Restaurant: Majordomo [1, 2, 3, 4]
Location: 1725 Naud St, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (323) 545-4880
Date: August 8, 2019
Cuisine: Korean Fusion
Rating: Big dishes amazing
It’s with gigantic expectation that NY restaurateur David Chang opened his first LA outpost last year and since then it’s become a regular foodie and wine destination among my friends. Tonight is my fourth visit, but my first time with the Hedonists — not that I don’t see them several times a week elsewhere. We also had along Elisabeth An from Crustacean.
Looking on the map, I was pretty skeptical of the weird between Chinatown and Dodger’s Stadium location — a totally annoying spot for me to get to during traffic! Two brutal hours!
The area is extremely warehousey, much like the “Arts District” but even newer. This particular time, dropping off at night, we joked about our life expectancy. 
The have a sort of hipster city built down here out of old warehouses.
With lots of bespoke graffiti.
And Majordomo, of course.
Which has a pretty big enclosed and outside space (which we ate in this third time). Have to say, the outside space was actually preferable. Less crowded and quieter.
As you can see.
Inside is one of those cavernous loud warehouse spaces.
High naked ceilings. Don’t come here when it’s raining! They also have the currently hip bathroom setup with the coed shared sinks exposed out in the main room. Not my thing. What if you want to clean up in private?
The current menu.
Larry brought: 1995 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. JG 95. The 1995 Krug in magnum is really starting to drink with style and grace, but it remains a wine that has just reached its plateau of maturity and has years and years of life still ahead of it. The lovely and quite classic nose wafts from the glass in a constellation of apple, peach, caraway seed, a lovely base of minerality, a touch of walnut, rye bread and a gently smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, crisp and complex, with a wide open attack, a fine core, elegant mousse and really lovely length and grip on the focused and classy finish. Fine juice.
Baja California Uni. Broken tofu, avocado, yuzu. The tofu was what the Koreans (I think) call Soon Tofu, the soft silky tofu — and probably my favorite type. It went very well with the uni, rich avocado and the tangy yuzu.
From my cellar: 2006 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot. JG 95. The 2006 Blanchots is also profound. The magical bouquet jumps from the glass in a blend of mineral, apple, lemon, grapefruit,, more mineral, a hint of anise and floral tones. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, deep and very pure, with brilliant transparency, great cut and focus, and a magnificent long finish. Not much to say about this wine except wait for it to apogee before drinking it, as I have to imagine it will shut down for several years after bottling. But it will be humbling at its peak.
Bing is this Korean bread thing. Pretty much like a thick crepe or pita bread. They have various “toppings” you can get with the bing.
We got some free shaved chilled poultry liver.
Pork and Spicy Pineapple. I guess vaguely Hawaiian, but more or less like Char sui — and tasty at that — with pineapple and some spicy sauce.
Spicy Lamb. The lamb was vaguely Greek/Turkish or something with the yogurt and the stewed meat quality. Yummy though. The eggs were more complex and pretty excellent. You mash it up a bit to get the roe, egg, chips etc on the bing. I put the ham on at the same time for max effect and it was very good.
Marinated Mushrooms. Pistachio, radish. The pistachio turns out to be a paste underneath.
Stuffed Peppers. Benton’s sack sausage, buttermilk ranch. Hehe, I said sack. These are like Jalepeno poppers — sort of. Shishito poppers.
1995 Giorgio Pelissero Barbaresco. VM 88. Good medium red. Warm, smoky aromas of red and blackcurrants and earth. Lush, sweet and palate caressing; an easygoing, forward style of Barbaresco that could use more clarity and grip. The tannins are slightly dry but even, and there is good lingering sweet fruit. Drink over the next three or four years.
Crispy Butterball Potatoes, salsa seca, chili, peanuts. Sort of like a spicy potato granola mix? Tasty, and very seedy with a lot of crunch.
Fried Cauliflower. Fish sauce vinaigrette, red onion, cilantro. Cauliflower is the new Brussels Sprout. But I actually love the vegetable and particularly when paired with acid like this.
Marinated Black Cod. Hozon, bok choy, nectarine. A bit of a polarizing dish. I and several others thought it very moist and well cooked. Some thought it dull.
