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Archive for Eggs Benedict

Maison Giraud

Dec15

Restaurant: Maison Giraud [1, 2, 3]

Location: 1032 Swarthmore Ave, Pacific Palisades, Ca 90272. 310-459-7562

Date: December 5 & 10, 2011

Cuisine: French

Rating: French “home” cooking at it’s best

_

I’ve been waiting for Maison Giraud, the new local (just blocks away!) Pacific Palisades restaurant/bakery from acclaimed LA French chef Alain Giraud to open for what seems like forever. The day it did I was there for some pastries. Then we kept trying to get in for dinner. We had to come on a monday at like 5:30!


The Swathmore Ave frontage has been revealing itself in stages since at least the 4th of July.


Inside the chef peers down at your from the French-style board.


Today’s menu.


A pair of nice French whites, one a Sancerre, the other a Viognier.


House baked bread.


They call this a tart, but it’s really a flatbread (aka pizza). “Camille’s Potato and Rosemary Flat Tart. Creme Fraiche, Gruyere.” Pretty yummy.


And another. “Crispy Tomato and Basil Flat Tart. Roasted onions, parmesan.”


“Seared Scallops, leek fondue, meyer lemon & pistachio sauce.” This was one of the best seared scallop appetizers I’ve had — and I normally prefer my scallops raw.


“Arborio Risotto, mushrooms, aged parmesan, fresh herbs.” A lovely mushroom risotto. The weather was cold and dreary (in relative LA terms), so this was perfect.


“Seared Atlantic Salmon. Garlic potatoes, cipollini, bacon, red onion sauce.”


“Cocotte. Beef Bourguignon.” Basically beef stew with the classic additives: potato, carrots, onions, etc. But this was one damn fine beef stew.


Bread dipping good!


We had to get back in a hurry, so we didn’t have time for dessert, but I had that Vacherin Glace one time when the chef was cooking at Bastide (in 2004) and it was one of the best desserts of my life.


I liked the Maison so much that I brought my son back for breakfast on Saturday. This is from the bakery, a fresh apple turnover. Yum!


And fresh OJ.

A decent, if slightly foamy cappuccino.


French toast. Very nice typical variant. My favorite part was the fresh Chantilly cream which was incredible. I’m a big sucker for whipped cream.


Classic Eggs Benedict.


Some more baked goods. Muffins.


And the ultimate pain aux chocolate. This is the only place in LA I’ve tasted where the croissant type pastry actually tastes like it does in France.

So far, I’m very pleased with Maison Giraud. The food is essentially French comfort food with a bit of international adaption, but everything has been spot on fresh and well done so far, and the bakery is outrageously good. Given how incredibly lame most of the Pacific Palisades food offerings are this is all incredibly welcome.

For my early preview, see here.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Maison Giraud at Last
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Atlantic Salmon, Beef Bourguignon, Brunch, Creme Fraiche, dessert menu, Dinner, Eggs Benedict, French Toast, Maison Giraud, Pacific Palisades, Potato, Restaraunt, Restaurant Review, Sancerre, Stew, Viognier

Brunch at Tavern – again

Dec21

Restaurant: Tavern [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 11648 San Vicente Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90049. (310) 806-6464

Date: Dec 19, 2010

Cuisine: Market driven Californian

Rating: Not just your typical short order brunch — but better.

 

The weather is terrible (for LA), 58 and rainy, so brunch. Tavern has a nice glassed in patio.

And cappuccino.

The menu.

My son liked the fish and chips.

Pumpkin waffles.

The Tavern take on the east coast fish breakfast, like we had at the ThanksGavin. They substituted a chevre (fresh goat cheese) for the cream cheese. This worked extremely well, I think I’m going to try it at home.

Turkey burger.

The Tavern eggs benedict: prosciutto, frisse, brioche, Meyer lemon Hollandaise. A very good variant on the classic, only subtlety tweaked.

Carmel salt macaroon.

Check out some other Tavern meals of mine HERE, HERE, or HERE.

Related posts:

  1. Quick Eats: Brunch at Tavern
  2. Saturday is for Salt
  3. Food as Art: Ortolan
  4. Food as Art: Bistro LQ
  5. Quick Eats: Houstons
By: agavin
Comments (7)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Brunch, burger, California, carmel, Cooking, Dessert, Eggs, Eggs Benedict, Fish and Chips, Food, Hollandaise sauce, Los Angeles, Lox, macaroon, Prosciutto, Restaurant, Restaurants and Bars, reviews, side dishes, vegetarian, Waffle, white fish

Quick Eats: Brunch at Tavern

Nov01

Restaurant: Tavern [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 11648 San Vicente Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90049. (310) 806-6464

Date: Oct 31, 2010

Cuisine: Market driven Californian

Rating: Nice brunch spot.

 

Tavern is a welcome and tasty replacement for the Hamburger Hamlet in Brentwood. They have a bakery, and three rooms, including a lovely glass ceiling “patio.” It’s part of Susanne Goin’s restaurant group along with A.O.C. and Lucques.

Tavern eggs benedict. Brioche and Prosciutto. The hollandaise was perfect, with a nice citrus note. This was a very good version of the classic. My only complaint was that the frise stuck in my throat slightly.

These are other peoples, but they looked good.

The sausage I tasted. Delicious, like some kind of lamb/pig hybrid, with fried sage on top.

Tavern also has a yummy looking bakery all decked out in Halloween themed goodies:

I had one each of these macaroons. They were two of the best I’ve ever had, incredibly moist. The pumpkin one tasted like my mom’s fresh pumpkin pie, and the carmel one was soft and sweet with just a little dose of sea salt.

Tavern hold’s its own as a top example of the new new modern California style, similar to other great places like Gjelina and Rustic Canyon. Or more meals at Tavern HERE, HERE, or HERE.

By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Brentwood, Brunch, California, Eggs Benedict, Food, Halloween, Los Angeles, Lucques, Prosciutto, Restaurant, reviews
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