Archive for Restaurant Review – Page 3

Takao Sushi Taking Off!

Aug16

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

Location: 11656 San Vicente Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90049. (310) 207-8636

Date: August 6, 2011

Rating: 9/10 creative “new style” sushi

I’ve already covered Takao in some detail HERE and then separately here, here, and here, but we went back (we go often) and I built another “custom omakase” trying some different things. The full menu and some information on the history of the place can be found through the first link.

As you can see comparing this to the other Takao meals, you my dear readers, come first, as I ordered completely differently for your vicarious enjoyment.

After my spectacular N/Naka Kaiseki meal and its really good sakes I decided to up my sake game. This is the cheapest of the “shaved rice” sakes on the menu at Takao. It was good, not as good as the two amazing ones at N/Naka (Takao has half a dozen “better” ones too), but good.

The chefs at work. Takao himself was cutting for me tonight.

Scallop sashimi. I do love my japanese scallops. There was sea salt to dip them in too.

Toro tartar with caviar. I just can’t resist.

Spanish Mackerel chopped with scallions. Very tasty!

Squid, two ways. On the left normal. And on the right I’m not sure, but it there was a sour (and I mean sour) plum sauce (above left) to dip it in. Same sauce as I had the other day at Kiriko.

Mysterious grilled bit of sea creature. Soft and chewy, not bad.

Grilled Alaskan king crab legs. A sprig of pickled ginger.

On the left Uni (sea urchin) and on the right Ikura (salmon roe).

Fresh water eel with the sweet BBQ sauce.

And then a winter mushroom miso to finish.

For more LA area sushi, see here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Alaskan king crab fishing, Atlantic Spanish mackerel, Brentwood, California, Caviar, Fish and Seafood, Japanese cuisine, Kaiseki, Los Angeles, Omakase, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Sea urchin, Sushi, Takao

More Drago – Via Alloro

Aug14

Restaurant: Via Alloro

Location: 301 N. Canon Drive – Beverly Hills, CA 90210. Phone: 310.275.2900

Date: August 5, 2011

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Very nice

The Drago brothers have an ever expanding little empire going in Beverly Hills. This includes Il Pastaio, Enoteco Drago, Piccolo Paradiso, and Il Buco. Plus several others on the westside, the valley, downtown etc. I’ve reviewed Celestino Drago’s flagship Drago and I’ve been to most, all are very good.

Via Alloro is new, managed by brothers Giacomino and Tanino, and only two blocks from Il Pastaio. We decided to grab a quick lunch there and check it out.

Lots of good choices on this menu. The PDF.

Excellent bread as at all Drago restaurants.

A slightly different take on fried zucchini flowers. Stuffed with ricotta and mozzarella. Then served over a light tomato sauce.

“Vitello Tonnao. Chillded veal in tuna sauce, with parmesan and capers.” This was damn good, with the very tasty zesty salty sauce really bringing out the flavor of the meat.

Lots of great pastas here — no surprise. “Homemade ravioli filled with sweet corn, served with truffle fondue.” Hard to beat that.

And “Saliccie al forno. baked sausage with mama Drago’s stew.” This is a very Southern Italian dish and I have to say it’s the best Italian sausage I’ve even had. Incredibly succulent, with fennel, and a very bright and zesty “gravy.”

Expresso to recover!

Off to a great start on the latest BH Drago Italian. I’ll have to come back for a more extensive dinner.

Click here to see Eating Italy posts.

Or for more LA Restaurants.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beverly Hills California, Cooking, Drago, Giacomino Drago, Home, Italian cuisine, Italian sausage, Italy, Los Angeles, Pastaio, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Tanino Drago, Via Alloro

Shamshiri Grill

Aug11

Restaurant: Shamshiri Grill

Location: 1712 Westwood Blvd. Los Angeles, Ca 90024 (310) 474-1410

Date: July 31, 2011

Cuisine: Persian

Rating: One of my favorite Iranian restaurants

Shamshiri is one of my favorite Iranian restaurants on the westside — and we certainly have an embarrassment of riches in this flavorful cuisine.

It’s located on Westwood Blvd right in the heart of Westwood.

I forgot to photo the bread, but in traditional person manner it’s accompanied by butter, radish, mint, and onions.

This is an appetizer combo platter: “A Family Size platter of Dolmeh, Baba Ganoush, Mast o’khiar, Humus and Falafel.” ALl good.

The regular “greek style” salad that is often an option with many dishes.

Parker gives this interesting Italian 92 points. “The 2008 Ramitello, a blend of 80% Montepulciano and 20% Aglianico, boasts fabulous clarity and freshness, with layers of vibrant dark cherries and plums that meld together with notable grace. Smoke, tar, menthol and licorice develop in the glass, giving the wine even more dimensions of expression. This is a terrific effort from Di Majo Norante. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2013.”

I ordered a side of yogurt with cucumber (and nuts and raisons). I’m obsessed with these yogurt sauces, I just love them, especially with grilled meats.

This is a vegan falafel wrap with humus.

“FRESH FILLET OF SALMON KABOB. Mesquite grilled Salmon Fillet (Atlantic Premium).” With french fries. I doubt this is very traditional, but it is pretty good.

Same goes with this Persian Pizza my son enjoyed.

Most dishes come with an obscene amount of good fluffy Persian rice.

This is one of my favorite Iranian dishes. “FESENJAN. Sweet-n-tart Walnut puree in Pomegranate Sauce
and your choice to Add Chicken, Lamb Shank or Veal.” In this case chicken. It’s superb here. The sauce is rich and simutaneously nutty, spiced (but not spicy), sweet, and tangy.

“GHORMEH SABZI. Fresh green Herbs, sautéed and stewed with Kidney Beans, dried lime and your choice to Add Chicken, Lamb Shank, or Veal.” Another great stew, eaten over rice.

“BAMIEH. Stew of Okra with Onions, Potatoes and Mushrooms in a Saffron tomato sauce. Served with your choice to Add Chicken, Lamb Shank, or Veal.” And another

And Shamshiri has a selection of fantastic kabobs. I particularly love the ground beef and lamb. They have these special chickens too that must be the size of Labradors because there are chicken breasts that are like 15″ long!

All and all, good stuff.

Click here to see more LA Food posts.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Baba ghanoush, Chicken, Cooking, Dolma, Falafel, FESENJAN, Iranian, Iranian cuisine, Los Angeles, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Shamshiri Grill, Stew, Westwood

Villetta – More Italian in Brentwood?

Aug10

Restaurant: Villetta

Location: 246 26th Street. Santa Monica, CA 90402. 310-394-8455

Date: July 30 & Nov 18, 2011

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Very good, but prices are steep

One of the great mysteries of the culinary universe is how Brentwood in general, and San Vicente in particular, is able to support so many Italian restaurants. Every time someplace closes and resets it comes back Italian! The only other option in the entire town are 3 Japanese and a couple chains (CPK and Cheesecake — but you all know I don’t eat chains).

