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Archive for Cooking – Page 3

Eating Siena – Trattoria Pepei

Jun26

Restaurant: Trattoria Pepei

Location: Siena, Italy

Date: June 12 & 19, 2011

Cuisine: Tuscan

Rating: Delicious & Fun!

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Our first full day in tuscany and we went into Siena. We selected a restaurant the night before using Michelin, picking a centrally located one that earned a bib gourmet.


Trattoria Papei which is located in the piazza Mercato right behind the Campos.


They have an extensive terrace area under a network of awnings and umbrellas.


The menu.


We ordered this local, inexpensive, and very pleasant chianti classico reserva. Parker gives it 90 points. “The 2007 Chianti Classico Riserva Il Grigio (Sangiovese) comes across as soft and pliant, very much in the style of the vintage. A warm, open bouquet leads to succulent ripe cherries, flowers and spices, all of which flow through nicely to the enveloping finish. Today the juiciness of the fruit makes Il Grigio very attractive, but readers who prefer more tertiary complexity will want to wait for a few years. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2017. “


A typical (you’ll here this word a lot here) Tuscan anti-pasta: mixed bruschetta. Here are tomato and marinated mushrooms, both delicious.


Melon with Prosciutto di Toscana.

More cured meats and bruschetta. The brown mud like stuff is chicken liver. The round salami is Finnochiona, a typical (again) local salami with a bit of fennel and pepper inside.


A truly excellent Zuppe Minestrone. The vegetables maintained their shape, but were cooked wuch that they melt in the mouth.


Tuscan bread and vegetable (mostly tomato) soup.


The kitchen is run my mama, literally.


Spaghetti pomodoro.


Pappardelle al Ragu Di Cinghiale! Wild boar strikes again.


Tagliatelle with ragu Toscana (mixed meat ragu probably).


Tagliatelle with duck ragu. This was deep and meaty. There must have been some duck liver in the sauce too.


Penne pomodoro.

Cheese ravioli with marinated mushroom sauce.


Pici (homemade local pasta) with cheese and pepper. This is a very simple dish, but when done right, as it was here, it’s amazing! The bright black papper flavor stands out. They have this now at Sotto, a new rustic Italian in LA.


Gnocchi pomodoro. The gnocchi here were soft and delicious, although not quite as good as the ones the first night in Modena.


Gnocchi with butter and sage.


Mixed salad (again).

Another salad, arugala or rocket with tomatos.


Pounded veal in lemon sauce. I’m not a big veal fan but this was good.


BBQ Ribs, Tuscan style. These were not unlike spare ribs at a chinese restaurant. They were a bit chewier than I was used too as the flavorful Tuscan pigs are leaner and free range, and the Italians don’t nuke the meat.


Delicious potatoes in a tomato sauce.

Pounded veal in a mushroom sauce — also excellent.


Chicken Cacciatore.


And at the end some free grappa. Ouch! taste-buds still stinging.


Cafe expresso.

This is a fun and delicious place. It’s located in the lovely square above. They may cater to tourists, but they serve amazing traditional Tuscan food prepared with very fresh ingredients. And the service is extremely friendly.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Staggia – Pozzo dei Desideri
  2. Eating Bologna – Trattoria Leonida
  3. Eating Modena – Osteria del Pozzo
  4. Eating Cervia – Locanda dei Salinari
  5. Eating Modena – Il Fantino
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chianti, Cooking, eating-italy, Florence, Italy, Meat, Michelin, pasta, Piazza del Campo, Prosciutto, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Rome, Sangiovese, Siena, Toscana, Trattoria Pepei, Tuscany

Eating Cervia – Locanda dei Salinari

Jun18

Restaurant: Locanda dei Salinari

Location: Cervia, Italy

Date: June 8, 2011

Cuisine: Adriatic Seafood

Rating: Great seafood

ANY CHARACTER HERE

After three days in the Modena/Parma/Bologna area we relocated west to the Adriactic coastal town of cervia/Milano Maritima. While technically still in Emilia-Romagna this is a beach-side community with a much greater emphasis on seafood.


Our first night we check out this Michelin bib-gourmet restaurant.


The menu.

Starting with a nice white.


Note the cool antique interior.

A sub selection of the wine list.

Great breads are an Italian staple.

Carpegna ham and fresh ricotta.

Scallops with grilled tomatos and spring mushrooms.


Local fish crudo. This was super tasty, basically sashimi with a slightly Italian twist.

Some kind of snapper, local giant shrimp.

Some other crustacean (scampi?), and I think a halibut.


Special toast to go with the crudo.


Insalta misto.

Swordfish skewers, with parmesan.


We moved on to a Masi Amarone. I love Amarone, and Masi is one of my favorite vineyards. This was surprisingly cheap too. “The entry-level 2005 Amarone Classico della Valpolicella Costasera is made in a fairly straightforward, fresh style, with perfumed bright red fruit supported by silky tannins. This harmonious red offers excellent depth and lovely balance. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2015.”


A kind of local pasta with fish.

Passatelli with scampi and asparagus. This is a local style of thick worm-like pasta.


Rissotto with peas and raw red shrimps. There was an interesting red sauce in the center that might have been made from their shells or roe.


Rissotto with pheasant.


A zoom-in so that you can all can revel in the rissotto-ness of it all.


Turbot with ricotta and aubergines on potato cake with truffle sauce.


Frito mixto: fried mixed vegetables and fish. These were really lightly friend and delicious, although there was a lot of bone action.


The dessert menu.

Semifreddo of fig ice cream with orange sauce. This was super yummy too, as I particularly love the cool soft texture of semifreddo.


They have a few grappas and the like.


Overall this was a wonderful transition to the more seafood oriented cuisine of the coast. This was a great place.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Modena – Osteria del Pozzo
  2. Eating Parma – Cocchi Ristorante
  3. Locanda Portofino – In the Neighborhood
  4. Eating Modena – Osteria Francescana
  5. Eating Modena – Il Fantino
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Cervia, Cooking, Dessert, eating-italy, Emilia Romagna, Emilia–Romagna, fish, Italian cuisine, Italy, Locanda dei Salinari, Michelin, pasta, Sashimi, side dishes, vegetarian

Eating Bologna – Trattoria Leonida

Jun15

Restaurant: Trattoria Leonida

Location: Bologna, Italy

Date: June 7, 2011

Cuisine: Bolognese

Rating: Big menu, great food

ANY CHARACTER HERE

We continue our sojourn across Emilia-Romagna. It was a rainy day in Bologna, and we stopped for lunch in this Trattoria in the old town, just east of the pair of leaning towers. It was selected by the intuitive method, glancing inside to see if it felt right.


All sorts of antipasti are stored in a number of display cases and on some tables at the front.


And a bit of roast rabbit on a plate with potatoes!


The tables at the front.

A delicious course of marinated salmon carpacio with olive oil and red peppercorns.


A ricotta and fig torte, declared to be very tasty.


Classic Tagliatelle Bolognese!


Parpadelle with boar ragu. This was an amazing pasta.


Stricchetti with sausage and peas in a pink sauce. Very tasty, although when ordering it I expected a white sauce.


Roast rabbit (taken from the plate above) in a balsamic sauce.


Turkey in balsamic sauce.


The condiments for the salad.

The usual mixed salad.

This pasta must have been awful!


And to wake up, some more expresso.

