Archive for Foodie Club – Page 9

Let’s Go Again

Nov10

Restaurant: Go’s Mart [1, 2, 3]

Location: 22330 Sherman Way, Canoga Park, CA 91303  818.704.1459

Date: October 5, 2017

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: One of LA’s best sushi places!

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After a long break, it’s back to the unassuming Canoga Park sushi temple that is Go’s Mart. You can check out the Foodie Club mega tasting meal I had previously.

Go’s has been serving up modern style amazing sushi in this almost unlabeled spot for over twenty years.

Inside is almost less glamorous, with just a few tables and a little sushi bar — plus some bad orange paint.

The tables.

Go himself and his assistant Oscar.

The meal was a long one — almost 4 hours for lunch – so I drank A LOT of this excellent green tea.

Fresh ground wasabi and ginger.

Toro and spinach. Maybe not exactly, but it was hard to tell. Nice start.

Sashimi plate.

Monkfish liver with shiso.

Whole crispy baby crab with sea salt, just pop in your mouth and crunch.

Matsutake mushrooms and halibut roe. With that deep earthy flavor that certain Japanese foods have.

Grilled/baked Spanish mackerel with a bit of smoked salmon and onion. The mackerel had that lovely pickled taste.

Whitefish plate. Left to right, Kampachi, triggerfish, butterfish, and kelp halibut. All slightly different preps of salt, yuzu, shiso, etc.

Tuna plate. O-toro, chopped chu toro with caviar, and blue fin toro with garlic.

Oddities on the wall.

Shellfish plate.

Santa Barbara uni.

Seared sweet shrimp with caviar.

King crab.

Golden Japanese scallop.

And the shrimp head returns deep fried. Ate the whole thing.

Silver plate. Seared belt fish, Japanese sardine, Mackerel.

Clam plate. Abalone, giant clam, and octopus.
Toro takuan handroll. Nice bits of radish crunch.

Smoked Ocean Trout and Sock Eye Salmon. As good as salmon gets!

Haha.

A second piece of sardine.

Another handroll.

And gelato by me: Caramel Cappuccino – a salted caramel with expresso in the mix layered with expresso bean whipped cream. In the back is a little Basil Lime Gelato – milk infused with lime and basil from my garden.

Various fresh fruit drizzled in sweetened condensed milk. Very fresh and bright.

 

Go-san continues to impress with some really scrumptious sushi. He has his own take on the art and not only is the fish impeccable but the flavor combos very refined and interesting. Go has been doing this kind of elaborate stuff forever too, long before the ponzu laden rise of Sugarfish and the like.

It was crowded today though and while quality was incredible, given that Go made every piece for everyone the lunch took almost 4 hours!

For more LA Sushi, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Sushi Sushi – Small Omakase
  2. Sushi Sushi = Yummy Yummy
  3. Sasabune – Dueling Omakases
  4. Kula Revolving Sushi Bar
  5. Food as Art – Sushi Sushi
By: agavin
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Hatchet Hall Hedonism

Nov08

Restaurant: Hatchet Hall [1, 2]

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

Date: October 3, 2017

Cuisine: New American

Rating: Interesting flavors and presentation

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Hatchet Hall took over the “old” Waterloo & City space in Culver City over a year ago. I’ve been before but with a small family group — this time I went with some of my more hardcore wine friends.

The logo hangs over the street in cryptic glory.

The frontage.

Inside they have this whacky new game and “period” decor. If you can see in the back there is an “old south” private room.

They have a great patio too and even a bar like space in the back (not pictured).

The current menu.

Bonus from me: NV Demière-Ansiot Champagne Grand Cru Brut Blanc de Blancs. BH 93. A beautifully yeasty nose reflects notes of apple, pear, white flowers and a hint of citrus peel. The vibrant middle weight flavors possess a positively gorgeous texture, indeed the mid-palate is almost creamy, while offering excellent depth and length on the dry but not austere finale. For my taste this is drinking perfectly now and I very much like both the style and the quality.

Fennel, pear, endive, bleu cheese, pecan, parsley. A variant on that typical “white” waldorfy blue cheese salad.

Watercress, anchovy dressing, fried shallots, parmesan. I liked this one a bit better, it was bright and mildly bitter.

Corn bread, cheddar, shishito, cultured butter, honey sea salt. Dish of the Night, this unctuous corn bread had a bit of a green kick from the shishito pepper.

Amanda brought: 2004 M. Chapoutier Ermitage Blanc De L’Orée. VM 94. Light yellow. A huge, room-filling bouquet includes suggestions of peach, apricot, mango, floral honey, marzipan and dried flowers. Deep in sweet orchard, pit and exotic fruit flavors, with a lush, creamy texture and a late note of tangy minerals. For a wine with such flavor impact and volume this is really elegant. The finish is powerful and sweet, with outstanding persistence.

agavin: sadly pretty oxidized

Octopus, runner beans, treviso, lemon aioli, salsa verde. Decent octopus, except for all that bean — not a bean fan.

Body of the octopus!

Scallops, figs, almonds, brown butter, date vinegar, thyme. This dish continues a trend of light colored soft stuff underneath everything. If you keep looking for it, you’ll see it repeat. There was very much a sweet and savory / soft and crunchy thing going on here. Very much another theme in the Hatchet Hall repertoire.

Erick brought: 1990 Joseph Drouhin Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Mouches Rouge. JG 92+. The 1990 Clos des Mouches red is still quite young, but it is beginning to blossom a bit and show much of the character that will make it a superb example of this wine when it is fully mature. The bouquet is a bit wild and brambly at the moment, with scents of baked plums, black cherries, venison, vinesmoke, bitter chocolate, herb tones, earth and a framing of toasty oak. On the palate the wine is quite full-bodied for a Beaune, with excellent focus and balance, a thick core of fruit, and fine length and grip on the moderately tannic finish. This wine has been quite closed for the last few years, but is now beginning to emerge from its period of hibernation. It could prove to be a reference point vintage for the Clos des Mouches, depending on how much of its youthful purity returns to the fold.

Chicken livers, onion jam, grilled bread, pickles, apple vinegar. Pretty good, but very chicken livery.

Chop steak, fried oysters, mustard frill, horseradish. This is a “classic” of the house, but I’m not sure I loved it. A little dry, and the fried oysters were a weird match.

From my cellar: 1990 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. JG 92+. The 1990 Château Beaucastel is a lovely wine and is just about ready for primetime drinking, but will continue to improve over the coming five or six years and then cruise along for decades from that point forward. The bouquet offers up a fine blend of dried raspberries and red currants, roasted game, incipient autumnal tones (fallen leaves) and a potpourri of spice tones in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and a touch leathery in personality, with a good core, melting tannins and fine length and grip on the complex finish. Having had the good fortune to drink several older vintages of Beaucastel at peak maturity, my gut instinct with the 1990 would be to let it rest in the cellar for just a few more years and allow the last layer of aromatic complexity to emerge here, though it must be said that the wine is really lovely on the palate right now.

agavin: this bottle was a little on the bretty side

Collard greens, pork broth, pepper vinegar, chicken cracklin. Collard greens.

Charred turnips, apple, greens, bacon vinaigrette, pecan. The bacon vinaigrette was great.

Carrots, labneh, honey benne seed, cilantro. Nice carrots too — note the soft white stuff (labneh) underneath!

Beef fat potatoes, roasted garlic aioli, salsa verde. Solid taters.

Yarom brought: 1993 Abreu Cabernet Sauvignon Madrona Ranch. 89 points. This was a sub-par bottle, unfortunately. Slightly disappointing. Less complex, not too much fruit.

Dave brought: 1991 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon The Montelena Estate. VM 97. What a thrill it is to drink Montelena’s 1991 Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine that takes hold of all the sense and never lets up. Imposing and intense, the 1991 is simply riveting. The flavors are dark, intense and savory, but it is the wine’s silkiness that stands out above all else. Well-stored bottles will continue to drink beautifully for another decade-plus.

Amanda brought: 1997 Pride Mountain Vineyards Reserve Claret. VM 91+. Full dark ruby. Sappy, bright aromas of blackberry, cassis and violet. Powerfully structured, dense and tightly wrapped. The new oak component contributes to the wine’s impressive tannic clout. Still, this wine’s superb intensity and persistence suggests that the fruit will remain when the tannins begin to soften.

Lamb chops, bagna cauda, anchovy. These were great. Lots of good garlic yum.

The Chris Ringlands return after having spent a WEEK in Yarom’s fridge. Amazingly, they were still in decent shape, particularly the 2001 which was both good and while not as balanced as the previous week, still had tons of fruit! A monster!

Emil brought: 2011 Bryant Family Vineyard Bettina. VM 92+. The 2011 Bettina is a bit closed in on itself. Dark red cherry, plum, licorice, smoke and tobacco emerge over time. Today the 2011 is a bit compact, which is not surprising considering the vintage. With time in the glass, the 2011 starts to find its typical explosive, dark personality, but today some slightly angular contours remain. The blend is 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot.

Mushroom crusted pork chop, smoked lard, thyme. I didn’t like the pork at all. Very “piggy” and soft and flaccid. Some others at the table liked it though.

Chicken schnitzel, smoked bacon, mountain tomato gravy, thyme. Awesome dish. Like chicken parm without the parm. The red tomato sauce was great.

The dessert menu.

Hummingbird cake. Pecan praline, figs in bourbon syrup, creme fraiche whip. Hmmm.

Warm apple crisp. Brown butter oat crumble, salted caramel, vanilla bean ice cream. This was my favorite. An excellent crumble.

Bittersweet chocolate pudding, cocoa nib crunch, cardamon coffee glace.

Overall, Hatchet Hall had some really great flavors going on. The plating and presentation were solid, and the melding of North African/Middle Eastern flavors into the modern American was quite on point. Lots of flavor and interesting. Also fascinating how the Middle Eastern thing is downplayed in everything but the actual flavors.

Service was good tonight. They were quite nice.

Our wines were mostly quite good although we could have used a white or two (that wasn’t flawed).

Because this was across the street the professional gelatician in me just had to try it out.

Various flavors, similar kind of selection to what I do.

Peanut butter and jelly and key lime pie.

Billionaire brownie and brown sugar bourbon.

The ice cream had good flavor but was way too cold and crumbly. (good) Gelato is always better!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Hatchet Hall
  2. Hedonism at Esso
  3. Hedonism at Officine Brera
  4. Hedonism at Saddle Peak Lodge
  5. Summer of Hedonism
By: agavin
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Dialogue with an Epilogue

Nov01

Restaurant: Dialogue

Location: 1315 3rd Street Promenade, Santa Monica, CA 90401.

Date: September 28, 2017

Cuisine: Modernist

Rating: Tasty, but small portions and attitude

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Dialogue is a new restaurant in the old Naughty Dog building on the 3rd St Promenade. It’s helmed by Dave Beran, formerly of Next and Alinea! It’s very small and solid only by ticket.

It’s on the second floor behind a hidden door in what I suspect is the hood space for the Wolfgang Puck Express (which I used to eat at 10 times a week in the NDI days).

The space is attractive, modern, and tiny. Tables are very close to each other. There is a small bar and a few tables, maybe 20 seats total.

Here is chef Dave Beran (in the middle). There is just a single tasting menu, no choice. Options of wine pairings and a $75 a bottle (gulp) corkage.

Tonight’s menu.

From my cellar: 2001 Domaine Leflaive Bâtard-Montrachet. VM 96. Leflaive’s 2001 Bâtard-Montrachet (magnum) was intensely sweet, layered and pure. It was pure magic.

agavin: fabulous wine in perfect shape.

Springtime for Sean. Well, that’s all the description they gave me. A “salad” with caviar and some nutty foie paste? It was pretty good but kinda deconstructed in texture.

NOTE: By the way, NO FLASH allowed here. I hate that because my pictures really suffer, but I can understand not wanting the tiny dining room flashing all evening.

Roasted banana tea, browned butter, peanut. An interesting shot.

Blackberry thermidor, short rib, bone marrow. Very small, interesting textures.

Fennel, white peach, and rice vinegar. Microscopic. I don’t think I loved this dish. Gooey sauce was good though.

Larry brought: 2009 Remoissenet Père et Fils Montrachet Le Montrachet. VM 96. The 2009 Le Montrachet, from a parcel on the Chassagne side, is fabulous. Layers of exotic, tropical fruit flow effortlessly from this broad-shouldered, kaleidoscopic wine. There is plenty of freshness in the glass to support the fruit in this magical, captivating wine. I especially like the way this turns delicate, subtle and refined on the finish.

agavin: our bottle was advanced. Drinkable, but pretty deep golden with sherry notes.

Dragonfruit, scented with roses from early spring. This 0.75″ cube of dragonfruit was ridiculous and didn’t even have much flavor.

King crab, popcorn, orchid, earl grey tea. This was interesting. It really tasted of popcorn (not so much of crab) and had that interesting blend of dehydrated crumble and gooey texture. Pretty good actually.

Burnt lettuce that thinks it’s a peanut. No idea where that description fits in. Can’t even remember what it was.

96 hour koji plum, fresh yuba, thai basil. One of my favorite dishes. Very interesting flavors, very Thai in tone, but not in texture. The yuba is a soy milk skim I used to call “skum in a bucket” but I have always liked it. A very soft tofu skin.

Erick brought: 1995 Domaine A.-F. Gros Richebourg. VM 94. Deep red-ruby. Reticent but very ripe aromas of red and black fruits, licorice, truffle and smoke. Fat, suave and multilayered; less immediately sweet than the huge Clos Vougeot but more refined. A complete wine, with an uncanny harmony of components. Finishes with extremely fine tannins that coat the entire mouth. Totally different in shape from the Clos Vougeot: some tasters may prefer that wine for its sheer size and sweetness, but this is superb Richebourg.

agavin: very nice!

Squab, thai long peppercorn creme fraiche, begonia.

Bitter chocolate, cherry, preserved sakura. I have a friend named Sakura (I think it’s a kind of flower).

The sobering of rhubarb. This was actually a gold colored rhubarb fruit rollup. Tasted like sour cherry fruit rollup.

Choy sum, strawberry nahm prik, cashew. Like a mini salad.

Pork belly, nasturtium, strawberry sambal. I liked this dish. Interesting textures.

These are 2 of the wine tasting wines. I didn’t like them, too many herbal notes. Many of the tasting wines are blended with stuff like fruit juice and vinegar too. I can see how they might pair, but they aren’t really that enjoyable even to a wine geek (at least from these 2).

Black cod, yuzu kosho-beurre blanc, sea grape. Not bad but tiny fish dish.

Anthony or Larry brought: 1994 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque. RP 96-98. The great glories of this house are its Cote Roties, of which there are now five separate offerings. The single-vineyard 1994s were singing loudly when I saw them in July. All of them scored significantly higher than they did during the two previous years, which is not unusual as Guigal’s upbringing (elevage) of the wines results in better examples in the bottle than in cask. All three wines flirt with a perfect score. At this tasting, they reminded me of Guigal’s 1982s – opulent, sumptuously-textured, forward, rich, precocious, flattering wines that will drink well throughout their lives. The exotic 1994 Cote Rotie La Turque exhibits a dense purple color, and a fabulously-scented nose of licorice, Asian spices, truffles, minerals, and gobs of black fruits. Full-bodied, with great richness, a multi-layered personality, and an exotic, overripe character, this is a sensational, chocolatey, rich wine with more tannin than La Mouline.

Anthony or Larry brought: 1995 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque. RP 100. One of the treats when tasting through the profound Côte Rôties made by Marcel Guigal was the opportunity to taste all of the bottled 1995’s. Reviewed in previous issues, they are even better from bottle than they were during their upbringing (a characteristic of many Guigal wines). The 1995 Côte Rôtie la Turque is the stuff of legends and is every bit as compelling as readers might expect. This single vineyard wine will have at least 2 decades of longevity.

Everything is burnt. Not my favorite either. Tiny too.

The next dish came on a weird candle holder multi-tier “plate.”

French onion soup, rosemary aroma. Pretty good, did basically taste like a French Onion Soup tako-yaki.

Sebastian brought: 2006 Colgin IX Estate. VM 95. Bright ruby-red. Exhilarating nose of wild berries, wild sage, bay laurel and flowers. Wonderfully dense and sweet, but with an extraordinary light touch to the black fruit, floral and spice flavors. A terrific core of ripe acidity gives the wine outstanding inner-mouth lift and extends the finish, which builds inexorably. The tannins are firm but fine-grained. The best vintage to date for the winery’s estate vineyard overlooking Lake Hennessey, which was planted in 2000. In fact, this is extraordinary for five-year-old vines.

Memories of a tomato salad. Yeah. Texture of jellyfish.

Whipped Persimmon, lemon shortbread, hibiscus sugar. Interesting.

Ages of seedling farms apples, miso caramel. This was a nice dish.

An autumn morning.

A carrot pulled from the snow. It wasn’t cold. A candied something. Not that memorable.

Overall, Dialogue was “interesting.” Let me break it down.

Setting: Nice enough. A little cramped, but big kudos for being so close to my house and brave for opening a tasting menu restaurant on the 3rd st Promenade!

Food: Taste was all over the place from just “hmmm” to quite good. Per dish portion size was too small. They don’t need to be huge, but these were so small they left little memory of the taste. Textures were very interesting but sometimes the dishes felt a bit discombobulated. Overall food quantity was WAY too small. We had to go to second dinner (you shall see).

Service: Chef himself was nice. The Somm had quite an attitude. They rushed us out. There are 2 seatings, which I can understand from a business perspective, but they pretty much threw us out at the end even though we were still working on our wines. That just isn’t fine dining.

Wine Policy / Service: Limited wine list. Expensive ($175) weird pairings. $75 a bottle corkage. The corkage is a little high but at least they don’t have per table limits — a retarded policy I have lambasted before. This would all be okay if the Somm hadn’t made us feel like he was doing us a favor by allowing corkage. He was very stingy with glasses, complaining that they were going to run out even though we could see them on the shelf. If it’s really a problem they need more stems. We only had 2 each when he was complaining and $75 X 6 bottles really deserves more than 2 stems.

If they change their menu frequently I’ll try it one more time, but I think right now it would be best for couple or something. It really isn’t setup very well for wine dinners.

So being hungry we walked down to Capo!

The room was packed even at 9 something.

Steaks on the grill.

Unlike the Dialogue Somm this one was very friendly and the list is huge. I asked the Somm for a reasonable and older village wine and got this nice bottle.

2000 Domaine Ghislaine Barthod / Barthod-Noëllat Chambolle-Musigny. BH 88. Beautifully pure Chambolle fruit with good harmony. This too is quite supple and not especially complex but it is extremely elegant and fine. Essence of pinot character. Give this 3 to 4 years in the cellar and drink it over the next 3 to 4.

Bread.
Seb got sea bass because he was being “good” — or maybe because sea bass sounds like Sebastian :-).

Carbonara.

Ragu.
Buccatini with lamb ragu. My favorite!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. LaLa – Valentino
  2. Spear your Meat
  3. More Meat – Chi Spacca
  4. Nanbankan – Stick with It
  5. Persistent Providence
By: agavin
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Foodies at Tsujita Sushi

Oct16

Restaurant: Sushi Tsujita [1, 2]

Location: 2006 Sawtelle Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025. 310.231.1177

Date: August 30, 2017

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: Classic Fish

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A couple core members of my Foodie Club who all like White Burgundy and Champagne enjoy periodically doing great sushi with the aforementioned wines. This time Tsujita Sushi came up as it’s great and easy to book (I think it’s secretly a loss leader for their noodle chain).


Sushi Tsujita specializes in traditional sushi preparations that involve a lot of subtle salting, curing, and marinating.

The interior has been jazzed up since its previous engagement as Orris.

This is just a small event with Foodie co-chair Erick and regular Fred. But we brought good stuff, just opened it all, shared with the chef, and chowed down.

Fred brought: NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 164eme. JG 95. The 164th Edition of Krug “Grande Cuvée is absolutely brilliant and one of the best iterations of this iconic wine that I have ever had the pleasure to taste. This is not surprising, as it is from the base year of 2008, though the team at Krug utilized reserve wines all the way back to 1990 in this version. The final cépages is forty-eight percent pinot noir, thirty-five percent chardonnay and seventeen percent pinot meunier, with the wine spending eight years in the Krug cellars sur latte. The beautiful bouquet wafts from the glass in a blend of apple, white peach, fresh-baked bread, very complex soil tones, white flowers, incipient smokiness and just a hint of the caraway seed to come with bottle age. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and seamlessly balanced, with a great core, utterly refined mousse, superb focus and grip and a very, very long, complex and zesty finish. The vibrancy of the exceptional base year of 2008 is very much in evidence here and this is destined to be one of the all-time great Grande Cuvées.

