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Archive for Ricardo M. Zarate

Causita just ’cause

Apr16

Restaurant: Causita [ CLOSED ]

Location: 3709 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026.

Date: September 8, 2022

Cuisine: Peruvian

Rating: Tasty, but issues — and out of biz

_

I’ve really enjoyed a long string of Ricardo Zarate restaurants, all the way back to Picca and Paiche etc. Others followed like a stint at SOS, Rosaline and Pikoh. Sadly, while the food is always really good, they do not last long. Not exactly sure why. But the Foodie Club and I were excited to try Causita, his latest in Silverlake. The past proved true of the present and it closed not too long after we went (despite very tasty food).

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Located in that busy stretch of Sunset in Silverlake — hate that area because it’s just so far from my house and a real pain to park in. Maybe I’m also jealous that trendy new places open here where they are super inconvenient.
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Interior is modern.

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Initial champagne. We had to negotiate with them to allow any kind of corkage at all. They did yield fortunately.
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The menu.
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kanpachi & uni tiradito. yellow tail, coconut leche de tigre, rocoto pitaya dressing. The white sauce was basically coconut milk with lime juice and chili. Incredibly zingy almost pucker inducing, but good.
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chocolatas clams. chalaca style, charapita, leche de tigre, apple criolla. The chocolate bit is just because of the color of the clam shell (milk chocolate brown). The cerviche style mix inside was also super acid forward. Pucker up baby!

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Mostly we brought Spanish wine.
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summer gazpacho. heirloom tomato, peach, aji limo. Almost like a salsa. Very good though with a touch of sweetness. Super refreshing.
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bluefin otoro. tamari, fresh wasabi, leche de tigre, black truffle. I didn’t like this as much as I expected to. It was good, but maybe a bit too much truffle flavor. At least it was decent truffle though, not rancid.
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charred snap pea. charred jalapeno oil, labneh, mint, garlic chip. Very nice with a bit of creaminess and a great snap (bite) to the peas.
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lobster dumpling. charred jalapeno oil, ceviche aioli. Strong flavor from the squid ink actually. Inside was a tiny bit dry.

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Always a great Spanish red.
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Pan con Chicharron. Crispy Pork, sweet potato, salsa criollo. Like a pork belly slider. Bread was nice for mopping up sauce on other dishes. I enjoyed this “burger.”
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lamb ragu. fromage blanc dumpling, szechuan peppercorn. Soft with a nice meaty and creamy texture. Quite nice.
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octopus. octopus, goat cheese-chorizo mousse, gotija olive, ceviche aioli. The peppers had great flavors and the octopus was very crispy.
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Grilled Artichoke Hearts. avocado mousse, jalapeno, popped quinoa, charapita glaze. The texture and flavor of the artichoke was great.
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udon noodles. shiitake, peruvian pesto, wasabi tobiko, roasted onion jus. Pesto flavor was awesome. Noodles were thick, and maybe a touch soft, and there was a very “leafy” basil quality offset nicely by the cheese. Overall a fabulous dish.

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Oh, and a Bordeaux slipped in.
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crispy rice. seared steak tartare, egg, parmesan sauce. Interesting and I liked it.
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The egg and soy and beef tartare was mixed in. The parmesan sauce (which was a bit punchy) was left on the side.
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Mixed up.
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Lomo Saltado. Steak Filet. Onion Confit. Potato Petals. Fine, but less interesting.
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The dessert menu.
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Churros Bomboncito. Caramel, berry sauce. These were great with caramel centers. And on the left, Tres Leches Sorbettto, which really tasted like Uni Leche Sorbetto.
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The damage wasn’t so bad.
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Food was actually great at Causita, some of Ricardo’s best since Paiche. It was very bright. Not every dish was perfect, and there were relatively few things that were incredibly memorable, but it was very tasty — and zesty. Corkage issues were a bit of a thing. Somehow his restaurants never last. There also seems to be a curse on this strip of Silverlake. New things open constantly, but they shuffle and close rapidly too.

Because we were right next door we decided to try out Pine and Crane for second dinner as I have been wanting to for years.

For more Italian dining reviews click here.

Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.

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Related posts:

  1. Picca Potency
  2. Racy Rosaline
  3. Artsy Toppings – Sushi of Gari
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Causita, Double Dinner, Foodie Club, Peruvian cuisine, Ricardo M. Zarate, Ricardo Zarate, Silverlake, Wine

Pleased by Picca

Aug23

Restaurant: Picca [1, 2]

Location: 9575 West Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90035. Tel: 310 277 0133

Date: August 15, 2011

Cuisine: Modern Peruvian

Rating: Really interesting flavors

_

I was really excited to try this new Modern Peruvian. As best I can tell (having never been to Peru other than an airport stop in Lima) Peru has a really interesting culinary melange going on merging Spanish, traditional South American, and Japanese influences. I’ve heard that much of the wave of innovation in American Modern Japanese started by Nobu Matsuhisa (detailed look here) is really just Peruvian. In any case, on to the food.

