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Archive for Culver City

Old Baroli at Etta

Jul23

Restaurant: Etta

Location: 8801 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232. (424) 570-4444

Date: November 10, 2021 and June 10, 2022

Cuisine: Italian Wood-fire grill

Rating: Tasty, hearty

_

Etta is a new “transplant” from Chicago bringing a sort of modern Italian American wood-fire grill thing to LA.
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It’s located adjacent to the Shay boutique hotel in Culver City.

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The interior is large and attractive with a lively bar scene.
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On 11/10/22 we brought an all Italian slate of mostly old Baroli, plus this bonus white of mine.

2015 Azienda Agricola Valentini Trebbiano d’Abruzzo. AG 93+. Good bright yellow. The pure, complex nose suggests lime, yellow apple and botanical herbs. Then very precise, intense and penetrating, if still youthfully unevolved, conveying a powerful, three-dimensional impression of extract and a deep, textured, multilayered mouthfeel. The wine closes very long and juicy, with herbal and saline elements that titillate the taste buds. Another outstanding wine from Valentini, who never misses a beat with his Trebbiano d’Abruzzo.

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1937 Giacomo Borgogno & Figli Barolo Riserva.
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1958 Giacomo Borgogno & Figli Barolo Riserva.
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1961 Giacomo Borgogno & Figli Barolo Riserva.

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1964 Giacomo Borgogno & Figli Barolo Riserva.
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1967 Giacomo Borgogno & Figli Barolo Riserva.
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1970 Francesco Rinaldi e Figli Barolo.
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1978 Giacomo Borgogno & Figli Barolo Riserva.

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The menu in November 2021.
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And in June 2022.

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Fire- baked focaccia. Ricotta, honey, truffle. Nice and fluffy.

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Meatballs. Sunday sauce, fire-wilted kale, herbed yogurt, grilled bread. A bit of heat.
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Roasted eggplant. Tahini ricotta, buttered hazelnuts, Calabrian chie, herb salad. Pretty darn spicy actually.
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Bubbling shrimp. Ginger, chiltepin chile, mint.

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Rack-roasted oysters. smoked-tomato butter, lovage, lemon.
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Grilled pork jowl. Smashed cucumbers, peanuts, herb salad.

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Little Gem Salad. Avocado, cucumbers, creme fraiche vinaigrette. Nice textures.

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Pizza toppings.

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Wild Mushroom Pizza. Goat cheese, black truffle raclette. Excellent except for the truffle oil.
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Fire Pizza. Sausage, giardiniera, chile de arbol. Spicy sausage basically.
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Cacio e pepe agnolotti. Pecorino, black pepper.
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Lumache. Sun gold pomodoro, basil, olive oil.
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Casarecce bolognese. Parmesan fondue.
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Spaghettone. Uni, lemon, black pepper.
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Orecchiette. Crispy sausage, cavolo nero, tomato jus, fennel pollon. Lots of hearty flavor. Some spice.

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Cacio e pepe. Mafaldine, pecorino, black pepper. Lovely, nice emulsion.

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Orecchiette with red sauce.

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Brussels sprouts. Honey dijon vinaigrette, crispy bacon, dill yogurt, herbs.

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Market haricot vrt. Grilled romano beans, sweet peppers, lemon vinaigrette, purslane.
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40oz bone-in hearth-roasted short rib. This is the fixings tower.

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Herbs.
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Pickles, sauces, and more herbs.

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The actual meat. 40oz bone-in hearth-roasted short rib. You made your own pita/taco like things out of this. delicious.

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Bread and “sauce”?

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Dry-aged whole branzino. Brown butter, capers, parsley, lemon.

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Spinalis. Last of the season tomatoes, wild arugula, parmesan & date vinegar.
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Hanger steak. Tamarind glazed bok choy, pepita butter, charred cipollini, crispy buckwheat. Nice steak.

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Dessert menus from the two days.

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Mint chip semifreddo. Devil’s food cake, creme de menthe, chocolate sorbet.
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Chocolate ice cream. Caramel, brownies.

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Strawberry ice cream. Olive oil, sea salt.
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Double Chocolate Mousse. Feuilletine crunch, dark chocolate cremeux, banana sherbert, oreo crumbs.

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Etta was good. Hearty and perhaps just as much American as it is Italian — maybe more than 50% — but it is pretty tasty. The space is large, loud, and attractive. Service was pretty good. Very friendly for sure, although I had to go “grab” some glasses because I’m impatient.

Our wines on this Barolo night (the second visit was more casual) were really awesome. Old Borgogno rocks!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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Related posts:

  1. Drago Centro Baroli
  2. Angelini Osteria
  3. Mountain Eats – Campo
  4. Italian? – Tom George
  5. Palmeri again
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Barolo, Culver City, Etta, Foodie Club, Italian cuisine, pasta, Pizza, Wine

Quick Eats – Pasta Sisters

Jul18

Restaurant: Pasta Sisters

Location: 3280 Helms Ave, Culver City, CA 90232. (424) 603-4503

Date: November 5, 2021

Cuisine: Pasta

Rating: Good pasta, weird fast casual format

_

I met John G for a nice little lunch in Culver City on this particular Friday.

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Pasta Sisters in located on the corner of Helm’s Bakery.
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Yep. Helms bakery location.
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Small interior space with very little (or no?) interior dining space.
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The fast casual menu at the counter.
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A bit of focaccia bread.
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Spaghetti Truffle. A daily special simple pasta with white truffle.
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Spaghetti Bottarga. Dry Sardinian mullet roe, olive oil, garlic.
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Tagliatelle Porcini. Fresh Italian porcini, cream, parsley.
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Gnocchi Pesto. Pine nuts, basil, parmigiano reggiano, pecorino romano, extra virgin olive oil.
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BRESAOLA CARPACCIO. air dried carpaccio, arugula, shaved parmigiano reggiano, lemon olive oil.

This is pretty good pasta, but it is served in an odd fast casual format. Typical counter ordering where you pair the very small number of pastas with a variety of simple sauces. The results are quite “tight” (aka good) but very very “classic.” They aren’t new style more integrated pasta dishes like at a place like Felix. As such, I’d only come for a quick lunch. I don’t do fast casual formats for dinner. But if I was near Culver City and craving pasta it’s not bad at all. There is a very nice patio too.

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After lunch on this particular day we went down the block and tried some ice cream.

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This place specializes in home made (simple) ice cream put inside cookies.
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Voila.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Quick Eats – Colapasta
  2. Quick Eats – Obica SM
  3. Quick Eats – AR Cucina
  4. Quick Eats: Piccolo
  5. Quick Eats – Margo’s
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Culver City, pasta, Quick Eats

Iron Teapot Dome

Feb05

Restaurant: Iron Teapot Dum Sum & Bar

Location: 10306 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90034. (310) 736-1803

Date: August 18, 2021

Cuisine: Dim Sum

Rating: Good food, terrible service system

_

I was surprised to hear that a “real” dim sum restaurant had opened in Culver City. It’s certainly a neighborhood I know well having had an office there for years and owned and operated a restaurant (just blocks from this location). The concept is basically a menu like the “daytime” menu from a regular Cantonese dim sum place, without the evening banquet menu.
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The interior space is tiny, right on busy Venice Blvd near the many good Indian and Mexican places.
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They have a large outside patio which was great on this warm August night. They also have one of those whacky “staff free” ordering systems where you order on your phone, no physical menus, just a QR code, and the food comes to the table. This turned out to be quite the issue (more on this at the bottom).
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Chili oil, ginger, mustard.
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They give you containers where you can mix your own blends which is nice.
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Fresh chopped persian cucumbers tossed in a sesame oil with sweetened and salted garlic.
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涼拌海蜇. Cold jellyfish marinated in a sesame oil, vinegar and Chinese spices.
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哈高 蝦 – Crystal Shrimp Dumpling.
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Crystal steamed dumpling made with shrimp and chives.

