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Archive for Dessert – Page 2

Opening Day at Killer Noodle

Oct16

Restaurant: Killer Noodle

Location: 2030 Sawtelle Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025

Date: October 16, 23, 26 & 29, 2017 + about 15 other times!

Cuisine: Japanese Dan Dan Noodles

Rating: Tasty but highly specific

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Tsujita is the king of Sawtelle ramen with three existing store fronts on the street, the original, annex, and their high end sushi joint.

Yesterday/today they just opened their newest venture in the old Bachi Burger space. Killer Noodle specializes in Tantanmen which is the sort of milder more approachable Japanese “adaption” of Chinese Dan Dan Mien. I love the original Chinese version and even make it myself.

All the Japanese vendors leave these flower arrangements to celebrate your opening.

They are quite lovely but a few of them are rotting in the former Ramen Roll space as I type — I’m not bitter, no no.

The outside menu. Yesterday Killer Noodle was giving away free bowls but today is the first (normal?) day and it was mostly full at 12:30-1ish but not quite. People probably don’t totally know it’s open yet but no crushing mob.

The interior is spacious and much more upscale from the other two noodle shops.

Attractive for sure and lots of space between tables. Small bar too.

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Tasty looking spices make up the decoration behind the bar.

You can pick your spice level. I tried #3 normal. It wasn’t really spicy at all by my standards.


The simple focused menu. Don’t bring anyone here that doesn’t want spicy pork noodles — nothing else on the menu!

Because of the threat of spice I ordered this Japanese Yogu drink. Went well with the tan tan actually. Very Japanese. They have Asahi draft and that’s about it too. Tsujita is VERY minimalist.
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Long after opening (second half of 2018) they added some buns like this spicy pork bun to the menu as cheap appetizers. I detested the slice of tomato and the slightly sweet, slightly spicy bun just didn’t do it for me. Stick to the noodles.
 Side of Char sui pork. Same as at Tsujita LA, and just as good. They make a nice fatty pork. You stuff this in the noodles (below).

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Shabu Shabu Pork. Boiled pork with green onions and a bit of soy and chili sauce. Nowhere near as good as the char sui — go for that instead.

Poached egg. What the Japanese call an Onsen style egg (boiled at low temp) rather than a proper marinated ramen egg (with gooey center). This is a very soft half cooked egg. Still good though. You crack it in your dish.

Now for the main events:

Tokyo style Tantanmen, wet. Here is the “signature” version, wet. The wet version uses thinner ramen noodles.

With pork and egg added. The Tokyo also has some sesame in it, but as far as I can tell no Szechuan broad beans, five spice, or pickled mustard greens like a real Dan Dan. The broth base is a mix of chicken stock and tonkotsu stock. Presumably the same or similar as a regular Tsujita ramen. It’s mildly spicy with the chili oil, very garlicky, and has a mild sesame taste. It was very tasty, and again much closer to a “spicy ramen” than a real dan dan. But that’s what tan tan is.
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Tokyo style dry. This is a 10/26/17 level 5 with extra egg and pork. Tokyo is a touch nuttier, a touch less mala by default, but certainly not very different. So far, this is my favorite variant (and I’ve tried all the dry versions).
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Mixed up. This is what you actually eat.

Downtown Style Tantamen, dry. The dry variant they claim is closer to the Chinese original, although I’m not sure I agree. This downtown one has cayenne and Szechuan peppercorn. It wasn’t very hot or particularly numbing at level 3. It was very tasty though. Tons of garlic. Ground pork. Definitely a more Japanese blend than a real Chinese one. This version doesn’t have the sesame (or at least not nearly as much). At a level 5 this packs a very potent chili wallop.

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Fully dressed and ready to mix (photo from 10/23/17). This is actually a killer level 4 and you can see the increased Szechuan peppercorn dust on it.

The stirred up (but messy) dry style. Not totally dry obviously as the flavor is in the sauce. They use the same (as far as I can tell) thick Tsukemen noodles for the dry version.

The final flavor is “original style“, here shown “dry” level 3. “Original” here apparently means “novel” not the most “typical” tantanmen.

With the requisite $1.50 egg.

And all mixed up. This is BY FAR the most different of the 3. It’s got a sort of green/black pepper flavor and while it has plenty of heat is much more subtle and much less flavorful. Nice texture with the bean sprouts and tofu too. They give you lemon to add acid. Tasty and interesting, and almost “cooling” between bites of my level 5 “downtown”. But I wouldn’t crave it nearly as much.
 Pork over rice bowl. This is tiny. It’s not a meal but an “extra”. You mix it up, but it has sour cream in there too along with chili sauce and ground pork. Makes for a weird mix.
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Mapo ball. Why it’s called a ball, I have no idea. But the mapo is actually an excellent take on the Chinese classic. Not exactly totally Chinese, but super delicious with some real mala heat.

Overall, I’ll be back (many times) as this was a very tasty spicy ramen. I had the wet version the first time (Tokyo) and the dry version (Downtown) the second and a dry (Tokyo) the third and a dry (Downtown) and dry (Original) the fourth. To break down the styles: Tokyo is my favorite and has far more sesame nut flavor. Downtown is more straight chili, mala, and vinegar. Original has it’s unique bright green/black pepper flavors but is much more subdued flavor-wise and feels far less rich.

The thicker noodles are better and because of that I like the “dry.” But I found out you can order the thick noodles in a wet so I have to try that too.

I think Killer Noodle does an excellent job with Tantanmen — being the derived milder Japanese version of Dan Dan. That’s pretty much all they offer, even if there are a couple versions. It would be a weird place to bring a group because not EVERYONE wants a spicy ramen variant. But when you do, totally worth coming.

The first time I got a 3 heat level and that was relatively mild. The second a 4 and that was a big step up heat wise and had me sweating although it wasn’t tough to eat. I tried a 5 (on two different days) also and that was very hot. Certainly I could eat it, but I was really sweating. I’ve had the 6 twice too and it’s fabulous, but has “consequences.” 4 is probably the sweet spot going forward for most people although occasionally I feel like a 5 or 6. Definitely on my regular rotation for now – I go most weeks!

This isn’t for everyone, but if you like a LOT of flavor and spice, Killer Noodle is fabulous.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Because of the heat we were bad and wet across the street to B-Sweet.

Glazed donut stuffed with taro (Ume) ice cream. Sweet and delicious. Glazed donut bread pudding with cream-cheese sauce and ice cream. Oh yeah, sweet!

Related posts:

  1. Hawaiian Noodle Bar
  2. Noodle Check – Yamadaya Ramen
  3. Hedonists Noodle over Hoy-Ka
  4. Viet Noodle Bar
  5. Lucky Noodle King is the Dan Dan Emperor
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: B-Sweet, Dan Dan Mein, Dessert, Killer Noodle, noodles, spicy, Tantanmen, Tsujita LA

Crafty Culina

Feb25

Restaurant: Culina Modern Italian [1, 2]

Location: 300 S Doheny Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90048. 310) 860-4000

Date: February 9, 2017

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Great Italian – Hotel or No

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Hotel restaurants are always rebooting themselves, and so it goes with the 4 Seasons Beverly Hills. This time around they have brought in master Italian chef Mirko Paderno who just a year or two ago was cooking up amazing meals at the tiny Avalon Hotel and then had a brief stint at Downtown’s hot Officine.

The space has been redone in a more classy contemporary way. With a big eating bar too.

Market Oysters, Mignonette, Cocktail Sauce. Simple but great.

Crudo. Some kind of yellowtail, I can’t remember which. But the fish was superb and the olive or and bright citrus drizzle incredible. Really some great sashimi.

The wine list has some nice unusual Italians.

2014 Volpe Pasini Colli Orientali del Friuli Sauvignon Zuc di Volpe. 93 points. Dry, but intensely aromatic in a fruity, almost floral way. The fruitiness wafts up from the cup but is not fleeting or transient, but rather, evolves and persists as I drink it. Only lightly sour. Tastes very clean and leaves me feeling very good after drinking it.

Tuna tartar with quail egg and parmesan. You would barely know this was tuna, given that it was treated just like beef tartar. And an amazing tartar it was!

Sea bass on salt. A delectable chunk of fish served (cooked?) on a block of Himalayan salt.

Bread tower.

Cauliflower panna cotta with egg and truffles. A signature of Mirko’s and an AMAZING dish. Very classic and the light velvety base just brought out the intense truffle.

2005 Paolo Bea Sagrantino di Montefalco Secco Pagliaro. VM 94. The 2005 Montefalco Sagrantino Vigna Pagliaro has put on quite a bit of weight over the last year. Today it is a rich, sumptuous wine that totally covers the palate with dense, dark fruit. In 2005 the Pagliaro is impressive in the way it achieves superb density while retaining the elements of delicate, nuanced subtlety that inform Bea’s finest wines. This is a fabulous effort from Bea. The 2005 Pagliaro saw 46 days on the skins, followed by a year in stainless steel and two years in cask.

Gnocchi with truffles and mushrooms. Some incredible light and fluffy gnocchi, again showcasing the truffles.

They have a lot of good looking cheese.

Gorgonzola dulce on crisps. Amazing!
 Chef Mirko above to mix some risotto with braised meat inside the half wheel of parmesan!

I first saw this technique at Forma.

Risotto with braised beef. Classic pairing, but awesome. The rich cheesy risotto perfectly mars with the succulent meat. Very Northern Italian.

Warm dark chocolate liquid tart. Mint chip gelato. Fabulous chocolate.

And a glass of great vin santo.

2005 Fattoria di Fèlsina Berardenga Vin Santo del Chianti Classico. 93 points. This is a great deal in nice dessert wine.

Not only is Culina now one of the best hotel restaurants in town, it’s one of the best Italian restaurants. Mirko has always been an amazing chef, and particularly when he just “makes stuff for you.” His particular classic but quite contemporary Northern Italian is very much you get at a great (high end) place in Northern Italy — and totally scrumptious.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Crafty Little Lunch
  2. Piccolo – A little Italian
  3. Bestia – Bring out the Beast
  4. Rhone at Officine Brera
  5. Sfixio – Strong out of the gate
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: 4 seasons hotel, Beverly Hills, Culina, Dessert, Italian cuisine, Italian wine, Mirko Paderno, Wine

Quick Eats – Obica SM

May13

Restaurant: Obica Santa Monica

Location: 606 Broadway, Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 393-6633

Date: April 10, 2016

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Solid (modern) neighborhood Italian

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Obica is a new casual addition to the Santa Monica downtown, replacing Hostaria del Piccolo, right next to the (also new) Inotheke. I went once to the Century City version with my Italian wine class and found it quite good.

I swear that when I went the Century City one was spelled Obika with a K and this one with a C. Go figure, it actually changed — I’m not going crazy.

The space is sleek and modern, avec bar.
  And the hard surfaces + nice wood decor style.

Il menu.

Acciughe di Sciacca. Sciacca Anchovies and Sundried Tomatoes. Salty but good. Particularly with…

Burrata al Tartufo. With Black Truffle. Putting this and the anchovies together on bread was excellent.

Pici pomodoro. One of my favorite pasta shapes, little hand made twists.
 Schiaffoni di Gragnano. Paccheri Pasta with tomato sauce. Basil. Mozzarella di Bufala.
 Pappardelle al Ragu di Anatra e Arancia. Homemade rosemary pasta with Tuscan style duck ragu. Orange Zest. A nice interesting pasta.

The dessert menu.

Chocolate gelato.
 Semifreddo al Croccante Salato. Salted Caramel Brittle, Zabaglione gelato. I love semifredo. Although the  Zabaglione didn’t have that Masala/citrus flavor that I like.

Overall, Obica is a solid casual Italian and a nice edition. I have to try more menu items but it’s closer to what you’d get at a mid level place in Italy than all the Italian American places.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

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  2. Quick Eats: Caffe Delfini
  3. Quick Eats: La Cachette Bistro
  4. Quick Eats: Piccolo
  5. Quick Eats – Il Pastaio
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Dessert, Italian cuisine, Obica, Obika, pasta, Santa Monica

Rhone at Officine Brera

Apr22

Restaurant: Officine Brera [1, 2, 3]

Location: 1331 E 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90021. (213) 553-8006

Date: April 19, 2016

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Some of the best (new?) Italian in the city!

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Officine Brera is one of LA’s hottest 2016 openings and I’ve been waiting for an excuse to haul myself Downtown for months. Another modern “rustic” Italian by the team that brought us Factory Kitchen, including master chef Angelo Auriana, plus Brera brings in some new blood in the form of Mirko Paderno who rocked it at Oliverio.

The actual restaurant is behind us, but like many recent hot openings (including Factory Kitchen), Brera is located in the “Arts District”, a bombed out region of DTLA not far from skid row that is rapidly up and coming.

The area offers a mess of old brick 40s warehouses and factories which are being lovingly converted, allowing large spaces at reasonable rents (for now).

There is a nice outside patio/bar.

And inside the gigantic warehouse/factory space has been reconfigured with highly attractive duct work. Who would have thought that grungy 70 year-old factory windows could look so good?

Tonight’s menu — it changes constantly.

Ron brought: NV Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru Réserve Oubliée Blanc de Blancs. VM 92. The NV Brut Réserve Oubliée, is essentially the Cuvée de Réserve with an additional year of aging in tank. In this case, the wine is based on the 2008 vintage, which includes reserve wines going back to 1988. Almond, hazelnut, dried pear and spice notes are all nicely delineated. Sweet, perfumed aromatics add lift to the textured, inviting finish.

Frisceu. vegetable sage fritters, red onions, boston lettuce. Very soft, light, and doughy. Sort of an Italian hush puppy.

Bonus from my cellar: 2010 Paolo Bea Arboreus. 91 points. This is a very special and somewhat odd wine. Very floral and fruity nose with strong apricot and honey notes. On the palate this seems like a different wine with a much drier impression with quite high acidity. Good, and I just can’t resist the charm of the aromas.

Culatello. traditional pianura padana inspired heritage pork, most prized salume. They aren’t kidding when they say traditional. Both Auriana and Paderno are from the Po river valley. Check out this ultra similar treatment at a super traditional (and fabulous) place I ate at in Parma.
 Walker brought: 1990 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage Blanc Chevalier de Sterimberg. 93 points. Really interesting nose – almonds and flowers. Subtle and understated on the palate but loved by all at the tasting. A haunting rather than powerful finish. If I had any left, I would be thinking of drinking up.

agavin: in really great shape.

Polpo. grilled mediterranean octopus, water cress, frisée salad, sunchokes purèe.

CF brought: 1993 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Echezeaux. Burghound 91. The once explosive black fruit nose has now begun to evolve and while still showing obvious class and breed, also displays the front edge of maturing fruit, spice and earth notes that leads to still firm but softening flavors that possess impressive concentration with excellent depth of extract and lovely persistence. This has all the material it needs for a very long life and it should go for 30 years with no difficulty at all if properly stored. For my personal taste, I would continue to cellar this beauty until 2010 or so but it could certainly be approached now with pleasure. Tasted twice recently with consistent results.

agavin: opened the night before, kinda gone.

Fagiolini. blue lake green beans, radicchio, baby kale, toasted hazelnuts, raspadura, garda oil. Nice salad.

CF brought: 1993 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Richebourg. Burghound 92. Relatively austere and reserved with more minerality than Richebourg usually displays and it possesses outstanding flavor detail. There is still limited breadth of flavors but the intensity here is impressive as is the length and there is clearly a classiness here that is unmistakable. This is still extremely young and very backward in magnum format and this will require lots of additional bottle age to realize its full potential.

agavin: also opened the night before. Better by far than the Ech, but totally missing fruit when I got to it.

Battuta cruda. hand chopped beef, celery, raspadura, quail egg, black ash dressing. Some awesome beef tartar — and I love beef tartar.

Tonight’s theme was actually great red Rhone wines. Funny for an Italian restaurant, but we had the theme before we picked the place.

From my cellar: 1976 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle. Our bottle was totally corked 🙁 Forced me to open the Rayas (below), a turn of fates that no one complained about.

Gnocchi. handmade potato gnocchi, castelmagno cheese fonduta, chives. Simple but amazing. Light fluffy pillows and very cheesy (as it should be).

1978 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Côte-Rôtie Les Jumelles. 93 points. amazing gun-powder aroma that lasted for very long, very impressing & shocking aroma that was first noticed after more than 20 years of wine tasting!!! deep secondaries & tertiaries aromas, mainly of dry ripe cherries, some spices, smokiness and lether. A true expereince!

Nastrini del miracolo. ancient grain house made pasta, butcher’s table meat-ragù, italian parsley. The Fettucine Bolognese you wish your grandmother made! Really a very nice ragu.

Walker brought: 1983 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Châteauneuf-du-Pape Les Cèdres. 94 points. The nose is the star here: full on, heavy and rich with stewed red fruit, spice and old tobacco. The finish is medium length, still some lingering tannin; just a little hollow mid-palate where you would expect more fruit to fully complement the enticing nose.

agavin: drinking great!

Cannelloni. braised beef stuffed oven baked fresh pasta, foie grass, melted cheese béchamel. Now these were awesomely rich and delicious.

Emil brought: 1990 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle. 95 points. My first impression was how perfumed this was on the nose. Just gorgeous and complex, with many aromas including provence scents with black olive, incense, dark cooked cherry, plum, dark chocolate. The palate was enveloping, broad yet fresh, full bodied. The (13.9%) alcohol was felt on the finish, which was just slightly drying, but I’m nitpicking. Really delicious wine! Thanks to Karl Kellar for bringing this gorgeous wine.

agavin: ours was a little reserved at first, but opened up.

Crostacei. vialone nano veronese igp rice, langoustines, crab meat, asparagus, crustacean broth. The risotto here is amazing. When Auriana was at Valentino long ago (I’m talking the 90s) I first had his seafood risotto and it was the best risotto I’ve ever had. Things haven’t changed.

Vahan brought: 1990 Delas Frères Hermitage Marquise de la Tourette. 95 points. Dark red violet color; lamb jus and charcoal nose; bewitching roasted lamb, smoke, black fruit and pepper palate; medium-plus finish.

agavin: our bottle was drinking awesomely!

Milanese. vialone nano rice, saffron, bone marrow, lodigrana. A version of the classic Milanese risotto but with bone marrow, including that big chunk pulled out. Awesome!

From my cellar: 2000 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve. 95 points. enormous spicy nose, very intensive on the other hand fine and very elegant, as light as air and full of vitality, still very young, long, long+, for decades!

agavin: awesome. So much spice!

Polenta and snails. Corn polenta with butter sauce and snails. On tasting the Rayas Auriana went back into the kitchen and ordered this up for us, off menu, to pair. Believe it or not it was perfect, as this wouldn’t be your first guess for a match with big CDP!

Vahan brought: 1998 Domaine Pierre Usseglio & Fils Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de mon Aïeul. VM 94. Good deep red. Deep, smoky aromas of black raspberry, pepper, garrigue and spices. Silky on entry, then compellingly sweet in the middle but with strong acidity and firm minerality framing the raspberry, tobacco and roasted herb flavors. The wine’s solid backbone of strong, dusty tannins give great grip to the finish. Offers an uncanny combination of sweetness and verve. This has evolved spectacularly.

Quail. Also off menu. Super tender and with lots of meat.

Ron brought: 1990 Penfolds Grange. Parker 95-96. Deep garnet-brick colored, the 1990 Penfolds Grange has an evolved, earthy character of damp loam, black truffles and tar with an underlying core of figs, dried mulberries, salami and aniseed. There’s a good amount of savory flesh supported by a crisp acid line and medium to firm level chewy tannins, finishing long with some smoked meat coming through. Drink this one now to 2020+.

agavin: big and awesome. Tons of Eucalyptus.
 Carne bovina. 18oz California reserve prime ribeye, ash-roasted onions, potatoes, baby carrots. Flannery beef, I think.

Larry brought: 1994 Penfolds Grange. Parker 91. This is the first vintage where Grange went to a bottle with laser-etched identification numbers to preclude the possibility of fraudulent bottles. The wine, a blend of 89% Shiraz and 11% Cabernet Sauvignon, shows some toasty oak mixed with notes of root vegetables, damp earth, blackberry liqueur, prune, and licorice. The wine is dense, full-bodied, not terribly complex in the mouth, but layered and rich. I would not be surprised to see the rating on this wine improve as this youthful Grange continues to evolve. Anticipated maturity: 2004-2020.

agavin: even more Eucalyptus!
 Rustin nega’. grilled grass fed 22oz veal chop, cured pork, cipollini, european butter.

Vahan brought: 1997 Ojai Syrah Cuvée Henry Daniel. 93 points. Great color, got darker in the glass as it opened over time, rich, tobacco, blackberry jam.

The dessert menu.
 Gianduiotta. milk chocolate hazelnut, sbrisolona crumble, caramelized brulee
 Castagnole. freshly fried doughnuts, anise sugar, salty bourbon caramel sauce
 Torrone. honey & nut nougatine semifreddo, warmed fudge sauce, amarena cherries
 Torta di riso. baked rice cake, meyer lemon mascarpone, raisins, seasonal citrus
 Bonet. chocolate custard tart, orange thyme marinated figs, fresh chantilly cream

The chef spent the whole later evening at our table.

Overall another amazing evening.

Food. The food at Officine is just awesome. It’s very Italian, with a fairly non Italian “vibe” to the place and a more modern share plates style. But the pastas and risotto are as good as any you will find in LA with a real hearty flavor forward style.

Service. Service was great and we were treated like family. They are a bit new, and there are still a few minor kinks here — plus this is a busy place casual place so there is a touch of chaos.

Atmosphere. I loved the big factory look. It was a little loud, but not as bad as some (Bestia!). We had 7 people and a fabulous round table.

Company. This particular crew, my “Foodie Club” crew, is really great fun. Everyone steps up, we bring great wines on theme, and there is a touch of organization and division of labor. We plan a whole table food order in flights and flight and order the wine. Plus the company is great.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

More insane Foodie Club dinners.

