It’s tradition at ThanksGavin (the 4 day feasting our family engages in each November) for one of my cousins to host the Friday Night dinner, which is like thanksgiving night all over again (but with different food). This year, Matt and his wife Andrea handled BOTH nights!
Shrimp Cocktail with home-made Cocktail Sauce.
Home-made Trout Dip. Very lovely smoked trout flavor and great creamy texture.
Toasts for the trout dip.
A pile of Snake River Farms beef.
Tomohawk steaks.
New York Steaks.
Sliced steak.
Salmon.
Home-made Béarnaise sauce for both the steaks and salmon.
Cauliflower Gratin. Covered in a Béchamel sauce that was infused with cheese then baked.
Crispy sliced potatoes.
Sautéed Mushrooms. Just like a steakhouse.
Sautéed Spinach.
Caesar salad made with my “famous” classic Caesar Dressing (includes anchoives and raw egg yolks of course).
My personal plate, avoiding the carbs.
The dessert spread returns the leftovers from Thanksgiving the night before.
Satisfaction!
Archive for Dessert
Restaurant: Chi Spacca [1, 2, 3]
Location: 6610 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038. (323) 297-1133
Date: September 13, 2022
Cuisine: Italian Steakhouse
Rating: Rich but delicious, a carnivore’s paradise
The little Mozza empire on Melrose now includes the Pizzeria, the Osteria, Chi Spacca, and Mozza 2 go. They do a great job with all their restaurants but their annoying corkage policy (2 bottles per table!) has limited my ability to attend. I only go to this sort of place with my wine groups (my wife being a near vegetarian) and so the limits make it near impossible. But anyway they do have a good (if pricey) Italian wine list and so it’s workable with 3 people, but no more.
Jeffrey loves this place — it’s one of his favorites in the city in any genre — and so he “muscled” us into this dinner (twist my arm!).
The small room.
The smoky in the room grill.
The menu.
Jeffrey is obsessed with sitting at the bar. It’s a front row seat to the grilling action, but it is warm, smoky, and “linear” in that having more than 3 people here means you can barely talk. In general I prefer tables.
From the list: Floral and mineral at the same time.
FOCACCIA DI RECCO. stracchino, extra virgin olive oil. Very salty but super delicious. Extremely hot. Crispy, but not as crispy as Jeffrey remembers.
PICKLED PEPPERS & ANCHOVY. Peppers stuffed with anchovy. Salty but delicious.
WARM ROASTED SQUASH BLOSSOMS. Tomato vinaigrette, basil. These could have been better. They were fine, but muted. I did like using the tomato sauce on the focaccia however.
SALANOVA LETTUCE. fines herbes, lemon vinaigrette. Salted, but a lovely fresh salad with nice hits of dill. I might have liked even better with a bracing more acidic (and less salty) take.
GRILLED OCTOPUS. pureed and fried ceci. Good, but the double chickpea stuff wrecked my gut.
From my cellar: Spectacular. Nose, middle, and finish. Lots of fruit.
GRILLED LAMB SAUSAGE. Peppers, onion, calabrian chile. Really nice char on the sausage and a bit of heat. The salad offset the fat a bit, but it was, you guessed it, a bit too salty.
Big! But round.
BEEF & BONE MARROW PIE. beef cheek, cippolini, funghi. Rich and delicious. Crust is really rich and there is that dark meat pie thing.
Look at all that meat!
PORCINI RUBBED SHORT RIBS. scallion, salsa verde. More or less Korean-style short ribs (except for the salsa verde). Maybe a touch chewy.
GRILLED SPROUTING CAULIFLOWER. bagna cauda, crushed lemon. Jeffrey didn’t like these, but I thought they were fine. I liked the butter thing, the char, and the crunch.
SPACCA ONION RINGS. garlic aioli. Absolutely great onion rings. Pretty much perfect. Flakey fry.
garlic aioli. This was good. And useful for jazing up other dishes besides the rings.
MILK ROASTED PORK LOIN. fennel pollen, crispy sage. Nice flavor but so fatty.
GRILLED MAITAKE MUSHROOMS. garlic, mint, lemon. Nice and smokey.
PEPPER STEAK. bacon, scallion, peppercorn, chive. Way, way too salty.
BUTTERSCOTCH BUDINO. caramel, Maldon sea salt, rosemary pinenut cookies. Close to a perfect dessert.
BANANA CREAM SLAB. cocoa nib and caramel jam. I ate around the banana itself enjoying the cream and crust.
Our wines.
On the grill.
Resting meats.
Overall, I thought the food at Chi Spacca was quite awesome, if not exactly authentically Italian. Certainly more to my taste than any normal steakhouse. They should import some pastas over from Mozza though :-). We really went to town tonight as all that food was for just 3 people! It was salty though. Extremely salty. And rich, of course.
Service was great too, and the atmosphere fun. My only complaint is with the bottle limit. The corkage is fine. But the 2 bottle hard limit, apparently strictly enforced, is quiet annoying. It totally breaks down for wine dinners. Their list has interesting Italians, but the wines are too young so it’s very difficult to order reds. Plus I just resent having to buy off wine lists altogether (beyond the occasional white or rose). If they priced a fixed $30-50 markup, and had my kind of wines, it would be fine, but they always use a multiplicative markup. I’m not paying $400-600 for a $200 bottle!
Restaurant: Mes Ami [ CHEF LEFT SUBSEQUENTLY ]
Location: 561541 Wilcox Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028. (323) 410-6200
Date: August 25, 2022
Cuisine: French Bistro
Rating: Excellent — but closed
This summer a couple trendy new Hollywood places opened and of course the Foodie Club had to go try them out, tonight consisting of Erick, Jeridan, and myself.
Quoting from Eater:
There seems to be renewed optimism around Los Angeles’s robust restaurant scene, particularly as the state prepares to open up more broadly next week. The latest bit of promise for LA comes out of Hollywood, as chef Lincoln Carson makes his long-hoped-for return to the city with a brand new project called Mes Amis.
As the name implies, Carson’s newest restaurant will lean into French flavors by way of Paris and Lyon’s many cafes and brasseries — though Carson says his menu will be a more California “reinterpretation” of the classics, using Southern California produce from the nearby Hollywood Farmer’s Market. While specific dishes are still being worked out for the menu, expect Mes Amis to exude an upscale casual elegance and offer a strong dessert program, in addition to cocktails and wine.
It has a gorgeous new interior in a classic building.
Bread and butter. Bread was nice and crunchy, butter was fine, but no Normandy butter (at least as far as I could tell).
The menu is small and focused, quite French in its way.
Our wines tonight, plus the Grande Dame we bought off the list.
2008 Veuve Clicquot Champagne Brut La Grande Dame.
PETITE SHELLFISH PLATEAU. 6 east and west coast oysters, 4 littleneck clams, 4 new caledonian prawns, 1 maine scallop crudo. The shrimp and oysters were great. The clams were a bit fishy and the scallop lacked the acidity I was looking for.
A zoom.
NV Krug Champagne Brut Rosé Edition 26eme. JG 95 The soon to be released Krug Rosé “26ème Édition” is from the base year of 2014. Given the long history of Maison Krug, sometimes it seems impossible that this beautiful bottling of Rosé has only seen twenty-six renditions. The blend this year includes one-third of reserve wines, running back to the 2005 vintage. The cépages is forty-four percent pinot noir, thirty percent chardonnay and twenty-six percent pinot meunier and the wine is once again its very pale, salmon color. It offers up a beautifully refined nose of tangerine, white cherries, wheat bread, chalky soil tones, a touch of citrus peel, gentle notes of brown spices and a discreetly smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is young, full-bodied and displays excellent depth in the mid-palate, with elegant mousse, lovely focus and grip, bright acids and a long, complex and very well balanced finish. Fine, fine juice, but this is still a puppy and deserves at least a few years in the cellar to blossom. (Drink between 2027-2060)
CHICKEN LIVER MOUSSE NAPOLEON. puff pastry, prune gastrique. This was really lovely. It actually looked, felt, and tasted like a dessert. The pastry was a dessert mille-feuille with the foie acting more or less like a pastry cream.
DUCK PÂTÉ EN CROÛTE. black truffle, frisée, pickled rhubarb. Very nice decadant French pate.
“Everything” lavash for the pate and tartare.
PRIME CREEKSTONE STEAK TARTARE. egg yolk jam, crispy shallot, “everything” lavash. Very nice tartare with great texture.
BLACK TRUFFLE RISOTTO. ibérico ham, black trumpets, preserved truffle. Rich and subtle. Quite enjoyable.
1998 Domaine des Lambrays Clos des Lambrays. VM 92. Good bright red-ruby color. Knockout nose combines cherry, raspberry, redcurrant, underbrush, licorice, flowers and earth. Penetrating and quite fine; offers a three-dimensional texture but is not really showing its underlying fat today. Intriguing note of cinnamon in the mouth. Finishes very long and complex, with dusty tannins and compelling sweetness. This should be superb with eight to ten years of bottle aging.
STEAK AU POIVRE. potato millefeuille, prime shortrib, peppercorn jus. This was a great steak. It was salty (in a good way) and very tender. The pepper was subdued but present and the crispy potatoes were awesome.
SMOKED LIBERTY DUCK BREAST. swiss chard, parsnip, wild huckleberry jus. Really fabulous duck breast. Extremely tender and full of flavor without being either chewy or gamey. The berry sauce complemented perfectly.
ROASTED LAMB WELLINGTON. pastry crusted lamb loin, thumbelina carrots, shell bean ragoût.
Quite lovely looking and tasted nice as well. Certainly not the lightest dish.
The jus.
SHELL BEAN RAGOÛT.
thumbelina carrots.
POMMES FRITES. Excellent, albiet salty. Perhaps the two are related.
Our awesome server Christian
2005 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. BH 94. This is a mild step up in overall class and elegance with a gorgeously perfumed white flower fruit nose introducing linear, precise, intense and powerful medium full flavors that remain splendidly focused on the stunningly long finish that drenches the palate in dry extract. This is a striking 1er and one to buy as it easily delivers grand cru quality. (Drink starting 2012)
The gang.
The dessert menu.
PEACH PAVLOVA. rose geranium, yellow peaches, blackberry, white verjus. Bright enjoyable peach and merignue combo.
ST. HONORÉ. pecan mousseline, pâte feuilletée, caramel. I love a good proper St Honore and this was a somewhat modernized or deconstructed variant. It did fortuantly retain the basic elements and flavors of the original. I liked it a lot, although I’m not sure it was actually “better” than the classic form.
CHOCOLATE SOUFFLÉ. valrhona chocolate, green chartreuse, génépy gelato. Pretty classic and lovely.
The chef, Lincoln Carson.