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大烧卖燒賣 Sui Mai. Plump cylindrical steamed dumplings made of juicy pork and ground shrimp topped with fish roe/Masago.
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排骨. Steamed pork spare ribs in a garlic and black bean sauce.
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咖哩雞餃. Curry Chicken Crystal dumpling. We’re dim sum on the westside, we have a license to be a bit different. It’s nice to see some variants from the usual dim sum like this.
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鮑魚糯米鸡 . Abalone, Chicken, and sticky rice wrapped in a lotus leaf glutinous rice steamed and steamed. Abalone is a sea snail that tastes like heaven.
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The interior.
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Braised Chicken Feet, in a sweet garlic soy, sesame oil and onion sauce. This version is not as saucy and gloopy, allowing you to enjoy succulent bird feet tendons & skin the right way.
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Honeycomb beef/cow stomach braised and steamed with five spices, garlic, and sweet soy so that it tastes like.. um… um.. heavenly goodness.
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叉烧BBQ Pork – BBQ tender pork with a sweet Chinese BBQ sauce.
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咸水角. Fried Soft sweet Mochi stuffed with ground pork and chicken. Classic favorite that is crunchy on the outside with soft mochi filling.
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Classic steamed Turnip Cake with ham prepared with a light fry (different from the traditional pan fry).
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Light & crispy fried soft tofu with salt, pepper, and five spice. 椒鹽炸豆腐.
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Cuttlefish & Pork Soup Dumpling. Juicy pork dumpling mixed with the unique flavor cuttlefish. Blue Xiao Long Bao.
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韩元–辣椒油. Ground shrimp and pork filled wontons in a spicy peppercorn, malat chili oil.
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腊肠包. Classic steamed bun wrapped over classic Chinese sausage. Dim sum “snausages”.
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Classic Dim Sum dessert made with an egg custard baked in a flaky puff pastry (Not the less tasty pie crust style). This is the better style.
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黑流沙包 Premium dessert made with black squid ink and filled with a sweetened salted egg yolk that is specially prepared to ooze out like Lava. Made only by highly skilled Dim Sum chefs. Remember not to pop this in your mouth. Open it over your plate and enjoy the oozing heavenly goodness of the sweet salted egg yolk.
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馬拉糕. Ma Lai Go is a dim sum classic steamed sponge cake that’s extremely soft, springy and sweet.
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The gang.
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The dim sum itself was actually quite good. Maybe not on a piece by piece basis quite as good as a great SGV dim sum place, but quite solid. Almost as good and better by far than someplace like Bao or Dim Sum House. And there was a nice variety of dishes. More even than many regular dim sum places, but missing some of the more homestyle Chinese items like congee or Cheung Fun (which is a total dim sum staple).

The main problem lay with the weird phone based ordering system. Now granted, we were there only a couple weeks (maybe a month or two) after they opened, so hopefully they have fixed some of the bugs — but it was awful. We ordered. Stuff arrived in a completely random order with huge gaps between dishes. At first, they were stuck in some kind of infinite loop where they brought us “3 sets of crystal shrimp” then “3 sets of har gow” then they did waves of those again (even though we had only ordered each once). Then they did a third wave of same. They didn’t charge us for all the repeats, but it took like 90 minutes (and nothing else different came out) so people pigged out again and again on the same dishes and were too full to eat the rest. Instead of the 35 minutes the above would take at a normal Cantonese place (too fast) the above took like 3 hours (too slowly paced). Pacing was WAY off with big gaps and very little control. It was just a bit comical. We also had too many people for this kind of restaurant (8-10). 4-6 would be better.

But the manager was very nice and tried to reign in the chaos a bit (not totally successfully) and they comped a bunch of stuff.

The restaurant has no parking, but (sketchy) street parking is plentiful. I also worry that they won’t survive as the food is very Chinese and Culver City is a TERRIBLE neighborhood for authentic flavors. Sorry, but having owned a restaurant there it was pretty clear that the locals are nice, curious and all that, but very “Mayberry”.

In any case, I have to go again and see how it has progressed.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

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Related posts:

  1. Major Coche to the Dome-O
  2. World Seafood is Elite
  3. The Man with the Iron Fists
  4. Food as Art: Ping Pong
  5. Dim Sum – World Seafood
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Culver City, Dim sum, hedonists, Iron Teapot, Wine

Down the White Rabbit Hole

Oct28

Restaurant: Vespertine / White Rabbit [1, 2]

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

Date: September 17, 2019

Cuisine: Modern Nordic Art Food? Russian Haut Cuisine?

Rating: White Rabbit dishes were great, Vespertine ones weird

_

Vespertine is a very unusual confluence of all sorts of artsy weirdness. It’s helmed by Jordan Kahn formerly of Red Medicine and currently of Destroyer across the street. I’ve generally been fond of Jordan’s unique culinary style. Tonight’s dinner is a combo dinner with Jordan hosting Vladimir Mukhin the chef from Russia’s most renowned restaurant: White Rabbit.


First of all, we have the bizarre building which seemingly was built (like much of this section of Culver City) without purpose and is now is host to the restaurant — only! I had an office across the street for 2 years as well, back when I founded Flektor.

In the back yard, so to speak, is this gigantic steel cactus tower. Yes, everyone needs an expensive cactus tower. And there are kooky modern gardens.
This one we waited in at the beginning of the meal, and at the end for our final course (but more on that later).

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As we waited here they had a Didgeridoo player. Yeah, weird.
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Above the dining room is the entire kitchen floor. We didn’t (couldn’t?) hang out here long but it looked sweet (and immaculate).

The open roof deck (which feels like inside) is a sort of lounge floor where the meal began.

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The four of us with Chef Vladimir Mukhin from White Rabbit!

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In the lounge, the tree was prepopulated with crispy dried somethings.
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Maybe pineapple crisps.
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And dark hand towels.
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A welcome cocktail of hibiscus and stuff.
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Mysterious treats called coco lardo. I’m not sure if it was lardo, or “like” lardo. It did taste coconuty. I think those things inside were Linden buds.
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Sunflower with caviar and pine-nuts. The pine-nuts are under the caviar. This was delicious — because it was good caviar.
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Mackerel, Celery, Malt, I think. This was bright flavored but not brightly lit (except when I took this photo with the cel phone light).


Now we moved on down to the cool dining room, nearly temple-like in its silence — except for the spacey spa music and the sound of wooden spoons scraping on expensive stoneware plates.

I do have to say that tonight, probably because Chef Vladimir Mukhin was “in charge” of the floor, they were lax on the “rules” and didn’t give us trouble about tripods or using the cel phone as a light. I didn’t go all the way to using the big flash, but last time we were here when they enforced “no shutter sound”, “no flash”, “no light” and “no tripod” it was damn hard to take any half decent photos at all. Much better this time.

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The napkins have their own box.

V E S P E R T I N E - Erick Pangilman - 09.17.19
The wine pairing was mandatory. This sucks as I don’t love wine pairings and this was typical. A bunch of cheap, off the beaten path wines that are more weird than good.
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2007 Dr Hermann, Erdener Treppchen “6” Kabinett Riesling. This was probably the wine I liked best of the pairings. It’s not expensive though, maybe $20.

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I figured I’d photo the glasses this time.

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The food menu.

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Russian Black Salt. To prepare a black salt you mix in equal proportions rye flour and white salt of coarser or fine grinding. The mixture is wrapped in a linen cloth and scorched in a Russian wood burning stove for 8 hours, using exclusively dry birch wood.7U1A7698
Prawn, aged plum, bone marrow. The black salt was sprinkled on top. These were nice, sweet and tangy.
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Hoto, Yamadanishiki Daiginjo, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.
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Sake!