From my cellar: NV Drappier Champagne Brut Rosé. JG 90+.  As I noted in the past, the Drappier Brut Rosé is one hundred percent pinot noir from the estate’s own Aube vineyards and is produced by the saignée method, so that its lovely cherry color is from skin contact, rather than by adding a bit of still red wine to the blend. The cuvée is aged two and a half years sur latte prior to disgorgement and has a dosage of 7.5 grams per liter. The current release in the market is really pretty and stylish on the nose, offering up a vibrantly complex mix of strawberries, a touch of blood orange, chalky soil tones, rye toast, woodsmoke and a hint of clove in the upper register. On the palate the wine is brisk, full-bodied and focused, with a good core, frothy mousse, lovely minerality and a long, nascently complex and still quite tightly-knit and youthful finish. I was surprised how youthful the structure still was here, given how open the nose is at the present time, but it is certainly approachable today and should really blossom with a year or two in the cellar.

From my cellar: 2001 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet. VM 95. Even though the 2001 Chevalier-Montrachet is five years younger than the 1996, it comes across as a bit more forward, evolved and open-knit, but that is not at all a bad thing, as the 2001 is more enjoyable to drink now. Layers of creamy, tropical-inflected fruit flesh out effortlessly in the glass. Scents of marzipan, chamomile, apricot, lemon oil and light, floral-infused honey all add further shades of nuance. Wonderfully complete and seductive, the 2001 Chevalier is a great choice for drinking today, although I would not push my luck too far beyond another handful of years at most.

Fred brought: 2004 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Chevalier-Montrachet. BH 94. As one would reasonably expect, this is more elegant with a stunningly pure nose of white flower, citrus, orange peel, acacia blossom and the barest hint of wood spice that seamlessly introduces refined, complex and beautifully defined flavors that are tightly wound and impressively vibrant, particularly on the powerfully long and chiseled finish that cuts like a knife. This will be a long distance runner and will require plenty of patience.

Erick generously brought: 1996 Domaine d’Auvenay (Lalou Bize-Leroy) Auxey-Duresses Les Boutonniers. 96 points. Amazing! Fred writes: Well hot damn if this didn’t run circles around the 01 Levlaive Chevalier Montrachet and 04 PYCM Chevalier Montrachet tonight. This was in impeccable balance between the acid and fruit. A much more precise wine than either Chevy tonight. My WOTN easily.

For food, we ordered the larger omakase (with more cooked dishes) and then added on pretty much every nigiri we didn’t get in the omakase.

House made tofu, vegetables, and truffle.

Smoked duck noodle soup.

With the light, delicious, dashi-based broth.

Super smoked toro.

Reveal the fish and bathe in the sumptuous smokey smell.

Really tasty bit of fish. Intense fat and smokiness.

Sashimi plate.

Ebi with truffle, some delicious tuna, and some other white fishes.

Toro tartar with caviar. The Matsuhisa classic.

Cool containers.

Eggy tofu ball?

Seared garlic wagyu — more or less tepenyaki.

I eat about 4 bowls of ginger.

Special Japanese snapper with yuzu.

Golden eye snapper.

Blue fin tuna.

Santa Barbara sweet ebi (shrimp).

The head, including roe, fried up.

Ikura (salmon eggs) and uni (sea urchin).

Squid with a bit of char taste and yuzu.

Ocean perch.

Black throat sea perch.

Amberjack yellowtail.

House smoked copper river king salmon.

O-Toro (super fatty tuna belly).

Seared scallop “roll”.
Miso soup.

Tamago (egg) with sea eel.

Marinated big eye tuna.

Sardine. I like the marinated ones.

Yellowtail belly.

Shiro ebi icy shrimp.

Toro tartar.

And a peach sorbet.

Plus a cleanser of sweetened yuzu juice.

Not only is Tsujita pretty spectacular, but for high end sushi the price isn’t too bad — i.e. it’s expensive but you get a lot relatively. I enjoyed the variety of fish and particularly the highly marinated ones. The cooked apps are very good too with a lot of flavor without heaviness. They emphasize fish and other proteins too avoiding that “veggie + dashi” thing you sometimes get with Kaiseki dishes.

Also, it should be noted that they have great lunch bowls — I go all the time.

For more LA sushi reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Sushi Sushi – Small Omakase
  2. Artsy Toppings – Sushi of Gari
  3. Food as Art – Sushi Sushi
  4. Newest Oldest Sushi
  5. Sushi Sushi Sushi
By: agavin
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Alexanders the Great

Oct09

Restaurant: Alexander’s Steakhouse

Location: 111 N Los Robles Ave, Pasadena, CA 91101. (626) 486-1111

Date: August 28, 2017

Cuisine: Steakhouse

Rating: Asian fusion & some of the best steakhouse I’ve had

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People have been saying that Alexander’s is the best steakhouse in the city and so the Foodie Club braves the most hideous traffic to cross town on a weeknight to…

Old Town Pasadena.

Here is the imposing entrance, right there next to the California Pizza Kitchen… lol.


The menu.

The manager set us up spectacularly in the private dining room at this awesome 12 person square table. SO SO much better than a long table.

Right next to the wine cellar too, which we didn’t sample from, but certainly revealed some great bottles peeking out.

Charlie brought: NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 164eme. JG 95. The 164th Edition of Krug “Grande Cuvée is absolutely brilliant and one of the best iterations of this iconic wine that I have ever had the pleasure to taste. This is not surprising, as it is from the base year of 2008, though the team at Krug utilized reserve wines all the way back to 1990 in this version. The final cépages is forty-eight percent pinot noir, thirty-five percent chardonnay and seventeen percent pinot meunier, with the wine spending eight years in the Krug cellars sur latte. The beautiful bouquet wafts from the glass in a blend of apple, white peach, fresh-baked bread, very complex soil tones, white flowers, incipient smokiness and just a hint of the caraway seed to come with bottle age. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and seamlessly balanced, with a great core, utterly refined mousse, superb focus and grip and a very, very long, complex and zesty finish. The vibrancy of the exceptional base year of 2008 is very much in evidence here and this is destined to be one of the all-time great Grande Cuvées.

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

An amuse of tater tot with a bit of cheese and whipped something.

Charlie also brought (blind): 2000 Arcadian Chardonnay Sleepy Hollow Vineyard. JG 92. This was my first introduction to the wines from Joe Davis at Arcadian and I was very, very impressed with what I tasted. While the 2000 Sleepy Hollow chardonnay is not the current release from the winery, the estate’s philosophy of holding back their wines several years prior to release obviously is a testament to their commitment to producing truly cellar-worthy wines. This 2000 chardonnay is drinking beautifully and is at its apogee of peak maturity, offering up a deep and complex nose of pears, acacia blossoms, a touch of beeswax, lemon curd, a very pretty base of soil, citrus oils and buttery oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and still quite zesty, with a great core of fruit, excellent focus and balance, fine structure and a long, complex and tangy finish that closes with a bit of citrus peel. This is a lovely bottle at its apogee, but still with plenty of life ahead of it. Impressive juice.

agavin: our bottle was premoxed and tasted like an 80s white burg. I actually enjoyed its nutty tones as it wasn’t very hot like some premoxed bottles.

Emil brought: 2009 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne. BH 93-96. A cool, fresh and densely fruited nose of crushed citrus, green apple and mineral reduction gives way to seriously concentrated and overtly muscular flavors that possess a suave and silky mouth feel yet do not lack for an underlying reserve of power. This isn’t as fine as the Montrachet but it’s even longer, at least at present with a chewy character that provides evidence of the massive levels of extract. Even so, don’t buy this with the intention of drinking it young as it will require plenty of cellar time, at least if you want to see its full potential realized.

Ron Brought: 2009 Philippe Colin Chevalier-Montrachet. BH 90. This is aromatically quite similar to the Demoiselles though the medium weight plus flavors are bigger, richer and more powerful with even more dry extract that are given lift by the solid minerality though again, the finish is distinctly sweet. To be sure, there will be some who appreciate that sweetness but it’s too much for me.

HAMACHI SHOTS 3.0. dashi / avocado / fresno / ponzu / negi / arare. Very bright flavors and mixed textures.

DRY AGED TATAKI. wasabi mustard / charred ginger ponzu / crispy yuba. Strong ponzu tastes but it left much of the beefy flavors intact.

UNI TAMAGO. egg salad / potato chip / celery. The omelet (tamago) made a nice bed for the uni, a Japanese take on the uni egg toast thing.

GRILLED OCTOPUS. calabrian chili / honeynut squash / pickled onion / ink crumble. Tender with a nice char.

GRILLED PORK BELLY. golden beet miso puree / fennel / truffle balsamic. Lol, fried pork belly.

CHILLED FOIE GRAS. kaya toast / pandan gel / soy egg yolk emulsion. This was an amazing foie terrine formulation. We started with 3 of them and ordered 3-4 more extra. It was crazy!

From my cellar: 1985 Domaine Jean Grivot Echezeaux. 95 points. Lots of bright red fruits and good penetrating acid. In fabulous shape.

Erick brought: 1991 Gros Frère et Sœur Grands-Echezeaux. 94 points. Deep and still youthful, although fully integrated.

(blind): 1996 Domaine Heresztyn/Heresztyn-Mazzini Clos St. Denis. 94 points. Beautiful and perfumed: spicy and sweet, baking spices, nutmeg, cinnamon, some meaty and savory. Somewhat similar to the nose on the palate – savory, meat, sweet spice, lots of 96 acid: tart but still enough perfume and depth. Finish is tart cherry and spice.

Vahan brought: 2000 Emmanuel Rouget Echezeaux. BH 92. A gorgeously scented and wonderfully complex nose of black fruit, spice and warm earth aromas introduce forward, complex, intense and seductive medium-bodied flavors that display excellent power, all wrapped in a sappy and largely, if not completely, resolved finish of excellent length. This is lovely juice that is could either be approached now with pleasure or held for a few more years in the cellar first as it has only just arrived at the front edge of its drinkability. Tasted several times with consistent notes.

agavin: most people here thought this was the best red burg of the night. It certainly had the most intense finish with a ton of fruit, just entering maturity.

The bread was amazing. The dark one was squid ink, then there was a cheese and a milk bread.

Plus some fabulous butters, Strauss Creamery butter, bone marrow butter with honey, and a rendered beef tallow!

KOSHIHIKARI RISOTTO. squid ink / shrimp / uni / braised celery. Great congee-like texture, really nice blend of fresh ingredients.

CRISPY PATA. pork shank / achara / vinegar soy / creamed taro. A whole crazy pig leg deep fried. Super crispy and succulent inside. Yum! Filipino style!

1986 Ritche Creek Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. All of our old Cabs were in great shape!

1973 Mount Eden Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Estate. JG 93. The 1973 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon was the second vintage crafted by the Richard and Peter Graff here at Mount Eden, and the wine is really very lovely and still right in its prime fully forty-three years out from the vintage. This was a small crop that was picked between October 7th and 12th and the wine was fined, but not filtered prior to bottling. The wine is showing beautifully today, offering up a deep and tertiary bouquet of cassis, cigar ash, complex, dark soil tones, menthol, woodsmoke and a touch of red curry in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and at its absolute apogee, with a good core, a wide open and inviting personality, lovely focus and balance and a long, velvety and very pure finish. Just a lovely vintage of Mount Eden cabernet in its prime.
The next bottle Vahan brought blind:

Vahan brought (blind): 1970 Cheval Blanc. 90 points. The ’70 Cheval Blanc has moved into the latter stages of its useful life, and while it remains a reasonable mouthful of wine, it has begun to drop a bit of its fruit and is more defined by its smoky and earthy characteristics today. The nose offers up a rather flat blend of anonymous black fruit, menthol, charred wood, tobacco smoke and damp earth. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, smoky and earthy, with solid mid-palate depth, but a rather flat personality that could do with a bit more acidity, but solid length on the rather tobaccoey finish. Flavor-wise, there is not much fruit left here, but the wine is not fraying or collapsing as of yet, but simply dominated by its smoky and damp earth character.

CAB PRIME RIB. until it’s gone / horseradish duo / natural jus. Soft and meaty.

With the jus.

And two types of horseradish.

AURORA ANGUS FILET MIGNON 8OZ. illinois black angus / negi salad. A nice filet. Filet is contentious among the carnivores. I have always liked it, but I’m not a steak guy. Some others prefer a gamier bit of meat.

MACARONI AND CHEESE. udon / caramelized mornay / truffle panko. This Japanese variant of Mac & Cheese was pretty fabulous actually. I liked the use of the udon.

ERYNGI MUSHROOMS. roasted garlic / thyme / lemon vinaigrette. Solid buttery mushrooms.

A selection of gourmet salts, mostly intended for the wagyu (below).

From my cellar: 1985 Leoville-Las Cases. RP 94. The 1985 is a gorgeously open-knit Las Cases with a sweet nose of lead pencil, sweet black cherries and currants, and a hint of underbrush and new oak. Medium to full-bodied with expansiveness, supple tannins, and outstanding concentration, this is a beautifully made wine that still tastes like it is an adolescent and may even have an even greater upside as it continues to age in bottle. The low acidity and sweet tannin, however, suggest it has entered its plateau of maturity. Anticipated maturity: Now-2018.

Michael brought: 2002 Palmer. RP 93-95. A successful wine for the vintage, this blend of 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, and 8% Petit Verdot boasts complex notes of menthol, black currants, plums, licorice, and a hint of cappuccino in its stunning aromatics. Dense, medium to full-bodied, with high levels of tannin in a big, full-bodied style (much in the spirit of such classic Bordeaux vintages as 1966, 1986, and 1996), this wine possesses superb purity and serious length, but should be purchased only by those with considerable patience and a good, cold cellar, since it will need plenty of time.

agavin: the baby of the night, but a great wine.

T-BONE 18OZ. grilled sudachi / chive butter / chives.

AURORA ANGUS RIBEYE CHOP 20OZ. illinois raised prime black angus / grilled lemon

BLUE LAKE BEANS. flash fried / garlic / sansyo. Awesome beans, like Szechuan green beans, but no pork. Reduced soy.

TRUFFLE FRIED POTATOES. truffle butter / togarashi / furikake. Solid potatoes too.

2000 Chapoutier • Chateauneuf du Pape Barbe Rac. RP 95. There are approximately 500 cases of this wine. It is a large-scaled Chateauneuf du Pape that represents the antithesis of La Bernardine. This wine has been spectacular, and I have been a frequent buyer and consumer of this wine since the first vintage Michel Chapoutier made, 1989.

2000 Domaine du Pegau • Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Reservee. RP 92. Fully mature, with a ruby/amber color that shows some lightening at the rim, it offers classic Pegau garrigue, olive tapenade, beef blood and wild herbs to go with a medium to full-bodied, seamless and resolved profile on the palate. It still has a core of sweet fruit and is drinking nicely now, so don’t make the mistake of waiting too long on this. It should be consumed over the coming couple of years.

Larry brought: 1998 Domaine de la Janasse • Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Vieilles Vignes. RP 96. A bigger, richer wine than the Cuvee Chaupin, the 1998 Chateauneuf du Pape Vieilles Vignes is full-bodied, rich and silky on the palate, with classic Janasse notes of barbecue smoke, licorice, peppery herbs and smoked black fruits. I’ve been lucky enough to have multiple bottles of this recently, all of which have shown beautifully. There’s no upside, but it will continue drinking nicely through 2023.

Chris brought: 2004 Henri Bonneau • Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Celestins. RP 95. Classic Bonneau with its knockout perfume of sweet kirsch, blackberry, saddle leather and roasted herbs, the 2004 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Celestins is medium to full-bodied, supple and elegant, with fine, sweet tannin on the finish. Showing more depth and richness than just about any other wine in the vintage, with a fantastic mix of aromatic complexity and textural richness on the palate, it’s drinking beautifully now, and should continue to shine for another decade.

滋賀県 SHIGA OHMI JAPAN A5. extremely rare / complex flavor / prized in japan. The first of the super marbled A5 wagyu monsters!

北海道 HOKKAIDO JAPAN A5. château uenae / farmed in below freezing temperatures. And even more amazing!

KING CRAB FRIED RICE. lap xuong / egg white / chive. Really great fried rice. Better than almost all the ones I’ve had at Chinese restaurants (and that’s a lot).

Special medal for the Hokkaido snow beef — only sold into 2-3 places in the US!

And look how marbled it is!

We were too full to order much dessert.

This intermezzo of tangy and sweet fruit and various textures was awesome.

Trio of sorbetti. Watermelon, strawberry balsamic, peach. All were way too sweet. Way too sweet. Texture was good though.

Various Petite Fours. Can we say wafer thin mint?

And a parting biscotti.

Refuse. Probably not even all of them.

And the lineup. They had a lot of stems too. Not all the same type, but even some Riedel Somms.

Overall, an amazing meal.

Service was knock down, drag out awesome. The manager and the maitre d’ took care of us personally, they helped design the meal, and really made sure we had an incredible time.

Food was really fabulous. I can’t really evaluate steak vs other good steakhouses as I’m not a steak guy, but they seemed up there with the best, but the appetizers and sides were both different and interesting (with their Japanese fusion) and extremely well executed. Every dish was pretty much awesome. Not all your typical American steakhouse stuff either.

Wines were great. Only major flaw was the premoxed Cali Chard (which I still enjoyed), and maybe a little bret on 1-2 of the Rhones. I like that we had old stuff. I’ve had too many of the giant young cabs recently. Nice progression too and well timed with our 6-7 waves of food.

Ordering (Emil and I did it) was spot on if very slightly too much. We reordered foie (even if it was great), ate a bit too much awesome bread, and maybe had 1-2 too many steaks — so there was no room for dessert. But better a bit too much than going out for ramen later! Price was even quite reasonable considering what we had, the service, and all that A5 (which has a steep premium).

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Great Grenache
  2. Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the Sun
  3. Spear your Meat
  4. Steak in the Blind
  5. Hedonists at STK
By: agavin
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Persistent Providence

Sep18

Restaurant: Providence [1, 2, 3]

Location: 5955 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038. (323) 460-4170

Date: August 7, 2017

Cuisine: Cal French

Rating: Awesome food

_

It’s been almost 3 years since I last went to one of LA’s few remaining “formal” restaurants and so the Foodie Club ended up back at Providence.

We chose the middle of their 3 fixed menus plus a couple of supplements. The supplements are pricey enough that it probably would have been cheaper to just go for the big tasting menu.

Providence mysteriously persists in a somewhat annoying corkage policy. They do have “no corkage monday”, which is nice, but it isn’t really no corkage, it’s “no corkage on 2 bottles but don’t bring any more.” We managed to bring a few more, but still they are sticklers with the limit. I don’t mind the corkage but hate the limits. Anyway, this wine was off their list:

NV Drappier Champagne Rosé Brut Nature Dosage Zero. BH 90. The color is paler than that of the regular brut rosé. A pretty and slightly more elegant nose features a similar aromatic profile but with more evident yeast character. There is fine intensity to the delicious and vibrant flavors that are supported by a firm and definitely finer mousse, all wrapped in a bone dry and youthfully austere finish where a hint of bitter cherry pit appears. This won’t be for everyone as the dryness is pronounced; I happen to like it but it would be fair to say that this is not a charmer. With that said, a few years of bottle age should serve to round off the austerity and add a bit of depth as well.

Amuse of spherized cocktail.

Crab bites in radish.

Gougeres stuffed with foie.

Skewers of tomatoes.

Will brought: 1990 Louis Latour Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. Our bottle was very mature and subtle, but had a pleasant nutty character.

Chilled fruit “soup.”

Truffle foie bite. Best amuse, and an amazing (and rich) bite.

Fried “cigars.”

Tai snapper, daikon, ginger coriander. Very nice and bright.

Super normandy butter and salt.

I was trying to avoid the bread, but failed miserably.

Seb brought: 2005 Domaine G. Roumier / Christophe Roumier Chambolle-Musigny. VM 90. Good medium red. Dark raspberry, coffee and spicy oak on the nose; this wine’s flamboyant ripeness almost came as a shock following the more reticent 2006s. Big, round, plush and ripe, with spicy dark raspberry and chocolate flavors and considerable density for village wine. Quite smooth and harmonious at the moment: Roumier volunteered that this is not as closed yet as he expected it would be.

agavin: very nice, albeit young.

Supplement of uni egg. Good stuff, but tiny (for $22).

Abalone, grilled avocado, tortilla, dill. Tasted like guacamole with some extra chew. A waste of the abalone and very rich.

From my cellar: 1993 Louis Jadot Bonnes Mares. BH 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.

Santa barbara spot prawn, summer squash, tomato dashi, opal basil. Very light and tomatoey dish. There was a very thin tomato broth poured in here later.

Vermilion rockfish, cranberry beans, buttermilk, chanterelle. Light and buttery.

Dusty brought: 2010 Promontory Red Wine. VM 95+. The 2010 Promontory is rich, powerful and intense, with a core of inner sweetness that is compelling. Today the 2010 is quite exotic in its aromatics, but is less available and forthcoming on the palate. I would prefer to cellar it for a few more years.

agavin: not a bad giant cab, but not really the right kind of wine for Providence which is more white and soft reds.

Supplement of black truffle risotto.

Black truffles from Australia.

And properly topped. A nice risotto, but could have been more mind blowing for the price.

One of the 3 entree choices:

white sea bass. Brentwood corn, pancetta, garden greens.

Another light wine:

Larry brought: 2000 Harlan Estate. JK 96+. The 2000 Harlan Estate is in a beautiful place today. Soft, open-knit and nicely mellowed by age, the 2000 is absolutely gorgeous, with soft contours to match is engaging personality. Mocha, black cherries, leather and spice are all quite forward in this succulent Harlan Estate. The 2000 might not be a profound Harlan Estate, but it is a striking wine that is peaking today and that should continue to drink well for at least another few years.

