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Sauvages Chinois

Feb11

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

Date: January 11, 2019

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 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.

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!

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 they did a bang up job and every dish was delicious.

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
Comments (1)

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
Comments (0)

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
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Posted in: Food

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

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!

For more LA dining reviews click here,

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Champagne, Krug, Liz Lee, Providence, Sage Society

Luigi al Teatro

Oct31

Restaurant: Luigi al Teatro

Location: 5406, 3116 2nd St, Santa Monica, CA 90405

Date: September 14, 2018

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Excellent neighborhood Italian

Luigi al Teatro is an upscale Italian seafood restaurant by Michelin Star Chef Luigi Fineo. Located in a 100-year-old historic Santa Monica building, the menu features contemporary seafood dishes reminiscent of southern Italy’s coastal cuisine.

It’s located in a Venice theater which is weird (no front door) but kinda cool. It’s located in a weird spot BEHIND Main street (in the Venice/Santa Monica border).

They have a lovely back patio.

The interior is very spacious and painted too.

From my cellar: 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.

The menu.

Carpaccio di Orata. Sea Bream, orange, basil seeds, lemon, olive oil. These seafood carpaccios actually remind me more of North Eastern Coastal Italian along the Adriatic.

Ricciola Marinata. Amberjack, espelette pepper, smoked trout roe, egg yolk.

Foie Gras. Hudson Valley Foie Gras, figs, sea urchin, pickled mushrooms. Very nice juicy foie chunks.

From my cellar: 2006 il Cocco Brunello di Montalcino. 94 points. good, young and clean.

Simple pasta for the boy.

Pasta con le Sarde. Spaghetti, Sardines, pine nuts, fennel, raisins, bread crumbs. Pretty close to straight on medieval pasta con sarde (minus the saffron). This is a strong flavored dish and they did it well.

Lasagna di Mare. Handkerchief spinach pasta, seafood ragout, sage. The “lasagna” is very deconstructed, but it was overall delicious.

Salmone in Padella. Ora King Salmon, yellow beets tzatziki, black garlic, bloomsdale spinach.

Filleto di Ippoglosso. Olive oil poached halibut, radish, onions, broccoli.

The dessert menu, but we had gelato at home.

Overall, Luigi al Teatro was quite, I’m not sure people know about it yet, but the build out was lovely, service was good, and the food very tasty and interesting. Not your typical LA Italian, but very good chef.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Champagne, family dinner, Italian cuisine, Luigi al Teatro, pasta, Wine

Rustic Canyon Long After

Oct29

Restaurant: Rustic Canyon [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Location: 1119 Wilshire Blvd. Santa Monica, Ca 90401. 310-393-7050

Date: September 12, 2018

Cuisine: Farmer’s Market Californian

Summary: Excellent Seasonal New American

ANY CHARACTER HERE

As a seasonal market driven California restaurant Rustic canyon can be counted on to mix up the menu a bit fairly frequently. It’s a friday night favorite for us, and we return every two months or so. Many of the specific dishes change, but the overall types and categories stay consistent. If you are interested in the previous meals at Rustic Canyon, meal 1 here, meal 2 here, and meal 3 here and meal 4 here. It’s been a long time since I last documented here, 7 or so years!

Across the street from Melisse on Wilshire.

The interior is straightforward.

From my cellar: NV Ruinart Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. VM 92. Pale yellow. Complex, high-pitched aromas of orange zest, lemon pith, iodine, smoky minerals, anise and jasmine. Sappy and tactile on the palate, offering impressive volume to its ripe citrus and orchard fruit flavors accented by smoke and minerals. Finishes tangy and long, with lingering smokiness and an echo of anise.

The current menu.

Radishes and butter. Boy, this is a “simple” dish — some radishes from the farmer’s market.

Kong’s tomatoes on toast. aioli, aaron’s basil & anchovy.

Beets & berries version 2018.3. jj’s avocado, benne seed tahini, pistachio & dukkah.

Garnet yams. garlic butter, aioli, celery, pickled onion & benne za’atar. Nice dish actually. Vague middle eastern influences.

Grass-fed beef tartare. santa barbara uni, sorrel & potato chips. It’s trendy these days to mix beef tartare with uni. Not sure it added too much here, but it was good.

Grist & toll polenta. chicken confit, pudwill’s black mission figs, puslane & agrodolce. Rich chicken and the creamy polenta, quite nice.

Buttered ricotta dumplings. golden chanterelles & neal’s yard coolea cheese. These were soft and buttery. The chanterelles (in butter) were good too, but really it was all about the ricotta and butter.

A no mushroom variant for my son — which he refused even to try.

Kong’s long beans carbonara. pommes puree, house-curedpancetta, pecorino & egg yolk. Really tasted like a carbonara — texture of a giant green bean though. Delicious, if a touch awkward.

From my cellar: 2002 Faiveley Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Clos de la Maréchale. 90 points. Great experience drinking a 16 years old 1er cru. Rather sensual on the nose, still lots of fruit. More strawberry than raspberry. Interestingly very similar old dusty character on the nose as I almost always find in mature Bordeaux. Not unpleasant whatsoever. On the mouth less apparent fruit than on the nose. The most obvious feature on the mouth are the incredibly drying tannins. The wine screams for food. Ideally meat but even cheese smoothended the tannins noticeably. Very enjoyable wine.

Newport beach sand dabs. mcgrath’s shelling beans, the garden of tomatoes & fennel.

Whole roasted autonomy farms chicken. Took forever to come (probably 45 min since the “pastas” and was okay, but not really worth it. A touch dry too.

row 7 potatoes, sweet onions & pink blueberry (came with the chicken).

Overall, Rustic Canyon has continued on the Farmer’s Market California / Farm to Table trend that it helped start — the place is 12 years old, which is an eternity in restaurants. Now nearly every ingredient has a named source. Lol, soon the farmer will be joining us for dinner. Still, the food was good. Fresh and tasty. Although they do rely very heavily on butter.

Check out other LA meals here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Champagne, pasta, Rustic Canyon, Santa Monica, Wine

Eating Shanghai – Jade Mansion

Oct12

Restaurant: Jade Mansion

Location: No.8 Century Ave, IFC, 4/F, Room L4-13, near YIncheng Zhong Lu / 世纪大道8号国金中心4楼L4-13，近银城中路

Date: August 11, 2018

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Solid slightly modern Chinese

After another great day trip to Hangzhou, famous capital of the Southern Song Dynasty…

With its glorious Westlake and…

famous Lingyin temple we return to Pudong for our final dinner in China. Sigh.

Back by the hotel is Jade Mansion, a medium/high-end chain with several different branch styles.

Including the horse wearing a lamp style.

And the horses galloping on plates.

Anyway, for only the second time on this trip I ordered some wine. NV Torrevilla Oltrepò Pavese La Genisia Cruasé. An inexpensive (by Chinese standards) and decent Italian pink sparkler.

Vegetable spring rolls.

Mushrooms, beansprouts, and tiny little shrimp. Interesting.

Foie gras cups. Like a passing appetizer at a cocktail party.

Shrimp jellies. Totally savory, and actually quite enjoyable for the jello-like texture.

Spongey fungus. The sneaky meat is back, little ham bits or something floating in this vegetable dish.

Salt and pepper shrimp. Shells on.

Boiled chicken with garlic. Like Hainan chicken. Soy dipping sauce. Very nice straight up chicken. Delicate, but with a LOT of garlic.

Sea cucumber and pork belly. Not as good as the cucumber at Shanghai Tang, but still good, with a similar rich Chinese Bordelaise sauce. The pork was incredible too.

Crispy beef with aromatic peppers. As usual, I enjoyed this dish.

Pork belly with fire-exploded kidneys. And cute pig buns! The pork belly and the rich (kidney?) sauce were great. Kidney was good for kidney. Not my favorite meat.

We ordered this cute little fellow. I felt so sad looking at him in the bucket.

Red rock fish. Nice fish, just lots of bones.

Don’t kill me! Too late 🙁

Greens.

Shanghai style vegetable noodles. Classic soy sauce stir fried noodles. Very nice.

Weird tea/bean sweet soup. Yep, these are never any good.

Fruit. Much better.

Overall, Jade Mansion was interesting. They feature a lot of high end ingredients with very contemporary plating and Chinese sensibility. For the most part I maybe prefer slightly more traditional, but this was very tasty and the service was great too.

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

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Champagne, China, Eating China, Eating Shanghai, IFC, Jade Mansion, pork, pudong, sea cucumber, Shanghai

Eating Shanghai – Xinrongji

Oct08

Restaurant: Xinrongji

Location: Location near the Bund

Date: August 9, 2018

Cuisine: Shanghai Chinese

Rating: Excellent High end Chinese

Our Shanghai friend really spoiled us today, first with a lunch at Shanghai Tang and then heading (after lots of stops) to…

The Shanghai Bund with its classic older European buildings.