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Markovnik and Scallops.
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You break through the crunchy top for the delicious “meat” underneath.
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2018 Onward Wines, Malvasia Petillant Natural, Suisun Valley.
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Slight spitz.
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Courgette, char roe, chicken fat, spruce.
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The was very good. Bit of a pickled herring vibe.
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Black bread. You could use it to sop up the delicious sauce.
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2011, Brokenwood, Semillon, Hunter Valley, Australia.
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Golden.

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Salted milk mushrooms, green tomato, herbs. This dish was by Jordan Kahn and was his only fully successful dish of the night. Salty, light, and crunchy it was an excellent vegetable dish.
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2011 Chateau Carbonnieux, Bordeaux.
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Bigger glass.
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Baked Cabbage and Caviar. This symbolizes Russia, in this case “the poor” of Russia in that boiled (or baked) cabbage is one of the main staple foods.
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But with champagne butter sauce it then represents the “rich” of Russia (aka the Caviar and Champagne). It was actually a stupendous dish. The cabbage had great texture and in the rich buttery champagne/caviar sauce was scrumptious.
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I can’t actually read the label.
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Blanco.
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Experimental Pumpkin, Guava, Madrone Bark. Another Jordan Kahn dish. I didn’t like it at all. I don’t love pumpkin and this was vaguely sweet, cloying, and had that soft obnoxious pumpkin texture. I didn’t even finish it
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2017 Seabold Cellars, “Olson” Chardonnay, Monterey, California.
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Fake Chard.
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Black cod, radish, tangerine. Lovely fish dish.
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2014 Ojai, “White Hawk Vineyard” Syrah, Santa Barbara Country.
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Poor man’s Hermitage.
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Fibers, Bracken Fern, Sacred Pepper, Aromatic Carnanel. Another Jordan Dish — like old rope — the beef version. Very over cooked beef stew/rope? Not so great.
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Green Salad. This was the only failing Vladimir dish and I have a feeling it was Jordan making him do it. Supposed to be a “dessert” it was a weird sweet salad. Kind of gross, salad with a sweet flavor.
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2003 Quinta do Crasto, Vintage Port, Douro, Portugal.
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In a mug.
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Black Cap Berry, Meadowsweet. A Jordan dessert. Terrible. Just cloying with a weird root vegetable tone — not what you want in a dessert.
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The wine lineup.

The attractive but perhaps impractical bar area on the ground floor was used for the penultimate course.

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Birch Inner Barc, condensed milk. Not bad. Weird though and it had an augmented reality app that was supposed to do something. We couldn’t get it loaded though.
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The post dinner “dessert” spread back out in the garden.
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Caramelized Sunchoke Mushroom. These were tasty, pretty much like a “bearclaw” or “apple fritter.”
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Sorrel Curd, Wintergreen. It was dipped in this “cream.” Under the red was a mild whipped cream like substance.
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Berries.
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Zoom on the berries.
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A weird book.
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Sea Buckthorn Pearls.
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It’s possible this was the Sorrel Curd, Wintergreen – hard to know with these things.
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Cups for the tea.
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Douglas Fir Tea — Vespertine loves pine and resin notes.
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Two scents, one designed by each chef — lol — you get to take these home.

 

Overall, this was a great experience and very interesting. Quirky though. The building was amazing and the staff was very friendly. And fortunately Jordan’s oodle of rules was much more lax tonight — although there were still some.

Everything was still scented like douglas fir or something. Smells like spa. Sounds like spa. Looks like art.

For something so visual and aesthetic, it was very difficult to photograph — or even see you food. Everything was hidden. Hidden by darkness. Hidden by shadowy deep containers. Hidden by flowers or leaves. You can see that my descriptions were vague as they give you no menu to remember them by.

The Vladimir dishes tonight were fabulous. All were great except for the sweet “salad.” The Jordan dishes were almost a complete bomb — only the “mushrooms” was good. The rest all had this cloying, sweet, root vegetable thing going that I didn’t like at all.

The meal was expensive though — yet ingredients were fairly plebeian for the most pair (excepting the caviar). The mandatory wine pairings sucked. Not worth the money and most of the wines weren’t that great. It’s some fairly hard food to pair — although the Vlad dishes easier than the Jordan ones. Those are almost impossible to pair.

So in conclusion, I’d love to try White Rabbit in Moscow, but the whole “chef team up meal” idea doesn’t seem to totally work. It should have just been White Rabbit food here in the Vespertine space.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. The Call – Down the Rabbit Hole
  2. Book Review: Rabbit Run
  3. Jitlada – Fire in the Hole
  4. Food as Art – Vespertine
  5. Dragon in the Hole
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Culver City, Foodie Club, Jordan Kahn, Vespertine, Vladimir Mukhin, White Rabbit, Wine, wine pairings

Food as Art – Vespertine

Apr30

Restaurant: Vespertine

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

Date: March 21, 2018

Cuisine: Modern Nordic Art Food?

Rating: Excellent experience

_

Vespertine is a very unusual confluence of all sorts of artsy weirdness. It’s helmed by Jordan Kahn formerly of Red Medicine and currently of Destroyer across the street. I’ve long been fond of Jordan’s unique culinary style.


First of all, we have the bizarre building which seemingly was built (like much of this section of Culver City) without purpose and is now is host to the restaurant — only! I had an office across the street for 2 years as well, back when I founded Flektor.

In the back yard, so to speak, is this gigantic steel cactus tower. Yes, everyone needs an expensive cactus tower. And there are kooky modern gardens.
This one we even use for our final course (but more on that later).

The attractive but perhaps impractical bar area on the ground floor doesn’t seem to have much (any?) use and we just hung out here for 2 minutes waiting for our party to assemble and then headed upstairs.

Where Jordan greeted us personally — which is actually a nice touch and the whole experience most certainly feels like both a passion project and surprisingly intimate.

Above the dining room is the entire kitchen floor. We didn’t (couldn’t?) hang out here long but it looked sweet (and immaculate).

The open roof deck (which feels like inside) is a sort of lounge floor where the meal began.

 Everything is very “moody” with the scent of fir trees and soft spa music. In fact it’s sort of like “spa the meal”. Or maybe “gallery the meal.”

This “course” consisted of a fir (as in tree) flavored cocktail and some sort of similar tea. The cocktail in particular was excellent.

No menu was provided and the food is abstract, so my descriptions will be vague. This “dip” consisted of some hummus like whip covered in leaves. Photography was a serious challenge her as things were SO DARK, lit only by candlelight, and there was no flash allowed. Or tripod (in the dining room) or camera clicks or beeps!!! A kind of dried vegetable/fruit matter of sorts — actually dried kelp if I remember correctly — hung on our tree and we used it to dip into the dip. Odd as this was, it tasted rather lovely.

Then came a brown impossible to photograph thing. I think it was a savory burnt onion cookie stuffed with jam (blackcurrent?). It tasted good.

And a brown thing covered by a white soft thing in vague leaf shapes. No recall. Interesting textures. Tasted good too.
Now we moved on down to the cool dining room, nearly temple-like in its silence — except for the spacey spa music and the sound of wooden spoons scraping on expensive stoneware plates.

Pairing with this food was a challenge so we leaned toward champagne.

Erick brought: 1976 Drappier Champagne Carte d’Or Brut. 95 points. Rustic, PN character to this recently disgorged champagne. Nose of carrots, beetrots, raisins. A bit of damp basement as well, but this evidently comes from the aging. Leathery feel in the mouth, raisins as well. Very good and certainly with character, but lacking in elegance or precision. Though, has nice complexity.

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

This space age green disk was frozen peas?

On top of english peas? Delicious actually and a neat combo of textures and temperatures. Maybe a little too cold.

Savory rice pudding with flowers and trout roe. Actually tasted great. Mix of creamy and crunchy texture. Jordan LOVES these “shadowy” bowls where you can barely see the food. Serious photographic challenge in a room with very little light, no flash, no tripod, no shutter noises. I had to use the single tiny spotlight over our table and some creative positioning to even get a glimpse of the dish. And you can tell from my minimalist descriptions that the verbal brief conveyance of the contents of the dishes does not return to my consciousness when looking at the photos. My mind thinks of this as the “creamy white one with yellow.”