This gorgeous 1920s space used to be Chez Mimi, an old school French place that my wife and I used to eat at quite a bit.

It’s still very cute with a little bar inside.

A quaint dining room.

And most importantly a lovely patio. I had been trying for about three weeks to get into this new place but it was always booked on opentable.com, so we just showed up at 6:15 and had no trouble getting a “bar seat” in the patio.

They give you to start faggioli (Tuscan white beans) mashed with garlic and salt, and drizzled in olive oil. For such a simple thing, it’s surprisingly delicious. You can see the old school version here in florence about half way down the post.

The bread, two types.

The wine list was a bit odd. Three quarters New World. Which for an Italian restaurant is strange. They also had no half bottles (boo hiss) so I had to get glasses, which is expensive. The pours were generous though. This is a decent Amarone (but $25 a glass!).

And a Pinot Grigio from the Venato. I’d never drink Ca wine with Italian when there are so many great wines from the boot.

The menu.

“Villetta ‘Caprese’ with heirloom tomatoes, bufala mozzarella, basil pesto and grilled bread.” Villetta claims to be farmer’s market driven, and you can see that here in this lovely caprese. Very high quality ingredients.

Same goes with the “burrata, prosciutto, cherry tomatoes and bruschetta.” These were good enough tomatoes that I was able to put aside my nightshade aversion and eat half of them. Nice prosciutto too, probably from parma.

“ravioli with zucchini and chive blossoms and sweet corn.” Also very nice homemade pasta. Very straight up but delicious butter-sage sauce. Note though that this is the large ($25) portion.

On a different night, a very similar pasta filled with slightly different vegetables as was more appropriate to the season (late autumn).

“Mezze maniche with hot and sweet sausage, peas, tomato, and cream.” This is basically a sausage ragu. The pasta was very al dente (good) and the sauce was pretty wonderful.

“Santa Barbara spot prawns with salad of borlotti beans, mizuna and orange citronette.” These were pretty darn delicious. Even the beans underneath were incredibly good with garlic and olive oil. Again this is the large ($50!) portion. You can see the Ligurian version of this same dish here.

“Grilled Sonoma lamb leg with fresh flageolet beans and eggplant caponata.” The meat itself was pretty spectacular and cooked perfectly.

I had to order this red from Campagnia to go with it too.

A little free watermelon sorbet to cleanse the palette.

And on a different night it was orange sorbet, much like a granite or Italian ice.

The dessert menu.

“Chocolate chip cookie sundae with vanilla and chocolate gelato, whipped cream and chocolate sauce.” This was delicious. I don’t think the ice cream was actually gelato though — but it was good. I’d put good money on it coming from Sweet Rose Creamery across the street as it had the same kind of consistency.

Overall, the food at Villetta was first rate. Really good actually, and the service was very friendly too (not super fast, but warm). The prices however are high. They also have what looks to be some really good pizza, as they have a full wood fired pizza oven and a chef from Napoli, but we didn’t try it. So I’d put this in the same category with Capo, Georgio Baldi, and Vincente of excellent but overpriced westside Italian.

Click here to see more Italian than you can shake a stick at.

Or more LA restaurants.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Amarone, Brentwood, Buffalo mozzarella, California, Dessert, Insalata Caprese, Italian cuisine, Los Angeles, New World, Olive oil, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Restaurants and Bars, San Vicente, Santa Monica California, Villetta

Ozumo – Japan invades the Mall

Aug09

Restaurant: Ozumo

Location: 395 Santa Monica Place Santa Monica, CA 90401 T: 424.214.5130

Date: July 15, 2011

Cuisine: Modern Japanese / Sushi

Rating: Good

ANY CHARACTER HERE

I’ve been slowly working my way through the new Santa Monica Place Mall dining scene. Which surprisingly, isn’t bad. Not brilliant either, but not bad. They’ve populated the mall with six or so small chain corporate places (restaurant groups of 2-4 restaurants each). These are never quite as good as sole (and chef owned) establishments, but they are better than big chains — barf! So far I’ve reviewed Xino, Zengo, and La Sandia. Now it’s time for the Japanese, Ozumo.

The interior space is large.

With multiple parts and a real sushi bar.

The dinner menu can be found here.

We ordered this decent (but not exactly on the level of this) cold sake. They did have a lot of expensive sakes on the menu, so some of them might be amazing.

“Kinoko Miso Soup. Nameko, shiitake and enoki mushrooms in a rustic Koji miso soup with negi.” A nice miso variant. I liked all the mushroom action.

“Hanabi. Slices of hamachi and avocado drizzled with a warm ginger and jalapeño ponzu sauce.” This is their interpretation of the classic Nobu dish. Everyone has it now. This version was a tad overdone, throwing in a few more elements and disguising the fish. But at the same time it was tasty and nothing clashed.

“Special heirloom tomato salad.”

Toro sashimi. I’m trying to low carb it so I’ve been doing more sashimi. This was good toro, but it reinforced my conclusion that this Rolls Royce of fish does better as sushi than as sashimi. Somehow it’s fat content needs the rice as a foil.

“Yiya Yakko. Chilled silken tofu, fresh ginger, negi and tamari shoyu.”

Here are the traditional sauces. The tofu itself was perfect. And truth is this is exactly how I’ve gotten it in Japan. The problem is that the straight up soy sauce is a little bland for the tofu. This is a flaw in the classic dish, not the restaurant. The deadly hot Korean version I had recently at Moko was tastier — and vastly more nose shattering.

Some various sashimi. Salmon, scallop, albacore. This was all good, although not ‘amazing,’ I’d say 8/10 on the fish meter.

“Yamabuki. Fresh uni, shimeji and shiitake mushrooms in a healthy Genmai brown rice risotto.” This made me suspend my “low carbing” for a dish. I would have liked more uni (sea urchin) as there are only two tiny pieces. The risotto itself was very good. It tasted more “healthy” and brown rice than a classic Italian version, which would have been slightly yummier. But it did have great texture, particularly with the mushrooms. Overall a very pleasant dish.

Here is the other bar, which is ‘first come first serve.’ These mall places are huge though, and as of yet there is no problem getting into any of them even at prime time.

They even have some cool outside seating, although not as nice as Xino or Zengo’s patios which are fantastic.

Overall, Ozumo is good. I’d probably rate it 7/10. The food was quite good. The service, like all the mall places, needs some work. I think they hire too many young inexperienced servers. The food’s not as good as many of LA’s other top sushi joints, but it’s solid (remember I’m a serious sushi snob), and considerably better (and cheaper) than over trendified mediocre fish joints like Katsuya Brentwood or Sushi Roku. As far as the mall goes, it’s in the league with Xino and Zengo, and certainly better than La Sandia.