Overall, the food at Mes Amis was fabulous. It was sophisticated, a bit different, quite French, and delicious. Most of our foodie friends went — often several times — during the restaurant’s brief tenure. One of my friends even tried to go weekly. But it was indeed a brief tenure, maybe 6 months. The chef left and they are rebooting with a new concept and chef. At the moment they are only open for breakfast and lunch.
Even when we went there was a bit of a mismatch between the location and crowd and the kitchen. This was good cooking. But outside the restaurant was one of those “Hollywood crowds” of very young people undressed to kill. The music was loud. The default service seemed to revolve around the idea of bringing you a small number of dishes all at once — which is sort of a Hollywood mode for non-serious eaters nibbling while taking in the scene. We had to carefully produce the timing of our meal (aka slow it down and stage it). Anyway, it was an opportunity and a fine chef wasted, but I’m glad we got to go during the brief glory days.
Restaurant: Merois
Location: Pendry West Hollywood. 8430 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069. (323) 918-3410
Date: December 21, 2021
Cuisine: Modern Fusion
Rating: Excellent food
Perched atop Pendry West Hollywood, Wolfgang Puck’s Merois is a stylish rooftop restaurant where the city’s awe-inspiring landscape is the backdrop to a sophisticated menu of global flavors and creations with a decidedly Californian point of view. A simple yet stunning raw bar and sushi menu sit alongside heartier main dishes and delicate vegetables infused with flavors of Thailand, Singapore, Japan, and beyond. All finished with an indulgent menu of house made desserts and paired with handcrafted cocktails, fine wines, and more.
The lobby downstairs.
The main dining room. There are outside spaces as well.
The menu.
From my cellar: 2008 Domaine Leflaive Meursault 1er Cru Sous le Dos d’Âne. VM 90. Bright yellow. Ripe stone fruits, grilled almond and vanilla on the nose, lifted by a spicy element. Good sweet, fleshy Meursault, conveying more precision and an impression of firmer acidity than the Puligny villages-perhaps a positive effect of the bottling. Finishes with very good length. I like this.
agavin: our bottle was a bit advanced. Sigh. 2008 Leflaives.
From my cellar: 2007 Lucien Le Moine Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Hauts-Doix. VM 89-92. Good deep red. Slightly wild aromas of dark fruits, smoky minerals, herbs, spices and crushed stone. Serious and structured wine, with pepper, spice and earth notes giving it a drier aspect than most of these 2007s. Not the smoothest wine in the portfolio but the tannins are essentially ripe and gentle.
1999 Domaine Michel Gaunoux Corton-Renardes. 93 points. Great balance with an everlasting finish. It’s a very light wine that paired perfectly with King Salmon. This is in its prime with another decade of good drinking.
Free amuse. Blue Fin Tuna Sashimi, cucumber relish.
Toro crispy rice special. Elevated version of the “classic.”
Grilled Mongolian Lamb Chops.
Baked Sweet Potato, pomegranate, pistachio-mint vinaigrette.
Kurobuta Pork Shank Confit. Crisp Chicharron, gochujang, market greens.
Crispy Peking Duck. Came out whole.
Then cut up with the Persimmon Compote.
Scallion pancakes, not quite large enough. Regular sping pancakes would have been better.
Sweet “Spicy Apricot Sauce” was a bit cloying.
Hoisin, but we had to specially request it.
The dessert menu.
Marjolaine Cake. Hazelnut dacquoise, dark chocolate ganache, pistachio ice cream.
Basque Cheesecake. Fresh passionfruit and mango.
The wines.
Overall, Merois has very good food, very much an updated version of that California/Asian aesthetic that Puck first deployed at Chinois. Service was quite good and very friendly.
This year, after a brief pandemic induced hiatus, ThanksGavin returned to Philadelphia in 2021 — at my cousin Matt and his wife Andrea’s place.
Matt is in the back starting his kitchen prep.
For whatever reasons, possibly ennui, my photos are slightly more minimalistic than usual.
The savory spread.
Bread.
Butter.
Brussels with walnuts.
Squash.
Leeks.
Doubling down on the red are the roasted beets.
Potatoes Lyonnaise.
Cranberry jelly.
My mom’s cranberry chutney with a bit of citrus and cayenne — probably my favorite.
Veggies.
Turkey #1. BBQed in the Big Green Egg. And Turkey #2 was Done in the webber over charcoal.
Turkey!
More Turkey.
Stuffing.
Stuffing without butter.
My official plate for 2021!
Whipped cream I “whipped up.”
And some super decadent butterscotch sauce I also whipped up — given that I’m not the master of anything that belongs with gelato.
Brownies etc.
A spice/fruit cake.
Pumpkin pie.
Pecan pie.
Here is my pancreas busting plate.
Overall, some of the best ThanksGavin food yet, even beating out the awesome 2017 and 2018! It usually is, as the standards keep going up and up! To see a list of all ThanksGavin meals over the here, click here.
Restaurant: Antico
Location: 4653 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90004. (323) 510-3093
Date: January 8, 2020
Cuisine: Italian(ish)
Rating: Very good pastas
Our Foodie Club (+ Yarom) has been trying to get to Antico — the new solo place by Chi Spacca chef Chad Colby for several months and finally we did.
The frontage looks normal enough but when you…
Zoom out: Antico is located, oddly, in a run-of-the-mill KTown strip mall.
The inside is all contemporary upscale dining.
The menu.
Erick brought: 2008 Philipponnat Champagne Extra Brut Clos des Goisses. VM 98. The 2008 Clos des Goisses is just as impressive today as it has always been. Rich, dense and explosive, the 2008 exists in three dimensions, with remarkable textural depth and vertical intensity to burn. Clos des Goisses is notoriously slow to develop. Readers who can be patient will be treated to a spectacular Champagne. The blend is 55% Chardonnay and 45% Pinot Noir, which makes the 2008 a rare Clos des Goisses that favors Chardonnay. About 75% of the lots were fermented in oak. Disgorged April 2017. Dosage is 4.25 grams per liter. (Drink between 2023-2058)
Part of the “Chef’s Pantry”. Ricotta on toast. Good cheese.
Salami.
Squash. Quite good, actually.
Grapefruit with pepper. Odd, like one of my gelati.
Sardines. Very crispy.
Puntarelle – pea tendrils, meyer lemon, Cetara anchovy. Very nice savory dressing.
Burrata — autumn squash, pumpkin seeds. Burrata is always good.
From my cellar: 2003 Valdicava Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna del Piano. VM 93. The 2003 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna del Piano is a super-ripe, opulent wine that resembles the 1997 in its generous, full-bodied personality. The tannins are surprisingly well-balanced within the context of this challenging vintage. The 2003 should drink well relatively early for this Riserva. All things considered, this is a superb effort. Production was down sharply in 2003. The estate bottled just 13,000 bottles of this wine compared to the typical 23,000 bottles. (Drink between 2013-2023)
Capelinni — “al limone” Cetara anchovy, colatura. Very nice bright pasta.
Cavateappi — lamb, gaeta olive, pecorino. Good tomato and acidic flavors. Great texture.
Bread for mopping up sauce.
1996 Tua Rita Redigaffi Toscana IGT. 94 points. This just kept getting better and better with time in the glass. Dark blackberry fruit and licorice with some nice spicy notes on the finish. Awesome complexity. Good structure. This will last another 10 years.
Tajarin — porcini. Yum.
Fazzoletti — beef check & veal tongue bolognese. Fabulous bolognese. Very rich.
A “carb free” (aka no pasta) version of above.
Left over from Roccos.
Chicken — focaccia crostone. It’s chicken.
Swordfish belly — olive, lemon, caper. This was rich and flavorful.
Larry brought: 1997 Masi Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Costasera. 93 points. Deep red coulour with a typical nose of Amarone showing raisings, wet leafs and a hint of vanilla fudge. Palate shows a lovely acidity that is just perfect together with the sweet cherry and raisin fruitiness and is in perfect maturity right now.
Lamb shoulder chop – pistachio, mint. Nice texture and flavor.
Antico steak — salsa verde. I liked the brightness of the “salsa.”
Mashed potatoes with olive oil.
Polenta.
The dessert menus.
Chocolate budino.
Antico is supposed to be known for their ice cream. Like me, they make it with a Carpigiani. It’s basically gelato. Perhaps a touch more custardy than a traditional gelato, and they either serve it right out of the batch freezer (tricky) or make it right before shift and keep it in a warm freezer (or just warm it up). Maybe even at 10-12F. It’s very soft then, like softserve, and given that gelato is always best right out of the batch freezer, before any crystallization has set in, it’s pretty darn good.
Chocolate ice cream. This one had intense chocolaty flavors. They mix up the texture nicely with the chunks.
Meyer lemon ice cream. The meyer lemon curd made it, but the ice cream (gelato) was nice too.
Honeycomb ice cream. Pretty much fior di latte with honeycomb, but given the textural quality of the base, very good.
Overall, I liked Antico a lot. Everything was good, but I particularly liked the pastas — I always do. They aren’t as good as Felix pastas perhaps, but they are very good. It’s not a big or varied menu though, nor super unique, but it is extremely well executed. Service was great too and they really treated us right.
For more LA dining reviews click here.
Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.Chad Colby
Restaurant: Avra Beverly Hills Estiatorio
Location: 233 N Beverly Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 734-0841
Date: November 18, 2019
Cuisine: Greek
Rating: Pricey, but the quality is excellent
New York City’s famed, authentic Greek restaurant Avra Madison Estiatorio has opened its first west coast outpost, appropriately named AVRA Beverly Hills. Located in the “Golden Triangle” of Beverly Hills, AVRA Beverly Hills is designed by award-winning architecture and design firm Rockwell Group. The firm has created an atmosphere similar to that of an open-air villa in Greece, with fresh lemon trees, imported limestone, and stone washed walls. The new 11,000-square-foot eatery, with private spaces for all types of events, features traditional Greek cuisine with an emphasis on fresh seafood.
Now I have to admit, as much as I like Greek food (and I do), this is an odd, very Beverly Hills concept. It’s SO built out — millions I’m sure.
There is a huge Beverly Dr patio.
That blends indoor outdoor — perfect on a lovely LA day.
And the enormous white tablecloth interior.
Complete with booths.
Like in Greece they have fresh seafood in the ice case for the picking — although I’ve never seen it this fancy in Greece.
Look at those huge Santa Barbra prawns!
The lunch menu.
I’m not sure if we had to explicitly pay for this flatbread, olives, etc. The olives were great actually — too bad there were exactly 4 of them!
SALMON TARTAR. Faroe Islands salmon, fresno peppers, cilantro, shallots. Great potato chips too, super crispy.
SPANAKOPITA. oven baked filo, fresh spinach, feta, leeks. Some of the freshest, most elegant Spanakopita I have ever seen. Super flakey.
TUNA TARTARE. Hawaiian big eye tuna, shallot vinaigrette, serrano peppers. Colorful!
Grilled Mediterranean fish of the day, vegetables.