Our pale tinted wines.
 White asparagus and accompaniments. Very pretty plating.

Hidden by leaves.

Can’t remember what the substance was. The picture does not doo much to jog my memory.

Kale & crab — maybe. Served in a Lucio Fontana style container, this creamy mix reveals the truth that Jordan likes black and white — with the occasional splotch of color. There was kale (maybe) and crab definitely. It was actually quite good but had a dusty (dehydrated?) texture and the leaves tickled my throat. Wine wise, we progressed to Larry’s 1992 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Landonne. 94 points. Lovely soft tannins, beautifully structured and very well made in a so called “lesser” vintage. Short to medium length.

Herby turkey. This special heirloom New England turkey was wrapped in herbs and then revealed.

It was dressed with sauce.

And sprinkled with flowers. It was really fabulous turkey, some of the best I’ve ever had. Perfectly moist and with a very evocative herbal/sweet quality.

Close up.

Fish hidden in greens?

Lamb. I remember this was somehow lamb.

Not that you’d recognize it or anything.

Lavender spray goo? The first dessert. This sweet, marshmallow stuff was sprayed on the bowl. Very thin too and you had to really work to scrape it off. I thought it was delicious though.

Roast carrots somehow reinterpreted as a dessert. Good too, but not as good as the purple goo.

The wheel of modernism turns on.

Herbs and granite wheel? VERY hard to photo in shadow there and I resorted (because it was the last dish) to sneaking on the light on my phone.

We got the scent that pervades the restaurant as a parting gift!

And a little picnic in the garden. It was so dark that I almost lost my sh*t. Only seem here because I had a floodlight in my bag!

Dates maybe under leaves.

We almost ate the ashtray.

Fresh currents. Au currant. Chestnuts? Blackberries. Or maybe some more exotic nordic variant.

Overall, this was a great experience and very interesting. Quirky though. The building was amazing and the staff was very friendly. But there were a lot of rules. No this, no that. No noise (Jordan likes it quite so you can here his repetitive spa music very clearly). The no shutter/beep thing is a little harsh. The spoons scraping on stoneware plates was far louder than the shutter. Even the (difficult to locate) soap in the bathroom had the same scent.

In fact, everything was scented. Smells like spa. Sounds like spa. Looks like art.

For something so visual and aesthetic, it was very difficult to photograph — or even see you food. Everything was hidden. Hidden by darkness. Hidden by shadowy deep containers. Hidden by flowers or leaves. You can see that my descriptions were vague as they give you no menu to remember them by.

The tastes were actually very good. Central in these dishes is textural and temperature contrast and play. They do taste good, but they have a very interesting textural quality — much like complex salad. So many leaves and flowers in fact that you feel like a bunny rabbit. Fibre content was excellent. But seriously, they did mostly taste very good. Subtle flavors, but harmonious. If you are a narrow eater though the “I can’t tell what I’m eating” or “this doesn’t look or feel like it tastes” factor might put you off. Not me. I enjoyed that.

Jordan has moved on a bit from his Elfin dining period to an even more conceptual space where while still covered in flowers and leaves things look less naturalistic and more mannered.

Completely unique. An experience. They can’t possibly be making money but they CARE really deeply. Despite the odd modernism, it did not come off as cold at all because the passion was very clear. The chef was there as a presence both in person and in the food and they were all very friendly. A few less rules maybe though.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Culver City, food-as-art, Jordan Kahn, modernist, Vespertine

Bangaichi Ramen

Mar15

Restaurant: Bangaichi Ramen

Location: 9810 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232. (424) 603-4341

Date: January 22, 2018

Cuisine: Japanese Ramen

Rating: Meh

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The former location of East Borough has been empty for over a year and finally in comes…

Ramen — and right next to the former Ramen Roll location. Good thing we aren’t still open, more competition. hehe.

It was always a pretty space but on the odd side of the street.





Big menu.

They have a modern fixed build out and TVs.

A ramen bar and a full liquor licensee (EB must have had it).

Decent array of condiments.

Cold Tufu w/ Onion Slices. Tofu, white onion, dried bonito, sesame oil. I love this kind of soft Japanese/Korean tofu. This was a typical, but very oniony prep.

Gyoza. Decent classic pan fried gyoza. Bangaichi Ramen. Char-siu pork, bamboo shoots, green onions, bean sprouts, butter, corn, seaweed, nori, seasoned egg. I didn’t really like this ramen at all. The broth was like miso soup and had very little richness and flavor. The toppings were fine for what they were, but it was just uninspired. I had to dump a ton of vinegar in to make it palatable.

I was there at a weird (late) lunch hour but I was the only customer. It screams Japanese ramen chain, but I don’t really get this type of Hokaido miso ramen. They are very Japanese in style and probably not that likely to appeal to a general American audience. And Culver City is a seriously white bread general American audience (as I learned first hand).

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

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  3. Far Eastern Ramen
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  5. Quick Eats – Venice Ramen
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Bangaichi, Culver City, Japanese cuisine, ramen

Taj Tandoori

Jun16

Restaurant: Taj Tandoori

Location: 10823 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90034. (310) 204-2569

Date: May 16 & 30, 2017

Cuisine: Indian / Pakistani

Rating: Solid made to order curries

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Culver City — particularly Venice Blvd — is packed with Indian restaurants.

Taj Tandoori was recommended as one of the best.

The menu.

Chicken Tikka Masala. Tender boneless chicken pieces cooked with spices in a creamy cashew and tomato sauce. I always have to try it. Sort of a reference dish. This one was very good. Not as spectacular as at Akbar, but very very good. Nice soft chicken. Curry was a touch thin, but not sweet (which is good). Made to order too, not the buffet slop.

Lamb Korma. Boneless pieces of lamb cooked with yogurt and friend onions. The description doesn’t do justice to the spicy depth of flavor. A nice dish with some broad heat.

Palak Paneer. Cottage cheese cooked with spinach and flavored with herbs and spices. Some nice heat and great cheese but the curry itself was a little thin and could have had a more complex flavor.

Bismati rice.

Garlic Naan. Fresh baked and delicious.

Taj Tandoori is a small family run place that serves up very good Northern Indian food. It isn’t fancy or modern, but they do make stuff to order and features nice flavors not those overly sweet or overly salty slops. The meats seem very good too.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Sambar – Briefly Modern Indian
  2. Akbar – Curry not so Hurry
  3. Eating Philly – Tiffin
  4. All Things Akbar
  5. Deep South – Mandovi Goan Cuisine
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Culver City, Indian cuisine, Taj Tandoori

Quick Eats – Rush Street

Feb03

Restaurant: Rush Street

Location: 9546 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232. (310) 837-9546

Date: January 30, 2017

Cuisine: American

Rating: Pubby

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Just down the street from my new restaurant, Ramen Roll, are a wide swath of Culver City places.

Rush Street seems a fixture on the main drag so I decided to see what the deal was.

The space is big, attractive, like a giant brick sports bar — which it is.

But not being the beer type, I came equipped with real wine :-).

From my cellar: 2005 Château Rayas Côtes du Rhône Château de Fonsalette Reserve. Parker 93. The 2005 Fonsalette Cotes du Rhone is a blockbuster. This blend of 50% Grenache, 35% Cinsault, and 15% Syrah has a dark ruby/purple color and a beautifully structured style with notes of black truffle, licorice, black currant, and sweet cherry intermixed with some crushed rock and flowers. The wine is beautifully broad, savory, and exceptionally well-delineated and focused. This is a magnificent wine that should be at its best between 2010 and 2025.