And it’s new hypermodern skyline across the river in Pudong.

Then upstairs to Xingrongji for a second epic meal of the day.

t
The space is extensive and beautiful.

With all sorts of cooking stations including a roast duck oven.

Fish station.

Open kitchen, etc.

Our table had a gorgeous view of Pudong and the Shanghai Tower (second tallest building in the world).

I ordered the only “real” bottle of wine we had on the trip. Price wasn’t bad either considering the setting.

NV Pierre Péters Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée de Réserve. VM 92. The Cuvée de Réserve (2013 base) is rich to the point of being almost tropical in profile. Then again, that is 2013, a vintage that produced wines with both elevated ripeness and acidity, especially in the Côte des Blancs. Sweet floral notes add to an impression of exoticism. The 2013 finishes with notable depth and definition.

Honey pumpkin. Again, for the second time today. This version was more pumpkin focused.

Foie gras with fruit sauce. Second time for this too today. Not quite as good as the Shanghai Tang version as the foie itself was drier.

Roast Pigeon. Excellent rendition of this classic Cantonese dish. Rich gamey bird and perfectly crispy skin.

Roast Pork. Amazing super fatty succulent pork. Like pig candy. Just awesome.

Fish and charcoal tofu boiled in chili oil. This Szechuan dish was not nearly as spicy as in Chengdu, although it did have some Szechuan peppercorns piled in. Fish and “tofu pudding” is very common in this dish, but the charcoal tofu was unique and had a very smoky quality.

Braised beef. Another meaty rich meat dish but extremely tender and delicious.

Kung Pao Chicken. The classic.

Mapo Tofu. I always love this dish, although again it wasn’t as spicy or numbing as in Szechuan.

Peking Roast Duck. Our last duck of the trip. Cry.

The slice it table-side as they should.

Served with pancakes.

Here is the meat itself. This was a very good roast duck. Not quite as good as in Beijing, but better than we get here in California by a touch.

The condiments were extensive.

Duck soup, which I never love.

Glass noodles.

Meat pies. Pork and scallion quesadilla sans cheese.

Rolled rice and red bean rolls for dessert.

Our table.

Overall, Xinrongji was another amazing high-end Shanghai restaurant. The kitchen didn’t feel quite as perfect at execution as Shanghai Tang, but the menu was larger, offering dishes from a broad area of China, and everything we had was very good. Service was top notch and the atmosphere was fabulous.

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

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Bund, Champagne, China, Eating China, Eating Shanghai, Peking Duck, Shanghai, Xinrongji

Barrique

Aug13

Restaurant: Barrique

Location: 796 Main St, Venice, CA 90291. (310) 399-9010

Date: June 27, 2018

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Excellent slightly upscale Italian

Barrique is the latest incarnation of a series of similar Italian restaurants by chef Antonio Mure. I’ve eaten at many of his restaurants, from Piccolo back in the old days to my location must missed il Carpaccio, La Botte, to Ado etc.

Barrique is housed in the former Van Gough’s Ear location, exactly where Ado was. And it has the same chef. And it’s still Italian. I guess there were some partner issues and it rebooted. Many of the dishes are signature Antonio Mure dishes I’ve had at most of his other places.

The menu.

The place is so quint and cute that the waiter had to server half the table through the window!

Insalata di Crescione, Pecorino, Cuori di Palma e Mandorle Tostate. Watercress Salad with Pecorino Cheese, Hearts of Palm and Roasted Almonds in a Balsamic Dressing.

Caprese di Bufala Napolentana. Sliced Bufalo Mozzarella served with sliced Heirloom Tomatoes with a Basil infused olive oil.

Prosciutto e Burrata. 18-Months Black Label Prosciutto di Parma and Burrata Cheese.

Polipo alla Griglia con Patate affumicate e Fagiolini con Aioli. Grilled Octopus served with Smoked potato and green beans and Aioli.

Simple pasta for the boy.

Parm comes through the window too.

Tagliolini Rossi con Ragù di Quaglia in Fonduta di Taleggio. Home-Made Red Beet Tagliolini Pasta, Marsala Quail Ragù on a Bed of Taleggio Cheese Fondue. This used to be one of my standards at Il Carpaccio and my mother LOVED it tonight.

Pappardelle con Ragu’ di Coniglio Prugne e Porcini. Homemade Pappardelle noodle served with Rabbit Ragu, Prunes, and a Porcini sauce. Great pasta texture.

Tagliatelle al Cioccolato con Ragu’ di Cinghiale all’ Amarone. Home-made cacao tagliatelle with an Amarone Wild Boar Ragu. Not sweet.

Branzino alla Griglia Servito con Cucuzza e Menta. Grilled Mediterranean Sea Bass served on a bed Braised Sicilian Cucuzza.

Filetto di Bue al Barolo Tartufato. Pan Seared Beef Filet Mignon served with a Barolo Truffle Butter Sauce.

Barrique has a cute unpretentious interior, nice service, and a classic Antonio Mure menu including his inventive and very tasty homemade pastas. Given how good a cook he is, I wonder why he’s had SO MANY restaurants — all of which have had very good food.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Antonio Mure, Barrique, Champagne, Italian Cusine, pasta, Venice

Orange Afternoon — Garlic & Chives

Aug08

Restaurant: Garlic & Chives

Location: 9892 Westminster Blvd #311, Garden Grove, CA 92844. (714) 591-5196

Date: June 23 & September 13, 2018 and October 3, 2021

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Old School Vietnamese

In June of 2018, Fred C and Andrew T convinced me to head down on a Saturday afternoon to Garden Grove for some serious Vietnamese. Now, despite the horrific traffic, they didn’t have to twist my arm too hard because I love Vietnamese food, as evidenced by my eating around that lovely country. Since then Garlic and Chives has become a favorite and this post includes multiple lunches and one wine dinner.

In June of 2018, after a “snack” (aka full lunch) at Tai Buu we secured our late afternoon reservation at the insanely popular Garlic & Chives — apparently by Kristin!

Inside is cute and more modern.

Interest ice tea with an exotic flavor.

Wines we just popped and jammed on.

1998 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon. BH 94. An elegant but austere wine that is almost as reticent as the ’96 with pure citrus and floral aromas that continue onto the crisp and still very tight medium-bodied flavors that are beautifully precise and impressively delineated on the gorgeously long finish. This is a long way from being ready and I wouldn’t touch a bottle for another 5 to 7 years.

From my cellar: 2006 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Rosé Brut. VM 95. Taittinger’s 2006 Comtes de Champagne Rosé has come along nicely over the last six months. Intensely perfumed, Pinot-inflected aromatics carry through the mid-palate and finish as the 2006 shows off its depth and pure energy. Veins of chalky minerality give the red berry and cranberry flavors an extra kick of energy. The 2006 is both powerful and delicate at the same, with crystalline precision and fabulous depth. Hints of orange peel, mint, cinnamon and cranberry add further shades of nuance on the complete, beautifully articulated finish.

2014 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons. VM 93. Very pale yellow. Lemon oil, flowers and a lightly lactic yeasty nuance on the nose. Tight, upright and penetrating, with brisk lemony acidity intensifying the dense flavors of white peach and almond flower. Shows terrific grain and palate presence and finishes with explosive mounting length. A very serious Vaillons. Dauvissat noted that as these vines have aged, they are yielding consistently more mineral wines.

Omg, more babykill! 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.

And if we thought 2013 white was young! 2015 Domaine Arlaud Charmes-Chambertin. BH 92-94. Reduction. The supple, round and strikingly refined, indeed even silky flavors possess focused power and punch while offering outstanding length on the dusty, palate coating and mildly austere finale. This is an exercise in harmony and refinement.

A REAL Vietnamese menu (gigantic).

Lime Beef Tenderloin Salad (9/13/18). Beef tenderloin marinated in lime juice, mint, onion, chili and peanuts.

Papaya salad with beef jerky (10/3/21). super savory and delicious.

Beef Salad (June 2018 and 10/3/21). Slices of beef, papaya, and all sorts of tangy, sweet, spicy Vietnamese salad goodness. Notable on 10/3/21 that it wasn’t quite as good as the beef jerky salad.

Raw Ahi Tuna Spring Rolls (9/13/18). Raw ahi tuna, fresh lettuce, avocado, pickled daikon and carrots, crispy wonton wrapper rolled up in rice paper. Served with house special soy sauce and wasabi. These were a bit different, sort of Vietnamese / Japanese. Good though.

Grilled pork sausage roll / goi con em nuong (10/3/21). Great.