HALIBUT. Carcoal grilled fillet, spanakorizo (spinach rice).
Grilled Jumbo Shrimp. Savory eggplant potato moussaka. I ordered this because of the Moussaka. I love Moussaka and it wasn’t on the menu per se. Moussaka was very good, if small, hints of nutmeg. Grilled shrimp were excellent, although “basic” enough.
Side of Tzatziki. It was good. The size was laughable.
The dessert menu.
CHOCOLATE-YOGURT CHEESECAKE. Raspberry-Rosewater Sauce, Chocolate Bark. Very very rich.
BAKLAVA. Almonds, Honey Syrup. Maybe the best Baklava I’ve had? Super moist, sweet, with lots of nuts and a very crunchy pastry.
The build out is lovely. Service was excellent. Quality was excellent. The atmosphere amazing. Portion sizes tiny. The menu needs some more of the classics like a real moussaka, baby lamb kleftiko, etc. It’s got too much “Filet Mignon” and “lamb chops.” You don’t see that in Greece! That’s to please the Beverly Hills white hairs. Still, I’d like to come back for dinner — although perhaps on someone else’s dime!
For more LA dining reviews click here.
Restaurant: Kass Restaurant – Wine & Bar [1, 2]
Location: 320 South La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036. (323) 413-2299
Date: July 30, 2019
Cuisine: California French
Rating: Fabulous
Years ago I enjoyed Chef Christophe Emé’s Ortolan and have had attended private dinners he’s prepared.
So it was exciting that he opened a new place on La Brea — supposedly a bit more casual this time (as is in vogue). The Foodie Club went in June and the meal was so fabulous we are back (with a slightly different mix of people) just a few weeks later.
I think the sign was completed in 2018, I believe the restaurant itself opened in 2019 :-).
This is the inside after dinner when we outlasted everyone. Clean and cosy.
The kitchen was small and neat and you can see Chef Christophe Emé in the center, carefully managing every detail.
Liz brought the newly released 2002 Dom Pérignon Champagne P2. VM 97+. The 2002 Dom Pérignon P2 is surprisingly, almost shockingly, austere and tightly wound. That almost surely bodes well for the future. Today, though, the 2002 is very hard to taste. Stylistically, it is also much less available than the original release. Readers lucky enough to own the 2002 should plan on being patient.
Cheese and sorbet with kaluga caviar. A light and elegant pairing that showcased the caviar — and of course we were drinking champagne!
2002 Joseph Drouhin Griotte-Chambertin. VM 92. Enticing redcurrant and strawberry scents are precise and impressively perfumed, with pungent floral lift and exotic Asian spice accents. Clean and brisk but tightly wound, with red fruit and bitter cherry flavors firmed by dusty tannins and zesty minerality. At once highly concentrated and elegant, showing a youthfully tangy tone to the impressively long finish. Hold this for another five years, at least.
Tartar with mushrooms and potato chips. Really fabulous. I do love tartar and this was a superlative one. We opened the Griotte-Chambertin (above) to have some red with this.
From my cellar: 1985 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon. JG 96. The 1985 Dom Pérignon is still several years away from its peak of drinkability, and while it is certainly quite approachable at this stage in its evolution, this wine will continue to improve with further bottle age. The bouquet is deep, complex and still a tad adolescent, as it offers up scents of tart apples, pink grapefruit, gentle herbal tones, a touch of limepeel, stony minerality and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and still quite young, with a rock solid core of fruit, bright acids, fine focus and balance, tiny bubbles and superb length and grip on the racy finish. While some tasters around the table thought this wine was drinking beautifully, for my palate it remains still a bit bound up in its minerally adolescence and will offer up significantly more opulence and toasty charm with another five to ten years of bottle age. It should prove to be an absolutely classic vintage of Dom Pérignon.
agavin: this bottle was a bit oxidized and not nearly as good as the one we opened at Angelini — that being said it was still good.
Scrambled Eggs. White truffle. Simple but incredible dish. Perfect texture and soft delicate flavor. Also perfect with the “mature” notes of the 1985 Dom.
2002 Marquis de Laguiche (Joseph Drouhin) Montrachet. VM 94. The 2002 Drouhin Montrachet Marquis de Laguiche was almost as impressive, although stylistically it was quite a bit more honeyed, voluptuous and creamy.
Cold Cucumber soup. Super cool and refreshing. Lovely.
Liz brought: 1986 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune. JG 91. I drank up a couple of cases of the 1986 Clos Ste. Hune from the mid-1990s through around 2005 or so, but I should have held onto some of cellar cache of this vintage, as the wine has continued to age very gracefully and is probably drinking better today than any point in its past. The beautiful nose is a blend of apple, grapefruit, chalky, stony soil tones, tart orange, petrol, a whisper of leesiness and a touch of corn kernel. On the palate the wine is medium-full, long and crisp, with superb focus and complexity, a good core and lovely length and grip on the well-balanced finish that closes with a distinct note of sea salt. A lovely, middleweight vintage of Clos Ste. Hune that continues to cruise along beautifully.
Tile fish with chanterelles and a butter sauce. Fabulous buttery mushroom thing. High mercury levels yeah, but delicious!
From my cellar: 1981 R. López de Heredia Rioja Blanco Gran Reserva Viña Tondonia. VM 92. Yellow-gold. Yellow plum, peach and orange rind on the nose, with complicating notes of cinnamon, mace and allspice. The equally complex palate offers sweet pit fruit and citrus flavors and touches of smoky oak and marzipan. Gains weight and nuttiness with air without loss of energy and finishes with clinging honey and orange marmalade qualities. This would be great with a rich poultry or shellfish dish.
Scallop with parmesan and tomato.
Kirk brought: 1998 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage. VM 94+. Full ruby. Subtle, extremely complex nose melds cassis, bitter cherry, licorice, menthol and gunflint. Great purity and class in the middle palate, though extremely young and not currently showing the texture of the unfinished ’99. But this is utterly compelling syrah, finishing with superb length and extremely fine tannins for the vintage. The ’99 may be more pliant in the early going thanks to its sweeter tannins, but I’m not yet convinced it will surpass this brilliant ’98.
Lamb with tortellini and peas. Another great dish, livened up by the fresh peas.
Cheese selection.
Tarte aux Pommes. Vanilla ice cream.
And of course gelato by me:
Cioccolato Fondente Torrone Gelato — I’ve been working to squeeze the most chocolate humanly possible into a dairy gelato. This is 70% cocoa Valrhona and 100% Callebaut Chocolates — a total of 22.5% cocoa by weight — extremely intense — offset slightly by Italian soft nougat (torrone) — 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 #chocolate #valrhona #Callebaut #torrone
Strawberry Margarita Sorbetto! — like a frozen cocktail — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Strawberries from Avignon, blended with fresh lime, Reposado Tequila and Cointreau –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #strawberry #Margarita #cocktail #Tequila #Cointreau
Overall, this was an amazing meal. Our wines were nice, and service was really spot on, but it’s the cooking that really showed everything else up. We had no repeat dishes from our epic meal previously and all the new ones were great too. The kitchen was a touch more distracted which perhaps slowed the pacing down a bit. The dishes we had were just as good, but for whatever reason we had one less savory and only one dessert instead of 4. Not that I left hungry. So if the first meal was a 10/10 this was maybe a 9/10, but still awesome.
And it should be noted, that as of late August chef Christophe Emé has moved on to new projects, and as such this place represents another ephemeral snapshot into past dining experiences no longer available.
Restaurant: Charcoal Venice [1, 2]
Location: 425 Washington Blvd, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292. (310) 751-6794
Date: March 3, 2019
Cuisine: New American Grill
Rating: Some great meats
Josiah Citrin’s (owner/chef of Melisse) newish more casual eatery has been open for a while — and although I bike past it weekly and went once for brunch, this is my first official dinner visit — and it’s a doozy having been invited by one of the owners for a blow out wine fest.
It’s located on Washington Blvd about 2 blocks in from the ocean.
Inside at night. By the middle of dinner service it was hopping.
2007 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne. VM 96. Taittinger’s 2007 Comtes de Champagne will be nearly impossible to resist upon release. Soaring aromatics, mid-weight structure and soft contours give the 2007 its alluring personality. Lemon oil, white flowers, mint, chamomile and green pear add brightness and freshness throughout, with a persistent, clean finish that makes it impossible to resist a second taste. Today, the 2007 comes across as a slightly more open version of the 2004, with freshness that makes that wine so appealing, and a touch of textural richness that recalls the 2002. Although the 2007 does not have the explosive energy or verticality of the profound 2006, it will drink better earlier. The 2007 has been positively brilliant on the three occasions I have tasted it so far.
The menus.
From my cellar: 1985 Nicolas Potel Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. BH 91. A very fresh yet mature nose of citrus, white flower and lightly toasted nut aromas combines with round and vibrant middle weight flavors that possess a seductive and rich mouth feel, all wrapped in a sappy and mouth coating finish. This is really a lovely effort with complexity and ample finishing punch and is a wine that will continue to hold well if not improve.
2014 Hubert Lamy Saint-Aubin 1er Cru Clos de la Chateniere. JG 91. The 2014 Clos de la Chatenière from Domaine Lamy is another really lovely bottle in the making, wafting from the glass in a blend of apple, a touch of grapefruit, pastry cream, chalky soil tones and a topnote of orange blossoms. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and nicely complex, with a good core, fine focus and grip and a long, nicely reserved finish that closes with a youthful note of citrus peel. Olivier Lamy noted “that we picked this on the earlier side to maintain freshness, as the exposition is plain sud.” A lovely wine.
Sandy, who was with us, is a very “narrow” eater so she added this item, which we otherwise wouldn’t have. Chopped Salad. Tomato, Havarti, Bacon, Grilled Onion, Kalamata Olives, and Jo-Jo’s Vinaigrette. It was fine, but I’m not a chopped salad fan — at least there were no beans.
Oysters on the Half Shell garnished Traditionally and Creatively. I’m not sure what the creative was — or maybe we didn’t have it — but they were good oysters.
Big Eye Tuna Tartare, Avocado, Yuzu vinaigrette.
This is a classic with 25 years of omnipresence on menus in some form or another. Maybe a little too much avocado for my taste (hiding the tuna).
It came with sweet potato chips.
1994 Joseph Phelps Insignia. Parker 98. The 1994 boasts an inky/purple color along with a glorious nose of black raspberries, blackberries and black currants that is still somewhat primary despite nearly 18 years in bottle. The Phelps team kept this cuvee in 100% new French oak for 28 months. Its magnificent structure, intensity and purity of fruit, ripeness, balance combined with authoritative power and the magnetic appeal of this full-bodied, Bordeaux-styled wine are extraordinary. This amazing effort is just coming into its best years, and should drink well for at least another 15-20 years.