The menu is a bit too American for my tastes.

mediterranean hummus. marinated tomatoes, kalamata olives, cucumber, warm pita.

lobster & shrimp egg rolls. napa cabbage, ginger, sweet soy & spicy mustard dipping sauces. These tasted like… well egg rolls. Decent middling egg rolls, but I couldn’t tell if it was lobster & shrimp or just cabbage. I’m sure it was the former, but under the fry, hard to discern.

Rush street dry-aged burger. Applewood bacon, cheddar, soestring onions, arugula, confire sauce. This was a fine pub burger. I’m not much of a burger aficionado. Unless they really stand out they are just lost in this middle ground. It was probably slightly more well done than I like (medium maybe as opposed to medium rare).

Same with fries.

grilled asparagus. Parmesan cheese, caper vinaigrette.

Overall, I was expecting something more interesting and artisanal. Rush Street was fine, but it’s just American pub fare which isn’t my thing. Execution was fine though. But there wasn’t much regionality. If I have to do pub, I’ll take something with a bit more local style. Fortunately too I was facing away from the TVs. Not a TV fan in restaurants. Prefer those in my living room.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Culver City, gastropub, Rush Street

Quick Eats – Seasalt

Dec30

Restaurant: Seasalt Fish Grill

Location: 9901 Washington Blvd #101, Culver City, CA 90232. (424) 361-5222

Date: December 12, 2016

Cuisine: Poke

Rating: Very flat

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I was excited (apparently prematurely) by the opening of this new Poke place just a block from Ramen Roll. By the time I got there it had been open a whole week or two.

Well, actually it was a tempered mix of feelings, on one hand having another quick tasty spot nearby would be convenient, on the other, poke is vaguely competitive with our concept — although after trying, I’m not at all worried.

Seasalt is very much a QSR (Quick Service Restaurant). You order at the counter and sit. The menu is a mix of poke and (mostly fried) fish. It’s actually a slightly odd mix.

The poke is sitting in tubs in that display counter. It looks non too fresh.

The decor is nice enough, although sloppy in style. Kinda says not much of anything.

Ahi Poke Salad. Fresh Ahi Poke, mixed greens, romaine, tomatoes, cucumber, edamame, sesame, avocado, carrots, green onion and a lemon ginger dressing.

Kitchen sink!
 California Poke Salad. Fresh Ahi Poke, sweet shrimp and surimi crabmeat, mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, carrots and lemon ginger dressing.

When I read something like sweet shrimp and surimi crabmeat I think real seafood. Do you see any shrimp? I just see imitation crab. In any case, this bowl had the typical muddle of flavors that is typical of why I don’t like poke. The rice was limp and flavorless, and then there is just a bunch of mush on top of it that tastes like dressing and mediocre fish.  Just so sloppy both visually and in terms of flavor balance.

Because of its proximity, I’ll come back and try something else — maybe. I’m not really keen too, but I feel I should give it a second chance with a different type of item. Although farm raised Tilapia is not going to lure me in!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Culver City, poke, Seasalt

Noodle Check – Yamadaya Ramen

Dec21

Restaurant: Yamadaya Ramen

Location: 11172 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232. (310) 815-8776

Date: December 15 & 21, 2016

Cuisine: Ramen

Rating: Solid traditional ramen

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As one of the only other well-reviewed Ramen joints in Culver City I pretty much had to try Yamadaya.

It’s located near the 405 and Washington, which while only a mile or two from Downtown Culver feels like a totally different place.

The interior is “minimalist.”

They do have a big hood. I have hood envy.

 Soy sauce, vinegar and the usual on the table.

Gyoza. I like gyoza. These were fine, but not great. They could have used more porky punch.
 Tonkotsu Ramen. I sorta wanted to try the shio style, but the server recommended the 20 hours Tonkotsu broth. Most LA Ramen shops focus on tonkotsu which is a Kyushu style. Kyushu is the third largest Japanese Island, in the south, and is host to Fukuoka a fun city (I’ve been 3 times) that is renowned for its food.

IMG_6453
Shio Ramen. The mixed chicken and fish stock broth. This version is very light. Pleasant and tasty, but not particularly rich or interesting.

In any case, back to Yamadaya’s Tonkotsu, which was solid but not exceptional. Very traditional with the egg, chashu, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, green onions and the thin white noodles. I like thicker noodles with more texture myself. Certainly this was a “real” ramen, and as such very enjoyable, it just wasn’t particularly novel or anything.

Yamadaya has quite a number of other ramens, including shio, so I will have to come try them, and they have curry and a number of other traditional items. So I’ll be back to fill out the report.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Culver City, ramen

Quick Eats – Mod Pizza

Nov16

Restaurant: Mod Pizza

Location: 8985 Venice Blvd k, Los Angeles, CA 90034.

Date: November 5, 2016

Cuisine: Pizza

Rating: Like a low-rent 800 degrees

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I keep passing this place on my way to work at our new restaurant-under-development and on a Saturday with my son (who is a pizza fiend) and in a time crunch decided to try it.

It should be prefaced that we eat at 800 Degrees all the time (even though I have never written it up) — and that chain was co-founded by my partner.
 Mod pizza is a similar concept. Made to order pizzas. It’s cheaper (and 800 Degrees is pretty cheap) and uses a fixed price model. Toppings don’t cost, only your pizza size and extras.

The ingredients aren’t terribly gourmet. They do have basic bases (like white, pesto, red etc), but there are no fancy cheeses, no Calabrian chilies, etc.

The buildout is simple and efficient. Drive-thru like almost. Not much style really.

Various drinks.

This margarita + mushrooms.

My custom meatser. Various sausage, pesto base, sweet peppers. The crust isn’t great at all, and the toppings so-so. And this pizza was REALLY REALLY salty, which tasted ok but left me feeling salted out.

Our son, who LOVES pizza and who declares 800 Degrees is his second favorite restaurant ever ate only one piece of his cheese pizza. He was confused why it was “worse.”

So Mod Pizza is kinda like 800 Degrees, but a little cheaper and quite a bit worse. Given that I don’t care about a $2 difference, no way I’d choose it in any kind of head to head. In fact, I’m unlikely to go back unless I’m desperate for some reason. They are cheap and fast. They do have flexible sizes (having that little size is good for kinds). But quality is meh.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Culver City, Mod Pizza, Pizza

Quick Eats – AR Cucina

Oct26

Restaurant: AR Cucina

Location: 9531 Culver Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232. (310) 558-8800

Date: October 21, 2016

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Solid, particularly for a non Italian chef

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Not long ago I tried out Sambar, a modern Indian in Culver City. Well, it turns out it wasn’t competing with the old school Indians out on Venice Blvd, and so the group rebooted it with the same chef as an Italian!

The menu.

The decor has barely changed. They took off the starburst pattern on the wall, added some mirrors, and painted an Italian scene.

Cacio E Pepe pane di casa. Somehow when I ordered this I imagined a pizza. Instead we got this bread which was… well covered in cheese and pepper. It did taste kinda like Cacio e pepe. And the read had great texture. It was salty too. I probably would have preferred something with melted cheese though.

Burrata Mozzarella. tomato-almond pesto, Sicilian sundred tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, ciabatta. More bread. The tomato/pesto was excellent though. Lots of acid. Not for those with reflux. But excellent rustic dish.

Chicken Meatballs. Nonna Giovanna’s tomato sauce. Pecorino cheese, ciabatta. More bread and even more hearty tomato sauce. Nice meatballs actually. Moist for chicken. Great sauce. Similar to above, but good.

Tricolore salad. Arugula, radicchio, escarole, parmigiano-reggiano, pistachio-pesto & lemon dressing.
 Bucatini all’amatriciana. La quercia guanciale, tomato, pecorino. Solid version of this traditional dish. Also lots of pecorino and tomato — but it is supposed to be like that. I would up the guanciale factor if I was in the kitchen, but otherwise very nice.

