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Final Kinn

Jul24

Restaurant: Kinn [1, 2, 3]

Location: 3905 W 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90020. (213) 291-0888

Date: October 19, 2023

Cuisine: Korean Fusion

Rating: Really tasty & a great deal

After Erick and I had such a great “Round 1” of our double dinner at Kinn and then a “real” Foodie Club dinner (seen here), we decided to come back for a third epic meal — sadly, it closed very soon after this particular feast which is a real shame as it was fabulous and innovative.

Not so crowded this time around :-(.

Kimbap. Cured and seared escalar, Bugak shell, Shari, Myoga, Wasabi, Scallion paste, Perilla leaf. Delicious. The soft meaty fish played off the interesting flavors in the base.

Oyster. Marinated Santa spot prawn, Uni, Oyster, Smoked trout roe, Hanaho, Lime zest. Excellent jazzed up oyster.

Abalone. Steamed abalone, Squid ink, Potato sauce, Chive sauce. The Kinn classic.

Tomato Salad. Perilla sorbet, Tomato, Burrata, Basil oil. I was hoping this would return — it’s not exactly the same — but for the second time the Perilla sorbet was incredible!

Crispy Octopus. Octopus, Potato, Gochujang SC, Parsley, Chervil, Tarragon, Compressed Radish. A new format was perhaps even better. So crispy and so tender.

Dry Aged Beef, Flannery beef, Market vegetables, Dashi, Dipping sauce. Tasted like shabu shabu. I drank the whole broth.

Soup of Delicacies. Chicken soup with xiao xing, Dried sea cucumber, Matsutake & Lion’s mane mushroom, Egg custard with salted shrimp, Deer tendon. Basically a fancy Korean ingredient Chawanmushi — delicious.

Caviar Noodle. Handmade noodles, Oyster cream, Lime zest, Flower, Astrea Caviar. This was good, but a bit blander than most of the dishes (it is a carb).

N’duja mandoo, N’duja filling, Scallop, Brown butter. Bunch of intense dumpling flavor — awesome.

Carabinero & Tilefish. Crispy tilefish, Charcoal grilled shrimp, Spinach puree, Brandy Sauce. Lovely.

Stuffed quail. Mushroom cream sauce. Incredible dish. The quail was super crispy, yet juicy, and the creamy sauce was incredible.

Mussel rice. Rice cooked in mussel stock, Saffron, Tomato, Pickled onion. Very much like a great paella-risotto hybrid. It wasn’t crispy, but it had awesome flavor.

Perfect iced grapes.

Corn. Shaved corn ice, Cheese foam, Green Tea powder. A very soft and subtle dessert.

Bonus of foie gras terrine.

Caviar.

And, as we sat for 2 hours chatting with the chef, a Flannery steak!

Really incredible meal.

The chef.

Kinn was awesome. Not only was it intimate and the chef extremely friendly and interesting, but these were big bold flavors and quite novel. The cooking techniques are heavily “modern French” or “modern European” (some dishes like the Octopus are pretty Spanish) but a lot of Korean ingredients and flavors have been melded in. It’s simultaneously comforting and novel.

This larger dinner was more “filling” and we certainly didn’t need second dinner. Great stuff and great wines.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Foodie Club, Kinn, Korean Fusion, Wine

Kinn Again

Jun28

Restaurant: Kinn [1, 2]

Location: 3905 W 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90020. (213) 291-0888

Date: November 15, 2022

Cuisine: Korean Fusion

Rating: Really tasty & a great deal

After Erick and I had such a great “Round 1” of our double dinner at Kinn a few months back we decided to return with the whole gang for a “real” Foodie Club dinner.

It was way more crowded this time around.

We had a mega table which took up about 1/3 of the restaurant.

Our special expanded menu. The normal menu is about half this size.

NV Jacques Selosse Initial. 95 points.

Steamed Abalone. Potatoes, squid ink. You slurp the contents out of the shell. Essentially it’s like a “abalone chowder.” Quite nice if a bit potato focused.

Bluefin Tuna Collar Tartare. These seaweed cigars were very crispy and filled with an unctuous tuna filling.

