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Rogue Reunion

May11

Location: 8687 Melrose Ave, West Hollywood, CA 90069. (800) 275-8273

Date: April 4, 2018

Cuisine: Modern International

Rating: Awesome food and experience

Wolfgang Puck, consulate LA chef and restauranteur opened a kinda of crazy experimental kitchen lab to the public last year. Basically they have new chefs every week and work on highly technical high end experimental dishes — and fold it all together into a nice “experience.”

It’s located INSIDE the Pacific Design Center — that cold blue/purple whale of a building on Melrose. After hours, it’s not the easiest to find buried upstairs.

The experience begins in this library filled with culinary and cocktail books.

The mixologist whips up a highly technical cocktail, all the while chatting with us about the nature of the place.

He made sort of adult (alcoholic) fruit leather, centrifuged fruit pulp, and purified high proof basil gin.

Fruity super strong gin drink. Delicious and potent drink using 110 proof gin! I can’t remember exactly which fruits were in here.
Cheers!

The books are out on display.

Cocktail hour.

Next some chefs arrive and they serve a couple of snacks while we mingle. Rogue only seats about 8 people!

The weekly menu.

Passion fruit, chervil, salmon roe. The spikey stuff is the pulp, which was delicious. This was not very sweet, and while the pairing of roe and passionfruit worked, it was pretty intensely sour and I like a little more sugar with my passionfruit.

Anchovy, salsa verde, huazontle. Very bright green taste and marinated anchovy — delicious!

Salsify, uni, creme fraiche.

These easily breakable crisps were used to scoop up the succulent uni.

Now we move on to other areas of the compound, including this hallway littered with cooking gear.

This prep kitchen with a lot of facilities.

And tons of fancy technical food toys.

Like a rotary dehydrator! This allowed the mixologist to distill the basil infused gin (at negative atmospheric pressure) and condense it into a super strong clear gin that retains the basil element.

We finally settle in the Rogue “dining room” where the chefs plate behind the counter.

Some of this week’s chefs.

And more.

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.

Prawn, strawberry, fennel. Gorgeous presentation and unusual flavor pairing. Worked though!

Cabbage, crab, ramen.

I wonder if they swapped the “ramen” (on the menu) out for rice. Anyway, it was delicious.

Artichoke, parmesan, lamb. The cheese was turned into a gooey “cream.”

The lamb is dusted on top. Gorgeous again. Tasted amazing too, particularly because of the soft cheese.

Larry brought: 1982 Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne. BH 90. Moderately golden. This wine always seems to age better than what tasting it young would suggest and 1982 is yet another vintage where it has lasted extremely well as the airy and fully mature nose is still vibrant and if not bright then certainly complex and there are now hints of sous bois and truffle in the mix. The nicely enveloping flavors are also punchy and offer good muscle if less complexity and depth than I would have expected. In sum, a fine example at 25+ years of age if not a truly great one. Tasted on multiple occasions with largely consistent notes.

Char, cucumber, skyr. Skyr is a kind of Icelandic yogurt. Super soft and almost sushi-like bit of fish. Quite lovely.

2004 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. JG 97. The new release of 2004 Krug is absolutely beautiful and is already quite elegant and open on both the nose and palate and is drinking with great finesse. I had expected this wine to be a bit more steely in structure out of the blocks, but the refinement of the blend this year has produced a wine that is already a joy to drink at age thirteen, though it will continue age gracefully for many, many decades to come. The cépages in 2004 is thirty-nine percent chardonnay, thirty-seven percent pinot noir and twenty-four percent pinot meunier, with the wine having been disgorged in the winter of 2016. The bouquet jumps from the glass in a refined mix of apple, a touch of walnut, warm bread, lavender, a superb base of soil tones and a topnote of smokiness. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and utterly seamless, with vibrant acids, great focus and grip, a lovely core, refined mousse and a very long, complex, racy and energetic finish. There is marvelous precision here on both the nose and palate, not to mention a sense of harmony and grace that is fairly rare in the 2004 vintage. Chapeau!

