all over anything with pork floss — and this had incredible flavor and texture.

Pork floss zoom! Gotta love the pork floss. It looks like insulation but tastes incredible.

Lamb belly with shrimp chips and herbs.

2001 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Butteaux. BH 89. A trace of wood spice frames expressive aromas of limestone, white flowers and obvious Chablis fruit that lead to bigger, richer, firmer and more penetrating flavors plus a finish that is both persistent and very dry. I like this very much as it offers a bit more precision than the Forêts.

agavin: reviewers were crazy because this is an amazing wine.

Fred: A bit of honey and ripe fruit on the nose. Almost like botrytis. However, on the palate there is good acidity with some waxy round texture. Very full but not flabby. A wonderful wine to start the day.

Lamb satay, egg noodle, mustard greens, long beans, fried garlic.

You mix this up. This dish was an 11. Now, I’m a noodle fiend, but it was amazing — rich with TONS of flavor — like a lamb satay.

Noodles with coconut and seafood. Delicious with light vermicelli noodles.

Black duck egg, chilies, sesame rau ram. Chili sauce was great but the egg itself didn’t have enough of that salty flavor.

1996 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clavoillon. 92 points. Fred writes: Excellent wine. Still incredibly youthful with a strong classic Leflaive flint signature. A bit more acidic and than than the 01 Raveneau Butteaux but both wines are just drinking superb right now. Plenty of lemon acidity and an awesome long finish.

Tom rang thit ba chi caramelized prawns with pork spare ribs and lardons. Awesome!

Salt and Pepper lobster, butter fried shallots, fried chilies and garlic. Tasty, but not worth the big markup.

Viet braised Salmon in a claypot. This is a take on the tradition caramelized catfish (or whatever fish they use in Vietnam). I didn’t particularly love substituting the salmon. All those heavy oils settle with salmon.

Pan fried eggplant & basil. Sausage, scallions, satay sauce. Very nice eggplant. Super temperature hot on arrival.

A kind of beef tomato stew that was delicious.

The stew above came with this perfect baguette roll, chili butter, chicken liver paste, limes, and tangy pepper sauce. The combination of all of these on the rolls was a fatty foodgasm.

Crab salted cod chao, white fish and egg white. A mild salty congee — savory and delicious.

Carb on carb. The chao (congee) comes with these Chinese savory doughnuts — unsweetened crullers.

Chao. Confit duck & bamboo with aromatics, herbs. Served with cilantro, scallions, fried shallots & Chinese style savory crullers.

Toppings for the congree/chao. The congee (rice porridge) itself is very mild, but when you throw this stuff and both some of the sweet fish sauce and the house-made chili goo in — delicious!

Pork. Absolutely amazing grilled meat with stunning flavors.

Shaky Shaky Beef. Watercress, baby tomatoes, burnt butter soy with tomato garlic fried rice. A very nice version of the classic shaking beef, but not the most exciting of LSXO’s dishes — mostly because the others were so amazing.

Pork belly with a sweet and tangy sauce. Very tender and nice.

Birthday cake for my brother on 2/19/20. Awesome day piggybacked with a lunch “snack” at Oc & Lau.

Now, I do love Asian food of almost all varieties, and adore Vietnamese food, but LSXO is stunning in every way. Hard to imagine this is in a mall. The ocean views and light are spectacular as is the intimate room. And the food. For the most part it’s better than anything I had in Vietnam — even though some of that was amazing — because the ingredient quality and execution is so good. Basically it’s Vietnamese classics, but really elevated way above street food (with its fly infested meat and little plastic chairs). Of course you pay about 30X (compared to Saigon street food).

Also, Fred, Erick and I had a blast as we always do — and our wines didn’t suck.

I returned with my family in January of 2020. It was just as good and might possibly be the best Vietnamese restaurant I’ve been to — including Vietnam. It’s different than in Vietnam, and more “modernized”, but has incredibly good bright flavors and great ingredients. We also came back 2/19/20 for dinner — where there is a very slightly different menu — and had another fabulous meal.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.

Wines from 2/19/20:

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Champagne, Foodie Club, LXSO, Orange County, Pacific Ocean, Vietnamese cuisine, Vietnamese Fusion, White Burgundy, Wine

Date Night at Madeo

Mar27

Restaurant: Madeo

Location: 362 N Camden Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 859-4903

Date: March 1, 2019

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Good, and a scene, but pricey

My wife and I are always casting out for the intersection of our tastes on our date nights and it had been forever (at least a decade, probably more) since I was at:

Madeo — which has (I think temporarily) moved to Camden from their longstanding location. This is an LA mainstay medium old school Italian. The menu is fairly 80-90s high end Italian like Toscana.

The scene was off the hook. Very crowded with lots of “celebrity types” (looked like menu music industry people). There were also A LOT of heavy age gap couples — like the dark haired heavy dude in the far left (looked like 50s) and his early 20s date. They were making out in case one wondered if it was a different relationship.

From my cellar: NV Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Extra Brut Extra Old. 90 points. Bone white! Tiny consistent bubbles.
Crushed bone, slate, minerals, oyster shell. Bone dry, medium finish, super high minerality. Bracing. An excellent value bubble. Better than the regular.

Pizza bread just like at Toscana.

Salmone Fresco Alle Erbe. Fresh salmon carpaccio with fresh herbs.

Carpaccio. Filet mignon, carpaccio, served with artichokes, parmigiano cheese and rucola. Very solid traditional carpaccio.

Rigatoni Mozzarella E Pomodoro. Diced eggplant and fresh mozzarella in a tomato sauce. My wife liked it, which is what matters.

Cacciucco. Fresh seafood soup in tomato sauce. Broth was good, if slightly salty and not a huge amount of it. Lots of good seafood, although it did have a pretty briny “seafood” smell. Really a mussels smell. I’ve had better, but this was a very respectable version of this dish.

Overall, service was very good at Madeo, and it’s quite a scene. Food was good, but for the price, not as good as I thought it should have been. I like Toscana’s food better and they are very similar style (if a tiny bit less of a scene).

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Champagne, Date Night, Italian Cusine, Madeo, scene

Petrossian Party

Mar06

Restaurant: Petrossian Beverly Hills [1, 2, 3]

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

Date: February 8, 2019

Cuisine: Caviar +

Rating: Amazing night!

The birthdays of my good friends Erick and Liz fall on the same day, and so have seen some seriously epic dinners over the years like this and this.

For this year’s extravaganza, Liz organized things at Petrossian, which has incredible food, and very wine friendly. She’s friends with the manager.

Petrossian has been importing caviar for a long time.

They are located on Robertson.

And they gave us a good chunk of the dining room to ourselves.

We got a special menu, of course. Ordering off the menu here just isn’t the same, particularly with wines of THIS quality.

Liz even brought in our own Somm (standing at the far end of the table).

1971 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon Oenothèque. VM 97. One of the most pleasant surprises of the evening the 1971 Dom Pérignon Œnothèque (disgorged 2006) is superb. Powerful and vibrant on the palate, with tremendous freshness, the 1971 Œno exudes class. Lemon oil, almond and wild flowers give the wine its bright flavor profile, but it is the wine’s tension, energy and balance that are most remarkable on this evening.

agavin: OMG!