Caviar, Squash Ice Cream, and Chungju. The caviar is astrea which Eve brought. I wasn’t that big a fan of the squash ice cream, but it was mild and creamy and so went well enough with the caviar. Still, caviar this good is best by itself. The white creamy stuff must be the Chungju, which is a sake-like rice wine (in this case I guess whipped?).

2007 Domaine Roulot Meursault Les Luchets. VM 90. Ripe but reduced aromas of vineyard peach and spices. Ripe but quite dry and stony, with orange and mineral flavors dominating. I find this a bit less vibrant than the Meix Chavaux.

2010 Domaine Roulot Meursault 1er Cru Les Poruzots. VM 92. The 2010 Meursault Porusot shows the distinctive richness of the vintage. Juicy yellow stone fruits, flowers and mint flesh out in this radiant, expressive Meursault. Although quite extroverted, there is a centeredness and poise to the Porusot that is striking. (Drink starting 2014)

2017 Domaine Roulot Meursault Les Vireuils. BH 90-92. Notes of matchstick, petrol, white flower and discreet citrus zest nuances comprise the cool and restrained nose. As is usually the case, the medium-bodied flavors are not as rich as those of the straight Meursault but there is noticeably more minerality and cut and particularly so on the sappy, long and bone dry finish. This offers excellent quality for a villages level wine. (Drink starting 2025)

Truffled Egg. These were excellent white truffles with a very lovely eggy base beneath.

Steamed Shirako. The cod sperm sakes were perfectly delicate and coated in a butter caviar sauce with parsnips. Great butter sauce and shirako texture, but there was a slight bitter tone.

Non shirako fish substitute. Someone couldn’t “handle the cream.”

Spanish-Style Crispy Octopus. The sauce is a creamy aioli with Korean Chili Paste. Perfectly cooked octopus with a crispy outside and tender inside, I was able to cut it easily with a spoon. The aioli, basically a Korean inspired take on Bravos Sauce, was very thick and “creamy” with an egg, oil emulsion. Lovely take on this classic Spanish dish.

2001 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Bonnes Mares. VM 94. The 2001 De Vogüé Bonnes Mares exhibited uncommon depth and richness in the luxuriousness of its vibrant fruit, with a personality that was delicate yet powerful. Still very much an infant, it was a privilege to catch this gorgeous wine in its youth.

2002 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Bonnes Mares. VM 93. Bright medium red. Explosive aromas of cherry and iron lifted by high-toned exotic spices. Hugely rich and fleshy, plush and full, with the powerful spice character following through on the palate. Finishes with terrific breadth and substantial dusty tannins. Millet finds the 2002s less subtle than the 2014s. The wines are a bit sweeter as well as higher in alcohol, he added. I should note that this sample came from a 375-milliliter bottle, so the same wine in a 750 almost certainly has a lot more life ahead of it. (Drink between 2016-2025)

Dry aged duck.

The chef reveal.

Dry aged duck. Awesome chewy rare duck with a rich buttery sauce and a meaty reduction. Delicious.

Crispy Tilefish with a Fish Broth. The Crispy Topped fish was perfectly cooked, served with a Fennel Salad, and underlayed with a delicious Korean Fish Bone Broth spiked with Serrano Chili and Tarragon Oil. Really lovely.

1998 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Landonne. VM 97+. Full dark ruby. Sauvage, multidimensional aromas of dark berries, leather, meat, pepper, gunflint, fresh blood and brown spices, along with torrefaction notes of mocha and smoke. Hugely rich, dense and sweet; a wine of great volume and suavity. Finishes with big, ripe tannins and great persistence. Even the empty glass boasted extraordinary aromatic complexity.

Colorado Lamb Chop. Very nice rare chop with another delicious reduction and delicious onion.

Blackthroat seaperch rice. Very lovely Japanese/Korean style fish on rice.

Lime to squeeze on the fish.

Truffle Ice Cream with Chocolate Cake. Great truffles but this only confirms my longheld belief that truffles do not belong in dessert.

An old Ramen Roll classic — Matcha White Gelato – Ceremonial Matcha Green Tea base mixed with White Chocolate Chunks — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #WhiteChocolate #matcha #GreenTea

Chocolate Raspberry Pie Gelato – The base is made with Valrhona 62% Satilla Chocolate and then layered with Raspberry Jam, Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Raspberry Squares, and house-made Gluten Free Graham Cracker “crust” — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #chocolate #raspberry #Ghirardelli #GrahamCracker #GF

The lineup.

