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Archive for Sushi – Page 2

Seaweed Sushi

Nov27

Restaurant: Seaweed

Location: 3450 W 6th St Ste 107, Los Angeles, CA 90020. (213) 674-7996

Date: October 17, 2019

Cuisine: Handrolls & Sushi

Rating: Good bang for the buck

_

Trust it to my Armenian friends to ferret out the one sushi bar in all of Korea Town owned by Armenians.
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Anyway, located right near Sun Nong Dan, this is a newish small sushi place focusing on handrolls, like Kazunori, but also with some nigiri.
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Very tight little space with one long sushi bar (and nothing else).
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The menu.
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Octopus shooter.
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Lots of vinegar! Like your daily apple cider vinegar shot.
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Spicy Tuna on Rice cakes. I’m a sushi purist, but Chevy ordered these. I feel that the chewy rice takes away from the fish.
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Kanpachi. Cilantro, jalapeno, ponzu, yuzu. Pretty much the nobu sashimi dish reconverted to nigiri. Fish is good though.
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Salmon. Black caviar, negi, sesame seeds. This combo works. The caviar adds brine to salmon’s natural sweetness.
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Albacore. Ponzu, negi. Tasty.
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Blue fin tuna.
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Toro. Melt in your mouth.
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Super Toro (what regular people call o-toro). Even more melt in your mouth.
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Super Toro with caviar, truffles, and uni. This is a “bit much” but I do have to say it worked and was delicious.
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Ikura (salmon egg). Certainly nice. Not the best marinated ikura I’ve ever had, but can’t go too wrong here.
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Uni. Fresh wasabi. Santa Barbara Uni, very nice and creamy.
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Blue crab handroll. Class goodness.
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Our extremely nice chef du jour.
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A free (from the owner) albacore sashimi. Crispy onion, ponzu, soy. A touch heavy handed but yummy.
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Spicy Scallop handroll.
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Spicy tuna handroll.
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Spicy Lobster handroll.
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Yellowtail handroll. WIth yuzu kosho and yuzu juice. Really nice very bright limey flavor.
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Toro and Takuan handroll. Not on the menu but he had the ingredients so I had him make it up. Super delicious.
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Free fruit.

Overall, Seaweed isn’t super purist Japanese sushi, but the rice is good and the fish great. The service is great and the sushi chefs really nice. So everything was very tasty — if a touch over-the-top — and the value is very good. At a top sushi place this could have easily been 2X or 3X more expensive. What we had was probably around $100-120 which isn’t bad at all considering all that toro, caviar, etc. I prefer my sushi more “Japanese” in style, but this totally delivers in a casual pure taste kinda way.

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Afterward we went down the street for coffee.
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Nice interior.
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Some latte.
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Cappuccino.
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Chevy’s specialty coffee.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more sushi reviews, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Sushi Sushi – Small Omakase
  2. Blue Ribbon Sushi
  3. Sushi Sushi = Yummy Yummy
  4. Food as Art – Sushi Sushi
  5. Sushi Zo – This Time With Pictures
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Japanese cuisine, Ktown, Seaweed, Sushi

O OOToro

Nov15

Restaurant: OOToro [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Location: 1569 Fairway Dr, Walnut, CA 91789. (909) 598-8299

Date: October 5, 2019

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi (with slight nod to China)

Rating: Ends of the earth, but very good

_

Chef Kaz of Totoraku, an occasional hedonist, sent us far east to this Sushi restaurant in 2016 and it was such a fun time that we had to return again for a sixth visit — it’s now become a twice a year thing.
 And by far east I mean REALLY REALLY far east — to Walnut California. 40+ miles from my house. 20 miles past Alhambra (which most people consider to far to drive for food). It took an hour and twenty minutes on a Saturday night!

The slick looking location is in the heart of the affluent Chinese American San Gabriel Valley. But yes, it’s Japan, if perhaps catering to Chinese taste. This photo was shot at about 10pm after everyone else had left.

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Here is the private room — the only way to go.
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Yarom brought this ancient Burg. 1953 Chanson Père & Fils Beaune 1er Cru Bressandes. It was cloudy and we all swore it had no chance, but it was actually quite nice (for about 30 minutes before dropping off).
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Ron brought: NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 167eme. VM 94+. Krug’s NV Grande Cuvée 167ème Edition is positively brilliant. Chef de Caves Eric Lebel and his team have always put tremendous emphasis on the craft of blending. Never has that discipline been more critical than here, with the 167, which is based on 2011, one of the most challenging harvests in Champagne in many years. Brisk and racy in the glass, the 167 is laced with a range of lemon peel, baked apple, brioche and floral notes. Readers should plan on giving the 167 at least a few years in bottle, as it is presently tightly wound and not at all expressive. The flavors are beautifully articulated. In many releases, the Grande Cuvée is richer and more overt. The 167, on the other hand, is airy, weightless and sublime. Most importantly, it is an unqualified success. This release is based on 2011, with reserve wines back to 1995. (Drink between 2021-2036)
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Cod sperm with radish and ponzu. Looks like brain and has a soft squirmy texture — but tastes great.
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1995 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. VM 94. The 1995 Krug is gorgeous. I chose it because one of my guests loves Krug and I thought the 1995 would have the right amount of complexity to pair beautifully with the smokiness in Saison’s caviar. Although the 1995 Krug is not a truly epic wine, it is in a sweet spot right now. (Drink between 2018-2023)

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Oyster with uni and ikura (salmon eggs).
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Close up. Bright, briney, and delicious.

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2002 Salon Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. VM 97. Another highlight in this vertical, the 2002 Salon is also fascinating to taste after the 2004. Rich, opulent and intense, yet also very classic in the Salon house style, the 2002 possesses superb persistence and depth. The radiant vintage has softened the contours and given the wine fabulous depth to match its decidedly powerful personality. At the same time, the 2002 remains quite youthful. Next to the brighter and more finessed 2004, the 2002 offers more of a baritone-inflected expression of Chardonnay. (Drink between 2016-2036)
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Sashimi. Aji (Japanese horse mackrel). Wild snapper. Uni wrapped in halibut with shiso.
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Left to right: Baby peach, Japanese pepper, Abalone, Whitefish tempura, and Japanese cucumber with miso paste.
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2012 Louis Jadot Bâtard-Montrachet. BH 93. There is a hint of menthol sitting atop pretty aromas of acacia blossom, spiced pear and white peach scents. The delicious, muscular and pure broad-shouldered and powerful flavors possess fine size and weight that continues onto the concentrated and impressively persistent if presently compact finish. Those who enjoy their white burgs young should note that while this is very promising there isn’t great complexity at this early stage so I would very much be inclined to allow this to age for at least 8 to 10 years first. (Drink starting 2020)
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Uni, Ikura, and house made tofu. The uni ikura pairing is a classic.
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2013 Hubert Lamy Puligny-Montrachet Les Tremblots Cuvée Haute Densité. BH 90-92. An expressive yet cool nose is composed by notes of essence of pear and citrus that are nuanced with hints of apple and spiced tea. There is outstanding density and vibrancy to the relatively powerful and mouth coating flavors that possess plenty of sappy dry extract, all wrapped in a delicious, balanced and impressively lingering finish. This is a terrific Puligny villages and worth a special search to find. (Drink starting 2020)
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Johnny crab — not sure how you spell that — but a lovely crab salad nonetheless.
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2004 Bouchard Père et Fils Chevalier-Montrachet. VM 93+. Deep, bright aromas of pear, spring flowers and liquid stone. Penetrating and pure, with pear, citrus and stony flavors nicely framed by firm acidity. Still tight in the middle, but already conveys the precision of the vintage at its best. A real mouthful of wet stones on the very long finish.
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Lobster sashimi, done 3 ways.
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From my cellar: 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. (Drink starting 2020)
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Roasted Blue fin tuna collar, kama-toro. This giant collar from a giant fish is one of the things that brought us back. The meat looked and felt like roasted lamb, but of course tasted more like tuna. It was very rich and solid and almost certainly the best cooked tuna I’ve ever had.
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2009 Domaine Michel Niellon Chevalier-Montrachet. BH 94. Here mild reduction doesn’t materially diminish the appeal of the more elegant if ever-so-slightly less complex aromas that feature notes of stone, lemon zest, acacia blossom and spiced pear. There is superb intensity and simply gorgeous detail to the mineral-driven and impeccably well-balanced flavors and explosive finale. Still, as good as this is and it is indeed exceptional, the superior complexity of the Bâtard gives it the barest of edges in 2009. (Drink starting 2015)
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Clam and the other clam.
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Seared toro, uni mousse, actual uni, takuan, and gold flakes. This is incredible, partially because of the different textures: soft, mushy, smooth, crunchy.
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Tempura vegetables and cold soba. First time I’ve had soba here and it was delicious.
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1989 Clos Vougeot.
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Chu toro sushi.
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Kama toro sushi.
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Seared red snapper sushi. Charred finish was amazing.
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Kama toro again, slightly different way.
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Some Grange from a previous night.

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A5 wagyu sukiyaki.
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The certificate for the beef, including cow nose print.
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Here is the finished sukiyaki which was wonderfully beefy, and a touch sweet. I love sukiyaki.
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Lobster miso.
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Red Current Cassis Sorbetto! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Currents from Avignon, blended with Creme de Cassis –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #RedCurrent #current #cassis

I just can’t get enough of this flavor and had to use it as an excuse to practice my Italian Merignue —Italian Lemon Cookie Meringue Pie — Limoncello Zabaione base with lemon cookie flavor mixed with Italian Lemon Creme Cookies and Sicilian Candied Lemon and topped with house-made toasted Meringue — 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 #lemon #LemonCookie #cookie #Sicily #Sorento #Limoncello #Meringue #LemonMeringuePie

Salted Caramel Peanut Gelato — House-made salted caramel and integrated Chunky Salty Peanut base mixed with Toffee Coated Peanuts and Dark Peanut Butter Cups — 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 #caramel #chocolate #peanut #SaltedCaramel #Toffee

Dandelion Dark Sorbetto — a super intense Dandelion Small Batch 70% Chocolate plus Valrhona 100% Cocoa plus Callebaut Cocoa Mass — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — the best no milk straight chocolate I’ve yet made — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #Callebaut #chocolate #cocoa #sorbetto

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Zoom!
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The house dessert, Taro coconut ice cream. Not like mine!

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Tonight’s wine lineup.

Overall, OOToro — while always good — showed for the third time that the private room is really the way to go. This was a great meal and much more subtle and sophisticated than some of the front room fare. Really great stuff — although we should have gotten the largest omakase for max variety, but even one down I was more than full (mostly because I ate so much roasted tuna).
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As we often do, it was back to the Marriot parking lot for some valley-view drinking.
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For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

  1. OOToro Five O
  2. Why Walnut? — OOToro
  3. Collar the Market — OOToro
  4. Cheeks & Things – OOToro
  5. The Valley’s Secret Sushi|Bar
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Champagne, ootoro, SGV, Sushi, walnut california, Wine

Mr. Miyagi’s Sushi Bar

Oct23

Restaurant: Sushi Miyagi

Location: 150 S Barrington Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90049. (323) 382-5635

Date: Sept 10 & October 1, 2019

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: Top Shelf Omakase Sushi

_

Great sushi is always a good excuse to pull out the beloved Champagnes and White Burgundies.
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And I was excited to hear that a new high end omakase sushi place had opened in Brentwood — in the conveniently located but anoying to park at junction of Barrington Ave and Place.
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The space is small but attractive.
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This is chef focused serious sushi, and so we pre-ordered the largest omakase possible — Erick even egged them on to a larger than offered menu.

Chef Shinichi Miyagi says about himself on his website:

Born in Osaka, the art of sushi mesmerized the chef at an early age and decided to devote his life as a “Decchi” (apprentice) under Master Higuchi at the age of 16. He opened his first “Kappo” (traditional style of cooking in front of a crowd) restaurant at the age of 25, and moved to LA at 29, working in numerous well known Sushi restaurants in West LA, Beverly Hills, and San Diego.