Overall, and this was a quick little lunch, AR Cucina offered some solid rustic, slightly Southern, Italian. It’s not the most radical menu at all, sort of like a petite Bestia, or a lightweight modernized greatest hits of Central and South Italy — meaty hits, as there is almost no seafood. My new restaurant is just down the street, so I’ll be back to try more. They supposedly have a great Lasagna.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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By: agavin
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Posted in: Food
Tagged as: AR Cucina, Culver City

Hanjip Korean BBQ

Sep07

Restaurant: Hanjip

Location: 3829 Main St, Culver City, CA 90232. (323) 720-8804

Date: August 31 & September 15 & 19, 2016

Cuisine: Korean BBQ

Rating: Fabulous value at lunch, good food

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Culver City doesn’t have too many great ethnic joints, and we are a bit “far” from KTown here, but there is Hanjip, an upscale  KBBQ joint.

The cow says it all.

Hard looking seats and no grills at the otherwise nice outside patio.

Crazy black and white interior.

The menu.

The tables have gas grills.

And like all good Korean joints there are the banchan. Like this cabbage salad.

Chewy squid with black sesame were awesome. I ate two entire bowls (not kidding).

Pickled onions.

Kimchee of course.

And cauliflower.
 Plus, the all important potato salad (which I liked a lot).

Macaroni salad.

Onion.

Kimchee fried riche with soft egg. Pretty awesome stuff.

Egg custard with uni and ikura.

Seafood pancake. Nice example of this type with lots of seafood inside.

And a Dolsot Bibimbap bowl which comes with the lunch special. This was my favorite. Nice soft egg and all those goodies. I tend to love this dish.

This was the beef brisket lunch special.

Cooking the brisket.

And cooked. Tasty enough, but not as yummy as with the rice.

Spicy miso for whatever you like.
And chilies.

In September Hanjip started an all you can eat lunch program that has an interesting format. There are 3 tiers ($18, $25, $30ish) with each tier having increasing meat types. They are all good deals, but the best meats are at the higher levels.

Tongue!

Spicy chicken. Not the most exciting.

Garlic chicken.

More brisket.

Cheese fondue. This is an optional item included in the AYCE. It’s pretty awesome to dip the meat in the gooey cheese!

Marinated pork shoulder. By far the best of the 1st tier meats. Tons of flavor.

Pork belly. Also a good one from the basic set. Like bacon!

Garlic pork belly. Even better! (2nd tier)

Garlic beef (2nd tier). Also really flavorful.

Short rib (2nd tier). Awesome and steaky.

IMG_5978

Bulgolgi (3rd tier). Really tasty.
Spicy squid (2nd tier). Doesn’t cook as well as the meats.

Veggies (1st tier). Are what they are. Pretty good with the fondue.

I’ll have to come back to Hanjip for dinner (with some wine) and try a wider selection. But what I has was very good. And wow do you get a lot of food for $15-18! A great option for Culver City dwellers.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: beef, Culver City, Hanjip, KBBQ, Korean BBQ

Hatchet Hall

Aug29

Restaurant: Hatchet Hall

Location: 12517 W Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90066. (310) 391-4222

Date: August 27, 2016

Cuisine: New American

Rating: Interesting flavors and presentation

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Hatchet Hall takes over the “old” Waterloo & City space in Culver City.

The logo hangs over the street in cryptic glory.

The frontage isn’t so different.

But inside they have this whacky new game and “period” decor.

And a great patio.

The menu is organized into dishes by vague progression and features a lot of meat and vaguely North African and middle eastern flavors in a very Modern American presentation.

From my cellar: 2005 Simon Bize Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru La Garenne. BH 92. A deft touch of pain grillé highlights the airy, clean, pure and elegant white flower and green fruit aromas that serve as the apt introduction for the textured, concentrated and mouth coating flavors blessed with abundant dry extract levels and an intense stoniness on the wonderfully complex, vibrant, dry and penetrating finish. This is a very classy effort and recommended. (Drink starting 2010)

stone fruit. country ham (we left the ham out), farmer’s cheese, date vinegar, mint. A very nice combo of simple cheese, herbs, and fruit.

watermelon. cucumber, vinegar dressing, cilantro, mint, peanut. Quite a bit of chili kick! Nice crunchy texture.

chop steak. fried oysters, watercress, horseradish. Interesting combo of steak tartar and fried oysters!

cornbread. shishito, cheddar, good butter, honey. Some super buttery cornbread goodness!

chicken liver. onion jam, grilled bread, pickles, apple vinegar. Like Jewish liver toast! Pretty yummy too.

sea bream. bagna cauda, soft herbs, lemon.
 lamb porterhouse. mint salsa verde, lemon. Have a bit of lamb! Nice tender medium rare meat. Not the cheapest slab of meat on the block.

Sweet peppers, muhammara, walnut, raisin, mint. That whole muhammara and mint thing is so Middle Eastern.

carrots. charmoula, labneh, honey, benne. Great texture and Moroccan flavors.

The dessert menu.
 Icebox cake. Vietnamese coffee bavarian, caramelized milk jam, chocolate crunchies. Like a sort of more solid tiramisu.

Overall, Hatchet Hall had some really great flavors going on. The plating and presentation was fabulous, and the melding of North African/Middle Eastern flavors into the modern American was quite on point. Lots of flavor and interesting. Also fascinating how the Middle Eastern thing is downplayed in everything but the actual flavors. Vibe and build out are great too. Service was slow and a little weird. They got the job done, but the crew helping us out was a tad confused.

I’ll definitely return, as food is more important to me than service.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Culver City, Hatchet Hall, Meat

Sambar – Briefly Modern Indian

Aug17

Restaurant: Sambar

Location: 9531 Culver Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232. 310-558-8800

Date: July 19, 2016

Cuisine: Modern Indian

Rating: Tasty, adapted, and slightly toned down

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The site of the former Ford’s Filling Station in Culver city is a redefined Indian place called Sambar that’s been open for about a year.
 They have a nice mix of inside and outside dining.

A cool looking full bar.

And a big bright space.

This is the lunch menu.

Some sāmbār snack mix. puffed rice, sev, cashews, peanuts, raisins, sunflower seeds, curry leaves, teff crisps, taro root, toasted dal.

Ice tea.

sevpuri chaat (gf cracker). avocado, mango, red onion, pomegranate-mint chutney, tamarind chutney, sev (crispy chickpea noodles). This version of the classic Indian street food with bright and full of flavor, but also felt a bit “California” with the guacamole-like avocado.

The fisherman: fish curry bowl. Trout, coconut broth, cherry tomatoes, curry leaves. Fairly mild in flavor, and very much a southern Indian dish with that coconut and curry leaf flavor.

Masala roasted chicken kati roll. Yogurt marinated chicken & pomegranate-mint chutney. Crunchy fried something. The roll itself was like a lightly Indian chicken wrap. Tasty, but not with the awesome strong curry flavors of an Akbar kati roll.
 Pork shoulder vindaloo kati roll. South Indian spices. Hot sauce and mango chutney. Salad. Tasty too, but fairly dry meat, not a curry or anything inside.

This was just a small lunch sampling, and I didn’t have any real curry (which seems to be on the dinner menu). Sambar offered up some definite Indian flavors, but in a much more California form factor, and without the heavy curry vehicle. But while I appreciate that they want to make it more approachable to westerners, I love curry and intense flavors. So jury is still out. I’ll have to try again at dinner and report back.

But alas, I have learned that as of August 27, 2016, the owners are shutting down Sambar and rebooting it as an Italian restaurant — it being too “niche” (i.e. ethnic) for the neighborhood. I’m glad I got to try it. And good thing for them the decor is pretty flexible!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Indian by the Beach
  2. Akbar – Curry not so Hurry
  3. Saint Martha Modern
  4. Upstairs 2 – Modern Tapas, Lots of Wine
  5. Inotheke – Modern Greek
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Culver City, Indian cuisine, Sambar

Waterloo & City – Fat=Flavour

Feb13

Restaurant: Waterloo & City [1, 2, 3]

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

Date: January 27, 2012

Cuisine: Gastropub

Rating: Really tasty!