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By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Angelo Auriana, Dessert, Foodie Club, Francine Diamond Ferdinandi, Mirko Paderno, Officine Brera, Rhone, Wine

Baking Hot Dessert

Apr13

Restaurant: Erick Schat’s Bakery

Location: 763 N Main St, Bishop, CA 93514. :(760) 873-7156

Date: March 25, 2016

Cuisine: Dutch Bakery

Rating: Great sandwiches and dessert

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Passing through Bishop countless times I’ve often observed the crowd forming around Schat’s Bakery and wondered what it’s all about, so I decided to see.

The place is ancient for California, founded in 1938 by Dutch immigrants. Imagine what Bishop was like in 1938? It’s hardly a metropolis now!

Schat’s has too sides, both packed, the sandwich/bread/savory side and the sweet side. We stopped off first to get some lunch and had to wait 20 or so minutes.

Besides all the classic sandwiches and house-baked bread they feature jams, beef jerky, and all sorts of accompaniments.

Pastrami sandwich on rie. How could I resist? I did sub in aged Gouda cheese for swiss. I hate swiss cheese. This was a great pastrami. Tender and juicy and the bread was nice.

Classic tuna. As American as it gets, and they do it well.

There is a LOT of bread at Schats, many types too.

And more bread.

And even hot cross buns!

Over on the sweet side are all sorts of Northern European influenced goodies — plus some clogs, Delft, and other Dutch kitsch.

Bearclaw danish ring with almond paste. Woah! That looks good. I had a mini version and it was pretty old school and delicious.

Sweet buns.

Old fashioned cookies.

Crazy shaped cookies.

Chocolates.

Candies and more.
 And even things like this marzipan and buttercream mouse on cheese!

Schat’s is certainly a fun (and popular) stop over. It was mobbed on both sides, which the pictures don’t totally represent because I was trying to keep the people out of the frame. We left both satisfied and with a sugar high!

For more Mammoth dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Fully Baked – Euro Pane
  2. ThanksGavin 2011 – The Italian Market
  3. We Toss’em They’re Awesome
  4. ThanksGavin 2015 – Salty Saturday
  5. Quick Eats: Panini at Home
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Bakery, Bishop California, Dessert, Erick Schat's Bakery, Pastrami, Sandwiches

Return to Esso

Feb04

Restaurant: Esso Mediterranean Bistro [1, 2]

Location: 17933 Ventura Blvd. Encino, CA 91316. 818-514-6201

Date: February 3, 2016

Cuisine: Syrian

Rating: Really delicious and authentic flavors

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One of my first couple Hedonist dinners was an epic Armenian / Syrian dinner at Esso and while I’ve gone a couple of times myself, I was very excited for the group’s big return. Esso Mediterranean Bistro is a hole in the wall in an Encino mini-mall right next door to my Kosher butcher. It serves up first rate Syrian fare and a selection of unusual dishes. The owners hail from the beleaguered city of Aleppo — an ancient settlement with a longstanding great culinary tradition based around its location near the birthplace of Western Civilization.

NV Charles de Cazanove Champagne Tête de Cuvée. 91 points. Lemon colour, plentiful bead. Toasty pear nose, a little icing sugar. Full, rich taste; orchard fruits, very toasty. Rather vintage/grand cru in style and quality. Great value.

Spicy pickles.

From my cellar: 2011 Prager Riesling Smaragd Klaus. VM 91. Rich aromas of vineyard peach, passion fruit and acacia honey. Tautly strung on the palate, with juicy apricot fruit wound around a vibrant backbone. The wine’s discreet residual sugar is disguised by abundant minerals and a lemony nuance. With a long finish featuring yellow plum and wet rocks, this riesling shows good balance in spite of its 14% alcohol.

Hummos. Chickpeas, tahini, garlic, lemon juice and spices. Topped with extra virgin olive oil and parsley. This was some great hummos, and very fresh. But I still like Sunnin’s a little better because of the lemony garlic tang.

2008 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières. VM 91. Yellow peach on the nose. Lush and silky in the mouth, conveying a distinctly sweeter impression than the examples from Chassagne-Montrachet. Stone fruit, spice and crushed rock flavors are complemented by some vanillin oak.

Moutebbel (Baba Ghannouj). Roasted eggplant mixed with sesame sauce, garlic, and lemon juice. Topped with extra virgin olive oil. A very fine example, with pleasant smokey flavors.

Pita bread, of course.

2012 Maison Albert Bichot Corton-Charlemagne Domaine du Pavillon. Burghound 92. This is a bit more discreetly oaked though again, the wood treatment is not invisible on the overtly floral nose of green apple and wet stone. There is outstanding concentration to the powerful broad-shouldered flavors that possess better energy and plenty of minerality on the driving finish. Despite the fact that this should reward up to a decade of cellaring there is so much dry extract that this could actually be enjoyed young if desired.

Lebneh. Yogurt/cheese. I love this stuff. I find it cuts the far/factor on a lot of dishes.

2012 Bruno Giacosa Barbera d’Alba. 90 points. Dark purple. Nose of cherry and rose. Dark fruit in the mouth. Great acid. A bit hot, but surprisingly fresh and fruity.

Sliced liver pate. With pistachios. Not totally sure it was liver, but it seemed like it. Good stuff.

1998 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie Château d’Ampuis. RR 95. Full medium ruby. Explosive aromas of cassis, brown spices, tar, mocha, spearmint and crushed pepper. Sweet, spicy and highly concentrated, with black fruit and pepper flavors given clarity and grip by solid underlying structure. Very long and aromatic on the back end, with pepper and spicy oak notes. Perhaps the best vintage yet for this bottling, which was inaugurated with the excellent ’95.

Eggplant stuffed with tomato. Very pretty. I’m not a tomato fan, so I preferred the later meat versions.

From my cellar: 1990 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. RR 97. Similarly rich colour. Intense fruit, rich with aromas of roasted garrigue herbs, with nuances of ink and wet stones. A rich and hedonistic wine on entry, with an immediately apparent full and velvety texture. Despite its age this big and muscular wine still has a wealth of tannins, but with fine acidity and such rich fruit this wine will go the distance. Ripe fruits, with some aromatic, almost floral notes. A spicy, tannic finish, and some considerable length. This wine is still on the way up, and should be superb.

Stuffed Grape Leaves. Grape leaves stuffed with calrose rice, walnuts, onions, and spices. I love these in general, and these specifically were particularly delicious.

2003 Clos des Papes Chateauneuf du Pape. Parker 97-98. While I’ve always loved the 2003 Chateauneuf du Pape, it was extremely controversial in its youth due to its exuberance and ripeness. Yet today, with the wine at maturity, all of that controversy has been put to bed and I know of no one contesting the beauty of this wine – the 2007 vintage in Chateauneuf du Pape will be the same. Looking at the 2003 vintage, Paul-Vincent told me that they started harvest on September 5, but quickly had to stop due to rain on the September 7. They waited for the vineyards to dry out and the last plots weren’t brought in until October 4! As to the wine, this beautiful 2003 offers a kaleidoscope of kirsch liqueur, Asian spices, ground herbs, blackberries and incense. Full-bodied, textured, ripe and plush, Avril commented that this would evolve similar to the ’89, but I certainly see no need to delay gratification here and would drink up while the getting’s good!

agavin: really nice. Probably WOTN.

Mohammera. A spicy mix of walnuts, bread crumbs, paprika, pepper paste, and pomegranate juice. I love mohammera, and have even made it. This particular one was quite spicy with a really nice zing. It made an amazing pairing with the Donnhoff Riesling above (and none of the other wines, haha).

2011 Chapoutier Chateauneuf du Pape la Bernardine. Parker 89. Leading off and a blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre, the 2011 Chateauneuf du Pape La Bernardine is a solid, workhorse-styled effort that offers up notions of sweet red cherries, licorice, garrigue and earthy notes on the nose. Medium-bodied, lively and fresh, with an overall elegant, supple profile, it won’t make old bones, yet is a joy to drink and will dish out plenty of pleasure over the coming 5-6 years.

Tabouleh. Parsley, tomatoes, onions, bulghur (cracked wheat), mint, lemon juice, and extra virgin olive oil. From the parsley oriented school of Tabouleh.

Salad. Standard Middle Eastern cucumber and tomato salad. I liked the tangy dressing and the crunch of the cucumber.

2008 Clos Saint-Jean Chateauneuf du Pape la Combe des Fous. Parker 94. The 2008 Chateauneuf du Pape Combe des Fous shows what this estate can do in a more difficult vintage. Full-bodied, seamless and beautifully textured, it has ample kirsch, forest floor, truffle, black pepper, and an exotic, liquid flower-like quality to go with superb concentration and silky, polished tannin. Showing the vintage’s cooler nature, it nevertheless has serious richness and depth. Drink it over the coming decade.

Kibbeh pie. A sort of pie shaped pastry of spiced meat and bulgur wheat. Similar ingredients to the kibbeh balls, but with a higher wheat ratio.

2003 Chateau de la Nerthe Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee des Cadettes. Parker 91-96. The luxury cuvee, the Cuvee des Cadettes, is the only Chateauneuf du Pape completely aged in 100% new oak, a la many Bordeaux and Burgundies. The 2003 is an outstanding wine but somewhat of a letdown after what I tasted from cask. A 1,000+-case blend of 47% Grenache, 36% Syrah, and the rest Mourvedre, the wine has a deep purple color, a sweet nose of graphite, toasty new oak, cassis, and black fruits. In the mouth, it is medium to full-bodied, revealing more rugged tannin than it did last year as well as aggressive new oak. Nevertheless, there is impressive concentration, but the 2003 is not up to the level of the brilliant 2001 or 1998, the two finest Cuvees des Cadettes I have tasted. In short, it seems to have tightened up and taken on a far more tannic personality than it had last year. Anticipated maturity: now-2014.

agavin: I thought this was a little hot and over oaked. It didn’t taste like a typical CNDP.

Kebbe Nayye. Fine minced raw beef, cracked wheat, onions, parsley and spices. Topped with extra virgin olive oil. A very unusual dish. This is a kind of steak tartar. Soft and slimy in texture, it was very mild in flavor.

2004 Shirvington Shiraz. Parker 95. The sensational 2004 Shiraz’s inky/purple color is followed by aromas of graphite, blueberries, and creme de cassis. It offers wonderful purity, plenty of stuffing, toasty espresso notes from new oak barrels, admirable intensity, and a tremendous finish. Drink it over the next decade. Former winemakers Sarah and Sparky Marquis have left Shirvington and the wine is now being made by Kim Johnston. Little has changed, although the 2004s appear to be more streamlined and delicate than their 2003 and 2002 counterparts.

Crispy cheese “spring rolls.” Like a cigar shaped version of the triangular shaped versions of these. Really great, though, nice soft cheese contrasting with the crispy dough.

2007 Booker Vineyard Alchemist (Syrah / Cabernet Sauvignon) Booker Vineyard. Parker 96. The 2007 The Alchemist, an intriguing blend of 79% Syrah, 19% Petit Verdot, and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon, is fabulous. Inky ruby/purple in color, with an extraordinary nose of scorched earth a la a top Graves wine from Bordeaux intermixed with tar, acacia flower, blackberry, and creme de cassis as well as graphite, its incredibly complex aromatics are followed by a full-bodied wine with considerable opulence, flesh, purity, and depth. Seamless integration of tannin, good, vibrant acidity (no doubt from the limestone soils), and a freshness (despite the wine’s substantial size) make for a compelling red. Drink it over the next 10-15 years.

Moujetderreh. Lentil with bulghur and sauteed onions. I’ve never had this dish, and it was amazing. The pleasant soft texture combined with a really lovely flavor.

2005 Adelina Wines Shiraz. Parker 87. The 2005 Shiraz is sourced from a 100-year-old estate vineyard. Purple-colored, it offers an expressive perfume of cedar, plums, and blueberry. This is followed by a concentrated but straightforward wine with soft tannins, good balance and length, as well as several years of aging potential. Perhaps a few years in bottle will yield more complexity. If so, my score will appear conservative.

Shekh Meghsy. Squash stuffed with ground beef. Topped with fresh tomato and served with rice and yogurt.” These were also spectacular, even if they do look a tad like dog turds.

2006 Tatiarra Caravan of Dreams Shiraz Pressings. Parker 94. The 2006 Pressings Shiraz Caravan of Dreams was aged for 18 months in new American oak. It offers an expressive nose of cedar, spice box, pencil lead, game, and blueberry compote. Dense, full-bodied, and structured on the palate, it has a big core of concentrated, savory blue and black fruit, with pepper and chocolate notes making an appearance. Give it 6-8 years of additional cellaring and drink it from 2015 to 2030.

Armenian pizza. Crunchy bred with a layer of spiced meat inside.

2006 Mitolo Shiraz G A M. Parker 95. The 2006 Shiraz “G.A.M.” (the initials of the Mitolo children) was aged in French and American oak, 60% new. Opaque purple in color, it has an aromatic array of roasted coffee, violets, lavender, pepper, Asian spices, blueberry, and blackberry liqueur. In the mouth it is velvety-textured, deep, concentrated, opulent, and altogether hedonistic. It will evolve for 5-7 years and drink well through 2026.

Kibbe Balls. Lean beef balls mixed with bulghur (cracked wheat), stuffed with ground beef, and onions.” Meat torpedo, and not the Spinal Tap version. These were amazing.

2013 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon. Parker 94. A beautiful ripe, plump, fat and opulent style of Cabernet Sauvignon that Caymus has pioneered, the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon has a dense purple color, loads of juicy blackberry and blackcurrant fruit, low acidity and no real evidence of oak, but a nice, plush, full-bodied opulence. This is irresistible, especially for a Cabernet Sauvignon coming in at 14.9% natural alcohol. Drink it over the next decade or more.

agavin: tasted way too much like fruity oak for my taste

Sausage and peppers. Really tasty grilled wieners. Pickled peppers.

2008 Clos Mimi Cabernet Sauvignon Mcginley Vineyard. Parker ?. This is generally a Rhone Ranger-dominated portfolio, but Clos Mimi has produced a 2007 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the McGinley Vineyard in Santa Barbara that is a beautiful wine, without a bit of herbaceousness. Inky/purple, with a big sweet kiss of creme de cassis, camphor, spice box, and cedar, it is rich, full-bodied, and probably capable of evolving for 20+ years. This is a brilliant Cabernet Sauvignon from an area where no one ever expects to produce Cabernet of this quality.

Eggplant with meat and cheese. I’ve never had this one, but it was really good.

2006 Ridge Monte Bello. Parker 94+. While it is eclipsed by the brilliance of the 2005, the 2006 Monte Bello (68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 10% Petit Verdot, and 2% Cabernet Franc) is a very strong effort. Its dense purple color is followed by copious aromas of creme de cassis, licorice, spice box, and a touch of oak. Well-balanced, dense, pure, layered, and rich, its big, rich style is similar to the 2003. This cuvee should keep for 25-30 years in a cool cellar.

2000 Wantirna Estate Cabernet-Merlot Amelia (mag).

Stuffed eggplants with rice and sausage. Never had this mix exactly, but the vegetables were stuffed with that same ugly pale stuff — but it tasted great, a risotto-like blend of rice, cheese, and sausage.

2012 Duckhorn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. 91 points. Velvet tannins. Medium acid finish. Enjoyed two glasses on day one. Quality wine. For the price it had better be. Most expensive bottle at my local grocery store. Goes down easy. High guzzle index. On the sweet end, but I wouldn’t call it a fruit bomb.

This bottle had a funny story as Michael Z forgot his wine and got it next door at BevMo — although I would have preferred the Rhones he was supposed to bring 🙂

Moussakaa. Always one of my favorites, although this one looks like French onion soup!

But inside are some of the classic elements: spiced meat and eggplant. Very good, although I prefer it Greek style with the Béchamel. Love me my Béchamel.

Frog legs Aleppo style. Yum. If you can ignore the amphibian factor (ribbit!) Kermit tasted great. Like a fish chicken blend, incredibly juicy, and with lots of garlic.

Whey yogurt with honey and pistachios. Incredible blend of creamy dairy, sweetness, and nutty crunch. Probably a several thousand year-old dessert, but incredible.

Tasty oranges.

I thought the Rhones paired the best — although I’m never a fan of new world. I probably missed a couple of wines too because it was a large 20 person table and very chaotic.

Overall, just an amazing evening. A totally epic combination of food, wine, and people. We had so much food that everyone basically ran out of steam after the warm appetizers and only ended up with about 2 entrees! Really, there was too much of each dish but it was just a ridiculous amount of food — and almost all so tasty!

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

  1. Hedonism at Esso
  2. Memorial Day Pig
  3. Oceans of Wine
  4. Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the Sun
  5. Valley Heat
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Dessert, Eggplant, encino, Esso, Esso Mediterranean Bistro, hedonists, Hummus, Pita, Syrian Cuisine, Syrian Food, Wine

Mayhem at Mastro’s

Dec24

Restaurant: Mastro’s [1, 2, 3]

Location: 246 North Canon Dr, Beverly Hills, Ca 90210. 310-888-8782

Date: December 20, 2015

Cuisine: Steak House

Rating: My favorite LA Steak joint

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My friend Sebastian picked Mastros for his birthday dinner — no complaints here — so we all hauled out the wines and headed across town.

For good times were to be had!

Sebastian brought: 1992 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon. VM 91. Very fine aromas of quinine, lemon, lime, minerals and gingery; lightly musky suggestion of yeast autolysis. Very intensely flavored and solidly structured but already quite accessible and open to inspection. Slightly aggressive finish shows excellent persistence. Doesn’t offer the complexity or grip of the best D.P. vintages, but this is ripe and delicious wine.

A seafood tower for seven. The quality of the seafood here is impeccable and the only thing we had to complain about was that there wasn’t enough! Really for five we would have expected the two or three story version Still there were amazing shrimp, claws, king crab (didn’t taste frozen), and oysters.

One of the things that really makes the Mastro’s seafood tower are the sauces. We have cocktail, a spicy mustard, and the Atomic Horseradish. They use this particular magic brand (you can buy it here). The stuff is — pardon my French — fucking awesomely potent. I’ve taken to buying it myself for home. No other horseradish is this punishing. It has a nice flavor too. I particularly like it mixed in with the cocktail sauce. It can have you literally pounding the table in pain — ahem pleasure.

We broke out the appetizers into two separate courses, the seafood tower and salads/hot apps (below).

From my cellar: 2002 Bouchard Père et Fils Chevalier-Montrachet. VM 94. Extremely unevolved aromas of pineapple, spiced apple and grapefruit skin. Thick, rich flavors of grapefruit, apple and minerals; showing a slightly flat, oxidized, resiny character today, as well as a leesy component. A very substantial wine, but presently awkward. My range is just a rough estimate of the wine’s potential quality. “The 2002 whites will need longer on their lees, even if they are transferred from barriques to vats,” says Prost. “They’ll be bottled on the late side, even if the reds get an early bottling.”

From my cellar: 2000 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru La Forest. VM 93+. Pale green-tinged straw. Reticent but ripe and highly nuanced nose combines peach, nectarine, lime, lemon skin, nuts and an intriguing, soil-inflected vegetal/smoky quality. Very dry, taut and reserved yet already rich and mouthfilling, with the ripe fruit notes perfectly supported by a flavor of liquid stone. A wine of great energy, finishing with explosive length and powerful minerality. Grand cru size and cut.

Classic escargot. Buttery garlic goodness.

Seared ahi tuna.

Bone marrow and toast — have a bit of fat!

Mastros chopped salad.

Caesar salad. Not a bad caesar. I’d still like it even punchier.

From my cellar: 1993 Dominique Laurent Grands-Echezeaux. 94 points. Still some oak. Strong Vosne spice. Really nice pinot. Chevy and I thought it was WOTN.

Fries and Burgundy! An extra bonus intermezzo course.

Then a Bordeaux flight:

1982 Montrose. Parker 88-92. The 1982 is nowhere near the quality of some of the Montroses made afterwards (1989, 1990, 1996, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2008), but it has aged better than expected having developed more complexity and richness than barrel samples suggested. Sweet kirsch, black currant, crushed rock, and floral notes are followed by a full-bodied, opulent, fleshy wine displaying no hard edges. It still possesses beautifully pure fruit as well as good body, but it should be consumed over the next 5-8 years.

agavin: I thought a very lovely mature Bord.

2003 Pavie. Parker 96-99. At its release, the 2003 Pavie was somewhat controversial in wine tasting circles, but eleven years later it is obviously a great classic. Its deep purple color is accompanied by notes of vanillin, lead pencil shavings, creme de cassis, plums, black currants and kirsch. Full-bodied, youthful and rich with terrific purity and texture as well as a striking opulence, its 40+-second finish, stunning purity and wonderful perfume suggest it can be drunk now or cellared for 15-20 years.

2000 Lynch Bages. Parker 97. Beginning to open magnificently, the still dense purple-colored 2000 reveals a blossoming bouquet of blackberries, cassis, graphite and pen ink. Full-bodied with velvety tannins that have resolved themselves beautifully over the last eleven years, this wine is still an adolescent, but it exhibits admirable purity, texture, mouthfeel and power combined with elegance. One of the all-time great examples of Lynch Bages, the 2000 is just beginning to drink well yet promises to last for another 20-25+ years.

We decided to order the mains “family style” by getting a couple steaks, sliced, and putting them in the middle. We brought them into two groups so we could arrange two flights of wines. This is the first grouping, which also included all the sides.

Salmon steak with olive tapenade.

Lamb chops.

Porterhouse.

Mushrooms.

Brussels sprouts.

Creamed corn. I love this stuff.

And even better, the evil “king crab truffle gnocchi.” Yes that’s right. Cream, cheese, truffles, crab, potato. What could be better?

This is “Gorgonzola mac & cheese!” Oh so light, oh so yummy.