Through managing a Sushi restaurant in Manhattan Beach (i-naba), now in present day, he found an opportunity to try his skills as an executive chef in Brentwood/Los Angeles. The chefs many years of experience in choosing the freshest fish, will surprise even the most sophisticated pallets of this beautiful city.

His methods and techniques in preparation follows the traditional Japanese style, bringing out the true flavors of the fish. The chef also prepares two styles of rice, AKAZU SHARI (Red vinegar sushi rice), and SHIROZU SHARI (White vinegar rice). The SHARI (Sushi rice) will alternate depending on the fish being prepared, and we hope you enjoy the eclectic flavors of the different vinegars being used.

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2017 Guillaume Selosse Champagne Ville-sur-Arce Largiller Extra Brut.
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From my cellar: NV Jacques Selosse Champagne Rosé. VM 94. The NV Rosé is laced with the essence of crushed rocks, mint, chalk. white pepper and cranberry. Chiseled and vibrant in the glass, with tremendous energy, the Rosé is fabulous. This release is based on the V.O. blend of 2011, 2010 and 2009 vintages, with a touch (3-5%) still Pinot from Francis Egly, vintages 2011 and 2010. Disgorged November 7, 2018. (Drink between 2018-2026)
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Marinated Sardines from Japan with dashi. Lovely soft delicate fish with the strong sardine oil flavors in perfect balance with the vinegary marinade.
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Shigoku oyster from the pacific northwest. On the left with uni and on the right with caviar and yuzu. In the front is Japanese plum.

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Buri with ponzu, daikon radish and green onion. Delicate and delicious sashimi.

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On the left, monk fish liver. To the right, octopus (tako) with mozzarella, then tomato and on top seaweed from Okinawa with mountain yam. All scrumptious.
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Toro tartar with caviar and wasabi ponzu. The nobu classic but perfectly executed.
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Fresh king crab, grilled. Simply sweet crab meat.
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2005 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières. VM 92. Complex, leesy aromas of stone fruits, flowers, smoke and nutty oak. Dense, suave and ripe, with nuanced, lightly sulfidey flavors of white fruits, flowers and nuts. Layered and quite long. This, too, has turned out very well.
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Tai sushi.
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King mackerel sushi.
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2010 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles. VM 95. The 2010 Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles 1er Cru is an absolute killer wine from the late Anne-Claude Leflaive. Lucid in the glass, it has a crystalline bouquet with crushed stone, a touch of oyster shell, Nashi pear and citrus peel. The terroir seems to just burst from the glass. The palate is cool, calm and collected. The acidity is nigh pitch perfect, the tension palpable from start to finish. This is a live-ware Les Pucelles: edgy and citrus fresh, yet utterly composed and befitting a wine that frankly is Grand Cru in all but name. Tasted at Fook Lam Moon in Hong Kong. (Drink between 2019-2035)
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2010 Pierre Morey Bâtard-Montrachet. BH 92-95. Here too there are vestiges of the malolactic fermentation present. The palate impression though is completely different compared to that of the Perrières as the intense and overtly powerful flavors are substantially bigger and even more intense, indeed almost painfully so, before terminating in a citrusy, explosive and stunningly long finish. While this is certainly large-scaled it is not without a certain refinement and this should amply reward long-term cellaring, in fact it will require it as this will not, in all likelihood, drink well young. (Drink starting 2020)
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Baby barracuda sushi.
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Blue fin tuna sushi.
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O-Toro sushi. The rich tuna belly never disappoints — at least not at a place this good.
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Shima Aji (striped jack) sushi..
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Black throat sushi.
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Golden snapper sushi with truffle paste.
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2008 Giuseppe Quintarelli Cabernet (Franc) Alzero. 94 points. This was great. Shared with me at a restaurant. Had an Italian feel for a Cabernet. Very red fruit driven, with some roses and balsamic. Closest other wine I’ve had to this was the 2007 Sassicaia, but this wine has more energy and elegance. A different take on Bordeaux blends then most Bordeaux and even less like most Super Tuscans or Napa Cabernet. Elegance, acidity, and polish. Drinking nicely now.

This bottle has an unusual story as we had all of the sushi bar but one seat and that last chair was occupied by an older gentleman in the music business. We got to talking during dinner and he was extremely nice. Turns out he doesn’t really drink wine anymore but was a collector and he went out to his car and brought back two bottles of this extremely are Giuseppe Quintarelli. Now I’m a GQ fan — I even use his olive oil in some of my creations — but I didn’t even know he makes a Cabernet. It was great though.

The gentleman also picked up a huge portion of our tab too — just because he was that kind of guy! Thank you!
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A5 Wagyu, truffles, uni, Mizutaki mushrooms.
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A Yama-like bite of quail egg, uni, and toro.
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Ikura (salmon roe) sushi.

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Uni sushi.
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t
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Sardine sushi.
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Torched butterfish sushi.
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Seared Toro with shoyu koji. So rich it tasted like beef.
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Fermented squid guts — I gotta say, I like these.

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Toro handroll.
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Green tea ice cream. Much denser and less creamy than my gelato.
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I brought these though, homemade old-fashioned chocolate fudge — made by me.
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The wine lineup.
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And the people lineup.

Sushi Miyagi is exactly the kind of sushi place I like best — all omakase and very traditional. This is some seriously good fish. Mostly just straight nigiri and a bit of spectacular sashimi and a handful of cooked dishes. This is really really good and instantly catapulted into the top westside sushi joints. Very friendly too. Intimate as well. Sushi at this level is all about the chef and Shinichi Miyagi is very talented.

Not for the sushi neophytes and roll loves, but fabulous for those of us who really enjoy great fish being showcased in a straightforward and delicious manner.

I also came in here a few weeks later for a quick lunch. The lunch menu is very reasonable given the (exceptional) quality.

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Lovely little salad with homemade onion vinegar dressing.
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Miso soup, of course.
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BATTERA. Saba mackerel box sushi, salad and miso soup.

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OMAKASE SASHIMI. Chefs best choice of today, 8 pieces of sashimi, salad and miso soup.

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OMAKASE CHIRASHI BOWL. Chefs best choice of Sashimi pieces over a bed of sushi rice, salad and miso soup.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Food as Art – Sushi Sushi
  2. Sushi Sushi = Yummy Yummy
  3. Sushi Sushi – Small Omakase
  4. Sushi Sushi Sushi
  5. Sushi Zo
By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Brentwood, Chef Shinichi Miyagi, fish, Sashimi, Sushi, Sushi Miyagi, Wine

The Valley’s Secret Sushi|Bar

Oct07

Restaurant: Sushi|Bar

Location: 16101 Ventura Blvd, Encino, CA 91436. 818.876.0818

Date: August 21, 2019

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: Very good, particularly for white guy sushi

_

I’ve wanted to try Sushi|Bar since I first heard about it as it’s an unusual sushi bar concept.
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Not the fact that’s it’s located on Ventura Blvd — which is about as typical as you get for sushi bars — but that it’s a secret place tucked behind Woodley Proper and Scratch|Bar.
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In this very 90s Valley mall.

Hidden behind his revered tasting menu restaurant Scratch|Bar, Sushi|Bar is Chef Phillip Frankland Lee’s Omakase Speakeasy that serves up a whimsy of its namesake fare in 17 courses. Behind an unmarked door lies an intimate counter housing 8 prized seats where you will sit right up to the chef’s cutting boards. Relax and enjoy as the chefs prepare a playful reverie on new wave nigiri and other delicacies from both land and sea in a free form interpretive take on the traditional sushi counter experience where you can expect unexpected riffs on beloved standards.7U1A6254-Pano
The front bar part of Scratch|Bar where we waited for our seating. It should be noted that Sushi|Bar has same day reservations via Tock or a “membership” which allows for advanced reservations and corkage discounts. Some of our party were members and booked the whole place for tonight.

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They gave us an welcome cocktail, which I think had a sake base, but I can’t remember.
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Eventually — and it was about 45 minutes late — we were moved into the secret Sushi|Bar room.
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Unlimited Sunomono (marinated pickles). I must have eaten about 10 bowls worth.
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The chef’s plating the first course.
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1989 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut Collection. JG 96. The 1989 Krug Collection is absolutely brilliant Champagne and one of the best bottles of wine I have had the pleasure to taste this year. The totally à point nose soars from the glass in a regal blend of baked apple, buttered almonds, a touch of crème patissière, a beautiful base of minerality, brioche and a gentle topnote of smokiness. On the palate the wine is deep, pure and magical on the attack, with a great core of fruit, flawless focus and balance, refined mousse, brilliant complexity and a very, very long, crisp and vibrant finish. This wine is fully mature aromatically and flavor-wise, but still retains the structural bounce and grip of a relatively young Champagne and still has decades and decades of profound drinking ahead of it. A great, great wine at its magical summit.
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1982 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon. VM 97. Both 1982 Champagnes are utterly spellbinding. It is amazing to taste these wines at 30 years of age and see that their signatures are all very much intact. Of course, the magnum format is so ideal for Champagne. The 1982 Krug Vintage is warm, toasty and totally expressive, with gorgeous exotic orange peel and white truffle overtones. This is one of my very favorite Krug vintages. Although fully mature, the 1982 is going to continue to develop at a glacial pace. The 1982 Dom Pérignon is just a little more focused and vibrant in style. Here it is the wine’s salivating minerality that really sings. It, too, is quite youthful and vibrant for its age. What a flight.
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Kushi Oyster from British Columbia with Italian sturgeon caviar, shari puffed “Rice Krispies,” and sake foam. Light and briny. Very pleasant, with an interesting textural play between the crispy, foamy, and slimy.

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Blue Fin Tuna & Krasnaya Ikra. Spanish bluefin tail tartare, braced with dehydrated nori and covered with avocado mousse, house-cured ikura (salmon roe), and green onion. I really liked the contrast of the soft fish and the crispy seaweed. Great flavors too.
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Japanese Yellowtail (hamachi) with sweet corn pudding, sourdough breadcrumbs, and soy sauce, and wasabi. This was good, but a touch less successful as I found the corn and breadcrumb mush a touch distracting.
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Spanish Blue Fin Toro, scored, with sherry shisky, brown sugar, and a tiny slice of pineapple. Plus some house soy and wasabi. This more unusual topping really worked, adding an unctuous sweet tone to the rich fish not unlike pairing with Sauternes.
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2013 Maison Leroy Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Chenevottes. Very nice!
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Purple Peruvian Scallop. The mollusk was smothered with leche de tigre (the Peruvian zesty sauce). Of course the sauce is so zesty it’s hard to taste the scallop, but it was still very succulent.
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2011 Coche-Dury Meursault. BH 90. An elegant, pure and very pretty nose is now displaying just touches of both wood and some secondary development though it’s clear that the ripe orchard fruit and citrus-infused aromas are still developing. There is a lovely sense of energy to the delicious, round and caressing middle weight flavors that exhibit a subtle mineralitly that continues onto the nicely intense and sappy finale that delivers excellent persistence and particularly so for a villages level wine. This is really lovely stuff and while it could easily be enjoyed now, I’d be inclined to allow it another 5 to 7 years of bottle age first.
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2011 Maison Leroy Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. BH 93. An elegant, fresh and airy nose of that is distinctly floral and citrusy in character offers up notes of green apple and a nutty hint. There is excellent intensity and cut to the chiseled middle weight flavors that exhibit the classic minerality of a fine Perrières, all wrapped in a delicious, complex and classy finale. This is first-rate and particularly so for the vintage, indeed this more resembles a 2010 than a typical 2011. Impressive.
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Tai Snapper topped with caviar, lemon, sea salt, and scallions. The caviar pairing also worked.
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Black snapper with yuzu koshu made from fresno chilies. The little dab of heat paired nicely with the snapper.
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2010 Domaine Leflaive Bâtard-Montrachet. BH 96. This notches up the ripeness just a touch more yet there are only the barest hints of exoticism to the peach, apricot, pear and acacia blossom aromas that display a top note of citrus zest. This is a classic Bâtard in the sense of being big, bold and powerful with imposingly-scaled flavors that coat the palate with dry extract before terminating in a massively long and borderline painfully intense finish. To be sure, this is a big wine yet it remains light on its feet with no undue sense of being top heavy. Indeed the balance is perfect though note that patience will be required. Marvelous. (Drink starting 2022)
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Medium fat chu toro with caviar, lemon, sea salt, and scallions. Chu toro is always one of my favorite cuts and the caviar added a extra level of brine.
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Smoked albacore soaked in garlic paste, wrapped in sake nori, topped with crispy onions, ponzu, and scallions. It’s fairly traditional to pair albacore with garlic and while this was a novel approach to it, it was ultimately sucessful.
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New Zealand King Salmon, seared, lemon sea salt and pickled wasabi. Here the pickled wasabi takes the place of the pickled bit of kelp sometimes layered on the salmon. Also a great piece.
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From my cellar: 2002 Dom Pérignon Champagne Rosé. VM 97+. The 2002 Dom Perignon Rosé is deep and chewy yet amazingly refined. The Dom Perignon Rosé is still very taut and shut down, hinting at yet more complexity and fun to come with proper cellaring.
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1995 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. JG 95. The 1995 Krug in magnum is really starting to drink with style and grace, but it remains a wine that has just reached its plateau of maturity and has years and years of life still ahead of it. The lovely and quite classic nose wafts from the glass in a constellation of apple, peach, caraway seed, a lovely base of minerality, a touch of walnut, rye bread and a gently smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, crisp and complex, with a wide open attack, a fine core, elegant mousse and really lovely length and grip on the focused and classy finish. Fine juice.
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Wild caught Korean Escolar, house cured Ikura (salmon roe), scallions, wasabi, soy. A rich fish, balanced nicely by the briny roe.
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King Crab Dynamite. Russian king crab leg covered with a beet mustard, brûléed to caramelize the sugars, then topped with lemon juice, rock salt, and puffed red quinoa. The sweetness went nicely with the crab (much like Spanish crab with raspberries) and the puffed quinoa added an interesting crunch.
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Giant Clam, wasabi, house soy sauce, lemon sea salt, matcha salt. Chewy and delicious.
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Bone Marrow. Roasted ox marrow with wasabi, soy, and rock salt. This was an unusual nigiri and was not my favorite. I never really like bone marrow as it’s soft and fatty without much heft.