Click here to see more LA sushi posts.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Asian, California, Cook, Hanabi, Japanese cuisine, Los Angeles, Mall, Miso soup, Ozumo, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Santa Monica California, Santa Monica Place, Sashimi, Sushi

Room with a Vu

Aug06

Restaurant: Vu [1, 2]

Location: 14160 Palaway Way, Marina del Rey, CA 90292 310.439.3033

Date: July 28 & 30, 2011

Cuisine: Modern

Rating: Interesting, but a little all over the place

ANY CHARACTER HERE

My brother and I were out for our weekly lunch adventure and after Gjelina had a 45 minute wait we made our way to Vu, which I had tried a couple months ago for dinner.

Vu does live up to its name, sporting a nice patio with an excellent view of the marina.

I was a little surprised to find the lunch menu, PDF here, a bit “more conventional” than the modern tapas centric dinner menu.

Bread.

“Grilled Polenta: Asparagus, tomato, pickled red onion, aged balsamic.”

“Green Curry Soup: Mussels, coconut boba, micro cilantro.” This was quite good. Fairly spicy, coconuty, definably rich. The mussels, boba, and pork lumps inside were like little prizes to hunt for.

“Seared King Cole Duck Breast Salad: mixed greens, goat cheese, dried cherries, chocolate-spiced cashews, red wine vinaigrette.” This was pretty tasty, the duck was good, and the various elements. But the mix was overall a little weird. I’m pretty sure there was sisho in the greens, as they had that distinct flavor. Now I like sisho, but the overall flavor profile of the dish was a little helter-skelter.

“Blue Crab Cakes: charred tomato, orange, brioche bread crumbs, pickled red onion, mache, mustard ice cream.” These crab-cakes were way over fried, and inside they were stuffed with tarragon. So much so that they tasted like tarragon cakes. This wasn’t ideal, masking the crab flavor (as did the heavy fry). No where near in the league of the crab-cakes from Houstons or Capo.

I also popped down to Vu two days after this with my toddler from some brunch as we were already in the Marina.

The brunch menu can be found here.

Pancakes. Pretty conventional. I think the syrup was vanilla syrup, which was tasty.

My son likes a mix in with strawberries.

“Lobster Omelette: asparagus, shaved fennel, niman ranch pork belly, pommery hollandaise, home fries.” This wasn’t bad at all, but the overall flavor profile was again a little weird. The sour mustard clashed a bit with the sweetness of the pork and lobster.

Some VERY good fries, with a cumin based seasoning on them.

And some fantastic Neiman ranch bacon. Really really good bacon.

Overall Vu is trying interesting stuff, but the chef is too wild with his palette. I’m all for crazy and interesting combinations and new modern techniques — really all over them — but they need to be employed with care. Dishes still have to work together harmoniously, which isn’t really going on here.

Click here to see the previous review of Vu.

or other LA restaurants.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Beach, Breakfast, Brunch, Cooking, crab, Crab cake, crab cakes, Fish and Seafood, Green Curry, Marina del Rey California, Modern Cuisine, Pancakes, Red onion, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Sandwiches, Vu

Kiriko Sushi

Aug05

Restaurant: Kiriko Sushi [1, 2]

Location: 11301 Olympic Blvd #102, West Los Angeles, CA 90064. TELL (310) 478-7769

Date: July 8 & 21, Sept 21, 2011

Cuisine: Japanese / Sushi

Rating: Very nice!

ANY CHARACTER HERE

At our giant Go Sushi love-fest one of my Foodie Club members suggested I check out this Sawtelle sushi joint. He said it was great. Twist my arm! So I finagled a business lunch there (didn’t have to twist the other arms very hard either).

The unassuming storefront on the corner of Olympic and Sawtelle, right next to the Yakatori place.

This first time we ordered a light Omakase, almost all sashimi with a little sushi.

Omakase 1

The classic Japanese salad with the yummy textured dressing. I forgot either of my real cameras and had to make due with the iPhone 4 (sorry). It really doesn’t do too bad a job if you have adequate light and turn off the flash. That little LED has a range of about 12 inches and isn’t good for much.

Miso soup, the usual sort. They had about four kinds on the menu though.

Amberjack on the left, and halibut on the right with a gelatinous but yummy “sauce.”

From left to right: albacore with garlic chips, baby red snapper, and mackerel with onion and similar. All very good and excellent preparation.

On the left, kanpachi (young yellowtail), taco (octopus), and on the right Japanese scallops with pesto. I hate eating octopus because it’s such a smart animal, but these were some of the most tender and succulent bits of cephalopod I’ve yet had. THe scallop was also fantastic, with the light pesto adding a unique flavor without marring the subtle sea taste.

Left to right: Sock-eye salmon (light sauce), seared albacore, and golden eye snapper. The snapper almost tasted like lobster or something.

On the left: Big eye tuna and yellowtail, in the middle sea bream with salt and on the right homemade smoked salmon. All were great, but the bream and the salmon really stood out.

Sushi, left to right: Tuna, yellowtail, sea bream (with salt), and homemade salmon. This plate was served at the same time as the similar sashimi plate above.

Blue crab handroll. Overstuffed and on par with the Sasabune ones.

I went back two weeks later and ordered a more elaborate sashimi omakase, which is mixed in here with a simpler sushi/sashimi one. This time I had the medium camera so the pictures are better.

Omakase 2

Some couple million year-old sea salt rocks on the counter.

The chef at work.

The salad.

Regular miso.

Red miso, which is saltier and richer.

Octopus, salmon wrapped mango with caviar, and on the right boiled eel with plum sauce. The eel was interesting. It didn’t have much flavor (being boiled) but the sauce was very tart, tasting intensely of sour Japanese plum (which it was).

The same thing but with an oyster instead of the octopus.

A sashimi plate, left to right. Wild kanpachi (young yellowtail) with pesto, gel, and jalepeno. Albacore with garlic chips, abalone sea salt. Halibut with ponzu gel. These gels (slightly sweet, interesting texture) are something unique to Kirko (in my experience).

A sushi plate. Crab handroll, BBQ eel, salmon, yellowtail and halibut.

A sashimi plate that I forgot to photo until after I had eaten several items. We have starting in the lower left and heading clockwise. Tai (Red snapper) with sea salt. Chu-toro. Santa Barbara spot prawn, live head and raw body (eaten). Japanese scallop with pesto.

The head was so alive it was still moving. Click this image for a video.

Then he came back fried. Most certainly dead this time.

A sashimi plate of four kinds of salmon. Left to right: Sock eye smoked. Sock eye fresh. King salmon smoked. King salmon fresh. All good.