Dave brought: 2007 Domaine du Clos du Caillou Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve le Clos du Caillou. Parker 100! Just another perfect wine (ho hum), the 2007 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve Le Clos du Caillou is an incredible effort that matches the 2010 in terms of quality, yet has a larger-than-life, richer and more over- the-top style. Loaded to the gills with sweet black cherry, cassis, licorice, lavender, roasted meats and creamy licorice, it hits the palate with a massive, full-bodied profile that carries awesome fruit, building, sweet tannin, incredible depth and blockbuster length. Spectacular in every way, enjoy it anytime over the coming two decades.

agavin: pure purple Grenache.

Sebastian brought: 2012 Sine Qua Non Grenache Stein. Parker 97. Starting with the Grenache release, the 2012 Grenache Stein is a blend of 76% Grenache, 16% Syrah and 8% Mourvedre, aged in 14% new French oak (15% was in concrete), that comes mostly from the estate’s Eleven Confessions Vineyard in the Sta. Rita Hills, but also includes grapes from the Cumulus, Third Twin (Syrah) and Bien Nacido vineyards. Checking in at 15.7% alcohol, it’s no lightweight, yet it has considerable elegance in its sweet blackcurrants, white pepper, licorice, baking spices and hints of violet-like aromas and flavors. Possessing the hallmark purity of the estate, it’s full-bodied, concentrated, rich and textured, with sweet tannin barely noticeable on the finish. I don’t think it’s one of the greatest Grenaches from the estate, yet it’s still an incredible effort that will benefit from short-term cellaring and have 15-20 years or more of overall longevity.

agavin: even more teeth-staining purple!

Bone in filet.

Bone in ribeye.

Sebastian brought: 1995 Chateau d’Yquem. Parker 95. Served from an ex-chateau bottle. The 1995 Chateau d’Yquem is moving into its secondary aroma phase. A deep golden color, it has a dense and almost Barsac-like bouquet with tangerine, apricot, acacia and melted candle wax. It displays good intensity, unfolding beautifully in the glass. The palate has a strident opening, with a slight bitter edge that lends this Yquem great tension. One can discern layers of marmalade infused with honey fruit, with a powerful, spicy finish that lingers long in the mouth. This is drinking perfectly now, but will surely age with style over many years. Tasted March 2014.

Chocolate sin cake. A lot like a soufflé.

Creme brûlée.

This is “Mastro’s signature warm butter cake ala mode.” Basically a pound cake with an extra four sticks of butter or something. It’s really sweet and really good. Goes well with the magic whipped cream (see below).

Extra vanilla ice cream.

Real whipped cream. Love it.
 Mastro’s, while a zoo, and expensive, is a spectacular steak house experience. You can really feel your heart palpitating as you roll out of here!

Overall, a perfect steakhouse birthday!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Mastro’s Ocean Club Malibu
  2. No Beef with Mastro’s
  3. Spear your Meat
  4. Food as Art: Chanukah in Style
  5. First Growths First
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: beef, birthday, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Dessert, Mastros, Steak

ThanksGavin 2015

Dec04

It’s that time of year again, time to loosen your belt buckle and sit down for the annual ThanksGavin!

Let me first introduce the chefs, above. On the left my mom and on the right her sister. They’ve been putting together this feast for decades.

Rising Chef Matt (my cousin) cooks a lot too. One of these days he’s going to inherent the feast. But right now he hosts Friday night.

My father brought the sparkler: NV Casa Vinicola Botter Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Santi Nello. 88 points. Peach, mineral, dry, small bubbles, hint of sweetness, but not overly so. Great value.

From my cellar: 2000 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. 95 points. Razor sharp aromas of wet rocks, earth and white fruits meld into flavors that are crystalline in their precision, purity and transparency. Understated, discreet and fine yet this is painfully intense with buckets of minerality. Quite backward presently but this is a genuinely breathtaking wine that defines class. In two words, absolutely brilliant and consistent notes.

agavin: wow! This is what makes Burgundy so great. Like liquid creme brûlée. Chardonnay from anywhere else just cries itself to sleep.

Olives. Appetizers aren’t the focus of this meal, but we have a few.

And homemade olive tapenade.

Good stuff with the toasts.

First a sneak peak at the main spread. Then on to the dinner wines.

From my cellar: 1997 Maison Roche de Bellene Clos de la Roche Collection Bellenum. 93 points. Quite excellent. Rich, penetrating red fruit up front followed by layers of earth, spice, sous bois and perhaps some violets or lavender. The tannins on the longish finish are still abit on the chalky side but this is displaying lots of subtle depth and complexity without being at all heavy handed. There’s just a little bricking on the edge.

agavin: great stuff. Good thing I have more.

From my cellar: 1970 Bodegas Olarra Rioja Cerro Anon Gran Reserva. 92 points. showed beautifully. orange peel, sweet spices, balsamic. Still youthful and full of fruit.

From my cellar: 1990 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. 95 points. I was buying this when I first started collecting wine 20 years ago, I buy it now. Great showing for a bottle in perfect shape. Stinky Mouvedre nose with leather, animal, tree bark and a touch of sweaty saddle. In the mouth, close to fully resolved with spice, tannic tree bark and sweet raspberry fruit, along with a spicy intensity that has huge length and presence but still feels light on its feet. Is this at its peak (for taster who appreciate aged Beaucastel). The wine is in a more structured, “masculine” style than the 1989 or the 1985 – this is more about structure and clarity of expression in a rustic and gamey style. Exceptional.

My father brought: 2011 Quinta da Fronteira Douro Selecção do Enólogo. 89 points. Very enticing nose with lots of lovely red fruit character. On the palate it is initially quite soft, a melding of Valpolicella and Pinot Noir, elegant red fruit and cinnamon but a sound structure to it as well. After a bit of time in the glass, some dark fruit character emerges, and the acidity and tannin become more prominent alongside increased fruit concentration, all of which contribute to the wine really gaining character, much less timid and reserved, much more enjoyable on both intellectual and hedonistic levels.

Bread, in case stuffing isn’t enough.

New this year is this carrot dish. Lovely to look at too.

And also new were Brussels sprouts. Cheese and bacon could be added at will. I willed.

And some savory beans.

Plus fairly usual beets, always good.

A faro salad.

And butternut squash with black pepper.

Cranberry chutney. A choice of two variants on the cranberry theme. My favorite is the spicy chutney (above) which is smooth and slightly spicy.

Cranberry relish. More rough in texture.

And the birds themselves.

Carved turkey. Oh so moist, nicely dressed by the ladies, BBQed to perfection by my father and uncle.

Stuffing of course.

And gravy.

Here is my dad’s plate, giant turkey leg and all.

And mine.

My uncle digs into his own bird.

Dessert wines!

From my cellar: 1983 Bodegas Toro Albala Don PX Gran Reserva. 96 points. Nutty, fig and raisins on the nose, rich and huge depth on palate with figs, raisin and rich expansive tartness that fills the palate. Enormously long finish, 5 minutes of caramel and spice. Outstanding. So good.

My father bought in Portugal: Quinta do Vallado Porto 20 Year Old Tawny. 93 points. high notes of fig, vanilla, caramel and oak and a touch of bright grape. great color. smooth and not heavy with alcohol burn.

To go with all that sugary alcohol, the dessert spread.

Grandmom’s special parve brownies.

Chocolate and chocolate chocolate chip cookies.

My mom’s famous pecan pie. Incredibly gooey in the center.

And cousin Matt’s butternut squash “pumpkin” pie. Nicely spiced.

Chocolate dipped meringues.
 And my personal plate.

Too much of a good thing!

This was another spectacular homemade ThanksGavin dinner as usual, quite possibly the best yet. Really, they just keep getting better (and clearly more sleep inducing).

For more ThanksGavin meals, click here.

Related posts:

  1. ThanksGavin 2015 – Uzbekistan?
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  4. ThanksGavin 2014
  5. ThanksGavin 2011 – The Main Event
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Dessert, ThanksGavin, ThanksGavin 2015, turkey, Wine

Little Sheep Hot Pot

Oct21

Restaurant: Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot

Location: 140 W Valley Blvd #213, San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 307-1901

Date: October 18, 2015

Cuisine: Mongolian Hot Pot

Rating: Middling quality hot pot

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Hot Pot is an ever popular style of Northern Chinese / Mongolian food. Basically a pot of boiling broth is used tableside to cook various foods.

Little Sheep is a small chain, the name refers to the prevalence of lamb in Mongolian cooking. Fortunately it’s not, “Little Marmot,” as the squirrel-like rodent is common on the Mongolian steppes and has been known to end up on the cook fire.

The interior is fairly modern.

The menu, somewhere in the middle of our markup process. You have to understand that you basically order plates of stuff, which you add to your hot pot.

Little Sheep does have a sauce bar. It’s not nearly as extensive as the one at Hai di Lao, particularly as the left and right halves are the same, but it’s still more than sufficient to make a great sauce.


These are my sauces. On the left is a richer sesame paste one, on the right a lighter ponzu style.

There are two broth types here, “plain” and “spicy.” This is spicy, which isn’t actually that spicy unless you eat the chilies — but good luck avoiding them all!

2009 Sea Smoke Pinot Noir Ten. VM 89. One of the Sea Smoke flagships, the 2009 Pinot Noir Ten impresses for its depth and sheer power. Layers of flavor flow through to the huge, dramatic finish in a full-bodied, intense Pinot. Once the intensity of the fruit fades, there is not much development in the glass, which results in an overall impression of one dimensionality. The Ten is one of Sea Smoke’s flagships. It is made from all ten Pinot clones planted on the property. While a solid effort, I expected more from this offering, which also happens to be the wine through which I discovered Sea Smoke years ago.


Supreme lamb shoulder.


Premium Lamb leg.


Supreme angus beef.

USDA Choice rib eye.


Beef of an indeterminate nature.

Pork belly. Look at all that fat.

Free range chicken. Surprisingly good, for chicken.

2009 Aubert Pinot Noir UV Vineyard. VM 93. The 2009 Pinot Noir UV Vineyard once again shows the richness and heft of the clay-rich soils in this site. This is an especially dense Pinot, even by Aubert’s standards, that needs another year or so in bottle to start shedding some of its baby fat. Despite the wine’s richness, there is more than enough underlying minerality to give the wine a sense of proportion and harmony.

Lamb meat balls.

Beef meat balls.

Pork meat balls.

Luncheon meat. A.k.a. spam. Delicious.

Pork sausages. Little wieners.

From my cellar: 2004 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese. 92 points. #1; COLOR-nice golden; NOSE-burnt BMX tires meets peaches, apricots & pears; spritzy; TASTE-beautiful bluestone; gorgeous dried Apricots; viscous & oily; gorgeous peach juice; very polished; great, great wine; very delicate; nice floral aspects; subtle cactus juice & on the finish; a concoction of Cantaloupe & dandelion dancing on the back-end; very complex; great balance of acidity & fruit; great structure; absolute elegance at it’s finest; DS-92; GV-92.

Scallops. Total fail here, these were not fresh.

Shrimp. These were fine.

Calamari (squid).

Crab legs. Got a bit mushy in the pot.

Fried fish cakes. Pretty tasty, with an interesting chewy texture.

2010 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Meursault Les Narvaux. Burghound 89-91. An elegant, pure and cool nose of white flower and citrus leads to minerally and well-concentrated middle weight flavors that possess a racy, intense and well-balanced finish. This dry and relatively forward effort should offer 2 to 3 years of upside development if desired.

Miscellaneous vegetable plate.

Miscellaneous mushroom plate.

Soft tofu. I love it, but hard to get out of the pot.

Hot Pot Dumplings. Chewy, tasty. Not sure what if anything was actually inside.

Udon noodles. Again hard to get out of the pot.

Fresh egg noodles. I loved these. Mixed with the sauce they made one of those tangy/spicy Chinese noodle dishes.

Glass noodles. Also great.

Chinese donut. Not actually sweet at all, but with a very nice crunch.

Mongolian bread. Hot from the oven and nice. Who says Chinese don’t make bread?

Mongolian beef pie. This one was delicious. We had a second that was a bit overdone and wasn’t so great.

2010 Copain P2. 89 points. Neither red, white nor rose. Slight tannins from red give body and structure while the pinot gris gives a fragrant juciness that allows it to go with so many modern foods, especially on a warm day with a slight chill.

Lamb dumplings. A little weak.

Pork dumplings. Same. Just kinda soft without too much flavor.

Lamb skewers. With the usual cumin.

Beef skewers.

Chicken skewers.

At the end, the cooling sauce is starting to congeal.

Overall, Little Sheep is a decent hot pot place. The broth was good, the sauces good, and many of the ingredients like the meat and breads quite good. The seafood was fairly lousy, and the dumplings weak. They also don’t have a ton of broth choices and you have to share the pot with about 4-5 people.

Now I’d place it about Hot Pot Hot Pot (with a 8+ person per pot and no sauce bar), but below Hai di Lao. However both of the first two have a bit more variety of non hot pot ingredients than Hai di Lao.

After, we wandered downstairs in this monster Maxi-mall (which also includes Spicy City) and checked out this bakery.

A couple of us got this layered Crepe Cake. It’s just crepes and custard, chilled. Mild, sweet, milky and delicious — like a sort of crepey tres leches cake.

Another mild cakey thing.

And they also have various teas and slushies. On the left a milk tea, on the right a mango slushie.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

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  5. New Bay Seafood
By: agavin
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Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Bake Code, Bakery, Chinese cuisine, Dessert, hedonists, hot pot, lamb, Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot, Mongolian cuisine, Riesling, Wine

Bestia – Bring out the Beast

Sep21

Restaurant: Bestia

Location: 2121 E 7th Pl, Los Angeles, CA 90021. (213) 514-5724

Date: September 17, 2015

Cuisine: New Italian American

Rating: Super tasty, super hip, and a good bit of attitude

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Bestia has been on my “to eat at” list since it opened. Opinions generally include the sentiment that the food is great. Some adore it. Some think the place has too much attitude and is too hard to get into. I wanted to see for myself.

It’s located in the Arts District, near Factory Kitchen. Funny to see much energy in an area of town that was nigh on terrifying 10 years ago. But urban renewal is a good thing.

The interior is typical in recent years, brick factory building, I-beams, hard tables.

Open kitchen too.

We sat outside on the porch. It was a lovely evening and this was great because it was a perfect temperature and not nearly as loud as inside.

The menu, with our marked up orders.

We ordered so much that we swore a pact to reaffirm our commitment to hedonism.

2013 Alberto Nanclares Albariño Soverribas. 93 points. Medium gold colour. Mature nose with medium intensity aromas of quince, ripe peaches, very ripe yellow apples, savoury yeast, lemon peel and hints of neutral white flowers.

A very nice Albarino we ordered off the list. A very nice food white. I have some issues with the wine service, but more on that at the bottom.

Smoked Whitefish Crostino. Dill, potatoes, scallions, fresno chillies, celery leaf. An early start on Yom Kippur break fast! Very nice.

Veal Tartare Crostino. shallots, parsley, lemon, tonnato sauce. This was even better, super meaty, totally delicious. The grilled bread was amazing.

Pan-Fried Ciccioli. pickled fenne, candied kumquats, crème fraîche, pea tendrils. Our first server, who was awesome, recommended this. Wow! Like a pulled pork confit crab cake (no crab). Oodles of fatty goodness. In case that wasn’t obvious, the brown stuff is a “cake” made of heavy rich pork meat cooked in some kind of fat and then pan fried.

From my cellar: 1998 Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo. 93 points. Initially quite tight with reductive nose, some tar and rose petal. Middle weight palate, that at first seemed to lack a bit in fruit, but then flowered brilliantly. Nice perfume of dark fruits, some tar, rose petals. Good structure. Drinking well now with very nice balance. Not overly tannic. Aldo was a genius.

Salumi. chef’s selection of house-cured meats, mostarda, grilled bread. All sorts of pig. All amazing. Left to right: prosciutto crudo, salami, lardo & fig jam, prosciutto, some kind of head meat. The far right was my least favorite. The pinker prosciutto was amazing, and the smoked lard toast was out of this world!

Burrata pizza. san marzano tomatoes, castelvetrano olives, oregano, fermented chilies. A wonderful pizza in the current style. I normally like some meat on my pizza, and not olives, but this was bright, acidic, and delicious. Another recommend from the excellent server.

Mussels and Clams. housemade spicy ‘nduja sausage, fennel seed, preserved orange, grilled bread. A 10. The sauce had all that salty, sausage, spice, tomato acidity awesomeness. We kept a bunch of grilled bread to dip in it.

Quadretti alla Carota. mushroom ragu, summer squash, squash blossoms, carrot puree, carrot tops. My least favorite pasta, but still nice, and quite rich for a non meat pasta.

From my cellar (picked by Seb): 2006 Fattoria Poggio di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino. AG/Parker 97. The 2006 Brunello di Montalcino is an explosive, structured wine bursting with dark fruit. It is one of the most inward, brooding wines of the vintage. Black cherries, menthol, spices and new leather are some of the nuances that flow as this expansive Brunello literally covers every inch of the palate. This is a totally mesmerizing, sublime wine of the highest level.

agavin: A great wine, although it took a few minutes to get going (no surprise).

Roasted Marrow Bone. spinach gnocchetti, crispy breadcrumbs, aged balsamic.

I didn’t even realize this was sort of a pasta, but you dump the bone marrow on the gnocchetti and stir up. Nice, rich, mild.

Cavatelli alla Norcina. ricotta dumplings, housemade pork sausage, black truffles, grana padano. This was one of my favorite pastas during my recent month in Italy. This rendition had the right ingredients, and was very good, but it wasn’t as rich as a really good one in Umbria and was lacking the creamy cheesy strong truffle intensity. Instead it came off a bit more buttery, less cheese. Also in Umbria they pile on the truffles.

Spaghetti Rustichella. lobster, sea urchin, garlic, calabrian chilies, squid ink bottarga, breadcrumbs. But this was to die for. Almost a rich uni Gauzetto sauce. Just awesome umami brine yum. Perfectly al dente too.

From my cellar: 2007 Paolo Bea Sagrantino di Montefalco Secco Pagliaro. 94 points. A rich, sumptuous wine that totally covers the palate with dense, dark fruit. The Pagliaro is impressive in the way it achieves superb density while retaining the elements of delicate, nuanced subtlety that inform Bea’s finest wines. This is a fabulous effort from Bea. 46 days on the skins, followed by a year in stainless steel and two years in cask.

I actually brought this because they had pasta norcina on the menu!

Pici al Sugo di Agnello. lamb ragu, saffron, capra sarda, fig leaf, breadcrumbs. Another stunner. So rich, meaty, lamby. Really fabulous stuff. Great thick al dente bite to the pici too. One of my favorite pasta shapes.

Grilled Pork Tomahawk Chop. served family style. $80 for 37 ounces of meat, but we had to get it. Perfectly cooked. Fatty, but not obviously so. Rich. Delicious. Just a wonderful slab of meat. Not as strongly flavored as the similar Chi Spacca version, but great too.

Grilled long beans. Came with the pork.

The wine lineup, all awesome.

Maple Ricotta Fritters. maple butter ganache, sour cream and huckleberry jam ice cream. Some awesome fried goodness, totally notched up by the ganache and ice cream.

Valrhona Fair Trade Bittersweet Chocolate Budino Tart. salted caramel, cacao crust, olive oil, sea salt. Wow this was great. Soft rich chocolate boosted by the salt and olive oil. A bit like some of Jose Andre’s olive oil chocolate desserts.

Butterscotch Coconut Tart. fresh coconut sorbetto. Not bad, but I was dissapointed as I expected something more “coconut creme.”

Overall, an awesome night. But I’ll break it down.

Ambiance: Exactly what you’d expect from a super trendy DTLA spot in 2015. It’s all there, the rough surfaces, open kitchen, naked wood tables, paper menus, loudness, etc. I suspect if we were inside I would have found it too loud.

Food: Great food. Really quite excellent. Not mind blowing or totally innovative, but a sort of 2014-5 blend of “faux rustic” Italian with gastro pub and other current LA/NY sensibilities. The flavors have been brightened and punched up. There is more of a “grill” thing going on. It isn’t very authentically Italian, but takes itself in a different direction.

Service: General wait service was very good, although not formal. Oddly we had two waiters. Our first one was awesome and not only recommended some good changes but coursed it out really nicely. After ordering he was mysteriously replaced by another guy who was totally fine, but didn’t stand out as much.

Attitude: There is a bit of attitude. It’s hard to make a reservation and hard to move. They didn’t want to seat us partially even though the place was half empty still. The whole wine policy shows attitude. But overall it didn’t bother me too much and they did lean toward customer service.

Wine Service & List: Here were the biggest problems, although admittedly I come at it with a particular viewpoint. Let’s start with pure service. They decanted, if unconventionally into magnum bottles. Stems were mediocre, just regular small crystal tasting stems. They didn’t appear to have good ones, but they gave us 3 each of the little ones without complaint. They didn’t really pour for us, but I don’t like that anyway when we have a small group. Now onto the list. Not a big fan. It’s very small, hard to read, and has extremely few wines for a very good restaurant. The wines it does have re mixed. Far, far too many new world wines. They don’t belong here. Way too few Italians. I couldn’t even find an Italian white at a price I was willing to pay and there were only 5 total. We ended up with the Spanish Albarino (which was very good), but there is no reason for that given the outrageous number of inexpensive but nice Italian whites. Prices were about 3X retail which is a little higher than I’d like (2X would be nice) but not outrageous. There were very few “very good” wines. Most of the bigger reds were way too young. I know new restaurants don’t want to invest in a big inventory, but these are all part of the reason I almost never buy off wine lists. If you are a serious wine guy, and you know prices you just can’t bring yourself to do it.