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Santa Barbara Sea Urchin with wasabi. Classic and delicious.
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The menu is up on the wall. The things below come with the tasting, but underneath the name are a bunch of optional ala carte items. I ordered all that were available.
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Uni handroll. So good I got 2.
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King crab handroll. Mild, without mayo, but nice.
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Unagi with bone marrow fat. Here the bone marrow served just to make the rich eel even richer — which I enjoyed.
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Jellyfish with vinegar. I loved with, as it had a really nice “bite” (the chewy crunch) and a great acidic flavor.
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“Kobe” Beef with salt and green onion. Very salty and rich. Fine, but maybe not worth the price.
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White chocolate matcha shell, kafir lime ice cream, black sesame shortbread cookie. Delicious, both in flavors and in it’s textural play between the shell and frozen interior. I may emulate as a gelato flavor at some point.
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Mocha Bourbon Butterscotch Gelato — expresso infused milk, Valrhona cocoa, Knob Creek Bourbon, and a house-made Butterscotch Sauce — 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 #mocha #expresso #coffee #chocolate #Valrhona #butterscotch #bourbon #KnobCreek

Tingly Passion Gelato — passionfruit variant, striped with blackberry coulis, but steeped with Chengdu Street Market Szechuan Green Peppercorns — 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 #passionfruit #blackberry #coulis #SzechuanPepper #SpicySweet #passion
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Green tea with yuzu and honey. Sweet and tangy!
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The wine lineup was amazing tonight!
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One of our chefs looked like he was 16 — but he’s in his mid twenties. None of the chefs are Japanese from Japan. The main day to day sushi chef does have extensive sushi bar experience. I’m not sure all the guys know how to “pick fish and cut” in the traditional subtle Japanese way that helps make the texture and flavor of top flight fish so superlative. Here there is some distraction from that traditional Japanese focus with the “toppings.”

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Overall, this was a great experience and the sushi was fabulous. For weird “topped” sushi it was far more successful than the odd Sushi of Gari. Almost all of the “pairings” were successful and many actually added to the flavor rather than subtracting.

There isn’t a ton of food by my standards, and so to be full I not only had to order ALL the supplements (2 of a couple) but I had to chow down on cucumbers (sunomono). In the end I was satiated. Price was reasonable for high end sushi as the base omakase is “only” $125 — which isn’t too bad (again for high end sushi). The experience, setting, and sushi style is unique too, which is always fun.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Newest Oldest Sushi
  2. Sushi Sushi – Small Omakase
  3. Artsy Toppings – Sushi of Gari
  4. Totoraku – Secret Beef!
  5. Sushi Sushi = Yummy Yummy
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: BYOG, Champagne, Foodie Club, Gelato, Japanese cuisine, Sushi, White Burgundy, Wine

Chateau Hanare — Death Free

Jul12

Restaurant: Chateau Hanare

Location: 8097 Selma Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046. (323) 963-5269

Date: June 4, 2019

Cuisine: Japanese

Rating: Interesting, tres LA

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I hadn’t even heard of Chateau Hanare until the day I went with the Foodie Club (regular member Larry arranged).
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It’s “in collaboration with The Chateau Marmont Hotel & Bungalows” and located adjacent to the famed Chateau Marmont (final dying place of John Belushi & Chris Farley). It’s “fancy” Hollywood Japanese.

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They have a a gorgeous outside patio — really lovely.
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We setup shop in a corner table.

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The inside is huge too, several decked out rooms like this — expensive build out.
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Menu.
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2000 Charles Heidsieck Champagne Brut Millésimé. VM 93. Bright gold. Smoke-accented orchard fruits, herbs and citrus pith on the the intensely perfumed nose. Deeply pitched but lively on the palate, with very good depth to its intense pear and lemon curd flavors. The smoky note builds on the back half and carries through a long, sappy, impressively focused finish. This year’s release seems tighter and more youthful than last year’s version.

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Uni Toast sakura wood smoked santa barbara uni on housemade toast seasoned with soy.

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You can see it hiding in the fog.
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Then the theatrics begin.
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Poof!
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Blow this one off.
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A nice piece of toast, but I found the smoke taste a bit distracting.
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House Made Tofu, 8:30pm edition, freshly scooped tofu served warm with wari-joyu.
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Spoons for the tofu.
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Freshly scooped tofu served warm with wari-joyu. Super delicate and delicious. Like tofu creme fraiche or something.
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2011 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Butteaux. VM 93. The 2011 Chablis Butteaux is subtle, gracious and utterly impeccable in its elegance. All the elements are simply in the right place. Articulate, energetic and nuanced, the 2011 captures all the qualities of this 1er Cru site, in miniature. This is another of the more approachable 2011s from Raveneau.

agavin: hehe, Beavis. I said butteaux!
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White Asparagus. Chilled white asparagus in sakura dashi. In season, but I didn’t love this take. Medicinal tasting.
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Uni Ice Cream. Savory housemade uni ice cream with fresh santa barbara uni. As a gelato maker I had to order this. It’s made in the paco jet, which is really the only way to make fully savory ice creams like this. Like cold ice cream textured uni. Interesting and pretty good.
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From my cellar: 2006 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Charmes. VM 93-95. Rich aromas of wet stone, minerals, vanilla and hazelnut. Large-scaled but tight, with this wine’s typical firm acidity leavening its textural richness. This expands in the mouth like a top bottling of Perrieres. Perhaps less refined than the Genevrieres but bigger and more powerful wine. The mounting, expanding finish is almost painful.

agavin: this bottle was sadly a touch advanced.
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Kobachi. shiro ninjin puree topped with ikura, kinoko yakibitashi, uni and white asparagus, bluefin tuna caviar toast
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uni and white asparagus.
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kinoko yakibitashi.
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bluefin tuna caviar toast.
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shiro ninjin puree topped with ikura.
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Kim brought this sake.
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Madai Yuan Yaki Wanmori. marinated grilled sea bream with seasonal vegetables in a yuzu ankake broth.
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2016 Azienda Agricola Valentini Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo. 94 points. right pink-red. Aromas of sour red cherry, raspberry, sage, rosemary and minerals on the enticing nose. Then multilayered, deep and complex, with mouthcoating but vibrant flavors of small red berries, herbs and minerals. Finishes very long and suave with hints of orange zest and underbrush. Extremely serious, ageworthy Rosato, a real Cerausolo.
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Lobster Shabu Shabu. Maine lobster hot pot with a side of ponzu.
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The broth itself was insane, particularly with the ponzu and after cooking the lobster and veggies.
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1988 Joseph Drouhin Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru. 90 points. Surprisingly youthful and dense bouquet of dark red and blue berry fruit. Quite floral with Chambolle perfume and some musty character. Each was a 2014 Drouhin Library Release. The ’88 was the best wine of the flight with the most leathery and earthy nuance to the darker perfumed fruit. A nice soily texture on the palate too. Imagine this is about peak maturity.
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Wagyu. Miyazaki A5 wagyu topped with summer truffles, plum asazuke, dashes of wagarashi ponzu and rokuzuke salt.
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Special fried rice.
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Bowled.
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Temari Sushi. assortment of Kyoto style sushi seasoned with truffle soy. This was the only dish I didn’t enjoy. The round shape was interesting, but the rich had no vinegar taste and the truffle distracted. Very dull.
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Dessert. Strawberry Gazpacho with Basil Sorbet Straberry gazpacho, katafi, creme fraiche, anko, anko tuile. Awesome, actually.
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Mangoberry Cheesecake Gelato — raspberry/mango cream-cheese base with blackberry/mango ripple and house-made graham cracker crumble — 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 #cheesecake #mango #raspberry #blackberry #GrahamCracker #coulis #ripple #creamcheese
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Blackberry Mango Amaro Sorbetto! — like a frozen aperitivo — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — although I do need to improve at decorating in the Pozzetti –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #mango #blackberry #amaro
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Peanut Chocolate Caramel Ganache Reese’s Gelato -Sweet Peanut Base with house-made Valrhona Chocolate Caramel Ganache and mini Reese’s Peanutbutter Cups! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — the ganache is delicious but the 80% Valrhona I used swamps out the caramel — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #peanut #reeses #peanutbuttercup #ganache #Valrhona
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Together in the bowl.
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Larry and Kim, al fresco.

Overall, this was a lovely scene, awesome patio. Service was mostly excellent, with a few oddities (like how they didn’t tell us that the extra apps we ordered were duplicated near exactly on the tasting menu we had ordered — #3). Chef came out with some visiting sake specialists as was super friendly. Did I mention the patio was so LA and really, really nice?

Food was good, some dishes, like the lobster shabu shabu, even great. A few misses like the terrible sushi. Really, no flavor at all without the vinegar except a touch of truffle (ick).

Wines were mostly great too — awesome night.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.

Related posts:

  1. SGV Style – Deferred Maintenance
  2. Carmel Birthday!
  3. Shanghailander Arcadia
  4. Hayato Redux
  5. Szechuan Impression Tustin
By: agavin
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Posted in: Food
Tagged as: BYOG, Chateau Hanare, Foodie Club, Gelato, Japanese cuisine, Sushi, Uni, Wine

Matsumoto Maxsumoto

Jun05

Restaurant: Matsumoto

Location: 8385 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048. 323) 653-0470

Date: May 10, 2019

Cuisine: Japanese

Rating: Very good, and interesting, but expensive

_

Erick, Larry, and I kept hearing through the rumor mill that Matsumoto in Beverly Hills had one of the best Japanese Omakases in town so of course the Foodie Club had to saddle up and go.
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They are located on Beverly in a busy strip mall — like most other good LA Sushi joints. The “Beverly Hills” location is more like West Hollywood.

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It’s non-assuming for sure.

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The interior is pretty typical Japanese restaurant.