This random pick turned out extremely well. The food was fantastic, and the other customers only local businessmen.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Modena – Osteria del Pozzo
  2. Eating Parma – Cocchi Ristorante
  3. Eating Modena – Osteria Francescana
  4. Locanda Portofino – In the Neighborhood
  5. Eating Modena – Real Fini Breakfast
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Bologna, Cooking, eating-italy, Italian cuisine, Italy, Olive oil, pasta, Rabbit, Tattoria Leonida, turkey, United States

Eating Modena – Osteria del Pozzo

Jun11

Restaurant: Osteria del Pozzo

Location: Modena, Italy

Date: June 5, 2011

Cuisine: Emilia Romagna

Rating: Very good casual

ANY CHARACTER HERE

This post kicks off the food portion of my 2011 Europe trip, Eating Italy. We begin our month of gastronomic excess in the heart of Emilia Romagna, Modena — home of both Ferrari and Balsamico di Modena. It’s oddly rainy for June, and exhausted from over 27 hours of air and ground travel we stumbled across the street to this local place.


The have a number of rooms in these cute little tents.


The menu.

A prosecco, slightly sweet.

Caprese of course. Each portion is a whole ball of real buffalo mozzerella! Huge.


Homemade pasta, ham, arugala, cream, parmesan. This was a VERY good pasta by my taste, the in heavy ham & cream style I love (see here or here).


Spagetti and pomodoro.

Bresola, thin sheets of cured beef and parmesan and arugala. Good stuff.


Insalata mixta.

This 15E sangiovese was very drinkable.


Homemade (all the pasta except the spagetti was) with zucchini and shrimp. A nice light pasta.


Potato gnocchi in gorgonzola sauce. These were the kind of amazing gnocchi that are nearly impossible to find in the states, where they are so fluffy they melt in the mouth.


Tortellini in broth. A very traditional dish, little meat pockets in a savory chicken broth.


Classic taggliatelli ragu.Probably mixed pork and beef.


The case of traditional northern Italian desserts. Various cakes and tortes.


The chocolate with hazelnut nougat cake. Very rich.


Cherry torte. It tasted like strawberry rhubarb pie.


A sampler of fresh fruits. The cantaloupe was particularly flavorful and sweet. The cherries were great too.

This place was a perfect choice for the right off the plane choice. It was casual, reasonable, but had very good food. Perfecto.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Quick Eats: Osteria Latini 2
  2. Quick Eats: Osteria Latini
  3. Sicilian Style – Drago
  4. Seconds at Sotto
  5. Sotto – Sicily con Sardo
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Balsamic vinegar, Cheese, Cooking, Dessert, eating-italy, Emilia Romagna, Emilia–Romagna, Food, Italian cuisine, Italy, Meat, Modena, pasta, side dishes, vegetarian

Crafty Little Lunch

Jun03

Restaurant: Craft

Location: 10100 Constellation Blvd. Century City, Ca. 90067. 310-279-4180

Date: May 26, 2011

Cuisine: Farmer’s Market California

Rating: Nice little power lunch

ANY CHARACTER HERE

I was meeting a friend in Century City at the Annenberg Space for Photography (which I hadn’t even known existed), and we decided to catch lunch at nearby Craft. I’ve eaten dinner a couple times here before and thought it a very good “New California” style restaurant using a sort of large American tapas style. I think they may have ditched this format (at least the lunch menu shows no evidence of it). This seems to happen a lot and really bums me out as I completely and utterly prefer the small-plates style to the appetizer/entree dinosaur.


The menu. We both went for the little $30 “power lunch.” Craft is right in the heart of Century City with all the lawyers and CAA, so it’s obviously a spot for those putting lunch on the expense account.


Bread.


“Wild Mache, pistachio & raisin.” Really great little salad. The greens had a nice peppery quality, complemented nicely by the light dressing and the sweetness of the raisins.


“Rabbit tortellini, pecorino & baby onion.” Very nice little pasta too, in that buttery tortellini school. Inside was some good solid chunks of rabbit meat. The sauce was basically butter, cream, pecorino and onion.


“Sea Bream, leeks, fennel & watermelon radish.” The sauce was on the side as my friend preferred.


The leeks, fennel & watermelon radish.


The dessert menu.


Expresso.


“Ricotta cheesecake, poached cherries.” A slightly new format of an old classic.

“Profiteroles, mint chip ice cream & chocolate.” This should have been delicious, but for some reason it was muted. The pastries were really good, like a Beard Papa cookie shell, but the ice cream, while creamy, didn’t taste enough like mint. Not like the powerful mint leaf flavor of say Sweet Rose Creamery. The chocolate too was a bit muted.

Overall, this was a nice little lunch. I’ll have to go back for dinner again, although if they totally abandoned the small plates I’m bummed.

Related posts:

  1. Dinner and Drinks at Tavern
  2. Ford’s Filling Station
  3. La Cachette Bistro part deux et trois
  4. Fraiche Santa Monica
  5. Waterloo & City
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Beard Papa, California, Century City, Century City Los Angeles, Cooking, Craft, Craft Los Angeles, Dessert, Ice cream, lunch, pasta, Power Lunch, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Salad

Waterloo & City

Jun01

Restaurant: Waterloo & City [1, 2, 3]

Location: 12517 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90066  310.391.4222

Date: May 21, 2011

Cuisine: Gastropub

Rating: Really tasty!

_

There has been real growth in the gastropub catagory here in LA during the last few years. Part of this is probably the recession which has encouraged somewhat lower key dining, but there’s probably more to it. When I first moved to LA (early 90s) things were dominated by flashy higher end “event” restaurants each with its own blend of novel fusion cuisine. Good examples of this would by Chaya, Matsuhisa, Chinois, Spago, Abiquiu. The next wave after that were the farmer’s market driven joints like Josie or Gjelina. In any case, on to Waterloo & City.


A view of the bar. This is a pretty big place.


The menu.

The drink menu. I didn’t feel like wine, so we tried out some of these.


“Oh Rickey! Russian Standard Vodka, Fresh Raspberries, Lime, Soda.” This tasted like fresh raspberries. It was sweet, but not too sweet. Good.


“Tamarindo Fever. Tequila Blaco, Tamarind, Grand Marnier, Habanero, Lemon, Lime Salt.” I’ve been trying a lot of these “hot drinks” lately. I like them. This was good, sour and hot at the same time. But it was really hot. Not enough to bother me, but enough that I worried about heartburn if I drink say, 2 or 3 of them.


This special cocktail had vanilla Stoli, fresh lemon juice and some other stuff. It tasted like a lemon candy.


Bread.


Waterloo has a lot of charcuterie. This was a small plate on the left, on the right are “Shrimp & Zucchini Blossom Fritters, piri piri hot sauce.” A tempura fried variant on the Italian favorite (in that case usually stuffed with ricotta).


“Yellowtail crudo, shallot & ginger dressing, spring salad.” This was very tasty. Besides the fish there was a bit of burrata and tomato in here too. But the fish was very succulent, and the ginger based dressing delicious. With all this stuff, including the radish, there was a very complex but harmonious flavor/texture thing going on, not unlike a dish at Red Medicine.


“Steamed mussels, red thai curry, lime ginger, ciabatta.” A very nice adaption of the french classic.


“Hand-cut pasta, English Peas, Italian Sausage, Parmesan.” Even though it was two nights in a row I couldn’t resist this dish, as it is close to one of my favorite pasta types. Yesterday’s version was a little better, but this was very nice. The sausage was flavorful and after chopping it up a bit so some could get in each bit made an excellent foil to the buttery sauce.