Corkage: From up on my soapbox, this is a sore spot. All my wine friends talk about how Bestia isn’t really wine guy friendly. It’s sort of middle road. I had to call for the policy and it was first two bottles at $30 and after that $50. While relieved there was no limit (don’t get me started on limits, those are asinine), the hike to $50 is annoying. Really. Particularly given that I opened and poured the bottles myself. I realize they need to make money on the wine, but $30 seems a reasonable max. This isn’t Providence/Melisse type wine service. There also seemed to be an undocumented “can’t bring a wine on the list” rule. Given the list changes everyday and isn’t online, this seems unreasonable. But that being said, the Somm told us he doesn’t enforce it. So why have it? Also to their credit, Bestia made an accommodation for us. There was a little eye rolling with it, and some general somm-attitude, but their actions and words (if not tone) indicated they put customer service first. And after all, tone is just tone so I found this amusing. In the end, they did right by us. But still, one doesn’t get the feeling that Bestia would be a great place to host a Foodie Club type event. At those we have too many bottles to handle more than maybe $10-15 of corkage. Maybe they’d cut a deal, but I think they think they’re too popular to need to. A shame, because the food is amazing and it’d be a fun place to do that sort of thing.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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By: agavin
Comments (8)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Bestia, Corkage, Dessert, Genevieve Gergis, Italian cuisine, Ori Menashe, pasta, Wine

Ice Cream Lab

Aug21

Restaurant: Ice Cream Lab

Location: 369 E 2nd St. Los Angeles, CA 90012. (424) 270-0009

Date: April 7, 2015

Cuisine: Ice Cream

Rating: Nitro Cold Stone!

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I’ve had nitro ice cream at high end modernist restaurants for some years, but it was only this January that I encountered it in the form of an ice cream parlor — while up at San Francisco’s Smitten.

But it turns out LA has its own equivalent in the form of Ice Cream Lab, located in DTLA, Beverly Hills, and Pasadena.

The interior.

Some various cone options.

ICL uses a different but similar machine to Smitten. But one of the big differences is that they “mixin” various flavor combos — pretty much like Cold Stone Creamery — but all nitro frozen.

Salt Lick Crunch. All Natural vanilla ice cream mixed with pretzels, caramel, and topped with sea salt.

This was pretty awesome. Not sure if because of the creamy ice cream or because pretzels and caramel are just amazing when mixed with any kind of ice cream.

A dairy free chocolate, made with coconut milk. ‘nilla wafers. This was about as good as dairy free ice cream gets — which is to say not quite as good as the real stuff.

Overall, in my limited sample, this was good stuff and I look forward to returning. I’ve always been a sucker for mixins, so it didn’t take much arm twisting. I’m not totally sure the nitro part makes THAT much difference. Yeah, there is a nice mouth feel, but probably not as good as a great Gelato in Italy — and probably a lot more fat than that gelato.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Dessert, Ice cream, Ice Cream Lab, Nitro

Napoli in LA – Michael’s

Aug17

Restaurant: Michael’s on Naples [1, 2, 3]

Location: 5620 E 2nd St. Long Beach, CA 90803. (562) 439-7080

Date: August 13, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: A top LA Italian

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A couple years ago, we organized our first Hedonist outing to Michael’s on Naples, rated on the Zagat list as #2 best restaurant in all Los Angeles. I co-organized this one with our fearless leader Yarom, myself, coordinating and designing the menu as well as ordering the wines. So many things sounded good that I came up with a 14 course extravaganza. The resulting Hedonistic Italian blowout ended up (with some alternates) as a total feast of great wine and food.

Michael’s is located on Naples Island, a bridge-connected island in Longbeach that looks so much like Florida they use it to film much of Dexter‘s Miami.

We were set up in this lovely private room. For a table of 15, this was about as perfect as it gets. Not too loud, space to move around and arrange the wines, and a square table that allowed for much better conversation than a long skinny deal.

First a note on the wine service. I had them put out 1 flute, 2 white glasses and 4 red glasses (2 and 2 of Burgundy and Bordeaux style). Then because of the number of red wines we had and the light, often white oriented first half of the menu, I progressed the white and red wine simultaneously — at least for the first half of the meal — so that people would have both colors in the glass. I tried to progress in varietal bunches, usually in flights of about 2 wines.

From my cellar: 2013 Zardetto Prosecco Zeta. Pairs great with food. A very simple wine, but its simple fruit allows it to go with anything.

Our special menu tonight, designed by me in conjunction with the chef and catering manager.

The pescatarian version for a couple of the ladies, including my lovely wife.

From my cellar: 2013 Giovanni Almondo Roero Arneis Vigne Sparse. 89 points. Clean and clear, touch of pale green color, with tight aromas of underripe stone fruit. Palate opens nicely, showing white peach, some Bosc pear, along with characteristic background of almond and herb. Bracing acidity, clean moderate fruit intensity, and a nice medium finish make this example a delightful version of an underappreciated noble grape. Very food-friendly.

2013 Bruno Giacosa Roero Arneis. 90 points. Very pale lemon colored with a nose of citrus and perfume. This wine tastes of lemon zest, other citrus, and almonds. It is light to medium bodied with crisp acidity and a shortish finish. Good food white wine.

agavin: more “oaked” than the Sparse, but quiet delicious.

From my cellar: 2010 Quarticello Rivellino Emilia IGT. 90 points. Terrific Lambrusco, with plenty of earth, cut and cherry fruits. Completely different that what many know as Lambrusco. Not sweet or generic by any means. Superb on a hot spring day. This wine is begging for Prosciutto (which is why I put it with the pizza).

agavin: There was a barnyard vibe to the wine, and it was super “different” for being a deep purple, yet frizante and dry. I liked it, but unusual. Those who prefer their wines clean and over extracted weren’t into it.

Ricotta stuffed squash blossoms with honey basil pesto. They sweetness of the honey really took this to the next level.

Speck, buffalo mozzarella pizza. basil pesto and sweet peppers. This had just the combo of salty, cheesy, and other savory elements (the best) that I really like on my own pizzas.

Italian sausage pizza. roasted peppers, basil pesto and mozzarella. Another fabulous meaty blend.

Forest mushroom pizza. basil pesto and Taleggio cheese. Great for a veggie pizza.

Confit baby artichokes. basil pesto and goat cheese. My least favorite, mostly because of the texture of the artichokes, but still good.

Bread.

From my cellar: 2007 Venica & Venica Malvasia Collio. 92 points. Great malvasia. Interesting as well as refreshing. A medium-full bodied white. Apricot, green apple and honey on the nose. Fresh tastes of apples, apricots comingle with a vibrant acidity. Would buy again.

2001 Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Nuova. VM 96. Medium-deep bright ruby. Beautiful, profound nose of sweet ripe cherry, pipe tobacco, almond and raspberry jam. Ripe, suave and juicy, with sweet flavors similar to the aromas, this is an absolutely seamless wine with lively harmonious acidity on a suave, never-ending finish. Though extremely concentrated, this is a uniquely refined Brunello with wonderfully suave smooth, classy tannins.

agavin: by itself a great brunello, but paled compared to the “piano”.

Fighi e Prosciutto D’Anatra. Housemade Liberty farm duck prosciutto with Mission fig and goat cheese mousse. A great summery dish. Figs, cheese, and prosciutto have been a favorite since antiquity!

The same thing without the ham.


From my cellar: 2010 Borgo del Tiglio (Nicola Manferrari) Collio Studio di Bianco. VM 95. Weightless, crystalline and pure, the 2010 Studio di Bianco appears to float on the palate. White pear, crushed rocks, oyster shells and lime jump from the glass. A beautifully delineated, vibrant wine, the 2010 captures the best qualities of the year. Stylistically, the 2010 is brighter and more focused than the 2011, with a bit less body but more sheer drive and personality. What a gorgeous wine this is.

agavin: Another great Italian white.

2006 E. Fuligni (Cottimelli) Brunello di Montalcino. VM 96. Bright dark red. Captivating nose shows a medicinal quality to the notes of sandalwood, minerals, graphite and orange peel. At once silky and explosive in the mouth, providing oustanding density without heaviness and saturating the entire mouth with sweet flavor. A wine of incredible aromatic thrust. The floral lift on the extremely long finish gives the wine an almost Lafite-like clarity.

Fegato D’Oca. Hudson Valley foie gras terrine, stone fruit jam and mustard greens. I love foie terrine and this was no exception. It paired nicely with the sweet jam. It was perhaps a touch warm, and so not firm enough, but still tasted great.


Frutta di Stagione. Stone fruit and watercress salad with candied pecans and robiola cheese.


From my cellar: 2001 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières. Burghound 91. Stunningly pure fruit laced with citrus and lime notes framed by a deft trace of pain grillé with understated flavors of remarkable precision just oozing a wet stones character. The bright acidity beautifully frames an impressively long finish and this presents itself as a classic Folatières. This is really very fine and classy. I like the style of this immensely.

agavin: Drinking perfectly. Shows how hardass the Burghound reviews are that this is a 91, really drinking like a 96.

1995 Valdicava Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna del Piano. VM 94. The 1995 is a fresh, vibrant Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna del Piano that is just entering its prime drinking window. Expressive, open aromas meld seamlessly into a palate loaded with ripe, perfumed fruit. This full-bodied, delineated wine offers notable inner sweetness and a long, resonating finish. Abbruzzese calls 1995 a “sister vintage” to 1993, but comments that he was better prepared to capture the best qualities of the vintage.

agavin: about as good as Brunello gets!

From my cellar: 1999 Paolo Bea Sagrantino di Montefalco Secco. VM 95. The wine was absolutely majestic.

agavin: starting to brick, and full of sediment (unfiltered), but lovely and pruney.

Polipo con Patate. Grilled octopus with fingerling potatoes, caperberries, micro celery. A ver mild and fresh summer dish.


Caponata di Melanzane. Grilled crostini with eggplant stew.

1990 Gaja Barbaresco. VM 95. The 1990 Barbaresco emerges from the glass with an exotic array of tar, smoke, licorice and grilled herbs. There is wonderful intensity to the fruit and plenty of structure. The tannins are still a bit young and the wine is only now beginning to enter the early part of what looks to be a long drinking window! The 1990 Barbaresco is a touch rounder and softer than the 1989, with perhaps just a little less aromatic complexity and inner perfume, although that is splitting hairs at this level. The finish is long, intense and deeply satisfying. This is a marvelous bottle of Barbaresco.

agavin: I’ve had better bottles of this wine, but it was still quiet nice.

From my cellar: 1990 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Gallina di Neive. VM 94. The 1990 Barbareso Gallina is simply awesome. The wine boasts a seamless core of rich red fruits in a soft, generous style. This opulent Barbaresco possesses impeccable balance and tons of class. Floral notes intermingled with bright red fruits provide lift on the finish, adding lovely balance to the dense fruit. This is the most approachable of Giacosa’s 1990s but has plenty of stuffing to last another twenty years. The 1978 is still going strong.

agavin: a little funky and petro-like for a few minutes. Got better, but still not as good as it should be.

Agnolotti di Mais. Stuffed pasta with corn, ricotta and braised greens. Everyone LOVED this pasta course. The corn was fresh and bright and provided a nice complement to the al dente pasta. It was voted a Hedonist “10”!


1998 Gaja Barbaresco. VM 91. Good deep medium red. Deeply pitched aromas of plum, mocha, licorice and dried flowers. Dense and chewy with extract; compelling, sweet flavors of currant and licorice. Tannins are sweeter than those of the ’99 Barbaresco. Finishes with a suggestion of nutty oak.

From my cellar: 1997 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Cascina Francia. VM 96. Giacomo Conterno’s 1997 Barolo Cascina Francia was also fabulous. The 1997 vintage seems to have yielded great wines in some of Piedmont’s poorer soils, as this heroic Barolo amply demonstrated. The 1997 was pure Serralunga Barolo, which is to say roses, tar and licorice galore on a frame of substantial depth and pure breed.

2004 Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo Romirasco. VM 93. Imposing and dark on the palate, the 2004 Barolo Romirasco possesses massive fruit, beguiling aromatics and considerable depth. Today, the 2004 is a bit in an awkward stage, where tertiary aromatics have not yet developed although much of the wine’s youthful exuberance has begun to fade. As such, the 2004 is best cellared for at least another few years. Although some time has passed, I did expect the 2004 Romirasco to be a touch fresher than this.

Casarecce con Agnello. Homemade pasta with Marin County lamb ragu`and burrata. Another good pasta, although if the corn ravioli was a 10, this was more a 9.


Casarecce con Funghi. Homemade pasta with forest mushroom, brown butter and sage.


1986 Latour Pauillac. Parker 90. Tasted from my cellar, the 1986 has consistently been outstanding, falling short of being sublime. The spicy, peppery bouquet reveals aromas of dried herbs and red currant fruit. Medium-bodied, austere, but youthful, vigorous, and concentrated, this wine still requires 4-5 years of cellaring. It is surpassed in this vintage (which favored the northern Medoc and Cabernet Sauvignon) by its rivals, Lafite-Rothschild and Mouton-Rothschild.

agavin 98. This bottle was drinking PERFECTLY. Really nice.

1997 Angelo Gaja Darmagi Cabernet Sauvignon. Parker 90-94. There are 1,000 cases of the exceptional, black/purple-colored 1997 Darmagi Cabernet Sauvignon (3-4% Cabernet Franc was added to the blend). With abundant quantities of smoky, concentrated fruit as well as tannin, the vintage’s low acid, thick, glycerin-imbued character, and a layered, full-bodied finish, it should develop nicely for two decades.

agavin 94: I’ve never had this Gaja cab. I liked it a lot though.

Petto d’Anatra. Seared Liberty Farm duck breast with farrotto, Farm Lot 59 rainbow chard, and bing cherry reduction. A great duck dish. Very smokey and lean.

Branzino alla Griglia. Grilled Mediterranean sea bass with confit artichokes, potatoes and Taggiasche olives.

2003 Tua Rita Redigaffi Toscana IGT. VM 90. Tua Rita’s 2003 Redigaffi, 100% Merlot, opens with notes of over-ripeness on the nose. An initial suggestion of reduction blows of with air. It presents plenty of fruit, chocolate and toasted oak along with a richly concentrated, opulent personality, yet a note of gaminess and hard, unripe tannins ultimately convey the impression of a less polished version of this wine than is normally the case. My preference is to drink Redigaffi on the young side.

agavin 92: Nice and extracted.

2010 Tua Rita Redigaffi Toscana IGT. VM 96. I am struck by how light on its feet the 2010 Redigaffi is for such a big wine. Dark red cherries, tobacco, licorice, smoke and anise all flesh out as this layered wine opens up in the glass. Over time, the wine’s intense salinity emerges, adding energy, drive and polish. Hints of dark cherry, plum and smoke reappear on the vibrant finish. Readers will find much to admire in the superb 2010. To be sure, the 2010 is less outwardly opulent than is often the case with Redigaffi, but there is no denying the wine’s absolute beauty.

agavin: Our bottle was open for 4-6 hours in the decanter, but was still a fruit bomb monster.

2008 Tenuta San Guido Bolgheri Sassicaia Sassicaia. VM 96. The 2008 Sassicaia is a rich, deep wine imbued with notable class in its black cherries, plums, grilled herbs, minerals and smoke. The 2008 is a decidedly buttoned-up, firm Sassicaia that is currently holding back much of its potential, unlike the 2006 and 2007, both of which were far more obvious wines. Readers who can afford to wait will be treated to a sublime wine once this settles down in bottle. Muscular, firm tannins frame the exquisite finish in this dark, implosive Sassicaia. The 2008 Sassicaia is 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Cabernet Franc. The wine spent 24 months in French oak barrels.

agavin 96: I forgot how much I love Sassicaia, even when it’s young.

Porchetta. Roasted Devil’s Gulch pork loin and belly with eggplant caponata and roasted potatoes. This was super tasty, although a little on the rare side for my pork taste.


Ippoglosso in Padella. Pan seared Alaskan halibut with fava, fregola and tomato jam.


The chaos in full swing.

From my cellar: 2008 Paolo Bea Sagrantino di Montefalco Passito. agavin 97. Pure red raison juice. I love this stuff. All biodynamic. All late harvest ripasso style. An ultra rare dessert wine.


From my cellar: 1997 Fattoria Di Pancole Vin Santo di San Gimignano. This is that kind of Tuscan “dry” vin santo, making it more like a dry sherry. I tend to like the sweeter types.

Torta Di Mandorle. Almond cake with rosemary simple syrup and vanilla whipped cream. I adored this dessert. Between the almond flavor and the icing. I just love that.

Cannoli Con Impastata Alla Frutta. Crispy cannoli shells filled with Ricotta impastata cream, candied orange peels and Valrhona chocolate. I always love a good cannoli. I couldn’t taste the orange peel, which disappointed me, but otherwise they were great.

Ciambelle Dolci. Italian doughnuts served with orange glaze. Love these. Just love ’em.

Panna Cotta con Frutti di Bosco. Panna cotta with seasonal mixed berries.

Overall another fantastic dinner. Different and more varied in wine type than our usual Hedonist fare. I’ll break down the discussion into different components.

Food: The chef and catering manager did a great job working with me to generate not one but two fabulous menus. These were extensive, varied, and highly seasonal. Compare to our last visit here (in December). This was a similar sized, but much lighter more summery menu. Execution was excellent with some dishes being stellar: duck, corn ravioli, squash blossoms, and the rest being just “very good.” A few people didn’t love the octopus but I thought it quiet light and lovely. Course size was small, but given the number of plates really about right for anyone but the most gluttonous of us (which includes me).

Wine: We had a really nice array of wines. The giacosa barbaresco was a little off and the a few people with “unsubtle pallets” thought the Lambrusco and the Sagrantino a little “weird,” but there was consensus that all the whites were fabulous along with the del piano and all the Bordeaux varietals.

Service: The staff did a fabulous job handling a party of this size, starting with a perfect table and a layout of 7 stems per person. Courses arrived with excellent pacing and got down fairly swiftly considering the 15 person count and the difficulty in accessing the back of the room. Not like they do in the Republique private room where it all comes down within 2 seconds of each other, but still great. Attitude and attentiveness was first rate. Silverware was being constantly fixed and reset.

Wine Service: The Somm and lead waiter did a great job. They opened most of the bottles and got a lot of stuff decanted. They even labeled the decanters to avoid confusion. We had a nice separate wine table (badly needed). I had an unusual and taxing wine order with simultaneous progression of white and reds. They were able to understand my cryptic shout outs about what was in what glass with no slip ups. Where wine service fell down slightly (from a very high ideal) was in speed and availability of “pouring.” Now, I’m not really dinging them because there are like 3 restaurants in Southern California that could do better and all of them would charge A LOT just for the wine service. These would handle it by having at least one dedicated wine guy who all the time who didn’t help with food service. Because our Somm and main waiter were also delivering food, busing, and resetting silverware — not even mentioning their duties elsewhere in the restaurant — they didn’t have enough time to be constantly pouring. But a meal like this, with over 25 wines needs constant pouring. It was 3 hours long which means a wine is heading around roughly every 7 minutes and a glass poured every 30 seconds — for the entire dinner! In practice it’s more concentrated than that. Basically this would require someone full time, and someone skilled at pouring bottles 15 ways too. I have a lot of practice pouring (and a Sommelier Cert) so I helped them out by pouring about 40-50% of the flights. I’m fast too and I brought one of my dripless spouts to speed things up. Too bad I didn’t have a couple. Plus it helped that I had the “wine vision” in my head. It would be nice if I hadn’t had to do this, but unrealistic without a 100% dedicated person. So net net I was very pleased.

Value: Tremendous. At $120 per person + tax/tip this was just fabulous value, particularly given the level of service and the lack of corkage. Bravo!

A bunch of the Hedonists also stayed and smoked cigars outside. The staff were very cool about setting this up. We, however, fled home to get to bed :-).
For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

  1. Never Say Too Much
  2. Food as Art: Capo
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  4. Tony Terroni
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By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Barolo, Dessert, hedonists, italian, Michael's on Naples, pasta, super tuscan, Wine

Cassia – Vietnamese Reinterpreted

Jul10

Restaurant: Cassia

Location: 1314 7th St, Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 393-6699

Date: July 7 & November 10, 2015, July 7, August 26, and October 3, 2016 and January 28, 2020

Cuisine: French Vietnamese Brasserie

Rating: really tasty

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My friend Liz Lee of Sage Society organized this July excursion to the brand new French Vietnamese Bistro from Chef Bryant Ng and the group that brought us the excellent Sweet Rose, Rustic Canyon, and Milo & Olive.

Also, merged in, are photos from dishes we ordered at an impromptu Hedonist dinner in November.

Ng made himself famous the other year with Spice Table Downtown, now I’m happy to have him Westside.

The space is oddly located on 7th street (never been to a restaurant there before despite 21 years in Santa Monica) but its large, light and airy.

Check out those high ceilings.
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A specialty cocktail. Mango Mezcal Fizz. Mango infused mezcal, Brovo dry vermouth, passionfruit, lime, egg white.


The creative menu. This is not your usual brasserie. I mean, it feels like one, but the dishes are so Vietnamese inspired. I ate my way through Vietnam last year, and the ingredients feel very authentic. The presentation is all new.
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The menu January 2020 — a few dishes have changed.

Liz as usual orchestrated our wine brings, in this case Champy, Riesling and the like.

From my cellar: 1990 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut La Grande Dame. VM 96. Rich, multidimensional, highly aromatic nose of pear, red berries, apple, honey, toast and spice. Extremely rich and concentrated, with its medium to full body leavened by bright citrus notes and compelling minerality. Great inner-mouth aromas. Conveys an impression of powerful yet remarkably fine raw materials. The spicy finish offers exceptional persistence and richness.

agavin: our bottle was a bit oxidized and tired. sigh.
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Kaya Toast. Coconut jam, butter, slow cooked egg. This is listed under appetizers, but really tasted like a dessert. It was pretty awesome though, with the flavors of sweet coconut French toast.