Japanese scallop sushi, with a bit of salt and yuzu.

More sashimi. Squid with spicy cod roe. Seared Japanese Mackerel. Seam bream with yuzu.

Omakase 3

This is another “sushi and sashimi” lunch omakase.

Soup and salad.

Seared snapper, monk fish liver with jelly, and halibut.

Albacore, seared and raw. Amberjack, wild yellowtail with jelly in front and sea bream in back right.

Salmon sashimi.

Bluefin tuna, wild yellowtail, sea bream, and salmon sushis.

Scallop and Uni (sea urchin) sushi.

A top grade blue crab hand-roll.

Overall, I was very impressed with Kiriko. Not only was the fish fantastic but they had very nice modern presentation and were doing some interesting stuff with the fish without going all weird and California. I’d put it in that grade of 9/10 LA sushi, which is saying a lot as our sushi is so fantastic.

Click here to see more LA Sushi posts.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Amberjack, Asian, Cooking, Fish and Seafood, Japanese, Japanese cuisine, Kiriko Sushi, Los Angeles, Omakase, raw fish, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Sashimi, Sushi

Moko

Aug04

Restaurant: Moko

Location: 9540 Culver Blvd. Culver City, Ca. (310) 838-3131

Date: July 9, 2011

Cuisine: Modernized Korean

Rating: Very tasty — Spicy!

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Moko is a newly opened Korean bar/restaurant serving very modernized variants using a Korean palette of flavors. This is to Korean as Red Medicine is to Vietnamese.

The pleasant but industrial space in the heart of Culver City’s bustling downtown.

The have the BBQ in the table, and there is an extensive section of the menu for ordering meats and vegetables to cook here — we didn’t do that on this visit.

An amuse of three “salads.” Left to right: “Watermelon Namul with tasted almonds chile, shiso and ginger,” followed by “Kong Maul, mixed sporuts with spring onions sesame and soy,” and on the right “Market Radish Namul, sweet ginger and pineapple mint.”

“Spicy Smash, Tequila Silver, lime juice, agave & cucumber, Thai basil, serrano.” This is one of those spicy specialty cocktails that has popped up all over the place lately. It was good, with a long serrano burn.

“Tai Snapper, asian pear jus and pickled ginger.” Sweet and lovely.

“Big Eye Tuna, yuzu, soy, and blood orange.” Also a really good presentation of the fish with complex flavor profiles.

“Sesame Duck Confit, sweet lettuces and mango with ginger aioli and chipotle jang wrapped in jjin bahng.” This was amazingly tasty. The smokey duck, the sweet fruit, and the tang of some pickles paired perfectly — and there was all sorts of texture going on.

“Green Chili Pork Sausage, pineapple and butter lettuces with ssam jang wrapped in jjin bahang.” Also great. The sausage thing tasted amazing.

“Asian Pear and Kholrabi Salad, pea shoots and perilla with mustard vinaigrette.” Pretty spicy!

“Heirloom tomatos, green beans, soy ginger vinaigrette.”

“Silken Tofu, ginger dashi broth.” Wasabi in the sauce was incredibly hot. Hotter even than atomic horseradish. My nose hurt for an hour. Each bite made me sneeze. I finished it all.

“Kimchi eggplat dumplings, mushrooms and silken tofu with pine-nut mustard dipping sauce.” Very tasty too, and not too spicy.

“Wagyu Beef Roseu Pyeonchae, truffle scented seared beef carpaccio with asian pear and arugula salad.” This was one of the blander dishes. The meat was succulent, but I felt the dish could use a little more zing.

“Pan Friend Duck and Foie Gras dumplings with sour cherry dipping sauce.” Incredible potstickers. Some of the best I’ve even had — foie gras! The sauce was really good too.

“Soju Cured Salmon, crisp potato pancakes with pickled onions and ginger cream.” Sort of a giant potato latke with salmon and creme fraiche. Pretty tasty.

Moko certainly had strong flavors, and I for the most part loved them. A lot of dishes were quite spicy, more than I would have expected (and I have a pretty high tolerance). So several hours later I’m still feeling the burn.

Check out some other modernized Asians like Red Medicine or Xino.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Cooking, Culver City, Culver City California, Duck Confit, Food, Fruits and Vegetables, Ginger, Korean cuisine, Los Angeles, Moko, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Tofu, Wasabi

Eating Santa Margherita – Pizzeria Santa Lucia

Aug02

Restaurant: Pizzeria Santa Lucia

Location: Santa Margherita, Italy

Date: June 29, 2011

Cuisine: Ligurian / Pizza

Rating: Good pizza

ANY CHARACTER HERE

On our last night in Italy (/cry) we wanted an early and quick meal prior to getting up at 4am the next morning. So I asked the hotel staff where they went for pizza and they all voted Santa Lucia as their favorite.

It’s located in the heart of the eastern marina, inside a cluster of many restaurants.

The menu.

The have a pleasant little patio. It was also just across the street from the Carousel, so I took my 2 year-old son while we waited.

On my last night I was a bad boy and ordered pasta and pizza at the same time! Again the waitress looked at me funny. This is lasagna pesto. Very simple, fresh noodles with fresh pesto and cheese. Simple but good.

The last shredded carrot salad you’ll see for awhile.

Santa Lucia takes its pizza seriously enough to have dedicated knives. Italians almost never serve pizza precut.

Pizza funghi (with mushrooms).

Pizza Margherita, apro pos in this town.

Pizza Prosciutto.

And mine, Pizza di mare. The seafood pizza is always a bit of a gamble, but as we were sitting right on the marina I figured I’d give it a go and I wasn’t disapointed. The briny factor was there (as it should be) but light.

Santa Lucia was a nice little pizza place, not quite as good as Pretorio in Tuscany, but in the three or so best we had on the trip (the third being Pizzeria Notte E Di).

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Carousel, Cooking, eating-italy, Italian cuisine, Italy, Liguria, Pesto, Pizza, Pizzeria Santa Lucia, Prosciutto, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Santa Margherita Ligure

Eating Santa Margherita – dei Pescatori

Aug01

Restaurant: Trattoria dei Pescatori

Location: Santa Margherita, Italy

Date: June 29, 2011

Cuisine: Ligurian

Rating: Solid lunch

ANY CHARACTER HERE

On this particular morning we had actually visited the nearby town of Camogli and wanted to eat lunch there but we fell afoul of that particular Italian (and French and Spanish) pitfall: the extremely narrow lunch hour. Basically you can only sit down to lunch between 12:30 (sometimes even 1) and 2. They just aren’t open any other time. Conversely, nearly all other services shutdown 12-3. In any case, our toddler nap schedule didn’t allow waiting around in Camogli so we went back to Santa Marghertia.

We picked this likely looking place right across from the western marina.

The usual multi-page menu.