1988 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut (special 2016 release). VM 97. The 1988 Krug makes for a fabulous start. Tasted from a perfect bottle, the 1988 remains bright and focused, with all of the energy of this great vintage very much on display. Time has naturally softened some of the contours and added a good bit of nuance, but the 1988 Krug remains a Champagne of crystalline precision. I loved it.

1996 Dom Pérignon Champagne Oenothèque. BH 97. This remains one of my favorite all-time vintages of the Oenothèque series. An elegant if highly restrained nose displays cool nuances of green apple, a variety of citrus elements and discreet floral hints along with plenty of yeast character. There is superb precision to the equally cool and restrained middle weight flavors that dance across the palate thanks to the incredibly fine mousse that is at once firm but not aggressive on the notably dry but not really austere finale. I very much like the ’96 Oenothèque as it’s a wonderfully graceful effort that possesses impeccable balance and a refinement that it doesn’t always achieve. In terms of where it is in its evolution, ’96 is going to be one of those timeless vintages that will still be with us 30 years hence as I believe that it will continue to age effortlessly. For my taste this gorgeous effort has arrived at its peak though it should continue to hold here for years to come. In sum, this is flat out great and one of the greatest Champagnes of the modern era.

Caviar flight. To go with the Champagne, 10 different ultra premium caviars! An incomparable tasting.

Here is the list of caviars in case you are curious.

In the back, standing, Chris the manager explains the caviars.

I could have eaten about 6 “flights” :-).

2008 Domaine Michel Niellon Chevalier-Montrachet. BH 96. A strikingly complex nose that is ripe, pure and airy speaks elegantly of white flower, spice and subtle pear aromas that complement to perfection the rich and mouth coating flavors built on a base of fine minerality, all wrapped in a sappy and explosive finish that oozes dry extract. This is really a stunning effort in what has become a very long line of them for the 76 year old Michel Niellon.

2008 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Corton-Charlemagne Quintessence. Rare and delicious.

2000 Domaine Ramonet Chevalier-Montrachet. BH 95. Surprisingly, this is much more open, expressive and accessible than the Bienvenues and the sheer scale and wet mineral quality is dramatic and imposing. The focused, detailed, almost razor-sharp flavors possess astonishing levels of sappy extract and this both coats and stains the palate and the intensity is borderline painful. This is reference standard quality.

2000 Domaine d’Auvenay (Lalou Bize-Leroy) Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières. BH 95. Very Puligny in style with discreet white flower, pear and apple aromas with flavors that are so powerful that the palate experiences them in waves as they roll from the mid-palate to a thundering, top grand cru finish. Yet this is by no means monolithic as there is detail and subtle gradations of wet rocks, minerals, earth and an indefinable crystalline essence. I literally had to pause for a minute due to palate fatigue as this both stains and saturates the palate yet it remains perfectly balanced. For a premier cru, this is a veritable tour de force! A brilliant wine.

agavin: OMG this was killer. Blasted out of the glass. MZ had brought this to Maude years ago and we couldn’t open it so he promised to bring it back another time — this was the time.

Langoustine Carpaccio. Blood orange, hazelnut, caviar. Another lovely dish — lobster AND caviar!

1996 Dom Pérignon Champagne Rosé P2. 95 points. Mostly berry, some apple and pear with textures that demand attention. Nuanced spice and energy on very long finish. So great now, with upside.

1993 Dom Pérignon Champagne Rosé Oenothèque. VM 96. One of the many surprises in this tasting, the 1993 Dom Pérignon Œnothèque Rosé is truly spectacular. Explosive, voluptuous and also quite tannic on the palate, the 1993 boasts superb density to match its powerful personality. Readers lucky enough to own the 1993 are in for a real treat. Unlike the 1995 or 1996 – both far more celebrated vintages – the 1993 has the balance to continue to improve in bottle. What a gorgeous wine this is. Disgorged 2011.

For the rose, Diver scallop en Croute. Bernaise, asparagus, black truffle. Sort of like lobster Wellington!

From my cellar: 1993 Domaine Jean Gros Richebourg. 95 points. I had always been under the impression that the 1987 vintage was the last truly great vintage for Jean Gros’ Richebourg, but the 1991, 1992 and 1993 all showed magnificently well (in the context of their respective vintages) at this tasting. The nose on the 1993 is delightful, and classic Jean Gros, soaring from the glass in a mélange of bacon fat, ripe plums, raspberry, grilled nuts, some meaty tones, earth and toasty new oak. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, urgent and focused, with outstanding intensity of flavor, a fine core of fruit, and a long, complex peacock’s tail of a finish. The tannins are ripe and well-integrated here, and the vintage’s tangy acids beautifully frame the wine. This is eminently drinkable already, but clearly more nuance and complexity will emerge as the wine ages further. This is a dynamite Richebourg in the making.

1971 Camille Giroud Charmes-Chambertin. BH 92. Warm, rich, complex and fully mature aromas lead to big, dense, still firmly tannic flavors that display incredible vibrancy and vigor for a 30+ year old Burgundy and the finish is long a satisfying. This is a very impressive effort and while it is no model of finesse, the density and freshness this exhibits is nothing short of remarkable. First rate and this has another 20 years of life, even though I would not expect it to improve from here. Consistent notes.

1990 Domaine Leroy Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Aux Combottes. 94 points. Leroy spice superimposed on Gevrey earth and mineral tones. This is a spectacular bottle. The fruit from the 90 vintage is still deep and persistent. Secondary notes of leather, smoke and salted plum is present. A bit of black tea and menthol notes. Pairs shockingly well with smoked pork shoulder. Still quite young and still improving.

Black truffle pasta. Parmesan, mushroom jus. Small but amazing. Perfect with red burg.

1996 Maison Leroy Charmes-Chambertin. 94 points. The aromas were very tight at first, with some reductive notes, but this opened up and got quite fresh. Some asperagus stems and slightly herbal. After two hours I swear I briefly smelled hamburger. Overall though, the aromas were elegant and soft, with all I can describe as an impressive presence in the glass. Very exuberant fruit on the palate! Impressive, really amazing and lushously fresh. Grippy tannins begin after 10 seconds in the mouth and it couldn’t be held on the tongue for much longer. This really does have a WOW palate that’s very pretty and so herbal. Really impressive fruit on the finish as well, with incredible length. Even a minute later I’m getting more evolving red berry fruits that are different. So sexy on the finish. Acid, minerality, bright and very grippy and tart. I think this was drinking nearly as good, if quite a bit differently, from the Latricières. This is an overall prettier wine, if not quite as deep. After two hours this thing got so grippy and tight, losing the fruit and becoming all structure.

1996 Domaine Leroy Clos Vougeot. 94 points. Red-ruby color. Highly aromatic nose of black cherry, herbs and licorice. Wonderful sweetness for young Clos Vougeot, and not at all hard. As expressive in the mouth as on the nose. Offers terrific snap and a firm structure; currently hiding considerable power under its fruit. Finishes with firm but ripe tannins. Much easier to taste than the ’95 was a year ago.