Jellyfish Salad. Shredded organic chicken, crispy rice, green leaf, sesame-bacon dressing. Delicious, with the jellyfish adding a nice crunch/chew.

2004 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon Rosé. VM 94+. Relative to many other recent vintages, the 2004 Dom Pérignon Rosé comes across as quite delicate, feminine and graceful. Floral notes are woven throughout, adding to a very appealing and attractive sense of lift. It will be interesting to see if the 2004 puts on weight in bottle. At the moment, the 2004 is a bit understated, but I will not be surprised if at some point it takes off given the extremely positive way in which the 2004 blanc has developed over the last few years.

agavin: This was not tired at all!

Cucumber Salad Watercress, grilled avocado, charred tomatoes, clay oven bread croutons. A fine salad, although not mind boggling.

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Green Papaya Salad. Watercress, purslane, spiced walnuts. Not bad, but not as “Vietnamese” as we expected.
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Masumoto Farms Nectarine Salad. Bibb lettuce, herbs.
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Vietnamese Caesar Salad. Anchovy croutons, dried figs, herbs, red onion, white anchovies.

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Raw spicy scallops. A very small dish, with a bit of corn, dried shrimp, ham, onion and mint for flavor and crunch. Tasty, and despite the white look, not too mayo-ish, but hard to get onto the spoon.

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Grilled Chicken Wings. Cucumbers, sweet chile sauce. Not bad at all. Nice tangy salty spicy sauce. I actually liked the cucumbers soaked in it.

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Vietnamese “Sunbathing” Prawns. Fresno chiles, garlic, Vietnamese hot sauce — very hot actually.


2013 Zardetto Prosecco Zeta. Pairs great with food. A very simple wine, but its simple fruit allows it to go with anything.
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CHARCUTERIE PLATTER. Salted Pork with Grilled Bread, Sichuan Lamb Ham, Singaporean Grilled Candied Pork, Vietnamese Meatloaf, Smoked Red Sausage, Cabbage Relish.

The Singaporean Grilled Candied Pork had a substantial heat and was sweet and delicious. The Sichuan Lamb Ham was a bit like Spanish ham. The smoked sausage was great, and I particularly loved the rich meatiness of the “meatloaf” — not unlike dumpling filling. The cabbage relish added to the softer ones as well, plus the herbs. Mixing the herbs and pickles with the meat in the same bite was quiet lovely.
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Smoked Salmon Dip. Pickled shallots, horseradish, grilled country bread. Nice kick from the horseradish and an interesting mix of textural elements between the soft spread and crunchy bread. I really liked this dish.

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Chopped Escargot. Lemongrass butter, herbs.

Spread on the pizza-like bread this was staggeringly good. It might have been the dish of the night.

Vietnamese Pâté. Pickled chiles. A similar presentation. Looks a little like barf.

But it tasted great. Super rich and meaty. I’m a big pate fan and this didn’t disappoint. I liked the added crunch of the pickles.
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Fried Cauliflower w/ fish sauce. So fried they were like fried shrimp.
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Cold Sesame Noodles. Young soybeans, cucumbers, crushed walnuts. Spicy with blue crab. I had to try this because I make my own Dan Dan Mein. This had some spice, but none of the savory complexity of my version.


1997 Prager Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Weissenkirchen Ried Klaus. agavin 93. Herbal and complex, delicious.

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Spicy Wontons. Cod, shrimp, country ham, napa cabbage, roasted chile oil. These had some heat, not unlike Numb Taste Wontons, but with a bit of a fishy tone.

2001 Prager Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Trocken Zwerithaler. agavin 90. More oxidized than the 1997, this had an unusual cilantro/basil finish!

Chino Valley Egg Custard. Sea urchin roe, braised mushrooms. Very soft egg custard was extremely pleasant, although the sea urchin just didn’t stand out like one might hope.

2001 Hessische Staatsweingüter Kloster Eberbach Steinberger Riesling Kabinett Goldkapsel. agavin 91. Medium sweet. Quiet nice.

Cereal Scallops. Hazelnuts, chiles. These were super tender and reminded me of Eastern Shore fried scallops from my childhood.

1996 Domaine Touchais Coteaux du Layon Réserve de nos Vignobles. agavin 94. Super sweet and delicious.
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Coconut lemongrass curry. I don’t remember what was in here, but it was an awesome creamy coconut and lemongrass curry with a bit of spicy heat. Pretty similar to the amazing snail curry I’ve had at Phong Dinh.

Pig tail. Special order. Looks at that disgusting thing and all the fat.

I tried carving off some of the meat and not much fat and wrapping it with the herbs. The first bite was piggy, but the finish was actually quiet nice. Erick gnawed on the bone!

1998 M. Chapoutier Châteauneuf-du-Pape Barbe Rac. Parker 94-96. Chapoutier’s 1998 Barbe Rac is close to full maturity. It exhibits an abundance of Provencal herbs intermixed with new saddle leather, kirsch, framboise, and spice box. The intoxicatingly heady, complex aromatics are followed by a full-bodied, lush, succulent style of wine with a relatively high alcohol/glycerin content and loads of fruit. This wine is drinking terrifically well after going through an awkward stage about two to three years ago. Drink it between now and 2020.

agavin: Nice and grapey. Young, but drinking great right now.

Vietnamese Pot Au Feu. Creekstone farms short rib stew, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, bone marrow, grilled bread, two sauces.

We had five people and it was a few too many to really split this. The broth was very nice, and quiet interesting when doped with the sauces — but I didn’t get much and it was hard to experiment.

Grilled Lobster. Shallots, Asian basil, pistachio butter (Half or Whole).

The meat itself had a wonderful grilled basil flavor. Hard to split five ways though.

Whole Singaporean. White Pepper Crab. Same splitting problem with the crab, and there wasn’t much meat on this Dungeness. But the sauce was great with a real potent white pepper kick. I love pepper crab. None beat the ones I had in Singapore.

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Black Cod. Anchovy broth, Chinese romaine, lychee relish, herb salad.
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Beef Rendang. Beef cheek curry, jasmine rice, sambal, kaffir lime, peanuts. This had some heat to it, but was a spectacularly delicious curry dish. That rich red/meat/nutty curry over rice and the interplay of soft and crunchy textures. Yum!

Grilled Spicy Lamb Breast. Sichuan peppercorn, cumin, sambal, jasmine rice, sesame sauce. This was a nice dish, fairly Indian in vibe. There was that loose lovely Indian rice, which although labeled as jasmine in the description sure seemed like Basmati. Then the juicy bits of pork and a bit of heat. Nice stuff.

Grilled Chinese Broccoli. Caramelized fish sauce. Pretty good for straight up veggies.

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Grilled Dwelley Farms Corn. Scallion-coriander butter. Sort of like Mexican street corn!

Charcuterie Fried Rice. Chinese bacon, lap cheong, salt pork, salted fish, lettuce. Really tasty fried rice. Loved the sweet Chinese sausage.

Grilled Pork Belly Vermicelli. Thin rice noodles, oysters, pickled kohlrabi & carrots, herbs, green leaf, peanuts.

Again a hard dish to split five ways as that little bowl of meat/broth didn’t stretch far enough. It was delicious and Pho-like with the noodles and herbs.

Here is the combined soup, which was quite excellent.
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Smoked Beef Short Ribs. Spicy Chinese BBQ sauce, pickled Chinese cabbage, Bibb lettuce, herbs.

Laksa. Rice noodles, spicy coconut-seafood soup. Basically udon noodles in a red curry broth. I liked the dish, as I love red curry. Others complained that the curry flavor was a touch mild and “short” and it was (although there is some considerable heat). This doesn’t have the depth of a great red curry like at Jitlada. Still, I enjoyed it. It’s just been “toned down” for the Santa Monica crowd.
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Wok-tossed Yard beans & avocado. Preserved turnips, ginger, chili oil. Interesting contrast between the crunchy yard beans and the soft avocado. Not bad at all for a string bean dish.

The dessert menu.

Chocolate Banana Tart. Banana chips, candied walnuts, vanilla whipped cream. The weakest of the five desserts. A little sweet and not enough chocolate flavor.

Blackberry, Cherry Napoleon. Green tea Bavarian cream. This was great and refreshing with bright berry flavors.

Deep fried Paris-Brest. Housemade lemongrass ice cream, candied lemon. That lemongrass ice cream was awesome. The whole vibe was key lime pie like. Really refreshing.

Summer Fruit Floating Islands. Passion fruit creme anglaise, poached peaches, Santa Rosa plums, Pudwill raspberries & fresh mint. And this was amazing with a rich creamy passionfruit flavor.

Vietnamese Coffee Pudding. Coconut shortbread. Plus I loved this “pudding,” which is more like a pot-a-creme. The coffee cream thing worked just as well as a dessert.
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Coconut ice cream balls.

Overall, commenting after my first visit, I’m really psyched to see this new addition to the long subdued Santa Monica restaurant scene. I love Vietnamese food and while this isn’t strictly Vietnamese, but more like Vietnamese, Chinese, Singaporean fusion with a very modern brasserie sensibility. Fairly unique and really quiet fun and excellent. I hope they evolve and refine and aren’t forced to backpedal to pander to the local tastes. There is some tendency in Santa Monica toward just that. For example, all of the more interesting (and not really that bold) new mall places of a couple years ago have shuttered and been replaced by a Cheesecake Factory. Cry.

And readdressing my opinion a few months later in November, Cassia has continued to come on strong. It was mobbed on a cold Tuesday November night, the food was perhaps a touch more consistent, and service was good. It was extremely friendly, although pacing was a little uneven (but not enough to be a problem). Since it’s busy, the menu hasn’t backpedalled — because people seem to be responding well. Sure it’s a little “white-a-fied”, but it’s it’s still great to have it here on the Westside.

And reassessing again July of 2016, the food has tightened up even further. The menu may have changed a dish or two, but it’s still aggressive (a good thing), but the execution has tuned up even further. These dishes were on fire, offering some really serious and interesting flavor that hits its own unique spot between traditional and California Vietnamese.

Returning in January 2020, the food continued to be excellent. My favorite dishes were still great. I’m reminded that Cassia is still quite spicy — which I like — but surprisingly so for a mainstream restaurant. Service itself was pretty good but their wine service is a little wonky, or at least my unusual perception of wine service. They seem to have the dreaded (and totally inane) “two bottle limit” now. Sucks. Stupid. Counterproductive to making money and good customer service. I’ve ranted about it many times before like here. And they didn’t want me to open the wines myself, saying their ABC license didn’t allow it. That’s a new one, and I’m pretty sure totally false. Even if vaguely true, probably has never been enforced. I’ve certainly opened 1000s of bottles in restaurants.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or compare to some Vietnamese Vietnamese (in Vietnam).

Some wines from the 1/28/20 dinner:

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Related posts:

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By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Bryant Ng, Cassia, Dessert, Foodie Club, gruner, hedonists, Riesling, Sage Society, Vietnamese cuisine, Wine

More Meat – Chi Spacca

Jun30

Restaurant: Chi Spacca

Location: 6610 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038. (323) 297-1133

Date: June 01, 2015

Cuisine: Italian Steakhouse

Rating: Rich but delicious, a carnivore’s paradise

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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 (annoying corkage policy notwithstanding), and I’ve been itching to sink my canines into Chi Spacca for some time. When a plan earlier this year for the larger Foodie Club gang to go to Chi Spacca failed, we ended up at Spear instead, and despite that being a great meal I still wanted to get here. But because of the annoying corkage policy (a complaint I will continue to reiterate from my soap box), we had to wait until a small dinner (3 of us), this time nominally for my birthday.

Chop chop.

The menu.


The small room.

The smoky in the room grill.


From my cellar: 1989 Paolo Scavino Barolo Bric dël Fiasc. VM 95. The 1989 Barolo Bric del Fiasc (3-liter) is still striking for its freshness. Some of that is a factor of the large format, but standard bottles have also develop very positively. Here we find a classic flavor profile of tobacco, herbs, spices, plums and licorice with the depth, muscle and concentration of the modern school. The 1989 is a touch more layered and aromatically intesne than the 1990, with a little more length and overall complexity. Tar, smoke and licorice linger on an eternal finish.

Pickles. spring onions, carrots, fennel. Nice crunchy pickled vegetables. The acidity is a nice contrast to all the fat to come.

Affettati Misti-Daily Selection of Cured Meats. Calabrese salame, oregano salame. pork butter. That white stuff that looks like butter, pure lard (smoked and aged).

Pate & Terrine. butcher’s pate, trotter fritti. The fried things are stuffed with pig feet meat. Now, I’m not normally a fan of pig’s feet at all, but these were delicious (maybe because you can’t SEE the trotter). The terrine was also very good, classic country pate.


Bread for the meats.

Erick brought: 1979 Chateau Margaux. Parker 93. This wine is just now reaching full maturity, much later than I initially expected. It is a classy, elegant example of Margauxpossessing a dark ruby/purple color, and a moderately intense nose of sweet black currant fruit intermixed with minerals, vanillin, and floral scents. The wine is medium-bodied, with beautifully sweet fruit. This linear, more compressed style of Margaux possesses a good inner-core of sweet fruit, and a charming, harmonious personality. Although not a blockbuster, it is aging effortlessly, and appears to take on more character with each passing year. Anticipated maturity: Now-2010.

Burrata Primavera. Snap peas, carrots, mint. Very nice salad with good contrast of sweet and acidic.

Pane bianco. Fett’unta. Super light, crispy cheese “pizza.”

Whole Branzino. herb salad, olive oil. Extremely herby and fabulous, with an almost Thai like lemongrass flavor.

Grilled Octopus. pureed & fried ceci, parsley leaf. Very soft tender octopus.

2003 Di Prisco Taurasi.

Braised Lamb Ribs. Castelvetrano olive, preserved lemon. Nice rich lamb meat.

Grilled Lamb Sausage. Calabrian peppers, roasted onion. Basically Merguez with a bit of heat. The herby salad is a nice counterpart.

2005 Emidio Pepe Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. JG 94+. Beautiful dark rose color. Really unusual nose with an off note I can only describe as like something you might smell in a petroleum refinery or maybe cordite. Mild notes of Indian spices and perhaps a bit of prune. This wine is very hard for me to describe. It is spicy with deep red fruits.

Tomahawk Pork Chop. fennel pollen. The top (far) part is the pork chop itself, wonderfully tender and with a lovely flavor. The bottom long parts are the pork belly, similar flavor but WAY richer.

Dessert menu.

Cocoa Nib Caramel Tart. whipped creme fraiche. Rich.

Butterscotch Budino. sea salt & rosemary pine nut cookies. OMG, I love these creamy puddings.

Seasonal Gelati & Sorbetti. Mint, coconut Stracciatella, and a berry flavor. Nice complex Italian flavors.

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 :-). From the menu I thought prices looked crazy, but the total turned out to be reasonable ($130 a person before tip) even though we went to town. Really to town as the above was for 3 people!

Service was great too, and the atmosphere fun. My only complaint is with the bottle limit. The $30 corkage is fine, and you can even wave the corkage ordering off the list — again great. But the 2 bottle hard limit, apparently very strictly enforced (we brought the Barolo and the Margaux), is quiet annoying. It barely worked for 3 people and totally breaks down for wine dinners. Their list has interesting Italians, but the wines are two young. 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!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

More Foodie Club craziness.

A post dinner yummy cucumber gin drink

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By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Burrata, Chi Spacca, Dessert, Foodie Club, Meat, Mozza, pork chop, Steak, Wine

Papilles – Guy Amiot

Apr29

Restaurant: Papilles

Location: 6221 Franklin Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028. (323) 871-2026

Date: April 15, 2015

Cuisine: French

Rating: Great French Fun

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My friend Walker, who is the Director of the LA Wine Department at Bonhams Auction House organized this fabulous look into the terrior of Domain Amiot Guy & Fils, a boutique Chassagne-Montrachet producer. After we all went to a nearby French restaurant (Papilles) for even more Burgundy!


The auction room at Bonhams filled with art — but in our case with tasting tables.

Walker (white shirt on the right) introduces Fabrice Amiot, scion of the Amiot wine family.

Flight 0:


We began with this nice Aligote:

2012 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Bourgogne-Aligoté. Burghound 86. A fresh, spicy and very cool nose offers up lovely aromas of pear and apple. There is good verve and the same appealing freshness to the delicious and lightly mineral-inflected flavors that terminate in a clean, dry and slightly saline finish.

agavin: I’d give it more an 89. Very crisp and nice.

Flight 1:


2012 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Macherelles. Burghound 87-90. Reduction. Here too the middle weight flavors possess an attractive texture as there is plenty of palate coating dry extract present that imparts a sappy and seductive mouth feel on the lingering finish that displays a bit more depth.

2011 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Champs-Gain. Burghound 89-92. This is aromatically similar to the Macherelles with the addition of an appealing floral element. There is good volume to the fleshy and opulent middle weight flavors that possess plenty of mouth coating dry extract, all wrapped in an intense, linear, focused and impressively long finish that is quite dry without being particularly austere. Worth considering.

2010 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Champs-Gain. Burghound 91. By contrast here the wood treatment is much less visible which allows the grapefruit, pear and rose petal scents to shine. The textured, cool and pure middle weight flavors possess a sophisticated and refined mouth feel before terminating in an intense, dry and impressively persistent finish. Good stuff.

Flight 2:


2012 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Vergers. Burghound 89-91. Here the expressive nose mixes notes of resin, white flowers, peach and apricot. There is excellent volume to the very concentrated and intense middle weight plus flavors that ooze a very fine dry extract that coats the palate and does a fine job of buffering the moderately firm acid spine on the delicious and impressively persistent finish. This isn’t elegant but I like the character and balance.

2010 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Vergers. Burghound 92. While not invisible the oak regimen here is much less prominent and allows the complex and pungent nose of petrol, citrus zest and acacia blossom aromas to have center stage. The old vines are definitely in evidence as there is a remarkable amount of palate staining dry extract that imparts a distinctly textured mouth feel to the impressively deep and persistent finish. This is worth considering.

Flight 3:


2011 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Demoiselles. Burghound 91-93. An overtly floral nose of pungent citrus, honeysuckle, pear, spice and wet stone introduces refined, pure and gorgeously intense flavors that possess fine precision and a lovely sense of vibrancy. There is a restrained mouth feel to the impeccably well-balanced and highly complex finish and this should amply reward medium-term cellaring.

2011 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Montrachet. Burghound 93-95. A discreet but not invisible application of wood frames a ripe and quite phenolic nose of both yellow and white orchard fruit where added breadth is present in an array of spice and floral elements. There is superb size, weight, punch and intensity to the big-bodied, suave and overtly powerful flavors that possess really strong underlying material, all wrapped in a superbly long finish. This is an excellent Montrachet and one of the better vintages for this wine in some time.

Flight 4:


2012 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Bourgogne. Nice and bright and young.

2012 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet Vieilles Vignes. Burghound 86-89. Reduction flattens the nose but there is good freshness and energy to the suave and attractively textured medium-bodied flavors that possess solid length but only average complexity, at least at present. Still this will need a few years to arrive at its peak so more depth may very well develop.

2012 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Clos St. Jean. 91 points. Quite light in appearance. Cherry / Chocolate (Cherry Ripe??) on the nose with some exotic spice – fennel & lemongrass. Very bold and brooding up front with rich mouth feel. Tight on the backend – stacked with dark fruit and plums with some tar on the finish. Really enjoyed this now but assume improvement.

After all that goodness we moved on to Papilles:

Small place with an open kitchen tucked away in the corner of a Thai town mini-mall!

Le menu.

French Bread.

1989 Chalone Vineyard Chardonnay.

Asparagus Salad. Cooked and raw, 63 degree duck egg. Tres francais.

2002 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet. Burghound 86. A deft hint of toast complements moderately spicy, very fresh pear and apple suffused aromas that lead to complex, precise, linear and pure if not especially dense flavors that finish on the lean side.

Chilled Asparagus Veloute. One of those nice gazpacho like soups.

From my cellar: 1999 Louis Jadot Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 89-91. Big, powerful and rich aromatics of honey, oak spice and limestone merging into intense, medium weight flavors and a penetrating, relatively fine finish. While not especially big or complex by the standards of classic Bâtard, it is quite intense with beautifully textured, luxuriant, almost opulent flavors.

agavin: nice!

Smoked Ora King Salmon. Sungold, egg yolk, pickles, rye.

2006 Camille Giroud Corton-Charlemagne. Burghound 92. Here the nose is distinctly more elegant and a bit cooler, revealing notes of ripe green fruit and wet stone that continue onto the rich, full and powerful flavors that possess plenty of size and weight and culminate in a tangy, intense and mouth coating finish that is explosive and persistent. This is a big but balanced and harmonious effort that should age well over the medium-term.

Foie-Gras. Crostinni, strawberry gel. One of those lovely terrine type classic preps for foie. yum!

1990 Williams Selyem Pinot Noir Olivet Lane Vineyard. 94 points.

1995 Domaine Robert Arnoux / Arnoux-Lachaux Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots. Burghound 90. Classic sexy nose that is both spicy and still relatively primary with solid, middle weight flavors and a lightly structured finish. This is beginning to become approachable now and while it’s pretty, it could perhaps use a bit more density. Still, an impressive, opulent effort.

agavin: kicking ass and taking names right now.

2005 Domaine de la Vougeraie Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Bel-Air. Burghound 89-92. A more elegant and high-toned nose of red and black fruit plus lovely floral notes, especially violet, leads to rich, forward and generous flavors that possess a beguiling texture on the long finish that evidences a hint of mocha. This is quite ripe yet fresh and there is so much sap that one could approach this now though it clearly has the material to improve for 6 to 8 years.

2008 Beaux Frères Pinot Noir Beaux Frères Vineyard. VM 94. Bright red. Highly perfumed, seductive bouquet of black raspberry, cherry-cola, incense and dried rose, with a slow-mounting mineral element. Lively but strikingly concentrated as well, offering incisive red fruit and floral pastille flavors underscored by intense spice and mineral qualities. Really stains the palate and finishes with superb clarity and juicy, spicy raspberry and cherry notes. Etzel told me that a tiny bit of stems were used in this year’s wine.