Cilantro, prickly pear, chayote. Looks like an avocado, but it wasn’t. What it was was delicious. Really bright Mexican flavors!

Chick Pea, Tomatillo, Cotija. Another really nice dish, particularly for vegetables.

1996 Vouvray Moelleux Réserve. 92 points.

Foie, almond, jasmine. Exotic pairings but amazing.

1995 Domaine Marquis d’Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Ducs. VM 92. Harvested 26th September to 1st of October. A complex, savory nose. A bigger, masculine vintage, although the famed 1995 tannins have melted completely away. Good fruit, good balance. Drinking well now and should hold for years. A very pleasant surprise.

Mole, Bao, Pollo. Different “Mexican” bao — pretty awesome.

Beef Cheek, semolina, leeks. Soft of like a lightly Mexican short ribs and polenta, but light and way better. Great texture too.

Raspberry, ginger. Bright and amazing.

Olive oil, grapefruit, campari, pistachio, fennel. Amazing dessert. Loved the unusual combos.

Caramel, chocolate, sesame, pineapple, rosemary. More odd combos that totally worked. I made the rosemary pineapple thing into my own sorbetto a few weeks later.

Special red chocolate and other snacks.

Nice touches.

We went back to the “bar” area for after dinner drinks. Interesting stuff. I have to get some of the right hand (herbal) thing for gelato use.

Overall Rogue really was fabulous. The service and overall experience was great. Very intimate and interesting. And the food was amazing and very experimental in a good way. On this particular visit we had a lot of Mexican influences reminding me somewhat of Hoja Santa. And overall, the food felt very modernist Spanish, or maybe that’s just because it was modernist. But it was supremely well executed. And since everything changes every week, we will have to go back soon.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more Foodie Club reviews.

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Cocktail, Foodie Club, modernist, Rogue, Wine, Wolfgang Puck

Picca Potency

Oct03

Restaurant: Picca [1, 2]

Location: 9575 West Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90035. Tel: 310 277 0133

Date: September 27, 2011

Cuisine: Modern Peruvian

Rating: Really interesting flavors

My parents were in town and I wanted to take them back to Picca, which I had recently tried. Peruvian food is on fire right now in LA, and for good reason.

The Pico Blvd frontage is hard to miss.

Picca’s Peruvian cuisine has enough citrus and Asian notes that it goes best with a lighter fruiter red like this lovely Burgundy (from my cellars as usual).

The bar was hoping when we arrived and at least ten people were waiting for tables, but they honored our reservation and seated us immediately (love to see that).

The interesting handmade cocktail menu.

“Rhubarb Sidecar.” Cognac, pisco, fresh lemon juice, rhubarb gastrique, shake violentyly (and they mean it), garnished with spiced sugar.”

Today’s menu. There are so many dishes that I took to underlining the ones we wanted. Saved on recitation to the waitress.

“papa rellena. stuffed potato, slow cooked beef, boiled egg, rocoto aioli.” Tasted like potato and chilli (known in Texas as a super-spud).

“empanada trio. beef, chicken, eggplant, salad.” I tried the chicken one, it was good. Not too heavy (considering).

“jalea mixta. crispy mixed seafood, tartare sauce.” Some really good fried seafood. The tartare sauce was fantastic too.

Parker 93 points, “The 2008 Vico made from 100% Mencia with 30% whole clusters and aged for 9 months in seasoned French oak. Opaque purple-colored, it offers up a slightly reticent bouquet of damp earth, mineral, incense, black cherry, and black raspberry. Dense and loaded on the palate, the flavors are already complex and mouth-filling. Impeccably balanced and with a 45-second finish, it has the stuffing to blossom for another 2-3 years but can be approached now. It is a great value.”

“ceviche criollo. seabass, rocoto leche de tigre, choclo, sweet potato.” The leche de tigre (vinegary lime sauce) makes all these cerviche‘s taste fairly similar, but this one had big soft chunks of seabass.