1996 Domaine Jacques Prieur Musigny. BH 94. This is quite deeply colored for a ’96 and evidences no bricking after 13 years. Perhaps the best part of this wine is the nose, which is warm, inviting, seductive and gorgeously complex with abundant spice notes and really lovely elegance though there is also much to be said for the rich and phenolically ripe flavors that coat the palate with velvet on the broad and surprisingly round finish. I say surprisingly because there was none of the typical ’96 edginess or green acidity and while this will certainly continue to hold, I would be drinking this now and over the next ten years. An excellent wine in the context of a variable vintage.

A5 Wagyu Tenderloin. Bone marrow, charred pickled onion, beef tendon croquette.

From my cellar: 1989 Château d’Yquem. VM 97. Laid-back, extremely young aromas of honey, creme caramel, smoke and earth; essence of semillon. Rich, large-scaled and powerful; really expands in the mouth. Lovely harmonious acidity and bright notes of orange peel and minerals give this very youthful wine great clarity of flavor. Classy and impeccably balanced. The subtle, oak-spicy, nutty finish goes on and on. Conveys an almost saline impression of extract. This should approach peak drinkability within the next eight to ten years and last for decades.

agavin: perfect paring with…

Seared Foie Gras. Kumquat, st Germain Gastrique. The forbidden fruit is twice as sweet! This was one of my favorite foie preps as of late. Really great textural interplay.

Cheese selection with nut brittle.

Bread and crackers for the cheese.

Another new flavor, but continuing my Sicilian theme — Pistachio Almond Lemon Gelato — base made with a 50/50 blend of Pistachios from Bronte Sicily and Noto Almonds, plus Sicilian candied lemon! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — oh my! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #IceCream #NomNom #dessert #Pistachio #Almond #lemon #sicily

By special Liz’s birthday request — Gorgonzola Fig Walnut Gelato — Gorgonzola Dulce base with Fig Jam and Candied Walnuts! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — oh my! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #IceCream #NomNom #dessert #gorgonzola #fig #walnut #SavorySweet

The wine lineup.

Dressed to impress and below a rare MZ sighting!

When Liz sets up a dinner, she really endeavors to get everything right.

Food was some of the best in town for wine tastings. Really light, fresh, and delectable.

Wines were just off the chart good at this dinner. Just blockbusters and nothing really flawed. For a moment, Kirk thought his 2008 Chevy was, but it blew off. Winners for me were the ’71 Dom ,the 2000 d’auvennary, the 93 Riche, and the 89 Y’quem (sweet tooth!). But so many great wines.

Service was great. Having our own Somm ensured that — and we had unique stems for everything. Petrossian really took care of us too.

Plus, this being a friends only dinner, as opposed to a winemaker dinner with a broader attendance base, meant the company was extra extra fun.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more Foodie Club dinners, click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: BYOG, Caviar, Champagne, Foodie Club, Gelato, Liz Lee, Petrossian, Red Burgundy, Sage Society, White Burgundy

Sauvages Chinois

Feb11

Restaurant: Chinois On Main [1, 2]

Location: 2709 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90405. (310) 392-9025

Date: January 11, 2019

Cuisine: Asian Fusion

Rating: Still good decades later

For today’s Sauvages lunch — which is the annual Tête de cuvée Champagne lunch — we set up “next door” in the private room. I’d no idea this was even here, but it’s huge.

This is a newer Chablis producer I’m very fond of:

2012 Christophe et Fils Chablis 1er Cru Mont de Milieu. 92 points. Medium yellow. Quite ripe fruit but a whiff of seashell behind this. Pretty plush feel-you definitely sense the wood influence. More pear and yellow apple than citrus fruit character, some spice (unusual for Chablis), late iodine and limestone, lowish acidity. The wood plus ripe fruit plus low acidity make it veer in the direction of more southerly climats, but there is just enough Chablis character to identify it as such. To be drunk over the short term, that’s for sure.

2017 Domaine Huet Vouvray Sec Le Mont. JG 94. The 2017 Sec bottling from the Le Mont vineyard is another gem from Domaine Huët. The bouquet is bright, pure and nascently complex, offering up scents of lemon, apple, quince, bee pollen, chalky soil tones and a topnote of spring flowers. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and more closed in personality than the Le Haut Lieu Sec, with a bit of the backend dustiness of shutdown young Vouvray already starting to throw its weight around, but with excellent depth at the core and impressive focus. The finish is long, beautifully balanced and intensely flavored, with great energy and grip. This is dynamite wine in the making but unlike the Le Haut Lieu Sec, I would be tempted to tuck this away in the cellar right away and not drink any bottles during its first couple of years, as I have the sense that this is going to shut down quite briskly and it will be pointless to waste bottles early on, particularly given how much potential there is here for down the road! (Drink between 2028-2060)

Champagne chilling.

Today’s special menu.

Passing appetizers:

Slightly spicy/sweet toro cones. This has been a puck staple for decades and it’s still fabulous.

Same with the Jewish Pizza, which is creme fraiche and lox. Delicious!

Sweet and sour scallops. Very nice.

Wagyu with asparagus. An amped up version of the cocktail classic.

Mini crab cakes.

Flight 1:

From my cellar: 1996 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne. VM 97. Taittinger’s 1996 Comtes de Champagne is another highlight. The flavors are only now beginning to show elements of complexity, a great sign for aging. Gently spiced and buttery notes suggest the 1996 is about to enter the early part of its maturity, where it is likely to stay for another decade or so.

1988 Salon Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. VM 97. After the lackluster 1990, things get back on track quickly with the 1988 Salon, a wine that is absolutely peaking today. From one of the all-time great vintages in Champagne the 1988 Salon exudes power and explosive intensity, with superb balance and pulsating acidity that gives the wine its drive. A host of candied lemon peel, hazelnut, smoke, licorice and anise overtones meld into the super-expressive finish. Disgorged à la volée, with no dosage.

1996 Ployez-Jacquemart Champagne Liesse d’Harbonville. JG 95. The Réserve Liesse d’Harbonville is Ployez-Jacquemart’s Tête de Cuvée and it is a fantastic example of the 1996 vintage. The wine is barrel fermented four to five year-old Burgundy barrels and does not go through malolactic fermentation. It is made from a blend of seventy percent chardonnay and thirty percent red grapes, and then is aged a minimum of ten years in the cellar prior to disgorgement and release. The bouquet on the 1996 is deep, complex and truly stunning, as it soars from the glass in a blaze of apple, nutskin, tangerine, brioche, beautifully complex minerality and a topnote of citrus zest. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and quite intensely flavored, with a great core of fruit, refined mousse, snappy acids and great length and grip on the complex and very intense finish. A terrific bottle of bubbly that is still on its way up and should prove to be one of the reference point wines of this great Champagne vintage.

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.

Potato and leek soup with crostini topped with black caviar. Really nice rich (creamy) soup that paired perfectly with the champagnes.