VM 93. Healthy bright, dark red. Captivating aromas of raspberry, tobacco, truffle and smoke are distinctly darker than those of the 1990. Wonderfully suave, fine-grained wine with superb intensity and retention of dark fruit flavors. Harmonious acidity and a firm tannic spine give this wine noteworthy thrust and extend the finish. The wine’s 10% Merlot component was partly from the cooler Hudson and Hyde vineyards in Carneros. This impeccably balanced wine remains remarkably fresh.
Yarom brought: 1995 Colgin Cabernet Sauvignon Herb Lamb. VM 97. The 1995 Cabernet Sauvignon Herb Lamb is a bit juicier and more overt than the 1997 tasted alongside it in this flight. Forward, juicy and supple, but not at all over the top, the 1995 is a gorgeous wine from this late-ripening site on Howell Mountain. At twenty years of age, the 1995 Herb Lamb is fabulous. Its only real fault is following the 1997 in this tasting.
Smoky Grilled Chicken Wings. Oregano, Chili, and Vinegar. Nice wings. Lots of good meaty flavor.
Smoked Lamb Ribs. These were AWESOME. I don’t have lamb ribs that often but these were some of the best ribs period I’ve had. Tons of savory flavor.
Ron brought: 1995 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Landonne. Parker 99+. One of the treats when tasting through the profound Côte Rôties made by Marcel Guigal was the opportunity to taste all of the bottled 1995’s. Reviewed in previous issues, they are even better from bottle than they were during their upbringing (a characteristic of many Guigal wines). The 1995 Côte Rôtie la Landonne is the stuff of legends and is every bit as compelling as readers might expect. This single vineyard wine will have at least 2 decades of longevity.
M 97+. Deep ruby-red. More sauvage aromas of black raspberry, blueberry, tar, mocha, minerals, mace and roasted game. Superconcentrated and powerful, with a near-solid texture. One of those rare wines that seems almost too big for the mouth. Finishes with huge, toothfurring-but-ripe tannins and great persistence.
From my cellar: 2003 E. Guigal Ermitage Ex-Voto. Parker 100! Another perfect wine is the 2003 Hermitage Ex Voto and it’s the most over-the-top, decadent and hedonistic Ex Voto ever produced. From Les Bessards, l’Hermite, Greffieux and les Murets and aged 4 years in 100% new French oak, it offers off-the-charts concentration and texture as well as layers of creme de cassis, smoke meats, licorice, spice-box and spring flowers. Voluptuous, sweetly fruited and yet, like all great wines, still lively, fresh and graceful. It will have half a century or more of life.
VM 96-97. Bright, full, saturated ruby. Explosive aromas of black raspberry, blackberry and licorice, with a suggestion of medicinal austerity. Then raw and primary but incredibly thick, with a richness verging on port-like. Almost too big for the mouth. Actually more of a fruit bomb on the nose today and altogether more serious on the palate. If the 2003 La Landonne is an essence of syrah, this is an essence of Hermitage. Truly a black hole of a wine: there’s virtually no sign of the new oak, and the wine has a sappiness that belies its pH of close to 4. 0. Philippe says the Guigals were the first to harvest Hermitage in 2003, and yet this wine is a whopping 15. 5% alcohol!
2003 M. Chapoutier Ermitage l’Ermite. Parker 100! More youthful and backwards, the 2003 Ermitage L’Ermite has additional minerality, as well as the focus and purity that’s always imparted by this tiny lieu-dit. Inky purple in color, it offers up spectacular creme de cassis, blackberry, charred meats, graphite and toast as well as a full-bodied, massively concentrated profile on the palate. It’s a prodigious, insanely good wine that should be given another 2-3 years in the cellar, and enjoyed over the following two to three decades.
VM 97. Medium ruby. Dense, powerful, imploded aromas of blackberry, creme de cassis, coffee liqueur, pipe tobacco and smoked meat. The texture of this wine is impossibly lush and velvety, and the superconcentrated, sweet essence-of-dark-berry flavors are also incredibly lively. Wonderfully sweet, lush and endless on the finish. You’d need a squeegee to remove this from your palate.
Special Quail. I don’t think this was on a menu. Everything was in this incredible (and rich) reduction sauce. There were potatoes and root vegetables too. Delicious!
Coal Roasted Carrots. Sheep’s Milk Ricotta, Herbs, Honey and Black Pepper. Very nice carrots and I liked the cheese too.
2002 Abreu Cabernet Sauvignon Madrona Ranch. Parker 96. The 2003 Madrona Ranch, which is largely Cabernet Sauvignon, possesses a freshness that almost belies the vintage character. Its dense purple color is just beginning to reveal some garnet. The nose exhibits abundant floral notes intermixed with notions of blueberries, black raspberries and licorice-infused cassis. Graceful, elegant, and close to full maturity, it is drinking beautifully, displaying secondary nuances, a supple, full-bodied texture and a lush, layered mouthfeel. There is not a bit of aggressiveness, and the tannins, wood and alcohol (14.5%) are all beautifully integrated. As one might expect, this is one of the vintage’s superstars. Drink it over the next 10-15 years.
96 points. Deep ruby, dark fruit, med. tannins, long finish; delicious, but out shone by the 05 Spottswoode, possibly related to a longer decant. I suspect this wine is still evolving & it needs more time or a longer decant; delicious!
2002 Hundred Acre Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Kayli Morgan Vineyard. Parker 100! The 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon Kayli Morgan Vineyard is medium to deep garnet colored with Black Forest cake, plums preserves and crème de cassis bursting forth from the glass with hints of blueberry compote, hoisin, espresso and star anise with wafts of potpourri and oolong tea. The palate is full-bodied, rich and beautifully plush, with tons of spicy fireworks lifting the sexy black fruit, finishing with amazing length and depth.
VM 94. Bright red-ruby. Very ripe aromas of chocolate, saddle leather, cigar tobacco, earth, truffle and tomato. Fat and warm but with a solid mineral underpinning to the flavors of plum, mocha and spices. Large-scaled, plush and seamless but not heavy, this deep wine finishes with substantial dusty tannins. For all its ripeness, there’s sound acidity here. Still, this huge wine would be best paired with winter fare. The brooding finish features lingering notes of cherry and cooked meat and building tannins.
2002 Paul Hobbs Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard. Parker 100! One of the greatest young Cabernet Sauvignons I have ever tasted is the 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard (which I also rated 100 when it was first bottled). This wine has hardly changed since its release. Still incredibly youthful, it reveals a blue/black color along with notes of black currants, camphor, graphite, high quality unsmoked cigar tobacco, blackberries and a touch of oak. Full-bodied and multilayered with terrific texture and richness as well as a 60-second finish, this young, exuberant, slightly flamboyant classic offers an interesting contrast in style with other top producers (such as Schrader Cellars) that also farm parcels of the Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard. Like most young Cabernets, this wine can be drunk now because of the sweetness of its tannins, but it is a good decade away from full maturity. It should last until 2040-2050. Bravo!
VM 93. Good saturated ruby. Superripe aromas of cassis, black raspberry, bitter chocolate and licorice; less herbal than this producer’s other cabernets from this vintage. A fine-grained fruit bomb, with a captivating sweetness. This really expands on the back half yet dances on the palate. The lush tannins reach the incisors.
21 Day Aged Half Liberty Duck. This was insanely good. Probably the best non-Chinese duck I’ve had. Crispy skin, but a tangy/sweet flavor too.
Cabbage Baked in the Embers. Yogurt, Sumac, and Lemon Zest. Great cabbage. Nice char flavor and interesting texture. Paired perfectly with the yogurt.
This giant (very young) Salt also doesn’t get a write up because it again lamely omits the year.
2015 Sine Qua Non Syrah Trouver l’Arene. VM 97. A real head-turner, the 2015 Syrah Trouver l’Arène is every bit as compelling from bottle as it was from barrel. Rich, sumptuous and exquisitely layered, the 2015 possesses magnificent concentration as it builds in the glass. Inky dark blue/purplish berry fruit, graphite, smoke, licorice and spice are some of the many nuances that develop in an arrestingly beautiful, vivid Syrah that will thrill those fortunate enough to find it. The blend is 80.5% Syrah, 7% Petite Sirah, 7% Mourvedre, 2% Grenache and 3.5% Viognier, done with 34% whole clusters and aged for 22 months in 48% new oak.
I have learned to photo the back of SQN — even though, again, it’s totally lame of them not to put the vintage on the front.
Giant bone in rib eye. This was good, but not as good as most of the other meat dishes.
Steak Fries with Ketchup, Mustard.
Charred Brussels Sprouts. Wheat Berries, Portobello, Calabrian Chili, Duck Egg. Nice sprouts, particularly for not having bacon.
Roasted Wild Mushrooms. Parsley Bread Crumbs, Fermented Garlic Dressing.
The dessert menu.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Cake. McConnell’s Double Peanut Butter Chip Ice Cream. The cake was awesome. Really nice moist cake. I’m just so spoiled with ice cream (it’s not gelato) that this would have been incredible with a straight up “salty peanut gelato” from Sweet Milk.
Lemon Meringue Tart. Awesome. I love LMT and this one was great.
Apple Crumble, McConnell’s Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. Don’t love oats.
Apple Turnovers. Like Strudel.
The wines tonight were big, but incredible. For what it’s worth, we had five Parker 100s!
Our host on the left with Sandy.
I was impressed by our meal here. Not everything was perfect, but some of the dishes: duck, cabbage, lamb ribs, and quail were exceptional and most of the rest really good. A couple were a bit flat (like the chopped salad or tuna, but how exciting is a chopped salad anyway?). The name, Charcoal, implies wood cooked, and they deliver on that promise with an experience that has a bit of a non-Spanish Asador feel.
Restaurant: Wolfgang Puck’s Cut [1, 2]
Location: 9500 Wilshire Blvd. Beverly Hills, California 90212. P: 310-276-8500
Date: February 1, 2019
Cuisine: Steak House
Rating: Top quality
It’s been since 2012 that the Foodie Club has been to Cut and so this year for Erick’s birthday we decided to hit it up again.
Cut is located inside the Beverly Wilshire Hotel (think Pretty Woman) and is Wolfgang Puck’s take on redefining the American Steak House. In this, it succeeds very well. While it adheres to the Steak House basics: slabs of beef served plain on the plate, Cut upgrades things in a number of ways. But we’ll get to this in good time.
Fancy cars in the causeway.
They don’t build ’em like they used to!
We were early and had this view for half an hour while waiting to sit.
The dining room looks light in this photograph but it wasn’t! And they didn’t allow flash, so the photography was challenging to say the least. I had to shoot mostly wide open at 1.8 and so depth of field is tiny.
The current menu.