Jefferey brought: 2009 Château Beausejour (Duffau Lagarrosse). RP 100. This big wine (nearly 15% natural alcohol) is a blend of 77% Merlot, 19% Cabernet Franc and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon. It boasts an opaque blue/purple color along with a gorgeous bouquet of charcoal, incense, truffles, blackberry jam, black currants, raspberries and flowers. While enormous in the mouth, the limestone soils in which the grapes are grown give the wine good freshness as well as laser-like clarity and precision. Amazing to taste, this massive, super-concentrated powerhouse comes across as ethereal and almost feminine despite its extravagant fruit, density and richness. It is a modern day legend for sure! Anticipated maturity: 2025-2050+
Whole Steamed Rockfish. Sichuan black bean, herbs. Tasted good, but lots of bones.
White rice.
Macaroni & Chickpea. Hozon, black truffle.
And here’s the truffle. This was delicious, like cacio e pepe with black truffles. I ate a ton, despite the carbs and the fact that I can’t really digest chickpeas effectively.
Arnie brought: 2011 Sine Qua Non Syrah Patine Eleven Confessions Vineyard. VM 96. The 2011 Syrah Patine is deep, powerful and intense, with huge fruit and texture, especially within the context of the year. Mocha, plums, violets, bittersweet chocolate and dark spice meld into the deep, voluptuous finish. As good as the 2011 is, it could use another few years to fully meld together. The 2011 is 97% Syrah, 2% Roussanne and 1% Viognier, all from Eleven Confessions, done with 22% whole clusters and aged for 39 months in French oak barrels, 63% new. (Drink between 2018-2026)
We also pre ordered Boiled Whole Chicken (2-3 people) rice, morels, hand torn noodles.
The hand torn noodle soup was like some of the best (Chinese) mushroom noodle soup you’ll ever have, and they have amped it up with not only truffle butter.
Yarom brought: 2014 Schrader Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon CCS Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard. RP 98. Another one of my favorites is the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon CCS, which is clone 4 from the To Kalon Vineyard in Oakville. This is aged in 100% new Darnajou and is one of the larger cuvées at 510 cases. Wonderfully sweet, velvety tannins, a big sweet nose of white flowers, blackberry and cassis along with cedar wood, charcoal and graphite are all present in this full-bodied opulent wine that also retains wonderful elegance. It finished at 14.6% alcohol and will drink beautifully now as well as over the next 15-20 years.
agavin: And a giant fruit and alchohol bomb like this finally has a food to go with it (see below).
If you go, you must order this even though it’s very expensive! Whole Plate Short Rib (4-6 people). Smoked bone-in APL-style ribs. Served with beef rice, shiso rice paper, ssämjang & condiments. Lettuce wraps — yay, no carbs. Kimchee, pickled daikon, and a spicy Korean paste that is delicious and salty.
The huge chunk of Texas style cow comes out on the cart with the stuff.
The carver not only did an awesome job carving, but later called me a “gelato god” so I’m a fan of hers forever :-).
The “thin sliced” mode, which was amazingly flavorful. The fattier end cap slices which were to die for tender.
And the knaw on the bone for extra flavor bones.
And some of it goes back into the kitchen and emerges as beef fried rice — crazy good.
Mixed up.
I brought gelato again. The staff remembered me (or more precisely the gelato) and were very excited. I live for the positive feedback.
Hpnotiq Blue Hawaiian Sorbetto — like a frozen cocktail — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Thai Coconut Milk, Pineapple, Lime, and Hpnotiq liqueur –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #Hpnotiq #BlueHawaiian #pineapple #coconut #lime
White Chocolate Peanut Gelato — I hadn’t made a White Chocolate base in a while so in light of my rent “experiments” in chocolate took another pass at it — came out awesome, using all Valrhona Ivoire chocolate layered with house-made Peanut Dulcey Ganache — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #peanut #WhiteChocolate #valrhona #ganache
Tonight’s wine lineup.
On the right is Catherine An, owner of Crustacean. We (as a group) have become friendly with her and she’s going to do a special meal for a return visit to her place in November.
Overall, we had a great time at Majordomo. You do need a decent sized party for the awesome large dishes and you need to preorder. One time, even when we got there at 6:45pm there were only 1 each of the beef and pork left! Tonight we had 8, which is perfect as the big dishes easily go around 8 ways and the smaller ones you can order two of.
The service and wine service were both spectacular. I was really surprised as these loud hipster places often don’t have good wine service but we were really taken care of and this added a lot to the evening. We had a great (large) table in the back corner of the patio and a huge unused table next to it for our gear, wines, etc. They were super attentive. Really unusually good service for this level.
The larger pre-order dishes like the rib and chicken are amazing and insane. Tonight the food seemed even better than the first time, even if we did have a lot of (delicious) carbs. Pastas and the fried rice were amazing too. Really liking everything about Majordomo other than the distance to get there.