2007 Domaine Y. Clerget Volnay 1er Cru Clos du Verseuil.

1985 Domaine Ponsot Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Charmes. Burghound 90. This may have been ever so slightly corked and opinion was divided on this aspect. However, the richness of the flavors and sheer complexity of the finish plus the outstanding performance of all the Ponsot wines in ’85 suggest that the benefit of the doubt is in order, if not for this particular bottle then certainly for the wine itself. Tasted only once.

agavin: I think our bottle was corked too.

1989 Domaine Joseph Roty Gevrey-Chambertin.

From my cellar: 1993 Louis Jadot Bonnes Mares. Burghound 92. Earthy, deep and wonderfully fresh fruit leads to dense, solidly tannnic, beautifully delineated and focused, rich flavors of exceptional purity and length. While the finish is firm, it is by no means hard and there is excellent buffering sève all underpinned by vibrant acidity. There is plenty of wine here but this is a wine for the patient and it should live for years to come.

agavin: great again!

1993 Domaine Michel Gaunoux Pommard 1er Cru Les Rugiens. Burghound 90. I had acquired a case of this in the late ’90s and have never had a great deal of luck with it because while there was reasonably good precision and pruity to the middle weight flavors, the finish was mildly dry and not at all what I typically find with this wine. Then I was able to try a bottle at the domaine that showed appreciably better and without the dryness that my bottles displayed. While this is not a great vintage for what is often an amazing Rugiens, it does underscore that there can be significant differences. In sum, a very good but not truly excellent wine that is just now beginning to come into its own. As noted, inconsistent experiences.

1976 Domaine Tollot-Beaut Aloxe-Corton. Clean and bright, medium, medium-plus colour – a mahogany rim but clearly still a ruby-red core. From opening this was just a little monolithic on the nose; faint baked fruit and a savoury undercurrent. If you wait – over 1 hour – the nose tightens to a very nice and tight powdery red fruit impression The palate is surprisingly plush and intense – it’s hard to keep hold of the wine, as your mouth starts watering in response to the acidity. I’m very impressed by the balance here. Slowly some sweetness builds to counterbalance an edge of tartness in the finish. The tannins are still there and quite chewy. This is a surprisingly robust and healthy wine – just like the label says, this is a village wine so no real fireworks or mind-bending length.


Alaskan Halibut. Peas, carrot, fava, radish, tendrils.


2003 Vieux Donjon Chateauneuf du Pape. Parker 92-94. The powerful 2003 Chateauneuf du Pape comes closest in character to the 1990 (which is still drinking beautifully). Its dark ruby/plum/purple color is followed by sweet aromas of resiny pine forest interwoven with creme de cassis, black cherries, melted licorice, and smoky herbs. In the mouth, gamy, meaty flavors emerge along with black currants, cherries, and a hint of the sushi wrapper called nori. Full, rich, and moderately tannic, this 2003 requires another 1-3 years of bottle age, and should keep for 12-15 years.

Sonoma lamb. Weiser potato, zucchini, confit tomato. Nice healthy chunk of lamb.


1999 Dominus Napanook Proprietary Red Wine. Parker 87. The soft, supple, easygoing 1999 Napanook (70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Cabernet Franc, 13% Merlot, and 3% Petit Verdot) exhibits cherry, earth, leather, and foresty aromas, sweet fruit, and a forward personality. It is best consumed over the next decade.


2012 Morlet Family Vineyards Pinot Noir Coteaux Nobles. Parker 93. Luc Morlet produces between 450 and 650 cases of three cuvées of Pinot Noir, all of which come from the second ridge from the Pacific Ocean in the Sonoma Coast AVA. The vineyard elevations range between 1,000 and 1,250 feet. All of them come from suitcase field selections of Pinot Noir, largely sourced from the most famous domaine in Vosne-Romanée. About one-third of the aging process is in the larger 500-liter wood pungeons, and the rest in smaller barrels. The wines are also bottled without fining or filtration. The 2012 Pinot Noir Coteaux Nobles displays meaty, spicy, clove, nutmeg and earthy notes intertwined with ripe plum and black cherry fruit, a medium to full-bodied mouthfeel, and lots of spice. Drink now-2025+.

Flat Iron Steak. Morel, asparagus tips, ramps, carrot.

Cheese plate. Fig, almonds, honey.

Chocolate Hazelnut Crisp. Delicious.

Overall, a super fun night!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

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By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Bonhams, Burgundy, Dessert, Domain Amiot Guy & Fils, Guy Amiot, Papilles, Wine

Petros Greek Feast

Apr01

Restaurant: Petros Restaurant

Location: B110, 451 Manhattan Beach Blvd. Manhattan Beach, CA. (310) 545-4100

Date: March 29, 2015

Cuisine: Greek

Rating: Best Greek I’ve had in LA

_

Tonight’s dinner was originally supposed to be special Hedonistic home cooked Greek Easter Feast by chef Popi Terzi but the chef had a last minute medical emergency and we relocated to a Manhattan Beach Greek restaurant.


Tonight’s special menu.


2004 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut La Grande Dame. VM 93. Vivid gold. Heady aromas of orange, white peach and smoky minerals, with a note of buttered toast adding depth. Densely packed citrus and pit fruit flavors show chewy texture and a bright mineral quality that adds vivacity. Rich but lively and precise, finishing very long, with notes of candied fig and toasty lees.


Skordalia (Heavenly Garlic dip) with pita bread.


From my cellar: 2007 Venica & Venica Malvasia. 91 points. Medium-deep straw-yellow. Aromas of yellow plum, apricot and almond. Lively, round and smooth, with good breadth and subtle suggestions of yellow plum and minerals carrying through to the long, vibrant finish.

Taramosalata (Fish Egg dip). Aged smoked caviar blended with onions, fresh lemon juice. This classic had a nice blend of the briny red mullet roe and a good amount of lemon juice to offset.


1998 R. López de Heredia Rioja Blanco Reserva Viña Tondonia. VM 93. Bright yellow. Pungent minerally, floral aromas of pear skin, peach pit and bee pollen, with a waxy overtone. The palate offers intense dried orchard and citrus fruit flavors and suggestions of anise, jasmine and honey, with a firm spine of acidity adding lift and focus. Finishes fleshy and spicy, with repeating floral and waxy qualities.


Rustic Tyropita. Homemade phyllo dough stuffed with a mousse of Greek cheeses. Drizzled with Greek honey. The sweet/salty/savory vibe here was great. Very addictive.


2010 Gérard Raphet Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux St. Jacques. Burghound 91. A more deeply pitched red and dark berry fruit nose is at once cool but ripe as it also evidences hints of spice, wet stone and warm earth. There is good concentration to the solidly intense medium-bodied flavors that possess plenty of extract that coats the palate on the relatively powerful finish. This is more robust and firmer than the Combottes but a bit less refined. A qualitative choice.

agavin: too young, but after an hour in the glass began to open up.


Grilled Octopus served with boiled beets, vinegar, garlic, EVO and oregano sauce.


2010 Fattoria Galardi Terra di Lavoro Roccamonfina IGT. VM97+. I have a strong feeling the 2010 will occupy a place among the very finest vintages produced on this tiny vineyard on the slopes of the Roccamonfina volcano. An exotic mélange of tar, smoke, graphite, blackberry jam and savory herbs explode from the glass. The 2010 is intense and full-bodied, yet also incredibly elegant. A big, breathtaking wine, the 2010 continues to build all the way through to a deeply resonant, expressive finish. I would choose to leave this uttterly beguiling Campanian red alone for the better part of a decade, but readers are going to have a very hard time excercising that patience. This is a fabulous effort from proprietors Arturo and Dora Celentano, and their long-time winemaker Riccardo Cotarella.

agavin: I have 6 bottles of this in my cellar, but I’m not cracking one for at least 5 years!


Shrimp Saganaki. Sautéed tender shrimp with a tomato basil feta cheese sauce. I spent over 3 weeks in Greece last summer (and three summers before that) and this was a very authentic Saganaki. I love the bright acidic tomato/cheese sauce.


2009 Fontodi Flaccianello della Pieve Colli della Toscana Centrale IGT. AG 94. The 2009 Flaccianello is gorgeous, but the relative shortcomings of the year relative to the sublime 2010 are apparent when the wines are tasted side by side. Firm tannins support a core of dark red fruit, smoke and crushed flowers. Readers will need to give the 2009 time to settle down, but it is unquestionably a fine Flaccianello.

agavin: the 2009 was rounder than the 2010 and drinking better at the moment.


Fasolatha. Traditional Greek vegetable bean soup with feta & EVO.


2010 Fontodi Flaccianello della Pieve Colli della Toscana Centrale IGT. AG 96. A rush of intense blue and black stone fruits, tobacco, smoke, licorice, spices and new leather hits the palate in the 2010 Flaccianello. A wine of considerable immediacy and intensity, the 2010 captivates all the senses with its magnificent richness and pure texture. There is so much to like here.

agavin: start drinking date is 2018!


Avgolemono. Homemade egg lemon, chicken, rice soup. Very nice mild lemony rice flavor.


2010 Ramey Cabernet Sauvignon Annum. VM 92-96. Inky ruby. Lively dark berry and cherry scents are complemented by licorice, fruitcake and vanilla, with a spicy nuance adding lift. Sweet, palate-coating blueberry and cherry liqueur flavors become more energetic with air and pick up a sexy floral nuance. Distinctly powerful yet lithe, with zesty spice and mineral notes adding bite to the long, subtly tannic finish.


2009 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. VM 96. There is no question the 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve is the most backward and brooding of the wines I tasted from Pride. Firm tannins frame an expressive core of dark red berries, licorice, scorched earth, tobacco, smoke and incense. Today, the 2009 is far too young to offer true pleasure, but it is unquestionably striking. Hints of iron, graphite and smoke add complexity on the finish supported by huge mountain tannins. The 2009 is super distinctive and loaded with personality.


Horiatiki Salata (Traditional Greek salad: Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Feta, Olives, etc). The addition of avocado felt a bit California, but it worked.


2012 Leonesse Cellars Grand Mélange Signature Selection.


1999 Turley Petite Syrah Estate Vineyard. VM 90. Opaque black ruby. Sauvage aromas of roasted meat, leather, blackberry, minerals and lead pencil. Bright and dense but not yet complex. Finishes persistent but a bit youthfully aggressive. Hard to assess today but shows very good vinosity and noteworthy aromatic complexity.


French fries. Ketchup and garlic aioli. This were excellent fries.


2005 Château Gruaud Larose. Tanzer 90-93. Good red-ruby. Redcurrant, leather and game on the expressive if slightly rustic nose. Sweet and concentrated but a bit youthfully aggressive, and not showing the refinement or definition of the 2006. Strong nutty oak component. Finishes with substantial tannins that are a bit richer and more fully buffered by the wine’s middle-palate material than those of the 2006. It will be interesting to compare these two vintages in ten years or so.

agavin: along with the CNDP one of the best reds tonight, particularly after an hour or so open.


Moussaka. A Classic Hellenic dish with eggplant, ground beef, tomatoes, and homemade béchamel sauce served village style. I think traditionally it’s usually lamb. The texture and flavor on this Moussaka were great. Perhaps it could have used a touch more nutmeg, but that’s me.


From my cellar: 2000 Les Cailloux (Lucien et Andre Brunel) Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Centenaire. Parker 96. The heady 2000 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Centenaire is more evolved than either the 2001 or 1998. Extremely full-bodied, with low acidity, and a knock-out bouquet of blackberry and cherry jam intermixed with licorice, pepper, and dried Provencal herbs, this sexy, voluptuous, enormously concentrated 2000 possesses a huge, silky, seamless finish. Drink this irresistible effort now and over the next 12-15 years.

agavin: after a bit of funk blew off, it was a great CNDP and perfect with the lamb below.


Succulent Braised Lamb with Artichokes and Lemons (This is a Petros “off the menu” special). This is a very traditional dish, and I’ve had variants of it in Greece many times. It’s more a stew than the usual “roast lamb”.


2006 Estate Argyros Vinsanto 4 Years Barrel Aged. Parker 90. The 2006 Vinsanto “4 Years Barrel Aged” is one of a series of Vinsantos (4 years, 12 and 20, and Mezzo, with the Mezzo soon to be discontinued). As a result of the shorter barrel aging and shorter sun drying time for the grapes (8-10 days instead of 12-14), its color is lighter than the 20-year Vinsanto reviewed this issue and the wine is less intense and less aromatic. It is still quite fine. Fragrant, delectable and crisp, it drinks extremely well and it had no problem whatsoever lasting several days after opening. It was better on Day 2, actually, when it gathered strength and woke up.


Loukouma. Baby Greek doughnuts drizzled with Greek honey, cinnamon, toasted walnuts and vanilla ice cream. Awesome!


5  layer chocolate cake. Five layers of chocolate cake with chocolate fudge icing served with vanilla ice cream and walnuts.


2004 Domaine des Baumard Quarts de Chaume. VM 90. Bright yellow-gold. Expressive aromas of poached pear, candied citrus, honey and white peach. A broad, lush, fruit-driven wine that offers sweet orchard and pit fruit flavors lifted by fresh orange and spice components. Gains weight with air and finishes with very good cling and echoes of honey and peach. This is ready to drink.


Bougatsa. Vanilla bean and Semolina custard wrapped in phyllo, served with vanilla ice cream and walnuts. Another amazing dessert.


Baklava. Walnuts, almonds, and pistachio wrapped in phyllo soaked with citrus syrup. Not one of those boring “dry” baklavas, this one dripped with sticky goodness.


All and all a fun and tasty  meal. Nearly every dish was very good, many, like the shrimp, the moussaka, and all the desserts were great. Good fun.

For good luck, there were a couple plate drops too.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

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By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Dessert, Greek cuisine, hedonists, Manhattan Beach, Petros Restaurant, Wine

Melisse – 2007 Montrachet!

Mar22

Restaurant: Melisse [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]

Location: 1104 Wilshire Blvd.Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 395-0881

Date: March 19, 2015

Cuisine: California French

Rating: Awesome again

_

And so we arrive at Part 3 of the epic three night 2007 White Burgundy Dinner series (Part 1 can be found here and part 2 here). This series of dinners, hosted by Burg-meister Don Cornwell, explores in great detail the best wines of a particular vintage, in this case 2007.

Tonight features “Mostly Montrachet” that is, the wines of the great “Le Montrachet” Grand Cru, often considered the best white wine in the world.

This particular dinner is at Melisse, one of LA’s few 2 star Michelin restaurants and also one of my favorites (you can find links to three epic Carte Blanche meals at Melisse in the brackets at the top of the post). Let’s just say that Melisse generally has every area of fine dining covered: great food, great wine service, great everything service, etc.

2007 is a classic white Burgundy vintage made from an upside-down growing season in which April was literally the warmest month. The year began with a very early flowering thanks to record heat in April, and a cool and fairly dismal summer followed. Most of the best growers picked their chardonnay in warm, dry weather during the first half of September – quite early, but not as early as the mid-May flowering would have predicted. The wines from the better makers show noteworthy transparency to terroir. Those who harvested relatively late often brought in thoroughly ripe fruit with healthy acidity levels and no obvious signs of overripeness. The skins of the chardonnay grapes in ’07 were mostly in good shape, in spite of wet, cool weather in June and July.

The 2007s are characterized by fresh citrus and white stone fruit aromas, plenty of minerality and floral lift, and good levels of acidity. Many are like fleshier versions of the 2004s, which sounds like a near-perfect formula for white Burgundy to this taster. Although I think of the typical style of 2007 as being pure, focused, minerally and racy, in fact there’s a creaminess without heaviness or other exoticism to many of the wines that buffers their acidity and gives them great early appeal. So please forgive my tendency to refer to the former style as the classic 2007 character. This is true in theory, but in the mouth there are many lovely 2007s with noteworthy generosity of texture. Incidentally, a number of producers told me that the wines were very awkward in the early going, and benefited tremendously from a longer élevage.


Our testing  was setup in the elegant private room just to the right of the entrance.


Tonight’s special menu.


Less glasses tonight than on the first two dinners in the series, as we have fewer wines and fewer drinkers.

Flight 0: Amuses


1996 Philipponnat Clos de Goisses. Burghound 97. One of the greatest examples of the ’96 vintage, this wine has it all with elegance, intensity, subtlety and grace, not to mention buckets of unrealized potential that will enable this beauty to improve for at least another decade and perhaps longer. I can only imagine just how good this would be from magnum format! The nose is discreet, reserved and pure with lemon, green apple and layers upon layers of fruit framed by just the right amount of yeast influence that continues onto the exceptionally dry and tight flavors that are crisp and refined as well as superbly intense yet through it all there is this underlying sense of harmony, as though all of the elements are working in concert. The greatest wines, at least those cut from classical cloth, persuade through the subtlest means and so it is with the ’96 Goisses, which is indeed a great wine by any measure. While it is drinkable now, for my taste preferences a lot of potential would be left in the glass and I wouldn’t start in earnest on this for another 5+ years.

agavin: Really a great mature champagne with years of life in it.


Liberty Duck Breast, Marche Cherry, Caper Chip. Awesome smoky little chip with an Asian sort of vibe.


Santa Barbara Ridgeback Prawn Ravioli. The shrimp is the ravioli and the ravioli is the shrimp. Tasted like a great har gow.


Beef Bearnaise. Taking a card from the Jose Andres deck, the sauce was actually inside the little hush puppy-like thing.


The bread. I’m particularly partial to the green basil bread and the bacon bread (far left).


Hamachi with radish. I’m not sure what was in that creamy blob, but the overall combo was fabulous.

Flight 1: Montrachet


A word about tonight’s format. Every bottle was served blind, except we were aware of what flight it was and what was in the flight, just not of which wine was which. The reveal was held until the end of the entire evening so that we could vote on favorite wines without bias.

2007 Drouhin Montrachet Marquis de la Guiche

Allen Meadows, Burghound Issue 35, July 2009: In contrast to the relative expressiveness of the majority of the prior wines, here the nose is decidedly restrained, offering up only grudging notes of pain grillé that frame pure aromas of white flower and fresh pear with subtle spice notes that continue onto the balanced, long and gorgeously refined big-bodied flavors that exude a distinct stoniness while building towards a powerful, mouth coating and palate staining finish that delivers striking persistence. A distinguished effort that will age for years because of the excellent underlying material and impeccable balance. 93-96

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, Sept. 2009: Very ripe aromas of apricot and smoky oak. Big, rich and sweet, with sexy hints of smoke, nutmeg and brown sugar. Tactile and chewy but without any excess weight. This big boy seems accessible already but offers enticing high notes for such a ripe wine. The smoky oak element recurs on the back end. This will need time to show its inherent soil complexity. 94

agavin: a bit deeper yellow. rich oak, grew quiet nice with time, lovely nose, long acid finish.

2007 Prieur Montrachet

Allen Meadows, Burghound Issue 35, July 2009: This too evidences a subtle application of wood but does not intrude on the transparency of the array of very floral, peach, pear and menthol aromas that serve as a sweeping introduction to the huge, rich and extremely powerful tautly muscled flavors that possess copious amounts of dry extract that completely drench the palate on the incredibly long finish. This is a massive Montrachet with flat out painful intensity and for those who enjoy dramatic whites, this fits the bill. A ‘wow’ wine and then some but for the patient. 94- 97

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, Sept. 2009: (still on its lees in barrel) Pale, bright yellow. Compelling aromas of peach, fresh apricot and iodiney minerality. Silky on entry, then dense, powerful and large- scaled in the middle. This is really stuffed with fruit. There’s a juiciness here but this tactile wine is almost too easy today. Plenty of alcohol too, at 13.8%. 91-93

agavin: med yellow, sulfur on the nose to start, strong green apple, mellowed after some time in the glass

2007 Coche-Dury Meursault Perrieres

Allen Meadows, Burghound Database, Feb 2, 2012: Mild reduction initially reduces the expressiveness of the otherwise fresh and impressively complex lemon, stone and acacia blossom-infused nose that leads to equally complex and beautifully delineated middle weight flavors that ooze a fine minerality before culminating in an overtly austere but explosive, linear and compact finish of superb length. While this could of course be drunk now, for my taste it is still much too young. However, if you’re going to try one out of curiosity I would strongly advise decanting it for at least 30 minutes first as the flavors take their timing opening up. Tasted twice recently with one bottle being a bit more forward than the one described above. 94

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, Sept. 2009: Good pale yellow. Knockout orange and mineral nose projects an impression of force that continues onto the palate. A wonderfully silky wine of outstanding intensity and lift. This has the fine-grained texture of a grand cru, not to mention the combination of suavity and power that characterizes the best examples of Perrieres. The palate-staining finish features a whiplash of flavor. The candid Coche was quick to say that the crop level here was a healthy 52 hectoliters per hectare, but it tastes like half that. I should note that the finished wine is much more classic and vibrant than a more glyceral barrel sample I tried last year, and Coche has also upped his opinion of this beauty. 95

agavin: light straw in color, lots of sulfur reduction, green apple palette, long long acid finish.

2007 Henri Boillot Montrachet

Allen Meadows, Burghound Issue 35, July 2009: This is also strikingly pure, refined and fantastically elegant and while the kaleidoscopic nose is more restrained and primary still, the density of the fruit with its associated depth is quite simply sublime. Notes of white truffle, citrus, rose petal, anise, brioche and clove merge into concentrated, powerful, delineated and stony flavors that are big but not necessarily massive and culminate in a finish that is even more persistent than that of the Chevalier if not necessarily finer. Still, what this gives up in delicacy it more than makes up for in size, weight and power. A classically proportioned Monty. 97

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, Sept. 2008: Very closed nose hints at lime, botanical herbs, clove and minerals. Chewy, tactile and uncompromisingly dry, with a powerful dusty minerality carrying through on the long, stony finish. Extremely young and unevolved today. 92-94

agavin: middle yellow, rich open nose, acidic and green apple taste


Stonington Maine Diver Scallop Grilled Leeks, Cardoons, Crème de Brandade.