Liberty farms duck, pluot, shiso, ume.

A5 Wagyu. Maris piper potato, black truffle bordelaise. Rich and tasty.

2015 Nabor. Dusty made this wine and it was bottled roughly a week earlier!

Intermezzo of watermelon, green tomato, tomatillo, basil. A tremendous palette cleanser. Granite textures, really excellent.

The black forests of Nice. Sour cherry, cherry ice cream. Okay, but a little discombobulated. I think a straight black forest cake would have been better.

Petite Fours of pate de fruits, chocolates, and macarons.

This was a great night and lots of fun. I was so full from the butter factor and the supplements that I couldn’t handle the cheese course. Sigh.

The food was very good, but the format is long and heavy, and they do use A LOT of butter. After growing used to the more rustic and less buttery more casual places that dominate LA these days Providence does feel a bit old school. I still like the tasting format, particularly in Europe at playful top places like Azurmendi.

For more LA dining reviews click here,

Related posts:

  1. The Power of Providence
  2. Burgundy at Providence
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  4. More Michelin at Melisse
  5. Day of the Truffles
By: agavin
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Marino Ristorante

Sep15

Restaurant: Marino Ristorante [1, 2]

Location: 6001 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038. (323) 466-8812

Date: August 2, 2017

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Awesome. One of the best Italian meals I’ve had in LA

_

Restaurants in Los Angeles are constantly changing, opening, closing etc. One of the recent changes I miss the most was the shuttering of Il Grano — certainly West LA’s best Italian, particularly in the fancy/modern department. I really miss it – as it was one of my favorites and has 9 write ups on the blog (I think the most of any restaurant).
But the amazing chef/owner Sal Marino has relocated (back) to his original family haunt, venerable Marino Ristorante on Melrose and continues to cook up his unique blend of amazing modern Italian. And if anything, he’s gotten even better. Wednesday during summer is always tomato night, so tonight’s tasting menu is heavily tomato focused.

NV Jérôme Prévost Champagne La Closerie Extra Brut Les Beguines. VM 94. A more than worthy follow up to the spectacular 2009, the Jérôme Prévost’s NV (2010) Brut Nature Les Beguines, is stellar. Bright, clean and focused, the 2010 stands out for its delineation and energy. Some of the more slightly oxidative overtones that are often found in the Beguines are absent, at least today. Instead, the 2010 is all about mineral-infused cut. Both bottles I have tasted so far have been outstanding. Prévost describes 2010 as a very difficult year with significant disease pressure. I am not sure how he did it, but the 2010 Les Beguines is fabulous. Cellaring for another few years will only help, but the truth is that this is am impossible wine to resist today.

NV In Florescence Champagne Champagne Blanc de Noirs Brut. 90 points. Not a formula Champagne. Small medium quantity bubbles. High quality. Golden yellow color. Enjoyable with or without food. A bit pricey but special.

Tomato “sushi.” Slices of heirloom tomato on Italian rice.

1989 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne. BH 88. The nose offers lovely complexity followed by precise, somewhat angular flavors that unfortunately lack mid-palate density. The finish is also distressingly short and while this could still use some time to resolve itself fully, the absence of sufficient sève does not bode well for significant future improvement. In sum, this is perfectly good but hardly special.

agavin: our bottle was great and very young

Tuna tartar with tomato powder.

From my cellar: 2012 Azienda Agricola Valentini Trebbiano d’Abruzzo. VM 93+. Light orange-yellow. Forward but racy aromas of tangerine, ginger, white flowers, sweet spices and medicinal herbs on the complex nose. Rich and round, but with lovely acid lift and energy to the concentrated flavors of apricot, pear and botanical herbs. Finishes long and pure. Not the most concentrated young Trebbiano d’Abruzzo from Valentini, but has a rich, ripe seamless personality that is hard to resist. Good to go right now but ought to age for 15 years at least. Really lovely wine.

Yellow tomato gazpacho.

2006 Remoissenet Père et Fils Bâtard-Montrachet. BR 90. As a contrast to the Bienvenues, the Bâtard has deeper but much tighter aromas. In the mouth likewise, it’s hiding it’s complexity. If there is one area where this pulls rank, it is the intensity of the mid-plate, but overall this is showing in a very tight way so gives an ‘easy win’ to the Bienvenues for drinking today.

agavin: our bottle was premoxed

Red tomato gazpacho.

Tomato and scallop.

Tuna and tomato.

Yellowtail sashimi with, you guessed it, tomato!

1999 Maison Leroy Bourgogne. BH 85. An expressive and nicely complex nose that is now beginning to turn to secondary with earth and subtle spice nuances that complement rich, round and sweet flavors that offer good punch and while this will be capable of additional aging, it is essentially ready now despite the still moderately firm finishing tannins.

Apulian burrata and tomatoes.

1998 Domaine Michel Gaunoux Pommard 1er Cru Les Arvelets.

Pizza with fresh ricotta and tomatoes.

1996 Domaine Denis Bachelet Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Les Corbeaux Vieilles Vignes. BH 88. Old vines intensity shows beautifully elegant and pure Gevrey fruit mixed with intense earth notes which lead to very rich, delineated and exquisitely long flavors. This is not an especially big or concentrated wine but it is classic Bachelet in that it is perfectly balanced.

Fresh sardine, red peppers, and tomato.

Erick brought: 1983 Domaine Jean Gros Richebourg. 96 points. Very bright, no sign of rot, very powerful but not heavy, silky texture, great length. A wonderful complex Richebourg which could last for ages but drinks well now.

1993 Jean-Pierre Mugneret Echezeaux. 92 points. Medium red color – no bricking. PNP, drank 1 glass over an hour plus. This was the second time having the pleasure to drink this beauty in a short time. This bottle was just as good as the last IMO. Just great nose, so complex, earthy, funk, horse, so much forest floor here, rose, some metals, and deep red fruits. and spices The palate has great minerality, metals, savory, sauvage, spices, horse, deep red fruits, well integrated.

From my cellar: 2002 Gros Frère et Sœur Richebourg. VM 95. Medium red. Highly perfumed, ineffably complex aromas of strawberry, currant, bacon fat, cocoa powder, gunflint, coffee and smoked meat. Dense, sappy and wonderfully intense, with exhilarating flavors of smoked meat, spices, minerals and underbrush. Conveys a powerful impression of soil tones. Builds almost freakishly on the back end, finishing with a kick of spice and a flavor of pink peppercorn. A wonderfully suave, extremely long Richebourg that offers great early appeal but has the spine to develop in bottle for 10 or 15 years.

Tomato, pork, and rapini pasta on the left. Ravioli in a candy-shaped twist-shape on the right — fresh tomato sauce.

1994 Gaja Barbaresco. 91 points. brillant red color , red fruits and spices , after half hour also come the coffee and chocolate . On the palate is round with smooth but still perceptible tannins , it seem younger , great and vibrant acidity .

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.

Swordfish with tomato puree.

From my cellar: 1982 Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo Riserva Granbussia. 95 points.

2000 Domenico Clerico Barolo Percristina. VM 90. The 2000 Barolo Percristina has held up well. It shows considerable freshness in its dark red fruit, leather, licorice and sweet spices. The French oak remains very much present. It’s hard to see the fruit lasting long enough for the oak to every truly integrate.

Octopus with squid ink and tomato.

1977 Emidio Pepe Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. 94 points. The 1977 Montepulciano from Emidio Pepe is absolutely stunning and at its peak of brilliance at age thirty-seven, soaring from the glass in a magical aromatic blend of red and black cherries, wild fennel, botanicals, a touch of discreet tariness, roasted pigeon, a dollop of menthol and a topnote of woodsmoke. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and exquisitely balanced, with a rock solid core, still a bit of remaining, buried tannin, great interplay of bitter and sweet and stunning length and grip on the resolved and still very vibrant finish. A great wine that is absolutely à point today.

1983 Emidio Pepe Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. 95 points. The 1983 and 1985 vintages from Emidio Pepe make great bookends, as both wines are fully mature and drinking at their peaks today. The ’85 is perhaps a touch more elegant, with the ’83 a shade deeper at the core and a bit more structured for the long haul. The stunning nose of the 1983 offers up scents of red berries, forest floor, botanicals, lovely spice tones, a fine base of soil, an autumnal touch of acorn, dried herbs and a topnote of spices meats. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, pure and complex, with a fine core, tangy acids, beautiful balance and a very, very long, poised and classy finish that closes with excellent grip and bounce. Another absolutely classic vintage for the Pepe Montepulciano.

Wagyu beef with peppers and crushed tomato.

1961 Château Pape Clément. flawed.

1988 Château Rieussec. VM 90. Deep, oaky aromas of honey, coconut, vanilla and creme brulee Sweet and plump in the mouth; the flavors of coconut and tropical fruit are initially dominated by spicy oak notes. Finishes with slight heat (the alcohol is a relatively high 14.7%) but also excellent persistence of flavor. This showed more development of flavor as it opened in the glass.

Some gelati I made and brought from home: Cioccolato e Vaniglia Fiorentina “Old Fashioned” Gelati – a pair designed together with a shared double entendre. The vanilla is from a 500+ year old recipe, milk steeped with vanilla and orange peel. The chocolate is made with 100% Valrhona cacao and infused with Knob Creek bourbon and Angostura bitters.
The normal Marino menu looks great, but is certainly more classic than Sal’s special dinner fare like above. If you like adventurous modern Italian, I’d see if he can do a special tasting menu — likely he’ll be up for it. Or several people could put together something really interesting from the regular menu if they think outside the normal appetizer, entree, dessert box. But it’s with this kind of special dinner — and not to mention the great crew and our awesome wines — that Sal’s cooking really knocks your socks off. He is a nut for detail and ingredients. He grows tons of stuff at home — like over a 100 varieties of heirloom tomato — and really knows how to adapt and pair with wine.

Now I’m not normally a huge raw tomato fan, but I actually managed to eat and enjoy all these dishes which is a testament to how good Sal’s cooking is.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or experience my gluttonous month-long food trips through Italy.

Or more crazy Foodie Club meals.

Related posts:

  1. Molti Marino
  2. Eating Milano Marittima – Ristorante La Frasca
  3. Eating Parma – Cocchi Ristorante
  4. Italian House Party
  5. Sauvages 2 at Upstairs 2
By: agavin
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Last Minute Shunji

Aug07

Restaurant: Shunji [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Location: 12244 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064. (310) 826-4737

Date: June 28, 2017

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: First rate traditional sushi

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A last minute cancelation changed up the Foodie Club dinner plans — so we gathered up some Burgundy and headed out for Shunji’s omakase!

Shunji, which took over for the “Mr. Cecil’s BBQ” in this oddball looking building on Pico has developed quite a reputation.

At night, Shunji offers an amazing and advanced mix of traditional and modern raw and cooked dishes.

 

Chef Shunji Nakao was an opening chef at Matsuhisa in the day, then opened Asanebo, then The Hump (one of my old favorites). It has quickly risen to the top of the LA Japanese scene.

Fred brought: 1990 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. BH 97. 1990 is one of my favorite vintages ever for this storied cuvée because while the vintage was on the riper side the high yields allowed the fruit to retain a very good level of acidity which made for balanced and ageworthy wines. While I have had the pleasure of tasting the ’90 on a number of occasions since its release, the last time was alongside the 1985 and the 1988, and as admirable as those two vintages are, the 1990 is head and shoulders above them to my taste. The fantastically complex nose is comprised of an abundance of yeast and toast characters that don’t completely dominate the essence of apple, pear, citrus, spice, acacia blossom and discreet orange peel scents. There is equally good depth to the delicious, full-bodied and powerful flavors that possess a lovely sense of vibrancy thanks to the still firm but fine mousse that shapes the delineated, delicious and impeccably well-balanced finale. In my view 1990 is one of the greatest vintages for this wine of the last 25 years and one that is still drinking well. While there is no additional upside development to be hand, neither is there any rush to drink up as this should continue to hold effortlessly for years to come.

Marinated vegetables and jellyfish. Before we went I predicted marinated vegetables and dashi gel — this pretty much qualifies. But it was pretty tasty in a sunomono way.

Ikura. Shunji’s salmon roe is unusually sweet and delicate. Lovely.

Goldfish sashimi with radish. Yep, goldfish. Mild, but nice.

Seasonal fig, cauliflower, and okra. On the right, Opal eye sashimi.

A trio of Toro (in the back), blue fin tuna, and chibiki. The last was unusual, all three were great.

Gorgonzola tofu, honey, and cherry tomato. I’ve never had gorgonzola tofu before. It totally worked. Nice soft texture.

From my cellar: 2004 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Valmur. BH 94. This is a much different and classically styled with an ultra pure nose of ripe but austere green fruit brimming with oyster shell and seawater notes that introduce elegant, pure and sweet flavors all wrapped in a beautifully balanced and wonderfully detailed finish that also displays some austerity. This is built on a base of pungent minerality and will require ample time to come around. A Chablis lovers Chablis.

Fred brought: 2004 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot. BH 94. Fairly strong wood spice and vanilla presently mark the nose, framing the otherwise pretty white flower and floral aromas though there is plenty of mid-palate density to the rich, round, intense and powerful medium full flavors that despite the richness retain a fine sense of finishing detail. There is good minerality, buckets of dry extract and fine balance with almost painful intensity and superb finishing persistence.

Grilled ayu. A traditional sweet river fish of the smelt family. There was even an instructional video on how to debone it! Which actually helped. Delicious and sweet meat.

Our chef prepares the truffle rice.

Erick brought: 1978 Camille Giroud Beaune 1er Cru Grèves. 93 points. In fabulous shape.

From my cellar: 1997 Joseph Drouhin Romanée St. Vivant. 96 points. Bright shimmering ruby appearance in the glass. Ready from the moment opened, and didn’t really change much over the course of several hours. Enticing nose of red fruit and sweet grilled herbs, a touch perfumed as well. Great purity and class in the glass, with loads of mature Pinot flavors alongside a gentle smokiness that added heft to the wine. A great showing for the vintage, no doubt.

Truffle rice! Both white and black truffles. Very mild and lovely.

Marinated egg.

The egg notches up the truffle rice.

Wagyu sukiyaki. Delicious!

House-made ginger. I probably ate a pound.

Needle fish or trumpet fish.

Here is the head to prove it.

Sweet lips. Ugly fish, tasted good.

Hokkaido flounder.

Amber jack.

Porgi. As you can see Shunji really knows his “white fish.”

Shimaaji (mackerel).

Sweet shrimp. Succulent.

The heads look on in horror.

Then become shrimp miso soup.

Seki aji (premium Spanish mackerel).

A rare fish comes with a serial number!

Stone snapper or maybe sea ball belly.

Belt fish.

Scottish salmon.

Barracuda. A bit smokey.

Chu toro. Melt in your mouth delicious.

Kohada. A bit marinated.

Tasmanian trout. Amazing, but like salmon.

Hokkaido scallop in nori.

O-toro. This bad boy was stunning.

Dueling uni. Santa Barbara on the left, Hokkaido on the right.

Roasted tea.

Seasonal fruit plate, includes mulberries!

Truffle ice cream and chocolate mouse.

Midori melon.

All and all Shunji is rather fantastic, easily in the large repertoire of top LA sushi restaurants. This was a really great take on sushi kaiseki style dishes, combining both innovations with a solid grounding in traditional Japanese flavors and seasonal ingredients. There was some really unusual stuff too. I prefer Shunji at the sushi bar with a smaller group — and more nigiri — which this awesome dinner bore out. Sometimes the (non sushi) vegetable dishes are a bit too subtle, even if I appreciate them for their delicate dashi-scented ways. But Shunji is a master of the white fish and he has an exceptionally wide variety of mouse watering nigiri.

Service is attentive and excellent. Be prepared to open up the wallet as this is premium sushi — in a completely different league than your average Spider Roll — particularly if you go for the truffle rice.

For more LA sushi reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. More Shunji Omakase
  2. Shunji Sushi – Nonstop Nigiri
  3. Shunji Super Omakase
  4. Gasping Fish Shunji
  5. Artsy Toppings – Sushi of Gari
By: agavin
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Newest Oldest Sushi

Jan20

Restaurant: Ginza Onodera

Location: 609 La Cienega Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069. (323) 433-4817

Date: January 18, 2017

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: Fabulous nigiri, expensive, not enough food

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Los Angeles’ amazing homegrown sushi scene has recently been invaded by high end entrees from outside the city. I recently visited Sushi of Gari for some new style sushi, and Ginza Onodera is a Tokyo import using ultra traditional methods.

The decor is clean. Not as neat looking or stylish as Gari but bright and attractive.

The pottery is very artsy Japanese.

For wine, our small party, organized by Liz Lee of Sage Society, brought all high end late disgorgement champagnes.

Erick brought: 1990 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut Collection. 97 points. Like a Grand Cuvee on fire. Rich, vibrant, with a complex maturity.

The sashimi dipping sauce.

Halibut sashimi.

From my cellar: 1996 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon Rosé P2. 97 points. Floral aromatic start with red berry, red cherry, and ripe apple. Similar flavors with intense concentration, finishing with energizing minerality. In fact very similar to the 1996 “P1” in the next glass, but with just “more” of almost everything good.

Liz brought: 1995 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon Rosé P2. VM 95.5. The just-released 1995 Dom Pérignon Rosé P2 is stunning. Young, delicate and vibrant in the glass, the 1995 has it all; expressive aromatics, crystalline fruit and fabulous overall balance. Cranberry, mint, hard candy, cinnamon and dried rose petals are laced into the super-expressive finish. The 1995 P2 is sweet and layered, but with lovely veins of chalky minerality that give the wine its sense of energy. A delicate, floral finish rounds things out nicely.
Comes with a super fancy box.

Blanc and rose.

Smoked mackerel sashimi. Lovely smoky flavor.

The chefs hard at work. Despite a frenzy of effort the sushi was so labor intensive it was about 20 minutes between morsels!

Baby barracuda sashimi. Certainly the best bit of barracuda I’ve had.

Out comes a typical Japanese ceramic container.

Caviar and uni custard. Egg custard is a classic Japanese dish and I love it — this one was particularly decadent with the caviar and uni!

Hokkaido taco (octopus). Very tender, with a nice bit of chew.

Monkfish liver. This monkfish liver was DEEPLY marinated in a sweet soy. It was probably the softest and arguably most delicious version I’ve had. Melted completely in your mouth.

Cod Sperm Sack Tempura. Soft and delicate with that fluffy brain-like texture of the cod sperm. Pretty delicious if you don’t think about what you are eating.

House made ginger. Very sweet and soft. I love ginger and this version was almost like a candy ginger. Delicious.

Goldeneye red snapper.

TLiz generously opened this second bottle:

1990 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon P3. 99 points. Spell binding bottle of Champagne. Disgorged in 2014, there was so much brioche here, I thought I was in bakery. There was a vibrancy and energy to the wine that keep all that pure fruit right out in the front. The effervesce was exactly what it needed to be with textures that promoted its beautiful finesse character. Worthy the money? That is another issue. But price aside, this is in contention for one of the best bottles of Champagne I have ever tasted.

Sardine with ginger. Very pickled and super delicious (if you love vinegar like I do).

Buri wild yellowtail.

Kohada gizzard shad. Another very marinated cut.

Fermented squid gut. Like a pasta in uni sauce. Very strong earthy fermented taste. A bit sweet. I thought it was delicious, but if you don’t like umami “aggressive” Japanese fermented seafood flavors and slimey texture it might freak you out.

Razor clam nori taco. Like a hand roll with no rice. Very much a charred flavor with a constrast between the perfect roasted nori and the crunchy/chewy clam. Very interesting and nice.

Blue fin tuna.

Two kinds of marinated fish roe with slices of daikon. Almost like charcuterie — fishy charcuterie. A touch sweet and quite salty. I loved these. Great texture contrast to between the crunchy daikon and the chewy dried roe.

Chu toro. Amazing.

Collar toro. A special cut from the collar (kami toro). They only get 2-4 prices out of the whole fish!

Chefs plating the next dish.

The covered bowl of miso.

Red miso soup. Earthy and appropriate on a rainy winter night.

Hokkaido uni sushi. Fabulously soft.

Eel sushi. The dry sea eel type I think, with salts and eel sauce. The eel sauce was incredibly sticky and caramelized.

Omelet is considered the measure of a traditional sushi chef.

Tamago (omelet). Very light and fluffy.

Green tea and sesame pudding? Whatever it was exactly it was delicious with a very strong wonderful macha flavor.

Special roasted Japanese tea.

Bags of pickled ginger to go.

Our executive chef, Yohei Matsuki!

Overall Ginza Onodera has a very strong distinctive traditional style. The rich is basically oozing with red vinegar and has a strong assertive quality — but it does stay together well. The fish was very aged and marinated and each piece of nigiri crafted so as to balance with the particular qualities of the fish. I can’t fault the taste, texture, or presentation of nearly any of the dishes. They were pretty spectacular. And I love straight nigiri. Individually these are much more enjoyable than the odd combinations at Sushi of Gari for example.