And bread.

Their house Vermentino even has their name on it — sort of.

Caprese di buffalo.

Acciughe al limone. Marinated anchovies. I became very fond of this dish last year in Spain. Fresh white anchovies marinated in vinegar. Yum.

Penne pomodoro.

Trenette al pesto. Fettuccine-like pasta with pesto.

Spaghetti pomodoro.

Ravioli di pesce con salsa bianca di San pietro. Ricotta ravioli with white fish sauce.

Ravioli di noce. Ricotta ravioli with walnut pesto. This was the second best implementation of this, good, but not as good as at Antonios.

Overall this was a perfectly pleasant lunch. The pastas were very good.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: anchovies, Caprese, eating-italy, lunch, pasta, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Santa Margherita, Santa Margherita Ligure, Trattoria dei Pescatori

Eating Santa Marghertia – Da Michele

Jul31

Restaurant: Da Michele

Location: Santa Margherita, Italy

Date: June 28, 2011

Cuisine: Ligurian

Rating: Solid

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Another evening pick in central Santa Margherita, just a block away from the previous night’s Antonios.

Right in the main drag.

The outside seating was right on the square/street in front of the restaurant. I wish they did this more in America.

The menu.

Vermentino is one of the better quality local whites.

Seafood anti-pasta. This wasn’t as good as the raw plate the pervious night. But it was certainly tasty enough. This is more traditional, being marinated shellfish for the most part.

Another example of ravioli di noce (in walnut cream sauce). Also good, but not as good as Antonios’s version.

Trofie Genovese. Local pasta twists with pesto, potato and beans.

Tagliatelle ai gamberi, curry e piselli. Noodles with shrimps, curry, and peas. Something a little different, but very good. In it’s own way a little like a dish from Singapore. Maybe it’s the British influence in Santa Margherita.

Sea-bass Genovese. With potatoes, olives, pine nuts. This is the more traditional form.

Scampi all’agro. Shrimp in sweet and sour sauce.

This was basically a butter Vinaigrette, and it was absolutely delicious with the crawfish-like creatures. Finger licking good in fact.

Chocolate mousse.

Tiramisu.

This was a very solid and enjoyable meal. The food was a tiny bit better than La Paranza, but not as elegant or refined as that of neighboring Antonios.

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By: agavin
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Tagged as: Cooking, Da Michele, Dessert, eating-italy, Italian cuisine, Italy, pasta, Pesto, Pine nut, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Santa Marghertia, Santa Marghertia ligure, Sauce, Singapore, Vermentino, Vinaigrette

Eating Santa Margherita – Antonios

Jul30

Restaurant: Antonios

Location: Santa Margherita, Italy

Date: June 27, 2011

Cuisine: Ligurian

Rating: Best we had in Liguria

ANY CHARACTER HERE

I did my best at internet research to pick this restaurant in the heart of “downtown” Santa Margherita. It was #2 on TripAdvisor. Now this is a review source that I take with a block of salt, but in reading the reviews I got the feeling I’d like the place — and I was right.

You can see a hint of the quaint little garden inside. Like the rest of Liguria it was a little steamy, even late at night (the weather was 88 degrees and 100% humidity, shades of my youth in Virginia).

The “pre-bread” which look like donut balls but tasted salty — and delicious. After all, they were fried.

The regular bread.

We started with a romantic glass of “special cocktail,” which was probably more or less a Kir Royale.

A special appetizer of raw seafood. Two types of prawn, tuna tartar, and some yellowtail like lighter fish. It was all delicious and exceedingly fresh.

Another nice local white.

This was a marvelous example of a very traditional ligurian pasta. Cheese inside, with “salsa con le noci” which is a pesto of walnuts, milk, butter, flour and pepper. Totally delicious.

An unusual “seafood lasagna.” This was a fairly typical lasagna with a kind of lobster/shrimp ragu. Also wonderful.

Branzino Genovese. Fresh local sea-bass baked with a thin scallop of potatoes.

This was a fairly simple meal, and only for two (so less photos) but the food was pretty impeccable, showing a light seafoody Italian with just a hint of modernity. All very much to my taste. Bravo.

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By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Antonios, Cinque Terre, Cooking, eating-italy, fish, Italian cuisine, Italy, Liguria, Olive oil, pasta, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Santa Margherita Ligure, TripAdvisor, Virginia

Food as Art – N/Naka

Jul29

Restaurant: N/Naka [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Location: 3455 S. Overland Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90034. 310.836.6252

Date: July 22, 2011

Cuisine: Modern Kaiseki

Rating: Awesome

N/Naka opened only three months ago. It’s the brainchild of chef/owner Niki Nakayama and is a rare entry (along with Urwasawa) in the Kaiseki category of Japanese. This is a traditional style of extended meal of small highly ornate dishes that is simultaneously traditional and modern. Originally it was a form of Imperial cuisine from Kyoto, but in the hands of Nakayama it’s received a bit of a modernist twist ala infusions of ideas and techniques from Ferran Adrià, the Spanish genius responsible for many modernist trends in cooking.

The unassuming frontage is on Overland just south of the 10 freeway.

Inside is minimalist, Japanese inspired, and very attractive.

Small attractive details are very Japanese.

Be warned, this restaurant has no ala carte menu at all (yay!). There are three options. A 10-13 course Modern Kaiseki, a nine course smaller Kaiseki (still long), and a ten course Vegetarian Tasting. All three options can be coupled with wine pairings. Below I will present the long Modern Kaiseki and the Vegetarian.

Modern Kaiseki (w/ wine pairings)

Graham beck sparkling, south africa. A nice dry champagne style pinot.

Saki Zuke

(A pairing of something common and something unique)

Cauliflower tofu, marinated salmon roe, uni butter, micro greens.

A wonderful blend of textures and flavors. The tufo was soft and gelatinous, the uni is… well uni-like, and the bits of Ikura (salmon roe) burst in the mouth as little flavor morsels. Delicious.

2008 — brooks riesling, williamette valley, oregon.

Zensai

(Main seasonal ingredient presented as an appetizer)

Soft shell crab, avocado sphere, scallop “dynamite”

Seared bluefin toro avocado rice, miso marinated black cod

Soft shell crab, avocado sphere, red pepper sorbet. The nicely friend crab and the sorbet played nicely off each other.

miso marinated black cod. Pretty much the Matsuhisa classic!

Seared bluefin toro avocado rice, caviar. Seared toro is always good, nice pairing.

scallop “dynamite.” This was pretty delicious. The soft, slightly chewy, bits of scallop played deliciously off the rich dynamite.

2009 — erbaluce di caluso, favar, piedmont, italy. Parker gives this 88 points. “The 2009 Erbaluce di Caluso is an unusual white that in many ways recalls Pinot vinified off the skins. Flowers, red berries and minerals come together nicely on a mid-weight yet generous frame. Clean, mineral notes reappear on the finish, giving the wine its sense of proportion. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2012.”