Erick brought as bonus: 2012 Georges Laval Champagne Les Hautes Chevres. VM 94. Laval’s 2012 Brut Nature Les Hautes-Chèvres, 100% Pinot Meunier, is a dense, powerful wine. The old-vine gravitas of this site, planted between 1930 and 1971, comes through loud and clear in the wine’s ample frame. Dense, powerful and broad on the palate, the 2012 is all class. Dried pear, hazelnut, smoke and dried herbs add tons of complexity. The finish is substantial and intense in all of its dimensions.
Cheesy puffs as an amuse.
Smoked Burrata Cheese. Oro Blanco, Cara Cara Oranges, Tangerines, Charred Fennel. Everyone has a burrata salad but this was a good one — what you can see if it in focus. Colorful, and the combination of greens, cheese, and citrus was nice.
Sea Urchin. Horseradish custard, dungeness crab, bergamont vinegar, avocado. This was more crab than uni by a long shot but was delicious.
And sadly you really can’t see much at this depth of field.
Bread sticks and pretzel bread. I love good pretzel bread.
Wine service started off a touch slow, but was very good, and they have us our own sidecar table and multiple decanters.
Speaking of the wine, Seb convinced us beforehand to coordinate a 4 bottle mini vertical of Château Léoville Las Cases. He, Erick, and I brought them and I swapped an extra one with Erick’s friend Sijie Xiang — who brought me an excellent non-LLC bottle of Bordeaux in exchange.
From my cellar: 1985 Château Léoville Las Cases. VM 96. The 1985 Léoville Las-Cases is quite simply one of the finest Saint-Julien wines of the decade and over a dozen encounters have reaffirmed this as the most pleasurable Las-Cases ever made. This is a stupendous bottle, perhaps the best that I have ever encountered. It has a brilliantly defined bouquet that soars from the glass: red berry fruit, crushed stone, pressed flower, a hint of blood orange and woodland aromas. You could nose this all day. The palate is medium-bodied with the depth and structure one expects from this Second Growth. But what the 1985 has in spades, a virtue not always found at this address, is charm. Silky smooth in texture, the pure red fruit seduces the sense with a shimmering sense of energy on the finish. It is drinking now after three decades and based on this showing could give another three before it declines.
agavin: awesome bottle and WOTN
From my cellar (for Sijie Xiang): 1989 Château Léoville Las Cases. JK 93. A gorgeous, perfectly mature LB Bordeaux. Concentrated with mature, complex fruit and loaded with secondary and tertiary notes of aged cedar, dried tobacco leafs and bell pepper. Elegant with a leanness that doesn’t compromise forward, fleshy fruit. Can hold but really no reason to hold — drink now and enjoy a great, mature Bordeaux.
agavin: very good too, and smooth, but not as powerful or complex as the 1985.
Bluefin Tuna Toro. Smoked Soy Sauce, pickled daikon radish, apple sorrel. We didn’t get much each, but what we did was a lovely sashimi-like bite.
Prime Sirloin Steak Tartare. Herb aioli, grilled sourdough, shallots, dijon mustard. We mixed it all up, including the quail egg. Delicious tartar — really good. Right balance of tangy, meat, pepper etc.
Erick brought: 1995 Château Léoville Las Cases. VM 94+. Deep ruby-red. Deep, lively aromas of red- and blackcurrants, licorice, tobacco and grilled nuts. Great sweetness and silky texture in the mouth currently overshadows the wine strong supporting acidity and tight core of spice and minerals. The toothcoating tannins don’t cover as much of the mouth as those of the ’96 do, but this wine offers uncanny length.
Seb brought (decanted way in advance): 2005 Château Léoville Las Cases. VM 98. A wine for the ages, the 2005 Léoville Las Cases is slow to come out of the gate, but its beauty and pedigree are evident. The 2005 Las Cases is one of the only wines in this tasting that still needs time in bottle, something that won’t come as a surprise to fans of this St. Julien estate. The 2005 offers plenty of the typical Las Cases power, but it is also remarkably nuanced and translucent for a wine of its sheer size. When all is said and done, it is in my top three or four wines of the night.
agavin: the powerhouse monster of the night. Amazing wine and good thing Seb decanted it early that day.
A duo of Snake River Farms Filet Mignon and Nebraska Dry Aged 36 Day Petite Cut New York.
On the side there was some Cavatappi Pasta “Mac & Cheese” with Quebec cheddar. We also ordered Soft Polenta with Parmigiano Reggiano but it was gone faster than I could photo it (given the low light and the fact that I was using a tripod).
A set of sauces including Red Wine Bordelaise, House Made Steak Sauce, and a couple others. I like extra flavor so I’m a sauce guy.
Cauliflower, vadouvan, coconut, curry leaves. Nice interesting veggie.
Celery Root, salsify, carrots, wildflower honey.
Wild Field Mushrooms, shishito peppers, mirin, yuzu. Loves this version of the sautéed mushrooms. The shishitos were great.
The dessert menu.
Baked Alaska. Tangerine Sherbet, Vanilla Gelato, Buttermilk White Chocolate Cake, Candied Kumquats.
They light it on fire in the traditional manner.
Wow this was a great dessert, one of the best baked alaska versions I’ve tasted. Nice hot and cold and texture variance going on.
Orange Honey Nougat Glace. Passion Fruit Granita, lemon yuzu curd, winter citrus. Another dessert winner as it had all those tart flavors.
And for Erick’s birthday: BCP. Caramelized banana, tahitian vanilla custard, puff pastry, banana sorbet, salted caramel sauce. I assume BCP stands for Banana Custard Pastry. It was enough in control banana-wise that I could try it.
The full wine lineup.
Overall, Cut is very very good, if a little expensive. It does succeed in taking the Steak House format and shaking it up a bit, elevating the ingredients and presentation, etc. Partly by offering unusual cuts of beef, partly by having newer more modern appetizers and sides. Execution is very good. Service is very good. It isn’t as over the top as Mastro’s. Not that Cut is lightest meal ever, but I definitely felt less “bombed” than at some other steakhouses, which was nice. Maybe they use less butter. Cut is probably the best Steakhouse in LA, maybe tied with Alexanders on a good night.
Restaurant: Valentino Santa Monica [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13]
Location: 3115 Pico Blvd Santa Monica, CA 90405. (310) 829-4313
Date: December 14, 2018
Cuisine: Italian
Rating: My last meal here!
It is with great sadness that we mark the passing of the venerable and classic Valentino in Santa Monica. It’s been around for nearly 40 years and was at one time (in the 90s) the best Italian Restaurant in LA, if not the country, being one of the first American Italian places to offer extremely Italian, highly refined, ingredient focused food. Now it’s been a bit long in the tooth for some time now, and the cheffing not what it once was, but I’ve been there for so many wine dinners it’s like a second home.
So for our final Sauvages lunch of the year — oddly Bordeaux themed rather than Italian — we celebrate the legacy of the grand dame of LA Italian Fine dining.
Starting with some Champagnes.
There were so many wines this afternoon that I’m feeling too lazy to write them all up.
Now the passed appetizers:
Crocchette of polenta stuffed with egg and cheese?
Crostini with burrata.
Shrimp wrapped in bacon.
Arancini cheese balls.
Pizza Bianca.
Decorated for the holidays.
Or special menu today.
Whole Calamari Stuffed with Lobster and Braised in Light Tomato Broth and Oregano. I didn’t love this dish. A touch fishy.
I Tortini Gemelli di Melanzana e Fungi. Twin flans of eggplant and wild mushroom. These I liked because I’m partial to the soft baked texture of flans.
Spaghetti al Cipollotto with pancetta, mild onions, cherry tomatoes, parmesan & buffalo blue. Nice pasta. I always love some good pancetta with my pasta.
Duet of Stuffed Rabbit and Quail. Very meaty.
I forgot to take the picture of their dessert which was Budino alla Vaniglia e Croccante and Italian Praline-Caramel Pudding. My gelato (below) was plated next to it and was better, of course :-).
Excellent dessert wine.
The holiday flavors continue — Traditional Cassata di Siciliana Gelato — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Sicilian Christmas cake as a gelato, with a ricotta almond base mixed with candied fruit and dark Valrhona chocolate chunks — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #IceCream #Cassata #Valrhona #CandiedFruit #fruit #chocolate #ricotta #almond #RicottaCheese #cheese CassataSiciliana
The holiday flavors continue — Eggnog Gelato — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — pure traditional eggnog made as a gelato with a real rum/sugar/egg zabaglione core — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #IceCream #eggnog #rum #nutmeg #cinnamon #egg #zabaglione
Macchiato.
The filled room.
The afternoon served as a sort of parting function for owner, host and restaurant luminary Piero Selvaggio — and somewhat by coincidence Wolfgang Puck was there and joined in.
Everyone cheers Stuart on as he toasts his friend Piero.
The whole lineup of Bordeaux.
There was a ladies table at this event. Kinda a bit funny with its own wines, and they ordered off the menu rather than having or set lunch.
Piero and Wolfgang taste and drink.
Service was great as always, as Valentino really takes care of us — we are, after all friends of the owner, some for many many years. Sommlier/wine director Paul was in the house and handled all the wines to perfection.
The food itself was fairly typical of recent Valentino set menus with some nice dishes and a few more ho-hum ones. Piero is such a fine host that I really wish he had kept both the food and decor a bit more up to date. Spago has actually done a much better job of this and is still quite busy (and expensive).
To see more Sauvages lunches, click here.
Below is the long parade of Bordeaux. There were some seriously excellent wines in the bunch including the 1990 Margaux and 1982 Haut Brion!
This year, after a brief California hiatus in 2016, ThanksGavin returned to Philadelphia last year — and continues in 2018 at my cousin Matt and his wife Andrea’s place.
Matt is in the back starting his kitchen prep.
But the OG crew, shown here, consisting of my mom and aunt are still on turkey duty!
From my cellar: 2006 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Charmes. BH 93. This is quite a bit riper though there is no overt exoticism present with aromas of peach, spiced pear and apricot that merge into exceptionally rich and relatively big flavors blessed with ample amounts of palate coating dry extract that completely buffer the firm spine of ripe acidity and intense finishing minerality. This is balanced and driving with a linear finish that slowly fans out as it lingers. Superb.
Crudités.
Potato chips cacio e pepe (baked with cacio cheese and pepper).
The infamous caponata.
On the stove.
Gravy simmering.
From my cellar: NV Paul Bara Champagne Grand Cru Grand Rosé. BH 90. Oeil de perdrix color introduces a fresh and mildly fruity nose of strawberry and raspberry scents where additional breadth is present in the form of yeast and citrus nuances. The cool and relatively crisp middle weight flavors possess good if not better depth before culminating in a relatively dry finish that is shaped by moderately firm effervescence. This is certainly very pretty but not particularly deep.
Turkey #1. BBQed in the Big Green Egg.
And Turkey #2. Done in the webber over charcoal.