And service was warm, very Japanese, and excellent.

My issues with Onodera are a high price point (about $300 for food) / quantity ratio. The price itself is high, but not outrageous at all given the labor involved (and certainly not offensive like Urwasawa). But there is also a fairly slow rate between pieces (at least 15 minutes), and not ENOUGH pieces for my big nigiri appetite. I could easily have eaten 2-3 times as many. They might as well have just served me pairs. I would say that for pure nigiri QUALITY in volume this is the best I’ve had outside of Japan. Yamakase has some fabulous nigiri too but you only get a few (plus a whole lot of other dishes). Now I may be biased, but Yamakase is a “better deal” in that you get about 4X the calories for similar money. But it’s really a totally different (if both Japanese) cuisine as Onodera is pretty much straight straight sushi and Yamakase a modern creative Kaiseki. Still, if you want to experience the exquisite art of perfectly crafted nigiri — Onodera is the top right now in LA.

But we were so hungry we went afterward (after midnight!) to Korea Town for some hearty stew!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

The full wine lineup.

Related posts:

  1. Artsy Toppings – Sushi of Gari
  2. Sushi Sushi – Small Omakase
  3. Food as Art – Sushi Sushi
  4. Mori Sushi – A Top Contender
  5. Shunji Sushi – Nonstop Nigiri
By: agavin
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Good Vegan? – Is that Possible?

Jan10

Restaurant: Erven

Location: 514-516 California State Rte 2, Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 260-2255

Date: December 30, 2016 & January 9, 2017

Cuisine: Modern Vegan

Rating: Best Vegan I’ve had

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Real Food Daily has been a Santa Monica Vegan staple for twenty-ish years, but it closed recently (I was not sad, it tasted weird and gave me gas). Instead, the brilliant Saint Martha chef has taken over, rebooted it into a market restaurant, and voila: Erven.

I went twice here in short order. The first time with my wife where we had 5-6 things and the second time with 7 Foodie Club members where we ordered the entire menu X 2!

The frontage is much updated.

There is now a trendy market counter with vegan treats for sale.

The two floor interior looks way updated as well, and stylishly, if economically.


Corn nuts. Came for “free.” These had a strong flavor.A pre meal snack. Very strong intense flavor, not super to my taste.

The menu. Reading this was hard for me because I usually look at the protein types — but here that was all pretty irrelevant!

Krug Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 94. The NV Brut Rosé is brilliant and finely-sculpted in the glass, with floral aromatics, pulsating minerality and chiseled fruit. Less austere than it can be, the Rosé impresses for its combination of tension and textured, phenolic weight. There is so much to like. This release (ID 213027) is based on the 2006 vintage. The blend is 59% Pinot Noir, 33% Chardonnay and 8% Pinot Meunier. Disgorged Spring 2013.

Savory donut holes. of sauerkraut and smoky applesauce. Interesting. Like jelly donuts too (filling was inside).

Black garlic-chickpea fritter. with yuzu and Aleppo pepper.

2006 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut Rosé La Grande Dame. JG 95. For both the vintage-dated and the Grande Dame Rosé bottlings, Veuve Clicquot uses their parcel of Clos Colin in the village of Bouzy for the still red wine that is used to add color to the final blend. The ’06 Grande Dame Rosé is comprised entirely of chardonnay and pinot noir, with thirty-three percent of the blend the former and sixty-seven percent of the blend the latter (with fourteen percent still pinot noir). The dosage is eight grams per liter and the wine is outstanding, offering up a pure and complex bouquet of tangerine, desiccated cherries, chalky minerality, orange peel and plenty of smokiness. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and complex, with a superb core, lovely focus and grip, elegant mousse and a very long, zesty and wide open finish. This is drinking beautifully right now, but will age very gracefully as well. (Drink between 2016-2035)

Fried date pickles with Sumatran curry, pine nut and maple. Really interesting fried, tangy, sweet, combination. My wife liked them a lot too.

2002 Henri Boillot Corton-Charlemagne. VM 95+. Steely, penetrating aromas of minerals, crushed stone and vanillin oak. Wonderfully dense and broad, with a dusty, tactile texture and powerful underlying spine. Shows a superripe note of crystallized pit fruits, but the wine’s powerful acids give it great precision and penetration. A great young Corton-Charlemagne.

Hearts of romaine. with dill-tofu ranch, kohlrabi and poppyseed ‘persillade’. Salad.

Tiny beets with avocado mousse, curry-almond streusel and cilantro. Beet sorbet. Quite nice and interesting beet salad. The sorbet even added a temperature variance.

2004 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne. VM 95+. Pale, bright color. A quintessence of Corton-Charlemagne dirt on the nose: stone fruits, lemon, iodine, ginger, minerals and mint, all complicated by a musky, leesy note that reminded me of a Coche-Dury wine. Then compellingly dense and penetrating in the mouth, with captivating, soil-driven flavors of raw pineapple, white peach, white flowers and crushed rock; a sulfidey complexity and a saline element add to the wine’s spectacular subtle complexity. Hardly a blockbuster but conveys an impression of great solidity. This remarkably precise wine coats the palate with dusty stone and leaves behind a suggestion of honey. My sample at Bouchard in early June was painfully young and closed though obviously outstanding, but this bottle, tasted in New York in August, was spectacular. (Incidentally, my following notes on the Chevalier-Montrachet, Chevalier-Montrachet La Cabotte and Montrachet were from bottles tasted at Bouchard-also quite backward at the time-and I would expect my scores to prove to be conservative.)

Soft tofu with brussels sprouts, pickled garlic ponzu, lime cured onion and popcorn. I love this kind of soft tofu and this was like a combo of a traditional Japanese/Korean soft tofu and a Gjelina brussels sprouts dish.

 

Korean ‘gnocchi’. with chickpeas, okra, purslane and tomato-kimchi soup. The gnocchi was a little dense.

From my cellar: 2006 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles. JG 94. The 2006 Pucelles is by a good margin the most sophisticated and pure of these premier crus, and seems to have avoided the ripe excesses of the vintage better than most of the wines in the cellar this year. The nose is deep and fresh, as it offers up a beautiful mélange of lemon, pear, white peach, spring flowers, a touch of both bee pollen and incipient notes of beeswax and a nice framing of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, silky on the attack and utterly refined, with a lovely core of fruit and no signs of heat on the long, crisp and very long finish. This is a beautiful bottle in the making.

Falafel. with apricot-ginger mostarda, dried olive and smoked paprika. A hair dry.

Onion bread pudding with mushroom chili, broccoli and spicy squash spread. Another interesting textural dish, nice flavors too, although I didn’t anticipate the beans.

Roasted carrots. with coconut, crispy lentils, Thai herbs, and tamarind sriracha. I really liked the frozen coconut on top and the vaguely Thai flavor profile that fell out of that.

1996 Joseph Drouhin Romanée St. Vivant. JK 94. Airy, pure, elegant and extremely expressive as the aromas just float from the glass with rose petal and assorted floral notes. The mineral-infused, racy and finely delineated flavors are nuanced and textured though the backend has a somewhat dry and edgy quality to it that is highlighted by the racy finishing acidity. This is still entirely primary and should age well for a number of years.

Farro and black eyed pea ‘hot pot’. with braised greens, shishito, preserved tomato and onion jus. Tasty enough, but needed a braised meat!

Spaghetti. with baby shiitake mushrooms, brassicas and yeast broth. More like a vegan ramen or Asian noodle soup. The broth was good and the noodles nice.

2005 Louis Jadot Charmes-Chambertin. BH 94. An interesting nose of menthol, underbrush, warm earth and relatively high-toned red pinot fruit leads to fresh, rich, full and almost tender big-bodied flavors that are supple on the mid-palate before tightening up on the delicious, powerful and mouth coating finish. A quality effort that is more impressive than it usually is and worth a look.

Shredded cabbage pancake. with braised eggplant, chili hoisin. The waitress said it had the best hoisin ever — well no, not even close — but it did vaguely induce a feeling of Peking duck. Made me want some Peking duck!

Kale cavatelli with squash, oyster mushrooms, pear and tom yum gravy. Loved the yom yum flavor. Texture was great too with the bitey cavatelli. Really a pretty great dish.

Beer battered tofu sandwich with slaw, thick pickle and manchamantal. Kinda like a tempura fish sandwich without the fish. But nice and tangy and great texture. Really quite excellent.

Chocolate ‘liquid’ donut. with frozen peanut butter brittle ganache, huckleberries, and potato chips. Pretty good. I liked the peanut butter tone.

Black sesame cake. with passionfruit custard, cilantro sorbet and coconut meringue. Really nice and I didn’t even miss the dairy!

Chocolate cookie and frozen cinnamon custard ‘sandwich’. with toasted meringue and graham crumble. That “cream” was pretty good without dairy too.

The wine lineup, not bad for 7 at a vegan restaurant!

 

Overall, Erven was pretty cool. It felt light, and fundamentally the introduction of modern textural play and Asian flavors with the vegan concept really brought the flavor level up. There is so much mouth fireworks going on that it distracts from the lack of protein or fat — wow!

Be warned though, there is a lot of fiber. I’m writing this at 4am because the bloating is keeping me up! Erven will not only tickle your palette, but keep you regular too!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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  4. Sumo Bowl Yamakase
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By: agavin
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Molti Marino

Dec19

Restaurant: Marino Ristorante

Location: 6001 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038. (323) 466-8812

Date: December 14, 2016

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Awesome. One of the best Italian meals I’ve had in LA

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Restaurants in Los Angeles are constantly changing, opening, closing etc. One of the recent changes I miss the most was the shuttering of Il Grano — certainly West LA’s best Italian, particularly in the fancy/modern department. I really miss it – as it was one of my favorites and has 9 write ups on the blog (I think the most of any restaurant).

But the amazing chef/owner Sal Marino has relocated (back) to his original family haunt, venerable Marino Ristorante on Melrose and continues to cook up his unique blend of amazing modern Italian. And if anything, he’s gotten even better.

The menu for tonight’s special Foodie Club year end dinner.

1996 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut La Grande Dame. VM 95+. Deep, highly complex aromas of citrus skin, nutmeg, porcini mushroom, toasted almond and clove. Rich, dry and impressively deep; superconcentrated and oily. A chewy, spicy Champagne that seemed to grow fresher as it opened in the glass. Really explosive on the aftertaste, finishing with a clinging quality and powerful spicy, nutty flavors. A major mouthful of Champagne, at its best at the dinner table. Displays the combination of high ripeness and high acidity of this vintage at its best. This thick, rich, very powerful wine is still a bit youthfully disorganized and will be even better for a few years of additional aging. One of the standouts of my recent tastings.

Mexicola avocado and Dungeness crab. Eaten skin and all! Like a super fresh Italian California roll.

Snapper Tartar.

Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée. VM 94. The NV Grande Cuvée is absolutely stellar. This is one of the very best Grande Cuvées I can remember tasting. The flavors are bright, focused and beautifully delineated throughout, all of which make me think the wine will age well for many, many years. Lemon peel, white flowers, crisp pears, smoke and crushed rocks race across the palate in a vibrant, tense Champagne that epitomizes finesse. This release is based on the 2005 vintage and was disgorged in winter 2012/2013.

Amberjack & white truffle.

2002 Pol Roger Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 95. Pale gold. Intense, mineral-dominated aromas of candied citrus fruits, pear, anise, smoky lees and chamomile, plus a sexy floral nuance and a hint of sweet butter. Palate-staining orchard and citrus fruit flavors show outstanding depth and energy, picking up chalky mineral and spice notes with air. Strikingly concentrated and precise wine with strong finishing punch and noteworthy persistence. This concentrated, deftly balanced Champagne is built for a long, graceful evolution.

Sawagani – wild river crab. These little fellows were live and scampering in the bowl.

Then flash fried. No longer live, they are eaten as a whole bite and had a touch of spice. Amazing crunch and flavor!

From my cellar: 2010 Borgo del Tiglio (Nicola Manferrari) Collio Friulano Ronco della Chiesa. VM 94. Borgo del Tiglio’s 2010 Ronco della Chiesa shows what this hillside site in Cormons can do in cooler vintages. Still bright, focused and intensely saline, the 2010 bursts from the glass with grapefruit, lime, mint and crushed rocks. The 2010 will probably be appreciated most by readers who like tense, vibrant whites. Next to some of the other vintages, the 2010 lacks a little mid-palate pliancy, but it is quite beautiful just the same. I especially like the way the 2010 opens up nicely in the glass over time.

Nantucket Scallop Crudo, citrus salad. Delicious bright. Awesome pairing.

Buri Crudo. Amazing Italian/Japanese slices of large Buri.

Persimmon & Burrata. Best Persimmon I’ve ever had. Sweet and soft and non of that weird dusty finish. Amazing with the cheese too.
From my cellar: 2001 i Clivi Brazan. 93 points. Geraniums and menthol on the nose. On the palate, pear, apricot, white flowers, and notes of pineapple and lemon on the medium finish, with good acidity. Unlike a previous bottle, this didn’t show any significant oxidation, and it held up well over two days without fading. Well-stored bottles with good corks should be good for at least a few more years.

Hokkaido scallop, sea urchin, caviar. Amazing combo of umami and rich flavors.

1976 Alain Hudelot-Noellat Clos Vougeot. 95 points. Amazing shape for the vintage. Lots of cherry.

1983 Domaine Pothier-Rieusset Pommard 1er Cru Les Rugiens. 92 points. For a Burgundy that should be over the hill it’s drinking nicely. Crystal clear and very light ruby color. Poured straight from the bottle but with a little glass time it really started to show its stuff. Quite fruity and approachable. Has notes of cranberry cocktail with a twist of lemon.

Pizza al tartufo bianco.

With shaved white truffles!

This was one amazing pizza slice. I could have eaten the whole pie. Super soft (fontina?) cheese.

1996 Domaine du Clos de Tart Clos de Tart. JK 94. Fairly closed and tight nose of spicy black fruit framed in subtle new wood followed by medium weight, intense, relatively powerful flavors yet the tannins are elegant and quite fine. The overall impression is one of discreet breed and this delivers impressive if not incredible persistence. For the patient.

2003 Domaine Anne Gros Clos Vougeot Le Grand Maupertui. VM 91+. Full red-ruby. Brooding, superripe aromas of medicinal black cherry and cassis. Huge, chewy and backward; boasts impressive flesh and phenolic material but quite closed today, and not particularly sweet. This very rich but youthfully sullen wine finishes with substantial tannic spine. “Jammy but not cooked,” notes Gros.

Black Bass, stinging nettle, dehydrated olives. Great piece of light fluffy bass. As good as bass gets.
1982 Leoville-Las Cases. Parker 95-100. I have had perfect bottles of this cuvee, but, perplexingly, the bottles from my cellar tend to be broodingly backward and require plenty of coaxing. This huge wine is, in many ways, just as massive as Leoville Barton, but it possesses a greater degree of elegance as well as unreal concentration. Classic lead pencil, cassis, kirsch, cedar, and spice characteristics are abundant in both the nose and full-bodied flavors. The tannins are still there, and, at least from my cellar, this 1982 does not appear to have changed much in the last 10-12 years. One wonders how much patience admirers of this brilliant St.-Julien will continue to exhibit. Anticipated maturity: 2020-2050.

From my cellar: 1985 Gaja Barbaresco. ? points. This was stewy and very “mature.” I liked it, but many at the table considered it totally flawed — which it probably was — I just kinda enjoyed it.

Black tagliatelle Lobster. Home made squid ink pasta with chunks of moist lobster. Amazing.

Chef Sal Marino shows off his pasta dough. Eggy!

1998 Azienda Agricola Montevertine Le Pergole Torte Toscana IGT. JG 91. The 1998 Pergole Torte is a bit deeper-pitched and more black fruity than the more vibrant and red fruity 1999, but despite its slightly “cooler” profile, this too will be a fine bottle of wine at its apogee. The nose is deep and complex, as it offers up scents of black cherries, plums, a touch of bitter chocolate, herb tones, road tar, damp earth and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and still quite tannic, with fine focus, a solid core of fruit and very good length and grip on the firm, chewy and well-balanced finish. The 1998 does not possess the same generosity of youthful fruit as the 1999 or even the 2001 for that matter, and hence would be a bit more difficult to drink before it reaches full maturity, but with its sound acids and lovely complexity, it will be a delightful drink once it reaches its peak.

Cassonetti, celery root filled ravioli, black winter truffle.

With the truffle. This was an absolutely amazing pasta. The melt in your mouth shells, and the slick buttery sauce with the truffles. 11 out of 10!

1985 Antinori Solaia Toscana IGT. VM 94. The 1985 Solaia kicks off a flight of Early Classics. I have had the 1985 twice recently and it has always been impressive. It is also very much a wine of its era, which is to say if anything, it is too polished. This was an era in which wines were squeaky-clean. Well-stored bottles still have plenty of fruit although further upside appears to be limited.

1990 Antinori Solaia Toscana . VM 94. Tasted next to so many other great wines, the 1990 Solaia actually suffers a bit. I am sure it would be magnificent on its own, but here it comes comes across as a bit one-dimensional, with less opulence than vintages like 1994 and 1997, but less structure than the 1988 tasted immediately before. Overall, the 1990 is a hugely attractive wine that stops just a touch short of being truly profound.

agavin: both were great, but I liked the 1990 better.

Chicken & Polenta. Local farm polenta and chicken. Super moist and soft. Usually chicken doesn’t have enough flavor to handle this kind of treatment, but this certainly did.

2002 Tua Rita Redigaffi Toscana IGT. Parker 94. The 2002 Redigaffi is sweet and balsamic in its expression of jammy plum fruit, elegant and ample on the flow and with an expanding volume, firmness, and grip which should guarantee maximum pleasure for another decade and a half.

Lamb Ossobuco. This was bone sucking good. Super rich, stewed and fatty. Ron and I were literally gnawing on the bones.

Wagyu tagliata, sunchoke, pea tendrils. East meets west version of the New York strip, but with Japanese breed beef. Grilled bread was amazing too.

Sal through in: 2004 San Michele Appiano (St. Michael-Eppan) Sanct Valentin-Comtess Passito. 96 points. Awesome complex sticky.

Panettone. This ain’t your grandmother’s panettone. It was more like bread pudding.

Ramen Roll Gelato, made by me. I brought these in but Sal’s crew plated them. In the front is Macha White, green tea with white chocolate. In the back my amazing Hazelnut Caramel with pure traditional hazelnut (made from Italian Hazelnut Regina paste) and house made caramel.

The normal Marino menu looks great, but is certainly more classic than Sal’s special dinner fare like above. If you like adventurous modern Italian, I’d see if he can do a special tasting menu — likely he’ll be up for it. Or several people could put together something really interesting from the regular menu if they think outside the normal appetizer, entree, dessert box. But it’s with this kind of special dinner — and not to mention the great crew and our awesome wines — that Sal’s cooking really knocks your socks off. He is a nut for detail and ingredients. He grows tons of stuff at home — like over a 100 varieties of heirloom tomato — and really knows how to adapt and pair with wine.

I had a lot of great meals at Il Grano, but this was probably the most on point of all of them. Every dish was pretty much a knock out. Bright fresh ingredients coupled with bright fresh flavors. I’m still dreaming of that truffle Cassonetti.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or experience my gluttonous month-long food trips through Italy.

Or more crazy Foodie Club meals.

Related posts:

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  2. Brandon DiFiglio – Post-Maudern
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  5. Saint Martha Modern
By: agavin
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Artsy Toppings – Sushi of Gari

Nov18

Restaurant: Sushi of Gari

Location: 6201 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028. (323) 400-6300

Date: November 16, 2016

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi (new influences)

Rating: Good, but new style is different

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Sushi of Gari is that rare bird in LA, a New York Japanese food import! They have a couple of high end branches in Manhattan and have now ventured back to the serious sushi town.

It’s located in the heart of Hollywood — on the Blvd. Bold location for an expensive Japanese omakase restaurant.

The interior has a very high end and modern Japanese build out.

Tonight just the core original Foodie Club founders went: Erick and I.

From my cellar: NV Jacques Selosse Substance Blanc de Blancs. VM 93. Selosse’s NV Substance, based on 2007, is remarkably fresh considering the solera style that goes back to 1986. Candied lemon, white flowers and herbs are fused together in an ample, creamy Champagne. The classic Substance breadth is there, but in this release, the wine is a bit less overtly oxidative in style than it can be. Disgorged October 2015. Dosage is 1.3 grams per liter.

agavin: maybe a tiny touch advanced, but drinking awesomely.

Erick brought: 2002 Louis Jadot Montrachet. BH 96. Jadot has seriously upgraded the quality of their Montrachet over the past few vintages and while it’s always been good (consider the incredible ’96), the last few efforts have been at another level. The ’02 offers sublimely complex aromas of white flowers and citrus wrapped in a gentle hint of wood spice followed by sappy, powerful, mouth coating, pungent flavors of superb density and weight. Ripe and vibrant acid keep everything in perfect balance and this should drink well for a long time. In short, this is class in a glass and a knockout effort.

agavin: this needed more years, still pretty closed.

Our itamae for the night.

Cute custom chopstick rests and wrappers.