Modern zukuri

(modern interpretation of sashimi)

Tuna and escolar checkers, ponzu reduction, italian black truffles

A delicious blend of little sashimi cubes and a richer more European sauce, plus the truffles. Very nice.

2010-shesbro roussanne, carmel valley, ca.

Owan “Still Water”

Lobster “shinjo” mousseline, chef’s garden momotaro tomato broth

You break up that little lobster thing into the soup, and eat that way. The soup had a delicious and light tomato dill thing going on, and the lobster added just a touch of richness.

Sake-kimura junmai daiginjo, akita, japan. This was a spectacular sake, tasting strongly of anise. This is the kind of sake where they shave every rice kernel down before making it!

Otsukuri

(Traditional Sashimi )

Big eye otoro, shima aji , sea bream, santa barbara sweet shrimp,

Kumamoto oyster with uni

Some classic sashimi. The fish was all first rate, the wasabi hand ground.

Rw draft sake, suehiro syuzo, aizu japan. This was a fresher, younger sake.

Yakimono

Japan sazae butter yaki with maitake mushrooms

Japanese conch (like we had at Matsuhisa), but even more delicious as it was mixed with really yummy mushrooms and quail egg.

2007 — slumberger gewurstraminer prince abbes. Medium sweet.

Yakimono 2

Foie gras with eggplant, miso balsamic, shiitake mushroom

Double yum! Fois gras done up like BBQ eel (with some eggplant and mushroom).

2009 — elke chardonnay- anderson valley.

Shiizakana

(Not bound by tradition, the chef’s choice dish to be paired with wine)

Spaghetti with abalone, truffles, pickled cod roe, abalone liver sauce

This was a pretty amazing pasta dish, blending east and west. I’m not usually a huge abalone fan (although I have it often enough). It’s usually too chewy, but this wasn’t at all. There was a combined truffle and briny taste to this dish, not unlike a good spaghetti botarga, but also a truffle and butter/liver influenced richness.

2009 — evening land vineyards blue label pinot noir, eola amity hills, oregon. “Evening Land Vineyards is a group headed by movie magnate Mark Tarlov that also owns Pinot vineyards in the Sonoma Coast and Santa Rita Hills and is making wines in Burgundy. They gained control of one of the Willamette Valley’s prized properties, Seven Springs Vineyard, and created an immediate sensation by signing on Dominique Lafon of Comte Lafon in Burgundy as consulting winemaker. The Evening Land group is also making a major effort to restore the health and vitality of Seven Springs. The most recent development is the addition of renowned Master Sommelier Larry Stone as President and GM of the group in August 2010. Over the past 2-3 years there has been an awakening among some of the Willamette Valley’s most distinguished vignerons that their region is capable of producing world class Chardonnay. With Dominique Lafon and Larry Stone on board, there is no question that Evening Lands will be playing a starring role in this drama. There are now two serious Gamay producers in the Willamette Valley, Doug Tunnell of Brick House being the other.”

Niku

Snake river farms kobe beef kushiyaki skewers, baby corn

A small portion of yakaniku, ala Totoraku (see here). Delicious and rich. Not quite the beefy effect of the mega secret beef meal, but a nice note in this complex dinner.

Sunomono

Halibut fin ceviche

Yuzu omoi, yuzu blend sake

A tasty little intermezzo.

Sake- shichida, sago japan. This apparently is an ultra-ultra rare sake.

In the glass. It was darn good. Darn good. So were all the sakes, but I liked this one and the first one the best.

Housemade ginger.

Some traditional sushi. Jeju island hirame, o-toro

yellow tail belly, shima aji

live scallops, uni shinkomaki. Overall the sushi was good, but not quite at the level of the very top dedicated sushi places. Still, it was very very good sushi.

Shokuji

(Rice dish)

sea trout and roe chazuke

It’s traditional to end the savories in Japan with a “rice dish.” On the left we have a very traditional bit of salmon like fish, rice, and nori. Refreshing and stomach settling.

On the right were two pickles cut roll pieces. I loved these. I’m a huge Japanese pickles fan and really enjoy the crunchy vinegar thing.

Dessert

Black sesame crème brulee, fruits

A very nice crème brulee with a soft sesame flavor.

There was also a dessert wine, a light medium sweet late harvest wine, but I forgot to get a photo of it.

Dessert

ice cream on cornbread

Tasted of corn, and ice cream — big surprise. Light and yummy.

Vegetarian Tasting

Saki Zuke

(A pairing of something common and something unique)

Cauliflower Tofu with Truffles

Zensai

(Main seasonal ingredient presented as an appetizer)

Chilled chef’s garden kabocha soup, braised wakame seaweed with shiitake

Lotus root “kinpira”, grilled eggplant, shiso tempura with tofu & avocado

grilled eggplant

braised wakame seaweed with shiitake

shiso tempura with tofu & avocado

Chilled chef’s garden kabocha soup

Lotus root “kinpira”

Modern Zukuri

(Modern interpretation of sashimi)

Compressed watermelon, cucumbers, baby yellow squash, baby zucchini, yuzu

Kimchee air

Otsukuri

(Sashimi )

Arrowroot konyaku, whith konyaku, spinach, kabocha, baby taro

Nanohana ripini, carrots

Owan “Still Water”

Potatoe “shinjo”, chef’s garden momotaro tomato broth

Shiizakana

(Not bound by tradition, the chef’s choice dish)

Spaghetti wild mushrooms, truffles

Yakimono

Lotus root mochi, spinach teppanyaki

avocado, Sushi-eggplant & shiso

shiitake, grilled konyaku

Maitake roll, cucumber and plum

Shokuji

(Rice dish)

ocha zuke with wasabi nori

The desserts were the same as the Modern Kaiseki. Overall a pretty spectacular job of approximating the full range of proteins using only vegetable sources. Vegetarian (or otherwise protein restricted) foodies should delight in this.

I was extremely impressed with N/Naka, and you can bet I’ll be back soon. The food is highly elaborate and offers a full suite of flavors meticulously prepared. I very much enjoy even the fully traditional Kaiseki dinners, but this slightly modernist take was even better. Sometimes chefs with inferior pallets will introduce modernist techniques into traditional meals and create uncomfortable taste pairings. Niki Nakayama clearly has a very sure and confident palette, as I found every dish harmonious and balanced.