This space is just above what used to be Test Kitchen last year and is now the excellent Sotto. The chef is Ricardo M. Zarate, a Lima native, and as far as I can tell, he rocks.


The menu. This is all served Tapas style, which you all know is my favorite.


Burgundy! Parker gives this 92, “Bachelet’s 2005 Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes – from 60- to 70-year-old vines both below the route nationale and north of Gevrey in Brochon – offers lovely black fruit aromas with hints of anise and mint. A truly palate-staining intensity of vividly-fresh, tart but ripe black cherry and blackberry is underlain by firm, fine tannins (not precluding an emerging silkiness of texture) and augmented by bitter-herbal and stony notes. Although palpably dense and abundantly tannic, this outstanding village wine still comes off as juicy, sleek, invigorating and refined. Put it away for at least 5-7 years.”


“jalea mixta. crispy mixed seafood, tartare sauce.” Some really good fried seafood. The tartare sauce was fantastic too.


“chicharron de pollo. marinated crispy chicken, salsa criolla, rocoto sauce.” Also good fry. Like uber chicken nuggets.


“tres leches de tigre. rocoto, aji amarillo, sea urchin shooters.” Three different gazpacho-like shooters. I had the Uni one. It was very limey/vinegary which I like.


“ceviche mixto. mixed seafood, sweet potato, choclo.” Mixed fresh seafood marinated. Those things on the right are the giant peruvian corn kernels. The fish was very fresh, particularly the shrimp. The marinate was tasty, but certainly had a very strong lime/vinegar thing going on.


On the left: “santa barbara prawns. lemon grass yuzu kosho pesto.” Very tender sweet prawns, with the sauce definitely adding.

On the right: “black cod. miso anticucho, crispy sweet potato.” Tasty too. The potato chips though were even better 🙂


Apparently in Peru sushi is done with these yellow blocks instead of rice and called causa sushi. The stuff looks like polenta but is actually a mash of yellow potato with some spices.

This is the “unagi. avocado, cucumber, eel sauce” and it’s pretty much your eel sushi. Of all these causas this was my favorite as the polenta is heavier and stronger flavored than rice and the eel held up to it best.


“scallops. mentaiko.” Certainly tasty, but it would have been better with rice.


“albacore. garlic chip, ceviche sauce.” My second favorite of this set.


“spicy yellow tail. spicy mayo, green onions, wasabi tobiko.” Also good, but the fourth potato bar was beginning to feel too heavy.


“arroz chaufa de mariscos. mixed seafood, peruvian fried rice, pickled radish.” This was a nice version of paella. Brighter and more citrusy (by far) than it’s Spanish cousin. The ingredients were very fresh.


“seco de pato. duck leg confit, black beer sauce, cilantro rice.” This was a slight disappointment. It was perfectly cooked, but given the volume level of the flavors of this meal it felt a little muted, particularly the rice.


“chicharron de costillas. crispy pork ribs crostini, sweet potato puree, feta cheese sauce, salsa criolla.” This however was pretty spectacular, one of the best pork sandwiches I’ve tried.


We finished the wine and decided to explore some of the awesome cocktails as “dessert beverages.” These drinks are by mixologist Julian Cox. The cocktail menu.


This was “chilcano de anis, lime juice, ginger syrup, anise syrup, pisco, soda, mint sprig, pernod.” It was pretty damn good, tasting like sweet mint licorice.


“Sabertooth. cachaca, muddled blueberries, apricot liquor, fresh lime juice, simple syrup, shaken, lime wheel & blueberry.” Pretty great too.


“Rhubarb Sidecar.” Cognac, pisco, fresh lemon juice, rhubarb gastrique, shake violentyly (and they mean it), garnished with spiced sugar.” Also great.


“Christopher Oaxacan. Single village mezcal, passion fruit, fresh lemon juice, orgeat, lavender bitters.” The super smokey (and very good) mezcal overwhelmed everything else. It basically tasted like mezcal with lime.


“Lemon tart.” This was a pretty amazing dessert. Light and airy, almost foamy, the intense lemoness paired nicely with the sweet pineapple stuff on the side.


I love even street cart churros but these were pretty supreme. The churros were stuffed with some kind of dulce de leche custard. It kept squirting out but was intensely good. The carob sauce was surprisingly amazing. I remember carob from the 1970s as the horrible chocolate bars that weren’t. This could have been caramel.

Picca was pretty fantastic. They didn’t hit every note perfectly, but it’s a fun (and loud space), the server was very very nice and enthusiastic about the food, and the flavors were bold and powerful, the ingredients first rate. What’s not to love? Unless you prefer crap like el Torito.

For more LA dining reviews, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Matsuhisa – The Private Room
  2. Food as Art: Pearl Dragon
  3. Mall Eclectic – Zengo
  4. Food as Art – Takao
  5. Takao Two
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: California, CAUSA SUSHI, CEVICHE, Cocktail, Dessert, Lima, Los Angeles, Nobu Matsuhisa, Paella, Peru, Picca, Ricardo M. Zarate, Ricardo Zarate, South America, Sushi
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