“Wild mushroom pizza, smoked mozzerella, truffle oil.” If I didn’t know better I’d have said that this was a bacon and mushroom pizza! It was really good. First of all, the crust was thin and chewy, but not over burned. The cheese was gooey, and the smoked mushrooms really really meaty. Good stuff, I should have tried their Chicken Tikka Masala Pizza, as they stole my idea!


“Beef Wellington.” Sweet and sour onions on top of a puff pastry, sitting on bacon wrapped asparagus.


Inside is the medium steak (could have been a bit rarer), fois gras, and maybe some more bacon/pancetta. Certainly rich…


“Crispy confit pork shank, spring potato, bacon salad, peas & favas.”


Look at this sucker! Confit (twice cooked in it’s own fat)! Then deep fried! It was just a ball of piggy goodness.


The dessert menu.


Special. Glazed beneits with creme anglais and raspberry jam. These were REALLY sweet, coated in a bit of carmel I think too (you can see it pooling beneath). Very much to my taste, but not for those that don’t have a MASSIVE sweet-tooth.


“Sticky Toffe Pudding, Salted Caramel, Vanilla Ice Cream.” Also excellent, with a not so dissimilar flavor profile. Both were intensely sweet. The ice cream helped cut it.

Overall I was very impressed with Waterloo & City. Things were extremely tasty, and there was a lot of stuff on the menu that I wanted to try but couldn’t. I’ll have to head back. It’s, however, not a light cuisine. Which is perhaps why it suited my taste.

For a second review of W & C, click here.

For another recent gastropub visit, check out Ford’s Filling Station.

Related posts:

  1. Red Medicine the Relapse
  2. Sotto – Sicily con Sardo
  3. Seconds at Sotto
  4. Fraiche Santa Monica
  5. Seconds at Sam’s by the Beach
By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: beef, Cooking, Culver City California, Dessert, Donuts, gastro pub, gastropub, Grand Marnier, Los Angeles, Meat, pasta, Pizza, Pudding, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Restaurants and Bars, side dishes, United States, vegetarian, Waterloo & City

Go Go Go Sushi!

May29

Restaurant: Go’s Mart [1, 2]

Location: 22330 Sherman Way, Canoga Park, CA 91303  818.704.1459

Date: May 28, 2011

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: Possibly LA’s best sushi!

ANY CHARACTER HERE

The Food Club has been talking about taking a trip to Go’s Mart for months, but we finally got around to organizing it. For those of you who don’t know, Go’s Mart is a tiny strip mall joint in Canoga Park with some of the best sushi in the entire LA area. Go has a unique take on the art, as you will see below. My partner in crime, Erick, has been coming here for over ten years and he called Go (the owner/chef) up and arranged for a “special” omakase for us. For scheduling reasons we decided on a very long Saturday lunch.


So I went down tot he cellar and prepped the above lineup of sushi friendly wines, mostly whites and a couple lighter red Burgundies. Go doesn’t have a liquor license, so there is no corkage!


The storefront is about as unassuming as can be.


The master behind his counter.


Most people sit at the cramped little sushi bar.


Go’s has pretty much NO decor. It started as a Japanese market and they still sell various drinks and products.


Oddly, this includes video tapes — and what appears to be racy Japanese video tapes at that! Who even has a VCR in 2011?


We had the table (about half of it shown).


This unusual Spanish white earn 92 from Parker, “The 2007 Gorvia Blanco was sourced from a single 3 acre vineyard planted exclusively to the indigenous variety Dona Blanca (used in the past mostly for grappa production or as a table grape). Medium straw-colored, it reveals aromas of apple, pear, slate/mineral, citrus, and acacia. Crisp, concentrated, and intense (in the style of top-level unoaked Chablis), in the mouth it is vibrant, complex, and impeccably balanced. It should provide both intellectual and sensual pleasure for another 5-6 years.”


Ginger.


We open with a kind of sunomono. Pickled cucumbers, very orange salmon, shrimp, bonito flakes, flying fish eggs. It had a strong vinegar tang of course.

Then a lovely preparation of Akimo (monkfish liver). Sweet fermented miso sauce, sesame, seaweed, goji berries, gold flakes (Go loves gold flakes). This was wonderful.

Finished off the first wine already.

From my cellar, parker gives this Rhone white 95 points. “The 2007 Chateauneuf du Pape blanc is even better. Meriting the same rating as I gave it last year, it is a delicious, beautifully textured, light gold-colored white revealing plenty of white peach, apricot, nectarine, and honeysuckle notes as well as a distinctive florality and minerality. More honeyed and fuller-bodied than its 2008 counterpart, it should drink beautifully for 7-8 years, then go into an oxidative state. It is somewhat of a gamble as to what will happen thereafter. Beaucastel’s limited production luxury cuvee first produced in 1986 is their 100% Roussanne Vieilles Vignes offering. Fifty percent is barrel-fermented in one-year-old barrels, but no new oak is utilized.”


Kani (king crab) with fresh Japanese scallop in an uni (sea urchin) sauce and topped with real caviar. Erick licked his plate. The scallop and the uni were particularly wonderful.


The first round of Go’s unique take on regular sushi. Starting with the pink one on the right, and proceeding clockwise: Kime-Tai (special red snapper), butter fish with kelp, halibut with kelp, and kanpachi (young yellowtail). Everything was dusted with a bit of ancient sea salt, some of the fish had shiso, some yuzu, some the marinated kelp. You can see the little dark sliver of fresh black truffle on all the fish except the kanpachi. Not only was each piece of fish exceptionally fresh, but the additional elements gave them a unique (and complex) flavor profile.


Two of our friends even brought their four year old. She didn’t eat the omakase 🙂 But she did handle the LONG (4-5 hour) meal pretty darn well.


Santa Barbara jumbo prawn, uni, caviar. These were all females, with the roe (the red stuff). This was a succulent bit of prawn, but of course the uni/caviar thing just boosted it.


A fantastic Burgundy, Parker gives it 92, but I’d give it more like a 94. “The 2003 Clos Vougeot explodes from the glass with licorice, dark cherries, and a myriad of spices. A wine of considerable depth, it is packed with suave black fruits immersed in chocolate. Well-structured, ripe, and exceptionally long, it will merit a higher score if its alcoholic warmth is absorbed into the wine with time (something that sometimes occurs with Pinot Noirs). Projected maturity: 2008-2017.”


Oooh Toro, two ways. On top is O-toro (special extra fatty tuna belly) with onions and caviar. On the bottom is kawagishi toro (shredded) with sweet sauce, stronger onions, and gold flakes. Both were amazing, but the o-toro was mind blowing.


Scottish salmon, look how orange this stuff is! The one on top is smoked, the bottom raw. Both have a little bit of onion and are dusted with hibiscus salt. The smoked one tasted like lox sushi.


For a lunch party where half the people are going back to work afterward (Uncharted 3 has a big E3 deadline coming soon and many are Naughty Dogs), we cruised through the wine fast enough. 2003 Vosne-Romanee clos du chateau monopole, domaine du comte liger-belair.


On the left Saba (mackerel) and on the right seki-aji (mackerel from Kyushu, considered the best). The saba had truffle, and the second goji berry, which gave it a bit of a sour and salty taste. Great examples of these fish, and continuing Go’s interesting arrangement of flavors.


“Special albacore roll.” Slightly spicy crab wrapped in avocado and albacore and topped with toasted garlic. I’m not normally a crazy roll fan, but for this I made an exception!


Starting at the right (pink one) and going clockwise: ebi (sweet shrimp) with gold and salt, japanese scallop with yuzu and caviar, geoduck giant clam with shiso, and Santa Barbara abalone (with truffle). Yum!


The ebi heads return in fried form.