The menu, almost all sushi.

Kuromutsu Nanbanzuke. Our only non-sushi. deep-fried halibut, marinated in sweet vinegar. Dashi, ginger, and crunchy glassy noodles. Very interesting (and fun) texture.

Maguro Tofu Raya. Tuna with creamy tofu puree. The tofu was very mild, but right off the bat it set the night by distracting a bit from the gorgeous fish. Not that it was bad, but the rice here isn’t very assertive (low vinegar), and the topping complicates the tasting of the fish.

Tai Salad. Japanese red snapper topped with seasoned baby greens, roasted pine nuts, and crispy lotus root with hint of wasabi olive oil. This was interesting and quite a bit of basil, but again I wasn’t sure it paired to the improvement of the fish.

Amaebi Yuzu. Sweet shrimp with yuzu miso. This had a slightly bitter finish but was overall a slightly better compliment.

Yellowtail Belly Jalapeno. Like a nigiri version of the Matsuhisa classic. Much better pairing.

Sake Yaki Tomato. Salmon with sautéed tomato. This is one of their signatures. The salmon was fabulous, and with the tomato made for an interesting interplay, but the fish is slightly lost.

Nama Hotate Ume. Hokkaido scallop with umeboshi plum sauce. This was a good pairing and the plum didn’t overwhelm the scallop.

Kamatoro with wasabi. Awesome piece of toro. This is from the collar, like the giant whole collar we had the other night. Pretty straight up without a weird topping (that was just wasabi).

Yuki Masu Ringo Sauce. Snow trout with apple sauce and sprigs of radish. There was a smoked quality to the piece. I’m not sure the sweetness of the apple actually goes with the marinated vinegar tone of the fish and rice.

Mackerel with shiso and marinated daikon. Interesting, and certainly colorful.

Ika Broccoli. Squid with broccoli! The squid was very tender with a char flavor. This actually paired well with the broccoli and didn’t distract.

Zuke Kinmedai. Goldeneye snapper with dried kelp. A great pairing. The kelp isn’t very strong and it added some extra interest and texture to a fabulous piece of fish.

Zuwaigani Uni. Snow crab with uni sauce. Quite charred. Good though, although I kind of like my crab cold and less crispy.

Hirame Truffle. Charred halibut with quail egg and truffle oil. This one was very good. I love egg yolk. Combo was “interesting” but it worked.

Yaki Hokkaido Bafun Uni. Charred Hokkaido search urchin. Very straight up and without a sauce. Worked better than most of the sauces. There was a bit of char to the uni too — very good uni.

Maguro Carpaccio. Seared tuna with onion, seaweed, breaded flakes, garlic chip, and ponzu. Nice nigiri. Also tasted like a Nobu dish.

Aji Miso. Spanish mackerel with cream cheese miso. Hmm. Miso distracted a bit.

Yaki Sawara. Charred kit mackerel with mushroom sauce. One of these very charred fish bits. The mushroom wasn’t so distracting but I’m not a super lover of this sort of “dried” (aka charred) sushi bits.

Lobster. Marinated lobster with sea salt. Excellent.

Nodoguro. Charred rosy sea bass. No sauce, but quite charred.

Yaki Sake. Seared marinated salmon. This was an awesome piece with more of a vinegar flavor than most things tonight.

Nama Saba Goma. Japanese mackerel marinated with sesame soy sauce. Very interesting strong nutty tone from the sesame. Quite good.

Clam Parsley Sauce. Chew giant clam sautéed in butter and served with a garlic-parsley sauce. Like escargot! Nice chew too.

Maguro Yukke. Shredded lean blue fin tuna marinated with Korean-style sweet sesame oil sauce on a bed of crispy nori seaweed with pine-nuts and scallion. This was very interesting and I liked it a lot. I liked that it was soft and marinated. The crispy (and it was quite chewy) bit of seaweed was interesting too.

Baby baracuda. Another fairly “charred” piece, but good for barracuda.

Toro Taku. Chopped fatty tuna with Japanese yellow pickles. This one was great. Interesting we are in parallel working on a very similar handroll at Ramen Roll — maybe the toro and pickles is a classic pairing.

Needlefish with shiso and plumb sauce. Interesting marinated sushi note.

Ikura. Salmon eggs. Straight up — but I love salmon eggs.

Hamachi Yubiki. Poached yellowtail with sesame sauce. Different. The sesame worked. Tahini basically, so felt slightly middle eastern.

Kohada Rakkyo. Shad with shiso and onion. Very marinated. Tasted almost like pickled herring!

Yaki Kamatoro. Kamatoro (collar toro) is always great. I prefer (as usual) the fully raw version, but the seared one is good too.

Avocado sushi with eel and cucumber. Interesting. Tasted exactly like a caterpillar roll — but as a nigiri.

Foie Gras Nashi. Foie gras with poached pear and red wine jello. Unconventional but awesome. What’s not to like about foie gras and fruit?

Anago. sea eel. A nice chunk of sea eel. Not very sweet with a distinct charred fat flavor.

Tomago, shiso, and sour plum handroll. Very traditional with the shiso/plum thing. A good palette cleanser and fairly bracing.

Crab handroll. Very nice crab, but plain like this it’s pretty subtle. I prefer blue crab.

Okay, so how was Sushi of Gari? I’d say that the decor was awesome. The service was awesome. The sushi chef’s really nice and very skilled. Two we knew from Mori. The build out is really swank as well, although for me the location is FAR. Not as far as oo-toro — but far enough. The fish quality was absolutely first rate. The price wasn’t even that bad (considering how much we had).

But how was the overall effect?

Gari has a very distinct style. The rice is very low vinegar. A LOT of nigiri (and we tried EVERYTHING THEY HAD tonight) are charred. A little too much for my taste, sort of the opposite of the Sasebune or Zo style where there is a lot of ponzu and things are very wet. Here many nigiri were quite dry and partially cooked.

Then there is the sauce/topping/modern thing. Overall I would have to say it distracted and made for novel, but inferior tasting nigiri than a more conventional approach. Now they were interesting, and some succeeded well like the truffle egg, kelp, or parsley clam, but many of my favorite pieces were the ones without heavy/unusual toppings. Like the marinated salmon or the kamatoro. So what does that tell you? If they dropped most of the gimmicks they would have to stand out on the quality of the fish — but I think they actually have that, and I might enjoy it even more.

We lasted past 3 different normal Omakases and were the last guests at 11:30 — I think they wanted us out of there and didn’t offer us dessert. So we went next door to shake shack!

I photoed the concretes, which is what we ordered.

And the simple but well done interior.

Sunset Grind. Cookie custard, Stumptown coffee beans, marshmallow sauce and Cofax spiced crumb donut. These things are like gelato softserve crossed with Cold Stone creamery. The hugely sweet infusion of stuff makes for a yummy mix, but it’s hardly subtle or elegant. And it sits VERY heavy.

Tinseltown Toffee. Chocolate custard, peanut butter sauce, chocolate toffee and Compartes dark chocolate chunks. Peanut butter chocolate with chunks. What’s not to like? Pretty decadent.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

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  5. Sushi Sushi = Yummy Yummy
By: agavin
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The High Life – 71Above

Sep16

Restaurant: 71Above [1, 2, 3]

Location: 633 W 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071

Date: September 12, 2016

Cuisine: New American

Rating: Awesome in all ways

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This is my second visit to one of LA’s latest and hottest event restaurants, 71Above. The first can be found here.

Besides being located on the 71st floor (950 feet up!) of the US Bank building, being the highest restaurant west of the Mississippi, and showcasing the food of Chef Vartan Abgaryan, it’s owned and operated by my friend Emil Eyvazoff!

This is no casual opening, but a massive (and gorgeous) multipart buildout that encompasses the entire floor. Above is part of the lounge/bar.

And behind that is the stunning dining room with its computer controlled auto tinting windows. Beyond that the view continues all the way around with the chef’s table and several more intimate private dining areas.

The view alone is worth the price of admission, and offers varied sights depending on your 360 degree angle. Notice how even the second tallest building downtown (seen under construction here) is below eye level! On a clear day you can easily see the vast sweep of the Pacific and several mountain ranges.

1996 Philipponnat Champagne Brut Clos des Goisses. BH 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.

Tease, we didn’t open this bottle.

1992 Louis Latour Montrachet. BH 93.  exotic aromas merge into powerful, intense and long medium-bodied flavors that offer excellent length and vibrancy, especially in the context of the vintage. This is really quite good with ample density and plenty of refinement. Moreover, it exhibits no signs of fatigue, at least when the bottles have been impeccably stored.

agavin: In pretty great shape. Not a ton of fruit, but a lot of body and complexity.

Savory Canelé. Looks just like the not so savory kind, and has the same wonderful texture, but instead offered an evocative warm taste of rosemary and maybe cheese.

2008 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru La Forest. VM 93+. Bright, pale golden-yellow. Sexy aromas of orange, honeysuckle, hazelnut and toast. Big, silky, rich and deep but not especially showy today as its stony minerality currently dominates the palate. A downright profound premier cru with outstanding persistence. It will be interesting to taste this next to the superb ’07 in about eight years.

2003 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Bourgogne Blanc. 90 points. Very pale gold in appearance. The nose was very pure, clean, elegant and full of white flowers. On the palate, minerally with good acidity. Peach, yellow fruits like kiwi and a hint of rocks and stone. This was definitely a Puligny wasnt it? Table was torn between Meursault and Puligny, some were on a 1er or Grand. When Wayne revealed it was a Bourgogne, it could only be Vogue, and what an experience. The only discouraging note was that the wine lacked the structure and also had a tad of bitterness and roughness at the end. Nevertheless, it was extremely enojoyable and in a good drinking window.

From my cellar: 2011 Prager Riesling Smaragd Wachstum Bodenstein. VM 92. Initially reminiscent of slate and fresh rain, the nose evolves toward apricot and peach fruit along with caraway seed and lemongrass. Bracing lively acidity gives a weightless quality to the intense flavors of yellow plum, wild spice and abundant minerals. Seductive and stylish, with noteworthy grip and persistence, this is an excellent 2011. Some may prefer it, but the lower alcohol and marvelous freshness speak for 2012 as the slightly better of these two excellent rieslings.

Oyster. Poached, Uni, Caviar, Tarragon, Champagne. A super yummy bite of umami goodness. Very bright with strong flavors from the tartar-like sauce.

2014 Albert Grivault Meursault Clos du Murger.

1999 Henri Boillot Chevalier-Montrachet. 90 points. Had a steeliness on the palate that seems typical of 99. As the night went on, I felt like the power that H. Boillot is known for was trying to peek out as you can start to taste that density of fruit but the wine just needed time. There was a zest in the background, but still needing more time. I was actually very surprised how little it was giving up as the 00/02/04 chevs have been drinking wonderful in the past year or so.

1990 Pierre Bitouzet Corton-Charlemagne. JG 93.

Shrimp. Mango, Avocado, Fresno Chile, Sorrel, Chicharrón. Also extremely bright. A little heat, and very tangy. Loved this slightly Vietnamese-inspired sauce.

1976 Mayacamas Vineyards Chardonnay. 88 points. Dark yellow. Some peaches underlying moderate oxidative aromas. Actually on the palate, the wine was not bad. Amazing that a California chard could show this well at 35 years.

1998 Sine Qua Non Backward & Forward. VM 93. Pale peach skin color. Deep, complex nose of apple, nut skin, apricot and minerals; this somewhat resembled a bottle of 1990 Pol Roger Winston Churchill I had tasted 15 minutes earlier. Thick, penetrating and solidly structured; rich, nuanced flavors of vanilla, minerals, apricot and superripe peach. Wonderful sweetness and chewy texture more akin to the Southern Rhone than to Southern California. Great building length on the finish. Close in quality to the extraordinary ’95 Sine Qua Non white blend labelled The Bride.

2014 Donelan Vénus. VM 91. The 2014 Venus is lovely, soft and understated. Apricot pit, mint, chamomile and dried flowers flesh out nicely in this very pretty, expressive Roussanne/Viognier blend. Veins of supporting acidity give the wine its freshness and sense of overall proportion. There is plenty to like here.

Octopus. Grilled, Peach, Lemon, Mustards, Pickled Pearl Onion, Herbs. A great piece of octopus. Tender inside and a little crispy on the outside. Nice bits of mustards.

From my cellar: 1991 Domaine Georges Mugneret/Mugneret-Gibourg Echezeaux. BH 94. This possesses perhaps the most complex nose of any of these “youngsters” as there is a potent mix of spice, game, herb, leather, earth and smoke nuances that seems to signal the remarkably dense, sweet and intense flavors of near perfect balance and stunning length. While this is sublime now there is sufficient structure to carry it another 10 to 15 years with no problem, perhaps longer. In a word, astonishing and highly recommended.

agavin: I may have brought it, but for me, it was also (red) WOTN. Really expressive.

1990 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Volnay 1er Cru Santenots-Du-Milieu. BH 87. Rich, fragrant and complex black fruit aromas explode from the glass and lead to very rich, robust, indeed almost massive flavors underpinned by chunky tannins and good length if not much finesse or elegance. This is not a typical Volnay and will appeal more to those who enjoy Rhone-style Burgundies as it’s a powerful Volnay.

1990 Domaine Rossignol Trapet Chapelle-Chambertin. 96 points. Considerable bricking and somewhat opaque; knew from the outset it was at least fifteen years old. The luxurious bouquet sings with the finest elements of great Burgundy! Sous-bois, earth, rose petals, charred cork, and hints of smoke, etc. The wine features brilliantly focused acidity, all the elements on the bouquet, and a mind-bending textural mouthfeel! Lasting finish marked by tremendous acidity and unbridled deliciousness!

2009 Domaine Joseph Voillot Volnay 1er Cru Les Fremiets. BH 91. A deft touch of wood sets off an attractive mix of violets, wet stone and ripe red cherry aromas. The rich, full and seductively textured flavors possess excellent delineation and fine length. This is on the awkward side today as it hasn’t fully harmonized but the underlying material is of sufficiently high quality that it should do so in time.

1990 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Le Corton. BH 92. A complex nose of earth, leather, game and very ripe, in fact hints of over ripe pinot fruit leading to still firmly structured flavors are underpinned by curiously dusty, chalky tannins with outstanding length. In many ’90s, the fruit will never outlast the fruit but here the structure is completely integrated with the sappy and mouth coating flavors and finish. The only nit is that the wood is not subtle and while not dominant, if it hasn’t melted into the essence of the wine by now, it probably will always display a trace of it. Still, this is a most impressive effort in every respect and certainly built for the long haul as this is no where near its apogee in this format.

1994 Prince Florent de Merode Corton-Clos du Roi.

Suckling pig. Loin, Belly, Confit Pressé, Young Lettuces, Cherry, Mustard. An awesome trio of pig. The rich pork belly, the succulent loin, moist and with delicious herbal notes, and the confit fritter. Wow! A bit of chorizo juice on top too.

1990 Lynch Bages. Parker 99. This magnificent Lynch Bages has been drinking well since the day it was released and it continues to go from strength to strength. The biggest, richest, fullest-bodied Lynch Bages until the 2000, the fully mature 1990 exhibits an unbelievably explosive nose of black currants, cedarwood, herbs and spice. The majestic, classically Bordeaux aromatics are followed by a full-bodied, voluptuously textured, rich, intense wine with superb purity as well as thrilling levels of fruit, glycerin and sweetness. This beauty should continue to provide immense pleasure over the next 15+ years.

1978 Leoville-Las Cases. Parker 90-93. The 1978 Las Cases has taken on a garnet hue with some dark ruby tints. The nose is more complex and penetrating than the flavors. The wine offers classic, mineral, lead pencil, smoky, earthy scents, with plenty of ripe fruit, and none of the vegetal herbaceousness that many 1978s have begun to exhibit. The attack offers good ripeness, medium to full body, higher acidity than many more recent vintages, and considerable tannin in the hard finish. Although this wine possesses outstanding complexity, the high tannin level may never fully melt away. While it will last another 15-20 years, the 1978 is at its apogee and will slowly dry out over the next two decades.

1973 Rothschild Brothers of California Cabernet Sauvignon. 84 points. The nose speaks of old, maderized, gone wine. The palate initially also seems tired, but bottle after bottle, they wake up after an hour. Dried cherries and some woody notes on the palate; silky; some worcestershire. Unsure how this was 20 years ago (probably just okay) but surprising that this has any character left at this point.

1995 Bryant Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. Parker 99-100. The 1995 Cabernet Sauvignon is cut from the same mold as the profound 1996, displaying astonishing levels of black fruits (the usual suspects – blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and cassis), phenomenal concentration, and virtually perfect balance and equilibrium.

1982 Laurel Glen Cabernet Sauvignon. Parker 73. Me 93. Tasted like a nice 82 Bordeaux!

2009 Donelan Syrah Obsidian Vineyard. VM 95. Another stellar wine, 2009 Syrah Obsidian Vineyard is fabulous today. In 2009, the Obsidian has a little more fruit, richness and sheer volume, all of which serve to balance some of the wilder notes of this cool-climate, marginal site. Dark, sensual and alluring, the 2009 Obsidian is firing on all cylinders today. This full-throttle Syrah should drink well for another decade, perhaps beyond.

Prime Ribeye. Dry-Aged, Eggplant, Black Garlic Miso, Onion, Cipollini Jus. A fabulous hunk of rich meat. Super tender and marbled with a very intense (good for me) sauce.

The dessert menu.

1997 Domaine Robert Groffier Bonnes Mares. VM 94+. Knockout aromas of black and red fruits, flowers, mocha and game. Great freshness and grip on the palate; at once thick and penetrating. Superripe flavors of framboise and blackberry. This powerfully structured wine quickly closed up in the glass. Very subtle and very long on the aftertaste. Another remarkable ’97: the crop level here was just 22 hectoliters per hectare, according to Serge Groffier.

Caramel Custard. Truffle-Praline Almonds, young coconut sorbet, vanilla white soy gelee, pork & maple powder. Awesome dessert. Very soft, almost sweet-soup-like, broken up by the almond crunch.

Lemon Curd. Sparkling goat’s milk ice, vanilla rhubarb, sweet basil oil, wild bay leaf ice cream, cherry blossom gelee. Really interesting flavors and textures. Barely a dessert actually as it was more like an herb/lemon ice — extremely savory and refreshing.

Chocolate. Cremeux, gel, ganache, smoked, yogurt sorbet.

The wine lineup.

Emil Eyvazoff on the left and Chef Vartan Abgaryan on the right.

Heading down!

Overall, 71Above is just a seriously well conceived and executed one-of-a-kind restaurant. Really, it’s more like a NY, Singapore, or Tokyo kind of concept. First of all, the view is just awesome. I can’t wait to come back on a really clear day. Particularly once they begin brunch service, a nice winter day will offer an observation deck like panorama.

But then Emil and crew built out such a lovely space to capture the drama. It’s modern, but welcoming. Not too loud, you can here the conversation and the music both. And from when you enter off the double elevator ascent it folds from one experience to another: lounge, dining room, more intimate corridors, chef table, quiet and romantic view areas in the back, and a series of two adjustable private dining rooms. The attention to architectural detail is amazing.

Then the menu has a creative format with a fixed price (currently $70) and three savory courses. You can pick from six options per category. If you are a glutton like me, you can add extra courses – and of course dessert.

But an interesting menu wouldn’t be anything without great execution. As you can see above the plating is modern but approachable and highly attractive. But the flavor on the dishes is paramount, and really quite excellent, particularly considering their complexity and textural variation. There is a balanced quality between opposite forces in Chef Abgaryan’s cooking that pulls from Chinese culinary theory, while that specific flavors and combinations are largely American/European. It’s both approachable and sophisticated. Bravo!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

More Foodie Club outings here.

Related posts:

  1. Wine in the Sky – 71Above
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  5. Babykiller Birthday
By: agavin
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Kali-fornia Dreaming

Aug15

Restaurant: Kali [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Location: 5722 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038. (323) 871-4160

Date: August 1, 2016

Cuisine: New American French

Rating: Better every time!

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I’ve known Kevin Meehan for years as a private and popup chef and have had the pleasure to enjoy many a fine meal he’s put together. But this year he transitioned into the more stationary, and possibly more hectic restaurant world by opening up his own Melrose Ave restaurant! This is our second Foodie Club visit.