From my cellar: 2003 Gros Frère et Sœur Grands-Echezeaux. BH 89-92. This too is very toasty but the spicy black fruit nose manages to transcend the wood and complements powerful, dense, borderline massive flavors of superb depth, all wrapped in dusty, firm and ripe tannins. This is a big wine and while it’s no model of elegance, one has to admire the muscle and sheer concentration. This will take its time coming around.
We have three kinds of homemade cranberry sauce!
Cranberry jelly.
Raw cranberry salsa — my least favorite but some love it.
My mom’s cranberry chutney with a bit of citrus and cayenne — probably my favorite.
Carrot salad.
Doubling down on the red are the roasted beets.
Bread and butter — Buster, the ever enthusiastic Retriever, even ate some of the excellent cranberry bread (much to everyone’s chagrin).
Brussels sprouts with walnuts.
Sweet potato with harissa and pistachios. Fabulous, but spicy.
Shallots.
From my cellar: 1999 Paitin di Pasquero-Elia Barbaresco Vecchie Vigne Sorì Paitin. AG 92. The 1999 Barbaresco Sorì Paitin Vecchie Vigne is dark, powerful and opulent, with more than enough stuffing to age well for the better part of the next decade. Smoke, menthol, tar, black fruit and French oak blossom in the glass as this resonant, exuberant Barbaresco show off its unique, totally compelling personality. The French oak is present, but well balanced at the same time.
The turkey and stuffing plate!
Gravy.
And the whole spread.
My official plate for 2018!
From my cellar: 1975 Dow Porto Vintage. 93 points. Very nicely developed and it is drinking perfectly now.
Tower of sweets including Grandmom’s (recipe) brownies and blondies. Plus the every popular Jagielky candy’s. 
Butternut squash pie (tastes just like pecan).
Apple tort.
My mom’s famous pecan pie, made totally from scratch.
Some various ice creams.
Overall, the best ThanksGavin food yet, even beating out the awesome 2017! It usually is, as the standards keep going up and up!
To see a list of all ThanksGavin meals over the here, click here.
Restaurant: Georgian Bakery and Cafe
Location: 11749 Bustleton Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19116. (215) 969-9900
Date: November 21, 2018
Cuisine: Georgian
Rating: Like bland Afghan
It’s tradition on the day before ThanksGavin, for us Gavins to go somewhere ethnic.
For the last 2-3 years we’ve been going to an Uzbek place but this year it was slightly shifted to a nearby Georgian place — oddly located next to the home depot.
Here’s the restaurant itself in what was clearly intended as a big box store space.
Inside is oddly sterile too. But we have a huge table to ourselves. There was one other large party but otherwise empty.
Some Prosecco to start.
Salad. Like a Greek salad.
Slightly different salad — with more garlic.
Eggplant paste toast — excellent.
Eggplant salad. Roasted.
Bread.
Boring “spicy” sauce. Wasn’t really spicy.
From my cellar: 1995 Robert Ampeau & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. Great bottle, fully mature.
Weird sweet pomegranate juice or something. Very sweet and bland.
Fried chicken. Pressed flat.
Egg bread. Fried egg inside what is pretty much a pizza bread. Pretty good, if very mild.
Cheese bread. Sort of like a cheese pizza with no sauce. Bland but tasty.
2014 Domaine Dujac Morey St. Denis 1er Cru Les Chaffots. 92 points. Bit of reduction. Pure, clean red fruit.
Georgian dumplings. Giant with thick skins. The meat inside was pretty good and these are clearly related to Chinese boiled dumplings. So heavy though! And badly badly need soy sauce, vinegar, and chili paste.
From my cellar: 1977 Badia a Coltibuono Chianti Classico Riserva. Mature, earthy, a touch sour.
Kabobs of the pork, veal, beef, and chicken variety.
Sturgeon. Ick. Reeked and tasted like seared heavy fish oil. I needed tongue therapy after this.
Peanut crunchy cake. This was dry but pretty good.
We had a fun night and service was diligent — although there was an odd very long (45 min?) gap between the dumplings and kabobs.
But the food, while well prepared, was quite bland. The Uzbek place we have gone to several times was tastier and a bit more varied — and Afghan food, which is very similar, has about 10X the flavor. Georgian seems to be like carbs, cheese, and fairly bland meat and mixed up with no seasonings.
Location: 1725 Naud St, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (323) 545-4880
Date: July 26, 2018
Cuisine: Korean Fusion
Rating: Big dishes amazing
It’s with gigantic expectation that NY restaurateur David Chang opens his first LA outpost.
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! It took Fred much less time to get here from the OC!
The area is extremely warehousey, much like the “Arts District” but even newer.
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.
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?
From my cellar: NV Pierre Gerbais Champagne Extra Brut Grains de Celles Rose. 90 points. Tastes like a fruity young dry rose still but with bubbles.
Today’s menu.
Chilled Shrimp summer melon, cucumber, fish sauce vinaigrette. Really nice interesting dish. Vaguely Vietnamese with one of those sweet/tangy/fishy light sauces. The combo of fruit, crunchy cucumber, and shrimp though was really interesting and partially Vietnamese, partially Shirazi salad, and partially all it’s own.
Our main event, wine wise, tonight was a blind flight of 5 Meursaults, 4 Coche, one ringer. Larry was supposed to bring the 09, but he ended up in the hospital. Poor Larry.
1998 Coche-Dury Meursault. 95 points. The regular Meursault but an aged one at least, a special wine. It is a classy Burgundy with a lot of roasted almonds and nuts, but still a refreshing acidity. It shows some aging signs I would say at his peak, great company for food. Getting better with time and air. Missing a little bit more complexity in the finish. Anyway nicely balanced.
agavin: tied with the 2011 for white of the night
2004 Coche-Dury Meursault. BH 91. Soft mineral reduction does not materially detract from the green fruit, citrus, stone and slightly smoky nose that introduces detailed, pure and attractively intense middle weight flavors that possess excellent vibrancy on the taut, linear and refined finish. This isn’t quite as complex or concentrated as the ’02 version (see herein) but the sheer persistence is most impressive. And in the same fashion as the 2002, this has reached an inflection point of maturity where it could be enjoyed now or held for a few more years depending on how one prefers aged white burgs. For my taste, I would hold this for another 2 to 4 years but many people will find the current state of maturity to be perfect now.
agavin: nice out of the gate and for a long while.
2006 Coche-Dury Meursault. BH 89. An expressive and attractively layered nose of citrus, yellow orchard fruits and a hint of roasted nuts trimmed in a note of subtle wood toast that is also picked up by the rich, full and generous flavors that possess a seductively textured and balanced finish that delivers fine intensity and impressive persistence for a villages level wine. Recommended.
agavin: flabby out of the gate (we thought it was the non-coche) but really opened up and grew.
From my cellar: 2011 Coche-Dury Meursault. 94 points. An elegant, pure and very pretty nose is now displaying just touches of both wood and some secondary development though it’s clear that the ripe orchard fruit and citrus-infused aromas are still developing. There is a lovely sense of energy to the delicious, round and caressing middle weight flavors that exhibit a subtle mineralitly that continues onto the nicely intense and sappy finale that delivers excellent persistence and particularly so for a villages level wine. This is really lovely stuff and while it could easily be enjoyed now, I’d be inclined to allow it another 5 to 7 years of bottle age first.
agavin: big, long and full of acid to start and just kept getting better.
2013 Bernard Boisson-Vadot Meursault Les Chevalières. 93 points. This was served single blind. The Coche flint and acid was obvious. Except this for was Boisson Vadot. Started off a dead ringer for Coche but as the Coche all picked up complexity with air this b came a little one dimensional. Certainly held its own as a Coche ringer.
Bings (flat breads) with Spicy Lamb and Eggs & Smoked Roe.
A close up fo the stuff you put on the pita. 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.
Hiding behind the coche!
A gift of the house: Macaroni & Chickpea black truffle, black pepper. Really good. Like a cacio e pepe, but with an interesting cheesy/sweetness and that fabulous truffle flavor.
More carbs! Crispy Rice shrimp, corn, bacon. Form favor is Korean, but the flavors were different and the crispy rice reminded me of those Persian dishes.
You mix it up and it was bright and delicious.
Crispy Pork Belly kohlrabi, Bibb lettuce, Domojang. The pork was very crispy, really nice, but it was all about the XO-like Domojang sauce.
Fred brought: 2002 Domaine G. Roumier / Christophe Roumier Chambolle-Musigny. VM 88. Moderately saturated medium red. Lively, pure aromas of raspberry and flowers; I had the impression of getting back to my preferred style of Burgundy Supple and round, but juicy thanks to an edge of acidity. Subtle notes of red fruits, flowers and minerals. Finishes with dusty tannins.
agavin: reviewers way under rated this fresh lovely young village wine.
We also pre ordered Boiled Whole Chicken (2-3 people) rice, morels, hand torn noodles.
This was some absolutely first rate chicken. Pretty much Hainan chicken with the spice already rubbed on, much more Chinese than anything else.
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.
But a pile of real truffles too (replacing the morels from before).
Our wine lineup.
Which Eve shows off for Instagram.
We also happened to be “crashed” by Charlie Fu and friends at the next table over.
Wine service is so good here they also brought some lousy juice.
The dessert menu.
Strawberry Kakigoro. Shiso, burrata. Strawberry and shiso shaved ice with burrata sauce and dehydrated strawberries. It was mild in flavor, but very intriguing and refreshing. Plus it was amazing paired with the coche. Made it taste like strawberry coche. I think a nice high acid White Burg would be great with a little Boiron Strawberry Puree!
Mandorla Tostata Stroopwafel Gelato (Toasted Almond) made by me for Sweet Milk Gelato — toasted Sicilian almonds and Dutch Stroopwafel, because, why not? Some of Charlie’s guys declared it the best gelato they have ever had — makes a dad proud!
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. When we got there at 6:45pm there were only 1 each of the beef and pork left!
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.
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. Maybe it was the Coche. Coche makes everything taste better.
Location: 465 S La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048. 310.246.5555
Date: June 7, 2018
Cuisine: Spanish influenced Molecular Gastronomy
Rating: Awesome
I’m a bit of a Jose Andres groupie as not only have I been three times to Saam, at least 10 to The Bazaar (REVIEW HERE), but also to brunch at Trés, and even to é by José Andrés (twice) and Jaleo in Vegas and several places in Washington D.C.
For those who don’t know, José Andrés is perhaps America’s leading practitioner of my favorite culinary style: Spanish Molecular Gastronomy. This school of cooking, a radical interpretation of the preparation of food, was begun at El Bulli outside of Barcellona. Andrés cooked and studied there with master chef Ferran Adrià. I first encountered Andrés’s cooking in Washington DC at Cafe Atlantico, and its own restaurant within a restaurant, Minibar.
I’ve eaten molecular a number of times in Spain, for example at Calima and La Terraza. The Bazaar and Saam brought molecular style to LA.