Flight 2: Montrachet


The next flight, even more Monty.

2007 Bouchard Montrachet

Allen Meadows, Burghound Database, April 9, 2010: (with thanks to Dr. Michael Chen). A stunningly complex range of fruit, citrus, floral and spice aromas complement to perfection the very rich, full and strikingly concentrated broad-scaled flavors that are supported by plenty of dry extract that buffers a firm core of ripe acidity on the beautifully intense and flat out incredibly lingering finish. What really impresses me about the ’07 though is that despite the impressive heft, the finish remains laser-like in its focus. A ‘wow’ wine in every sense except for one, which is that this is not an imposing or massive vintage for this wine. Otherwise, this is sensational, especially in terms of its impeccable balance. Note that at this early juncture, there is essentially no difference between the magnum and 750 ml formats save for the impression that the magnum is, not surprisingly, even more backward. 97

Allen Meadows, Burghound Issue 35, July 2009: While not more elegant than the Cabotte, this is quite a bit more complex with a stunning range of fruit, citrus, floral and spice aromas that complement to perfection the very rich, full and strikingly concentrated broad-scaled flavors that are supported by plenty of dry extract that buffers a firm core of ripe acidity on the beautifully intense and flat out incredibly lingering finish. What really impresses me about the ’07 though is that despite the impressive heft, the finish remains laser-like in its focus. A ‘wow’ wine in every sense except for one, which is that this is not an imposing or massive vintage for this wine. Otherwise, this is sensational, especially in terms of its impeccable balance. 97

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar: not reviewed

agavin: pale yellow, sulfur on the nose, a bit of potty even to the taste, thin finish

2007 Louis Latour Montrachet

Allen Meadows, Burghound Issue 35, July 2009: A deft touch of wood serves as a background presence for the reserved but fresh and bright floral, citrus, brioche and spice aromas that are strikingly complex and broad and complement the full-bodied flavors that are deep, dense and massive with exceptionally powerful drive and intensity on the gorgeously long and palate staining finish. This is an impressive wine blessed with great underlying material, perfect balance and superb harmony plus it’s built for the long haul. Note however that the expressiveness of the nose aside, the flavors are like a block of stone and thus I would suggest not opening a bottle for the next few years as it would likely be a complete waste. 95

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar: not reviewed

agavin: medium deep yellow, rich nose, nice citrus finish, grew better and better over time

2007 Le Moine Montrachet Cuvee C

Allen Meadows, Burghound: not reviewed

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, Sept. 2009: From the Chassagne side: Reticent nose dominated by nutty oak. The palate shows an almost candied ripeness to the citrus liqueur, iodine and wet stone flavors. Wonderfully sweet and densely packed wine of noteworthy solidity. Mounts impressively and broadens out on the vibrant, very long finish. 93-95

agavin: a bit deeper yellow. rich lovely nose. powerful and drinking well now

2007 Coche-Dury Corton Charlemagne

Allen Meadows, Burghound Database April 23, 2012: (with thanks to Herwig Janssen and Hal Borthwick). This is completely different from its ’08 counterpart with a wonderfully layered and relatively expressive nose that features ripe but cool green fruit, apple, rose petal and ample mineral influence that continues onto the imposingly concentrated and powerful flavors that terminate in a lemon-infused and intensely stony finish. This is strikingly persistent and while there is some austerity present it is much less so compared to the ’08. I quite like this and it’s a vintage that will certainly age well but be enjoyable young. 95

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, Sept. 2009: The most austere nose of these 2007s: apple, pear, crushed stone and oyster shell minerality. Saturates the palate with a flavor of liquid stone, without leaving any impression of weight. Very dry and penetrating wine with powerful underlying structure and great energy on the extremely long finish. Even more closed today than the Caillerets, but then this wine from marne blanche soil typically ages like a red. It will be interesting to compare this wine with the 2006 bottling a decade hence. The earlier wine is more glyceral, but this 2007 may possess even more energy. 95+

agavin: pale yellow, sulfur and sweet tarts on the nose, sweet tarts on the palette


2007 Ramey Chardonnay Hyde Vineyard. Vinous 94. Greenish yellow. Vibrant aromas of lime, lemongrass, powdered stone and anise. At once supple and energetic in the mouth, with impressive precision to the peach, citrus and smoky mineral flavors. Tightly wound and taut but not austere, showing a distinct spiciness on the back half. Lively citrus and mineral flavors carry through a rising, spicy finish. These grapes are sourced from four different blocks, all of them planted to the Wente clone, according to Ramey.

agavin: medium yellow, reductive nose, rich oak, guessed it wasn’t a Burgundy


Out comes a whole giant slab of turbot!


Atlantic Turbot Porcini Mushroom, Celeriac, Black Barley.


Roasted Celery Broth is poured on top. A fabulous bit of moist fish.

Flight 3: Coche-Dury


And the final set of blockbusters.

Leflaive Batard-Montrachet

Allen Meadows, Burghound Issue 35, July 2009: This is also on the ripe side for a 2007 with an ultra elegant nose that is pure, airy and cool, indeed this is unusually elegant for the appellation with its white flower, citrus, pear, menthol, white pepper and light spice hints that are in perfect keeping with the rich, full and broad- shouldered flavors that possess the usual volume and power of a classic Bâtard but do not lose any of the precision or detail on the expansive, mouth coating and hugely long and very dry finish. Like a number of examples in 2007, this is an elegant yet forceful Bâtard. 95

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, Sept. 2009: Pale, green-tinged yellow. Knockout nose combines musky pineapple, lime and powdered stone; seems less exotic than the 2008. Wonderfully silky on entry, then explosively ripe and sweet in the middle, with powerful, palate-staining flavors of lime and flowers. Very rich and impeccably balanced, with its sweetness perfectly countered by firm buffering acidity. A great showing for this extremely long grand cru. 95

Don Cornwell, Wally’s Leflaive Dinner, Mar. 16, 2010: (tasted from two different bottles over four hours) Light yellow-green color; some light S02 here [Meadows noticed this too and quietly asked me about it as well. We both agreed this was slightly reductive]; citrus and sweet basil aromas; surprisingly forward and supple for a Batard, doesn’t have the power I expected; very good acidity and a long finish. My separate notes at dinner were almost verbatim identical. Meadows says he thinks the 2007’s will be open for business early but will live for a long time. 94(+?)

agavin: deep yellow, rich complex nose. slight vinegar sharpness to taste, very tart, short finish?

2007 Jadot Montrachet

Allen Meadows, Burghound Issue 35, July 2009: An almost invisible hint of wood frames stunningly refined if restrained, elegant and ripe floral, green fruit and spice notes with a most interesting touch of violets that can also be found on the rich, full-bodied and delicious flavors that possess ample underlying tension with plenty of finishing punch and vibrancy on the hugely long finish. This is a powerful but not massive Montrachet with buckets of dry extract and the class is obvious as is the impeccable balance of the linear and palate staining backend. 93-96

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar: not reviewed

agavin: medium yellow. sulfur at first, then really nice nose, then fell off? Reduction at first on palette, then opened way up. Quite nice.

2007 Le Mone Montrachet Cuvee P

Allen Meadows, Burghound: not reviewed

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, Sept. 2009: (There’s another barrel from the Puligny side but this one was only about a third of its way through its malolactic fermentation, which did not start until August of 2008. This sample showed a higher pitch, a captivating aroma of orange blossom and great finesse of texture, but was still youthfully imploded at the end of May.) not rated

agavin: Medium yellow. Thin, menthol, reductive nose. Rich palette and long finish. Opened into one of my favorites.

2007 Ramonet Montrachet

Allen Meadows, Burghound Issue 36, Oct 2009: In contrast to the incredibly backward Bâtard, the Montrachet is somewhat more open and accessible with a soaring nose of floral, citrus, orange peel, spice and a suitably discreet touch of oak yet as impressively broad as it is, it is completely evident that there is plenty in reserve. This is also true of the almost painfully intense and focused medium plus weight flavors that possess ample amounts of extract that buffer the very firm acid spine on the hugely long finish. While it should not be a surprise, given that not only is this Montrachet but a Ramonet Montrachet at that, don’t open any of these anytime soon. The ’07 version is not ever going to be one of the power vintages for this storied wine but I suspect that it will take its rightful place among the greats but only in time and that time isn’t soon. Patience absolutely required. 97

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, Sept. 2009: Pale, bright, green-tinged color. Subdued yet wonderfully nuanced aromas of powdered stone, white flowers, gingerbread, spices, sage and mint, complemented by sexy oak. Large-scaled, tactile and deep but with no impression of excess weight. Thick and broad from start to long, rocky finish. With extended time in the recorked bottle, this outstanding big boy turned steelier and drier, showing a penetrating grapefruit pith quality and remaining remarkably fresh. This outstanding Montrachet will almost certainly merit an even higher score seven or eight years down the road. 95+

agavin: paler yellow. Closed nose, rich flavor with a lot of acid.

2007 Sauzet Montrachet

Allen Meadows, Burghound Issue 35, July 2009: This is ever-so-slightly riper and less restrained aromatically than the Chevalier with a densely fruited nose offering lightly spiced pear, white peach, lemon-lime and a hint of honeysuckle plus a touch of clove and anise that merge seamlessly into concentrated, powerful and weighty flavors that are not massive but they are focused, well-muscled and impressively scaled all the same and culminate in a superbly complex and deep finish that reminds me a lot of the 2002 version as it seems to come in wave after palate drenching wave. This is not as elegant and pure as the Chevalier but it somehow manages to deliver yet another dimension. In sum, an absolute knockout. Amazingly, this rivals the ’93 as the best Montrachet Sauzet has ever made, and anyone who has tasted a well-stored bottle knows that is high praise. 97

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, Sept. 2009: Pale lemon-yellow. Reticent nose hints at lemon, clove and iodine. Large-scaled, fat and rich, but plush more than complex today in spite of its steely underpinning. This builds slowly and inexorably, filling the mouth and continuing to expand on the back end. A seriously concentrated Montrachet with the structure of a red wine. At 41 hectoliters per hectare, this wine featured the lowest crop level among the Sauzet 2007s. Really floods the palate with flavor. 95+

agavin: medium to pale, apple, apple, and more green apple. Tiny hints of advancedness?


Chef Josiah Citrin brings out the savory pièce de résistance.


Inside this dish, reminiscent of King Joffrey’s wedding pie:


Three hens nestled in hay. They were slow cooked to keep all the moisture inside.


Roasted Jidori Chicken, Smoked Carrots, Brasied Swiss Chard, Potato Mousseline.

This was probably the best chicken dish I’ve ever had. The meat absolutely perfectly cooked and juicy, the mashed potatoes amazing, and the jus pulled it all together. The carrots had this amazing “spiced” (as in pumpkin and spice) flavor.


Just my glasses.


Brian Kalliel, Melisse’s Sommelier, sucks his thumb while waiting for our endless debating and voting over the wine. It took forever before we revealed the blind wines. I, myself, was pacing about at the end of the room.


The whole array of bottles.

Dessert


1989 Freiherr Langwerth von Simmern Hattenheimer Mannberg Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese.


1994 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Beerenauslese. MFW 100. Quince, lemon, petrol and honey. Impeccably balanced palate thanks to resonating acidity – it is sweet, intense and incredibly long. Brilliant stuff.


Check out the color of the 89 (left) vs the 94 (right).


Apple Tart Fine. Caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. Pretty much a perfect version of this dessert.


Petite fours. pate de fruits, cannelles, macarons, cookies, chocolates.

food: As usual the food at Melisse is just stunning. I generally prefer a more mega tasting menu with more flavors and the requirements of matching White Burgundy limited the options, but still there were some stunning dishes here, in particular the turbot and chicken. And the chicken. I’m normally not even a chicken fan! The amuses were great too with a complex Franco-Japanese vibe.

service: perfect.

agavin on the wines: Like the other two 2007 nights, all these wines showed a strong vintage character, namely that super tart green apple sweet tart acidity. But the Montrachets were in general drinking fabulously. Almost any of these wines would be fabulous additions to more normal lineups. There were no premoxed wines, with only 1-2 showing very slight touches of advanced notes on the nose. Nothing was corked. Quite a number were highly reduced with a lot of sulfur on the nose, even degrading to “porta potty.” But this blows off with years in the bottle or hours in the glass.

The guessing of the more experienced Chard hounds was unusually inaccurate tonight. A lot of the typically “inferior” (for great wines) Montrachets were drinking the best tonight. These included the Louis Latour, the Jadot, and the Prieur. My best guess is that the more forward styles served to round out the wines and balance that searing acidity. I cannot understate the amount of tartness in these wines (or any typical 2007s). By the last flight my tongue was just buzzing with it and I had total palette fatigue. I had to use the sweet wines and the cannelles to try and wash it away.

Overall quality was quite high, but there was some serious doubt in the group as to how long to hold this vintage. Some felt that the acidity will remain and eventually overwhelm the fruit, leading to tight thin wines. Personally, I’d propose waiting a small number of additional years and pairing up with acid friendly food.

Don on the wines, plus official rankings:

RANK

 

Total

Rating

1

2007 Latour Montrachet

36

96

2

2007 Prieur Montrachet

27

95

3

2007 Jadot Montrachet

23

96|97

4

2007 Le Moine Montrachet Cuvee P

20

95

5

2007 Le Mone Montrachet Cuvee C

14

94

6

2007 Coche Meursault Perrieres

8

95++

7 tie

2007 Ramey Hyde Chardonnay

7

92

7 tie

2007 Ramonet Montrachet

7

94++

9

2007 Drouhin De Laguiche Montrachet

4

96

10

2007 Bouchard Montrachet

3

96

11

2007 Leflaive Batard Montrachet

1

95

12 tie

2007 Coche-Dury Corton Charlemagne

0

95

12 tie

2007 Boillot Montrachet

0

93|92A

12 tie

2007 Sauzet Montrachet

0

92A?

The five names at the top of the “leader board” have never been there before.  Make no mistake, the Latour, Prieur and Jadot were absolutely awesome wines.  The Le Moine wines also showed quite well.  So at the risk of catching some more flack from Mounir again, I’m sending him a copy of this results email again so that he can see how well his two Montrachet cuvees did.  (There wasn’t the faintest hint of oxidation this time.)

Don thought that the really youthful wines of the night that needed more time to show how great they really are were the Coche-Dury Meursault Perrieres (yes, we also tasted a bottle of this wine on night one) and the Ramonet Montrachet.

David Ramey’s 2007 Hyde vineyard Chardonnay did double-duty as a ringer this year and it did very well even with the much stiffer competition among the Montrachets.  (Don didn’t think last night’s bottle  showed as well as the bottle we had with the Batards on night two, but it was still a well-liked wine with one first place vote.)   Mr. Ramey has clearly established, on both nights two and three (as well as in past vintages which operated with different voting rules), that his Hyde Vineyard bottling definitely belongs in the conversation when assessing the world’s best chardonnays.

There were no oxidized wines last night and the group overall didn’t think we had any advanced wines (although myself and two others thought that the Boillot Montrachet and Sauzet Montrachet were advanced and the Boillot Montrachet was almost borderline oxidized.)

From the premature oxidation perspective, looking at this on a historical basis, the 2007 vintage performed very well.  From an overall perspective, the 2007s were, by the narrowest of margins, the best-ever performing vintage from a premox perspective that we have had to date (in the years of this testing series).

Other big tasting dinners from this dinner series:

2007 White Burgundy part 1

2007 White Burgundy part 2

2006 White Burgundy

2004 Red Burgundy

2005 White Burgundy part 1

2005 White Burgundy part 2

2005 White Burgundy part 3

Related posts:

  1. Mostly Montrachet at Melisse
  2. Valentino – 2007 White Burgundy part 2
  3. Melisse Madness
  4. Valentino – 2007 White Burgundy part 1
  5. Burghounds at Melisse
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: 2007 White Burgundy, Chef Josiah Citrin, Dessert, Josiah Citrin, Melisse, Montrachet, White Burgundy, Wine

Mastro’s Ocean Club Malibu

Feb23

Restaurant: Mastro’s Ocean Club Malibu

Location: 18412 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, CA 90265. (310) 454-4357

Date: February 19, 2015

Cuisine: Steakhouse

Rating: Exactly like the other Mastro’s, but closer and with a better view!

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I’ve been meaning to try the new Mastro’s Ocean Club since it opened as it’s all of about 10 minutes from my house. My brother’s birthday provided an excellent opportunity!


As you can see, the view is awesome — and despite Charthouse deja vu, it’s a lovely location. As usual, it’s pretty sealed up, which seems to be oddly typical on the Pacific coast (probably because of the chilly afternoon/evening breezes).


1983 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. Parker 94. A stunning wine, Pichon-Lalande’s 1983 has been gorgeous to drink for a number of years. It is one of the finest 1983s, especially for a northern Medoc. The color remains a dark ruby/purple, with slight lightening at the edge. The knock-out nose of roasted herbs, sweet, jammy black currants, and pain grille is followed by a full-bodied, gorgeously concentrated and well-proportioned wine with low acidity, plenty of glycerin, and a savory, highly extracted, fleshy mouthfeel. This has always been one of the stars of the vintage.


The yummy breads.


Three of us ordered the seafood tower. The quality of the seafood here is impeccable. There were amazing shrimp, lobsters, claws, dungeness crab (in the top, shelled), and oysters.


One of the things that really makes the Mastro’s seafood tower are the sauces. We have cocktail, a spicy mustard, and the Atomic Horseradish. They use this particular magic brand (you can buy it here). The stuff is — pardon my French — fucking awesomely potent. I’ve taken to buying it myself for home. No other horseradish is this punishing. It has a nice flavor too. I particularly like it mixed in with the cocktail sauce. It can have you literally pounding the table in pain — ahem pleasure.


Caesar salad.

1978 Château Mont-Redon Châteauneuf-du-Pape. VC 95. Gorgeous brick red with tawny rim. Sweet rich fruit, plummy, earthy, rich blackberry compote, tar and licorice spice, but fruit dominant.
Fresh and smooth, superb balance and length, finishing with a deep long resonating kiss. Loving this. Hints of sherbet zest but mostly a rich earthy compote of plummy fruit with a lightly spicy edge. Amazingly fresh and crisp for its considerable age, better than many 15 years it’s junior. I have another and will happily lay to rest for another 5-10. Drinking beautifully.


Chilean sea bass, looking forlorn by itself on the plate.


Grilled salmon.


8 oz filet.


8 oz filet oscar style. Yeah, it’s obscene. I know.


Grilled brussels sprouts. Not as good as Gjelina (with the pancetta).


Creamed corn.

This is “Gorgonzola mac & cheese!” Oh so light, oh so yummy.


And even better, the evil “king crab truffle gnocchi.” Yes that’s right. Cream, cheese, truffles, crab, potato. What could be better?


See the evil damage.


For dessert, birthday profiteroles with ice cream and whipped cream.


Chocolate covered strawberries with whipped cream.


And the super evil butter cake. About 3 sticks of butter in this baby.

Amazingly, there was still room for dessert

Overall, a great experience. I’m not sure what is Ocean Club about the ocean part other than actually being BY the ocean. Which makes it all the odder that there is an Ocean Club in Scottsdale (no ocean there). This place is pretty much a clone of the other Mastro’s foodwise, which isn’t exactly a bad thing.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. An Evening at Malibu Wines
  2. Ocean Avenue Seafood
  3. No Beef with Mastro’s
  4. Riviera Country Club – Gluttony with a View
  5. Spear your Meat
By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: birthday, Dessert, Mastro's Ocean Club Malibu, Mastros, Steak House, steakhouse, Wine

Lofty Heights

Feb16

Restaurant: Daniel Benhaim

Location: Downtown LA

Date: February 12, 2015

Cuisine: Modern

Rating: Awesome

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Adam, one of our Hedonist regulars, likes to organize high end dinners.


This particular one is game meat themed, and hosted in a DTLA loft.



The chef is Daniel Benhaim. He managed this amazing meal for 15 handling the kitchen all by himself with the help of two talented servers.


The loft is in a sketchy area, but has access to a giant roof with an amazing view of the city!


Tonight’s menu.

It should be noted that the wine service (haha) for this event was chaotic in the least. Things were opened and grabbed in a giant amiable free-for-all. I’ve tried to order them here, but they weren’t.


NV Jacques Selosse Champagne Brut Initiale. IWC 92. Bright gold. An exotically perfumed bouquet evokes dried pear, honey, lemon curd, truffle and candied ginger. On the palate, intense mineral-accented orchard and pit fruit flavors pick up smokiness and nuttiness with air. Finishes smooth and extremely long, with subtle smokiness, a brown butter quality and a whiplash of minerality.


2000 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru La Forest. IWC 93+. Pale green-tinged straw. Reticent but ripe and highly nuanced nose combines peach, nectarine, lime, lemon skin, nuts and an intriguing, soil-inflected vegetal/smoky quality. Very dry, taut and reserved yet already rich and mouthfilling, with the ripe fruit notes perfectly supported by a flavor of liquid stone. A wine of great energy, finishing with explosive length and powerful minerality. Grand cru size and cut.

agavin: Our bottle was unfortunately premoxed.


2008 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. Burghound 94. A more elegant as well as more refined but also much more reserved nose of white flower and salt water aromas is very much in keeping with the equally refined, pure and silky middle weight flavors that possess excellent detail and precision on the textured and seductive finish that displays grand cru level persistence. This is not quite as rich as the Butteaux but it’s finer as the chiseled flavors are flat out gorgeous. In a word, stunning.

agavin: great, although young and tight at first.


Foie Gras Torchon. Pickled Mustard. Hibiscus Jam. Beet Cured Apple. Mangalitsa Sourdough.