Shrimp and pork mustard green roll (10/3/21). A bit boring.

Holy Crunchy Chicken Wings (9/13/18). Heavenly crispy fried chicken wings with sweet and spicy sauce topped with fried garlic chips.

holy crunchy chicken wings / canh ga chien (10/3/21). Sweet and spicy and amazing. They were much saucier (and better) this time.

Salt and pepper shrimp (10/3/21).

Stir Friend Ong Choy with Sea Snails. Yes, this is a garickly green with SNAILS. It was delicious too.

Coconut Sea Snails (many times including June 2018 and 10/3/21). Special Vietnamese Sea Snails cooked in coconut curry sauce. I LOVED this dish. I’ve had a pink version before at Phong Dinh and this green version was slightly different, spicier, and just as good. The snails are in little conical shells inside the curry. You suck out the creatures. So good. I could eat two bowls myself!

Rice for the snails.

Baked Clams with Garlic & Chives. Or maybe Chili Garlic. Nice actually. Lots of flavor.

Razor Clams (June 2018). Baked Razor Clams topped with peanuts, chili, garlic, and bell peppers. These were dry and overcooked and our least favorite dish.

Razor clams (10/3/21). Delicious this time.

House Special Lobster (every time I have been including 10/3/21). Sautéed in house special sauce with garlic, onion, jalapeños, on a bed of noodles. This was AWESOME. Tons and tons of flavor, particularly over the noodles. Way better than the Crustacean and probably 1/4 of the price.

Zoom on the lobster (from 9/13/18). So much garlic!

Spicy Crab in Tamarind Sauce (June 2018 and 10/3/21). Sort of close to Singapore Chili Crab, and certainly tangy and spicy, but a bit different. Great too. Really great with a ton of flavor. The sauce was absolutely amazing. Hard to get into the shells but a lot of the meat was out. I would still love to find some exact Singapore Chili Crab, but this variant was fabulous.

Singapore Chili Crab (10/3/21). Amazing. We added noodles into the sauce too. Better than the Tamarind crab we had the same day.

Vietnamese breads (June 2018 and 10/3/21), including the fried donut-like thing which was heavy and delicious. These come with the crabs.

Grilled Turmeric Fish with Dill served on the skillet w/ vermicelli.

Vermicelli noodles and herbs served with turmeric fish. You wrap these up with the fish. Delicious and very much like we had a couple of times in Vietnam.

Grilled Chili Lemongrass Pork Ribs (9/13/18). Crispy rice with pork ribs marinated in chili and lemongrass.

Spicy Garlic Toothpick Lamb (June 2018). Small pieces of lamb marinated in garlic and house seasonings deep fried. Basically the Szechuan dish, but with a few more aromatics.
Pork belly (10/3/21). Sweet.

Mustard greens (10/3/21).

More rice (10/3/21)

Lamb chops (10/3/21). Good.

sautéed beef vermicelli / bun bo xao (filet mignon, lemongrass etc) (10/3/21).

Grilled pork and egg roll noodle / bun thit nuong cha gio (10/3/21).

Goat curry (10/3/21).

Bread for the curry.

Oxtail hotpot (10/3/21). I was reaching painful levels of full here and not really able to try this.

The hotpot comes with lots of herbs.

Added in.

Made by me (June 2018), of course: Almond Boba Tea Gelato — Oolong tea steeped milk, Romano Almonds from Noto Sicily, and topped with Boba! Suffered slightly from the long transit and wait, but still good.

Almond Amaretto Truffle Gelato (10/3/21) — Amaretto Zabaglione (egg yolk, amaretto, and sugar custard) Sicilian Almond gelato base with stacked 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 #amaretto #amaretti #cookie #ganache #ChocolateTruffle

Cherry Cough Syrup Sorbetto (10/3/21) – Amareno Cherry, Morello Cherry, and Creme de Cassis Sorbet! — so intense, and so awesome for a red fruit lover — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #amareno #morello #cherry #CremediCassis #cassis

Fred brought the whole family! (except his wife, who was out of town)

Andrew and Madison who hosted us down south that first time and treated us to this amazing fare.

This was an awesome afternoon and crazy crazy good food here at Garlic & Chives. I like this bright flavor forward style of Vietnamese (with a bit of Chinese, Singapore, and Thai influences). Just tons of… well garlic, chili, and chives. Closest in some ways to some of the really good places I went in Vietnam too. More fusion yes, but really good. Apparently they always have a huge line. Sigh. And a huge drive. But I’ll be back for sure for more good stuff and more Champagne. This is really Champagne food.

I’ve been back a whole mess of times for lunch and it’s always been good. Then we were back for a wine dinner on 10/3/21. They set up a large table outside on the sidewalk, which wasn’t bad at all as it was a nice night. They allowed the wine with no problem and had allowed us a reservation and preorders. This is unusual for Garden Grove Vietnamese restaurants which often don’t take reservation — a must for large party wine dinners involving people driving for over an hour! Food was awesome that night as well. A few people complained about my overzealous ordering (if I’m going to trek to Orange County for dinner I want to try EVERYTHING!) and the price creeping up because of the lobsters and crab. It wasn’t actually expensive, it just wasn’t “dirt cheap” the way people have come to expect from a small ethnic place like this. That’s unfair, as we had a TON of food and lots of signature ingredients.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Sea Salt Latte from next door.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Babykillers, BYOG, Champagne, Garden Grove, Garlic & Chives, Garlic and Chives, Gelato, Orange Afternoon, Orange County, Vietnamese cuisine

Had to Write it Up – Mr Chow

Jun22

Restaurant: Mr Chow

Location: 344 N Camden Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 278-9911

Date: May 19, 2018

Cuisine: American High End Chinese

Rating: Tasty, but bland and pricey

Mr Chow is an interesting place — and particularly for me, given my proclivities. It’s been open here in Beverly since 1978 (London in 1968!) and represents a mid-late 20th century attempt to bring international Chinese food to rich Westerners in an upscale format. I haven’t been in years, maybe 10+ years, and it will be interesting to see how it is after becoming much more knowledgeable about more authentic Chinese food.

Located on Camden in the heart of Beverly Hills, it’s still pretty darn crowded on a Saturday night.

The decor is dated but in perfect preservation.

Fairly elegant, if a little 70s-80s.

The menu.

Hot sauce.

Some noodles for my son. He didn’t really like them, just boiled noodles.

Gambei with goodies. Candied walnuts, crispy spinach?, fried lotus root. All carby, sweet, and tasty.

Vegetable lettuce cups. Basically chopped up vegetables with a light sauce.

The lettuce. These are all about the hoisin. Not sure they are particularly Chinese in any way (they seem far more Vietnamese), but they are associated with Asian restaurants. They may represent a staple of Mandarin places in Vietnam (with it’s heavy Southern Chinese influences).

Squid Ink Rice Noodles. Never seen these at a real Chinese place either, and the portion is small, and they weren’t the hottest, but they did taste pretty good in a lip staining kinda way.

Chicken Satay (Original Recipe). Definitely is. Not much like a Thai satay. Very sweet with this weird sweet mayo sauce. Not a huge fan myself.

Water dumplings. Basically very small standard “boiled” pork dumplings. Other than the price per gram, tasty enough.

Chicken Curry Puff. I like these flakey pastry puffs. The curry didn’t hurt either.

Drunken Fish. Filet poached in wine with mushrooms. Very nice Chinese white wine sauce. Incredibly soft and mild dish but very enjoyable as well.

Green Prawns. I think these are a slight Mr Chow variant on the Hángzhōu style prawns with green tea. These were sweeter, with less overt tea flavor, but tasty enough.

Ma Mignon. Tender and delicious (says the menu), since 1975. Also not very Chinese. Ok, but a little over cooked.

Mixed vegetables. Looks about like what it is.

Peking Duck. They carve it tableside.

The duck on the plate.

With the traditional scallions and cucumber.

And pancakes. I ate about 10 of these. Nothing at all wrong with them. Excellent duck.

They have a dessert cart with more or less Italian or French style tarts.
Mixed berry tarte. It was fine, a little dry.

The place was fairly packed, with the private room swinging with a very pretty, very blond Beverly Hills 16 year old celebrating her sweet 16. I don’t really get it, as it’s well over $100 a person and where “pretty good” about at the level of a very good Chinese American joint. The atmosphere is old school and interesting. Food doesn’t have the balance or zing of good real Chinese food. It’s extremely mild across the board. I don’t just mean in terms of spiciness, but flavors are soft and veering toward sweet. Some dishes are excellent in terms of taste, like the drunken fish, green shrimp, and duck — but all in the same soft modality.