Flight 2:

2002 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut. VM 96. The 2002 Cristal (Re-Release) is just as arrestingly beautiful as it has always been. Exotic, powerful and sensual, the 2002 is just starting to show all of its cards. The 2002 was magnificent when it was first released. Since then, it has only grown in breeding. In this vintage, Cristal is silky, sensual and open-knit, with enveloping fruit and striking textural resonance. It’s great to see the 2002 showing so well. I had high expectations when it was first released, and those expectations now appear to have been more than justified.

1999 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas-François Billecart. VM 93. Bright yellow-gold. An exotically perfumed bouquet evokes fresh pear, iodine, white flowers and toasted brioche, with gingery spice and mineral notes adding vibrancy. Rich and weighty but quite lithe and focused, offering sappy orchard and citrus fruit flavors and a chalky mineral nuance on the back half. Closes on a smoky note, with excellent focus and lingering floral character.

2000 Philipponnat Champagne Brut Clos des Goisses. BH 95. This is more mature than the 2001 with a beautifully layered nose of yeast, lemon rind, brioche, dried flowers and spice hints. There is excellent volume and superb intensity to the firm mousse that despite the firmness exhibits a very fine bead. This is exceptionally impressive in the mouth with the same striking complexity of the nose coupled with positively gorgeous length. A knockout that could be drunk now with pleasure or held for a few more years first; personally I would opt for the latter but either way, this is a classic Clos des Goisses.

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

Seared Blue Fin Tuna with fresh Santa Barbara Uni. This was an insanely delicious dish — it was all about that uni sauce.

Flight 3:

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

2006 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut. VM 97. Broad, ample and resonant on the palate, the 2006 Cristal dazzles with its pure richness and volume. Readers need to give the 2006 another 4-5 years in bottle, perhaps longer, as the wine appears to be shutting down a bit. Tasted next to the 2002, today the 2006 is a bit less opulent but just as intense, layered and deep. This is a fabulous showing. 10,000 cases imported in the US.

2006 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas-François Billecart. 93 points. nother great 2006 Tete’ level champagne. I’ve drank other people’s btls of this from prior vintages but this was the first plunge on my own with the 2006. Good idea! Specifically bought this with our 40th Anni in mind but was tempted by a Tait Comte & Dom P too. Said to be 60% Pinot Noir mix of Premier & Grand Crus from Montagne de Reims / Grande Vallée de la Marne along with 40% Chardonnay from Côte des Blancs. This was killer tonight and uniquely different from the more feminine Comte I often go to for special occasions. This showed tremendous power and intensity while still delivering refined elegance. The palate is a zesty, bright & driven mix of; mineral dominated citrus, trace stone fruit, spice and brioche. Racy & intense and at the same time richness and expansive fruit. And,not remotely oxidative, yea! Ultra fresh and alive. Just fantastic!

2002 Piper-Heidsieck Champagne Cuvée Rare. BH 91. The very fresh and nicely complex nose reflects notes of green apple, yeast, pain grillé and plenty of citrus characters. The clean, succulent and fleshy medium-bodied flavors are shaped by a moderately firm effervescence while offering good depth and length on the vaguely sweet finish that some may find more than they prefer as I did. To be sure this is a lovely wine with fine depth but I prefer a drier style.

Loup de mer wrapped in won ton skin atop sauteed vegetables in Riesling sauce. Really nice textural play with the soft fish and the crispy wonton.
Our hostess presides.

Flight 4:

2008 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut La Grande Dame. 93 points. Pale straw color.pastry dough aromas. Notes of fresh lemons and limes with a fine minerality. Solid bead. Give this plenty of time. 92-93+ points.

2008 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Coeur de Cuvée. VM 96. The 2008 Coeur de Cuvée (magnum) is positively brilliant. It is also likely to require quite a bit of time to be at its very best. Even so, the 2008 shimmers with tension, energy and polish. Lemon confit, chalk, chamomile and white flowers are all finely cut in this chiseled, super-expressive edition of the Coeur de Cuvée. The 2008 boasts incredible fruit density and structure, with distinctly mineral and graphite notes that develop in the glass. In a word: dazzling! Unfortunately, there are just 395 magnums to go around. Disgorged November 2016. Dosage is 7 grams per liter. (Drink between 2018-2028)

2008 Dom Perignon Champagne. VM 98+. The 2008 Dom Pérignon is fabulous, but quite remarkably, it was even more open when I tasted it a year ago. Bright, focused and crystalline in its precision, the 2008 is going to need a number of years before it is at its best. Lemon peel, white flowers, mint and white pepper give the 2008 its chiseled, bright profile. Several recent bottles have all been magnificent. What I admire most about the 2008 is the way it shows all the focus, translucence and energy that is such a signature of the year, and yet it is also remarkably deep and vertical. In other words, the 2008 is a Champagne that plays in three dimensions. (Drink between 2020-2058)

2009 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut. VM 96. Rich, creamy and radiant, the 2009 Cristal captures all of the natural generosity of the vintage while also retaining a good bit of freshness and aromatic intensity. Immediate and totally sensual in its allure, the 2009 will drink well with minimal cellaring. All things considered, at this stage, the 2009 comes across as relatively restrained for a wine from a warm year.

Stuart felt he needed a red:

2003 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée. VM 94. Deep red. Strikingly complex nose offers powerful scents of red berries, spicecake, cured meat and potpourri. Velvety red berry and kirsch flavors stain the palate, picking pick up candied lavender and fruitcake nuances with air. The spiciness builds on the finish, which echoes the cherry note. This wine was most noteworthy for its power in the early going (I rated it 92-94 shortly before it was bottled) but has become more graceful and now conveys a stronger impressive of pure, spicy fruit.

Braised short ribs sake soy glaze, truffle oil drizzle and potato puree. A big chunk of nice soft osso-bucco-like beef.

My cryptic notes.

Dessert

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

A simple dessert by the house with a bit of cake, whipped cream, (boring) ice cream, and fruit sauce.

Torta di Frutta alla Mandorla Siciliana Gelato (Sicilian Fruit & Almond Tart) made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — toasted Sicilian almond base with Homemade Sicilian Marzipan Cake and Candied Sicilian Lemons & Oranges — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #almond #ToastedAlmond #Mandorla #lemon #orange #cake #AlmondCake #CandiedFruit

Blackberry Passionfruit Amaro Sorbetto! — like a frozen aperitivo — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #blackberry #passionfruit #amaro #cocktail #sorbet #sorbetto

My BYOG streak continues!

The Champagnes were amazing. Not a bad bottle in the group and both the older and younger ones were delicious in their own rights.

I think the decor has aged great and is actually more unique now.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

To see all the Sauvages posts, click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Champagne, Chinois, Gelato, lunch, Santa Monica, Sauvages, Wolfgang Puck

Rooftop Umeda

Jan23

Restaurant: Umeda

Location: 6623 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038. (323) 965-8010

Date: December 12, 2018

Cuisine: Modern Japanese

Rating: Pretty good Matsuhisa style Japanese

Tonight’s dinner is an interesting mash up gang containing about half people from the old Foodie Club dinners of the 2015-2016 time frame (helmed tonight by Walker) and a whole bunch of Will’s friends (previously unknown to me but very cool).