“ceviche crocante. halibut, leche de tigre, crispy calamari.” And this followup was rendered considerably different by the addition of crunchy calamari.

One of the menu’s many sections is “terceras – antichuchos” which are mostly grilled skewers, sort of Peruvian yakatori.

“tomatoes. burrata, black mint pesto.”

“beef filet. sea urchin butter, garlic chip.” Good stuff, with just a hint of the classic Uni flavor.

“scallops. aji amarillo aioli, wasabi peas.” Lightly cooked, very nice.

“black cod. miso anticucho, crispy sweet potato.”

Then we have a round of “causa sushi,” with yellow Peruvian potato replacing the rice. In general, as I’ve mentioned before rice is more successful, but these are still tasty.

This is the “unagi. avocado, cucumber, eel sauce” and it’s pretty much your eel sushi. Of all these causas this was my favorite as the polenta is heavier and stronger flavored than rice and the eel held up to it best.

“spicy yellow tail. spicy mayo, green onions, wasabi tobiko.”

“smoked salmon. hijiki, shallots, aji amarillo yogurt.”

“shrimp. pickled cucumbers, yuzu kosho guacamole.”

“albacore. garlic chip, ceviche sauce.” My second favorite of this set.

“scallops. mentaiko.” Certainly tasty, but it would have been better with rice.

“snow crab. cucumber, avocado, huancaina sauce.”

“seabass tiradito. thin slice sea bass, soy sauce, lemon dressing, sweet potato puree.” Very nice. Bright fish, even further brightened by the bold flavors.

Our server was very perky and friendly. Although she got caught up talking to lots of other guests and took a while with the check :-).

“chicharron de costillas. crispy pork ribs crostini, sweet potato puree, feta cheese sauce, salsa criolla.” This however was pretty spectacular, one of the best pork sandwiches I’ve tried.

“arroz chaufa de mariscos. mixed seafood, peruvian fried rice, pickled radish.” This was a nice version of paella. Brighter and more citrusy (by far) than it’s Spanish cousin. The ingredients were very fresh.

“sudado de lenguado. halibut stew, peruvian corn beer sauce, yuyo.” This really added some flavor to the nicely cooked fish.

“pollo saltado. chicken, onion, tomato, ginger, potato fritters.” This was also a tasty chicken. Like a south american stir-fry. With fries!

“chanfainita. braised oxtail, mote and potato stew.” This was our least favorite dish of the evening. There was a lot of bone on the tail, and a lot of fat. Not that it tasted bad or anything, but I think we were done for.

I love even street cart churros but these were pretty supreme. The churros were stuffed with some kind of dulce de leche custard. It kept squirting out but was intensely good. The carob sauce was surprisingly amazing. I remember carob from the 1970s as the horrible chocolate bars that weren’t. This could have been caramel.

“Lemon tart.” This was a pretty amazing dessert. Light and airy, almost foamy, the intense lemoness paired nicely with the sweet pineapple stuff on the side.

Picca was just as good the second time. We rounded out the menu and ordered mostly new stuff. As long as you are of the “bland is banned” school like I am, there really isn’t anything not to like about their solid implementation of this bright and flavorful cuisine.

For my previous review of Picca, click here.

For more LA dining reviews, click here.

By: agavin
Comments (5)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: antichuchos, CAUSA SUSHI, CEVICHE, Cocktail, Dessert, Japanese Peruvian, Los Angeles, Peru, Peruvian cuisine, Picca, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Restaurants and Bars, Ricardo Zarate, Tartar sauce, Wine

Pleased by Picca

Aug23

Restaurant: Picca [1, 2]

Location: 9575 West Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90035. Tel: 310 277 0133

Date: August 15, 2011

Cuisine: Modern Peruvian

Rating: Really interesting flavors

I was really excited to try this new Modern Peruvian. As best I can tell (having never been to Peru other than an airport stop in Lima) Peru has a really interesting culinary melange going on merging Spanish, traditional South American, and Japanese influences. I’ve heard that much of the wave of innovation in American Modern Japanese started by Nobu Matsuhisa (detailed look here) is really just Peruvian. In any case, on to the food.