Service was pretty good. It was LOUD though, like a more modern restaurant. Not really for me.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Champagne, Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, Mr Chows

Sage Champagne Nomad

Jun06

Restaurant: NoMad Mezzanine

Location: 11712 San Vicente Blvd.Brentwood, CA 90049 310.826.9222

Date: May 5, 2018

Cuisine: Modern American

Rating: Solid, but Champagne pairings made it tricky

It was just then days ago that we had the last Sage Society Champagne dinner and here we are at the next one for a combined Vilmart / Pierre Péters dinner! With Rodolphe Péters from Pierre Péters.

The location is the Nomad Mezzanine at the brand (newly renovated) Nomad hotel in DTLA.

And we enter.

The lobby is gorgeous (and expensive). The building was built in the 1920s.

But has been entirely renovated.

There is a hot bar.

And the fancier sit down restaurant upstairs (the Mezzanine).

We had the private room up there.

And this is just a few of our stems.

Cocktail hour wines:

NV Pierre Péters Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée de Réserve. BH 91. A discreet nose is almost mute and it requires a certain amount of concentration to discern the cool, airy and ultra-elegant wisps of grapefruit, green apple, yeast and hints of brioche. The clean and sleek flavors are supported by an impressively refined effervescence that adds considerably to the sense of elegance on the agreeably dry but not austere finish. As much as I like the style this is not especially complex (though it’s by no means simple) though it would appear to have the ability to age and thus for those who have the patience, this may be more interesting after a few years of cellar time.

NV Vilmart & Cie Champagne Grand Cellier Brut. BH 91. The current release of Grand Cellier from Vilmart et Cie is comprised of a blend of seventy percent chardonnay and thirty percent pinot noir and is from the base year of 2010, with wines from 2009 and 2008 blended in as reserves. The vins clairs here do not go through malo and the wine spends ten months aging in barrel prior to bottling for extended aging on its lees, which was two and a half years prior to this disgorgement. The wine offers up a superb and very refined nose of apple, white peach, a fine base of soil, gentle smokiness, pastry and a touch of fresh almond in the upper register. On the palate the wine is far less polite than the nose suggests today, with its full-bodied format still a bit youthfully brusque with bracing acids and a bit of non-integrated oak elements, but with a good core and impressive length and grip. The mousse here is very elegant and this wine could seemingly come together seamlessly on the palate with some bottle age, in which case the enormous promise of the nose will be realized on the palate. On the other hand, it has a way to go right now and it is no certainty that the palate will eventually catch up with the superb bouquet. Faith is required, as well as bottle age. This wine has a 93 point nose- let’s hope the palate can play catch up with bottle age!

The table is set.

Our special menu for the evening.

Liz Lee gives the introductions…

To the gang.

Executive Chef Chris Flint.

Rodolphe Péters.

The flights begin.

2013 Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru l’Esprit.

2012 Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru l’Esprit. VM 92. The 2012 Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Lâ’Esprit is shaping up to be a jewel of a wine. Creamy, ample and expressive on the palate, the 2012 possesses notable breath and immediacy. Hazelnut, dried fruit, spice and toasty notes add to the wineâ’s considerable appeal. The Esprit is a terrific example of the vintage. Dosage is 4 grams per liter. Disgorged December 2016.

2010 Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru l’Esprit. VM 91. The 2010 Brut Millésime L’Esprit emerges from parcels Le Mesnil sur Oger, Avize and Cramant. A wine of real depth and density, the 2010 is endowed with explosive energy. The purity and tension of Cotes des Blancs Chardonnay comes through loud and clear. Dosage is 4.2 grams per liter.

Trout with celtuce and lemon vinaigrette. Is that Celtic lettuce? or a hybrid of celery and lettuce? Either way, the smoked trout was great.

2013 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Grand Cellier d’Or. 93 points. White stone fruit, citrus fruit, green apple, almonds, brioche, crushed stones. Well structured and precise on the palate, mineral, vibrant, with good richness of fruit and excellent length.

2012 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Grand Cellier d’Or. VM 91+. Vilmartâ’s 2012 Grand Cellier d’Or is bold, racy and seductive, with all of the radiance of the vintage very much in evidence. Lemon confit, jasmine, vanillin, herbs and dried flowers are all pushed forward. Expressive and inviting, the 2012 will drink well with minimal cellaring. Even so, my impression is that the 2012 will be a bit more giving with further time in bottle. Dosage is 8 grams per liter.

2011 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Grand Cellier d’Or. BH 93. A strikingly elegant and pure if restrained nose combines high-toned wisps of yeast, plenty of citrus elements, green apple and a touch of brioche. The elegance of the nose continues on the beautifully refined flavors that possess a lilting mouth feel thanks to the super-fine mousse, all wrapped in an impressively complex, balanced and harmonious finale that is notably dry but not austere. If your taste runs to sophisticated Champagnes, this would make an excellent choice though I do underscore that this could use a few more years of bottle age.

Foie Gras Terrine. Torchon with strawberry & mustard. Very pretty. The strawberry sauce was maybe a bit tart (IMHO) as a pairing with the ultra-smooth foie.

Great brioche, we have some toast.

2011 Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée Speciale Blanc de Blancs Les Chetillons.

2010 Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée Speciale Blanc de Blancs Les Chetillons. VM 93. 2010 Brut Cuvée Spéciale Les Chétillons looks to be a relatively easygoing, approachable version of this reference-point Mesnil Champagne. There is good depth and purity to the flavors, but the 2010 is decidedly delicate and airy in the glass, with mid-weight structure and more openness than is typically the case. Scents of yellow orchard fruit, honey, chamomile and white flowers open up nicely. I donâ’t find the dimension or energy of the finest years. In exchange, though, the 2010 should drink well with minimal cellaring.

2008 Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée Speciale Blanc de Blancs Les Chetillons. VM 95. The 2008 Les Chétillons seems to slowly be coming out of a period during which is has not been very expressive at all. In the last few months however, the 2008 is showing like it did about two years ago, when it positively sizzled with vintage 2008 cut and tension. Citrus, floral and mineral-drenched notes abound in this captivating Champagne endowed with real Mesnil character.

2006 Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée Speciale Blanc de Blancs Les Chetillons. VM 95. The 2006 Brut Cuvée Spéciale Les Chétillons wraps around the palate and never lets up. Apricot, peaches, wild flowers, butter and spices all flesh out in a dramatic, structured Champagne endowed with tons of pure energy and volume. Stylistically the 2006 brings together the opulence of the 2002 with the minerality and cut of 2004, a great combination in my book. This bottle was disgorged in March 2013. Dosage was 4.7 grams/liter.

NV Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru L’Etonnant Monsieur Victor.

Carrot roasted with wheat-berries. Excellent for carrot. Not the most exciting dish ever created.

2010 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Coeur de Cuvée. 93 points. A little more generous and rounder in comparison, still great structure and freshness. Lots of minerality on nose and palate. The finish is outstanding, very intense and persistent.

2009 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Coeur de Cuvée. VM 94. A racy, exuberant wine, the 2009 Coeur de Cuvée offers up a super-appealing mélange of apricot, butter, baked apple tart and vanillin. The combination of the ripe, warm vintage along with fermentation and aging in small French oak barrels yielded an especially opulent Coeur de Cuvée with plenty of exotic and tropical overtones. The 2009 will be ready to drink with minimal cellaring. Disgorged March 2016. Dosage is 8 grams per liter.

2008 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Coeur de Cuvée. VM 95. A wine of crystalline energy and tension, the 2008 Brut Coeur de Cuvée is utterly captivating from the first taste. The flavors are bright, lifted and finely sculpted throughout. White peach, mint, flowers and white pepper add intriguing aromatic top notes, but it is the wine’s salivating focus and cut that elevate it. The Brut Coeur de Cuvée emerges from old vines in the Blanches Voies Hautes lieu-dit in Rilly-la-Montagne. The 2008 is going to need at least a few years to come into its own, but it is a real beauty, even at this early stage. Dosage is 8 grams per liter.

Seared Striped bass with hen of the woods, amaranth & sorrel. Interesting sauce flavor but very nice piece of fish.

The glasses keep growing!

2002 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Coeur de Cuvée. VM 94. The exuberance of the year comes through in the 2002 Brut Premier Cru Coeur de Cuvee. Explosive and gloriously ripe, the 2002 walks the razors edge of power and subtlety with a level of grace that is utterly remarkable. At the same time, the style is unmistakably Vilmart.

1998 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Coeur de Cuvée. VM 93. Vivid gold. Exotic, intensely perfumed scents of peach, mirabelle, magnolia and cinnamon, with a smoky minerality that gains strength with aeration. The smokiness carries onto the palate, which features gently sweet pit fruit flavors and firm mineral backbone. Very rich but surprisingly weightless, finishing with good snap and spicy persistence.