For me this was the start of a bruising 5 night out holiday run.

It takes place at Umeda, a modern Japanese restaurant. But firstly…
Walker is also friendly with the building owner and designer and so we went upstairs before the meal to his private rooftop deck.

A rather awesome little Hollywood lookout.

Chef Takuya Umeda who started his culinary career in Sapporo, Japan in a sushi restaurant between 1981 to 1987. He fell in love with the art of sushi. With his heart and passion set on becoming the best sushi chef, he started working in London at Saga Japanese Restaurant between 1987 to 1995.

Clean light wood interiors.

The kitchen is very organized.

The wine theme was Champagne!

2007 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Coeur de Cuvée. VM 95. Interestingly, the 2007 Coeur de Cuvée comes across as a bit more youthful than the 2008 tasted alongside it. Another year in bottle seems to have only brought out the wine’s freshness and energy. Freshly cut flowers, pears, mint and almonds are some of the signatures, but it is the wine’s vivacity that I find most striking today. The 2007 is a bit less creamy and multi-dimensional than the 2008, but it is impressive just the same.

1969 Perrier-Jouët Champagne Réserve Cuvée Rosé!

Oyster with caviar and miso sauce. A touch sweet, but great.

1995 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut. VM 96. The 1995 Cristal (Late Disgorged) is fascinating to taste, as it is quite different in style from the original release. Because of the extra three years or so on the lees, the 1995 Cristal (Late Disgorged) has picked up a reductive note that is not typical of Cristal. Scents of lime, crushed rock, lemon and slate gradually open up in the glass. The 1995 remains taut and chiseled, with crystalline purity and exceptional overall balance. The wine feels wonderfully alive as it tempts all of the senses with its compelling personality. This is a superb showing from Roederer.

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

A first little round of sushi:

White fish (maybe snapper) with shiso, toro, uni, mackerel, and hand pickled ginger.

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

The next round was Nobu style sashimi (I think the chef worked for Nobu at some point, maybe at Matsuhisa).

New Style Salmon Sashimi. With olive oil, sesame, chives. This dish (popularized by Nobu) hides the fish, but it is tasty.

Oyster with ponzu. Love these.

Snapper with garlic.

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

More sushi.

Kanpachi (probably) with chili, a silver skinned fish, eel, and ikura (salmon roe).

2011 Pessac-Léognan de Chevalier Blanc. 90 points.

More sashimi, often called taradito in this context owing to its Peruvian influences.

The classic yellowtail jalepeno.

Scallop with yuzu and chili.

A light fish with a tangy sauce.

Tuna in a lettuce wrap.

J.M. Labruyère Champagne Grand Cru Prologue. BH 90. A discreet if mildly fruity nose consists of citrus, white peach, yeast and a whiff of brioche. The juicy and attractively vibrant middle weight flavors are shaped by a moderately firm if not especially fine mousse, all wrapped in very dry and crisp finish that offers reasonably good depth and persistence. This is appealing in its fashion even if it is less distinguished than its two stable mates.

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.

Persimmon with mushrooms and cheesy cream sauce. This was the most unique dish of the night. I don’t usually like persimmon but this was pretty good. Weird though with the sweet and creamy.

Mysterious underwater champagne.

2015 Samuel Billaud Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot. VM 91+. Bright yellow. Ripe peach and ripe pear aromas are enlivened by flowers and white pepper, with the spicy oak element complementing rather than overwhelming the nose. Tight and strict in the mouth, with its lemon and softer citrus flavors framed by an edge of acidity and a peppery accent that I did not find in the Vaudésir, Preuses or Bougros. Conveys a slightly astringent stoniness but this wine is ripe enough to expand in bottle and absorb some of its acidity (4.3 grams per liter) with four or five years in the cellar. Perhaps it was not a bad idea to pick this fruit earlier than anticipated.

Old style sushi. I like these pressed heavily marinated old school sushis. Although these aren’t SUPER old school or anything. And the roll in the back with the rice paper is decidedly “LA”. For some reason, LA ladies decided that rice paper was healthier than seaweed — which I’m sure it’s not since seaweed has about zero calories and lots of nutrients.

2014 Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne. BH 92-95. Moderate reduction presently renders the nose difficult to evaluate but there is lovely intensity to the strongly mineral-inflected and muscular big-bodied flavors that display fine cut and plenty of punch on the pure and relatively refined finish that delivers flat out superb length. This is potentially excellent though note well that it’s going to require plenty of bottle age to realize its full potential.

2008 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. BH 96. Here too the elegance of the nose is simply stunning with a layered and perfumed aromatic profile trimmed in an almost invisible touch of oak that allows it to ooze Chablis character and in particular, a fine minerality that continues onto the impressively concentrated and palate staining flavors that possess striking precision on the explosively long and bone dry finish. This is a great Les Clos that will make old bones.

Kobe beef skewers. Not, I think, serious A5. But tasty.

From my cellar: 2006 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Rosé Brut. VM 96. The 2006 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Rosé is at once rich and refined, a simply fabulous Champagne Rosè I won’t soon forget. Intensely perfumed, with the Pinot Noir-derived red berry and cranberry flavors that are not just concentrated, but also remarkably pure. It is one of the better Rosé bubbles I have had in the last year.

I also opened but forgot to photo:

1979 Drappier Champagne Carte d’Or Brut. 94 points.

2014 Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc. VM 93. The 2014 Smith Haut-Lafitte Blanc has a lively, crisp bouquet with mineral-driven citrus fruit, fine chalk and flint-like scents, dare I say almost Chablis-cum-Bordeaux! The palate is well balanced with crisp acidity, quite vibrant with good depth although the second half is missing the tension that I hope for, certainly what those splendid aromatics deserve. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.

More rolls. Interesting stuff in them and sweet sauces. Yummy though. I was still hungry and had to eat other people’s rolls. lol.

2014 Jean-Michel Stephan Côte-Rôtie Côteaux de Tupin. VM 91. Bright violet. Smoke- and spice-tinged blue fruit and violet aromas show excellent clarity and a hint of cured meat. Sweet and sappy on the palate, offering concentrated dark berry, floral pastille and allspice flavors plus a subtle suggestion of gaminess. The very long, lively finish features firm, minerally cut, an echo of juicy blue fruit and dusty tannins that add shape and gentle grip.

Meatball ramen soup?

The gang pretty much took over the restaurant.

1989 Zind-Humbrecht Tokay Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal Vendange Tardive. 95 points. Brilliant. A wow from the first sip; deep gold in colour with stunning aromatics – an array of honey, florality, light botrytis spice, apricots, and peach compote all coming together, and a palate that’s also tremendously complex and very light on its feet with bright acids cutting through the copious sweetness here. It’s a fantastic dessert wine, and I’m glad I have a bunch more – this seems to be at peak right now.

Like Matsuhisa, Umeda forgoes the whacky Japanese desserts in favor of Japanese influenced modern desserts like this red bean green tea parfait.