The cooking process weakens the molecular bonds in the complex sugar that makes up the shrimp shell, allowing to just be crunched whole. We left a few antennae behind.


Seared toro with gold and sweet ponzu. What can you say, excellent. Although, I do prefer it raw.


Our four year-old got this interesting sushi lollipop.


Blue crab hand roll. These had little sprigs of truffle in them, which took the whole thing to another level.


Starting with the darker fish on the right. Snapper, flounder fin (yuzu and salt), black cod (salt and kelp), and flounder body. Many of these (all but the black cod) had shiso, all were dusted in the hibiscus salt. I’m not a flounder connoisseur, but I was told that the fin (behind soft) was some of the best that can be had. Go’s prep certainly livens up even these “dull” whitefish. Of course the fish itself was impeccable.


Scallops with flying fish eggs and truffle in a truffle sauce. Yummy!

The 2003 Walter J. Oster Riesling Auslese. I got this at the winery in 2005. As we wound down the wine this sweeter take went perfectly.


The “volcano!”


I’m not exactly sure what was inside, but it was some kind of whitefish, real crab and seaweed, along with seaweed, sesame, flying fish eggs, and lots of dynamite. The whole thing was pretty damn tasty!


In the front snow crab, and the back kani (alaskan king crab) with uni and caviar. Well, if top grade crab isn’t good enough: add uni and caviar!


Two kinds of eel. Unagi (freshwater) and Anago (sea). Both in the sweet sauce, with a bit of kelp. Great eel!


Kanpachi (young yellowtail), with shiso, truffle, and yuzo.


And finally another round of Toro because we couldn’t resist!


Go finishes up with a bit of fruit drizzled in sweetened condensed milk. Very nice finisher. There are oranges, rasberries, strawberries, golden-berries, mulberries and blueberries.


Some of the fish in the cabinet. You can see the toros in the middle front.


More fish.

Close up on the toro.


Prawns and scallops.

So I do have to say that Go is some of the best Sushi in the city, and by extension all America. It’s up there with Urwasawa, although more straight sushi oriented (even if with unique flavors). Less traditional than Sushi Sushi, but blows away Sushi Zo and Sasabune (not that they aren’t great too on the scale of things).

And as an extra bonus there was a Chinese foot massage place right next door where we waited out our buzz for only $19.99 an hour!

A second Go Sushi review, here.

For more LA Sushi, click here.

For other Foodie Club meals (all crazy great) see here.

Related posts:

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By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Asian, Chablis, Chateauneuf du Pape, Cooking, Foodie Club, Go's Mart, Hamachi, Japanese cuisine, Los Angeles, Old vine, Omakase, Rhone, Sashimi, Sushi, Wine tasting descriptors

Palisades Yogurt Shoppe

May14

Restaurant: Yogurt Shoppe

Location: 873 Swarthmore Ave, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272. 310-459-0088

Date: Friday May 13, 2011!

Cuisine: Frozen Yogurt

Rating: Yummy & Popular.

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Recently a new frozen yogurt place opened in the heart of the Pacific Palisades Village. This is a popular and welcome addition to our little community, which has suffered a bit of a drought of unoccupied storefronts since the recent recession began (much of this is due to the apparently asinine landlord on Swathmore who refuses to rent out half the storefronts).


The frontage. You should have seen this 10 minutes before as school let out and the place was swamped with kids.


The have a great little format. You choose a cup, and then fill it up yourself from any combination of the ten soft-serve machines.


Then self load up from the extensive topping bar. Here are various fruit, cool “mango poppers” mochi balls, chocolate chips, snowcaps, bits of various candy bars etc.


Even more toppings. Lots of common candy types (including my favorite, skittles), nuts, sprinkles, and more.


Then an extensive wet topping selection, including hot fudge, caramel, and marshmallow sauce.


My son went simple. With tasty fat-free vanilla (which didn’t taste fat-free), strawberries, bannas, snowcaps, and sprinkles (aka jimmies to use East Coasters).


I jazzed mine up a bit more, with cookies and cream and dulce de leche yogurt, various candles, mochi, and caramel sauce. The mango poppers were cool, little Ikura (salmon roe sushi) look-alike orange balls that exploded mango in the mouth. I also discovered that Skittles when frozen and VERY hard on the teeth. But they’re still my favorite standard packaged candy.

For more high quality Westside dessert, check out Sweet Rose Creamery.

Related posts:

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By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Business, Cooking, Dessert, Frozen yogurt, Ice cream, Pacific Palisades Los Angeles, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Snacks, Yogurt Shoppe

Chili Addiction – The Heartstopper

May12

Restaurant: Chili Addiction

Location: 408 N La Cienega Blvd. (323) 203-1793

Date: May 7, 2011

Cuisine: Comfort Food

Rating: Tasty!

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Last Saturday a good friend of mine had a bunch of people over for a BBQ. He got all his food from Chili Addiction, a comfort food joint over in West Hollywood. This is not a complete review, although the place is good. I just wanted to show my evil creation.


Two HUGE sausages (the dark one is Italian, the light Jalapeno & Cheddar), over a bun, smothered in some kind of spicy meat chili (I don’t know which exact flavor).


Then I added some of their “mellow yellow” homemade mustard, some “lethal injection” Habenero sauce, ad a ton of cheddar cheese. Oh the arteries!


Rolling back a second, the dogs on the grill.


Chili addiction also makes homemade ice cream. It’s not bad, but nowhere near as good as their chili and dogs, or Sweet Rose Creamery (review) for that matter. The mint had the fake green, and wasn’t real mint leaves. It wasn’t bad or anything, but not super either. The vanilla was better, a very tasty french vanilla, probably a 7/10.


This homemade tiramisu baked by another guest on the other hand was a 10/10.


Creamy goodness.

Related posts:

  1. Quick Eats: Panini at Home
  2. Lasagne Bolognese Minus the Meat
  3. Saturday is for Salt
  4. Finally, Modern Dim sum in Santa Monica
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Cheese, chili, Chili Adiction, Comfort food, Cooking, Food, Home, Hot Dogs, Hot Sauce, Ice cream, Mint, mustard, Seasonings

Margarita Madness – Mother’s Day

May11

Yesterday I covered the making of awesome margarita mix. Today I’ll show how easy it is to pull the stuff out of the fridge and turn it into incredible frozen drinks.


The secret here is the Blendtec. Every summer I used to go through 2-3 “professional” grade blenders. They just couldn’t cut the job of of hacking ice to bits all summer. Fourth of July alone was certain to kill one or two. Enter the Blendtec. Yeah, it’s an expensive blender, but this puppy has lasted 4 years now without a hiccup, making it cheaper than all those dudes, and it tears anything to shreds.


It has like 256 built in programs, and even a USB port (never used it) for programming. But it does have all sorts of fancy dynamic speed stuff and auto detection and prevention of cavitation (when the ice gets stuck on the side and stops blending).


You can see the mix on the right. Just add some ice and frozen fruit to the bucket. In this case I used strawberries, rasberries, blackberries, and cherries.


Fill about halfway with mix. Blend.


I forgot to photo the result until it had melted a bit, but it tasted great. It hardly matters what fruit you use. This had a frutti di bosco thing going.


My next batch, I added mango pineapple, a few strawberries and cherries.


Better picture. This was closer to a classic strawberry margarita (something the mix does fantastically), but even better, a bit brighter in flavor.

Enjoy!

For how to make the mix, see here.

For other food reports, check out the food index.