_

I have reviewed Waterloo & City twice before, but it’s been a couple of months and the menu has changed up, so it’s worth a reprise.


The current menu.


“The Brunello di Montalcino from Poggio Il Castellare is a dark, inward wine imbued with dark cherries, plums, tar, smoke, licorice and new leather, all of which come together on a powerful, incisive frame. This burly, somewhat rough around the edges Brunello shows plenty of length and richness, even if the tannins might benefit from a measure of added polish. Still, I see this working well with boldly flavored dishes. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2024.”


This is a “prince” sized charcuterie. We also have the chicken liver (yum yum), the salmon and egg terrine and the fois gras and prune (good, but heavy), and a duck and walnut country pate.


The duck on the left (yummy) and the salmon on the right. The chicken liver was the really winner here.


“Yellowtail Crudo, Shallot & Ginger Dressing.” Slightly underwelming as the fish was muted by everything else.


“Arugula, Grilled Bartlett Pears, Smoked Almonds, Parmesan.”


A special pasta with parmesan and…


Fresh piedmontese white truffles! This was a really spectacular classic.


Parker 90. “Proprietor Comte de Neipperg is doing everything possible to elevate this estate’s reputation. Readers should take note as prices are sure to rise once the world discovers just how sumptuous recent vintages of Clos de l’Oratoire have been. The 1996 is even better out of bottle than it was from cask. The wine boasts an opaque plum/purple color. Intense aromas of Asian spices, espresso, roasted meats, and sweet, exotic cedar and blackberry fruit soar from the glass of this exotic, ostentatiously-styled St.-Emilion. It is medium to full-bodied, with moderate tannin, a sweet mid-palate (always a good sign), and a dense, concentrated, long, powerful finish. This muscular, impressively-endowed offering should drink well between 2002-2017.”


“Diver Scallops, Parsnip Ravioli, Chamomile, Mandarins, Basil, French Horns.” A nice scallop dish.


“Roast Colorado lamb. English peas, fois gras sauce.” The meat was good, but the pea sauce even better.


More of the “sauce” which was really very rich and good.


Brussels with bacon. Bacon does indeed make everything better.


A can’t remember what exactly was under there, but it included this Indian-style poofy bread.


The desserts here are really good too (see my previous reviews) but we were so stuffed that it would have been fatal to indulge.

Overall, Waterloo & City is still going strong and this was a great (albiet rich) meal.

Or for more LA Restaurants.

Related posts:

  1. Waterloo & City
  2. Waterloo & City is Victorious
  3. Book Review: City of War
  4. City of Bones
  5. Moko
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Brunello di Montalcino, Culver City, Culver City California, gastropub, Los Angeles, Waterloo, Waterloo & City, Waterloo & City line

A-Frame – Ultimate Picnic Food

Jan01

Restaurant: A-Frame

Location: 12565 Washington Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90066 – tel: 310-398-7700

Date: December 15, 2011 & February 28, 2012

Cuisine: Gastro Picnic

Rating: Really yummy

_

A-Frame’s building used to be an IHOP — hence it’s architecture and the name.


It has, however, been really revamped.


A nice Burgundy to begin.


The menu is fairly short. We ordered everything tapas style, regardless of the category.


“Heirloom pickles.” I like pickles, but perhaps better with rice al la certain Japanese dishes.


“Island Farmer’s Market Salad.” A nice pleasant salad with Asian notes.


“WAGYU BEEF TATAKI with sliced pearl onions, ginger, pickled jalapeño and shoyu vinaigrette.” This was a wonderful dish. Very tangy with great texture.


“BLUE CRAB CAKES with lemongrass creme fraiche, bibb lettuce, and perilla leaf.” These crabcakes were to be eaten “thai-style” wrapped in lettuce. They were quite good.


“CHARRED BABY OCTOPUS with carrot kochujang puree, bok choy, pickled vegetables and nori seaweed.” Another nice dish.


“SESAME LEAF WRAPPED SHRIMP TEMPURA with fresh cucumber, herbs and shoyu dipping sauce.” This had shiso (a Japanese mint relative), which pretty much means I adored it.


“CLAM CHOWDER with green curry, lemongrass, pancetta, coconut milk and toasted sourdough.” A really nice take on “clam chowder.” Essentially it tasted a lot like one of those creamy coconut milk/lemongrass thai soups, but with a nice bacon richness somewhat akin to a great New England chowder. Bravo!


“BABY BACK RIBS air-dried and hoisin-chili glazed.” These were some great ribs too, with a rich “Chinesy” taste and a good amount of vinegar.


“ROASTED LAMB with toasted sesame oil, shoyu and garlic served with fresh herb salad and salsa verde.” This dish was fine, but it didn’t have the flavor impact I was looking for.


“CRACKLIN BEER CAN CHICKEN with kimchi, century egg, salsa roja and verde.” Good fried chicken.


“Lamb Meatball Skewer.” These were nice ground lamb skewers, but they seemed a bit expensive for what they were.


“Pan Roasted Brussel Sprouts. with rice cakes, kimchi bacon puree and diced apples.” The bacon sold it.


“BANANA BACON CREAM PIE vanilla cream, caramel bananas, and bacon brittle.” I hate banana, but this was still good. The bacon sold it!


“THICK ASS ICE CREAM SANDWICHES with black pepper szechuan ice cream and salted chocolate cookie.” This was a wonderful ice cream sandwich. I loved the peppery ice cream.


“CHU-DON’T-KNOW-MANG pound cake cinnamon churros, with malted chocolate milk and vanilla ice cream.” And this was the complete winner in the dessert category. These were some of the best churros I’ve had, and that milkshake-like thing was awesome.


Happy times!


The chickens going around and around.

Overall, I was very pleased with A-Frame and will totally be back. This was a pair of VERY tasty meals with a unique take on fairly uncomplicated food. Essentially, it’s very contemporary without being avant garde, and fuses eclectic flavors from around the world with American comfort foods.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Food as Art: Ludobites 7.0
  2. Ultimate Pizza – The Comeback
  3. Food as Art: Hatfield’s part 2
  4. Food as Art: Ludobites 6.0
  5. Food as Art: Melisse
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: AFrame, California, Clam chowder, Culver City, gastropub, Los Angeles, Public house, ribs, Santa Monica California

Loving Lukshon

Oct22

Restaurant: Lukshon

Location: 3239 Helms Ave, Culver City, CA 90034. 310.202.6808

Date: October 20, 2011

Cuisine: New Asian

Rating: Pretty damn tasty

_

A couple of years ago my office was in Culver City, and the restaurant revolution there was already well under way. But the trend continues apace with Lukshon, a sort of re-imagined southern Asian (vaguely Chinese — sort of) joint opened by the same owners as adjacent Father’s Office. I’ve been itching to try it for better on six months and we finally got the Foodie Club together for an impromptu meeting.


The modern interior space. There is also a generous and attractive patio.


The menu. We ordered about two thirds of it, for eight people, all family style.


“atlantic fluke  pickled watermelon, black sesame, cucumber, kinh gioi.” Light flavored, but tasty. The black sesame lent it a pleasant gritty texture.


Lukshon does not allow corkage. I didn’t know that and Foodie Club co-president EP and I hauled four bottles to the table. I was skeptical at first of the small wine list too, as it’s devoid of big name offerings. But with some help from the Sommelier we put together what turned out to be a very enjoyable trio.


We had the 2010, but the 2009 got 92 from parker, “Ollivier’s 2009 Muscadet de Sevre et Maine Sur Lie Clos des Briords is as perfumed and lusciously-fruited a wine of its genre as you are likely to encounter, though that by no means precludes depth of mineral character. Scents of pear, clover, Persian melon, and fennel inform the nose and migrate to a buoyant yet expansive, mouthwateringly juicy palate tinged with a shimmering crystalline sense of minerality characteristic for this cuvee. This sensational value finishes with an uncanny combination of soothing refreshment and vibrancy. It is apt to be even more ravishing in another year or so and be worth following for at least 3-4.”