With the opening of Kali Restaurant, Chef Kevin Meehan’s broad 23-year culinary career reaches its apex. At Kali, Meehan, whose deft hand was cultivated in Los Angeles’ most prestigious kitchens, joins forces with long-time friend and professional colleague, Drew Langley, previously the wine director at the iconic, Michelin-starred Providence.
For the 39-year-old Meehan, Kali represents the evolution of not just Kali Dining, his roving private dinner pop-up, but the rigorous years he spent refining his craft. The contemporary California restaurant blends the precision and hospitality of the white tablecloth kitchens where Meehan developed his culinary acumen, with the accessibility and ease of a local’s favorite neighborhood haunt.
Born and raised in Long Island, New York, Meehan’s initial foray in the industry was at a fried chicken joint when he was a teenager. While most would be turned off by working the fryer, Meehan was feeding an innate attraction to food, and, in the process, unearthing what would become a life-long love affair with the restaurant world. After graduating high school, Meehan enrolled in the esteemed Culinary Arts program at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island, an education that he would test and sharpen on-the-line during an apprenticeship at the Michelin-starred L’alban Chambon under French Master Chef Dominique Michou, and, later, alongside Los Angeles’ finest chefs.
In 2000, Meehan drove cross country to assume a post at the celebrated L’Orangerie, then helmed by Chef Ludo Lefebvre. It was there that Meehan met Langley, who he would subsequently work with at the now late Bastide, where Meehan served as Chef de Cuisine, and, later, at Citrine. After Citrine’s closure in 2005, Meehan joined Patina Restaurant Group as Chef de Cuisine at Joachim Spichal’s seminal Patina restaurant in Downtown. During his three-year tenure, the restaurant received a Michelin Star for its fresh interpretation of French cuisine informed by seasonality, and Meehan was consequently promoted to Executive Chef of Café Pinot.
In 2012, Meehan parted ways with the prolific restaurant group to launch his passion project, Kali Dining. The underground operation quickly garnered critical attention for Meehan’s assertive, yet nuanced tasting menus that he prepared, dinner party-style, for Los Angeles top tastemakers, luminaries, and food enthusiasts. Kali the restaurant was birthed from the success of Kali Dining, and the passion that Meehan and co-owner Langley share for pushing the boundaries of the typical fine dining experience.

For Kali, Kevin partnered with Drew Langley.
While most known for his esteemed tenure as the Wine Director at the Michelin-starred Providence in Los Angeles, Drew Langley brings an extensive resume of experience to Kali Restaurant, a passion project born out of his 15-year friendship with Chef Kevin Meehan.
As Co-owner and Wine Director of the contemporary California restaurant near Hollywood’s iconic Paramount Pictures Studios, the 39-year-old’s near life-long matriculation in the food & beverage industry is fully realized. Kali blends the haute cuisine and hospitality of a fine dining destination with the accessibility of an everyday neighborhood haunt, and Langley’s concise, intelligent wine program is a reflection of the core philosophy that defines the restaurant.
Born and raised in a small town in south Maryland, Langley’s initial introduction to the industry was as a dishwasher at a local pizzeria at the age of 13. While his contemporaries found inspiration in the classroom, Langley was drawn to the rhythm and intensity of the restaurant world, acquiring a vast understanding of its inner workings through odd jobs that ran the gamut from line cook at regional chain Perkin’s to corporate trainer for Applebee’s openings to bar back at Solomon’s Pier, a seafood restaurant and nightclub.
In 1997, the then 20-year-old Langley leapt at an opportunity to relocate to Los Angeles, and stumbled into a position at Greenblatt’s, a beloved deli and wine shop in West Hollywood, that would ultimately pave the way for his future career. Langley furthered his three-year wine education at Greenblatt’s with a position at Dennis Overstreet’s Beverly Hills Wine Merchant, before joining the now-closed L’Orangerie in Beverly Hills as Sommelier in 2000. It was there that Langley crossed paths with Meehan, who he would subsequently work alongside at the late Bastide and Citrine.
After opening Bastide in 2002 as Commis Sommelier, and enjoying a stint as Wine Director at Citrine in 2003, Langley switched gears to lend support to entrepreneur and wine collector Jeff Smith for the launch of Carte Du Vin. His time at the local wine cellar management firm birthed and deepened relationships with prominent private collectors, relationships that inform his wine program at Kali today. In 2005, Langley joined the opening team at Providence, serving as Wine Director for Michael Cimarusti’s nationally-acclaimed seafood destination through 2015 when he left to prepare for Kali’s debut in early 2016.
An avid music enthusiast, when Langley is not refining his wine list with new finds or overseeing the day-to-day operations at Kali, the Koreatown resident can be found indulging in the local drum-and-bass culture.

This was a Foodie Club dinner, with just 6 of my regular dining intimates — and of course great wine.

1996 Salon Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. VM 97. The vibrancy and drive of the vintage came through in spades in the 1996 Salon, which was flat-out stunning. The 1996 remains a youngster, but is immensely beautiful, even at this stage. Several recent bottles have been just as stunning.

Marinated mussels with some kind of foam. Very nice.

The fancy Dom P Oenotheque box.

1996 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon Oenothèque. VM 97. The 1996 Dom Pérignon Oenothèque has really turned a corner over the last six months or so. When it was originally introduced the 1996 was hard as nails, today it is an exquisite Champagne that captures the essential brightness and energy of the year. Lemon, slate, oyster shells and white flowers stain the palate in an intense, beautifully sculpted Champagne of the highest level.

Polenta cube with uni.

1996 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne. VM 93+. Lime, smoked meat and spicy, vanillin oak aromas. Dense but bright and juicy; sharply focused, intense flavors of lemon, lime, spiced apple and mineral dust. Penetrating acidity gives this a sinewy quality today. Finishes with a flavor and texture of pulverized stones. This grew richer and richer in the glass, showing strong soil character and powerful structure.

From my cellar: 2000 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Butteaux. BH 92. Wonderfully intense, green, slightly austere Chablis fruit aromas lead to richly detailed, mouth coating and sappy flavors of extraordinary pungency and while this doesn’t quite have the size of the ’00 Valmur, it has all of the intensity and length. In short, this is a first rate effort with plenty of classic Chablis character.

Yellowtail, radish, tomato, lemon, herbs, marinated melon cucumber pickle. A fascinating blend of textures and flavors. Very very summery, with that watermelon, herb, ceviche thing going on.

Burrata, blackberries, tomatoes, pistachios, flowers. Brilliant and extremely unusual “caprese” execution with a blend of sweet, tangy, and creamy. Great texture too with the soft burrata and the pistachios.

Rosemary bread and butter.

1991 Faiveley Clos Vougeot. 90 points.

1996 Louis Jadot Clos Vougeot. VM 92+. Deep, bright red-ruby. Complex, wild aromas of raw crushed blueberry, violet, raw meat and iron. Intense, primal flavors of crunchy berries and powdered stone. Integrated acidity gives the fruit an urgent quality. Quite powerfully structured for aging. Very long and bright on the back end, with tannins nicely supported by extract.

Black barely risotto. Black garlic, toasted cheese. A very nice whole grain with a creamy garlic herb vibe.

1993 Louis Jadot Bonnes Mares. VM 92+. Good deep youthful red. Quintessential briary Bonnes-Mares aromas of raspberry, roasted currant, mocha and menthol. Penetrating flavors of black cherry, flowers and mint; insinuating, ripe acids give the wine terrific verve and lift. Finishes long, vibrant and youthful, with firm but round tannins. Quite rich but not as concentrated or long as the ’96. “The crop size was down due to mildew. The aromas remind me of red Burgundies from 1953.

1993 Mongeard-Mugneret Grands-Echezeaux. 93 points. Great bourgogne. Classic in every respect and drinking very nicely now. Still potential for more positive evolution.

Black cod. Peas, mint, almond, white chocolate. Really a fabulous soft fish dish with crisp lovely summer peas.

Ron brought: 1999 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage A Jacques Perrin. Parker 96. Similar to the 2004 and made from a blend of 60% Mourvedre, 20% Grenache, 10% Syrah, and 10% Counoise, the 1999 Châteauneuf du Pape Hommage À Jacques Perrin is a perfumed, gorgeously rich effort that excels on its elegance, complexity and length. From a cooler year and possessing bright acidity, full-bodied richness and building tannin, it offers up a smorgasbord of cured meats, licorice, dried flowers, spice and sweet berry fruit. Drinking nicely now, it should continue to evolve gracefully for another two decades.

Flannery beef hanger steak with “corn porn.” Leek char. Although a tiny bit overcooked this was some delicious beef and taken to the next level by the corn.

1997 Dalla Valle Maya Proprietary Red Wine. Parker 99. Close to perfection, the saturated blue/black-colored 1997 Maya exhibits complex aromatics of creme de cassis, smoke, spice box, iron, and espresso. The wine has a viscous texture, huge, concentrated, ripe fruit, remarkable body, and a seamless, multi-layered finish. The tannin, acidity, and alcohol are all beautifully integrated.
1998 Bryant Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. Parker 94-96. The 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon Pritchard Hill is a fine wine. While it does not reveal much weight, it is a dense plum/purple-colored, big, thick, concentrated effort. Evolved aromas of smoke, cedar, tapenade, blackberries, creme de cassis, and creosote are followed by a lush, full-bodied, voluptuously-textured 1998 exhibiting superb intensity as well as low acid, sweet, pure flavors. This is a dazzling example of extremely ripe Cabernet Sauvignon made under less than ideal conditions. It will drink well upon its release, and over the following two decades.

Kevin shows off the duck!

Duck breast, fruit, giant gnocchi. A really stand out juicy chunk of duck which really went well with the soft fruit.

1995 Clos des Papes Chateauneuf du Pape. Parker 93. From a hot year – with rain at harvest – that benefited later-picking estates, the 1995 Chateauneuf du Pape is still impressively young and vibrant, with a solid kick of tannin. Possessing a masculine edge to its licorice, smoked meats, peppery herbs and both red and black fruits, it’s medium to full-bodied, concentrated and a little edgy on the palate, with plenty of similarities to the 2005. It certainly has another decade of longevity, but the tannin will be something to watch. I’ve had more ready to go bottles from my cellar and certainly see no reason to hold off here.

Lamb with cranberry beans and tomato. Great jus here. Also the beans were marinated for days in tomato soup!

Toasted Meringue Gelato. grated candied yolk. This tasted like sweet cream with a dusting of salty eggy goodness. It was mild, creamy, and absolutely stunning. I ate two.

Bittersweet chocolate and orange truffles.

Overall, not only was this a great meal with great friend (and wine), but Kevin’s food was really bang up fabulous. He’s always been a very talented chef but it seems to me, and I noted how in my previous visit that he’s really polished the cooking. This trend has continued, because in a few short months things have gone from great to… well greater. I don’t know anyone else in LA that’s doing this kind of ingredient focused cooking and yet nailing it with such bright pure flavors. The dishes have this balanced tension that is very sophisticated and some of them are pretty stand out amazing like the yellowtail, burrata, cod, steak, duck, and gelato — and noticed how I named a LOT of dishes because the percentage of knock outs is very high!

Service was great. We felt like family.

Really great stuff. Bravo Kevin and Drew!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

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By: agavin
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Wine in the Sky – 71Above

Aug09

Restaurant: 71Above [1, 2, 3]

Location: 633 W 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071

Date: August 8, 2016

Cuisine: New American

Rating: Awesome in all ways

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It is with no small bit of anticipation that I went for the first time to one of LA’s latest and hottest event restaurants, 71Above.

Besides being located on the 71st floor (950 feet up!) of the US Bank building, being the highest restaurant west of the Mississippi, and showcasing the food of Chef Vartan Abgaryan, it’s owned and operated by my friend Emil Eyvazoff!

This is no casual opening, but a massive (and gorgeous) multipart buildout that encompasses the entire floor. Above is part of the lounge/bar.

And behind that is the stunning dining room with its computer controlled auto tinting windows. Beyond that the view continues all the way around with the chef’s table and several more intimate private dining areas.

The view alone is worth the price of admission, and offers varied sights depending on your 360 degree angle. Notice how even the second tallest building downtown (seen under construction here) is below eye level! On a clear day you can easily see the vast sweep of the Pacific and several mountain ranges.

The surprisingly small open kitchen is a bustling hive of activity. You can see Chef Abgaryan to the left supervising.

Ron brought: 2005 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne. VM 94. Bright yellow. Vibrant pear and melon aromas are complicated by suggestions of ginger, brioche and smoky minerals. Dry, smoky and precise, offering intense orchard and pit fruit flavors that gain weight with aeration. A dusty mineral quality adds focus and lift to the long, penetrating, floral finish. There’s a Burgundian thing going on here that’s quite intriguing.

House roasted and spiced bar nuts.

Savory Canelé. Looks just like the not so savory kind, and has the same wonderful texture, but instead offered an evocative warm taste of rosemary and maybe cheese.

Brian and Jennifer brought: 2007 Domaine Henri Gouges Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru La Perrière. 91 points. Nice open white burg.

Strawberry Gazpacho. Strawberry Ice, Pickled Green Strawberries, Black Pepper, Shiso. Really lovely blend of tangy and sweet with a gorgeous strawberry finish.

Fig. Purslane, Red Onion, Goat Feta, Honey Vinegar, Lemon, Sumac Crisp.

From my cellar: 2008 Henri Boillot Meursault 1er Cru Charmes. VM 91-94. Musky, highly complex aromas of lemon, lime and hazelnut. Sweet on entry, then impressively tensile in the middle palate, offering superb intensity to its citrus, spice and mineral flavors. This tactile, penetrating wine builds impressively toward the back end and finishes with outstanding lift and persistence. Rigorous, almost painful, wine, but wonderfully rich for chardonnay with barely 13% alcohol. These vines are in the upper portion of Charmes, next to the top of Puligny-Montrachet Combettes.

agavin: nice and round and enjoyable right now

Amanda brought: 2013 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Chevalier-Montrachet. BH 92-94. There is enough wood to remark upon to the spicy nose of citrus peel, acacia blossom and plenty of wet stone nuances. The rich, powerful, vibrant, fresh and beautifully detailed middle weight plus flavors brim with an intense minerality on the firm and hugely long and saline-inflected finish that is almost painfully intense. This is clearly built to age and will need at least 5 years to harmonize and will reward at least 10.

agavin: awesome!

Ron brought: 2012 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Corton-Charlemagne. VM 93+. Ineffable perfume to the aromas of lemon, lime, lavender and crushed stone. Juicy, tangy and youthfully tight, with a distinctly dusty, extract-rich texture to the flavors of citrus peel, flowers, fleur de sel and minerals. A classic Corton-Charlemagne from vines harvested late (Colin has two sources, one in Aloxe and the other in Pernand; the two vignerons harvested on the same day and Colin carried out a single vinification). The crop level was normal as there was no hail here.

agavin: another awesome wine. Super reductive, but after 2 hours amazing.

Hamachi. Crudo, Asian Pear, Cucumber, White Soy, Cherry Blossom, Sesame.

With a tangy green sauce. Not only is this dish gorgeous, but it had a really bright quality and a great interplay of textures. Isn’t it interesting to note how the humble radish has become such a staple part of recent dishes? Mostly I assume because of it’s striking color contrast and crunchy texture.

Chevy brought: 2007 Marcassin Chardonnay Three Sisters Vineyard. 94 points. Delicious and elegant chard with tasty fruit, mineral notes, and oak on a silky palate and long finish.

agavin: too “cal chard” for my taste, not enough acid.

Larry brought: 2010 Sine Qua Non The Monkey. VM 91. Bright gold. Deeply pitched aromas of pit fruit nectar, orange marmalade and coconut, with a smoky topnote. Lush and expansive, offering palate-staining peach, melon and honey flavors and a late jolt of spiciness that adds lift. Shows a wild blend of richness and energy that will allow it to work with a wide range of foods. A weighty yet lively white blend with impressive finishing energy and refreshing bitterness.

Tomato Tart. Heirloom Tomato, Burrata, 25-Year Balsamic, Basil, Parmesan. Chef Abgaryan really likes to play with texture and tangy/sweet combinations. The play here between the peeled tomatoes, marinated and acidic, and the sweet buttery crunchy pastry and the soft burrata and chewy parm — awesome!

Summer Squash. Basil, Garlic, Pine Nuts, Pumpernickel, Sumac, Grana.

Agnolotti. Corn, Black Truffle, Lime, Sheep’s Milk Ricotta, Parmesan. Wow!

From my cellar: 1978 Camille Giroud Pommard 1er Cru. 93 points. Vibrant cherry, with truffle, tobacco and chocolate. Very expressive in all regards. It came across as, possibly, a Barolo at first due to the strong cherry and earthy charateristics. Sustained power balanced by elegance and smooth tannins with a very long finish. In the end, undenyably Brugandy.

agavin: Ex-chateau. Definitely reconditioned because it was way too young.

Brian and Jennifer brought: 1996 Camus Pere & Fils Charmes-Chambertin. 90 points. Lot’s of animal notes – some smoked game or bacon. Long and complex in the mouth.

From my cellar: 1998 Domaine Joseph Roty Charmes-Chambertin Très Vieilles Vignes. VM 95+. Saturated ruby. Knockout nose combines dark berries, violets, spices and smoked meat. A ’98 of remarkable sweetness and depth. Huge but broad tannins are completely buffered by the wine’s sheer concentration. Resounding, utterly fresh finish. This comes across as more accessible today than the Mazis or Griottes due to its sheer volume and sweetness, but it should age well for two decades.

agavin: roar! A kind of sauvages stewy bestial quality.

Brian and Jennifer brought: 2005 Faiveley Clos Vougeot. BH 92-95. This too is very deftly oaked with an earthy and very ripe mix of briar, dark berry fruit and pungent underbrush aromas leading to muscled, energetic and sappy flavors where the mid-palate fat almost completely buffers the firm though not aggressive tannins that add a chewy texture to the gorgeously long finish. There is a really attractive underlying tension here but like most of these grands crus, this is a wine for the patient that will last for decades.

Steak Tartar. Farm Yolk, Mustard, Truffle, Chives, Pommes Maxim. Very eggy and fabulous with that truffle mustard.

Particularly on this grilled bread.

Chevy brought: 1975 Château Montrose. JK 92. opens with aromas of cherries and red berry fruit, with a pretty floral quality too. plum and herbal qualities on the palate with a nice herbal undertone.

Amanda brought: 1990 Château Léoville Las Cases. JK 96+. Deep, dense ruby. Lovely nose, dense with blackcurrant, a little graphite and the faintest hint of cigar box. Rich and plush on the palate, fine grained and pretty much fully resolved tannins, densely velvety.

Ron brought: 1985 Marqués de Murrieta Rioja Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial. 94 points. Clear medium blood-ruby-brick red. Lovely complex mature bouquet of red currant paste, cranberries, rose petals, cedar, orange peel, black tea, old leather and stony red soil. Oh so smooth and mellow on the palate, with balanced acidity and fully resolved tannins. Not big or bold enough for some people, but I could cozy up with this all night.

agavin: striking Tempranillo strength and tannins without the barnyard funk.

Larry brought: 2007 Domaine Grand Veneur Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes. RR 96+. Bright purple. Exotically perfumed bouquet of ripe raspberry, boysenberry and cherry, with complicating notes of cola, sassafras and star anise. Deep, juicy dark fruit flavors provide impressive palate coverage and are braced by zesty minerality. The dark berry and cola notes resonate on the long, focused finish. This is already appealing but seems built to age.

Line-Caught Halibut. Shelling Beans, Wax Beans, Tomatillo, Plum, Verjus.

Suckling pig. Loin, Belly, Confit Pressé, Young Lettuces, Cherry, Mustard. An awesome trio of pig. The rich pork belly, the succulent loin, moist and with delicious herbal notes, and the confit fritter. Wow! A bit of chorizo juice on top too.

Larry brought: 1978 Château Rieussec. 92 points.With more than enough acid to make Timothy Leary happy, the fruit is really fading. If you have bottle, pop it!

Foie Gras. Terrine, Beets, Pistachio, Tonka Bean, Rustic Bread. Awesome. Like super duck butter on toast. The beets were tangy with pickling.

Chocolate dessert.

Pineapple gelee.

And an Armenian shot of caviar to finish, slurped off the hand!

Emil told us this was the most glasses on a table yet (in just 3 weeks)!

The wine enjoys the view. #WineInTheSky

Emil Eyvazoff on the left and Chef Vartan Abgaryan on the right.

Heading down!

Overall, 71Above is just a seriously well conceived and executed one-of-a-kind restaurant. Really, it’s more like a NY, Singapore, or Tokyo kind of concept. First of all, the view is just awesome. I can’t wait to come back on a really clear day. Particularly once they begin brunch service, a nice winter day will offer an observation deck like panorama.

But then Emil and crew built out such a lovely space to capture the drama. It’s modern, but welcoming. Not too loud, you can here the conversation and the music both. And from when you enter off the double elevator ascent it folds from one experience to another: lounge, dining room, more intimate corridors, chef table, quiet and romantic view areas in the back, and a series of two adjustable private dining rooms. The attention to architectural detail is amazing.

Then the menu has a creative format with a fixed price (currently $70) and three savory courses. You can pick from six options per category. If you are a glutton like me, you can add extra courses – and of course dessert.

But an interesting menu wouldn’t be anything without great execution. As you can see above the plating is modern but approachable and highly attractive. But the flavor on the dishes is paramount, and really quite excellent, particularly considering their complexity and textural variation. There is a balanced quality between opposite forces in Chef Abgaryan’s cooking that pulls from Chinese culinary theory, while that specific flavors and combinations are largely American/European. It’s both approachable and sophisticated. Bravo!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

More Foodie Club outings here.

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By: agavin
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Yazawa – Marble or Meat?

Jul25

Restaurant: Yazawa

Location: 9669 S Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 275-2914

Date: July 12, 2016 & April 25, 2019

Cuisine: Wagyu Yakiniku

Rating: Like eating silk and gold

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Totoraku, the ultimate Japanese Korean BBQ place evidently has a new challenger in town.