Related posts:

  1. Margarita Madness – The Mix
By: agavin
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Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Alchohol, Bartending, Blender, Blendtec, Cooking, Frozen Fruit, Fruit, Independence Day (United States), Margarita, Tequi, Will It Blend?

Margarita Madness – The Mix

May10

I tend to error on the obsessive compulsive side (no duh). So, about six years ago when I first started making Margaritas seriously I went through a lengthy  experimentation phase to find the perfect recipe. Now one could (and I have) make a slightly better drink as a one off, but this recipe is tuned for the maximum quality/efficiency ratio. I’ve really honed this down to a system and it makes a superb margarita with fairly little effort. I’ve had 40 liters of mix consumed at one, so efficiency plays an important role!

The mix is crucial, but it’s also easy. Say no to that store bought neon-green chemical poison crap. That stuff should NEVER EVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES BE USED. No fake green. Never! I’m serious. Real high quality homemade mix lasts for months in the fridge, and can be used to make margaritas nearly instantly. You can use it straight on the rocks, or blended, or mix with fruit for any conceivable variation.


The components, more on each below.


The container is important. I love these 4L heavy duty containers with a good seal on the top and a separate flip up for pouring. 4L is a lot of mix, but I can easily go through 2L at a family party, or 7-8 of these containers at 4th of July!


For efficiency I use concentrated limeade. I used to use Rose’s Lime Juice, but this stuff is easier, keeps better, and actually tastier. Plus it has some pulp (which I like in this context). It also has a bit of sugar which kills two birds with one stone, negating the need to make simple syrup (sugar boiled into water). I have experimented with squeezing my own limejuice. It tastes a bit better, but the labor/quality ratio just doesn’t make it sensible. It takes A LOT of limes to make 32 liters of mix! Even one of these jugs will have you squeezing for an hour.


For bulk Margaritas I use an inexpensive Reposado tequila like this one. Never use crap tequila like normal Cuervo. Really good sipping tequila is a waste in a margarita, so this is a decent compromise. I also prefer the heavier more rustic taste of the reposado. Silver is a little too neutral. I’m a more is more kind of guy.


Generic Triple-sec is usually shit, so I always use Cointreau.


And technically my margaritas are Cadillac, as I add Grand Marinier. I experimented with and without, and I much prefer the extra complexity the hint of orange adds. If you are feeling really luxxe you can toss in a spoonful or three of orange concentrate too.


Start by just thunking in the concentrate.


Now a word about the ratios and various efficiencies in making large batches. It’s all about the ratio. I did extensive taste tests to come up with a magic series of numbers:

4 tequilla

2 cointrea

2 lime

1 grand marnier

This is the golden ratio. One simple application is using the concentrate as a measuring cup. Throw in one can, add two of tequila, one of cointreau, and half of grand mariner. That simple. You can do the same things with 750ml bottles. The 4L container perfectly fits 2 bottles tequila, 1 of  cointreau, half a bottle of grand mariner and two cans of concentrate (the concentrate is about 350-375ml, making it work out nicely with the 750ml bottles). This bottle method is super fast as you can just dump the bottles in wholesale on top of the concentrate.


Make sure the concentrate goes in first as plopping it in after is messy.


After all the ingredients are in, stir.


A finished half container. Store in the fridge, it keeps all summer really, although it’s certainly best within a few weeks. At the simplest, you can just pour over ice and enjoy, but I’ll get more into the complexities of actually using the stuff in my next post.

Continued with some coverage of actually making the drinks, here.

For other food reports, check out the food index.

By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Cadillac, Cointreau, Cooking, Grand Marnier, Margarita, Rose's Lime Juice, Syrup, Tequila, Triple sec

Josie Restaurant

May04

Restaurant: Josie Restaurant

Location:  2424 Pico Blvd. Santa Monica, Ca 90405. 310-581-9888

Date: April 30 & December 30, 2011

Cuisine: New American

Rating: Very reliable and tasty New American

ANY CHARACTER HERE

We go to Josie’s a couple times a year. The menu is pretty solidly in the mid 90s New American, and it doesn’t evolve very much, but it is very good and quality control is excellent. There is an emphasis of farmer’s market ingredients and interesting game meats too.


The bread.

Parker 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.”

I have been coming here since at least 1997 or 1998 and the Amuse, this gruyere and mushroom quiche never changes. Now it’s tasty, but I do find it odd that they NEVER mix anything up :-).

The appetizer half of the menu.


“Beet and Herbed Goat Cheese Tart. Sweetheart beets, toasted Oregon hazelnuts, baby mizuna.” Tastes as good as it looks.


This was a special. White asparagus (just come into season), gnochi, all in a butter sauce with a bit of cheese. The sauce is much like the classic Italian butter and sage sauce.


A special, mushrooms in a sherry cream sauce with a puff pastry. I love those sherry cream sauces, like bisque with even more butter.


This small but excellent Bordeaux was also from my cellars. “Grand Mayne is one of St.-Emilion’s best-run properties. Aside from a couple of hiccups in the early nineties, the quality has been consistently excellent, often outstanding. The 1996 Grand Mayne exhibits a dense purple color, and an attractive nose of white flowers, sweet blackberries, cherries, minerals, and pain grille. It is medium to full-bodied, with excellent depth, an elegant personality, and a clean, mineral-like finish with moderate tannin. New oak is noticeable in the flavors. Anticipated maturity: 2003-2014.”


This was a split (half bottle) and the restaurant even had a mini decanter!


The mains.


Another special, salmon with spring peas, tomatoes, etc. A very nice seasonal take on the salmon, cooked perfectly through.


Trout in lemon butter sauce with local market vegetables.


And another special, a duck leg stuffed with duck confit, little gnocchi, and a meaty reduction sauce. This was a really nice duck dish.


“‘Tagine’ of Beef Short Ribs. Braised Moroccan-style and served with curried cous cous and a side of spicy almond yogurt.” I’ve probably ordered this dish 15-20 times, and it never disappoints.


The little cracker.


And the almond yoghurt underneath.


Notice how much I left of it. I love the mix in this dish. The savory richness of the meat, the soft cous cous, the bit of cream and yoghurt (always good with a heavy meat), the slightly spiced (but not spicy flavor). Yum!


The desserts.


“Chocolate Bread Pudding. Whipped cream, vanilla bean ice cream, chocolate sauce.” About as good as a bread pudding gets. Very similar in fact to the one at Sam’s by the Beach. This one is even more chocolaty though.


Super yum!

Josie’s doesn’t disappoint. It does mystify me slightly why there is so little change in the menu, considering particularly that the quality is so high. I mean, the supplementary vegetables move around with the seasonal and market changes, but the basic list of dishes doesn’t vary much, and I’ve been coming here well over ten years. Personally, if I was in the kitchen everyday I’d be bored. However, seeing as I come 2-3 times a year, I’m all over it.

If you liked this New American, click for reviews of similar places: Rustic Canyon (REVIEW 1, REVIEW 2), Tavern (REVIEW 1, REVIEW 2, REVIEW 3), or Gjelina (REVIEW).

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By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: beef, beets, Brochon, Cooking, Dessert, Gevrey-Chambertin, Old vine, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Salad, Salmon, Sandwiches, Short rib, side dishes, vegetarian, Wine tasting descriptors

Ford’s Filling Station

May03

Restaurant: Ford’s Filling Station

Location:  9531 Culver Blvd, Culver City. 310-202-1470

Date: April 28, 2011

Cuisine: Gastropub

Rating: Always great for lunch.