A really nice with with a very interesting blend of the rich, sweet, and tangy/sharp. Not your usual sweet-only foie pairing.


1999 Olivier Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Champs Canet. 91 points.


2004 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne. Burghound 93. Green apple, white pear and hint of crushed herb are framed by gentle notes of pain grillé that combine with huge and unbelievably intense flavors blessed with phenomenal power and length. This has that “wow” factor as the flavors are both palate staining and almost painfully intense and the finale is like a block of stone.

agavin: I thought this had a bit of that annoying green flavor that ruins the 04 reds.


2012 Albert Grivault Meursault 1er Cru Clos des Perrières. 97 agavin. A stunner, particularly given how young it is. Rich, but already in balance with a soaring quality. Very MP too.


2004 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Réserve. RR 93. Floral and herbal elements around a core of ripe white fruited flavours; rich and creamy-textured, brings a ripe Meursault to mind with great balance and a sense of purity to the flavours. Lovely stuff.


Bison Tartar. Wood Sorrel. Toasted Walnut. Kefir. Salted Blackberry. Anise Vinaigrette.

I love tartar in general, and this didn’t disappoint. The blend of flavors was both complex and harmonious. The vibe is a bit similar to the Korean/Japanese type tartars like at Totoraku or this K-BBQ.


1945 Remoissenet Père et Fils Vosne-Romanée. 93 agavin. Surprisingly young and fresh. Really great for a while. A lot of Remoissenet wines are off balance, not this one.


Amanda brought: 1971 Marey-Monge (Domaine de la Romanée-Conti) Romanée St. Vivant. 94 points. It must first be noted that this bottle had a Marey-Monge cork instead of a DRC cork. None of us were totally sure what was standard in that year. Marey-Monge owned the vineyards and leased them to DRC. They made their own wine through 1966 I think, then 67-71 was DRC, and 72-87 was even more DRC control, but stilled leased, then in 1988 DRC bought the parcels and did a bunch of replanted and the like. The person who brought it offered full disclosure. We concluded that it tasted like RSV, and approximately the right age. It was very good, even though it had a light touch of corking. Quite powerful in some ways with a ton of complexity. Very enjoyable.

Thanks Amanda!


2001 Domaine Joseph Roty Charmes-Chambertin Très Vieilles Vignes. Burghound 94. As big as a Chambertin with the intensity and sheer flavor authority to match. Sumptuously, even lavishly oaked yet it carries its oak as though it were nothing and there is no doubt that this will absorb the wood completely as there is a mind boggling amount of mid-palate sap and punch and it completely coats the mouth and the persistence is exemplary. The structure is completely buried beneath all the sap and while this should be approachable after a decade, it will drink well for another two. Another great Roty Charmes in a very long line of them. If you can find a few bottles, don’t miss them. In short, this is very classy juice.

agavin: a great wine, drink great


1998 Marcassin Pinot Noir Blue-Slide Ridge Vineyard. IWC 91. Full red. Slightly high-toned aromas of plum, nuts and dried fruits; like the Three Sisters, this could use more freshness. Then sweet, lush and silky in the mouth, with more weight and ripeness than the Three Sisters. Showed a fresh raspberry flavor as it opened in the glass, but this pinot, too, could use a bit more verve. Best on the very long finish, which features fine, even tannins.


From my cellar: 1989 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle. RR95+. The nose was fabulous, full of sweet, black fruits, garrigue, spice, pepper, game, chocolate, minerals and bread aromas. The palate was rich and hearty, more limited and square than its nose, although there was nice citrus and leather smack to its gamy finish.

agavin: a little closed at first it stirred and really opened up after a bit.


Mangalitsa Ragu. Dark Chocolate Tagliatelle. Fiore Sardo. Mollica.

Chef Benhaim likes to blend unusual flavors and he shows a real talent for keeping the flavors in balance. This was a great and very interesting pasta.


1998 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. Parker 92-96. This wine performed even better than my high accolades in issue #131 suggested. The 1998 Chateauneuf du Pape is the greatest effort produced since Beaucastel’s 1989 and 1990. It reveals more accessibility, no doubt because the final blend included more Grenache than normal. Its dense purple color is followed by sweet aromas of blackberries, licorice, new saddle leather, and earth. There is superb concentration, full body, low acidity, and high tannin, but it is surprisingly drinkable for such a young Beaucastel. Ideally, it needs another 3-4 years of cellaring, and should keep for 25-30 years.

agavin: our bottle was corked 🙁


Erick brought: 1999 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage A Jacques Perrin. Parker 96-100. The 1999 Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage a Jacques Perrin appears to be a legend. Made from a classic blend of 60% Mourvedre, 20% Grenache, 10% Syrah, and 10% Counoise, this limited production (5,000 bottles) cuvee exhibits perfect equilibrium, but needs a decade of cellaring. It would be a shame to drink it before that. The opaque black/purple color is accompanied by aromas of roasted meats, smoke, truffles, cured olives, and intense blackberry and espresso-infused cherry fruit. Leather notes also emerge on the palate. The wine boasts immense body, massive richness, and formidable levels of extract and tannin. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2040.

agavin: probably WOTN, big, brooding and awesome.


2007 Pierre Usseglio Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de Mon Aieul. Parker 100. There are 1,800 cases of the 2007 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee du Mon Aieul (100% tank-aged Grenache). It represents an awesome naked/virginal expression of Grenache from three vineyard parcels planted in sand, clay, and limestone soils. After tasting this wine on five separate occasions, I can state with certainty, it has the most saturated color of any Mon Aieul produced to date. Moreover, its perfume of blueberry liqueur, black raspberries, licorice, roasted meat juices, and lavender is incredible. Full-bodied power, a multilayered mouthfeel, tremendous purity, and awesome concentration put this wine in a class by itself. This sensational Chateauneuf du Pape is still very young, and 3-4 years of cellaring is required. It should be a modern day legend and last for nearly two decades.

agavin: big, bold, full of great fruit without overpowering.


1998 Delas Freres Hermitage les Bessards. Parker 96. The 1998 Hermitage Les Bessards reveals licorice, coffee, cassis, minerals, smoke, and meat scents, full body, great depth, teeth-coating tannin, and a persistent, sweet, well-delineated, 45-second finish. It will be at its peak between 2007-2035.


2003 Vieux Donjon Chateauneuf du Pape. Parker 92-95. The powerful 2003 Chateauneuf du Pape comes closest in character to the 1990 (which is still drinking beautifully). Its dark ruby/plum/purple color is followed by sweet aromas of resiny pine forest interwoven with creme de cassis, black cherries, melted licorice, and smoky herbs. In the mouth, gamy, meaty flavors emerge along with black currants, cherries, and a hint of the sushi wrapper called nori. Full, rich, and moderately tannic, this 2003 requires another 1-3 years of bottle age, and should keep for 12-15 years.


Duck Wellington. Smoked Carrot. Vadouvan. Raison d’etre.

Another ambitious dish executed fabulously, particularly given the challenge of being a single chef with 15 plates. The meat was perfectly cooked. The pastry wasn’t soggy, and the very interesting curry sauce really livened up this sometimes heavy type of dish.


1998 Pavie. Parker 95-96. A 50-year wine, this opaque purple-colored offering exhibits a strong, precise nose of black fruits, liquid minerals, smoke, and graphite. Extremely full-bodied, yet brilliantly delineated, powerful, and awesomely concentrated, it boasts a fabulous mid-palate as well as a finish that lasts for nearly a minute. This vin de garde requires 5-6 years of cellaring. A tour de force in winemaking, it has the potential to be the most profound Pavie ever produced, except for its two successors. Anticipated maturity: 2006-2045.

agavin: Pavie two nights in a row!


1983 Mount Mary Cabernets. 90 points online, but our bottle was over the hill, thin and a bit cloudy. A shame.


1975 Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Martha’s Vineyard. View from cellar 97+. The 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon Martha’s Vineyard is quite pretty and powerful, but also a bit forward, while the 1975 impresses for its pure depth and richness, both remarkable for a wine that is nearly 40 years old!

agavin: Really impressive and full of rich fruit.


2001 Hundred Acre Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. Parker 92-98. No idea which bottling this was. Too bad for them they stick the important information on the back instead of the front where it should be! Parker says of the regular bottling: may be the Le Pin of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a lascivious, powerful, smoky sex pot of great fruit intensity, purity, and voluptuousness. The texture is unctuous, the fruit level remarkable, and the wine gloriously pure, rich, and bursting with black currant and sweet cherry fruit as well as nicely integrated, toasty French oak. It will drink well for 15+ years. This exciting debut effort possesses an individualistic, distinctive style … all to the credit of this brash newcomer, a tightly-spaced vineyard situated on the Silverado Trail, north of St. Helena, near the Rombauer Vineyard. This is an impressive effort fashioned by Philippe Melka, who believes this site has “unlimited potential.”


Venison Loin. Celery Root. Maitake. Eucalyptus Bordelaise.

The meat was flavorful, tender, and perfectly cooked. It was a little cold though, probably owing to the logistics of the dinner.


From my cellar: 2011 Veyder-Malberg Riesling Bruck. 96 points. First beautiful straw chablis like color, nose of oil can like and lead pencil, the finish is very long smooth and lasting for over a minute. Awesome wine.

agavin: I actually opened this at the beginning, but I put it here because it paired so well with the bright citrus in the key lime pie.


Key Lime Sorbet. Buckwheat Graham. Coconut Custard.

Awesome dessert. Full of bright bright citrus flavors. Basically a deconstructed Key Lime Pie. Awesome and paired best with the remains of the Bruck (above).


Thanks Dave for bringing this bruiser.

1988 Chateau d’Yquem. Parker 98-99. The 1988 d’Yquem has an incredibly profound nose of orange marmalade, dried apricots, honeycomb, musk and dried pineapple with hints of marzipan and crystallized ginger. The palate is seamless with a great line of crisp acid cutting through the densely packed dried tropical fruit and honeyed flavour layers. The finish just goes on and on.

agavin: oh, yeah! Hehe, still have 2 bottles of this baby in my cellar. At least one of them I’ve had since the mid 90s.


Milk Chocolate Cake. Olive Oil. Coffee Meringue. Dulce de Leche.

Another great dessert, mixing textures (soft, crunchy, gooey) and temperatures (warm, cool, room temp).


Overall, this was another awesome night. The food was fabulous. For being only two servers and one cook, the staff did an amazing job. Now we could have used a Somm, as the wine was a total free-for-all, but we had so many bottles that it wasn’t a stressful frenzy.

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

  1. Friday Night Heights – Shabbat Dinner
  2. Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the Sun
  3. Lucky Ducky
  4. How many Saddles to Peak?
  5. Memorial Day Pig
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Adam Fleischman, Daniel Benhaim, Dessert, Downtown Los Angeles, DTLA, hedonists, popup, Wine

Spear your Meat

Feb13

Restaurant: Spear Steak & Seafood House

Location:800 W 6th St, Ste 100. Los Angeles, CA 90017. (213) 688-3000

Date: February 12, 2015

Cuisine: Steakhouse

Rating: Surprisingly good

_

After the success of last month’s “Foodie Club instigated by Will” dinner, we wanted to do another one in February. We even selected and booked Chi Spacca, the Mozza Italian steakhouse, but at the very last minute (hours before) we tripped up on their “no more than 1 bottle per 2 people” policy. So I’m going to “dis” them here because these policies are obnoxious. They can charge corkage if they like (absolutely no more than $50 a bottle and flat per bottle), but bottle limits are offensive. We open and serve own bottles plus order and tip big too.

So screw them, their loss.


So at the last minute we relocated to Speak Steak and Seafood House downtown. Will knows the owner and THEY welcomed us in, had no bottle limit, and didn’t even charge corkage!


This is one of those sleek modern semi-corporate restaurants.


The menu is large and modern which I was happy about. I’m not a steakhouse fan and really not a fan of old school steakhouse.


Or semiprivate room. We buttoned up the wall to cut down on the noise from the big room. The service was awesome. They weren’t really set up for our type of wine dinner but they really tried. They dug up 4-5 glasses each and dragged in a little wine table for us.

I went through the menu and ordered up a storm family style in 4-5 waves. We even ordered the main meats family style getting a variety (David handled that course). Walker and I (more Walker) divided the wines (we had at least 6-10 unopened ones too as backups/options) into loose flights too.

The staff did a great job bringing out the food in waves too.

Flight 1: Whites


From my cellar: 2007 Benanti Etna Bianco Superiore Pietramarina. IWC 90. Straw-gold. Spicy minerals and apricot on the nose, with herbal and almond nuances. Rich and ripe on entry, then fresher and lighter in the middle thanks to high but harmonious acids, with intense minty white fruit flavors. Finishes long, with a strong saline note and a fusel whiff.


Erick brought: 2007 Domaine Marc Morey & Fils Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Referts. 92 points. This lovely négoce wine from Marc Morey never fails. Very fine fruit with lime, peaces and a hand full of minerals.


Larry brought: 1999 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. AG 94. Raveneau’s 1999 Chablis Montée de Tonnerre is in a marvelous spot right now. Petrol, smoke, slate, apricot pit and wild flowers are some of the many notes that grace the palate in an utterly vivid, vibrant Chablis endowed with magnificent purity and pedigree. At fifteen years of age, the 1999 Montée de Tonnerre still has a lot to say. What a beautiful wine!

agavin: sadly our bottle was a bit premoxed.


From my cellar: 2000 Etienne Sauzet Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 93. Intense honeysuckle, fresh sliced peach and pear notes with flavors that are not quite as robust and powerful as the Combettes yet finer and more complex. This delivers exciting intensity and a degree of persistence that borders on the astonishing. The Combettes is perhaps grander but this is finer – it’s simply a question of preference, not quality.


Kusshi and Kumamoto oysters.

Uni Toast. roasted seaweed, triple créme, truffle salt. This was pretty awesome with both the rich Santa Barbara uni flavor and a kind of creamy underpinning from the triple créme.

Hokkaido Scallops. yuzu pepper, smoked salt, ponzu sauce, olive oil. A nice bright dish that is cousin to the proper version that sushi chefs serve.

Yellowtail Ceviche. fresno chile, cucumber, coconut-lime sauce.

I’m not actually sure this was the above dish and not one of their other sashimi-style dishes. It was just okay, the weakest of the set.


Butter Lettuce Wedge. Creamy bleu, minced herbs, bacon brittle, tomato, pickled shallot. A pretty awesome wedge, mostly because of the great dressing.

Quinoa Kale Salad. red quinoa, grilled apricot, pistachio, aged goat cheese, honey-olive oil vinaigrette. Slightly sweet and mild.

Flight 2: Italian


Walker brought: 1944 Borgogne Barolo Reserva. 95 points. Amazing. 71 years old. Mussolini was still alive when this wine was made! We decanted for an hour. The nose was incredible, and it had a soft burgundian vibe with lots of fruit.


Emil/Will brought: 1978 Castello di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva Il Poggio. 92 points. Powerful and old-fashioned, rustic and polished at once. Complex nose of ancient fruit, tar and leather; real weight on the palate, very long and resonant finish. The nose got better and better. Tons of fruit.

Roasted Bone Marrow. smoked salt, veal jus. Bone marrow isn’t my thing, but this was a good version.

Snow Crab Beignets. bacon powder, old bay remoulade. The description is accurate, like a crab donut, awesome.

BBQ Pork Belly & Shrimp. crispy prosciutto, white bean puree, cilantro. The shrimp were tasty but the pork belly was amazing. Really tender and flavorful, not too fatty.

Flight 3: Old Bordeaux


Erick brought: 1970 Château Mouton Rothschild. IWC 94. Bright red with an amber rim. Captivating nose of dark plum, blackcurrant, oak, coffee, cocoa and flowers. Juicy, sweet and suave on entry, then brightly focused in its red fruit and black flavors complicated by cedar and citrus. Finishes with flinty, saline nuances and very suave tannins. This outstanding wine is perfectly balanced and light on its feet, still very young and capable of a very long life. It might disappoint those looking for a blockbuster, but I love its overall sense of refinement. An essence of claret.

agavin: our bottle was fabulous


Walker brought: 1982 Château Gruaud Larose. IWC 96. Bright red with a pale rim. The still-closed nose reluctantly releases aromas of red cherry, sweet spices, aromatic herbs and coffee. Dense, rich and fleshy, with ripe red cherry, tobacco and forest floor flavors given shape by harmonious acidity and smooth tannins. The very long, slightly chewy finish shows a peppery chocolatey persistence. This is developing at a snail’s space and might last another three or four decades in a cold cellar, but while its tannic structure is noble and impressive, I’d probably want to check in on it again in five years’ time to see how the fruit is holding up.

agavin: our bottle of this was fabulous too. Mature, but has decades left in it.


Char Siu Barbecue Duck Flatbread. smoked mozzarella, passion fruit emulsion, scallion sesame. Fabulous pizza with a richness and a sweet and savory vibe.

Roasted Pork Banh Mi Flatbread. pickled vegetables, jalapeño.

Whole Broiled Prawns. lobster butter, garlic. Pretty good big shrimp.


Seafood pasta. Shrimp, mussels, manilla clams, diver scallops,  uni cream sauce. This was a bit controversial. The noodles were actually a ramen egg noodle. They were made very soggy by the rich dish. That being said, it tasted great and the seafood was very fresh. It also was deathly bad with the red wine, but that’s uni. Overall we enjoyed it.

Flight 4: 2000 Bordeaux


David brought: 2000 Pavie. Parker 97-100. I tasted this wine twice during the 2000 horizontals, then I actually popped the cork and drank a half-bottle of it. This wine remains, for me, one of the compelling success stories for proprietor Gerard Perse. An extraordinary effort made from a blend of 60% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon from the limestone soils that dominate this very distinctive terroir, the 2000 Pavie has moved out of the closed, dormant, broodingly backward stage into an adolescent period where one can see its extraordinary vibrancy, and great complexity as well as potential. It boasts an unctuous display of rich, cedar box-infused cassis fruit and liquid minerality. The tannins have sweetened, yet the wine has thirty years of longevity and potential evolution. A beautiful wine of great mass as well as elegance, it is good to see the extraordinary efforts that Gerard Perse and his team have made confirmed in this prodigious wine. A legend now … a legend for the future.


Will brought: 2000 La Mondotte. Parker 98+. In two tastings this garagiste wine performed as if it were one of the wines of the vintage. Proprietor Stefan von Neipperg continues to lavish abundant attention on La Mondotte (as he does with all his estates), and the 2000 (80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc) boasts an inky/blue/purple color in addition to gorgeous aromas of graphite, caramel, toast, blackberries, and creme de cassis. A floral component also emerges as the wine sits in the glass. Extremely dense, full-bodied, and built for another twenty years of cellaring, I thought it would be close to full maturity, but it appears to need another 4-5 years of bottle age. It should age effortlessly for 2-3 decades.

Tomahawk Pork Chop 22oz. double cut, vietnamese bbq. Really nice pork chop.

Short Rib Osso Bucco. 72 hour, roasted garlic potatoes, horseradish gremolata. Great rich meat.

Colorado Lamb Shank. 48 hour, chermoulah, heirloom carrots. A fabulous bit of lamb.


Black Garlic Spare Ribs. tobacco onions, vinegar slaw. My favorite, it was very nicely spiced and I don’t like plain meat.


Tomahawk Rib Chop. prime, dry aged 30 days. 42 ounces.


For me this is just steak, others loved it.

Flight 5: Sledgehammers


Emil brought: 2008 Oasi Degli Angeli Kurni. Parker 85. The 2008 Marche Rosso Kurni is quite unusual in this vintage. The wine comes across as rather compact in its fruit, which accentuates the sweetness of the fruit and the French oak. In a blind tasting the 2008 could easily be mistaken for a sweet red dessert wine. Let’s hope 2008 turns out be an anomaly for one of the Marche’s most famous reds.


Pork Belly Farro.


Uni Risotto. A little mild, but with so many other flavors and dishes it was under heavy competition.


Duck Confit Mac & Cheese. Nice, but could have been even cheesier!


Double Cooked Fries. Good fries and I liked the green chimichuri like sauce.


Grilled Broccolini.


Herb Roasted Cauliflower.



David brought: 2010 Sine Qua Non Syrah Five Shooter. Parker 98+. The 2010 Syrah Five Shooter is straight up gorgeous. A massive wine that somehow holds everything together, it offers a wild array of cassis, blackberry, white chocolate, underbrush and pepper that flows to a full-bodied, layered Syrah that has masses of fine tannin and enough substance to evolve for decades. A blend of 85% Syrah, 5% Grenache, 3% Petite Sirah, 5% Roussanne and 2% Viognier that was fermented with 20% whole cluster and aged 22 months in 59% new French oak, it opens up beautifully in the glass and should be decanted if drinking anytime soon.


Key lime pie. Great key lime pie.


Chocolate hazelnut mouse. Rich and tasty.


Bread pudding. Our least favorite. Nothing wrong with it, but we were very full.


Above is the damage. Seven guys too, and think about the amount of food we had — particularly given we had two of many of the dishes! Spear was incredibly reasonable too. This feast came out to only $110 a person after tax and before tip! The service was awesome too. They weren’t really trained for our kind of dinner, but they really tried and handled it with great attitude and aplomb.

Food was surprisingly excellent. Only a couple of dishes weren’t great, like the fish sashimi. I loved the breath and variety of the menu. Execution was first rate. Personally I like this place way better than almost all of the steakhouses I’ve been too because it isn’t all about just a slab of beef on your plate.

Company and wines were fabulous, this is turning into a really first rate dinner series.

For more big Foodie Club dinners, click here.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Totoraku Double Meat Madness
  2. Lasagne Bolognese Minus the Meat
  3. Pistola with a Bang
  4. No Beef with Mastro’s
  5. Steak in the Blind
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Corkage, Dessert, Foodie Club, Meat, Steak, Steak House, steakhouse, Will C, Wine
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