The first of many large batch holiday flavors — Peppermint Gelato — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — peppermint candy base laced with peppermint bark! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #IceCream #peppermint #candy #holiday #winter

A new variant on an old flavor — Cold Pressed Expresso Gelato — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — cold pressed expresso base (usually I hot brew it) with Valrhona Dulcey Stracciatella! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #IceCream #expresso #Dulcey #Valrhona #Stracciatella #ColdPressed #ColdPressedCoffee #coffee

The full wine lineup!!

After dinner it was back up to the roof for more drinking.

And a deadly Scotch!

Overall, a blast of a time, if a tad exhausting (got home at 2am which is rare for me).

Food at Umeda was quite good. I had low expectations actually coming in as the website pictures looked all LA ponzu style Japanese. Probably most people who come here eat that but his Omakase was certainly more interesting. Part Nobu-style, part his own thing. A bit Hollywood but always tasty. Building is lovely too. Great Champagnes and crew as well.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Champagne, Gelato, Japanese cuisine, late night, rooftop, Sashimi, Sushi, Takuya Umeda, Umeda, Walker

LQ Truffles 2018

Dec28

Restaurant: Laurent Quenioux [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

Location: Near Pasadena

Date: November 15, 2018

Cuisine: Modern French

Rating: Truffles!

Six and a half years ago Foodie Club co-organizer Erick and I put together one of our more legendary dinners, the Bistro LQ Trufflumpagus. Ever since then we periodically trek out to visit our friend Chef Laurent for some kind of extravaganza — and tonight we repeat (with changes) for our now more or less anual Trufflefest 2018 edition — plus tons of other goodies.

Chef Laurent Quenioux grew up in Sologne, France, where he developed a passion for food. As a young boy, Quenioux and his father would hunt duck, partridge, and rabbit. Then, he and his mother would prepare her favorite recipes in the kitchen. Eventually, Quenioux left home to embark on an apprenticeship where he trained in some of Europe’s finest kitchens. Quenioux spent time at Maxim’s, Bistro De Paris and La Ciboulette in Paris, before moving on to Negresco in Nice and LaBonne Auberge in Antibe.

In the early 1980s, Quenioux made a move to the United States with a team from L‘Oasis at La Napoule to open The Regency Club in Los Angeles. In 1985, he introduced the celebrated and award-winning 7th Street Bistro in downtown Los Angeles. In the early 2000s, Quenioux debuted the cozy Bistro K in Pasadena and in 2009, Bistro LQ in Beverly Hills. At Bistro LQ, Quenioux set new standards for cuisine in Southern California with his Farmer’s Market-driven kitchen and an emphasis on value and fun.

Tonight, as it’s “winter” (what passes for winter here in LA), we are back in Laurent’s lovely front room.

Big gang of 15 or so.

Tonight’s special menu, produced by Foodie Club co-chair Erick.

From my cellar: 2007 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne. VM 96. Taittinger’s 2007 Comtes de Champagne will be nearly impossible to resist upon release. Soaring aromatics, mid-weight structure and soft contours give the 2007 its alluring personality. Lemon oil, white flowers, mint, chamomile and green pear add brightness and freshness throughout, with a persistent, clean finish that makes it impossible to resist a second taste. Today, the 2007 comes across as a slightly more open version of the 2004, with freshness that makes that wine so appealing, and a touch of textural richness that recalls the 2002. Although the 2007 does not have the explosive energy or verticality of the profound 2006, it will drink better earlier. The 2007 has been positively brilliant on the three occasions I have tasted it so far.

Bread with little butters, one “plain” salted and the other truffle.

Paul likes to serve his wines blind.

2010 Henri Boillot Corton-Charlemagne. VM 96+. Bright pale yellow. Extremely closed nose hints at gunflint and menthol. Dense and pure on entry, then as powerful as a solid in the middle, with explosive lift to the flavors of white pepper, mint and dusty stone. Expands with air to fill the mouth without giving any impression of weight. Finishes with a convincing saline tang and outstanding persistence. This has the structure of a top red Burgundy: I’d forget about it for at least eight years.

Chigoku, caviar de sologne. Radish, Fresh Yuzu, fingerling in duck fat, quail egg. This was a fabulous dish with Champagne. The caviar/oyster thing went together in a way that it doesn’t always — driven by the yuzu.

2002 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne. VM 97. Taittinger’s 2002 Comtes de Champagne is a great way to kick things off. Rich, radiant and lush, with all of the exotic ripeness of the year in evidence, the 2002 Comtes delivers the goods. This bottle is perhaps a bit more forward than others have been, but it is nevertheless very fine.

Spiny Lobster, Dungeness Crab. Green apple, black olive, pinenuts pistachio vinaigrette, apple vinegar, finger lime. Another really good dish, if not quite as good as the oyster one.

2007 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. BH 95. Despite several years of bottle age, this remains backward, tight and not revealing much aromatically beyond wonderfully pure white flower, pear and spice aromas. The rich, full and strikingly powerful flavors possess superb depth of dry extract and huge length on the detailed, focused, beautifully balanced and penetrating finish that seems to be extracted directly from liquid rock. This very classy effort is a potentially great Perrières as everything necessary is here and this should age extremely well. The word Zen comes to mind.

2011 Domaine Roulot Meursault Les Tessons Clos de Mon Plaisir. VM 92. A statuesque Burgundy, the 2011 Meursault Les Tessons Clos de Mon Plaisir is all class. Nothing in particular stands out, so impeccable is the wine’s balance. The depth and intensity of the fruit is apparent, but readers will have to give the 2011 at least another year or two before the elements start to truly come together. The 2011 is impressive for its depth and stuffing.

Live Spot Prawn. Corn pancake, Vacherin cheese, walnuts, chanterelles, endives.

From my cellar: 1985 Nicolas Potel Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. BH 91. A very fresh yet mature nose of citrus, white flower and lightly toasted nut aromas combines with round and vibrant middle weight flavors that possess a seductive and rich mouth feel, all wrapped in a sappy and mouth coating finish. This is really a lovely effort with complexity and ample finishing punch and is a wine that will continue to hold well if not improve.

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

Uni. Sea Urcin Creme Brulee. This was a controversial dish. The lower custard layer was actually a creme brulee custard made from uni. I loved it, and the texture was perfect, but some people thought it was a bit sweet — it was — but this doesn’t bother me and in fact I enjoyed the sweet and briney thing.

Wild Turbot. Squid ink tuille, truffle sabayon, fennel. LQ always does a great job with turbot.

2008 Marquis de Laguiche (Joseph Drouhin) Montrachet. BH 93-96. A perfumed and simply knock-out nose features highly perfumed notes of honeysuckle, acacia blossom, sandalwood and yellow orchard fruit aromas that give way to powerful, rich and dense full-bodied flavors that possess obvious muscle and simply huge length on the overtly austere, deep and palate staining finish. This is a dazzling effort that will only add to the already immense reputation this wine enjoys but note that patience will be required.

2009 Remoissenet Père et Fils Montrachet Le Montrachet. VM 96. The 2009 Le Montrachet, from a parcel on the Chassagne side, is fabulous. Layers of exotic, tropical fruit flow effortlessly from this broad-shouldered, kaleidoscopic wine. There is plenty of freshness in the glass to support the fruit in this magical, captivating wine. I especially like the way this turns delicate, subtle and refined on the finish.