ANY CHARACTER HERE

It was a gorgeous day (again) in LA, so I headed out to find another good lunch spot with outside dining. We ended up in Culver City with its rather large selection of good lunch spots and specifically at Ford’s Filling Station, which is run by Benjamin Ford, son of Han Solo. The place has been around awhile but before this he had another place in Beverly Hills which was very good — but I can’t remember the name.


Notice the “pig country” sign. They offer on the menu a 8 person minimum whole pig dinner with a whole roast pig!


Outside, there are two different patios. In general, Culver city has a lot of outside dining which is nice. For some mysterious reason LA restaurants often lack al fresco. This makes no sense given our weather.


The menu.


“Bacon wrapped dates, stuffed with cheese.” Um yum! I love this dish, and I’ve had it at many places (like recently at Upstairs 2). These were as good as any, showing off the sweet and salty.


“Shrimp Curry, jasmine rice, marash pepper and applewood smoked bacon.” Also a really great dish. Very similar to the one I had at Gladstones. The bacon made it even better.


Sliced serrano peppers in has you want to spice it up.

“Pulled Pork Panini, melted gouda and spicy pepper relish.” The beans were awesome too, with a nice smoky porcine flavor.


A close up of the sandwich itself. I had expected something like a North Carolina pulled pork sandwich. That’s kinda tangy. This was more the succulent roast pork with cheese. Yum.


The dessert menu.


“Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich, chocolate chip cookie and mint chocolate-chip ice cream.” The ice cream was great, very similar to the mint ice cream I had at Sweet Rose Creamery, tasting as it did of fresh mint leaves. The fudge was good too. The cookie needed more butter, it was a little dry. Not bad, and the overall dessert was still very good, but with a really awesome cookie, it could have been… really awesome.


Inside, the stripped down old-school culver city building provides a nice deconstructed interior. I’ve never been here at night but I bet it’s a good watering hole.

Another good Culver City place is Fraiche, here for review.

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By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Bacon, Benjamin Ford, Chocolate chip cookie, Cookie, Cooking, Culver City, Culver City California, Dessert, Ford's Filling Station, Harrison Ford, Home, Ice cream, Los Angeles, Meat, Mint Chocolate Chip, North Carolina, Pig, pork, Pulled Pork, Sandwich, vegetarian

Mark’s Duck House

Apr29

Restaurant: Mark’s Duck House [1, 2]

Location:  6184 Arlington Blvd # A, Falls Church, VA 22044  703-532-2125

Date: April 23, 2011

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Very very good cantonese.

ANY CHARACTER HERE

This seeming hole in the wall in Falls Church Virginia features some of the best Cantonese food I’ve had in the states. So much so that wine guru (and foodie) Robert Parker is constantly eating (and tasting) here.

You can spot an authentic Chinese restaurant by the unassuming facade.

The minimalist decor.

The menu of sketchy meat cuts unsuited to white-bread American taste.

And the rack of roast ducks!

This was a late night family dinner, so Chinese beer seemed to suite the mood.

I’ve loved hot and sour soup since I was a kid, and this is an exemplary example. Basically perfect.

Classic Har Gow, little shrimp dumplings wrapped in rice pastry. Delectable too, as good as at various Dim Sum joints like Ping Pong, The Palace, or Xino.

They even have their own special sweet and vinegary soy for them.

And the deadly hot chili oil.

But there is one real reason why one goes to a restaurant named “Mark’s Duck House.” The pecking duck! Crispy roast whole duck is carved off the bone and brought to the table.

With the traditional scallions.


And my all time favorite, the plum sauce. This stuff has a sweet and tangy quality typical of Chinese cuisine that I just can’t get enough of.

All of the ingredients are combined in a pancake.

And then rolled into a burrito like shape. This is a delectable mix of textures and flavors. The rich duck meat, the crispy skin, the hot dripping fat off the duck, the tangy sauce, the scallions, the dry texture of the pancake. Yum! And this is as good a duck as I’ve had in the states. We wen’t to a place in Bejing a couple years back where we had three whole ducks each done a slightly different way and flayed at the table by a master carver who could have had a part in Kill Bill. That was some serious duck, and slightly better. Still, you don’t have to go all the way to China for great duck like this.

Lobster, causeway style, in crispy garlic, chillies, and chives. I’d never had this exact dish before, but it was wonderful. The closest I’ve had was at a Chinese friends 20-some course wedding banquet where the lobster was sauteed in a ginger garlic sauce. This version is dry (more or less), a little bit hot, and vary garlicky. But damn good!


Sauteed chive blossoms in oil and garlic. We asked the waiter for a vegetable recommend and out came this seasonal dish. Chive blossoms. I didn’t even know there was such a thing, and it looks like a big pile of chives. It turned out to be one of my favorite Chinese vegetable dishes in the states. Again in China I had some crazy good stuff, including one or two great all vegetable meals, but these were nice and garlicky again, piping hot.

Mark’s Duck House never fails to disappoint, but the menu is gigantic and potentially perilous. There are like 12 pages of densely packed dishes. Abalone, sea cucumbers, shark fin, you name it. One time a couple years ago we ordered oysters in garlic and ginger sauce and got this plate with three monstrous oyster beasts we nicknamed the “Grenades.” Each was about the size of a World War II weapon of the same name. Just the meat of the oyster, the size of a grenade!

Related posts:

  1. Taking back Little Saigon
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  3. Finally, Modern Dim sum in Santa Monica
  4. Christmas is for Dim Sum
  5. Quick Eats: Brentwood
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Cantonese cuisine, Chinese cuisine, Cooking, Dim sum, Falls Church, Falls Church Virginia, Har Gow, Home, Hot and Sour Soup, Lobster, Mark's Duck House, Peking Duck, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, side dishes, vegetarian

Taking back Little Saigon

Apr28

Restaurant: Little Saigon

Location: 6218 Wilson Blvd, Falls Church, VA 22044-3210 (703) 536-2633

Date: April 22, 2011

Cuisine: Vietnamese

ANY CHARACTER HERE

One of my favorite places back “home” (Washington D.C.) is Little Saigon, a local hole in the wall Vietnamese place with absolutely stellar food. I reviewed it once before, but I’m back again for more.

This is just a page of the 6 page menu, for the whole thing look at the older review.

A nice sparkling wine goes well with Vietnamese.

My dad also brought this old cab. But it was corked, and probably not the worlds best wine to begin with :-).

Table condiments.

This is marinated raw beef, soaked in fish sauce, with onions, chilies, and basil. Not a typical American flavor, but amazing nonetheless.

These are an interestingly different take on these classic soft Vietnamese rolls. Besides some of the usual veggies (lettuce, mint, bean sprouts, vermicelli, shrimp, etc) they also have a bit of spicy pork sausage.

With the crucial dipping sauce. These are really tasty.

This is a four person portion of the rice noodle pork soup with some kind of dumpling. There’s also cilantro, scallions, peanuts and who knows what else. But it’s certainly delicious with one of those complex flavor and texture profiles that is typical of good Vietnamese.

The individual bowl (approximately a quarter of the first bigger bowl).

Chicken wings sauteed in butter and garlic. Basically Vietnamese fried chicken. Sweeter and crunchier than the American equivalent and way strong on the garlic. Very good for sure.

Crispy orange duck. This must be Chinese inspired, but it’s amazing, totally amazing. The duck is perfect, and the sweet/bitter tang of real orange peels (not to mention the schechuan peppers) delectable.

Mixed seafood (all the S’s – shrimp, scallops, squid) in lemongrass sauce. Nice tasty subtle flavor to the sauce. This is a fairly exotic taste, but really good.

Little Saigon never disappoints. And this whole meal was like $80 for four!

