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Archive for modernist

Rogue Reunion

May11

Restaurant: The Rogue Experience

Location: 8687 Melrose Ave, West Hollywood, CA 90069. (800) 275-8273

Date: April 4, 2018

Cuisine: Modern International

Rating: Awesome food and experience

_

Wolfgang Puck, consulate LA chef and restauranteur opened a kinda of crazy experimental kitchen lab to the public last year. Basically they have new chefs every week and work on highly technical high end experimental dishes — and fold it all together into a nice “experience.”

It’s located INSIDE the Pacific Design Center — that cold blue/purple whale of a building on Melrose. After hours, it’s not the easiest to find buried upstairs.


The experience begins in this library filled with culinary and cocktail books.

The mixologist whips up a highly technical cocktail, all the while chatting with us about the nature of the place.

He made sort of adult (alcoholic) fruit leather, centrifuged fruit pulp, and purified high proof basil gin.


Fruity super strong gin drink. Delicious and potent drink using 110 proof gin! I can’t remember exactly which fruits were in here.
 Cheers!

The books are out on display.

Cocktail hour.

Next some chefs arrive and they serve a couple of snacks while we mingle. Rogue only seats about 8 people!

The weekly menu.

Passion fruit, chervil, salmon roe. The spikey stuff is the pulp, which was delicious. This was not very sweet, and while the pairing of roe and passionfruit worked, it was pretty intensely sour and I like a little more sugar with my passionfruit.

Anchovy, salsa verde, huazontle. Very bright green taste and marinated anchovy — delicious!

Salsify, uni, creme fraiche.

These easily breakable crisps were used to scoop up the succulent uni.

Now we move on to other areas of the compound, including this hallway littered with cooking gear.

This prep kitchen with a lot of facilities.

And tons of fancy technical food toys.

Like a rotary dehydrator! This allowed the mixologist to distill the basil infused gin (at negative atmospheric pressure) and condense it into a super strong clear gin that retains the basil element.


We finally settle in the Rogue “dining room” where the chefs plate behind the counter.

Some of this week’s chefs.

And more.

And more.

And more.

From my cellar: 1996 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne. VM 97. Taittinger’s 1996 Comtes de Champagne is another highlight. The flavors are only now beginning to show elements of complexity, a great sign for aging. Gently spiced and buttery notes suggest the 1996 is about to enter the early part of its maturity, where it is likely to stay for another decade or so.

Prawn, strawberry, fennel. Gorgeous presentation and unusual flavor pairing. Worked though!

Cabbage, crab, ramen.

I wonder if they swapped the “ramen” (on the menu) out for rice. Anyway, it was delicious.

Artichoke, parmesan, lamb. The cheese was turned into a gooey “cream.”

The lamb is dusted on top. Gorgeous again. Tasted amazing too, particularly because of the soft cheese.

Larry brought: 1982 Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne. BH 90. Moderately golden. This wine always seems to age better than what tasting it young would suggest and 1982 is yet another vintage where it has lasted extremely well as the airy and fully mature nose is still vibrant and if not bright then certainly complex and there are now hints of sous bois and truffle in the mix. The nicely enveloping flavors are also punchy and offer good muscle if less complexity and depth than I would have expected. In sum, a fine example at 25+ years of age if not a truly great one. Tasted on multiple occasions with largely consistent notes.

Char, cucumber, skyr. Skyr is a kind of Icelandic yogurt. Super soft and almost sushi-like bit of fish. Quite lovely.

2004 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. JG 97. The new release of 2004 Krug is absolutely beautiful and is already quite elegant and open on both the nose and palate and is drinking with great finesse. I had expected this wine to be a bit more steely in structure out of the blocks, but the refinement of the blend this year has produced a wine that is already a joy to drink at age thirteen, though it will continue age gracefully for many, many decades to come. The cépages in 2004 is thirty-nine percent chardonnay, thirty-seven percent pinot noir and twenty-four percent pinot meunier, with the wine having been disgorged in the winter of 2016. The bouquet jumps from the glass in a refined mix of apple, a touch of walnut, warm bread, lavender, a superb base of soil tones and a topnote of smokiness. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and utterly seamless, with vibrant acids, great focus and grip, a lovely core, refined mousse and a very long, complex, racy and energetic finish. There is marvelous precision here on both the nose and palate, not to mention a sense of harmony and grace that is fairly rare in the 2004 vintage. Chapeau!

Cilantro, prickly pear, chayote. Looks like an avocado, but it wasn’t. What it was was delicious. Really bright Mexican flavors!

Chick Pea, Tomatillo, Cotija. Another really nice dish, particularly for vegetables.

1996 Vouvray Moelleux Réserve. 92 points.

Foie, almond, jasmine. Exotic pairings but amazing.

1995 Domaine Marquis d’Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Ducs. VM 92. Harvested 26th September to 1st of October. A complex, savory nose. A bigger, masculine vintage, although the famed 1995 tannins have melted completely away. Good fruit, good balance. Drinking well now and should hold for years. A very pleasant surprise.