1995 Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée Reserve Familiale Blanc de Blancs Les Chetillons — so rare you can’t even find anything about it online!

1985 Pierre Péters Champagne Blanc de Blancs Reserve Familiale — you don’t see this every day!

Seared Poularde with turnips & sesame. This was the best dish (or maybe the trout), a very nice chicken.

NV Pierre Péters Champagne Brut Rosé for Albane. VM 92. The 2014 Rosé Albane is a big step up from the 2013 in terms of richness and overall intensity. There is a real sense of breath to the 2014, and yet the wine has plenty of brightness and tension as well. This is the first vintage made with the addition of saignée of Meunier vinified by Jean-Baptiste Geoffroy.

2011 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Grand Cellier Rubis. 91 points.

Cheese. Moser screamer, cinderella, & pecorino (with more brioche). Very nice hunks of cheese.

And even more glasses!

Have a few champs. I think a bottle or 2 even got left out!

I wasn’t blown away by the Nomad Mezzanine food at this meal. It’s tricky, because they were struggling to find the intersection between their menu and the all Champagne pairing — leaving the “proteins” a bit bland. I’ll have to try the normal menu.

The wine was awesome, of course. I actually found that I liked the Vilmart slightly better (not that the Pierre Péters wasn’t fabulous also). But the Pierre Péters is all Chardonnay and very linear — which I normally like. But my taste buds were in a weird spot due to allergies and I liked the broader Chardonnay / Pinot blend of the Vilmarts.

The organization, service, company and all that for the evening was spectacular. Liz always throws an amazing event and this was no exception. There were all sorts of interesting technical tidbits from the winemaker and other professionals in the house. Great fun.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Champagne, DTLA, Nomad, Nomad Hotel, NoMad Mezzanine, Pierre Peters, Sage Society, Villmart

Art and Ruinart

May31

Food: Petrossian Beverly Hills

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

Date: April 23, 2018

Cuisine: Caviar +

Rating: Great food

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

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

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

And the impeccably set table.

A wider view.

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

Photos so well in these surrounds.

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

Love the colors.

The evening even included some lovely modern violin.

Our menu for tonight.

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

Smoked salmon with crème fraiche on cucumber.

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

Read to sit.

Even smells great.

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

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

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

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

The crew at the table.

Can’t resist another flower photo.

Petrossian Caviar Tasting Flight!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So good I actually bought a magnum!

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

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

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

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

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

Running out of steam and a lot of Champagne later.

The full lineup.

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

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

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

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

Long Lunch at Longo

May16

Restaurant: Longo Seafood Restaurant [1, 2]

Location: 7540 Garvey Ave, Rosemead, CA 91770. (626) 280-8188

Date: April 10, 2018 and August 13, 2022

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Amazing Lunch

A couple weeks ago I had dinner at a new Cantonese place in the SGV. Jonathan Gold wrote it up and our dinner was great. So I jumped on the opportunity to meet a few Babykillers and some Instagram wine folks out there again for lunch — really as part of a SGV double header (I had dinner later at Newport Seafood).

Oddly too, the next time I returned serious for dim sum was again with the Babykillers, and again was part of a “2 in one day” SGV face-stuffer (this time with ootoro). These are painful! Even though I got 4 hours of massage in between! Plus the night before was a big Fred dinner at N/Naka.

Longo is on Garvey right next to the Longo Toyota. Lol.

It’s one of these big formal Cantonese places.

But we had the generously sized private room.

A nice side table for getting the wines ready.

This was lunch, and dimsum time, but we ordered some regular banquet food too. Including the incredibly priced $25ish a pound live King Crab! This one was smaller, because we weren’t a huge group.

Crab in 2022.

They brought out all the sauces. Love the XO!

1993 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon. VM 91. Understated, pure aromas of musky stone, orange, smoke and truffle. Full, ripe and harmonious; not a huge or superconcentrated wine but quite subtle and fine, with brisk, juicy flavors of orange and minerals. Lingering, ripe finish.

NV Jérôme Prévost La Closerie Fac-Simile. VM 94. Jérôme Prévost’s NV (2012) Rosé Fac-simile is flat-out delicious. In this vintage, the Fac-simile is decidedly lifted and understated in style, with gorgeous aromatics and lovely overall balance. The Pinot fruit is incredibly expressive, but the 2012 is not a wine of impact, rather it is a Champagne that draws the taster in with its allure. Prévost only makes his 100% Pinot Meunier Rosé Fac-simile in top vintages, which makes it one of Champagne’s rare birds. After the disappointing 2011, the 2012 put things back on track.

agavin: really tremendous, on the dry side, rose.

1996 Piper-Heidsieck Champagne Brut Millésimé. 90 points. Not a lot of bubbles left in this one – has become quite a mature champagne. It’s good drinking at the moment, but nothing in the glass wowed me. An enjoyable drink nevertheless and still some nice acidity/lemon/sherbert at the end of the palate. I would drink these up now.

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.

NV Laurent-Perrier Champagne Grand Siècle Grande Cuvée. 93 points. from the latest lot, mostly 2002 and a bit of ’99 and ’98. Took a bit of time to open out completely; honeyed flowers mixed with bits of toffee, caramel and almond shadings. Poached yellow orchard fruits, apple and pear, long line of acidity, shows more width and concentration with air time. This bottle was tighter than others I have had recently. 93-94 points.

NV Emmanuel Brochet Champagne Le Mont Benoit Extra Brut. VM 93. The NV Extra Brut Le Mont Benoit 1er Cru is terrific. Dried flowers, almonds, dried pears and chamomile are some of the many notes that flesh out. Ample, broad and creamy, with plenty of depth from the red grapes that make up most of the blend, the Mont Benoit is terrific today. Specifically, the Mont Benoit is rich and vinous on the palate, yet also remains wonderfully light on its feet. Don’t miss it. Disgorged April 2016. Dosage 4 grams per liter.

Cucumbers with a spicy bean paste.

Jellyfish. Kinda bland actually.

Great Macau style roast pork.

Perfect with rose Champagne!

Geoduck sashimi. Lovely again with a very briney quality.

Fried geoduck and octopus. The fried clam was amazing. Delicious “fry”.

The crab came back in stages, first stir fried with salty egg yolk. Pipping hot.

And so delicious it warranted a close up.

Typhoon style crab body meat. Perhaps a bit too much bread crumbs, but very tasty.

Then a bit of dimsum, their specialty lobster har gow. These were great, with a nice strong lobster flavor and light shell.

1999 Dominique Laurent Clos Vougeot. BH 88-91. Austere and regal in its reserve yet the density is breathtaking. A good deal more structured than the Clos de la Roche and not nearly as forward yet there is more finesse here than most young Clos de Vougeots offer. Solid in every respect.

On the house, roast duck. Very succulent, juicy, and delicious. Perfect with Red Burgundy.

2011 Domaine Roulot Meursault Les Narvaux. 92 points. Another cracking bottle from Roulot. He just keeps hitting them out of the park it seems.

2014 Domaine de Montille Corton-Charlemagne. VM 94. Bright yellow. Very ripe aromas of lemon oil, grilled nuts, toasted bread and brown spices. Fat, rich and very ripe, with mineral and spice flavors accented by lemon zest, lime and lavender. This initially struck me as weightier and less classic than the 2015, but the wine’s strong spine of stony acidity gives it terrific penetration and really frames and extends the fruit on the long finish. Still, this big, smooth wine is showing beautifully today. Winemaker Sieve notes that the south/southeast exposition of the vines gives this wine a crunchy fruit character along with considerable weight.

2016 Walter Scott Chardonnay Cuvée Anne. 92 points. Nice for a fake chard. The wine paired pretty well thanks to its terrific acidity. Loads of crisp yellow apple. I’m going to try to give this wine at least a year before opening another bottle. Delicious!

Crab round 2: King crab legs with garlic and rice noodles. Amazing!

Steamed then chilled crab legs. Cool, sweet, and delicious.

And Crab Brûlée, what I call the crab meat egg custard in the crab shell.

From the dim sum menu, chicken feet in sweet soy.

Shrimp chow fun (rice crepe) with the new “twisted” style.

Fried chicken feet in red sauce.

Spare rib nibbles.

2016 The Standish Wine Company The Relic. 93 points. Some monster Syrah, but pretty good after 2+ hours in the decanter.

Chewy meat stuffed fried rice buns. These were nice versions.

BBQ pork buns. A little soggy.

Steamed pork buns.

Fried chicken cartilage. Chewy and delicious.

Truffle siu mai. The dumplings were good, but this canned truffle “relish” (more olive probably than truffle) actually diminished them. Might have been better with real truffle. As it was, just get the sui mai.

Shrimp and chive dumplings. Very nice.

Crab and tobiko dumplings.