Yazawa is branch of a Japanese restaurant spun out from a super high end butcher. They serve up a variety of Yakiniku (Japanese take on KBBQ) done primarily with genuine A-5 Black Wagyu cows from Japan. The frontage is located on tony Little Santa Monica deep in Beverly Hills.

The interior soars upward with high ceilings, but doesn’t offer very many tables.
In fact, they all conform to this standard fairly small 4 top configuration.

The menu, which takes a bit of time to explain the cow.

For wine tonight, as there were four of us, and the corkage steps up after 4 bottles, we just opened one each — but they were good ones:

Larry brought: 1996 Lynch Bages. Parker 90-93. The 1996 exhibits a dark plum/ruby/purple color that is just beginning to lighten at the edge, surprisingly velvety tannins and a classic Pauillac bouquet of lead pencil shavings, cedarwood, black currants, sweet cherries and spice box. This medium to full-bodied, elegant, savory, broad wine is still five years away from full maturity. It should continue to drink well for another 10-15 years.

From my cellar: 1996 Mouton-Rothschild. Parker 94-96. This estate’s staff believes that the 1996 Mouton-Rothschild is very complex. I agree that among the first-growths, this wine is showing surprising forwardness and complexity in its aromatics. It possesses an exuberant, flamboyant bouquet of roasted coffee, cassis, smoky oak, and soy sauce. The impressive 1996 Mouton-Rothschild offers impressive aromas of black currants, framboise, coffee, and new saddle leather. This full-bodied, ripe, rich, concentrated, superbly balanced wine is paradoxical in the sense that the aromatics suggest a far more evolved wine than the flavors reveal. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2030. By the way, the 1996 blend consists of 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, and 8% Cabernet Franc.

Erick brought: 1989 Mouton-Rothschild. Parker 90-92. Considering the vintages and the estate, Mouton’s performances in 1989 and 1990 are puzzling. I have tasted these wines multiple times since my last reviews appeared in print. The 1989 Mouton-Rothschild is the superior wine, but in no sense is this a compelling wine if compared to the Moutons produced in 1995, 1986, and 1982. The 1989 displays a dark ruby color that is already beginning to reveal significant lightening at the edge. The bouquet is surprisingly evolved, offering up scents of cedar, sweet black fruits, lead pencil, and toasty oak. This elegant, medium-bodied restrained wine is beautifully made, stylish, and not dissimilar to the 1985. It is an excellent to outstanding Mouton that should be close to full maturity in 4-5 years; it will drink well for 15-20.

Walker brought: 1989 Penfolds Grange. Parker 93. A very hedonistic, almost decadent style of Grange, this blend of 91% Shiraz and 9% Cabernet Sauvignon from three grape sources – Kalimna in the Barossa, Penfolds’ other sources in the Barossa, and McLaren Vale – is a gorgeously opulent, almost Pomerol-like Grange with an over-ripe characteristic to the fruit. Cherry liqueur intermixed with cranberry and cassis presented in a seductive, full-bodied, very soft, forward style is truly not the classic Grange in the sense of having huge structure and massive concentration, but this wine is loaded, very corpulent, and fleshy. The wine is going to last for up to two decades, but it will be uncommonly succulent and delicious to drink young, as it was several months ago. Among the young vintages of Grange, this is perhaps the most flattering wine that they have produced over the last 20 years, at least for such a relatively young wine. Anticipated maturity: now-2018.

Wagyu toro sushi. This is raw beef nigiri style. And because of the vinegared sushi rice it pretty much tasted like toro!

After the above ala carte item, we ordered the $200 a person “level 4” Omakase, then followed with some more ala carte in the form of carbs.

Trio of wagyu apps.

Tataki “Ponzu Sauce.” Thin sliced seared wagyu with onion slice. Tender little beef bits.

Wagyu Bresola. Dry aged and salted. With the truffle salt this was bright, salty, and had a bit of an “Italian” flavor.

Uni Wagyu Tartar / Truffles. Raw wagyu topped with uni and truffle.

Mix this puppy up and the uni stands in the same way that the raw egg usually would. Certainly a rich little concoction.

7U1A9344
In April of 2019, the trio was slightly different.
7U1A9345
Wagyu on a toast.
7U1A9350
The tartare with uni, pretty much the same as before.
7U1A9354
And Wagyu short rib with polenta.
7U1A9340
Yazawa Garden Salad (4/26/19). Red Lettuce, Sweet Snap Pea, Bell Peppers, Broccoli and Yazawa dressing. This was a nice salad, probably mostly because of the zesty Japanese dressing.

Meat plate 1. And so begin the cuts of wagyu, ready to grill up. There is one piece each, served in pairs with a light sweet sauce, a “bbq” sauce that is pretty standard for yakaniku (slightly sweet soy), and a egg sauce (more on that later).

First up is the Ranboso (round) from the cow’s rump.

This is then cooked (very fast, just seconds a side) on the very smooth gas BBQ.

Flipped about 4-5 seconds later — then another 4 seconds then into the sauce. So soft and tender!

Next cut is the Jyo-Kalbi (chuckeye/rib eye). Notice how the fat runs in a different direction. A little more beefy and intense. Some really great beef.

Out comes this whipped egg/milk sweet sauce.

And Yazawa’s signature cut, the Yazawa-yaki! It’s a super thin cut sirloin, marinated.

The staff are required to cook this one (other cuts you can do it, or they can). The cutis so thin that we would probably just turn it into beef scraps.

It is then rolled and dropped into the egg sauce. Pretty amazing, with a sukiyaki-like flavor and tons of rich beefiness.

Plate 3.

Maki-loin (rib eye). A very evenly marbled cut.
Nakaniku (rump). This is down below the tail, sort of cow ass. Look at that fat striping! And cooked it was ridiculously soft and unctuous. I actually preferred the leaner cuts.

Plate 4.

Misuji (brisket). Not like Mom’s BBQ brisket!

Zabujan (chuck eye). Up under the shoulders with a heavy diagonal marbling. Nice and tender and a bit more beefy.

Then another signature cut, the Chateau Briand (center cut filet).

Look at that candy-striping.

And from the front.

On the grill. This was one incredible piece of “steak.”

We placed an ala carte order of tongue too.

On the grill. Good stuff, but this cut wasn’t super different than other good tongue I’ve had.

After all that meat we decided to “fill up” on some carb dishes.

Japanese Wagyu curry rice. Minced Japanese wagyu curry rice with an egg. This was certainly the best curry rice I’ve had — and I love curry rice. The egg upped the richness but it was the depth of flavor of the curry itself that won out. I just missed the red pickles.

Uni Gyu Toro Don Bowl. Minced raw Japanese Wagyu on rice with uni and pickles.

A very interesting umami taste. Great stuff.

Yazawa special rice. Umami rice topped with ginger and Japanese Wagyu, served in a very hot clay pot.

They mix it up for us.
This is a teapot filled with dashi and some wasabi.
Tons of garlic in there. Optionally, you pour some dashi in to up the umami factor. Pretty incredible like that.

Cold Tan Tan Noodle. Sesame and chile ramen. Since I’m such a dan dan fiend, I figured I’d try this. Not like Chinese dan dan at al. Pleasant enough, with a touch of heat and a cool sesame vibe, but not the hot nutty intensity I was looking for. Still, that would have been weird.

White chocolate semi-freddo with berries. My favorite, light and fluffy and delicious.

Macha green tea ice cream with crunchies.

Almond panna cotta.
Special tea at the end.

The service at Yazawa was absolutely first rate. Not only did they explain the menu in detail, and cook some of the meat (they will cook however much or little as you like), but they were highly attentive, changing out the grill after every course and the like. Colin, who helped us, was highly knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and like a wagyu evangelist.

The food itself was uniformly excellent. All the meat was super fresh and “clean” (if super rich as well). The taste was lovely, although different, richer, and less beefy than Totoraku. Is it better? Just different, as this is just such a different type of meat. Both are fabulous.

The atmosphere was nice, but the format is a bit rigid with their fixed 4 person tables. And those tables don’t have much extra space at that. I had to keep my wines on a seat, my camera between me and the next guy, and constantly juggle around my (only) two wine glasses and other stuff. They need larger tables for our kinds of groups and they need MUCH larger tables with multiple grills for parties larger than 4. It’s also a general restaurant, and therefore doesn’t offer the “taking over the house” factor that is one of Totoraku’s many charms.

The wine thing at Yazawa is weird. There are nice beers and sake, but the red wine selection is tiny. Not too great too. And oddly, looking around, we saw only one other table with any red wine at all — and just one glass! Most of the tables were Asian women, which is a bit odd for such a meat focused place. This combines with a very rigid corkage policy. Thankfully they don’t limit the number of bottles brought in, but they have an escalating corkage of $35/$35/$50/$50/$70/$80 and then maybe even more. I’m not one of those that argues for no corkage at fine restaurants. The $35×2/$50 would be steep but fine, but going above $50 is always insulting. And to boot, they don’t have anything on their list! A $50 corkage is a flat $50 of profit to the restaurant. It’s way more lucrative than any wine on the list under a $100. Why complain? Why try to massage the system to irritate or exclude “wine guys”? It just doesn’t make sense. And for a restaurant that specializes in high end meat? What better excuse to drink first growths and the like?

Overall, Yazawa was so tasty that I’d certainly go back. It’s expensive but way more repeatable than the high end tempura. But we are limited to 4 people by the tables and the wine rules, so it only fits certain circumstances.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. More Meat at Totoraku
  2. Totoraku Double Meat Madness
  3. Spear your Meat
  4. Meat under the Moon
  5. More Meat – Chi Spacca
By: agavin
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Yamakase Summer

Jul18

Restaurant: Yamakase [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Location: You wish you knew!

Date: July 8, 2016

Cuisine: Japanese

Rating: Best yet!

_

Yamakase is just hands down one of the most fun evenings in LA. Not only is the “modern” Japanese cuisine incredible, but the convivial nature of the place is just great. It’s not very big and as usual we took the entire sushi bar (we had 10 this time, but you can squeeze in 11 or 12).

The location is in a good neighborhood, but something about this particular strip mall is a bit sketchy. Maybe it’s the 7/11. There are a lot of strange characters hanging about.

Inside, chef Kiyoshiro Yamamoto rules over the sushi bar.

In the back there are a couple of small tables — but the bar is really where it’s at!

Have a little tuna/toro!

2000 Philipponnat Champagne Brut Clos des Goisses. BH 95. This is more mature than the 2001 with a beautifully layered nose of yeast, lemon rind, brioche, dried flowers and spice hints. There is excellent volume and superb intensity to the firm mousse that despite the firmness exhibits a very fine bead. This is exceptionally impressive in the mouth with the same striking complexity of the nose coupled with positively gorgeous length. A knockout that could be drunk now with pleasure or held for a few more years first; personally I would opt for the latter but either way, this is a classic Clos des Goisses.

agavin: our bottle was delicious, but perhaps a touch advanced.

Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée. VM 94. The NV Grande Cuvée is absolutely stellar. This is one of the very best Grande Cuvées I can remember tasting. The flavors are bright, focused and beautifully delineated throughout, all of which make me think the wine will age well for many, many years. Lemon peel, white flowers, crisp pears, smoke and crushed rocks race across the palate in a vibrant, tense Champagne that epitomizes finesse. This release is based on the 2005 vintage and was disgorged in winter 2012/2013.

2000 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. BH 96. A wonderfully layered and nuanced nose features an intense yeasty character to the maturing fruit that displays interesting phenolic characters, in particular petrol, along with aromas of apple, pear and soft citrus hints. In contrast to the nascent maturity expressed by the nose the flavor profile is still tight and backward with a genuinely gorgeous texture, all wrapped in a strikingly persistent and highly complex finish. For my taste the 2000 Brut is at an inflection point as the nose does offer enough maturity so that it’s really quite pretty whereas the palate impression is substantially younger. As such it really just depends on how you prefer your Champagne because I suspect that the nose will be very mature by the time the still very youthful flavors attain their majority. For my taste preferences it would be no vinous crime to begin enjoying this now but be aware that this will age for a very long time. The best approach is probably to buy 6, or even 12, bottles and enjoy them over a longer period of time.
Homemade tofu, Momotaro tomato, and uni. A “typical” Yamakase tofu dish. Great interplay of textures and flavors. I could even handle the tomato!

Persimmon butter sandwich with marcona almonds. This is an odd one, but delicious. The orange stripes are dried persimmon which has been hung to dry for months. This is a traditional Japanese New Year preparation and very highly prized. The lighter stripe is frozen high end butter! Almost like a little petite four.

1994 Zind-Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Heimbourg Vendange Tardive. 93 points. Burnt creme brulee, dried apricot, carmelized peach/apricot in the pie tin; rich, creamy, full bodied with medium sweetness. Slight petrol-botrytis evident here (although not supposed to override varietal characteristics, I believe it does in this case); round, soft, but with overwhelming apricot notes; long finish.

From my cellar: 2009 Weingut Knoll Riesling Smaragd Dürnsteiner Kellerberg. VM 92. Medium green-yellow. Seductive aromas of ripe peach, subtle blossom honey and mandarin orange. Becomes more exotic in the mouth, adding papaya and lime to the mix. Sweet peach and papaya fruit is lifted by extraordinarily elegant lemony acidity. Finishes with palate-staining fruit and intense wet rock minerality. Wonderful to drink now, but should be even better between 2014 and 2024.

From my cellar: 2004 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune. VM 95. Pale, bright yellow. Ripe pineapple, liquid stone and exotic honey on the nose, with a spicy lift that suggests an oak influence this wine does not possess. On entry, this is sweeter and creamier than the Frederic Emile, but it livens up quickly in the middle, showing powerful minerality and sharply delineated flavors of liquid stone, pineapple and citrus peel. Still, this conveys a distinctly glyceral impression that suggests more sweetness than its 5 grams of residual sugar, no doubt a function of the 20% or so botrytized berries (in contrast to the Frederic Emile, which included no botrytis). Communicates an impression of power with elegance, finishing minerally and long but not austere. Pierre Trimbach compared this wine to the estate’s great 1990. This is already showing more Rosacker terroir than riesling character. About 9,000 bottles were made from 1.5 hectares of vines.

Abalone with eel sauce. The crunchy chewy mollusk simply served and delicious.

Mantis shrimp, baby peach, scallop, orange clam, and seaweed. I loved the sweet/tangy sauce too. Very lovely.

1996 Domaine Bernard Morey et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Caillerets. VM 93. Knockout nose combines herbs, white flowers and spiced pear; at once oily and precise. Rich-bordering-on-thick but given clarity by juicy limey acidity. Very long, palate-staining finish. The yield here was a good 50 hectoliters per hectare, says Morey. Yet this is so much more fleshy and pliant than so many ’96s.

2004 Domaine Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru La Boudriotte. BH 89. A deft touch of wood frames citrus and earth infused ripe chardonnay fruit aromas that lead to rich, full and fleshy flavors that are robust if not especially structured, all wrapped in a delicious and easy to like finish. There is good freshness here if not great underlying tension with fine overall balance and fine length. In sum, this is a generous and easy to like effort that should repay a few years in the cellar.

Oyster, uni, quail egg, caviar. One of these super Yamakase spoons of crazy umami-rich ingredients.

Roasted unagi with eel sauce and bamboo shoots. This was very fresh, light, and seasonal.

2006 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. VM 96. Pale, bright yellow-green. Knockout nose combines ripe pineapple, dried fruits, lemon, lime, crushed stone, minerals and mint. A wine of outstanding intensity, power and thrust, with sappy mineral and toasted bread flavors saturating the palate. Most impressive today on the explosive, mounting, tactile finish, which leaves the mouth vibrating. This called to mind Corton-Charlemagne-or a great Austrian riesling. Winemaker Seguier loves this but feels that the 2004 is in the same quality league. And the 2007 is even more chalky, he adds.

From my cellar: 2002 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. VM93+. Musky aromas of chicken broth, lime and crushed stone; quite austere and slow to open. Then less fruity but more important on the palate, with bracing flavors of lemon and apple and an impression of minerality I can only describe as creamy. A very rich, dense wine with a strength of material that belies the normal-for-Raveneau yield of about 50 hectoliters per hectare.

2009 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. VM 93. The 2009 Chablis Montée de Tonnerre is super-impressive. There is a level of detail, nuance and energy to the fruit that is quite rare in 2009. The Montée de Tonnerre possesses dazzling purity all the way through to the finely articulated, chiseled finish. This is yet another superb effort from Raveneau. I have a slight preference for the 2010 here, but the 2009 will offer fabulous drinking while its younger sibling ages in the cellar.

Shrimp with tomatoes and parmesan. A new dish, and a delicious one. The tangy tomato/parm sauce was quite lovely.

Chef Yama works on his next course.

2001 Marc Colin et Fils Corton-Charlemagne. 92 points. Beautiful from the get go showing honey, roasted hazelnuts, some white chocolate, and a little tropical fruit. Reminded me of an Aubert Chardonnay in many ways. Nice mid weight…not a blockbuster but at the low end of outstanding.

2002 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Corton-Charlemagne. VM 92+. Very subdued nose hints at apple, minerals and nutty oak. Then intensely flavored, penetrating and youthfully backward, with bracing flavors of apple, spiced pear and powdered stone. Very densely packed, spicy wine that’s currently dominated by its powerful spine. This needs a good five or six years to blossom in the bottle and may well merit a higher score.

Frozen toro, uni, and blue crab on toast. This toast and rich toro/crab combo is so good. Like a super high end version of a tuna sandwich.

Truffle, crab, quail egg, salmon egg, uni parfait. Classic Yamakase greatness. White truffles apparently this time of year. In December it was black.

From my cellar: 2001 Domaine Leflaive Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. BH 93. While understandably tighter, this is still drinking much like the same wine in 750 ml format (see herein). An expressive and still quite fresh nose includes white flower, pronounced honey and exotic fruit aromas nuanced by spice hints flow seamlessly into a similar flavor profile on the thick, powerful and vibrant middle weight flavors yet that possess more than sufficient acidity to buffer the weight and richness. Overall, this is beautifully balanced, long and offers superb intensity and has everything it needs to continue a graceful evolution. As one would expect from magnum, this isn’t quite ready for prime time and while it could be drunk with pleasure, if you wish to see the wine at its optimum point of development, it will be necessary to wait for a few more years first.

2008 Domaine Leflaive Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. BH 91-94. A subtle touch of pain grillé highlights citrus notes that, like the Pucelles, exhibit hints of honeysuckle and fennel nuances that complement perfectly the textured, rich and sweet medium plus weight flavors that are quite supple yet remain detailed, energetic and strikingly long on the explosive finish. This is a relatively powerful Bienvenues. In a word, terrific.

Orange clam and scallop in a dill sauce. A new treatment of some familiar ingredients. The dill sauce make for a different (and tasty) take on things.

Bluefin tuna, caviar. Some of the best chunks of tuna I’ve had.

From my cellar: 1985 Bouchard Père et Fils Chevalier-Montrachet. A little oxidized. Not premoxed, just getting old.

From my cellar: 2002 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot. VM 96. Taut, vibrant aromas of grapefruit, apple, pear, and powdered and wet stone. A great expression of rocks in the mouth, with extremely pure flavors of grapefruit and lemon. Conveys a powerful impression of sweetness allied to sheer energy. Fabulous, consistent wine with near-perfect balance and extraordinary length. As penetrating as it is today, I would not describe this wine as austere.

1999 Henri Boillot Chevalier-Montrachet. 94 points. Light yellow in color. A bit of hazelnut to start but also some wood and bitterness. About 6 hours later, the wood resolved and the wine expressed some pear, honey, and hazelnut. This was supported by plenty of lemon acidity. Still very young.

Foie gras, toro, quail egg, truffle cheese, blue crab. Wow! This dish was absolutely out of this world. Just crazy rich and delicious. You wouldn’t think it works, but it’s amazing.

King crab, steamed. Simple steamed fresh crab.

1998 Domaine du Clos de Tart Clos de Tart. VH 95+. Bright ruby. Highly complex nose melds black raspberry, Indian spices, gunflint, tar and smoky oak; seemed to grow fresher and more vibrant with aeration. Dense, thick and highly concentrated, with brilliantly defined but still rather backward fruit flavors. Finishes with great length and extremely fine tannins that dust the entire mouth.

2002 Domaine du Clos de Tart Clos de Tart. VM 95. Bright red-ruby. Highly nuanced, expressive nose combines strawberry, raspberry, minerals, lavender, chocolate, underbrush and fennel. Superconcentrated, silky and sweet in the mouth but with superb definition and energy. The wine’s sheer density of material completely buffers its 14+% alcohol. Finishes dry and classic, with explosive rising fruit and terrific thrust. The tannins are buried in fruit and soil tones. A great Burgundy

The chef is working on his ramen. Bright yellow eggy noodles.

Ultimate ramen bowl. This foie gras based seafood broth was topped with truffles and filled with yummy seafood bits. Underneath are the ramen noodles. There was crab, beef, oyster, and who knows what else in here. Absolutely stunning. So rich. So good. The broth had quite a white pepper kick too which was amazing.