Mole, Bao, Pollo. Different “Mexican” bao — pretty awesome.

Beef Cheek, semolina, leeks. Soft of like a lightly Mexican short ribs and polenta, but light and way better. Great texture too.

Raspberry, ginger. Bright and amazing.

Olive oil, grapefruit, campari, pistachio, fennel. Amazing dessert. Loved the unusual combos.

Caramel, chocolate, sesame, pineapple, rosemary. More odd combos that totally worked. I made the rosemary pineapple thing into my own sorbetto a few weeks later.

Special red chocolate and other snacks.

Nice touches.

We went back to the “bar” area for after dinner drinks. Interesting stuff. I have to get some of the right hand (herbal) thing for gelato use.

Overall Rogue really was fabulous. The service and overall experience was great. Very intimate and interesting. And the food was amazing and very experimental in a good way. On this particular visit we had a lot of Mexican influences reminding me somewhat of Hoja Santa. And overall, the food felt very modernist Spanish, or maybe that’s just because it was modernist. But it was supremely well executed. And since everything changes every week, we will have to go back soon.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more Foodie Club reviews.

Related posts:

  1. Foodie Club at Spago
  2. Newest Oldest Sushi
  3. Crash Bandicoot Reunion
  4. Molti Marino
  5. James Beard at 71Above
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Cocktail, Foodie Club, modernist, Rogue, Wine, Wolfgang Puck

Food as Art – Vespertine

Apr30

Restaurant: Vespertine

Location: 3599 Hayden Ave, Culver City, CA 90232. (323) 320-4023

Date: March 21, 2018

Cuisine: Modern Nordic Art Food?

Rating: Excellent experience

_

Vespertine is a very unusual confluence of all sorts of artsy weirdness. It’s helmed by Jordan Kahn formerly of Red Medicine and currently of Destroyer across the street. I’ve long been fond of Jordan’s unique culinary style.


First of all, we have the bizarre building which seemingly was built (like much of this section of Culver City) without purpose and is now is host to the restaurant — only! I had an office across the street for 2 years as well, back when I founded Flektor.

In the back yard, so to speak, is this gigantic steel cactus tower. Yes, everyone needs an expensive cactus tower. And there are kooky modern gardens.
This one we even use for our final course (but more on that later).

The attractive but perhaps impractical bar area on the ground floor doesn’t seem to have much (any?) use and we just hung out here for 2 minutes waiting for our party to assemble and then headed upstairs.

Where Jordan greeted us personally — which is actually a nice touch and the whole experience most certainly feels like both a passion project and surprisingly intimate.

Above the dining room is the entire kitchen floor. We didn’t (couldn’t?) hang out here long but it looked sweet (and immaculate).

The open roof deck (which feels like inside) is a sort of lounge floor where the meal began.

 Everything is very “moody” with the scent of fir trees and soft spa music. In fact it’s sort of like “spa the meal”. Or maybe “gallery the meal.”

This “course” consisted of a fir (as in tree) flavored cocktail and some sort of similar tea. The cocktail in particular was excellent.

No menu was provided and the food is abstract, so my descriptions will be vague. This “dip” consisted of some hummus like whip covered in leaves. Photography was a serious challenge her as things were SO DARK, lit only by candlelight, and there was no flash allowed. Or tripod (in the dining room) or camera clicks or beeps!!! A kind of dried vegetable/fruit matter of sorts — actually dried kelp if I remember correctly — hung on our tree and we used it to dip into the dip. Odd as this was, it tasted rather lovely.

Then came a brown impossible to photograph thing. I think it was a savory burnt onion cookie stuffed with jam (blackcurrent?). It tasted good.

And a brown thing covered by a white soft thing in vague leaf shapes. No recall. Interesting textures. Tasted good too.
Now we moved on down to the cool dining room, nearly temple-like in its silence — except for the spacey spa music and the sound of wooden spoons scraping on expensive stoneware plates.

Pairing with this food was a challenge so we leaned toward champagne.

Erick brought: 1976 Drappier Champagne Carte d’Or Brut. 95 points. Rustic, PN character to this recently disgorged champagne. Nose of carrots, beetrots, raisins. A bit of damp basement as well, but this evidently comes from the aging. Leathery feel in the mouth, raisins as well. Very good and certainly with character, but lacking in elegance or precision. Though, has nice complexity.

I 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.

This space age green disk was frozen peas?

On top of english peas? Delicious actually and a neat combo of textures and temperatures. Maybe a little too cold.

Savory rice pudding with flowers and trout roe. Actually tasted great. Mix of creamy and crunchy texture. Jordan LOVES these “shadowy” bowls where you can barely see the food. Serious photographic challenge in a room with very little light, no flash, no tripod, no shutter noises. I had to use the single tiny spotlight over our table and some creative positioning to even get a glimpse of the dish. And you can tell from my minimalist descriptions that the verbal brief conveyance of the contents of the dishes does not return to my consciousness when looking at the photos. My mind thinks of this as the “creamy white one with yellow.”