Somni is the “secret” prix fixe only room within the Bazaar, which replaces the previous secret room, Saam. The new one has a format more like é by José André as it’s 10 seats and fairly theatrical. There are two seatings, and a $235 dollar a person (includes tip) tasting menu. They do allow dietary restrictions with advance notice.
Tonight was my wife and her sister’s birthday dinner.
Somni has its own waiting tables out in the lobby before we move on to Somni proper. here they brought us an intro glass of Spanish wine (included).
The former Saam space has been opened up to the Bazaar kitchen, reformatted in lovely pale wood and with a semi-circular bar. It’s much more airy.
The whole kitchen is visible behind the bar. And there is a weird empty void space behind the guests.
The kitchen now merges into the Bazaar kitchen.
Homage to Spain?
Chef de Cuisine Zabala Aitor, hailing from Catalonia and Basque. He worked at El Bulli, Arzak, Aelarre, and ABaC!
The vessels are all exquisite.
The regular menu for tonight.
And the special vegetarian (+ fish) menu — they also did a gluten free version and even printed that one out (not pictured).
Hojita. A nitro frozen cocktail of rum. Delicious and strong.
The first of the middle level of wine pairings.
Almond shell. Looks like almonds, but you pop the whole thing in the mouth and eat it — soft, nutty, and amazing.
Apple floret, cheese & beet. One of these cheese, apple, beet salads served in sponge form.
Chicken skin and foie gras. Pretending to look like corn!
The vegetarian replacement for the foie: coco curry.
Idiazabal leaf.
Pan con tomate y jamon. Classic toast with tomato pulp and jamon. The toast itself may not have actually been toast.
Caviar & Truffle. Straight up briny goodness.
The vegetarian version was avocado hand.
The next pairing wine.
Spot prawn and that’s it. Pure succulent Santa Barbara spot prawn steamed or sous vide or something. Incredibly fresh and juicy. Sucked out the head!
The veggies got churro and mother mole.
Live scallop with burrata. A lovely and delicious dish. All soft textures.
The next wine.
Croissant (potato based) with a dipping soup.
Pigtail curry bun. You dip it in the curry sauce — incredible. This was an amazing dish.
Strawberry negroni — frozen and alcohol filled intermezzo “cocktail.”
Kohlrabi and snap peas.
The actual peas were inside. Quite lovely. I like the green on green.
The first red.
Fireflies with pil-pil. This is the pil-pil, i think, a web to catch:
These baby squid. Delicious when dipped in the sauce and very interesting.
White asparagus for the veggies.
Alubias y jamon. Sort of beans and ham — but spherized.
A fried something.
Turbot with mushroom tea. It had a BBQ flavor and a texture a bit like eel — very rich and soft.
Here is the “tea.”
More red.
Japanese A5 & bone marrow.
With the bone marrow sauce.
Eggplant substitutes for the veggies.
Nori empanada.
A nice Sauternes for dessert.
“Snowflake”. Under the sugary snowflake was ice cream, macha, and some kind of nut paste?
Black forest pizzelle.
Under the soft chocolate disc was the various black forest ingredients like cherry and Bavarian cream.
Matcha doughnut. Inside was gooey matcha custard that just exploded out! Amazing.
More desserts.
Mochi.
Merienda. A little white chocolate and nut paste sandwich.
This was my wife and her sister’s birthday and so out came the little birthday men.
Overall, the food was amazing at Somni. Much more advanced and “sophisticated” than the early Saam meals which were just Bazaar+. This is much more theatrical and formal, much more in the vein of E or minibar.
Service was excellent. First rate really and very attentive. Wine service was very slick too.
But things ran very smooth and FAST. A touch slower than the first time, maybe 2 hours, but too fast still! Yeah! It should have been 3. Maybe a few more courses. They do this, I assume, so they can comfortably get two seatings in and not be working super late. But it felt a bit rushed.
Because I knew it would be fast I just ordered the wine pairings. They were nice wines and quite interesting — probably didn’t add up that great a value by retail standards, but still a very tasty way to go. They were generous with repouring them during the course.
They said the first time that they change the food fairly rapidly, and roughly 40% did change, but it’s certainly not a total turn over in 3 months.
In our party of 3 we had 3 different meal variations (normal, pescatarian, and pescatarian gluten-free) and (with advance notice) they did a phenomenal job accommodating these with not only custom dish variations but 3 separate printed menus! We were also running late and out at the beach (in shorts) and so arrived in less than perfect dress — but they were totally cool with it (we had called in advance too, but I’m sure they would have been fine either way). Two people at our set came about an hour late. I highly recommend you DON’T do this as it messes up the experience but I could see the staff trying their absolute best to get them as many of the courses they had missed as possible.
The execution was very smooth. I’m surprised this isn’t more popular as they had an open spot or two and we were able to make the reservation a few days out.
For a previous Saam meal, click here.
For a meal and The Bazaar proper, click here.
Restaurant: Valentino Santa Monica [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]
Location: 3115 Pico Blvd Santa Monica, CA 90405. (310) 829-4313
Date: May 29, 2018
Cuisine: Italian
Rating: Fun and educational!
Valentino is one of my most reviewed restaurants, particularly because Don Cornwell always uses it as a site for his Burgundy dinners. And when Ron suggested we do our Rayas dinner here I was skeptical, because it’s a bit staid, and when he suggested we order off the menu, I was even more skeptical — but this time Valentino proved me wrong.
The menu, which a certainly haven’t seen in a while.
Ron brought: 2006 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne. VM 97.5. The 2006 Comtes de Champagne is striking, especially in the way it brings together elements of ripeness and freshness in a hypothetical blend of the 2002 and 2004. Smooth and creamy on the palate, the 2006 is all about texture. There is a real feeling of density and weight in the 2006, qualities I expect to see grow with time in the bottle. All the elements fall into place effortlessly. The 2006 has been nothing short of magnificent both times I have tasted it. Comtes de Champagne remains the single best value (in relative terms) in tête de cuvée Champagne. I suggest buying a case and following it over the next 20-30 years, which is exactly what I intend to do. There is little doubt the 2006 Comtes de Champagne is a magical Champagne in the making.
Tomato Bruschetta. Classic.
Various bread sticks.
The have very good single source olive oil.
Pougs brought: 2015 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Saint-Aubin 1er Cru En Remilly. VM 91. Pale, bright yellow. Precise but subdued scents of lemon and wet stone. Very pure but closed, conveying lovely energy and juicy, citrussy cut to its concentrated lemon zest, mandarin orange and stone flavors. Colin’s Chatenière may be richer than this wine but it doesn’t not have the same degree of energy. Finishes very smooth, seamless and long. Last year, Colin told me that this wine has only 12.3% alcohol.
From my cellar: 1993 Robert Ampeau & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. BH 92. A fully mature and expressive nose of elegant secondary fruit and floral aromas introduces intensely mineral-driven, pure and beautifully well-detailed middle weight flavors that possess excellent depth and fine length. This is drinking perfectly now and should continue to do so without effort for at least another decade. Tasted only once recently.
Scallops with asparagus puree, asparagus, and mashed potatoes.
Tartara di Tonno e Burrata. Tuna tartare with orange flavor burrata sauce. Possibly a slightly waste of burrata (which I discovered here at Valentino 23 years ago), but really nice combo.
Polpo alla Brace e Fregula. Grilled octopus with squid ink infused Sardinian cous cous. A touch ugly but delicious.
Smoked Quail, rolle on potato and asparagus salad with blueberry sauce. Not what I expected, but delicious.
Larry brought: 1986 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve. RP 86. This wine has been fully mature since its release and continues to drink well, although owners are advised to consume it before the turn of the century. Not one of the most successful 1986s (a difficult as well as irregular vintage in Chateauneuf du Pape), it displays a medium ruby color with no signs of amber or orange. A peppery, herbaceous, celery-scented note competes with ripe cherry/kirsch aromas. Although medium- to full-bodied, with good glycerin and a velvety texture, the wine lacks the sweet mid-palate and inner core of extraction and depth found in the greatest Rayas vintages.
Ron brought: 1989 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve. RP 98. The 1989 Rayas is finally beginning to live up to its immense potential. The color is a dense ruby/purple. The aromatics, which have consistently been tight and reserved, are beginning to reveal some of the framboise and black cherry liqueur-like scents for which this hallowed estate is known. Extremely full-bodied, powerful, and rich, with lots of tannin, muscle, and extract, the colossal-sized, tightly-knit 1989 is bursting at its seams. It requires another 3-5 years of cellaring. This is a prodigious Rayas that is just beginning to strut its stuff. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2025.
agavin: great!!
Jeff brought: 1997 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve. RP 90. It appears I may have seriously underestimated the quality of the 1997 Rayas when tasted from barrel. Tasted twice from bottle, it unquestionably merits a 90-point score. It is rich, deep, and intense. It is an elegant, ripe, evolved, forward, medium-weight Rayas with copious raspberry and cherry fruit. It should drink well young and last for 10-15 years.
agavin: a touch corked? or too much bret?
From my cellar: 2000 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve. RP 93. The 2000 Rayas Chateauneuf du Pape, which Emmanuel Reynaud believes is better than 1998, came in at a whopping 15.2% alcohol. It is reminiscent of a hypothetical blend of the 1998 and 1999, with a medium to light ruby color, and a sumptuous bouquet of kirsch liqueur, spice box, and licorice. Full-bodied and fleshy, with low acidity, it is a sweet (from high glycerin and alcohol), seductive, intoxicating offering with no hard edges and a rich, fleshy mouthfeel. While it will be hard to resist, I feel the 1998 still has more structure. Anticipated maturity for the 2000: 2005-2016.
agavin: drinking amazingly, young even
Erick brought: 2001 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve. RP 92. The 2001 Rayas Chateauneuf du Pape is more structured and slightly deeper ruby-colored than the light-colored 2000. It also possesses more acidity as well as depth. This terroir-driven effort reveals aromas of raspberries and sweet kirsch as well as a medium-bodied, vigorously fresh, lively style. There is also good flavor authority. Give it 3-4 years of cellaring and consume it over the following 15. Like most Chateauneuf du Pape domaines, I did not see anything while tasting through the 2002 reds that would suggest they could be recommended in this publication.
Pougs brought: 2003 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve. RP 95. The 2003 Rayas Chateauneuf du Pape has gone from strength to strength and now looks to be the finest vintage since the monumental 1995. Deep ruby to the rim with that classic Rayas nose of flowers, kirsch liqueur, black raspberries, crushed rocks, and minerals, the wine is dense and concentrated, with a broad, savory mouthfeel, sweet yet silky tannin, fabulous persistence, and a blockbuster finish that just goes on and on. This is a reassuringly profound Rayas that seems to suggest that Emmanuel Reynaud has finally figured out this cold-climate terroir in a warm climate appellation. This wine should be given 3-4 years of bottle age, and drunk over the following 20+ years.