This space is just above what used to be Test Kitchen last year and is now the excellent Sotto. The chef is Ricardo M. Zarate, a Lima native, and as far as I can tell, he rocks.

The menu. This is all served Tapas style, which you all know is my favorite.

Burgundy! Parker gives this 92, “Bachelet’s 2005 Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes – from 60- to 70-year-old vines both below the route nationale and north of Gevrey in Brochon – offers lovely black fruit aromas with hints of anise and mint. A truly palate-staining intensity of vividly-fresh, tart but ripe black cherry and blackberry is underlain by firm, fine tannins (not precluding an emerging silkiness of texture) and augmented by bitter-herbal and stony notes. Although palpably dense and abundantly tannic, this outstanding village wine still comes off as juicy, sleek, invigorating and refined. Put it away for at least 5-7 years.”

“jalea mixta. crispy mixed seafood, tartare sauce.” Some really good fried seafood. The tartare sauce was fantastic too.

“chicharron de pollo. marinated crispy chicken, salsa criolla, rocoto sauce.” Also good fry. Like uber chicken nuggets.

“tres leches de tigre. rocoto, aji amarillo, sea urchin shooters.” Three different gazpacho-like shooters. I had the Uni one. It was very limey/vinegary which I like.

“ceviche mixto. mixed seafood, sweet potato, choclo.” Mixed fresh seafood marinated. Those things on the right are the giant peruvian corn kernels. The fish was very fresh, particularly the shrimp. The marinate was tasty, but certainly had a very strong lime/vinegar thing going on.

On the left: “santa barbara prawns. lemon grass yuzu kosho pesto.” Very tender sweet prawns, with the sauce definitely adding.

On the right: “black cod. miso anticucho, crispy sweet potato.” Tasty too. The potato chips though were even better 🙂

Apparently in Peru sushi is done with these yellow blocks instead of rice and called causa sushi. The stuff looks like polenta but is actually a mash of yellow potato with some spices.

“scallops. mentaiko.” Certainly tasty, but it would have been better with rice.

“albacore. garlic chip, ceviche sauce.” My second favorite of this set.

“spicy yellow tail. spicy mayo, green onions, wasabi tobiko.” Also good, but the fourth potato bar was beginning to feel too heavy.

“seco de pato. duck leg confit, black beer sauce, cilantro rice.” This was a slight disappointment. It was perfectly cooked, but given the volume level of the flavors of this meal it felt a little muted, particularly the rice.

“chicharron de costillas. crispy pork ribs crostini, sweet potato puree, feta cheese sauce, salsa criolla.” This however was pretty spectacular, one of the best pork sandwiches I’ve tried.

We finished the wine and decided to explore some of the awesome cocktails as “dessert beverages.” These drinks are by mixologist Julian Cox. The cocktail menu.

This was “chilcano de anis, lime juice, ginger syrup, anise syrup, pisco, soda, mint sprig, pernod.” It was pretty damn good, tasting like sweet mint licorice.

“Sabertooth. cachaca, muddled blueberries, apricot liquor, fresh lime juice, simple syrup, shaken, lime wheel & blueberry.” Pretty great too.

“Rhubarb Sidecar.” Cognac, pisco, fresh lemon juice, rhubarb gastrique, shake violentyly (and they mean it), garnished with spiced sugar.” Also great.

“Christopher Oaxacan. Single village mezcal, passion fruit, fresh lemon juice, orgeat, lavender bitters.” The super smokey (and very good) mezcal overwhelmed everything else. It basically tasted like mezcal with lime.

“Lemon tart.” This was a pretty amazing dessert. Light and airy, almost foamy, the intense lemoness paired nicely with the sweet pineapple stuff on the side.

I love even street cart churros but these were pretty supreme. The churros were stuffed with some kind of dulce de leche custard. It kept squirting out but was intensely good. The carob sauce was surprisingly amazing. I remember carob from the 1970s as the horrible chocolate bars that weren’t. This could have been caramel.