This larger dinner was more “filling” and we certainly didn’t need second dinner. Great stuff and great wines. I did miss the shiso sorbetto though — loved that the first time.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Foodie Club, Gelato, Kinn, Korean Fusion, Wine

Round 1 – Kinn

Apr05

Restaurant: Kinn

Location: 3905 W 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90020. (213) 291-0888

Date: September 1, 2022

Cuisine: Korean Fusion

Rating: Really tasty & a great deal

Erick and I decided to visit some of LA’s top “Korean Fusion” places as just a small (the two of us) Foodie Club dinner. Since these spots are aimed at young Asian-American millennials they tend to have serve tiny tasting menus (by our gluttonous standards) and so we just booked a straight up Double Dinner (two dinners in one night)! Second Dinner was at Hanchic.

The Michelin Guide (which lists Kinn) describes it as follows:

Chef Ki Kim delivers something special with Kinn. Tucked along a main artery of K-town, the slim, modern space is fitted with a blonde wood counter and tables. Whether preparing dishes or presenting them, the chef and his team deliver an exclusive experience. Chef Kim’s experience in upscale restaurants informs his menu which features dishes retooled with a Korean bent. Case in point? The K-corn dog, made here with Dungeness crab and a bechamel filling. Confit hen of the woods mushroom conceals a briny and sweet surprise of uni, along with Asian pear. Pyongyang naengmyeon is a delightful combination that embodies the art of simplicity with beefy and savory broth filled with buckwheat noodles, paper-thin slices of brisket, cucumbers, Asian pears and radish kimchi.

We got there early (Double Dinner, round 1!) and it were the first in the door. The space is very narrow, with tables along one side and a “sushi-like” bar on the other.

Tonight’s menu. We got all the supplements, Double Dinner be damned.

2010 Domaine Guiberteau Saumur Blanc Clos des Carmes Brézé. 93 points.

Raul Pérez Rías Baixas Sketch.

Steamed Abalone. Potatoes, squid ink. You slurp the contents out of the shell. Essentially it’s like a “abalone chowder.” Quite nice if a bit potato focused.

Perilla Salad. Tomatoes, Ikura, burrata, Perilla Sorbetto, Jelly. This was an amazing salad with a fantastic balance of sweet, herby, and tangy elements. The centerpeice was the Perilla (shiso) Sorbetto which seemed to be a properly formulated intensely shiso-flavored sweet sorbetto balanced with a bit of lemon juice.

Supplement of Confit Hen of the Woods Mushrooms and Uni. The mushrooms had a nice smokey “charcoal grilled” flavor and great texture.

Supplement of Spanish-Style Crispy Octopus. The sauce is a creamy aioli with Korean Chili Paste. Perfectly cooked octopus with a crispy outside and tender inside, I was able to cut it easily with a spoon. The aioli, basically a Korean inspired take on Bravos Sauce, was very thick and “creamy” with an egg, oil emulsion. Lovely take on this classic Spanish dish.

Rock Cod with a Fish Broth. The Crispy Topped fish was perfectly cooked, served with a Fennel Salad, and underlayed with a delicious Korean Fish Bone Broth spiked with Serrano Chili and Tarragon Oil. Really lovely.

Charcoal Grilled Wagyu Shortrib. The succulent beef was topped with kimchi spicy greens, a bit of potato puree and a dust made from sweet potato skins. Really lovely beef dish and I very much enjoyed the contrast with the spicy and bracing greens.

Pyongyang Naengmyeon. An iced buckwheat noodle with beef, pickles, and radish.

It’s deconstructed and you combine the elements like these toppings.

And the noodles.

To get the whole. Very refreshing, mild, and clean. Noodles had a great snappy texture. This was an “extremely” calm take showcasing the noodles unlike some of the more bracing chili paste, mustard, and vinegar Korean noodle dishes.

Corn Bingsoo with cheese. Corn and cheese in a dessert? Well this totally worked. Basically it was a shave ice with mild sweet corn flavors. It wasn’t massively sweet either but was cool, refreshing, and quite lovely.

The bill wasn’t bad at all, even with all the supplements.