A special pasta with ham.
Gnocchi Patate e Rapini. Potoato and rapini dumpling sateed with cherry tomatoes and jalapeno and creamy ricotta.
Risotto with fresh porcini.
Lasagnetta con ragu d’anatra e porcini. Lasagna with bechamel, duck ragu, and porcini.
All four pastas were great. They might not look the most modern, but they tasted amazing.
Sea bass in Sicilian sauce.
Costolette d’agnello. Grilled lamb chops over fava beans with roasted tomato and olive tapenade.
l‘Ossobuco with risotto al parmigiano. Old school but awesome.
Larry brought this sticky.
A mixed plate of desserts. Their gelato isn’t the greatest, but the cannoli was very good.
The wines were amazing (as they should be). The whites were great and the Rayas was stellar, particularly the 1989 and 2000. All were great though (the 01 and 03 just being young) except for maybe the 97 with its light corking.
Service was great as always, as Valentino really takes care of us — we are, after all friends of the owner, some for many many years. They moved us from a smallish table into our our dining room. Not a private room per se but they built a large table for us in the middle of one of the other rooms and put no one else in there — perfecto!
I was pleasantly surprised how good the food was off the menu, particularly as compared to my many boring sets of food at Don’s dinners. I guess they do it much better off the menu. And it’s always easier to handle a 6 person dinner, which really is a great number.
Restaurant: Majordomo
Location: 1725 Naud St, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (323) 545-4880
Date: May 16, 2018
Cuisine: Korean Fusion
Rating: Big dishes amazing
It’s with gigantic expectation that NY restaurateur David Chang opens his first LA outpost.
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!
The area is extremely warehousey, much like the “Arts District” but even newer.
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.
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 menu.
As always, Fred wanted to go all out so this is our modest wine lineup for 4.
Fred brought: 2010 Coche-Dury Puligny-Montrachet Les Enseignères. VM 92+. Reticent, pure aromas of white peach, hazelnut and minerals. Densely packed and urgent but youthfully tight, showing outstanding intensity and energy for village wine. The resounding, palate-staining finish displays outstanding structure and life. From a tiny crop, this almost painfully young wine should benefit from seven or eight years in the cellar.
agavin: I never understand how the pro reviewers will give a wine like this, which just sings, a lower score than some random Chablis.
There is a Korean fusion amuse cart.
Serving pickles.
Kombu Cured Diver Scallop, Pink Lady apple dashi. Very sweet.
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.
Benton’s reserve ham bing. Put the ham on the pita.
Eggs & Smoked Roe bing. This was 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 Mushroom, pistachio, radish, pea tendrils. Awesome mushroom dish. Nice flavors and textures. Good fiber too.
Special Foodie Club guest Andrew enjoys his wine.
Erick brought: 1999 Château Latour Grand Vin. Parker 93-95. A terrific effort, this sexy, open-knit, opulent effort possesses plenty of tannin, but it is largely concealed by the wine’s wealth of fruit, high extraction level, and noticeable glycerin as well as unctuosity. Dense ruby/purple-colored, with a sweet, evolved nose of black fruits (cassis, leather, and blackberries), cedar, spice box, and liquid minerals, this powerful yet seamless Latour will be surprisingly accessible at an unusually young age. Long and full-bodied, with the acidity, tannin, alcohol, and wood all beautifully integrated, it will be at its finest between 2007-2030. A classic!
Andrew brought: 2003 Haut-Brion. Parker 95. Clearly the best wine made in the Haut-Brion stable in 2003 (the last vintage of the great Jean-Bernard Delmas as administrator), the 2003 Haut-Brion is a blend of 58% Merlot, 31% Cabernet Sauvignon and 11% Cabernet Franc that hit 13% natural alcohol, which seemed high at the time, but given more recent vintages is modest. Dark ruby/plum in color, with no amber or orange at the edge, the wine exhibits an abundance of roasted herbs, hot rocks, black currants, plum, and balsamic notes. Quite rich, medium to full-bodied and more complete, with sweeter tannins than La Mission Haut-Brion, this full-bodied Haut-Brion has hit full maturity, where it should stay for at least a decade. Bravo!
If you go, you must order this even though it’s $190! Whole Plate Short Rib (4-6 people). Smoked bone-in APL-style ribs. Served with beef rice, shiso rice paper, ssämjang & condiments.
The huge chunk of Texas style cow comes out on the cart with the stuff.
They carve it up into various modalities.
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.
From my cellar: 1999 Gros Frère et Sœur Richebourg. 95 points. Bright, deep ruby-red. Complex nose melds violet, bitter chocolate, earth, meat and a hint of medicinal austerity. Dense, rich and thick; a wine of compelling richness and sweetness, but also solidly structured despite its accessibility today. Finishes with lush but firm tannins and exhilarating notes of cassis and violet. Lovely pinot noir.
We also pre ordered Boiled Whole Chicken (2-3 people) rice, morels, hand torn noodles. This amazing dish has apparently changed and no longer has the fabulous noodles.
This was some absolutely first rate chicken. Pretty much Hainan chicken with the spice already rubbed on, much more Chinese than anything else.
The hand torn noodle soup was like some of the best (Chinese) mushroom noodle soup you’ll ever (not) have (as they discontinued it :-().
The dessert menu. I didn’t have the guts to BYOG (Bring Your Own Gelato) on our first trip to Majordomo.
Strawberry Trifle. Buttermilk panna cotta, chiffon cake.
Horchata Kakigori. Coffee, riche, dulce de leche. This was basically a good shaved ice.
Overall, we had a great time at Majordomo. They have some annoyances, like the custom website reservations a month or so ahead of time that book up instantly. We ignored those and scored a late (9pm ish) reservation 2 days out. I don’t do that long advance planning thing.
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.
The larger pre-order dishes like the rib and chicken were amazing and insane. The other dishes were good but not as memorable. But I’d totally go back for either ribs or chicken, and I hope they keep mixing up the menu too.
Restaurant: Spring
Location: 257 S Spring St, Los Angeles, CA 90012. (213) 372-5189
Date: April 3, 2018
Cuisine: French
Rating: Gorgeous room, very polished food
Spring was a big opening a year or two ago with a hugely expensive build out. It’s quiet French (in a lightly LA way). Somehow I never got there because of the annoying (for me) DTLA location. Known for only using fresh and local ingredients, Chef Esnault pays tribute to the season of long days and temperate nights with his full Seasonal Dinner Menu, featuring dishes that are available as each season permits.
We were roving downtown and happened to pop by for a quick post museum lunch.
Self referential.
I’m glad I visited during the day as the space is gorgeous and airy — and this is just the entrance.
The kitchen is open and of epic proportions. Chefs moved carefully and quietly about their tasks.
The main space is like a museum space with the glass ceiling and this green and cream vibe.
The lunch menu.
Seasonal pea soup. The guts in first.
Then the soup. This was an excellent soup, actually. Really fresh and lovely.
Seasonal market crudo, pear, watermelon radish, pickled mustard seeds. Nice, but not as exciting as the soup.
Branzino, red quinoa, leeks, turnip, red cabbage, sauce matelote.
Lily risotto, aged carnaroli rice, spring onion, mascarpone, pistachio, chive blossom. Lovely vegetarian risotto. Great texture and a nice creamy “green” quality.
Chocolate hazelnut tart with passionfruit meringue. We watched them assemble and cut this for an hour. I.e. the pastry chef was painstakingly working on the tart itself. Delicious too.
A different chocolate and hazelnut dessert.
Overall, Spring is unusual for LA. It feels and tasted like a high end Paris museum restaurant. Very good too and a great atmosphere if the airy quiet thing is what you are looking for. I’d like to try it at night. They do allow unlimited corkage.
Restaurant: 48 Flavors
Location: 78 Gouger St, Adelaide SA 5000, Australia. +61 8 8211 6180
Date: December 20, 2017
Cuisine: Gelato
Rating: Awesome gelato, if a tad brightly colored and stabilized
Right next to the Chinese restaurants and the Central Market is this award winning gelato place.
48 Flavors!
They have a lot of flavors, both fairly classic Italian and some more Asian slanted ones.
These brightly colored ones are mostly fruit flavors.
Over here are the more chocolate/vanilla type “heavier” flavors.
And a final shot.
This is Turkish Delight, a rosewater based flavor.
48 Flavors tasted great, has nice texture, and a lot of interesting and delicious flavors. The colors are pretty intense though and I asked them if they added coloring. The guy behind the counter said no, but I read the ingredients on their website and well… yes they do. My own Sweet Milk gelato style is pretty technical (2-3 sugars) but these are way more so with a host of stabilizers, emulsifiers, colors, oils, starches, etc in every flavor. It does help with the color, texture, and shelf life, but it’s well… more processed. I don’t really feel I need the artificial flavors or colors. Not sure why they need the oils either. Probably helps with the emulsification (and hence the texture) but dilutes the natural taste a bit.
For more Australia dining reviews click here.at
Toy factory in the Barossa Valley
Restaurant: Holy Roly
Location: 3450 W 6th St Suite 109A, Los Angeles, CA 90020. (323) 739-8828
Date: January 2, 2018
Cuisine: Rolled Ice Cream
Rating: Tasty, but still too cold
After a tasty Korean meal we wandered around the corner to try this rolled ice cream joint.
Rolled ice cream is really a Thai thing, but this place doesn’t really seem to have any particular ethnic slant. It does bill itself on its website as healthy and organic — all the while sporting fruit loops, Oreos, and marshmallows on top — go figure!
You pick your flavor.
There are specials.
Then they (slowly) take a cup of your flavor and pour it on the frozen surface.
They then manually (and slowly) do the job of a batch freezer by mushing the mix around.
Finally spreading it out so it can freeze nice and cold with little consistency or aeration.
Then they roll it up into ho-hos and decorate.
Deep Dark Chocolate. whipped cream, pocky stick, roasted marshmallow, fruity pebbles (apparently they ran out and decided on fruit loops or are confused), rainbow sprinkles (also out), chocolate syrup. If they think THAT is deep dark they should check out a REAL chocolate ice cream (gelato):
NOT HOLY ROLY, but Chocolate Fondant Honey Nougat Gelato made by Sweet Milk (me). 
Back to our featured location: Coffee, Oreo. Whipped cream, pocky stick, roasted marshmallow (sense a theme?), mini oreo, chocolate syrup. Not bad, but like all these rolled ice creams looks better than it tastes because the temperature is so cold and the texture so dense.
So like all the rolled ice cream places Holy Roly is pretty good (because how bad can house made ice cream be?) and very attractive, but suffers from being too cold and too dense. Plus the format is VERY SLOW. If it were even moderately busy you’d really be waiting a while since it takes maybe 6-8 minutes of straight labor from an employee to prepare just one of these.