1986 Joseph Drouhin Grands-Echezeaux. 94 points.

1996 Denis Mugneret Père et Fils Richebourg. BH 93. Subtly complex nose of leather, earth and dried grasses with delicious yet quite structured flavors and fine length. There is good sève and muscle underlying the flavors though the tannins are completely ripe and the wine should drink well over the medium term. This is not flamboyant or especially opulent yet it delivers plenty of character and quality in a refined, discreet style. I like this very much.

1953 Remoissenet Père et Fils Richebourg. 95 points. Domain release. Must have been reconditioned as it tasted crazy young (for a ’53).

Miyazaki beef with truffle pepper sauce. Melt in your mouth with a bit of pepper kick.

Some amazing sake!

Blue fin sushi. Bordering over to chu-toro. Just a lovely bit of sushi.

Amberjack. Amazing.

Sea bass. To die for.

Chu or O toro. Lethal. We had several pieces of this each.

Uber handroll. Uni, king crab, toro, shiso. You’ve never had a handroll quite like this powerhouse! Had two of these.

A small taste of baby peach sorbet. Super light and refreshing.

“Only” 25 bottles of wine. 10 people. Great stuff tonight too. No bad or spoiled wines. Stuff was great in all 4 categories: champ, white burg, red burg, and sake. Just some really stellar drinks.

There are different was to experience Yamakase, depending on you number, but all but one time I’ve taken the whole bar. On a night when the bar is split between a collection of smaller parties it might be more staid. But when we take over, it’s certainly not. We do the wine service ourselves for the most part with a little aide from the accommodating servers. It feels like a “private party with Yama.”

Food-wise, this was one of my best meals this year — really quite excellent — and regular readers know I have more than my share of great meals. A really great format. A total blow out and Yama’s cuisine keeps gaining in strength and power. Really quite incomparable. He is unquestionably a genius. Yama has a tremendous range within Japanese cuisine, first rate ingredients, and a savvy palate. He is quite skilled at very traditional more subtle Japanese as well, but has tuned up the typical Yamakase meal with high end ingredients and bolder combinations for a more contemporary wow factor.

Oh, and that toro cheese dish and foie gras “ramen” are just to die for.

Click here for more LA sushi reviews,
Or for Foodie Club extravaganzas.

Related posts:

  1. Sumo Bowl Yamakase
  2. Yamakase Yummy
  3. Yamakase – Burghound Bday
  4. Yamakase – Crab Guts are Yummy!
  5. Yamakase Return
By: agavin
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Sumo Bowl Yamakase

May25

Restaurant: Yamakase [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Location: You wish you knew!

Date: May 20, 2016

Cuisine: Japanese

Rating: Best yet!

_

Yamakase is just hands down one of the most fun evenings in LA. Not only is the “modern” Japanese cuisine incredible, but the convivial nature of the place is just great. It’s not very big and as usual we took the entire sushi bar (we had 10 this time, but you can squeeze in 11 or 12). This is my second time at the new location and while the back was empty first time around, this time there were 8 or so people at 2-3 tables back in the “depths” of the restaurant.

The location is in a good neighborhood, but something about this particular strip mall is a bit sketchy. Maybe it’s the 7/11. There are a lot of strange characters hanging about.

Inside, chef Kiyoshiro Yamamoto unpacks his giant slabs of tuna.

We start with a bang! 2003 Krug Champagne Clos du Mesnil. VM 94+. The 2003 Clos du Mesnil is insanely beautiful. Vivid, resonant and textured in the glass, the 2003 boasts magnificent depth and pure breed. Since I last tasted it a few months ago, the 2003 has begun to shut down, which is probably a great sign for its future and overall longevity. Hints of smoke, slate and dried pear gradually open up in the glass, but the 2003 mostly stands out for its exceptional finesse.

Homemade tofu, Momotaro tomato, and sweet shrimp. A “typical” Yamakase tofu dish. Great interplay of textures and flavors. I could even handle the tomato!

1998 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon P2. VM 95. The 1998 Dom Pérignon P2 is open and beautifully expressive today. Unusually open for a young P2, the 1998 drinks well upon release, especially compared to the 1996, which was virtually unapproachable for the first few years after release. That is not at all the case with the 1998, which is quite open at this stage. Hints of apricot, almond, white flowers and chamomile add texture on the fleshy, resonant finish. The added time on the lees has given the P2 an added dimension of texture.

Abalone with eel sauce. The crunchy chewy mollusk simply served and delicious.

2002 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. JG 99+. At first sight a lovely bright golden colour. A very charismatic fresh nose, promise of natural intensity and elegance with strong presence of fruits, fruits of all types. A diverse bouquet of orange aromas with some notes of liquorice and light chocolate biscuit can be enjoyed.
On the palate, astonishing, balanced and delicate with significant fresh, tropical, wild and crystalised fruits. It is a hymn to fruit: red, white and citrus fruit with notes of cassis, chocolate, candied-orange peel, cocoa beans, honey with hints of smoke and toast enhanced by a vibrant, persistent long finish. It is a balanced dialogue between Pinot Noir (40%) and Chardonnays (39%) with Meunier (21%).

Persimmon butter sandwich. This is an odd one, but delicious. The orange stripes are dried persimmon which has been hung to dry for months. This is a traditional Japanese New Year preparation and very highly prized. The lighter stripe is frozen high end butter! Almost like a little petite four.

Mantis shrimp, baby peach, scallop, seaweed. I loved the sweet/tangy sauce too. Very lovely.

1985 Louis Jadot Montrachet Le Montrachet. 90 points. Still intact, deep yellow, but fruit a bit faded.

Fresh steamed eel and baby squid. Lovely textures. I think the green things were bits of sisho too, or shiso flowers.

1986 Marquis de Laguiche (Joseph Drouhin) Montrachet. 94 points. From a virtually perfect bottle, this wine had a deep yellow center and clear rims. Not surprisingly, the nose was rather closed at first. Eventually, the high- intensity nose showed apples, vanilla, macaroons, and white stone. In the mouth, this wine was reasonably ripe and rich but the wine’s majesty came from its powerful acidity. Not surprisingly, it showed awesome length after some time.

Scallop or clam with salmon row and steamed ice fish. These tiny little fish are so cute!

2007 Louis Latour Montrachet. BH 95. 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.

Oyster, uni, quail egg, caviar. One of these super Yamakase spoons of crazy umami-rich ingredients.

1979 Domaine Michel Gaunoux Pommard 1er Cru Les Grands Épenots. JG 92. Or bottle was in great shape!

Seared beef, foie gras, and a foie gras sauce. Rich and delicious.

From my cellar: 2002 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Montrachet. Burghound 93. Tight yet fragrant aromas of stunning complexity reveal hints of peach, pear and a trace of wood spice, leading to large-scaled, extremely ripe flavors that stain the palate with wave after wave of sappy extract. Exceptionally powerful and very masculine, this is a very backward wine today with impressive focus and precision and it will require a minimum of 5 to 7 years of cellar time to arrive at its peak, though it should be capable of lasting a good deal longer.

Frozen toro, uni, and blue crab on toast. This toast and rich toro/crab combo is so good. Like a super high end version of a tuna sandwich.

From my cellar: 2000 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Les . BH 94. 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: our bottle was fabulous. still reduced even.

Truffle, crab, quail egg, uni parfait. Classic Yamakase greatness. White truffles apparently this time of year. In December it was black.

1999 Etienne Sauzet Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Champs Canet. BH 92. Slightly exotic fruit (often a characteristic of Champs Canet) with notes of pineapple and banana with that mouth watering Granny Smith apple acidity. Marvelous intensity on the mid-palate that continues on to the long, powerful yet discreet finish. Not flashy and in fact rather understated for Champs Canet but it has arrived at its peak and is drinking perfectly now. Impressive in that it’s generous yet precise and pure with lovely harmony of expression.

Some kind of delightful raw shrimp or such in a dressing.

Bluefin tuna, caviar. Some of the best chunks of tuna I’ve had.

2000 Faiveley Corton-Charlemagne. BH 91. The nose is still relatively fresh though the aromatic profile is one of a fully mature white burg, offering up notes of dried flowers, green apple and citrus hints that are also picked up by the elegant and pure medium-bodied flavors that display some wood influence on the otherwise admirably long finish. This is a Corton-Charlemagne of finesse and about the only nit is that one could wish for a bit more mid-palate concentration. No other recent experiences.

Yama’s new assistant plating.

Foie gras, toro, quail egg, truffle cheese, blue crab. Wow! This dish was absolutely out of this world. Just crazy rich and delicious. You wouldn’t think it works, but it’s amazing.
Uh oh, crabs!
King crab, steamed. Simple steamed fresh crab.
At work in the kitchen — which is right behind the sushi bar.

From my cellar: 1997 Joseph Drouhin Romanée St. Vivant. 93 points. Garnet color, with light bricking on the rim. Red fruits on the nose, with some spice as well. The red fruits are also present on the palate. Long finish. Very good given the vintage and kept very well.

The chef is working on his ramen broth. Bright yellow eggy noodles.

Ultimate ramen bowl. This foie gras based seafood broth was topped with truffles and filled with yummy seafood bits. Underneath are the ramen noodles. There was crab, beef, oyster, and who knows what else in here. Absolutely stunning. So rich. So good. The broth had quite a white pepper kick too which was amazing.

Because I asked I got the lefthand “sumo” bowl as my personal portion. It was so large even I couldn’t finish it! Almost though.

From my cellar: 1982 Domaine Marquis d’Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Ducs. Burghound 88. Superb nose of dried rose petals trimmed in minerals and damp earth follow by middle weight, slightly thinning flavors that display excellent complexity and frankly more structure than the mid-palate sap can adequately buffer on the finish. That said, this receives its marks for the sheer breadth of flavors and the clean, pure character. This is a first rate effort in what was a very difficult vintage.

agavin: 94 points. I thought this was drinking great.

This is real Japanese Wagyu, from Miyazaki. It comes with a certificate of authenticity that includes the cow’s nose print and stats. Yeah, the actual animal.

Miyazaki beef with truffle pepper sauce. Melt in your mouth with a bit of pepper kick.

A super complex sake Adam brought.

Erick brought this premium sake back from the brewery in Japan.

Another special aged sake Adam brought.

Some opted for the sashimi plate.

Blue fin sushi. Bordering over to chu-toro. Just a lovely bit of sushi.

Sea bass. To die for.

Amberjack. Amazing.

Chu or O toro. Lethal. We had about 4 pieces of this each.

Uber handroll. Uni, king crab, toro, shiso. You’ve never had a handroll quite like this powerhouse! Had two of these. The second one almost gave me a gout attack!

A small taste of baby peach sorbet. Super light and refreshing.

“Only” 16 bottles of wine. 10 people. Great stuff tonight too. No bad or spoiled wines. Stuff was great in all 4 categories: champ, white burg, red burg, and sake. Just some really stellar drinks.

Plus, food-wise, this was one of my best meals this year — really quite excellent — and regular readers know I have more than my share of great meals. A really great format. A total blow out and Yama’s cuisine keeps gaining in strength and power. Really quite incomparable.

Oh, and that toro cheese dish and foie gras “ramen” are just to die for. I’m headed back in July for more.

Click here for more LA sushi reviews,
Or for Foodie Club extravaganzas.

Related posts:

  1. Yamakase Yummy
  2. Yamakase Return
  3. Yamakase – Burghound Bday
  4. Yamakase – Crab Guts are Yummy!
  5. Katana – Stripping it all Down
By: agavin
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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
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Kali on Melrose

Mar18

Restaurant: Kali [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Location: 5722 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038. (323) 871-4160

Date: March 16, 2016

Cuisine: New American French

Rating: Really good

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I’ve known Kevin Meehan for years as a private and popup chef and have had the pleasure to enjoy many a fine meal he’s put together. But this year he’s transitioned into the more stationary, and possibly more hectic restaurant world by opening up his own Melrose Ave restaurant!

Here he is in the attractive new space, exhausted at the end of a long busy dinner service.

With the opening of Kali Restaurant, Chef Kevin Meehan’s broad 23-year culinary career reaches its apex. At Kali, Meehan, whose deft hand was cultivated in Los Angeles’ most prestigious kitchens, joins forces with long-time friend and professional colleague, Drew Langley, previously the wine director at the iconic, Michelin-starred Providence.
For the 39-year-old Meehan, Kali represents the evolution of not just Kali Dining, his roving private dinner pop-up, but the rigorous years he spent refining his craft. The contemporary California restaurant blends the precision and hospitality of the white tablecloth kitchens where Meehan developed his culinary acumen, with the accessibility and ease of a local’s favorite neighborhood haunt.
Born and raised in Long Island, New York, Meehan’s initial foray in the industry was at a fried chicken joint when he was a teenager. While most would be turned off by working the fryer, Meehan was feeding an innate attraction to food, and, in the process, unearthing what would become a life-long love affair with the restaurant world. After graduating high school, Meehan enrolled in the esteemed Culinary Arts program at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island, an education that he would test and sharpen on-the-line during an apprenticeship at the Michelin-starred L’alban Chambon under French Master Chef Dominique Michou, and, later, alongside Los Angeles’ finest chefs.
In 2000, Meehan drove cross country to assume a post at the celebrated L’Orangerie, then helmed by Chef Ludo Lefebvre. It was there that Meehan met Langley, who he would subsequently work with at the now late Bastide, where Meehan served as Chef de Cuisine, and, later, at Citrine. After Citrine’s closure in 2005, Meehan joined Patina Restaurant Group as Chef de Cuisine at Joachim Spichal’s seminal Patina restaurant in Downtown. During his three-year tenure, the restaurant received a Michelin Star for its fresh interpretation of French cuisine informed by seasonality, and Meehan was consequently promoted to Executive Chef of Café Pinot.
In 2012, Meehan parted ways with the prolific restaurant group to launch his passion project, Kali Dining. The underground operation quickly garnered critical attention for Meehan’s assertive, yet nuanced tasting menus that he prepared, dinner party-style, for Los Angeles top tastemakers, luminaries, and food enthusiasts. Kali the restaurant was birthed from the success of Kali Dining, and the passion that Meehan and co-owner Langley share for pushing the boundaries of the typical fine dining experience.

For Kali, Kevin partnered with Drew Langley.
While most known for his esteemed tenure as the Wine Director at the Michelin-starred Providence in Los Angeles, Drew Langley brings an extensive resume of experience to Kali Restaurant, a passion project born out of his 15-year friendship with Chef Kevin Meehan.
As Co-owner and Wine Director of the contemporary California restaurant near Hollywood’s iconic Paramount Pictures Studios, the 39-year-old’s near life-long matriculation in the food & beverage industry is fully realized. Kali blends the haute cuisine and hospitality of a fine dining destination with the accessibility of an everyday neighborhood haunt, and Langley’s concise, intelligent wine program is a reflection of the core philosophy that defines the restaurant.
Born and raised in a small town in south Maryland, Langley’s initial introduction to the industry was as a dishwasher at a local pizzeria at the age of 13. While his contemporaries found inspiration in the classroom, Langley was drawn to the rhythm and intensity of the restaurant world, acquiring a vast understanding of its inner workings through odd jobs that ran the gamut from line cook at regional chain Perkin’s to corporate trainer for Applebee’s openings to bar back at Solomon’s Pier, a seafood restaurant and nightclub.
In 1997, the then 20-year-old Langley leapt at an opportunity to relocate to Los Angeles, and stumbled into a position at Greenblatt’s, a beloved deli and wine shop in West Hollywood, that would ultimately pave the way for his future career. Langley furthered his three-year wine education at Greenblatt’s with a position at Dennis Overstreet’s Beverly Hills Wine Merchant, before joining the now-closed L’Orangerie in Beverly Hills as Sommelier in 2000. It was there that Langley crossed paths with Meehan, who he would subsequently work alongside at the late Bastide and Citrine.
After opening Bastide in 2002 as Commis Sommelier, and enjoying a stint as Wine Director at Citrine in 2003, Langley switched gears to lend support to entrepreneur and wine collector Jeff Smith for the launch of Carte Du Vin. His time at the local wine cellar management firm birthed and deepened relationships with prominent private collectors, relationships that inform his wine program at Kali today. In 2005, Langley joined the opening team at Providence, serving as Wine Director for Michael Cimarusti’s nationally-acclaimed seafood destination through 2015 when he left to prepare for Kali’s debut in early 2016.
An avid music enthusiast, when Langley is not refining his wine list with new finds or overseeing the day-to-day operations at Kali, the Koreatown resident can be found indulging in the local drum-and-bass culture.

This was a Foodie Club dinner, with just 6 of my regular dining intimates — and of course great wine.

1973 Perrier-Jouët Champagne Cuvée Fleur de Champagne. Agavin 93. Strong oxidative notes, but delightfully in balance with a terrific acidic backbone.

NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée. This is the 1990-2006 disgorgement. The NV Grande Cuvée is absolutely stellar. This is one of the very best Grande Cuvées I can remember tasting. The flavors are bright, focused and beautifully delineated throughout, all of which make me think the wine will age well for many, many years. Lemon peel, white flowers, crisp pears, smoke and crushed rocks race across the palate in a vibrant, tense Champagne that epitomizes finesse.

Sous vide egg. Very close to straight egg with a little creme fraiche and rosemary. Super delicious and an awesome pairing with the old champagne.

From my cellar: 1985 Bouchard Père et Fils Chevalier-Montrachet. agavin 87. Kinda funky, especially at first, with strong petrol notes.

1986 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Chardonnay. agavin 95. Who would have thought, but this old Cal chard was gorgeous. Nutty, with an incredible white floral nose and a lot of round punch. Fairly Burgundian, although not as acidic.

Bass Crudo. citrus / olive / nasturtium. A fabulous crudo with really strong olive notes that really worked. That EVO drizzled around was amazing, very intense.

1970 Château Haut-Brion Blanc. 93 points. On the nose, ripe apricot, lapsang souchong, gasoline initially. An older dry palate with dried apricots, bitter orange, and faint pecan skin. This bottle was really singing with a crazy strong acidic backbone.

2003 Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne. Burghound 91. Here too the nose has incorporated virtually all of the wood and offers elegant ripe and spicy green apple fruit aromas that complement the big, rich and very powerful flavors that are complex and massively long. Interestingly, the flavors seem almost heavy on the mid-palate yet there is good vibrancy to the finish that provides the necessary lift. This would merit a slightly higher score save for the noticeable finishing warmth.

agavin: super round and ripe without a lot of acid. Some botrytis on the finish, almost like honeysuckle.

Shrimp and potato agnolotti. A really nice pasta dish with strong harmonious flavors. Great sauce, nice like texture on the pasta, and very fresh little shrimp with no hint of fishiness.

From my cellar: 1975 Charles Noellat Vosne-Romanée. agavin 94. While this was a bit cloudy, and funky for a second, it blew off and possessed a ton of red fruits, cherries and strawberries and a really nice mature finish. Not a super refined Burg but in great shape.

1990 Domaine Rossignol Trapet Chapelle-Chambertin. 96 points. Considerable bricking and somewhat opaque; knew from the outset it was at least fifteen years old. The luxurious bouquet sings with the finest elements of great Burgundy! Sous-bois, earth, rose petals, charred cork, and hints of smoke, etc. The wine features brilliantly focused acidity, all the elements on the bouquet, and a mind-bending textural mouthfeel! Lasting finish marked by tremendous acidity and unbridled deliciousness!

Wheat berry Risotto. black garlic / toasted cheese. Looked all funny, but a really nice balance between the earthy risotto and the crunchy cheese.

1987 Bruno Giacosa Barbera d’Alba. agavin 93. Drinking great, age having smoothed out all the rough edges.

1952 Giacomo Borgogno & Figli Barolo. This was a weird one, some ancient 1952 Barolo “restored” at the domain with 2000 barolo. It tasted like a 1998! Very nebbiolo, with some maturity, but none of that old bricked character.

Aged Liberty Farms duck!

Duck breast with carrots in carrot jus. Just a really nice piece of aged duck with a very french bit of gaminess.

Whole Wheat Crackers. For the cheese below. Delicious. Like wheat thins and graham crackers blended.

Creamy Chevre. tangerine marmalade / whole wheat cracker. Small but delicious on the toasts.

1976 Maison Sichel Niersteiner Rehbach Riesling beerenauslese. agavin 94. Yummy sweet stuff.

1986 Château Filhot Comtesse Durieu de Lacarelle. Nicely mellowed.

Toasted Meringue Gelato. grated candied yolk. This tasted like sweet cream with a dusting of salty eggy goodness. It was mild, creamy, and absolutely stunning. I ate two.

Petite Fours.
We had a few glasses for 6 people!

Overall, not only was this a great meal with great friend (and wine), but Kevin’s food was really bang up fabulous. He’s always been a very talented chef but it seems to me (and I’ll have to try more dishes — oh, poor me) that he’s really polished up the details. Perhaps it’s having his own kitchen, but execution was really on point for each dish. There are comfortable but slightly unusual flavor pairings — and they all worked — which gives a lively freshness to the cooking. His concept was Michelin food in a casual setting, and Kali really seems to be delivering.

Service was great. We felt like family.

Really great stuff. Bravo Kevin and Drew!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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By: agavin
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Posted in: Food
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