Har gow. Very nice with real shrimp inside.

Spare rib and pumpkin chow fun. More twisted rice crepes, some made with special red rice!

Roast duck chow fun. Never had this combo. Also good, and I like the interesting “twisted” texture.

Seafood chow mein (crispy).

Seafood chow mein. The classic crispy egg noodles with seafood in a light sauce.

Tofu and veggies.

Garlic greens.

They plated this table-side.

Fried rice.

Yolk buns and tea jelly. Interesting.

Almond Chocolate Cloud Gelato – The base is made with Valrhona 62% Satilla Chocolate and then layered with Toasted Sicilian Almond Cream and chopped Classic Toblerone! — 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 #almond #Toblerone

English Breakfast Garden Gelato — this is a creative new flavor of mine: milk steeped with Orange Peels and Rosemary with just a touch of Orange Marmalade worked in — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — very subtle and lovely 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 #rosemary #Marmalade

The gang in 2022.

The service was absolutely first rate. The manager above really took care of us. The food was great too. The pig and crab were as good as it gets and the crab was a total deal at only $25/lb (in 2018 — in 2022 it was a lot more). The duck was very good too as were a number of the other dishes. I would like to order more dimsum on a return to get a real feel for it, and we just had a few dumplings (all good) and the chow funs.

Reflecting in 2022, just a few months before we tried out a vast host of dim sum places, Longo is one of the top couple dim sum places in the SGV, probably in the top 5. It’s not as “typical” as some, belonging a bit to the new school, and their dim sum menu is smaller than the big Cantonese palaces, but the ingredients and execution are first rate.

But the lunch itself was tremendous fun. The wines, particularly the champagnes were stellar and a great crew of people.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

Just a few of the champagnes in 2022.

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Babykillers, BYOG, Cantonese cuisine, Champagne, Gelato, Longo Seafood, SGV

Taittinger in Bel Air

Mar13

Restaurant: Hotel Bel-Air

Location: 701 Stone Canyon Rd, Los Angeles, CA 90077

Date: January 19, 2018

Cuisine: Continental

Rating: Great food, great wine

Liz Lee of Sage Society puts on some of the best Winemaker dinners in town and tonight was no exception. An all Taittinger dinner featuring Vitalie Taittinger, lots of great Champagne, and located at the unique…

Hotel Bel-Air.

We considered this place for our wedding and it’s always been gorgeous.

Almost park like.
Wolfgang Puck runs the restaurant at the hotel.

Here is the main dining room but we had a private room off to the side.

Our special menu for tonight.

Here is our spacious room.

NV Taittinger Champagne Brut Réserve / La Française (magnum). BH 89. Notes of yeast, baked bread, petrol and citrus serve as a slightly muted introduction to the rounded, delicious and reasonably complex flavors where the citrus elements telegraphed by the nose reappear on the moderately dry finish. This is perfectly good but it lacks a bit of overall complexity; that said, it is certainly inviting and easy-to-like.

Blini with caviar and creme fraiche.

Truffle bone marrow puff pastries.

Artsy butter photo.

Sitting down to dinner.

Vitalie Taittinger is in the shiny blue in the center.

Yummy bread.

Flight 1.

NV Taittinger Champagne Brut Réserve / La Française. BH 89. Notes of yeast, baked bread, petrol and citrus serve as a slightly muted introduction to the rounded, delicious and reasonably complex flavors where the citrus elements telegraphed by the nose reappear on the moderately dry finish. This is perfectly good but it lacks a bit of overall complexity; that said, it is certainly inviting and easy-to-like.

NV Taittinger Prelude. VM 91. Pale gold. Vibrant, mineral-laced citrus and orchard fruit aromas are complemented by suggestions of buttered toast and honey. Toasty orange and pear flavors are braced by juicy acidity, picking up a suggestion of chamomile with air. Finishes dry and precise, with repeating mineral and toast notes.

NV Taittinger Champagne Les Folies de la Marquetterie. VM 92. Pale gold. Red berries, rose and orange peel on the fragrant, floral-accented nose and in the mouth. Sappy and broad, with very good depth and an energizing note of chalky minerals. Gains weight with air and finishes with excellent breadth, clarity and lingering mineral and honeysuckle notes.

Sashimi of Big Eye Tuna, Hamachi & Alaskan King Salmon. Very nice, if salty and a bit heavy on the yuzu-kushu.

Flight 2.

2012 Taittinger Champagne Brut Millésimé. BH 92. The understated nose is presently quite discreet though not completely inexpressive with its array of floral, brioche, Meyer lemon and plenty of yeast influence. The clean and very crisp medium weight flavors possess excellent punch thanks to the very firm and relatively fine supporting mousse, all wrapped in a markedly dry but not really austere finale. This is a wine of refinement yet it doesn’t lack for verve and even power though it does need some bottle age to better develop the level of overall depth.

2009 Taittinger Champagne Brut Millésimé. BH 89. A ripe but fresh nose is comprised by notes of baked apple, yeast, brioche and a hint of rose petal. The round, rich, pliant and quite forward medium-bodied flavors are almost soft because while the supporting effervescence is relatively fine it’s not particularly dense and as such I found the overall effect to lack a touch of vibrancy on the otherwise reasonably dry and clean finish. This would better suit those who prefer less aggressive examples of Champagne when it comes to the mousse. In sum, this is perfectly good but I much preferred its 2008 counterpart.

Seared Main Diver Scallops “In the Shell.” Well scallop anyway. Lovely dish and a great pairing with the Champy.

Flight 3 — getting into the Comtes.

2004 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne. 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.

2005 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne. VM 94. Bright yellow. Vibrant pear and melon aromas are complicated by suggestions of ginger, brioche and smoky minerals. Dry, smoky and precise, offering intense orchard and pit fruit flavors that gain weight with aeration. A dusty mineral quality adds focus and lift to the long, penetrating, floral finish. There’s a Burgundian thing going on here that’s quite intriguing.

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

Main Lobster & Black Truffle Garganelli Pasta. Great pasta.

The big Flight 4.

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.

1995 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne. VM 96. A total turn-on, the 1995 Comtes de Champagne is utterly magnificent. Orange marmalade, mint, smoke, hazelnuts, white truffles and honey blossom come to life in an exquisite, resonant Champagne that delivers the goods, big time. Opulent and exotic yet miraculously fresh for a 20 year-old wine, the 1995 Comtes is in a beautiful spot to deliver maximum drinking pleasure. With time in the glass, the 1995 becomes even more finessed. Readers who own the 1995 or can find it are in for a real treat. Let’s leave it at that.

Bonus! 1990 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne. VM 96. The 1990 Comtes de Champagne captures a stylistic middle ground between the 1988 and 1990. Slightly advancing tones of orange peel and roasted nuts are beautifully contrasted by a streak of minerality that gives the wine its freshness and verve. Bright floral and mineral notes reappear on the finish, adding focus. Rich in its texture yet effortless, the 1990 offers exceptional balance and tons of class. It should continue to drink well for another 15 years.

1990 Taittinger Champagne Artist Collection. Over the hills sadly.

1989 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne. VM 91. The 1989 Comtes de Champagne is darker in color than the 1988 and also quite a bit more forward. Candied orange peel, spices and caramel suggest it is on a fairly quick path. Today the 1989 is most impressive for its generous texture and complete, developed personality. This won’t make old bones, but it is delicious today.

1985 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne. JG 95. I reviewed this wine in the last article on Champagne, but having just had a stupendous bottle that was even better than my review in Issue 3, I felt it was necessary to include this note in the current report. The bouquet on this particular bottle is stellar, as it offers up beautiful mélange of pear, wheat toast, almond skins, a touch of custard, chalky soil tones and a quite pronounced note of orange zest. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, pure and racy, with pinpoint bubbles, great acids, beautiful resolution, and a very, very long, focused and snappy finish. Much like the 1990, the 1985 Comtes de Champagne has years and years of life ahead of it, but is fully at its apogee. Glorious juice.

Whole Roasted Carpenter Ranch Squab.

Flight 5.

NV Taittinger Champagne Brut Prestige Rosé. VM 90. Light orange-pink. Cherry, orange zest and fresh rose aromas show very good clarity and energy. Sappy red fruit flavors display a spicy quality, picking up energy and a floral nuance with air. Concentrated, vibrant and precise, finishing on a zesty mineral note, with lingering spiciness and firm grip.

2006 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Rosé Brut. VM 95. Taittinger’s 2006 Comtes de Champagne Rosé has come along nicely over the last six months. Intensely perfumed, Pinot-inflected aromatics carry through the mid-palate and finish as the 2006 shows off its depth and pure energy. Veins of chalky minerality give the red berry and cranberry flavors an extra kick of energy. The 2006 is both powerful and delicate at the same, with crystalline precision and fabulous depth. Hints of orange peel, mint, cinnamon and cranberry add further shades of nuance on the complete, beautifully articulated finish.