I just hope the somewhat adventurous and all-tasting format doesn’t make it difficult for the restaurant to thrive (and I wouldn’t change that at all for myself, but some might be intimidated). I have the feeling that the menu changes up frequently, and is very seasonal, and I hope that’s the case — because I’ll be back! (And I was, click here for a second meal)

Or here for other LA Japanese restaurants.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Avocado, Cook, Cooking, Dessert, Ferran Adrià, Food, food-as-art, Goichi Suda, Japan, Japanese cuisine, Kaiseki, Keiji Inafune, Kyoto, Los Angeles, Miso, Modern Kaiseki, N/Naka, Naka, Omakase, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, sake, Sashimi, Soft-shell crab, Sushi, Truffle (fungus), Wine, Yuji Naka

Eating Cinque Terre – Gianni Franzi

Jul28

Restaurant: Gianni Franzi

Location: Vernazza, Italy

Date: June 27, 2011

Cuisine: Ligurian

Rating: Solid local lunch

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We took a little train ride down to Cinque Terre, a very pretty region of five small towns clustered by the sea.

The second of these is Vernazza, which is accessible only by train or boat. Picturesque as you can see. In typical Italian fashion transport doesn’t really run during lunch so we were forced to stop and eat. I just chose a likely looking place by feel.

The menu.

The patio looks back on the harbor in the above establishing shot.

A caraffe of local white was totally drinkable.

This place puts the pesto on top, which is unusual. This is spaghetti genovese (known here as pesto).

Trofei Genovese.

Seafood ravioli. These were stuffed with fish and in a tomato based fish sauce. Very tasty actually, but not for the landlubber as it had a bit of a briny flavor.

This is minestrone Genovese. The waitress scolded me for ordering it with a pasta dish as there are technically pasta bits in here — but who cares. In any case, this is a very pesto minestrone, and pretty typical of the dish. Good though, as I LOVE pesto and could eat like 10 pastas in one meal.

Overall, a totally satisfying quick little lunch.

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By: agavin
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Tagged as: Cinque Terre, eating-italy, Geographical Areas, Gianni Franzi, Italian cuisine, Italy, Liguria, pasta, Pasta Genovese, Pesto, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Travel and Tourism, Vernazza, Wine

Eating Santa Margherita – La Paranza

Jul27

Restaurant: La Paranza

Location: Santa Margherita, Italy

Date: June 26, 2011

Cuisine: Ligurian

Rating: Straightforward

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This restaurant was around the corner from the hotel, had a typical menu, and appeared very crowded at lunch. So we gave it a try for dinner.

Santa Margherita is really two towns joined at the hip. This is in the center of the western half of the town, which is far smaller than the eastern.

Normal enough inside.

A variety of breads. Some of these have cheese inside.

An amuse in the form of a sheet of fried cheese. Really, who can beat fried cheese?

The endless menu.

This was a very nice (and cheap) light local white. All local wines in Liguria fit the light, cheap, and white descriptors.

Salmone affumicato (smoked salmon). It’s always served with butter in Italy. Go figure.

Tagliata of tuna. I.e. seared tuna with some vegetables.

Antipasto di mare. Mixed seafood appetizer. Smoked salmon on toast. A bit of marinated white anchovies. Some other kind of marinated local fish and a mixed marinated salad of squid, octopus, and shrimps.

Spaghetti pomodoro.

Gnocchi Genovese. This is one of the 2-3 most typical pesto preparations. Pesto in Liguria (where it comes from) is fabulous, but a little different than in the states. It’s milder, but really emphasizes the basil and olive oil. These were nice fluffy gnocchi.

Troffie Genovese. This is THE most typical and traditional form of the dish. Little twists of fresh pasta in pesto with a few green beans and a little bit of sliced potato.

Fritto misto. Various lightly fried shrimps, squids, and mysterious shellfish.

The ubiquitous mixed salad.

Profiteroles. These were stuffed with custard.

Tiramisu.

A few “free” biscuits with the bill.

The bill. Here largely for the restaurant’s address etc.

Each lady got a rose as a parting gift. This kind of stuff is very Italian — if a little touristy.

La Paranza was a good place. Traditional, reasonable, and tasty. But it’s a little staid and straight up, so there are better restaurants in town as you will see in upcoming posts.

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By: agavin
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Tagged as: Cinque Terre, Dessert, eating-italy, Italian cuisine, Italy, La Paranza, Liguria, Olive oil, pasta, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Santa Margherita, Santa Margherita Ligure, smoked salmon

Eating Santa Margherita – Hotel Miramare

Jul25

Restaurant: Grand Hotel Miramare (Dinner)

Location: Santa Margherita, Italy

Date: June 25, 2011

Cuisine: Ligurian

Rating: Old school

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Finally, we enter the final phase of our epic trip: Liguria. This is another seafood area, but quite different than Milano Martittima. Here we are on the Riveria, at the top of the Ligurian Sea instead of the adriatic. Near to France and home to Belle Epoque grandeur.

Our hotel — the white one — the Hotel Miramare, on the western end of this lovely town. We got lazy the first night and decided to try out the hotel restaurant.

And the view from the dining terrace. It sucks to be in the Italian Riveria.

The menu. A slightly unusual fixed price one at that.

An amuse. I can’t for the life of me remember what. The “spoons” are edible bread though.

A nice light white Ligurian wine. I liked the easy-drinking whites in the region. They go well with seafood and don’t last.

Grapefruit juice. Yes, this is a bonafied option for the anti-pasta!

Or instead you could choose these very nice local Morrone fish fillets, marinated with a small salad.

Borraggine herb rolls with egg-plants and buffalo mozzarella. Borraggine is a kind of nettle. The dish was, however, delicious!

Taglierini with local scampi. This is a classic pasta type. Very simple with fresh tomatoes and garlic. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Baked sea-bass in herb flavors. Very nice fish, also local.

Glazed ribs of veal with rosemary. Duchesse potatoes and spinach coupole Mornay. Old school, but tasty.

They also have a full salad bar you can help yourself too. It was fairly extensive but I took it easy and got only simple greens. I’ve never actually seen a salad bar in Italy, and here it was at this five-star hotel! There were also some local cheeses at the salad bar you could grab.

Petite fors.

There was an extensive dessert cart. Sachertorte.

Grandmother’s torte (with pinenuts).

Tiramisu.

Creme Caramel. One of my favorites.

A kind of berries and cream torte.

This was a peculiar and slightly old school restaurant, but the food was tasty, and the view and terrace impeccable. No complaints.

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By: agavin
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Tagged as: Cinque Terre, Cooking, Dessert, eating-italy, Fish and Seafood, France, Grand Hotel Miramare, Home, Hotel, Hotel Miramare, Italian cuisine, Italy, Liguria, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Santa Margherita

Eating Certaldo – Il Castello Certaldo

Jul23

Restaurant: Il Castello Certaldo

Location: Celtaldo, Italy

Date: June 24, 2011

Cuisine: Tuscan

Rating: Nice view, ok food

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Ah, the last meal in Tuscany! (except for breakfast) We took a couple hours to visit the cute little town of Certaldo. The old town is up on a hill and you ascend by funicular. The town was great, but there weren’t a lot of restaurant options. We chose the most likely looking.