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We had prearranged this giant special menu! It was so long, they refused to start dinner later than 6:30!
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From my cellar: 2006 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon. VM 94+. The 2006 Rosé Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon is powerful, intense and also classically austere in its make up. Crushed flowers, mint, red berries and cranberries are all finely sketched. The 2006 finishes with striking mineral-driven precision, and while it doesn’t have the opulence or exuberance of the 2002, it is still a very pretty and appealing Champagne. The Elisabeth Salmon is 50% Pinot Noir and 50% Chardonnay, with about 8% still Pinot Noir. Dosage is 6 grams per liter.
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1995 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. VM 94. The 1995 Krug is gorgeous. I chose it because one of my guests loves Krug and I thought the 1995 would have the right amount of complexity to pair beautifully with the smokiness in Saison’s caviar. Although the 1995 Krug is not a truly epic wine, it is in a sweet spot right now. (Drink between 2018-2023)
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Appetizer plate:

Uguisu Tofu (back left). Sugar snap pea tofu.

Hotaru Ika Sumiso (lower right). Cooked firefly Squid (seasonal) with miso vinegar.

Nasu Agebitashi (back right). Eggplant cooked in sweet soy and dashi.

Wagyu Miso Zuke Negi Maki (left). White green onions wrapped with miso marinated wagyu beef.

Hotate Ebi Satsuma Age (front). Light fried fish cake made of scallop and shrimp.

Ama Ebi Ceviche (center). Diced Sweet Shrimp with home-made yuzu salsa.
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From my cellar: 1993 Robert Ampeau & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. BH 92. A fully mature and expressive nose of elegant secondary fruit and floral aromas introduces intensely mineral-driven, pure and beautifully well-detailed middle weight flavors that possess excellent depth and fine length. This is drinking perfectly now and should continue to do so without effort for at least another decade. Tasted only once recently.
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2015 Bret Brothers Viré-Clessé La Verchère. VM 88. Pale, bright straw-yellow. Ripe peach, orange zest and passion fruit on the nose, with a touch of leesy complexity. More exotic than the Les Crays but less harmonious today, showing a more glyceral texture, then surprising acidity. The stone fruit flavors convey very good depth, plus a slight mineral edge.
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Soup (Suimono). Hama Sui. Cherry stone clam in clear soup.

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Kim brought this great unfiltered sake.

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Sashimi (Otsukuri). Hon maguro (blue fin tuna), shima aji (striped jack), aji (Japanese grunt), sakura masu (wild cherry salmon), hotate (scallop).
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Notice the fin beneath the fish.7U1A0637
Grilled (Yakimono). Hokke Matsumae Yaki. Grilled atka macherel marinated with kelp (overnight).
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Fried (Agemono). Chi-ayu tempura & Soramame Kakiage. Deep fried young sweetfish w/ Sansho Pepper sea salt & depp fried fava beans with sea salt.
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Side Dish (Naka-Zara). Kani Miso Cheese Koura Yaki. Hairy crab innards (mixed with crab meat, egg & scallions) grilled with cheese in the shell. This was a unique prep of crab guts — awesome and slightly like a Japanese crabby tuna melt.
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Uni Flight. Three kinds of uni. I think all Japanese.
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1987 Cellier des Samsons Fleurie!
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Small Dish (kobachi). Mushi awabi. Tender cooked abalone with okra.
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1978 Joseph Drouhin Beaune 1er Cru Grèves. BH 89. Mostly bricked through. The expressive and attractively layered nose is composed of full-on sous bois, earth and herbal tea scents. I very much like the complexity to the well-delineated and punch middle weight flavors that exhibit a subtle minerality on the linear finish that displays an acid-tang that is enough to mildly dry the finish. This is pretty and very ’78 in character though the balance isn’t quite perfect. Drink up.
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We added a wagyu sushi flight.
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Pretty bowl for:
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Steamed (mushimono). Kinki and kabu nibitashi. Rockfish steamed with sake and turnip cooked in light soy and dashi.
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And because that giant menu wasn’t enough we added some more meat — I think this was duck.
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Then the sushi (shokuji) started to come:

Sumi ika (squid) and kegani (hairy crab).7U1A0709
Nodoguro (seared black throat perch) and toro (supreme toro).
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Kuruma ebi (prawn).
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Hokkaido uni (sea urchin).
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Plus we wanted MORE. A final flight of sashimi!
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2005 Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Clos Häuserer. VM 90. Pale straw-gold color. Aromas of orange liqueur, white flowers and minerals. Vibrant and clean, with ginger and nutmeg spice notes contributing energy to the peachy fruit. I find this brighter and more precise than the Clos Windsbuhl. It’s sweeter but also livelier, thanks to a juicy sugar/acid balance.
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Bessert (mizugashi). Baked sweet potato cake and fruits.

Overall, Matsumoto was really good and we had an epic meal — their super sized omakase + a bunch of extras. Certainly we were full. The courses were all extremely well prepared, but it is a very pricey place and leans toward a highly traditional Japanese taste tonality that isn’t that splashy. Newer style places like ootoro are more flashy and crave-worthy — and Hayato, which is also very traditional, is somehow more refined and modern at the same time. So Matsumoto ends up being a lot of money and very good, but you can get more bang for your buck elsewhere. Certainly glad I tried it though.

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1959 Franchino Marco Gattinara Lo Spanna. Old, old Gattinara (which is like baraolo, being a Nebbiolo, but made up in the far north of the Piedmont).

Afterward, we stopped by Kim’s resteraunt, Khong Ten and kept drinking — combining with the sake to make me very slugging in the morning.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.

Related posts:

  1. Uh no, Takao again!
  2. Sushi Glutton – Takao Three
  3. Sushi Sushi = Yummy Yummy
  4. Sushi Sushi Sushi
  5. Shiki Times Three
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Beverly Hills, Burgundy, Foodie Club, Japanese cuisine, kanimiso, Matsumoto, sake, Sashimi, Sushi, tempura, West Hollywood, Wine

OOToro Five O

Feb25

Restaurant: OOToro [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Location: 1569 Fairway Dr, Walnut, CA 91789. (909) 598-8299

Date: January 26, 2019

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi (with slight nod to China)

Rating: Ends of the earth, but very good

_

Chef Kaz of Totoraku, an occasional hedonist, sent us far east to this Sushi restaurant in 2016 and it was such a fun time that we had to return again for a fifth visit — it’s now become a twice a year thing.
 And by far east I mean REALLY REALLY far east — to Walnut California. 40+ miles from my house. 20 miles past Alhambra (which most people consider to far to drive for food). It took an hour and twenty minutes on a Saturday night!

The slick looking location is in the heart of the affluent Chinese American San Gabriel Valley. But yes, it’s Japan, if perhaps catering to Chinese taste. This photo was shot at about 10pm after everyone else had left.

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Here is the private room — the only way to go.
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A bit of the menu.  We got the Shiki Omakase this time + maybe some tempura. It was enough, although I would still maybe prefer the even bigger one.
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From my cellar: NV Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Extra Brut Extra Old. 91 points. Gentle, frothy texture. Light on its feet, but possesses a wonderful balance between freshness and aged nuance. Subtle wine, no hard edges, very refined. Perhaps lacks a little intensity, and layers of flavour in the middle, but it is completely convincing in its smooth as silk style. Great wine to start start a meal.
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Cod sperm with radish and ponzu. Looks like brain and has a soft squirmy texture — but tastes great.
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2002 Dom Pérignon Champagne. VM 98. The 2002 Dom Pérignon speaks to opulence and intensity. Rich, layered and voluptuous in the glass, the 2002 shows off its flamboyant personality with flair. Butter, cooked apple and tropically-leaning fruits mesh together effortlessly. Interestingly, with time in the glass the 2002 gains in freshness and energy without losing its essential opulence. The elevated ripeness of the year gives the 2002 Dom Pérignon distinctly Puligny-Montrachet leaning inflections. Chef de Caves Richard Geoffroy adds that August that year was hot and very dry. Rain towards the end of the month and into early September freshened the vines and accelerated the final phase of ripening. This is yet another fabulous showing from the 2002, which continues to cement its reputation as a truly epic Dom Pérignon.
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Live halibut with yuzu and wasabi. Very light but scrumptious.
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2014 Maison Alex Gambal Chassagne-Montrachet. BH 89. This is also quite expressive with its aromas of resin, pear, apple and fresh citrus. There is a lovely purity to the intense and beautifully delineated middle weight flavors that possess a succulent mouth feel on the balanced finish that is also clean, dry and very solidly complex. This is more refined than usual plus it offers excellent quality for a Chassagne villages. Recommended.
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Oyster and clam. Great raw shellfish duo.
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Yarom and the younger chef.
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2002 Domaine Henri Boillot Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières. Weird, not CT entry! Our best still white of the night.
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Sashimi plate. Shima aji, toro and otoro. I forgot to photo it myself, so this is Arnie’s (mobile phone) picture. Fish itself was each one better than the next. The toro here is stunning.
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Scallop and shellfish inside bamboo. Interesting new one.
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2013 E. Guigal Condrieu La Doriane. VM 94. Vivid yellow. High-pitched aromas of fresh citrus and orchard fruits, quinine, jasmine and chalky minerals, with a smoky quality emerging with aeration. Sappy and expansive on the palate, offering Meyer lemon and poached pear flavors plus a hint of anise. Alluringly sweet and broad on the finish, which clings with excellent tenacity and lingering notes of honeysuckle and chamomile. The blend of power and vivacity here is quite deft.
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Hokkaido Uni on edamame tofu. Tofu was a bit interesting, uni was fabulous. They love wasabi here.
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Sine Qua Non Deux Grenouilles. Not even sure of the year. Tasted like hermitage blanc.
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Live lobster sashimi. He was squirming a bit. That green stuff was okra and wasabi and was incredibly potent (and delicious).
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2016 E. Guigal Côtes du Rhône Rosé. VM 90. Cheap but good. Bright orange-pink. Ripe red berry and tangerine flavors and a subtle herbal flourish on the expressive nose. In a plush yet lively style, offering bitter red currant and cherry flavors braced by a spine of juicy acidity. Clings with very good tenacity on the red-fruit-dominated finish, which is given a zesty edge by a late jolt of white pepper.
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Monk fish liver and seared toro and pickles. Incredibly bite. Super rich and unctuous. Plus gold and caviar for good measure.
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Mountain potato tufu with ikura and wasabi. On the milder side (except for the wasabi).

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From my cellar: 2001 Domaine Anne Gros Clos Vougeot Le Grand Maupertui. 94 points. Lovely strawberry, vanilla nose; ripe cherry palate with sweet tannins, tight yet; medium finish
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Uni, toro tartar, avocado and truffle. Oh, this dish how I love these. A Yamakase style dish but pure goodness.

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Seared beef rolled around fresh snow crab. Unique and delicious.
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Yarom with the older main chef.
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Kama toro. And the crazy good fatty tuna collar. The best toro ever.
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Red snapper and golden eye snapper sushi. Fabulous.
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Kanpachi sushi.
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Fake pinot (can’t see the year or vineyard).
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Uni pasta with clams or mushrooms. Amazing tiny bite of pasta. The yellow stuff around was a kind of cured fish egg like bottarga.
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Lobster shabu shabu. This delicious broth was the host for dipping…
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A5 wagyu. The fat then melted into the broth.
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And one could dip the cooked meat into the sesame sauce.
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Seafood tempura. They really make a great mixed tempura here with lobster, eel, and more.
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2008 Sine Qua Non Roussanne Jinete Bajo Vin de Paille. VM 95. Deep gold. A highly aromatic, pungent bouquet of orange marmalade, apricot nectar and yellow plum, with exotic honey and spice notes. Lush and creamy in texture, with deeply concentrated, sweet pit and tropical fruit flavors and a strong note of candied citrus. There’s surprising energy and lift to the finish, which leaves juicy peach and orange notes behind. I’d serve this as a dessert, by itself. This clocks in at 11.8% alcohol, with 240 g/l of residual sugar.
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Poached sweet white miamoto pear with condensed milk.
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I also brought gelato I made:

Another new flavor — Orange Cinnamon Gelato — I steeped the milk with blood orange rind, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — oh my! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #IceCream #NomNom #dessert #orange #cinnamon #vanilla #nutmeg

Riffing on a theme — Raspberry Passionfruit Amaro Sorbetto! — the Amaro and Passionfruit offsets the cloying sweetness of the Raspberry nicely — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #raspberry #passionfruit #amaro #cocktail #sorbet #sorbetto
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Overall, OOToro — while always good — showed for the third time that the private room is really the way to go. This was a great meal and much more subtle and sophisticated than some of the front room fare. Really great stuff — although we should have gotten the largest omakase for max variety, but even one down I was more than full. I was tired tonight and skipped the post dinner parking lot antics.