Monk Fish Cheeks. Pied de veau, ginger, water cress, ALF Tokyo turnips.

2013 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Corton-Charlemagne. BH 92-94. A shy, indeed almost mute nose only grudgingly liberates its cool aromas of green apple, white fruit, spiced pear and wet stone. The intensely saline and stony big-bodied flavors are supported by a firm spine of citrus-inflected acidity that shapes the powerful finish that delivers outstanding complexity and persistence. I very much like the balance and this will need plenty of time to realize its full, and considerable, potential.

2004 Morey-Blanc Corton-Charlemagne. BH 90-93. A reserved, indeed backward spicy green apple and white pear nose complements delineated but very rich flavors that display moderate wood on the big and weighty if not necessarily super dense finish that packs a serious punch and intensity. The length here is really impressive and the balance is such that this should age for 15 to possibly 20 years.

Petit gris Snails. ALF “Petit Gris.” Delicata Squash, parsley, garlic, tapioca, pomme paille. This was “interesting.” Some of the other stuff swamped the snails out.

1996 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques. VM 92. Good red-ruby. Altogether more vibrant, sexy nose combines cherry, plum, smoke, coffee, game and Cuban tobacco. Fleshy, round and elegant; a distinct step up in extract and volume. Really compelling sweetness of fruit. Very suave and very long on the finish, which features extremely fine tannins. A superb showing today.

Foie Gras lentil ragu. Sprouted lentils, pumpernickel croutons, quince. An amazing slab of foie.

1998 Alain Hudelot-Noellat Romanée St. Vivant. BH 94. Deep ruby. This is extremely floral with dried rose petal and violet notes that highlight the Oriental spice character of the nose that serves as a dramatic introduction to the sappy, delicious, extraordinarily complex and deep middle weight flavors that culminate in huge length. This is stylish, sexy and classy with superb finishing power and impeccable balance. A terrific effort and a consistent one as I have had no disappointing bottles.

2006 Domaine Anne Gros Richebourg. VM 94. Deep red, a bit less saturated than the Clos Vougeot. Sappy dark fruits, flowers and spices on the nose, complemented by an exotic suggestion of white peach. Suave and supple, seemingly more open-knit and easier to taste today than the Clos Vougeot, with exotic floral lift adding to its early appeal. As sappy as this is, it’s also quite sweet and pliant today. Broader than its stablemate but is it as fine?

Wood Pigeon. Date cumin puree, salsify, crosnes, parsnip, last of the season figs.

2005 Domaine Pierre Gelin Chambertin-Clos de Bèze. BH 93. Here the breed of a great grand cru shows as the nose is sheer class with an airy array of spice and layered aromas of red and blue fruit trimmed in a very gentle touch of oak. The supple, stylish and detailed flavors offer good depth and fine length, all supported by dense but fine tannins and really lovely depth. In a word, terrific.

2005 Bouchard Père et Fils Chambertin. VM 91-94. (this is the only Bouchard Gevrey grand cru from estate fruit?; 100% vendange entier Full ruby-red. Wild, complex aromas of red cherry liqueur, smoked meat, licorice and shoe polish, with a cool veggie nuance. Sweet and stylish but still quite reserved, even cool, with intriguing suggestions of gibiers and toasty oak. Still quite clenched on the back, finishing with building tannins. Classic austere Chambertin.

Lamb neck. Tarbais beans, Toulouse sausage, “Cassoulet Style”, duck confit. This was amazing!

1971 Cordero di Montezemolo Barolo Monfalletto.

Larry and a rare Trish sighting.

Scottish Pheasant. Confit leg stuffed cabbage, sautéed breast, Bourguignon, lardons.

1999 Soldera (Az. Agr. Case Basse) Brunello di Montalcino. VM 93. Today, the 1999 Brunello di Montalcino is simply gorgeous. Frankly, I am amazed (and delighted) at how it has come together. Sweet, floral and perfumed, the 1999 remains a relatively mid-weight wine by Soldera standards, but that just adds to immediacy and appeal. Stylistically, the 1999 is a delicate wine, but it has turned out far better than I ever thought it would.

1989 Château Montrose. JG 94. The 1989 Montrose may not be quite as deep as the 1990, but it is a purer wine of precise definition and classic proportions. The superb nose offers up a refined mélange of cassis, dark berries, cigar ash, gravelly soil tones, espresso, fresh herbs and cedar. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and shows off excellent mid-palate depth, with firm tannins, tangy acids and outstanding focus and grip on the very young, pristine and old school finish. Some may prefer the more overtly powerful style of the 1990 Montrose, but for me, though the two vintages are qualitatively equivalent, I prefer the superior transparency of the 1989.

From my cellar: 1989 Domenico Clerico Barolo Ciabot Mentin Ginestra. VM 97. One of Domenico Clerico’s early masterpieces, 1989 Barolo Ciabot Mentin Ginestra opens with a gorgeous, captivating bouquet of soy sauce, smoke, tobacco and cedar. The wine possesses sumptuous richness and beguiling inner perfume in an intensely powerful, mineral-driven style that coasts the palate in stunning style. I am not sure the tannins will fully soften here, but readers lucky enough to own this wine are in for a thrilling ride. This is stunning juice!

1989 Dante Rivetti Barbaresco Emprimer N.11.12.1 Cru Katia.

Flannery Beef Wagyu Rib Eye Cap. Confit onion jam, sweet potato mouseline, bourbon, porcini, colman mustard. Awesome meat!

We used an entire box!

2003 Château Rieussec. VM 92-95. Medium yellow-gold. Reticent but pure aromas of fruit salad, spices and vanilla, lifted by floral and mineral nuances. Wonderfully honeyed, fat fruit flavors are complemented by cinnamon, clove and nutmeg. The sexy oak treatment gives lift to the wine. A bit youthfully aggressive but very long on the back end, showing vanillin oak and a bit of warmth. But this one offers superb potential.

Pinku no Yuzu Sorbetto – Yuzu & Meyer Lemon Sorbetto with a touch of blood orange! — the ultimate adult pink lemonade flavor — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #SummerTime #yuzu #MeyerLemon #lemon #lemonade #BloodOrange

Pina Colada Sorbetto — just like the cocktail with Thai coconut milk, pineapple, a touch of lime and dark rum — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #PinaColada #CocktailIceCream #pineapple #coconut #lime #rum

The full wine lineup (+ truffles) in horrible iphone pano.
On the right is Chef Laurent and behind him his busy crew.

This was another seriously epic night. We didn’t go too crazy with the wines since there were a lot of non wine people — there were plenty bottles — but the food was absolutely over the top both in quantity and quality. Bravo Laurent.

The atmosphere was great. A nice private room — truly private and actually quiet (except for us). LQ’s team provided great service (we mostly did the wine service but we are used to that). Walker was busy acting as sommelier — thanks Walker!. Wines were great, as were our hangovers. I prefer these full arrangement of wines where we have a broad range of types across the meal.