“shrimp toast  rock shrimp, cilantro, chiles, tiny croutons.” These are little fried balls with a sweet and spicy sauce. They tasted pretty fried, with an understated flavor.


“baby monterey squid!! chiang mai pork sausage, candlenut, mint, rau ram.” Really tasty. The fried tentacles in the center were pretty straight up calimari. The bodies were stuffed with the yummy sausage.


“duck popiah.  cilantro stems, pickled jicama, hoisin chile sauce.” With the texture of a Saigon Roll, these duck rolls were packed with meaty flavor inside. Plus, being a sauce guy, I love hoison. One of my favorite dishes.


“spicy chicken pops!! shelton farms’ drumettes, garlic, kecap manis, spicy sichuan salt.” Nice little “wings” with a lot of flavor and a bit of heat. A kind of BBQ sweet heat.


This was a very interesting wine. Old fashioned — like 2,000 years old fashioned. Evidently, it’s kept in amphorae, large greek/roman style terra-cotta vessels. While a white, it was so unfiltered as to be almost cloudy. But damn good.


“kurobuta pork ribs.  spicy chicory coffee bbq sauce.” The meat just fell of the bones. A bit of char. Seriously good ribs, what cheap Chinese restaurant ribs aspire to be.


“rib eye steak yam neua. gem lettuce, radish, carrot, tomato, herbs, spicy lime vinaigrette.” This was fine, but just kinda beefy.


“foie gras ganache!! carob, ceylon cinnamon, tamarind gastrique, almond, puffed rice.” These were more a dessert than a savory. The creamy foie texture and richness leant them the character of some kind of ultra rich mousse.


“lamb belly roti. canai  chana dal, cumin, mint, raita, pickled cauliflower.” Another of my favorite dishes. A kind of vaguely middle eastern, vaguely Asian pizza. The little sour marinated crunchy cauliflower was good too.


“garlic pork belly  do ban jian, rice cakes, cabbage, garlic chives.” Probably my favorite dish. This had some good heat and that rich fermented bean paste flavor. The meat was rich, but not too fatty, and under the sauce you could only tell it from the rice cakes by texture. They added a chewiness to complement the some pork.


“short rib rendang!! malay spices, red chile lemongrass rempah, coconut cream.” More meat. I liked the sauce better on this one.


Parker gives this very solid Riesling 90 points. “Pepper-laced pears and apples are found in the nose of the zesty, vivacious 2002 Riesling Eiswein Oberemmeler Hutte. This molasses, brown sugar and white fruit-flavored offering sports eye-popping acidity, loads of depth, and a long, sweet finish. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2025.”

“heirloom black rice  lap cheong, onion, roasted garlic, lilly’s farm fried egg.”


Mixed up. This was pleasant, rich, sweet, and ricey.


“gai lan aged ham, shaoxing wine, garlic.” Nice stir fried greens. But I wanted more ham flavor.


“chiang mai curry noodles  chile, tumeric, lemongrass, chicken, prawn, yu choy, rice noodles.” A curry with noodles. Nothing wrong with that, as I love curry.


“dandan noodles!! kurobuta pork, sesame, preserved mustard greens, sichuan peppercorns, peanuts.” I really liked this too. Noodles with a pretty spicy Chinese pork ragu. I had a better version in western China, but this was pretty damn good. Decently hot, but not nearly real Szechuan hot. I guess the sauce isn’t so different than Pocked Marked Old Ladies Tofu (yes, that is a real dish).


Dessert is “free” (as Matt Groning said, “at no additional perceivable cost”). They bring out one per person, but three types. I would’ve liked to try each, but I had the leftmost, which was a delicious form of deconstructed pina colada. Some kind of pana cotta with coconut and pineapple. The middle was chocolate, the rightmost more fruity.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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

Related posts:

  1. Red Medicine is the Cure
  2. Christmas is for Dim Sum
  3. Quick Eats: Tofu Ya
  4. Swish Swish – Mizu 212
  5. Food as Art: Ping Pong
By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Barbecue, bbq, beef, Culver City, Culver City California, Dessert, Father's Office, Food, Foodie Club, Lukshon, Persian melon, vegetarian

Moko

Aug04

Restaurant: Moko

Location: 9540 Culver Blvd. Culver City, Ca. (310) 838-3131

Date: July 9, 2011

Cuisine: Modernized Korean

Rating: Very tasty — Spicy!

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Moko is a newly opened Korean bar/restaurant serving very modernized variants using a Korean palette of flavors. This is to Korean as Red Medicine is to Vietnamese.


The pleasant but industrial space in the heart of Culver City’s bustling downtown.


The have the BBQ in the table, and there is an extensive section of the menu for ordering meats and vegetables to cook here — we didn’t do that on this visit.


An amuse of three “salads.” Left to right: “Watermelon Namul with tasted almonds chile, shiso and ginger,” followed by “Kong Maul, mixed sporuts with spring onions sesame and soy,” and on the right “Market Radish Namul, sweet ginger and pineapple mint.”


“Spicy Smash, Tequila Silver, lime juice, agave & cucumber, Thai basil, serrano.” This is one of those spicy specialty cocktails that has popped up all over the place lately. It was good, with a long serrano burn.


“Tai Snapper, asian pear jus and pickled ginger.” Sweet and lovely.


“Big Eye Tuna, yuzu, soy, and blood orange.” Also a really good presentation of the fish with complex flavor profiles.


“Sesame Duck Confit, sweet lettuces and mango with ginger aioli and chipotle jang wrapped in jjin bahng.” This was amazingly tasty. The smokey duck, the sweet fruit, and the tang of some pickles paired perfectly — and there was all sorts of texture going on.


“Green Chili Pork Sausage, pineapple and butter lettuces with ssam jang wrapped in jjin bahang.” Also great. The sausage thing tasted amazing.


“Asian Pear and Kholrabi Salad, pea shoots and perilla with mustard vinaigrette.” Pretty spicy!


“Heirloom tomatos, green beans, soy ginger vinaigrette.”


“Silken Tofu, ginger dashi broth.” Wasabi in the sauce was incredibly hot. Hotter even than atomic horseradish. My nose hurt for an hour. Each bite made me sneeze. I finished it all.


“Kimchi eggplat dumplings, mushrooms and silken tofu with pine-nut mustard dipping sauce.” Very tasty too, and not too spicy.


“Wagyu Beef Roseu Pyeonchae, truffle scented seared beef carpaccio with asian pear and arugula salad.” This was one of the blander dishes. The meat was succulent, but I felt the dish could use a little more zing.


“Pan Friend Duck and Foie Gras dumplings with sour cherry dipping sauce.” Incredible potstickers. Some of the best I’ve even had — foie gras! The sauce was really good too.


“Soju Cured Salmon, crisp potato pancakes with pickled onions and ginger cream.” Sort of a giant potato latke with salmon and creme fraiche. Pretty tasty.

Moko certainly had strong flavors, and I for the most part loved them. A lot of dishes were quite spicy, more than I would have expected (and I have a pretty high tolerance). So several hours later I’m still feeling the burn.

Check out some other modernized Asians like Red Medicine or Xino.

Related posts:

  1. Waterloo & City
  2. Quick Eats: Tofu Ya
  3. Ford’s Filling Station
  4. Food as Art: Pearl Dragon
  5. Fraiche Santa Monica
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Cooking, Culver City, Culver City California, Duck Confit, Food, Fruits and Vegetables, Ginger, Korean cuisine, Los Angeles, Moko, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Tofu, Wasabi

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.

Related posts:

  1. Fraiche Santa Monica
  2. Saturday is for Salt
  3. Fraiche take on Franco-Italian
  4. Food as Art: Ortolan
  5. Sicilian Style – Drago
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
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