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

  1. Cheeks & Things – OOToro
  2. Collar the Market — OOToro
  3. Why Walnut? — OOToro
  4. Valley High
  5. Let’s Go Again
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: BYOG, Gelato, hedonists, ootoro, SGV, Sushi, walnut california

Takao Reprise

Feb04

Restaurant: Takao [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

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

Date: December 27, 2018

Cuisine: Japanese / Sushi

Rating: 8/10 creative “new style” sushi

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I’ve already covered Takao in some detail HERE and then separately here, here, and here, but we went back (we go often). The full menu and some information on the history of the place can be found through the first link. However, I haven’t written it up in a while so I thought we’d take another look.

This particular meal is another take on the medium sized omakase, which is a very good deal (in a relative high-end sushi kind of way).

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From my cellar: 2010 Joseph Drouhin Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Mouches Blanc. VM 93+. Bright yellow. Gingery peach, toast, crushed stone and smoky minerality on the slightly reduced nose. Rich, sweet and plush, with a touch of spice to the ripe, smoky stone fruit flavors. Boasts an almost glyceral sweetness today, but this very young wine needs time in bottle to lose some of its baby fat. Philippe Drouhin notes that this wine always gets reductive during elevage and that this quality takes at least a year in bottle to dissipate. He likes Clos des Mouches old, pointing out that the 2004 and 2002 bottlings are still young. But then Drouhin admits that he generally prefers older wines because he dislikes the aromas and flavors of new oak.
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We start off with abalone, monkfish liver, and sweet shrimp with caviar.
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Three kinds of live octopus sashimi.
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New Style Tai Sashimi with truffles.
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Toro and uni.
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Mushroom and fish egg custard. Traditional Japanese egg custard with mushrooms and fish. Like creme brulee without the crust or the sugar and with fish!
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Pan fried crab cake with aioli.
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Grilled mackerel.
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Pan seared wagyu.
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Sushi — I would have eaten 5 plates.
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Clam miso.
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Coffee jelly with fruit and ice cream.

Another intensely satisfying Japanese meal down the gullet. As you see, we keep going back to Takao and while the style remains the same, the ingredients mix it up substantially each time. I would have liked a tempura course tonight. Solid place. More reviews here:  [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].

For more LA area sushi, see here.

Related posts:

  1. Uh no, Takao again!
  2. Takao Top Omakase
  3. Takao Sushi Taking Off!
  4. Takao Two
  5. Food as Art – Takao
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Brentwood, Japanese cuisine, Omakase, Sashimi, Sushi, Takao

Rooftop Umeda

Jan23

Restaurant: Umeda

Location: 6623 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038. (323) 965-8010

Date: December 12, 2018

Cuisine: Modern Japanese

Rating: Pretty good Matsuhisa style Japanese

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Tonight’s dinner is an interesting mash up gang containing about half people from the old Foodie Club dinners of the 2015-2016 time frame (helmed tonight by Walker) and a whole bunch of Will’s friends (previously unknown to me but very cool).

For me this was the start of a bruising 5 night out holiday run.

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It takes place at Umeda, a modern Japanese restaurant. But firstly…7U1A2686-Pano
Walker is also friendly with the building owner and designer and so we went upstairs before the meal to his private rooftop deck.

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A rather awesome little Hollywood lookout.
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Chef Takuya Umeda who started his culinary career in Sapporo, Japan in a sushi restaurant between 1981 to 1987. He fell in love with the art of sushi. With his heart and passion set on becoming the best sushi chef, he started working in London at Saga Japanese Restaurant between 1987 to 1995.
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Clean light wood interiors.
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The kitchen is very organized.
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The wine theme was Champagne!

2007 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Coeur de Cuvée. VM 95.  Interestingly, the 2007 Coeur de Cuvée comes across as a bit more youthful than the 2008 tasted alongside it. Another year in bottle seems to have only brought out the wine’s freshness and energy. Freshly cut flowers, pears, mint and almonds are some of the signatures, but it is the wine’s vivacity that I find most striking today. The 2007 is a bit less creamy and multi-dimensional than the 2008, but it is impressive just the same.

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1969 Perrier-Jouët Champagne Réserve Cuvée Rosé!
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Oyster with caviar and miso sauce. A touch sweet, but great.
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1995 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut. VM 96. The 1995 Cristal (Late Disgorged) is fascinating to taste, as it is quite different in style from the original release. Because of the extra three years or so on the lees, the 1995 Cristal (Late Disgorged) has picked up a reductive note that is not typical of Cristal. Scents of lime, crushed rock, lemon and slate gradually open up in the glass. The 1995 remains taut and chiseled, with crystalline purity and exceptional overall balance. The wine feels wonderfully alive as it tempts all of the senses with its compelling personality. This is a superb showing from Roederer.
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2006 Dom Perignon Champagne. VM 96. Powerful, dense and tightly wound, the 2006 Dom Pérignon is fabulous today. To be sure, the 2006 is a broad, virile Champagne, but I find it compelling because of its phenolic depth and overall intensity. Chef de Caves Richard Geoffroy adds that August was quite cold and wet, and that ripening only happened at the very end of the growing season. Although numbers alone can never explain a wine, I find it interesting that the 2006 has more phenolics than the 2003. Readers will have to be patient, as the 2006 is easily the most reticent Dom Pérignon in the years spanning 2002 and 2009. I am confident the 2006 will have its day, but in its youth, it is not especially charming or easy to drink.
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A first little round of sushi:

White fish (maybe snapper) with shiso, toro, uni, mackerel, and hand pickled ginger.

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2004 Ruinart Champagne Dom Ruinart Brut Rosé. VM 95. A wine of exquisite beauty, the 2004 Dom Ruinart Brut Rosé has the pedigree to drink well for several decades. The 2004 is an especially vinous, textured Rosé. The berry, floral, spice and mineral-drenched flavors are finely sketched in this dramatic, strikingly beautiful Rosé from Ruinart.
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The next round was Nobu style sashimi (I think the chef worked for Nobu at some point, maybe at Matsuhisa).
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New Style Salmon Sashimi. With olive oil, sesame, chives. This dish (popularized by Nobu) hides the fish, but it is tasty.
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Oyster with ponzu. Love these.
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Snapper with garlic.

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2006 Ruinart Champagne Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs. VM 96+.  One of the highlights among this year’s new tête de cuvée releases, 2006 the Brut Blanc de Blancs Dom Ruinart is a powerful, almost tannic Champagne built on structure and intensity. Then again, much of the Chardonnay here comes from the Montagne de Reims, where wines tend to naturally be quite broad. Even though it’s now ten years old, the 2006 is much less expressive than either the 2002 or 2004 at a similar stage. I expect it will be quite a few years before the 2006 is truly ready to drink. Over the years I have been fortunate to taste Dom Ruinart back to the 1970s, and while I don’t think the 2006 will need decades to be at its best, it certainly does look like a long distance runner. There is plenty of citrus and floral driven intensity, although the bouquet is less toasty and open than it often is. In short, the 2006 Dom Ruinart is a wine for those who can be patient. It will be a fine investment for those looking for a wine to cellar to commemorate special occasions. Lot L AJSXAC.
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More sushi.

Kanpachi (probably) with chili, a silver skinned fish, eel, and ikura (salmon roe).

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2011 Pessac-Léognan de Chevalier Blanc. 90 points.
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More sashimi, often called taradito in this context owing to its Peruvian influences.
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The classic yellowtail jalepeno.
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Scallop with yuzu and chili.
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A light fish with a tangy sauce.
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Tuna in a lettuce wrap.
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J.M. Labruyère Champagne Grand Cru Prologue. BH 90. A discreet if mildly fruity nose consists of citrus, white peach, yeast and a whiff of brioche. The juicy and attractively vibrant middle weight flavors are shaped by a moderately firm if not especially fine mousse, all wrapped in very dry and crisp finish that offers reasonably good depth and persistence. This is appealing in its fashion even if it is less distinguished than its two stable mates.
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1995 Charles Heidsieck Champagne Blanc des Millénaires. VM 95. The 1995 Brut Blanc des Millenaires shows just how compelling this often overlooked vintage can be. Layers of lemon, pastry spices, crushed rocks and savory herbs literally jump from the glass in this exquisite, perfumed, beautifully delineated Champagne. The 1995 shows lovely flavor complexity and nuance from its extended time in bottle, yet it also retains plenty of freshness, verve and acidity. This is a great showing from Charles Heidsieck. The 1995 was made before the tenure of the house’s current team, headed by CEO Cécile Bonnefond. It will be very interesting to see what develops at this historic property over the coming years.
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Persimmon with mushrooms and cheesy cream sauce. This was the most unique dish of the night. I don’t usually like persimmon but this was pretty good. Weird though with the sweet and creamy.
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Mysterious underwater champagne.
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2015 Samuel Billaud Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot. VM 91+. Bright yellow. Ripe peach and ripe pear aromas are enlivened by flowers and white pepper, with the spicy oak element complementing rather than overwhelming the nose. Tight and strict in the mouth, with its lemon and softer citrus flavors framed by an edge of acidity and a peppery accent that I did not find in the Vaudésir, Preuses or Bougros. Conveys a slightly astringent stoniness but this wine is ripe enough to expand in bottle and absorb some of its acidity (4.3 grams per liter) with four or five years in the cellar. Perhaps it was not a bad idea to pick this fruit earlier than anticipated.
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Old style sushi. I like these pressed heavily marinated old school sushis. Although these aren’t SUPER old school or anything. And the roll in the back with the rice paper is decidedly “LA”. For some reason, LA ladies decided that rice paper was healthier than seaweed — which I’m sure it’s not since seaweed has about zero calories and lots of nutrients.
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2014 Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne. BH 92-95. Moderate reduction presently renders the nose difficult to evaluate but there is lovely intensity to the strongly mineral-inflected and muscular big-bodied flavors that display fine cut and plenty of punch on the pure and relatively refined finish that delivers flat out superb length. This is potentially excellent though note well that it’s going to require plenty of bottle age to realize its full potential.
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2008 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. BH 96. Here too the elegance of the nose is simply stunning with a layered and perfumed aromatic profile trimmed in an almost invisible touch of oak that allows it to ooze Chablis character and in particular, a fine minerality that continues onto the impressively concentrated and palate staining flavors that possess striking precision on the explosively long and bone dry finish. This is a great Les Clos that will make old bones.
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Kobe beef skewers. Not, I think, serious A5. But tasty.
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From my cellar: 2006 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Rosé Brut. VM 96. The 2006 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Rosé is at once rich and refined, a simply fabulous Champagne Rosè I won’t soon forget. Intensely perfumed, with the Pinot Noir-derived red berry and cranberry flavors that are not just concentrated, but also remarkably pure. It is one of the better Rosé bubbles I have had in the last year.