At the end of the main drag.

And the dining terrace turned out to have this rather lovely view.

And pretty courtyard.

The menu.

Olive oil and vinegar.

House wine, white.

And red. Both decent, very cheap.

Local meats, including the big one which is a special local salami with saffron in it.

Bresaola with pecorino and arugula.

Marinated mushrooms and artichoke hearts.

The now familiar panzanella. Last time you’ll see it though as we’re leaving Tuscany.

A risotto with vegetables, peculiar in being slightly soupy, but supposedly decent.

A truffle risotto soup (haha, just a soupy risotto). Tasted good though.

Local pasta in pomodoro sauce.

Spaghetti alla carbonara. Not bad, although perhaps not as eggy cheesy as it could have been.

Ravioli with cheese, butter, and sage. Those that ate this felt the ravioli might have been packaged.

THe same ravioli, but with a truffle sauce. They were fine.

Roasted potatoes.

Pork fillet in balsamic sauce.

Saltimbocc alla romana. Veal with ham and sage. Pretty tasty actually, but salty.

And a bit of gelato to finish.

This was a decent meal. The patio location — which we had entirely to ourselves — was absolutely world class. The food was good. Not great by any meals, but decently executed. The company, though, was as good as the view, so all was good.

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By: agavin
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Tagged as: Bresaola, Celtaldo, Chianti, eating-italy, Food, Il Castello Certaldo, Italian cuisine, Italy, Olive oil, pasta, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Toscana, Tuscany

Eating Florence – Caffe Pitti

Jul20

Restaurant: Caffe Pitti

Location: Florence, Italy

Date: June 21, 2011

Cuisine: Tuscan

Rating: Touristy location, very good food

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On our second day in Florence we came out of the Pitti Palace starved and thirsty.

One of our guide books directed us to a spot just across the street from this grand piazza, which is a location always fraught with peril for “over touristy” restaurants. This one surprised. Yeah they had an all English menu, but the food was very good. Plus there was a special truffle menu that had some delicious items (one of which, sadly, I forgot to photo /cry).

The menu.

Prosciutto and melon.

Tuna salad.

Caprese.

Special caprese, with burrata instead of regular mozzarella.

Panzanella, bread, tomatoes, olive oil.

There was also a bresola with parmesan and white fresh truffles that I forgot to photo — but it was incredible.

Penne pesto.

Simple risotto with fresh truffles. This was fabulous too.

Spaghetti pomodoro.

French fries for the kids.

A very tasty little lunch, proving that random (or semi-random) picks can work fairly often in Italy.

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By: agavin
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Tagged as: Bresaola, caffe pitti, eating-italy, Florence, Food, Insalata Caprese, Italian cuisine, Italy, Mozzarella, Olive oil, Palazzo Pitti, Panzanella, Ponte Vecchio, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Tuna salad

Eating Montalcino – Le Potazzine

Jul19

Restaurant: Ristorante Le Potazzine

Location: Montalcino, Italy

Date: June 20, 2011

Cuisine: Tuscan

Rating: Tasty traditional

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We took a most excellent wine tasting tour of Montalcino (the home of the one and only Brunello). This was led by a top flight young guide named Matteo Perinti, who took us to a pair of top flight small wineries (but more on that itself later). In between we stopped at Montalcino the home base for Brunello.

Montalcino is one of Tuscany‘s long list of ugly locales — just kidding. It’s a gorgeous mediaeval village — with a LOT of wine for sale.

We went to the restaurant owned by the Le Potoazzine vineyard, which was one that we visited. Not only was their wine incredible, but they run a nice restaurant.

For lunch we actually had their IGT Tuscan, slightly down the curve than this amazing Rosso Di Montalcino, but I didn’t get a photo. If you can find the above wine in the states do — it was incredibly seductive.

Tuscan Prosciutto.

And a wider selection of local cured meats.

Panzenella, the very traditional “salad” of stale bread crumbs, onions, tomatos, and fresh olive oil.

Bruschetta with tomato, basil, and olive oil. Tuscan’s have no fear of serving bread too many ways.

Minestrone soup.

Gnocchi done the simple way, with cream, butter, and cheese.

Risotto Brunello. Very fitting, and very tasty.

Local wide pasta fresca with vegetables.

This was a nice little lunch place. Certainly nothing radical about the cooking but every dish was delicious.

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By: agavin
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Tagged as: Brunello di Montalcino, Bruschetta, Cooking, eating-italy, Gnocchi, Italian cuisine, Italy, Le Potazzine, Montalcino, Olive oil, Prosciutto, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Salad, Toscana, Toscana (wine), Tuscany

Eating Poggibonsi – Babette

Jul18

Restaurant: Ristorante Babette

Location: Poggibonsi, Italy

Date: June 19, 2011

Cuisine: Tuscan Seafood

Rating: Great food, great value

ANY CHARACTER HERE

After our self selection failure on Saturday, we got another restaurant recommend from our host (the owner of our villa). He sent us to this casual but very good seafood restaurant in Poggibonsi.

As usual there is a nice outside dining space.

And a gigantic menu.

This being all seafood we got both a prosecco.

And a local white from San Gimiangano. This is one of those joints where the wine is like E10. I like this light quaffable, almost Greek-style, white.

Caprese.

One of my friends and I ordered this “assorted fish appetizer, min 2 people” which was E10 a person, it came with this and EVERY dish until the pastas! An amazing assortment. This one was “Tuna with balsamic dressing.”

Marinated white anchovies and onions.

Crostini with white I think is a fish row mayo.

Marinated Salmon with red peppercorns.

What I think are winkles, or little sea snails, in a delicious garlicky sauce.

Octopus pulp. Also garlicky.

Muscles.

Scallops stuffed with a kind of pesto scallop paste.

Some tasty but undetermined shellfish “stew.” Wow, that’s a lot for two people and E20 total.

Home made pasta with a kind of tomato pesto.

White Risotto with mixed seafood. This was good, and unusual in that usually seafood risottos have some tomato in them.

Risotto with squid.

Strozzapreti with Fish ragu. This was highly unusual (for me) and really good. It was essentially a ragu made using shellfish instead of ham. It was very salty, with a significantly briny taste, but very tasty. The al dente shells were a fantastic foil.

Pizza Margherita.

Mixed fried fish. Lightly fried and delicious.

Branzino, simply grilled and filleted at the table.

A very very typical fish preperaration all over the Medditeranian, but done very well here.

The final presentation of the fish.

Not only was this restaurant a bit different, being all seafood, and very good, but it was an incredible deal. The bill was less than E20 a person and we had an incredible amount of food.

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