Related posts:

  1. Food as Art: Little Saigon
  2. Red Medicine the Relapse
  3. Fogo de Chao – Beef!
  4. Red Medicine is the Cure
  5. Quick Eats: Brentwood
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: beef, Cooking, Ho Chi Minh, Ho Chi Minh City, Home, Little Saigon, pork, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Seafood, side dishes, Soups and Stews, spring roll, United States, vegetarian, Vietnam, Vietnamese cuisine

Fogo de Chao – Beef!

Apr27

Restaurant: Fogo de Chao

Location:  133 North La Cienega Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA 90211-2206  (310) 289-7755

Date: April 21, 2011

Cuisine: Brazilian Grilled Meats

Rating: Meat meat meat!

ANY CHARACTER HERE

I’m not normally a big fan of chains, but Fogo is one that works for me. It took the formula found is various independant Churrasquero restaurants and made it into a solid reliable festival of meat. And at lunch it offers tremendous value, particularly in comparison to a typical good American steak house. In case you’ve been living under a rock, this is a style of Brazilian BBQ where skewered meats are pulled fresh off the fire and carved at the table.


The fully carnivorous menu of meats. Fogo only offers two dining options. Salad bar, or salad bar + meat. Both are all you can eat.


The salad bar is extensive enough by itself, offering not only some token vegtables but a range of cheeses and cured meats.


Potato salad type salads.

Bacon!


Regular salad.


Dressings.

Cured meats and cheeses.


A giant full drum of real parmesan.


More salad.


I go sparingly in this department because I’m really here for the seared flesh.


The way things work at this kind of Brazilian BBQ is that the servers bring by the skewers of up to 15 different meats and cave them onto your plate. Fogo’s innovation here — and believe me it is a solid innovation — is this magic disk. Each person has one and you can flip it over. Above is the stop side.


And the go side. They key here is that you can control the awesome flow of meat onto your plate. Before the disk invention, you either got barraged or you were forgotten. Now, if you need a fifteen minute breather, no problem. Go red, then back again!


Beef sirloin. Delicious pure beef.

Prime rib eye. Fatty goodness! Actually, a bit too fatty for my taste, but many love it.


Chicken legs and pork sausages. They manage to make even chicken taste great, and the sausages are rich, hearty and delectable.


Here is all that, plus some pork rib, loaded on the plate. The rib on top, chicken and sausages on the left, sirloin on the bottom, the ultra fatty prime rib in the middle.


The pork BBQ ribs. This is one of my favorites.


Watch that soft piggy cut!


Filet minion. Lean and tender.


The garlic sirloin. This had an awesomely intense garlic beefyness to it.


Garlic sirloin on the left, filet on the right.


Lamb chops.


On the plate. Super tasty and tender. Sizzling hot.

Chicken breast (left) and filet (right) wrapped in bacon.


bacon truly does make everything better. They chicken might even have been tastier than the beef.


Picanha, one of the house specialties. A bit of prime sirloin seasoned with sea salt.


The bacon-wrapped filet, pork rib, and picanha (left to right). The last is a really tasty cut.


Fogo also throws a lot of sides on the table (included in the price). Cheesy mashed potatoes.


Fried polenta with parmesan.


Fried plantains. There is also cheese bread, but being passover, we didn’t take any and so I don’t have a photo.


The decor is sleek and modern, and they have a lot of hearty wines.


It’s easy to let your eyes exceed your stomach here. This refuse is just one person’s “leavings.” At lunch all this gluttony costs only $32.50, which is pretty impressive. You can easily make an entire day’s meal out of it!

For another take on excessive BBQ meats, see the Japanese Secret Beef joint.

Related posts:

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  5. Red Medicine the Relapse
By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: bbq, beef, Beverly Hills California, Cooking, Fogo de Chão, Grilled, Home, Meat, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Salad, salad bar, side dishes, vegetarian

The “Reform Kosher” for Passover Tuna Melt

Apr23

We were scrounging around for lunch and came up with this variant passover tuna melt. While “passover” compliant it is in the tradition of the Great Trefa Banquet of 1883. You’ll see why. My wife did not participate — for the same reason.


So in making the tuna itself. At home I use this red chunk Italian tuna packed in olive oil which is amazing. Here I only had some Trader Joe’s albacore packed in water. So I added some olive oil (I don’t like mayo with my tuna). I also threw in some chopped cornichons, fresh ground pepper, lemon juice.


And mustard. Now this is a great mustard, but as we searched my mom’s very deep pantry, it came up.


Notice the price on this baby, and the yellowed tag. Today you’d find this tub for around $29, therefore dating this particular example to the 80s. We moved on to a lesser, but “younger” mustard.


The tuna.


The matzah, waiting.


Here’s the Trefa, a little Prosciutto.

Matzah, ham, then tuna.


A nice aged cheddar (goes so well with the ham).


All four.


A little trip to the toaster oven and…


Voila.


Close up. Yum!


Others who aren’t tomato haters used some of these.


As shown.


And after baking.


Our explorations in the pantry also turned up this vintage can of hazelnut oil, complete with archaic french price tag. It might date back to the late 70s!

For a similar non-passover snack, see here.

To see my passover seder, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Passover Seder 2011 – day 2
  2. Passover Seder 2011 – day 1
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Black pepper, Cooking, Lemon juice, lunch, Matzo, Olive oil, Passover, Prosciutto, Sandwich, Tuna, Tuna melt

Passover Seder 2011 – day 2

Apr22

This year we hosted the first seder (SEE HERE), but my Mom cooked the second. That means a very high bar of quality.


Parker 91 for the 2001 Opus One. “Tasted twice Deep garnet-black colour. Still a lot of primary fruit with dark cherry and blackberry aromas complimented by cloves, cardamom and a hint of mint. The medium to full bodied palate provides a medium+ level of very finely grained tannins and medium+ acidity. Long finish with lingering earthy / mineral flavours. Drink now to 2019. Tasted April 2009.”

The 1998 Haut Maillet was a typical mature pomerol. Tasty, but a bit sour.


The seder plate.


The ubiquitous matzah.


Horoset, a mixture of apples, nuts, cinnamon and other spices.


Mom’s homemade horseradish, sweetened and colored with beet juice.


The fully set table.


The components of the Hillel sandwich, a combination of matzah, horoset, and horseradish.


A sample Hillel sandwich. For more details, see here.


The salad.


Plated, endives, other greens, and smoked kosher trout. Very refreshing, and tasty.


Homemade matzah ball soup. The classic chicken broth and light fluffy balls.


Broccoli Rabe.


Sauteed with pine-nuts and currents


Brisket braised in sweet and sour sauce. Cooked to extreme tenderness.


Extra gravy.


On the plate.

To see the first night of passover, click here.

For the Hillel Sandwich, here.

Related posts:

  1. Passover Seder 2011 – day 1
  2. The Hillel Sandwich
  3. Brunch at Tavern 3D
  4. Food as Art: Chanukah in Style
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Brisket, Cooking, Dinner, Hillel the Elder, Home, home cooking, Horseradish, Jews, Matzah ball, Matzo, opus one, Passover, Passover Seder, Passover Seder Plate, Pomerol, Salad, Wine

Paulette Macarons

Apr02

Store: Paulette Macarons

Location: 9466 Charleville Boulevard at Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90212 310. 275 0023

Date: March 30, 2011

Cuisine: French Macarons

Rating: Very niche, but some of the best macarons I’ve tasted

Only major metropoli like LA, NY, and San Francisco can support places like this. A dedicated French macaroon bakery! I’m not exactly sure why it is that macarons have taken off (at least in LA) during the last year or two, but they have. Not that I mind, I’ve always been a fan of french baking and macarons specifically. I enjoy the some texture and intense flavors. Previously I would only get them in the petite fours courses at very high end resteraunts, now I can have them with the incomparable Cafe Luxxe coffee — or here.