I also opened but forgot to photo:

1979 Drappier Champagne Carte d’Or Brut. 94 points.
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2014 Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc. VM 93. The 2014 Smith Haut-Lafitte Blanc has a lively, crisp bouquet with mineral-driven citrus fruit, fine chalk and flint-like scents, dare I say almost Chablis-cum-Bordeaux! The palate is well balanced with crisp acidity, quite vibrant with good depth although the second half is missing the tension that I hope for, certainly what those splendid aromatics deserve. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.
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More rolls. Interesting stuff in them and sweet sauces. Yummy though. I was still hungry and had to eat other people’s rolls. lol.
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2014 Jean-Michel Stephan Côte-Rôtie Côteaux de Tupin. VM 91. Bright violet. Smoke- and spice-tinged blue fruit and violet aromas show excellent clarity and a hint of cured meat. Sweet and sappy on the palate, offering concentrated dark berry, floral pastille and allspice flavors plus a subtle suggestion of gaminess. The very long, lively finish features firm, minerally cut, an echo of juicy blue fruit and dusty tannins that add shape and gentle grip.
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Meatball ramen soup?

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The gang pretty much took over the restaurant.
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1989 Zind-Humbrecht Tokay Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal Vendange Tardive. 95 points. Brilliant. A wow from the first sip; deep gold in colour with stunning aromatics – an array of honey, florality, light botrytis spice, apricots, and peach compote all coming together, and a palate that’s also tremendously complex and very light on its feet with bright acids cutting through the copious sweetness here. It’s a fantastic dessert wine, and I’m glad I have a bunch more – this seems to be at peak right now.
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Like Matsuhisa, Umeda forgoes the whacky Japanese desserts in favor of Japanese influenced modern desserts like this red bean green tea parfait.
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The first of many large batch holiday flavors — Peppermint Gelato — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — peppermint candy base laced with peppermint bark! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #IceCream #peppermint #candy #holiday #winter

A new variant on an old flavor — Cold Pressed Expresso Gelato — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — cold pressed expresso base (usually I hot brew it) with Valrhona Dulcey Stracciatella! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #IceCream #expresso #Dulcey #Valrhona #Stracciatella #ColdPressed #ColdPressedCoffee #coffee

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The full wine lineup!!

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After dinner it was back up to the roof for more drinking.
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And a deadly Scotch!

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Overall, a blast of a time, if a tad exhausting (got home at 2am which is rare for me).

Food at Umeda was quite good. I had low expectations actually coming in as the website pictures looked all LA ponzu style Japanese. Probably most people who come here eat that but his Omakase was certainly more interesting. Part Nobu-style, part his own thing. A bit Hollywood but always tasty. Building is lovely too. Great Champagnes and crew as well.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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Related posts:

  1. Newest Oldest Sushi
  2. Valley High
  3. Art and Ruinart
  4. Yamakase Seven
  5. Sushi Zo
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: BYOG, Champagne, Gelato, Japanese cuisine, late night, rooftop, Sashimi, Sushi, Takuya Umeda, Umeda, Walker

Florida Beach Mega Sushi Buffet

Dec21

Restaurant: Santo’s Modern American Buffet & Sushi

Location: 3400 N. Federal Hwy, Original location in Coral Springs, FL, Boca Raton, FL 33431. +1 561-923-9378

Date: November 2, 2018

Cuisine:Modern American Buffet & Sushi

Rating: Excellent neighborhood Italian

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Recently I went to Del Rey Beach Florida for the wedding of my oldest friend, Brent — which was awesome.
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As part of the Florida fun we went to this interesting AYCE (All You Can Eat) sushi buffet. Since it’s so “different” than the usual sushi I blog about, I thought to write it up just for S&G.

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Santo’s covers a lot of ground.

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It’s very clean and has a pretty up-to-date pseudo corporate decor.

Somehow they even had a 750ml Junmai sake for like $20 — it was a touch rougher than I’m used to.
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I pretty much ignored the American meat, fries, etc section of the buffet. This is presumably for the land lubbers.
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Various fried things which I also ignored.
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I sampled a couple of these hot items like the guilty pleasure ponzu popcorn shrimp.
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Fruit? Forget about it.
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Salads. Same.
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Now we’re talking. The sashimi. It wasn’t the most exciting fish in the world, and some were fairly heavily sauced, but I was surprised to find they weren’t fishy. It was certainly “fine.”
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Now we get into the “real” sushi. Somehow I missed photoing most of the nigiri.
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You can kind of see it here on the left — bear in mind these are lousy iPhone panos. There were 10-15 various nigiri and I even enjoyed the eel.
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Then TONS of rolls. Kind of a bit overdone but some were tasty and a sauce station at the end with spicy mayo, eel sauce etc.
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The desserts. Needed a separate stomach for these.
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One of my (many) plates. You can see some of the fairly sloppy nigiri.
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And another.

This was a fun night, and while it will win no awards for most authentic or sublime sushi, I was actually surprised how decent it was — perhaps a little less Japanese but slightly better fish quality than at the revolving sushi I occasionally go to. Interesting how the Japanese sushi bar has intersected with Florida “middle America” culture and morphed into this. And it’s like $27 even at full dinner freight! A search of Boca Raton restaurants turns up numerous competing sushi buffets — who knew it was such a popular style down there?

For more dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Wynn Breakfast Buffet
  2. Sushi Sushi – Small Omakase
  3. Sushi Zo
  4. Food as Art – Sushi Sushi
  5. Blue Ribbon Sushi
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Buffet, Florida, Santo's, Sushi, wedding

Blue Ribbon Sushi

Nov25

Restaurant: Blue Ribbon Sushi

Location: 1079-1001 Monument St, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272. (310) 907-9899

Date: October 2 & December 5 & 23, 2018 and August 10, 2018

Cuisine: Japanese / Sushi

Rating: Solid sushi, if a touch “typical” and American mainstream

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Blue Ribbon Sushi is the only “exotic” place (and not really that exotic) in the new Palisades Village Complex.
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The space is small but very cute with a big patio facing on the green.

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The menu looks pretty decent.

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Shishito peppers with miso sauce and bonito flakes (12/5/18). Not bad. A bit sweet and spicy.
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House salad (8/10/19) was pretty good.
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Miso Eggplant (8/10/19) was very (temperature hot), slightly sweet and salty and not bad.

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Tiger Shrimp. Wasabi Mayo. Good, but a touch over fried and quite salty.
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Hamachi Uzuukuri. Thin sliced hamachi. Ponzu sauce, Jalapeno, Togarashi, micro cilantro. Classic. Sauce was a bit too soy sauce.
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Kanpachi (I think) with yuzu kosho (12/5/18). Better than the soy sauce above.

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Scallop sashimi (12/5/18). Scallops were good but I didn’t like the pairing of the chili paste. Would have preferred yuzu and salt.

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And low and behold, ordering it a year later (8/10/19) it had yuzu koshu and salt. Better, still very salty, and would be better with just fresh yuzu and sea salt.

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Live Santa Barbara Spot Prawn Sashimi (8/10/19). Tender and tasty.
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The heads came back deep fried. Ate everything but the eyeballs!

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Lobster Sashimi (8/10/19). Slices in the back might be a fish, not sure. The back right is the lobster itself — excellent. Then in the front they turned the claws into lobster nigiri (nice) and those interesting shredded cooked lobster rolls.
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Black Snapper Carpaccio. Black snapper sashimi, yuzu, kosher truffle oil, salt. Tasted too much like truffle oil. Sauce was very similar to the first one, masked the fish. So wasn’t really a success.
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Salmon Carpaccio. Sliced salmon, Tomato Asian Mix, Ponzu sauce, truffle oil, olive oil and sea salt. Despite the slightly different sounding difference the sauce basically tasted the same. Didn’t really really properly tailored for the fish.

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Mango Salmon Sashimi (8/10/19). Not ground breaking, but fine.
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Toro Tartare. Tuna Belly, caviar & quail egg. The best dish of the night, probably. Solid enough for what it was.
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Sushi. Salmon. Tuna. O-toro. Fine, but boring. The toro was sold as O-toro but tasted like chu-toro to me.
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A sashimi plate (12/5/18) ordered at lunch. Not bad, but small and a touch “boring.”

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A similar sushi plate (8/10/19).

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On my third visit, at dinner with my son, I ordered some nigiri. Various white fish nigiri here (12/23/18). These weren’t bad, although leaning heavily on the yuzu kosho. I again didn’t like the scallop with the chili, although the scallop quality itself was quite good.
IMG_0386
Lobster egg battleship and Dungeness crab battleship (12/23/18). Good quantity of shellfish.

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Fresh water eel, uni, and ikura (12/23/18). All pretty good. Nigiri was moderately expensive, but pretty good.

I wasn’t super impressed with Blue Ribbon Sushi. Service was slightly green — but that’s fine as they are very new. The menu is okay, but execution is a little boring, heavy handed, or “white.” It’s like Nobu but a bit cheaper and considerably less interesting — and I’m not even that big a fan of the Nobu style of sushi. I like a more refined Japanese sensibility. I’ll go back to Blue Ribbon to see how it is on repeated visits, but I’m skeptical as if I would go repeatedly with so much other great sushi in LA.

My second visit (12/5/18) for lunch was better, as 3/4 sashimi dishes I ordered were solid, if not super exciting.

My fourth visit (8/10/19) was much better. Maybe I ordered better, maybe they have come into their own a bit, and I spent at least $150 just on myself as I ordered entirely sashimi — but it felt a bit more interesting and the fish was certainly good. They still lean a bit heavily on salt and the ultra salty yuzu koshu, but I’m upgrading my opinion to “good, if not super unique.”

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Sushi Sushi – Small Omakase
  2. Kiriko Sushi
  3. Food as Art – Sushi Sushi
  4. Sushi Sushi Sushi
  5. Mori Sushi – A Top Contender
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Blue Ribbon Sushi, Pacific Palisades, Palisades Village, Sashimi, Sushi

Valley High

Jun08

Restaurant: OOToro [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 1569 Fairway Dr, Walnut, CA 91789. (909) 598-8299

Date: May 5, 2018

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi (with slight nod to China)

Rating: Ends of the earth, but very good

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Chef Kaz of Totoraku, an occasional hedonist, sent us far east to this Sushi restaurant last year and it was such a fun time that we had to return again for a fourth visit.
 And by far east I mean REALLY REALLY far east — to Walnut California. 40+ miles from my house. 20 miles past Alhambra (which most people consider to far to drive for food). It took an hour and twenty minutes on a Saturday night!

The slick looking location is in the heart of the affluent Chinese American San Gabriel Valley. But yes, it’s Japan, if perhaps catering to Chinese taste. This photo was shot at about 10pm after everyone else had left.

The menu.

For the second time we have the private room which is really the only way to go at oo-toro!

Ron brought: 2006 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne. VM 97.5. The 2006 Comtes de Champagne is striking, especially in the way it brings together elements of ripeness and freshness in a hypothetical blend of the 2002 and 2004. Smooth and creamy on the palate, the 2006 is all about texture. There is a real feeling of density and weight in the 2006, qualities I expect to see grow with time in the bottle. All the elements fall into place effortlessly. The 2006 has been nothing short of magnificent both times I have tasted it. Comtes de Champagne remains the single best value (in relative terms) in tête de cuvée Champagne. I suggest buying a case and following it over the next 20-30 years, which is exactly what I intend to do. There is little doubt the 2006 Comtes de Champagne is a magical Champagne in the making.

agavin: this wine is sick good, I just ordered another 12-pack.

From my cellar: 2004 Pol Roger Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 93.  Light, bright orange. Intense, spice-accented aromas of candied orange, redcurrant and fresh flowers, with sneaky mineral and leesy notes. Supple and expansive, offering vibrant citrus fruit and red berry flavors with complicating notes of cinnamon and pear skin. Finishes silky and long, with resonating spiciness and excellent clarity.

Edamame.

Akayagara (red cornetfish), which is generally considered distinct from needlefish like sayori

Akayagara sashimi. Nice and light and delectable.

Various sashimi. The Santa Barbara spot prawn was so fresh the head was still squirming! There was oyster, clam, and scallop as well.

White fish flight. Right to left: Golden eye snapper, red snapper, sea bass, and halibut.

2010 Kapcsándy Family Winery Grand Vin Rosé State Lane Vineyard. VM 90. The 2010 Grand Vin Rose is all about texture. A refined, expressive wine, the 2010 stands out for its depth and pure volume. Tobacco, licorice, crushed flowers and spices are some of the many notes that flesh out on the inviting finish. The 2010 is 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot.