Picca was pretty fantastic. They didn’t hit every note perfectly, but it’s a fun (and loud space), the server was very very nice and enthusiastic about the food, and the flavors were bold and powerful, the ingredients first rate. What’s not to love? Unless you prefer crap like el Torito.

For more LA dining reviews, click here.

By: agavin
Comments (2)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: California, CAUSA SUSHI, CEVICHE, Cocktail, Dessert, Lima, Los Angeles, Nobu Matsuhisa, Paella, Peru, Picca, Ricardo M. Zarate, Ricardo Zarate, South America, Sushi

JiRaffe is no Joke

Apr11

Restaurant: JiRaffe [1, 2]

Location: 502 Santa Monica Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90401. 310.917.6671

Date: April 1, 2011

Cuisine: French American

Rating: Santa Monica Classic

To me, it seems JiRaffe has been here forever. It opened in 1996, and to have made it 15 years in Santa Monica is no small feat. The space next door (which is a really nice two floor space) has had 7 restaurants in the same period! JiRaffe remains not only in business, but busy — and good. It is headed by Chef/Owner Raphael Lunetta and serves creative California adapted French influenced flair with a concentration on farmer’s market ingredients. Lunetta was ahead of the recent trend exemplified by places like Gjelina, Rustic Canyon, and Fig. His style is more classic, but not in the least outdated.

The nice two floor space. There is a loft (not visible) with a number of tables too.

The cocktail menu.

“Blood Orange Cosmopolitan, Grey Goose Vodka, Key Lime and Fresh Blood Orange.” This is the kind of real cocktail I like to see, not the saccharine kind of concoction I got the other week at Gladstones (see here), but a drink made from fresh ingredients and no flavored alcohols. It was tart, but really flavorful.

The appetizers.

A variety of breads.

The amuse, a mushroom cream cappuccino. Very tasty, almost truffle flavored and very rich. They actually goofed slightly and brought this after our appetizers, making it more of an intermezzo, but it didn’t matter.

“Roasted Organic Beet Salad, organic beets, carmelized walnuts, dried cherries, goat cheese cream, banyuls-ginger vinaigrette.” This dish has become ubiquitous, but I suspect JiRaffe was one of the earliest to offer it on their menu (it might have been an 80s Wolfgang Puck invention, but I’m not sure). This particularly implementation has always been one of the best I’ve ever had. The sweet of the beets pairing beautifully with the sharpness of the goat cheese, and the chewy crunch of the walnut/cherry combo adding to the effect.

“Purple Peruvian Gnocchi, rock shrimp, pearl onions, mandarin tomato concassé, herb infused tomato nage.” Although these gnocchi look like the grubs I encountered in china (as a breakfast condiment for congi), they tasted delicious. The sauce was extremely buttery, and paired perfectly with the soft little pillows and the tender shrimp.

Les entrees.

“Crispy Scottish Salmon with parsnip puree, white wine braised fennel, and an aged balsamic nage.” Note that the fennel was substituted out here for spinach.

“New Zealand Lamb Rack, yellowfin potato samosas, vegetable moussaka, thyme-scented lamb jus.” The lamb itself was delicious, exactly what you’d want. The jus perfect as well. My only complaint was the samosas which were very bland, tasting only of potato. I’m not such a plain starch fan. They were okay soaked in the jus, but I would have preferred a strong curry flavor or something.

JiRaffe also has a VERY yummy looking dessert menu, but we were too full to partake. The full menu can be found HERE.

Overall JiRaffe is a Santa Monica classic, and for good reason. This is a solid kitchen and everything is very tasty. The menu remains consistant. It does change, but in a slow evolutionary way, mostly swapping out seasonal ingredients and preserving what is essentially the same dish. They could experiment a little more, but they do have a good thing going.