They had 13 flavors on display when I went in. I tried 11 of them. These are decadent little treats, but not exactly “good value” at $19 for 12!

You can get little towers of them if you are so inclined.

Here is my little $19 worth. General notes: the texture was nicely soft, and the fillings distinct and generous. These were a bit firmer and less spongy than some macarons, but still marvelous, probably 8/10 on texture, 10/10 on flavor. The really great thing about these macarons is how intense the flavor is.

Left to right:

1. Peanut – Like a little nutter butter.

2. Colombian Coffee – one of the weaker flavors. Good, but I would have preferred more intense.

3. Sicilian Pistachio – also a little mild, but certainly pistachio flavored, like one of the bands of spumoni ice cream.

4. Carmel and Salt – Amazing, although perhaps Tavern (SEE HERE) makes a slightly punchier variant. The carmel itself was wonderful.

5. Sweet Wedding Almond – Amazing too. This had that perfect marzipan almond taste. Not something everyone might love, but I certainly did.

6. Coffee again

7. Violet Cassis – Really yummy, intense, and interesting. Flowery and fruity all at once.

8. Passion fruit – 9/10 for intensity (more is more with passion fruit).

9. Caribbean Chocolate – The middle was delectable, the outside merely good.

10. Lemon – intense and nice, like a lemon tart.

11. Rose – wow. I loved this one. Like the almond, not for everyone, but tasted like Turkish Delight or Persian wedding treats.

12. Coconut – very nice fresh toasted coconut flavor.

By: agavin
Comments (13)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Almond, Bakery, Cake, coffee, Cookie, Cooking, Dessert, Food, Home, macaroon, Passion Fruit, Rose, San Francisco, Turkish Delight

Sushi Sushi Sushi

Apr01

Restaurant: Sushi Sushi [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 326 1/2 Beverly Dr. Beverly Hills, CA 90212. (310) 277-1165

Date: March 30, 2011

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: Old school sushi – fantastic fish and presentation!

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Sushi Sushi is fast becoming one of my preferred sushi places. I had actually intended to try out Sushi Zo, but they were closed for the week so I had to “settle” for this new favorite. We decided to try out the “large omakase” this time, as I had done both ala carte (HERE) and the medium one (HERE). It was great as expected, although not much different than the medium, which I think is a better value.

One of the chefs with the big slab of home ground real wasabi. This is one of many ways in which the men are separated from the boys. Accept no powdered green stuff.

Japanese bonito sashimi, lightly seared. Marinated seaweed and pickles. Soft and flavorful.

This device is used to shave the daikon radish into long paper-like strips.

Each of us got slightly different sashimi plates. This one is the “no sea urchin” version.

Ankimo (monkfish liver), with scallions and pickles in a ponzu. Perfectly fresh, with that rich creamy texture that it’s supposed to have, a hint of grainy, a hint of fishy,  but very mild (no such thing as monkfish liver with NO taste of the sea — what would be the point of that?)

Raw Japanese scallops with salmon roe.

Saba Mackerel with miso paste.

The urchin plate, only the middle is different.

Two kinds of uni (sea urchin). Santa Barbara and Japanese. It tops a pile of squid bits and includes pickles and wasabi. The combo is delicious, and all texture.

The rounds of regular sushi begins. Note that all the sushi here has been pre-applied with sauce, even when it’s just soy sauce. This red yummy is maguro (Blue fin tuna). This is some of the best tuna I’ve ever had, totally melts in the mouth.

Yuzu, Japanese citrus. Shavings or juice from this little fruit are added to a number of dishes. The chef keeps it sitting on the freezer pipes in the fish case so it’s easy to shave.

Tai (Red Snapper), with a ponzu and shavings of the yuzu. This is a lighter fish, but I’m very partial to it.

Chu-toro (medium grade fatty tuna belly). This is also melt in the mouth amazing.

Kampachi (young yellowtail). Like Himachi, but more tender.

The chu-toro was just a warmup for this o-toro, the even more fatty toro. It melted in the mouse like butter. Always one of my (and everyone else’s) favorites.

Some very specific kind of yellowtail, “vury yellowtail?” It was hard to remember the exact name. But it was darn good.

This was a piece of scottish salmon. One of the best pieces of salmon I’ve ever had. Incredible!

Aji (Spanish Mackerel), with only the very slightest bit of fishy. Again, a great mackerel. Somehow I missed the photo of it AGAIN!

Kohada (Japanese Herring) This was great herring, but is certainly a bit fishy — herring always is.

Saba mackerel, not as good as the Spanish one, but nothing to mock either. There is a bit of “batera” seaweed on top and some pepper.

A fiery new dish in the works.

Seared toro on the bottom, scottish salmon on top. Both delectable. They taste very different half cooked. Warm, fattier, with a bit fo char flavor.

Another round of sashimi. Sweet shrimp, Japanese scallop, giant clam, and taco (octopus). Are were prefect examples of the breed, and doused with a little bit of yuzu (just the fruit, not with the pepper) to test them up. The shrimp had a wasabi “ebi brain” sauce. This is really a mix of shrimp guys (liver). Sounds awful, but tastes good.

And it continues.

Ikura (salmon roe). Perfectly fresh, with just the slightest hint of brine (good). Wonderfully taught, they explode in the mouth like little brine balls.

They say you should judge a sushi chef by his tamago (sweet omelet). By those standards Sushi Sushi rules.

Kampachi cheek. This was marinated in one of those sweet broths I would frequently get in Japan. There was a bit of bone but the meat was incredibly soft (consistency like tuna fish?) and delectable. I really enjoyed the heavily marinated root vegetable. I don’t remember what these are, but I’d get them in Japan all the time.

Asari miso (clam broth miso soup). This is a very light miso, with a clam brothy quality. Not too salty, very nice.

Uni (sea urchin) sushi. I can’t get enough of this. It amazes me to think that even just a couple years ago (bear in mind that I have been eating sushi since 1978) I didn’t like the stuff.

Diced Toro handroll. This shiso leaf and shaved yuzu inside, which added texture, tang, and the exotic and wonderful flavor of the leaf.

Unagi (Fresh water eel). BBQ, with the sweet eel sauce. This was some damn fine eel, as good a piece as I’ve had.

The omakase included dessert, this concoction of fruit, green tea ice cream, green tea panna cotta, sweet bean sauce, and whipped cream. Oh yes, and with a “mens pocky” as garnish and corn flakes underneath. Pretty good, and all Japanese.

If  you like sushi —  and how doesn’t? — then you owe it to yourself to try Sushi Sushi. This is some seriously good fish.

CLICK HERE for a review of the Sushi Sushi medium omakase.

CLICK HERE for a review of Sushi Sushi ala carte.

Or here for the LA sushi page.

Related posts:

  1. Food as Art – Sushi Sushi
  2. Sushi Sushi = Yummy Yummy
  3. Sasabune – Dueling Omakases
  4. Takao Two
  5. Food as Art – Takao
By: agavin
Comments (7)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Asian, Beverly Hills California, Cooking, Dessert, Eel, Hamachi, Japanese cuisine, Omakase, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Sashimi, Sea urchin, Sushi, Sushi Sushi, Tamago, Tuna, Uni, Wasabi, Yellowtail
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