Right to left: Shima aji, yellowtail, and kanpachi (wild yellowtail).

Yarom and the waitress.

Showing off the the tuna collar!

1998 Jean Boillot & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières. VM 89-92. Pungent, bright aromas of lime, apple, nut skin and minerals. Spicy and penetrating; more withdrawn than, and not as rich as, the Clos de la Mouchere and Pucelles but still offers terrific sweetness and fat for the cru. Solidly structured and quite fine.

agavin: a little tired maybe

From my cellar: 1995 Robert Ampeau & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. 93 points. excellent.

Toro flight! Right to left: blue fin sushi, chu toro, o-toro. All melt in your mouth.

And the crazy good kami-toro (collar). The best toro ever.

2014 Domaine Dublère Chablis Grand Cru Bougros. BH 90-93. This too possesses ample Chablis character with its array of green fruit, tidal pool, citrus and wet stone notes. There is more size, weight and power to the big-bodied flavors that deliver excellent depth and length on the saline-inflected finale. This delicious effort is muscular but stops short of actually being rustic.

Scallops.

2007 Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne. BH 93. A toasty, expressive and highly complex nose of pain grillé, green fruit and dried rose petal leads to rich, full, well-muscled and impressively intense full-bodied flavors that possess plenty of dry extract that really coats the mouth on the long and serious finish. This is very Corton-Charlemagne in character and one that should reward mid-term cellaring.

Fried monk fish.

1994 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Clos Windsbuhl Vendange Tardive. 94 points. Excellent VT. Some bottle variation so far, depending on the bottle I would rate this anywhere from 89-94 out of the 4 tried so far, with 93 being a fair mean. Rich gold color, not too sweet, lots of lychee and nectarine on both nose and palate. Weaker bottles have a short finish, but better bottles have full finish. Popular even with those who aren’t familiar with Alsatian VT wines.

Yamakase-style mashup of toro, avocado, uni, and black truffle.

Foie gras and more on a spoon. Rich and delicious.

Fake pinot.

Doesn’t go with sushi.

A5 wagyu from Japan as sushi — amazing too.

The individual cow’s pedigree.

Spot prawn heads (from the sashimi) come back as both prawn miso soup.

And fried prawn head.

This was the last savory course in the medium sized omakase but some of us kept on ordering.

Seafood tempura. They really make a great mixed tempura here with lobster, eel, and more.

Seared toro. Yummy hot fat.

A second — pricey but amazing — wave of all four toro sushis.

2003 Sine Qua Non Chardonnay Mr. K The Noble Man. VM 95-96. Medium gold. Knockout nose offers pure botrytis aromas oforange oil, apricot, clove, marzipan, chocolate and mocha. Extraordinarily thick and honeyed but with bracing acids leavening the flavors of marzipan, coconut, brown sugar andorange rind. Higher-toned than the gewurztraminer, with a spirity suggestion of Gran Marnier. Krankl was about to bottle this. I have rarely tasted such thoroughly botrytized chardonnay. This was picked in three passes in late November. Check out these numbers: 321 grams per liter of sugar, 10.25 grams of acidity, and 10.1% alcohol.

Matcha green tea tiramisu. Nice texture.

Sweet Milk Gelato made by me.

The white one is Almond Ricotta Gelato – pure ricotta base with sliced almonds. Beneath that is Pistachio with pistachios from Bronte Sicily.

The chef came over at the end and tried some of our wines.

Ron also had an open bottle of 1931 Bodegas Toro Albala Don PX Convento Selección — keeps forever and is always amazing.

Overall, OOToro — while always good — showed for the second time that the private room is really the way to go. This was a great meal and much more subtle and sophisticated than some of the previous fare. Really great stuff — although we should have gotten the larger omakase as we were “corralled” into a smaller one and then ended up adding more stuff. The larger one (which I think we had the previous time) would have been more interesting.

After dinner we retreated up the hill to the Courtyard Marriot to drink above the valley. It was a balmy night and this was great fun reminding me of high school.

On the way we grabbed some pastries and salted caramel coffee’s at 85 degrees!

It’s great fun up here, but that drive! It was so far that most of the party slept at the Marriot and turned it into a bunch of meals, massages, and other decadences. I drove home to my lovely wife.

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

  1. Valley Heat
  2. The High Life – 71Above
  3. Collar the Market — OOToro
  4. Cheeks & Things – OOToro
  5. Why Walnut? — OOToro
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: BYOG, Gelato, hedonists, Japanese cuisine, ootoro, SGV, Sushi, toro, walnut california, Wine

K-Zo Long Later

May23

Restaurant: K-Zo Sushi

Location:9240 Culver Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232. (310) 202-8890

Date: April 18, 2018

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: Solid mid end sushi

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Back in the Flektor days (2007 and 2008) I used to go to K-Zo as it was the only sushi place in Culver City (where our offices were). At the time I thought it was fine, if not particularly memorable. I hadn’t been in 10 years, but a friend of mine wanted to go so let’s look at it with fresh eyes.

The chef himself. We ordered the omakase — as that’s the only way to go.

First trio.

Japanese scallop.

Red Snapper.

Mackerel.

A bit of cooked mushrooms.

Second trio.

Bonito maybe, or another meaty fish.

Salmon.

Baby squid.

Sweet shrimp with the head fried. All at the same time, which is convenient.

Toro. Always great.

Another set.

Some charred white fish.

And a different one.

Kohada or something in that family.

A pair of uni.

Santa barbara uni.

Japanese Hokkaido uni.

Toro taku handroll. Always love these.

Blue crab handroll.
 A bit of fruit.

Overall, K-Zo was quite solid. Pretty straightforward real LA style sushi (i.e. a good bit of ponzu) with high quality fish and a solid nigiri presentation. Maybe a hair better than Sasebune and not quite as good as, but more reasonably priced, than nearby Zo. I’d certainly dig into this fish again and I’m a big fan of straight nigiri like this.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Sushi Sushi – Small Omakase
  2. Mori Sushi – A Top Contender
  3. Sasabune – Dueling Omakases
  4. Shunji Sushi – Nonstop Nigiri
  5. Let’s Go Again
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: k-zo, Nigiri, Sushi

Quick Eats – Summer Fish

Apr28

Restaurant: Summer Fish & Rice

Location: 201 S Robertson Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90211. (424) 279-9111

Date: March 19, 2018

Cuisine: Casual Sushi

Rating: Decent Casual Sushi

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I popped into this placed looking for a quick lunch on my way back from the doctor.

And only after I did realized it’s owned by the same people as Summer Buffalo.


Longish menu. Very casual.

The usual ginger and wasabi (actually probably just green ground horseradish)

Sashimi to start. Attractive. South Asian influences?

Very mushroomy miso.

The sushi took forever (relatively) to come and arrived in 1-2 big flights.

It was fine, Sugarfish level, but I don’t like it in big flights, prefer 1-2 at a time.

Hand-roll was good except for being soy paper wrapped — so Beverly Hills.
 This was better. I love the toro takuan combo.

Overall, Summer Fish was in that new vein of casual sushi joints like Sugarfish or Sasebune express. The decor was very updated. I had to wait AWHILE though — and the place was empty — which defeats the point. Food was fine but not super cheap either. So I’d only go back if I was right there and in the mood. The menu was big though and I’m sure if it is crowded there are lots of attractive women taking a break from their Robertson shopping.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Quick Eats – Summer Buffalo
  2. Quick Eats – Sushi Burrito
  3. Quick Eats: Momed
  4. Quick Eats – Halal Guys
  5. Quick Eats – Popcorn Chicken
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Beverly Hills, Summer Fish, Sushi

Why Walnut? — OOToro

Dec18

Restaurant: OOToro [1, 2, 3]

Location: 1569 Fairway Dr, Walnut, CA 91789. (909) 598-8299

Date: November 11, 2017

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi (with slight nod to China)

Rating: Ends of the earth, but very good

_

Chef Kaz of Totoraku, an occasional hedonist, sent us far east to this Sushi restaurant last year and it was such a fun time that we had to return again for a third visit.
 And by far east I mean REALLY REALLY far east — to Walnut California. 40+ miles from my house. 20 miles past Alhambra (which most people consider to far to drive for food). It took an hour and twenty minutes on a Saturday night!

The slick looking location is in the heart of the affluent Chinese American San Gabriel Valley. But yes, it’s Japan, if perhaps catering to Chinese taste. This photo was shot at about 10pm after everyone else had left.

 T  T
 T  T

The menu.

This time we had the private room.

Which even has its own sushi chef!

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

Cod sperm sacks in ponzu with spicy daikon. Looks like brain, has a slimy texture, and you slurp it all down in one go. Pretty awesome actually — even if it tasted mostly of ponzu.

Ginger.

Right to left (as most descriptions will be): Kawahagi with seaweed salt. On the left the same fish with yuzu juice and Himalayan salt. Very mild and light.

From my cellar: 2014 Domaine Sylvain Pataille Bourgogne Blanc Chardonnay Rose. This lovely and floral wine is made from a different clone of the Chardonnay grape called “Chardonnay Rose.” Very unusual and delicious.

Amuses. Right to left. Seared abalone, sea snail, potato salad with tobiko, and persimmon and butter layer cake. All very good for what they are.

Sashimi (photo wasn’t mine which is why it’s blurry). Front to back: Shima Aji, chu toro, o toro. Delicious cuts of fish and really nice house ground wasabi.

2014 La Chablisienne Chablis 1er Cru Mont de Milieu. BH 93. This is notably ripe though the nose stops just short of expressing exotic fruit aromas and I particularly like the plethora of Chablis characters present on the pear and citrus scents. There is excellent richness, volume and density to the full-bodied flavors that possess plenty of minerality on the powerful lemon-inflected finale that is both persistent and quite dry. Very fine quality here.

Live lobster sashimi. It was still wiggling.

There was a bit of pepper on there too and some yuzu or lime.

From my cellar: 1994 R. López de Heredia Rioja Blanco Gran Reserva Viña Tondonia. 95 points. Aromas of nuts, hay, wood and minerals. Smooth texture. Deep, intense and concentrated.

Steamed abalone with sake. Very soft and tender for abalone. Briney but nice.

Kumamoto oysters with two types of caviar and with daikon. Lovely little oysters.

On the left, golden eye snapper sushi and on the right red snapper sushi. Citrus zing.

Yarom posing with the main chef.

Ruby snapper seared. An awesome piece of fish!

2013 Sine Qua Non …And An Eight Track. 92 points. Very nice hefty rose. Seared o toro with takuan. Underneath the fish is a bit of crunchy pickled daikon. Really great interplay of different textures, flavors, and temperature.

Toro with foie gras and mountain potatoes and leeks! Now that is a lot of goodness.

Uni and toro with avocado and…

Shaved black truffle!

Hokkaido hairy crab legs and guts. I love kani miso (crab guts).

Arnie brought: 2009 Sea Smoke Pinot Noir Ten. VM 89. One of the Sea Smoke flagships, the 2009 Pinot Noir Ten impresses for its depth and sheer power. Layers of flavor flow through to the huge, dramatic finish in a full-bodied, intense Pinot. Once the intensity of the fruit fades, there is not much development in the glass, which results in an overall impression of one dimensionality. The Ten is one of Sea Smoke’s flagships. It is made from all ten Pinot clones planted on the property. While a solid effort, I expected more from this offering, which also happens to be the wine through which I discovered Sea Smoke years ago.

agavin: I actually liked this as new world pinots go.

Sliced A5 wagyu for the next dish.

The chef presents the documents.

Wagyu/lobster shabu shabu! You dip the wagyu into here to cook it (delicious) and

Then dip in the sauces. As a bonus the broth becomes incredibly delicious with the beef fat.

Arnie brought: 2011 Aubert Pinot Noir CIX Estate Vineyard. VM 91. The 2011 Pinot Noir CIX Vineyard is gorgeous. Dark red cherries, flowers, mint and licorice all come together nicely. A pointed, beautifully articulated wine, the 2011 impresses for its focus, length and nuance. Like its Chardonnay sibling, the CIX Pinot lacks a little of mid-palate stuffing that will likely come with further vine age. Today, the CIX is a bit tight, but I imagine it will always remain energetic and vibrant in style.