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Blood Orange, California, Cocktail, Farmer's Market, JiRaffe, Key Lime, Los Angeles, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Rustic Canyon, Santa Monica California, side dishes, United States, vegetarian, Wolfgang Puck

Not so Glad about Gladstones

Mar21

Restaurant: Gladstones Malibu [1, 2]

Location: 17300 Pacific Coast HwyPacific Palisades, CA 90272. (310) 454-3474

Date: March 18, 2011

Cuisine: American Seafood

Summary: Fast bordering on brusque

Two months to the day after I tried the slightly revamped Gladstones (REVIEW HERE), we decided to go back for a dinner. The two of us walked in the door at 6:30. They had us walking out at 6:55. A new record in whirlwind service. So fast that I was in physical pain, my stomach in spasm from having wolfed down the food.

“Dragonfruit mojito.” This concoction was disgustingly sweet, tasting of artificial strawberry and whatever weird kind of fruit is baked into “dragonfruit bacardi.” I dislike this trend of overzealous corporate marketing and lazy bartenders in which drinks are made with “flavored” alcohols instead of actual mixers. There is really no circumstance where this kind of factory flavored drink tastes better than just mixing. It is “easier.” Like pre-mixed Chernobyl green margarita mix. As the rest of the cocktails were this sort, I moved on to a glass of wine.

Bread. Warm sour-dour. Nothing to complain about here.

“CRAB CAKES Remoulade, Arugula & Fennel.” These arrived as the words of our order were hanging in the air, but they were tasty enough. Not on the level of either the Houstons or Capo crabcakes, but respectable.

“BAKED SALMON CARTOCCIO Saffron Potato, Roast Fennel, & Olive Herb Tapenade.” Must like what we made at our own dinner party the week before. But not bad either. Too bad it arrived while I was still working on my appetizer — and I’m a fast eater.

“CURRIED COCONUT SHRIMP Jasmine Rice, Yellow Curry, Thai Basil & Passion Fruit.” I had ordered this two months before and enjoyed it immensely. Something was really wrong with it tonight. Maybe the fact that they cooked it in 3 minutes flat? The sauce was totally out of balance. The curry flavor very muted and the lime massively dominant. It just didn’t taste good that way, being almost unpleasantly sour.

The bus boy was pulling our plates from us as I was literally forking the last couple shrimp. I mean I had to reach into the air to get them. The waitress teleported over, asked if we wanted dessert, hearing the negative, slapped the check down. They weren’t rude or unpleasant, but it was all so rushed that I felt an almost compulsive need to hurry in order to match their pace. I don’t mind a fast dinner sometimes, but this was ridiculous.

More fundamental, I also worry about quality control in the kitchen. Things just seemed much more lackluster than the previous time I was here. And it’s very expensive — overpriced in fact. So I don’t think I’ll be back for a while.

By: agavin
Comments (3)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Australia, Chernobyl, Cocktail, Dinner, Fish and Seafood, Gladstones, Home, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Seafood, side dishes, Thai Basil, vegetarian

Red Medicine the Relapse

Feb23

Restaurant: Red Medicine [1, 2, 3]

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

Date: February 19, 2011

Cuisine: Modernized Vietnamese

Summary: Really interesting food full of very bold flavors, and at very reasonable prices.

For my brother’s birthday we decided to head back to Red Medicine (first review HERE), the casual modernized Vietnamese place in mid-town. Tasty again! Even on a very rainy night it was hopping and we had to get a drink at the crowded bar to wait for our table.

The drink menu features a number of very interesting and extremely well executed specialty cocktails. Plus, these are very reasonably priced at $10. The PDF version is HERE.

“#18 Krome Vodka, Chili-Anise Shrub, Lime, Grapefruit, Peychaud’s Bitters, Basil(s), Ginger Beer. Shaken and rolled into a tall glass. Inspired by Scott Beattie’s ‘Irian Jaya’.” This was one yummy drink. The ingredients were all clearly very fresh, and you could taste each and every element. The sour of the grapefruit in the front, the basil in the middle, the bitters and ginger on the finish. I sucked it down in like 2 minutes.

The main menu. Slightly changed up from when we were here in December. The PDF version HERE. Everything is family style with approximately 3 savory dishes needed per adult.