For more LA Foodie Club dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: bistro lq, BYOG, cassoulet, Champagne, Foodie Club, Gelato, Laurent Quenioux, Pasadena, Seafood, Truffle, Wine

Veuve Clicquot at Spago

Dec26

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

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

Date: November 12, 2018

Cuisine: New American

Rating: Still great

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

Spago has been an LA institution for over 30 years!

Tonight Veuve Clicquot has taken over the private dinner area.

We have this lovely long table.

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

Lots of “displays.”

Etc.
Tonight’s special menu.

Tonight is partially about introducing a new NV blend cuvee:

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

Caviar Blini with creme fraiche.

Cheese (and maybe foie) Gougeres.

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

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

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

Place settings.

Various folk from Veuve get up to talk.

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

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

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

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

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

Spago always has great bread.

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

The non shellfish version.

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

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

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

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

The giant double mag of 1990 rose!

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

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

Pasta for my wife who doesn’t eat veal.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

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

Krug Providence

Nov30

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

Location: 5955 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038. (323) 460-4170

Date: October 4, 2018

Cuisine: Cal French

Rating: Awesome food & Amazing Champ

Providence is always good but it’s especially good when it’s a Sage Society arranged Krug dinner. I love Krug. Anyone who doesn’t is fairly suspect :-).

While the colors are different, Providence still looks a lot like Patina to me — as the layout is basically the same.

The bar has this blue and gold thing going on.
This is my first time in the private room, despite many visits here.

Our reception champ is of course Grand Cuvee.

NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 166eme. VM 94. The MV Grande Cuvée 166ème, based on the 2010 vintage, offers good depth, but it also comes across as a bit angular and in need of time in bottle to soften. Certainly, next to the 2008 and 2009 editions, the 2010 is a touch rough around the edges. Even so, there is good freshness and verve to the bright citrus, mineral and floral flavors.

The special menu for tonight.

The amuses consist of smoked trout or something. Delicious as I love smoked fish like any good Jewish boy should.

Toro tartar on endives.

And uni crisps.

In the center is Richard Beaumont, Krug Brand Director.

And, of course, Liz Lee, our incomparable hostess.

Next up:

NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 163eme (in Magnum). VM 95. The NV Grand Cuvée 163 Edition is wonderfully open-knit and giving, qualities that make it a terrific choice for drinking now and over the next 30 or so years. Pastry, apricot, lemon confit, chamomile and white flowers, along with soft contours, give the wine its inviting, alluring personality. There is more than enough energy and overall freshness to support several decades of fine drinking. Even so, the 163 is virtually impossible to resist at this early stage.

Mussel. A bunch of acid here.

Foie puff, I think. Can’t remember but it was delicious.

A mini tart of some sort which was also delicious.

And a bit of fall seasonal soup (presumably with cream). May have been corn or butternut squash.

The big gun:

2004 Krug Champagne Clos du Mesnil. VM 98+. The 2004 Clos du Mesnil captures all the pedigree of this epic Blanc des Blancs vintage. A soaring, majestic Champagne, the 2004 dazzles from the very first taste with its crystalline purity and brightness. In two tastings so far, the 2004 has been nothing less than a total showstopper. The vertical structure and pure, tightly-coiled power are the stuff dreams are made of. There is little doubt the 2004 is one of the very finest Clos du Mesnils in recent memory. Will it join the 1979, 1988 and 1996 as one of the all-time greats? Now, that is a tasting I would love to do!

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

Yellowtail Sashimi with pumpkin seeds and California Yuzu and Caviar. Delicious and perfect with great champagne.

Special bread.

The bread came with it’s own manifesto — letting us get to know the baker personally — lol.

Special butter from France and salt.

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

Santa Barbara Spot Prawns with Chanterelle. Loved everything about this dish. Fresh prawn, butter, chanterelle — all perfect.

1998 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. VM 94. Bright gold. Ripe orchard fruits, peach pit, toffee, marzipan and dried flowers on the pungent, smoky nose. Broad and fleshy on entry, then tighter in the mid-palate, offering palate-staining pit fruit nectar, apple pie and brioche flavors, enhanced by a toffeed quality. Closes spicy and very long, with resonating smoke and toasted hazlenut qualities.

Grilled John Dory with Fennel & Roasted Tomato.

Avec le jus. Nice piece of white fish. Tres Francais.

NV Krug Champagne Brut Rosé Edition 21eme. JG 95+. The Krug Brut Rosé “21ème Édition” is from the beautiful base year of 2008, with the oldest reserve wine in the blend going back to 2000. The wine was disgorged in the spring of 2015 and is a blend of fifty-one percent pinot noir, forty-one percent chardonnay and eight percent pinot meunier. Ten percent of the pinot noir in the blend is still red wine from Krug’s own parcels of vines in the village of Aÿ. The blend is a slight departure from many releases of Krug Rosé, as hail in the village of Ste. Ghemme in 2008 dramatically cut back the quality of pinot meunier from this vintage, so that Chef de Caves Eric Lebel opted to use all reserve wines for the pinot meunier portion of the blend. The very complex wine offers up the characteristically refined and gently exotic bouquet that this cuvée is cherished for, wafting from the glass in a blend of cherries, a touch of pomegranate, orange peel, beautiful, savory spice elements, rye bread, a complex base of soil tones , dried rose petals and incipient smokiness. On the palate the wine is full, complex and still quite youthful in terms of structure, with vibrant acids, a lovely core, elegant mousse and a very long, perfectly balanced and seamless finish. This is already beautifully complex, but I would love to revisit it five to ten years down the road and see what the passage of time does to this beautiful constellation of aromas and flavors.

Liberty Farms Duck with Apple & Daikon. The rose was more than a match for this lovely duck dish.

1990 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut Collection. VM 97+. Krug’s just-released 1990 Collection is magnificent. Remarkably fresh for a 26 year-old wine, the 1990 Collection captures the Krug house style at its very best. Floral notes meld into hints of apricot, chamomile, orchard fruit, vanillin and sweet spices. On the palate, the 1990 is creamy, vivid and super-expressive, but what is most intriguing is how fresh the Collection is relative to Vintage Champagne, which has always been a heavier, more oxidative wine. Readers who can find the 1990 should not hesitate, as it is stellar.

agavin: Love the 90 champagnes in general. Love this one in particular.

Comte, Roasted Grapes, Fresh Macadamia Nut. I love cheese — but I do miss having a real dessert at these wine dinners. Yeah, it doesn’t go perfectly with the wine, and cheese does, but I’d just do both.

At least there were petit fours. And for some reason people left most of them on the table so I had enough for about 6 people, glutton that I am.

The impressive line up.

And there was the little gift to go (some kind of muffin).

This was a great night and lots of fun. Set wine dinner meals are tough on restaurants, particularly with restrictive wine themes like “all champagne” but Providence did a fabulous job. The meal wasn’t quite as good as my last free-for-all here, but it was quite excellent. Tonight’s dishes were delicious and memorable. Plus our service was impeccable and our wines amazing — and all I had to do was buy a bunch of Krug!

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