Our pale tinted wines.
 White asparagus and accompaniments. Very pretty plating.

Hidden by leaves.

Can’t remember what the substance was. The picture does not doo much to jog my memory.

Kale & crab — maybe. Served in a Lucio Fontana style container, this creamy mix reveals the truth that Jordan likes black and white — with the occasional splotch of color. There was kale (maybe) and crab definitely. It was actually quite good but had a dusty (dehydrated?) texture and the leaves tickled my throat. Wine wise, we progressed to Larry’s 1992 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Landonne. 94 points. Lovely soft tannins, beautifully structured and very well made in a so called “lesser” vintage. Short to medium length.

Herby turkey. This special heirloom New England turkey was wrapped in herbs and then revealed.

It was dressed with sauce.

And sprinkled with flowers. It was really fabulous turkey, some of the best I’ve ever had. Perfectly moist and with a very evocative herbal/sweet quality.

Close up.

Fish hidden in greens?

Lamb. I remember this was somehow lamb.

Not that you’d recognize it or anything.

Lavender spray goo? The first dessert. This sweet, marshmallow stuff was sprayed on the bowl. Very thin too and you had to really work to scrape it off. I thought it was delicious though.

Roast carrots somehow reinterpreted as a dessert. Good too, but not as good as the purple goo.

The wheel of modernism turns on.

Herbs and granite wheel? VERY hard to photo in shadow there and I resorted (because it was the last dish) to sneaking on the light on my phone.

We got the scent that pervades the restaurant as a parting gift!

And a little picnic in the garden. It was so dark that I almost lost my sh*t. Only seem here because I had a floodlight in my bag!

Dates maybe under leaves.

We almost ate the ashtray.

Fresh currents. Au currant. Chestnuts? Blackberries. Or maybe some more exotic nordic variant.

Overall, this was a great experience and very interesting. Quirky though. The building was amazing and the staff was very friendly. But there were a lot of rules. No this, no that. No noise (Jordan likes it quite so you can here his repetitive spa music very clearly). The no shutter/beep thing is a little harsh. The spoons scraping on stoneware plates was far louder than the shutter. Even the (difficult to locate) soap in the bathroom had the same scent.

In fact, everything was scented. Smells like spa. Sounds like spa. Looks like art.

For something so visual and aesthetic, it was very difficult to photograph — or even see you food. Everything was hidden. Hidden by darkness. Hidden by shadowy deep containers. Hidden by flowers or leaves. You can see that my descriptions were vague as they give you no menu to remember them by.

The tastes were actually very good. Central in these dishes is textural and temperature contrast and play. They do taste good, but they have a very interesting textural quality — much like complex salad. So many leaves and flowers in fact that you feel like a bunny rabbit. Fibre content was excellent. But seriously, they did mostly taste very good. Subtle flavors, but harmonious. If you are a narrow eater though the “I can’t tell what I’m eating” or “this doesn’t look or feel like it tastes” factor might put you off. Not me. I enjoyed that.

Jordan has moved on a bit from his Elfin dining period to an even more conceptual space where while still covered in flowers and leaves things look less naturalistic and more mannered.

Completely unique. An experience. They can’t possibly be making money but they CARE really deeply. Despite the odd modernism, it did not come off as cold at all because the passion was very clear. The chef was there as a presence both in person and in the food and they were all very friendly. A few less rules maybe though.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Culver City, food-as-art, Jordan Kahn, modernist, Vespertine

Destroyer!

Dec07

Restaurant: Destroyer

Location: 3578 Hayden Ave, Culver City, CA 90232

Date: December 1, 2016

Cuisine: Modernist / Scandinavian

Rating: Cool daytime only spot

_

When we last checked in with chef Jordan Kahn he was playing host to Elrond’s table at Red Medicine.

Now he’s got a new place in Culver City, literally 100 yards from the old Flektor.com office I had 2006-2008. The area is filled with the weird and modern.

It’s called Destroyer and it’s breakfast and lunch only.

The decor is minimalist, and Scandinavian modern.

The menu is projected on the wall!

Here is the crazy master himself, looking intense.

This is a place about the small details, and this coffee “mug” is no exception.

The place is QSV, you order at the counter.

And more lovely details.

spice bread,creme fraiche,black currant,elderflower. Looks awesome. Kinda tasted awesome too, like scones and clotted cream — except for the weird moss. That was only for texture and just kinda interesting.

organic hen egg,crispy potato, mushroom. Very elfin, but delicious too. Fascinating textures.

The wall changed to lunch.

beef tartare,smoked egg cream, pickled mushroom,radish. Lovely!

And the meat was hiding underneath. My least favorite of the items, but still good.
 Frozen pear mousse, tonka, salted almond. Great textures, nice bright flavors.

Overall, this was a really neat little place. Just kinda fun. Fun flavors. Fun textures. Fun attention to detail. I’ll definitely be back.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Ford’s Filling Station
  2. Quick Eats – AR Cucina
  3. Sambar – Briefly Modern Indian
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Destroyer, elfin, Jordan Kahn, modernist, Scandinavian
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