And the wine-list, PDF HERE. They have a rather odd corkage policy. During the week it’s $25, but they will waive one corkage for each bottle you buy, which is very reasonable. Friday and Saturday, no corkage! I don’t like no corkage, but the list is very reasonable, with many fine sweetish whites (which I like and go with the food) in the $55 category.

Like this favorite of mine, Parker gives it 91. “Extremely bright in aroma as well as palate impression, the Prums’ 2008 Bernkasteler Badstube Riesling Kabinett is dominated by lemon and grapefruit, with village typical cherry and cassis manifesting themselves as an invigorating chew of fruit skin that is delightfully complimented by estate-typical impingement of CO2. Lush yet light, this finishes with not only blazing brightness but a cress-like pungency and strikingly intense salinity and suggestions of wet stone, making your palate stand to attention, wide awake! Plan on following it for a couple of decades, although, unlike many Joh. Jos. Prum wines, I find it (and many of the estate’s 2008s) downright irresistible already.”

“hokkaido scallop cured with lime sugar, green strawberries, coriander, wood sorrel.” This replaces the excellent “Fluke cured with lime” dish from last time. It wasn’t quite as good, but was still wonderful. The scallop was subtle and soft, the white radish crunchy and bitter, and my favorite part the “lime sugar” floating on the vinegar sauce.

“SOFT RICE PAPER / rock shrimp, jackfruit, black garlic, bean sprouts.” A varient on the typical soft spring roll. Nice textures, and the shrimp were good, but could have used a bit more flavor, or just some sweet and sour sauce.

“DUCK / 5-spice, charred frisee, chicory, tamarind syrup, grains of paradise.” A repeat, but worth it. This duck has a wonderful charred and sweet BBQ flavor, and it just falls apart. Really succulent.

“BANH MI / foie gras, pate de campagne.” Another irresistible repeat. The rich foie, the crunch of the pickles and crust, and the considerable heat of the seranno peppers all blend to perfection. Similar yet different from the other Banh Mi I had recently at Saam (REVIEW HERE).

“LAMB BELLY / hoisin, hibiscus-onion, sunflower seeds, salsify, lady apple.” A brand new dish, and a stunner. The dark stuff is the lamb, and the sunflower crusted stuff the salsify. There is a unique blend of flavors and textures here, but the lamb was the stand out. Crispy fried in hoisin it most closely resembled an awesome interpretation of crispy Schezuan beef.

“BEEF TARTARE / water lettuce, water chestnut, spicy herbs, nuoc leo, chlorophyll.” Another goodie. The meat and greens are placed on a shrimp chip. Fabulous interplay of texture and flavor.

“PORK / caramelized black vinegar and honey, prunes, sorrel, dried almond.” Again one of my favorites. This pork is like the perfect sweet BBQ. It just falls apart.

The dessert menu, PDF HERE. We ordered the two we didn’t have last time.

“RHUBARB / mahlab cremeux, hibiscus, gentian, aromatic willow.” This, I guess, is supposed to be a reinterpretation of a strawberry shortcake. The net effect to me was perhaps a bit more like cheesecake. It was very creamy and pleasant, with the rhubarb itself understated and adding only a subtle sourness to the dish. It certainly looks pretty too!

“LIME SABAYON / cucumber ice cream, cashew macaroons, white chocolate, jasmine.” This dish had strong taste resemblances to Key Lime Pie. Particularly if you got all the elements except for the cucumber ice-cream. This last was good, but through off the key lime thing. The butter colored disk below is the lime I think, and the macaroons had an awesome perfect chewy texture. Overall a really good dish.

Overall Red Medicine continued to impress. It offers really interesting and cutting edge food with bold and unique flavors at a very reasonable price point. I love the small dish only format. I’ve become so spoiled by that or long prix fixe meals that I can hardly eat at normal appetizer/entree restaurants anymore 🙂 If you haven’t been here, go!

To the Chefs and Owners, I thank you, and just hope that you keep mixing up the menu so it continues to offer variety and new flavors!