2004 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Rosé Brut. VM 94. Vivid pink. Red berries, orange peel, cinnamon and fresh flowers on the high-pitched nose. Juicy, precise and very pure, offering intense, spice-accented red fruit flavors with hints of exotic spices and candied rose. Aeration brings out notes of cherry and rhubarb, which add depth and a bitter touch to the very long, juicy, fruit-dominated finish. Looks to be built for a graceful evolution but this Champagne is delicious now.

Out comes the rack of pork!

Whole Roasted Rack of Kurabuta Pork Chop.

Stems for everything!

Flight 6 – slightly sweet.

NV Taittinger Champagne Nocturne Rosé Sec. VM 89. Dark orange-pink. Pungent red berry and cherry pit aromas are enlivened by suggestions of white pepper and ginger. Surprisingly taut and linear given its level of residual sugar, offering juicy raspberry and tangerine flavors that pick up a toasty nuance on the back half. Finishes with repeating spiciness as well as a hint of bitterness, leaving a sweet berry note behind.

NV Taittinger Champagne Nocturne Sec. VM 90. Bright yellow. Deeply perfumed aromas of poached pear, melon, nectarine and lemon curd are complemented by suggestions of buttered toast, anise and chamomile. Plush and broad on the palate, offering ripe citrus and pit fruit flavors with a touch of chalky minerality adding cut and lift. A floral quality builds slowly with air and carries through the spicy, sappy, gently sweet finish. I like this Champagne’s balance of fruitiness and vivacity and there’s no way that I’d have guessed that its <em>dosage</em> was so high.

Brillat Savarin, Robiola Cheese, Aged Comte.

The whole wine lineup.

Have a few glasses.

Liz Lee on the left, Vitalie Taittinger on the right.

Another stellar dinner from Liz and Sage Society! Very educational with Vitalie Taittinger there and the way in which Liz has arranged the wines. Different flights explored different aspects of the Taittinger style. We wandered across the decades as well and the older vintage wines showed particularly well.

Plus Liz does an absolutely amazing job with the food pairings. The food here reminds me a lot of that at Spago — I wonder why?

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Bel Air, Champagne, Liz Lee, Sage Society, Taittinger, Wolfgang Puck

November N/Naka

Dec04

Restaurant: N/Naka [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

Location: 3455 S. Overland Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90034. 310.836.6252

Date: November 3, 2017

Cuisine: Modern Kaiseki

Rating: Awesome

ANY CHARACTER HERE

For some reason I haven’t been to N/Naka in 2-3 years (even though I love it). So when some of my friends invited me I jumped on a return visit to see what the fabulous Chef Niki Nakayama has been up to!
The setting is elegant, minimalist, and very Japanese.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. Billecart-Salmon is probably most famous for their excellent bottling of non-vintage Brut Rosé, and the new bottling is another superb wine. The cépages is comprised of forty percent chardonnay, twenty percent pinot meunier and thirty-five percent pinot noir, with eight percent of the pinot noir included as still wine to give this wine its lovely, pale salmon color. The dosage is slightly higher here, but still judicious at nine grams per liter. The bouquet is pure and vibrant, wafting from the glass in a mix of tangerine, almonds, smoke, lovely minerality, wheat toast and dried flowers. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and very focused, with a fine core, racy, zesty acids and great cut and grip on the long and beautifully balanced finish.

Saki zuke (a pairing of something common and something unique). Black tiger shrimp, fillo, shrimp tomally sauce, kabocha puree, finger lime.

Pierro brought: 2014 Desiderio Jeio (Bisol) Prosecco Noso2 Extra Brut. Super dry very tasty proscecco, zero dosage.

Zensai (seasonal ingredients presented as an appetizer).

duck with tomato. Crispy ginko nuts on the left. Nice smokey duck.

Branzino with yuzu aioli. A warm “sushi” with the tangy sauce.

okra and green bean terrine goma sauce. One of these traditional Japanese vegetable gels.

ika with natto and wasabi. It’s unusual to find natto (fermented soy beans) in a fancy restaurant.

pickled crab apple. The inside was cored out. Actually a fabulous little apple with a nice crunch and bracing acidity.

Ron brought: 2009 Philippe Colin Chevalier-Montrachet. VM 91+. Medium yellow. Pineapple, grapefruit and crushed stone on the nose. Sweet and fruit-driven; much fresher than the Demoiselles but shows a distinct apricotty ripeness. Concentrated, chewy and seamless but could use more complexity. Will this age?

Holding the jus.

Modern zukuri (modern interpretation of sashimi). Hagatsuo tartare, grape gelee, myoga, fennel,smoked tosazu sauce. Soft and delicate and rich.

From my cellar: 1999 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. VM 94. Raveneau’s 1999 Chablis Montée de Tonnerre is in a marvelous spot right now. Petrol, smoke, slate, apricot pit and wild flowers are some of the many notes that grace the palate in an utterly vivid, vibrant Chablis endowed with magnificent purity and pedigree. At fifteen years of age, the 1999 Montée de Tonnerre still has a lot to say. What a beautiful wine!

Stuart brought: 2008 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. BH 94. A more elegant as well as more refined but also much more reserved nose of white flower and salt water aromas is very much in keeping with the equally refined, pure and silky middle weight flavors that possess excellent detail and precision on the textured and seductive finish that displays grand cru level persistence. This is not quite as rich as the Butteaux but it’s finer as the chiseled flavors are flat out gorgeous. In a word, stunning.

Owan (still water). shrimp, mushroom and chestnut suigyoza, renkon, broccolini and dashi.

With the dashi added. Amazing chestnut dumpling!

Otsukuri (traditional sashimi). seasonal fish and oyster. Very nice sashimi.

Pierro brought: 2012 Domaine Weinbach Gewurztraminer Cuvée Théo. VM 90. Vivid gold-tinged yellow. Bright rose water and honeyed tropical fruits on the nose. Similarly vibrant and fresh in the mouth, with floral and spicy peach flavors. Not especially complex or long but has sneaky concentration and very good balance. I’m not usually a huge fan of the Cuvée Theo wines, but this is everything you could want an entry-level Gewürztraminer to be.

Yakimono (grilled dish). Foie gras, persimmon, buddha’s hand, pickled radish, foie gras ju, shishito pepper powder. This looked better than it tasted. Not that it tasted bad, but somehow the persimmon overshadowed the foie.

mushimono (steaned dish). black cod, uni, matsutake, mitsuba, sea lettuce and ankake dashi.

Larry brought: 2000 M. Chapoutier Ermitage Le Pavillon. VM 92. Saturated ruby-red. More reserved aromas of blackberry, cassis, licorice, minerals, cinders and spices. Juicy and tight, with a varietally accurate raw currant character. Fresh, intense and structured for the year. Finishes very long, with firm tannins and strong spice character.Shiizakana (not bound by tradition, the chef’s choice dish). Spaghettini with abalone, pickled cod roe, truffles. Niki makes really wonderful and unusual pastas. This isn’t for everyone, being very “seafoody” but we all adored it. Fabulous textures too.

Pierro, who has certainly had his share of pasta over the decades loved it too. He reported that this was the first time he’s had pasta with chopsticks (probably about my 400th, but I’m an asian noodle fiend).

Niku (meat). Japan miyazaki wagyu beef a5. The fig was my favorite part — but the meat was great too.

Sunomono. Snow crab, tomato, cucumber, yuzu curd. Pretty strong tomato flavors.

Ron brought: NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée. VM 94. The NV Grande Cuvée is absolutely stellar. This is one of the very best Grande Cuvées I can remember tasting. The flavors are bright, focused and beautifully delineated throughout, all of which make me think the wine will age well for many, many years. Lemon peel, white flowers, crisp pears, smoke and crushed rocks race across the palate in a vibrant, tense Champagne that epitomizes finesse.

From my cellar: Soto Sake. Great super premium junmai daiginjo.

Shokuji/ sushi. Seasonal fish. I didn’t get them all written down. You can see tai (snapper), toro, hamachi/kampachi, Japanese scallop and Japanese uni / ikura for sure.

Sake and ginger.

Blue crab hand-rolls. Because I was still hungry!

Niki (right) and her wife (left) pose with Pierro and Stuart.

Apple sorbet.

Dessert. Date filling rye cream puff, rye ice cream, rye cookie, Pear brulee, apple cider caramel sauce.

Chocolates with orange.

N/Naka really is a very special place. All the meals I had here were spectacular (here for the first, here for the second, here for the third). Plus we even did an amazing all foie gras meal here ounce. The place keeps getting better and better. This is thrice wonderful because often one finds a slight bloom to come off a place on repeat meals. At N/Naka everything is seasonal and constantly rotating.

Click here to other LA Japanese restaurants.

Or other Foodie Club extravaganzas.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Champagne, Japanese cuisine, N/Naka, Niki Nakayama, Sushi, Wine

Last Minute Shunji

Aug07

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

Location: 12244 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064. (310) 826-4737

Date: June 28, 2017

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: First rate traditional sushi

A last minute cancelation changed up the Foodie Club dinner plans — so we gathered up some Burgundy and headed out for Shunji’s omakase!

Shunji, which took over for the “Mr. Cecil’s BBQ” in this oddball looking building on Pico has developed quite a reputation.

At night, Shunji offers an amazing and advanced mix of traditional and modern raw and cooked dishes.

Chef Shunji Nakao was an opening chef at Matsuhisa in the day, then opened Asanebo, then The Hump (one of my old favorites). It has quickly risen to the top of the LA Japanese scene.

Fred brought: 1990 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. BH 97. 1990 is one of my favorite vintages ever for this storied cuvée because while the vintage was on the riper side the high yields allowed the fruit to retain a very good level of acidity which made for balanced and ageworthy wines. While I have had the pleasure of tasting the ’90 on a number of occasions since its release, the last time was alongside the 1985 and the 1988, and as admirable as those two vintages are, the 1990 is head and shoulders above them to my taste. The fantastically complex nose is comprised of an abundance of yeast and toast characters that don’t completely dominate the essence of apple, pear, citrus, spice, acacia blossom and discreet orange peel scents. There is equally good depth to the delicious, full-bodied and powerful flavors that possess a lovely sense of vibrancy thanks to the still firm but fine mousse that shapes the delineated, delicious and impeccably well-balanced finale. In my view 1990 is one of the greatest vintages for this wine of the last 25 years and one that is still drinking well. While there is no additional upside development to be hand, neither is there any rush to drink up as this should continue to hold effortlessly for years to come.

Marinated vegetables and jellyfish. Before we went I predicted marinated vegetables and dashi gel — this pretty much qualifies. But it was pretty tasty in a sunomono way.

Ikura. Shunji’s salmon roe is unusually sweet and delicate. Lovely.

Goldfish sashimi with radish. Yep, goldfish. Mild, but nice.

Seasonal fig, cauliflower, and okra. On the right, Opal eye sashimi.

A trio of Toro (in the back), blue fin tuna, and chibiki. The last was unusual, all three were great.

Gorgonzola tofu, honey, and cherry tomato. I’ve never had gorgonzola tofu before. It totally worked. Nice soft texture.

From my cellar: 2004 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Valmur. BH 94. This is a much different and classically styled with an ultra pure nose of ripe but austere green fruit brimming with oyster shell and seawater notes that introduce elegant, pure and sweet flavors all wrapped in a beautifully balanced and wonderfully detailed finish that also displays some austerity. This is built on a base of pungent minerality and will require ample time to come around. A Chablis lovers Chablis.

Fred brought: 2004 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot. BH 94. Fairly strong wood spice and vanilla presently mark the nose, framing the otherwise pretty white flower and floral aromas though there is plenty of mid-palate density to the rich, round, intense and powerful medium full flavors that despite the richness retain a fine sense of finishing detail. There is good minerality, buckets of dry extract and fine balance with almost painful intensity and superb finishing persistence.

Grilled ayu. A traditional sweet river fish of the smelt family. There was even an instructional video on how to debone it! Which actually helped. Delicious and sweet meat.

Our chef prepares the truffle rice.

Erick brought: 1978 Camille Giroud Beaune 1er Cru Grèves. 93 points. In fabulous shape.

From my cellar: 1997 Joseph Drouhin Romanée St. Vivant. 96 points. Bright shimmering ruby appearance in the glass. Ready from the moment opened, and didn’t really change much over the course of several hours. Enticing nose of red fruit and sweet grilled herbs, a touch perfumed as well. Great purity and class in the glass, with loads of mature Pinot flavors alongside a gentle smokiness that added heft to the wine. A great showing for the vintage, no doubt.

Truffle rice! Both white and black truffles. Very mild and lovely.

Marinated egg.

The egg notches up the truffle rice.

Wagyu sukiyaki. Delicious!

House-made ginger. I probably ate a pound.

Needle fish or trumpet fish.

Here is the head to prove it.

Sweet lips. Ugly fish, tasted good.

Hokkaido flounder.

Amber jack.

Porgi. As you can see Shunji really knows his “white fish.”

Shimaaji (mackerel).

Sweet shrimp. Succulent.

The heads look on in horror.

Then become shrimp miso soup.

Seki aji (premium Spanish mackerel).

A rare fish comes with a serial number!

Stone snapper or maybe sea ball belly.

Belt fish.

Scottish salmon.

Barracuda. A bit smokey.

Chu toro. Melt in your mouth delicious.

Kohada. A bit marinated.

Tasmanian trout. Amazing, but like salmon.

Hokkaido scallop in nori.

O-toro. This bad boy was stunning.

Dueling uni. Santa Barbara on the left, Hokkaido on the right.

Roasted tea.

Seasonal fruit plate, includes mulberries!

Truffle ice cream and chocolate mouse.

Midori melon.

All and all Shunji is rather fantastic, easily in the large repertoire of top LA sushi restaurants. This was a really great take on sushi kaiseki style dishes, combining both innovations with a solid grounding in traditional Japanese flavors and seasonal ingredients. There was some really unusual stuff too. I prefer Shunji at the sushi bar with a smaller group — and more nigiri — which this awesome dinner bore out. Sometimes the (non sushi) vegetable dishes are a bit too subtle, even if I appreciate them for their delicate dashi-scented ways. But Shunji is a master of the white fish and he has an exceptionally wide variety of mouse watering nigiri.

Service is attentive and excellent. Be prepared to open up the wallet as this is premium sushi — in a completely different league than your average Spider Roll — particularly if you go for the truffle rice.

For more LA sushi reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Champagne, Foodie Club, Japanese cuisine, Omakase, Shunji, Sushi, White Burgundy, Wine

Finding the One at One Pico

Jul12

Restaurant: One Pico

Location: 1 Pico Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90405. (310) 587-1717 (inside Shutters Hotel)

Date: June 10, 2017

Cuisine: American

Rating: Solid food, great setting

I don’t go to One Pico very often but I have a soft spot for it in my heart because it was here that my wife and I went on our first date.

So when our anniversary rolled around we decided to head back to the lovely white paneled room by the beach.

Tonight’s menu. I’m sure they’ve had several chefs since our first meal here!

When celebrating, you can never go wrong with Champagne:

From my cellar: 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.

Little gem caesar. parmesan croutons, red endive, white anchovies.

Rainbow cauliflower soup. apple curry madras. A little bit of heat and a distinct curry tone.

grilled country bread. Always good with soup!

Corn ravioli. piquillo pepper, lime yellow corn shoots, pecorino romano. Not a tomato sauce but a very Spanish tasting pepper puree.

Bucatini. Maine lobster, roasted tomatoes, capers, spicy Calabrian chili peppers. A touch of heat, plenty of meat.

Sea bass with a pesto puree. A nice crispy-skinned fish.

The dessert menu.

Bonus mini-tiramisu with a candle.

Salted Caramel Sundae. Candy Popcorn, chocolate brownie, and caramel ice cream. I should make a gelato with salted caramel, chocolate, and popcorn. This was a nice confection. Sweet, and good textural contrasts. Not sophisticated in flavor, but good.

Overall a very tasty meal at One Pico. It’s a great room too. Sure the prices are nice hotel prices, but they do a very good job.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Champagne, One Pico, Santa Monica, Shutters

Drappier at Petrossian

Jul07

Restaurant: Petrossian Beverly Hills

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

Date: June 3, 2017

Cuisine: Caviar +

Rating: Perfect food for Champagne!

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

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

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

Chocolates.

Tons of caviar of course.

Fancy salts, etc.

And Louis XIII.

The private room is lovely.

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

While we sip champagne some foie gras gougers.

And buckwheat blini with with creme fraiche and caviar.

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

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

And a special kosher-style variant for my wife!

Here is Liz introducing our guest:

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

This flight is all zero dosage offerings:

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

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

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

Chilled Shellfish.

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

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

Quinoa Salad, smoked almonds.

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

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

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

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

Cool knife.

Toasted Brioche.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Beet Tartare, red beets, crostini.

2002 Drappier Champagne Carte d’Or Brut.

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

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

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

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

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

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

agavin: under rated, really very very good

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

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

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

The lineup.

And the water lineup.

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

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

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