Lobster and seafood tempura. First rate tempura.

Blue fin tuna sushi.

Chu toro sushi.

O Toro sushi. All 3 amazing.

Purple yam (ume) dessert with edamame (soy bean) sauce. Sounds weird. Colors are odd, but it was surprisingly delicious for a Japanese dessert!

Overall, OOToro — while always good — really upped its game tonight. This was by far the best meal we have had here and much more subtle and sophisticated than some of the previous fare. Really great stuff.

But that drive! It was so far that most of the party booked a nearby Marriot and turned it into a bunch of meals, massages, and other decadences. I drove home to my lovely wife.

To sober up we went to a cafe nearby, as the 85 degrees was closed 🙁

Got some delicious warm cookies.

And lemon pound cake.

And an iced latte.

 

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

  1. Cheeks & Things – OOToro
  2. Collar the Market — OOToro
  3. Japanese in China – Izakaya Akatora
  4. Katana – Stripping it all Down
  5. Sumo Bowl Yamakase
By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: hedonists, Japanese cuisine, ootoro, Sushi, Wine

November N/Naka

Dec04

Restaurant: N/Naka [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

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

Date: November 3, 2017

Cuisine: Modern Kaiseki

Rating: Awesome

ANY CHARACTER HERE

For some reason I haven’t been to N/Naka in 2-3 years (even though I love it). So when some of my friends invited me I jumped on a return visit to see what the fabulous Chef Niki Nakayama has been up to!
The setting is elegant, minimalist, and very Japanese.

 NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. Billecart-Salmon is probably most famous for their excellent bottling of non-vintage Brut Rosé, and the new bottling is another superb wine. The cépages is comprised of forty percent chardonnay, twenty percent pinot meunier and thirty-five percent pinot noir, with eight percent of the pinot noir included as still wine to give this wine its lovely, pale salmon color. The dosage is slightly higher here, but still judicious at nine grams per liter. The bouquet is pure and vibrant, wafting from the glass in a mix of tangerine, almonds, smoke, lovely minerality, wheat toast and dried flowers. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and very focused, with a fine core, racy, zesty acids and great cut and grip on the long and beautifully balanced finish.

Saki zuke (a pairing of something common and something unique). Black tiger shrimp, fillo, shrimp tomally sauce, kabocha puree, finger lime.

Pierro brought: 2014 Desiderio Jeio (Bisol) Prosecco Noso2 Extra Brut. Super dry very tasty proscecco, zero dosage.

Zensai (seasonal ingredients presented as an appetizer).

duck with tomato. Crispy ginko nuts on the left. Nice smokey duck.

Branzino with yuzu aioli. A warm “sushi” with the tangy sauce.

okra and green bean terrine goma sauce. One of these traditional Japanese vegetable gels.

ika with natto and wasabi. It’s unusual to find natto (fermented soy beans) in a fancy restaurant.

pickled crab apple. The inside was cored out. Actually a fabulous little apple with a nice crunch and bracing acidity.

Ron brought: 2009 Philippe Colin Chevalier-Montrachet. VM 91+. Medium yellow. Pineapple, grapefruit and crushed stone on the nose. Sweet and fruit-driven; much fresher than the Demoiselles but shows a distinct apricotty ripeness. Concentrated, chewy and seamless but could use more complexity. Will this age?

Holding the jus.

Modern zukuri (modern interpretation of sashimi). Hagatsuo tartare, grape gelee, myoga, fennel,smoked tosazu sauce. Soft and delicate and rich.

From my cellar: 1999 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. VM 94. Raveneau’s 1999 Chablis Montée de Tonnerre is in a marvelous spot right now. Petrol, smoke, slate, apricot pit and wild flowers are some of the many notes that grace the palate in an utterly vivid, vibrant Chablis endowed with magnificent purity and pedigree. At fifteen years of age, the 1999 Montée de Tonnerre still has a lot to say. What a beautiful wine!

Stuart brought: 2008 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. BH 94. A more elegant as well as more refined but also much more reserved nose of white flower and salt water aromas is very much in keeping with the equally refined, pure and silky middle weight flavors that possess excellent detail and precision on the textured and seductive finish that displays grand cru level persistence. This is not quite as rich as the Butteaux but it’s finer as the chiseled flavors are flat out gorgeous. In a word, stunning.

Owan (still water). shrimp, mushroom and chestnut suigyoza, renkon, broccolini and dashi.

With the dashi added. Amazing chestnut dumpling!

Otsukuri (traditional sashimi). seasonal fish and oyster. Very nice sashimi.

Pierro brought: 2012 Domaine Weinbach Gewurztraminer Cuvée Théo. VM 90. Vivid gold-tinged yellow. Bright rose water and honeyed tropical fruits on the nose. Similarly vibrant and fresh in the mouth, with floral and spicy peach flavors. Not especially complex or long but has sneaky concentration and very good balance. I’m not usually a huge fan of the Cuvée Theo wines, but this is everything you could want an entry-level Gewürztraminer to be.

Yakimono (grilled dish). Foie gras, persimmon, buddha’s hand, pickled radish, foie gras ju, shishito pepper powder. This looked better than it tasted. Not that it tasted bad, but somehow the persimmon overshadowed the foie.

mushimono (steaned dish). black cod, uni, matsutake, mitsuba, sea lettuce and ankake dashi.

Larry brought: 2000 M. Chapoutier Ermitage Le Pavillon. VM 92. Saturated ruby-red. More reserved aromas of blackberry, cassis, licorice, minerals, cinders and spices. Juicy and tight, with a varietally accurate raw currant character. Fresh, intense and structured for the year. Finishes very long, with firm tannins and strong spice character. Shiizakana (not bound by tradition, the chef’s choice dish). Spaghettini with abalone, pickled cod roe, truffles. Niki makes really wonderful and unusual pastas. This isn’t for everyone, being very “seafoody” but we all adored it. Fabulous textures too.

Pierro, who has certainly had his share of pasta over the decades loved it too. He reported that this was the first time he’s had pasta with chopsticks (probably about my 400th, but I’m an asian noodle fiend).

Niku (meat). Japan miyazaki wagyu beef a5. The fig was my favorite part — but the meat was great too.

Sunomono. Snow crab, tomato, cucumber, yuzu curd. Pretty strong tomato flavors.

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

From my cellar: Soto Sake. Great super premium junmai daiginjo.

Shokuji/ sushi. Seasonal fish. I didn’t get them all written down. You can see tai (snapper), toro, hamachi/kampachi, Japanese scallop and Japanese uni / ikura for sure.

Sake and ginger.

Blue crab hand-rolls. Because I was still hungry!

Niki (right) and her wife (left) pose with Pierro and Stuart.

Apple sorbet.

Dessert. Date filling rye cream puff, rye ice cream, rye cookie, Pear brulee, apple cider caramel sauce.

Chocolates with orange.

N/Naka really is a very special place. All the meals I had here were spectacular (here for the first, here for the second, here for the third). Plus we even did an amazing all foie gras meal here ounce. The place keeps getting better and better. This is thrice wonderful because often one finds a slight bloom to come off a place on repeat meals. At N/Naka everything is seasonal and constantly rotating.

Click here to other LA Japanese restaurants.

Or other Foodie Club extravaganzas.

Related posts:

  1. N/Naka Birthday
  2. Nothing like N/Naka
  3. N/Naka Reprise
  4. N/Naka – Farewell to Foie
  5. Food as Art – N/Naka
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Champagne, Japanese cuisine, N/Naka, Niki Nakayama, Sushi, Wine

Let’s Go Again

Nov10

Restaurant: Go’s Mart [1, 2, 3]

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

Date: October 5, 2017

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: One of LA’s best sushi places!

_

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

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

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

The tables.

Go himself and his assistant Oscar.

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

Fresh ground wasabi and ginger.

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

Sashimi plate.

Monkfish liver with shiso.

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

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

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

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

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

Oddities on the wall.

Shellfish plate.

Santa Barbara uni.

Seared sweet shrimp with caviar.

King crab.

Golden Japanese scallop.

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

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

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

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

Haha.

A second piece of sardine.

Another handroll.

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

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

 

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

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

For more LA Sushi, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Sushi Sushi – Small Omakase
  2. Sushi Sushi = Yummy Yummy
  3. Sasabune – Dueling Omakases
  4. Kula Revolving Sushi Bar
  5. Food as Art – Sushi Sushi
By: agavin
Comments (7)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: BYOG, Foodie Club, Gelato, Go's Mart, lunch, Sushi

Kula Revolving Sushi Bar

Oct20

Restaurant: Kula

Location: 2130 Sawtelle Blvd #111, Los Angeles, CA 90025.  (310) 597-4490

Date: September 7, 2017

Cuisine: Revolving Sushi

Rating: Great deal

_

This revolving sushi place over in the older, taller mini-mall on Sawtelle has long been on my list to try — despite being a sushi snob — just because it’s so popular.

I went this time because it was 11:30 and figured there wouldn’t be much of a line, but it had already filled up!

They have most of the regular sushi items.

For those of you not familiar with “revolving sushi” much of the food floats around the restaurant on a conveyor belt. You can pull a plate out from any of those domes at any time.

Or also browse through the entire menu on your own personal ipad and order ala carte — it will be made rapidly and scooted too you on a separate semi-automated conveyor deck!

All the plates are a staggeringly low $2.50 (yeah and for 2 sushi pieces!) They don’t even have to count them because each seat has its own individual plate “disposal” slot that counts for you.

Salmon sushi.
 Seared salmon sushi with Japanese mayo.

Albacore sushi.

Mackerel.

Red Snapper with yuzu pepper.

Toro. This one comes with only one piece, but it’s still just $2.50. Down the street at Tsujita Sushi, they are $15 each!

Garlic tuna steak.

Tuna Yukhoe. Battleship tuna with egg. Never actually had this before — at least in this format. Maybe I’ve had it with raw egg.

Negitoro (chopped toro).

Eel.

Scallop.

Salmon belly.

Spicy scallop handroll. Special order. Didn’t like the sauce at all.

Sweet shrimp. This was one of the few that just wasn’t good. It was way too fishy and I only ate half of one piece.

Tamago (egg omelet). Boring packed tamago, but certainly edible.

My over the top one person lunch count.

Still, even going nuts the bill didn’t exactly break the bank for sushi!

 Special orders come on the upper conveyor. It’s very cool to watch.

This wasn’t good sushi. Just a bit better than supermarket — although at least it’s been made in the last few minutes and not sitting for hours. Plus, if you want you could order everything ala cart and it would be fresh made. That’s not to say the fish would be super fresh. It’s fine, but a bit fishy and so best to stay away from aggressive items like sweet shrimp. Still, some of it wasn’t too bad and at $1.25 a piece ($2.50 for every plate) it’s staggeringly cheap.

Plus the format was very interesting with the individual ipads, the conveyor delivery, the plate counter and all that. Don’t try to come here with a bunch of people though because it’s super crowded.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

More LA sushi reviews here.

Related posts:

  1. Sushi Sushi – Small Omakase
  2. Food as Art – Sushi Sushi
  3. Sushi Zo
  4. Sushi Sushi = Yummy Yummy
  5. Sushi Sushi Sushi
By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Kula, Revolving Sushi, Sawtelle Blvd, Sushi

Foodies at Tsujita Sushi

Oct16

Restaurant: Sushi Tsujita [1, 2]

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

Date: August 30, 2017

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: Classic Fish

_

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

House made tofu, vegetables, and truffle.

Smoked duck noodle soup.

With the light, delicious, dashi-based broth.

Super smoked toro.

Reveal the fish and bathe in the sumptuous smokey smell.

Really tasty bit of fish. Intense fat and smokiness.

Sashimi plate.

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

Toro tartar with caviar. The Matsuhisa classic.

Cool containers.

Eggy tofu ball?

Seared garlic wagyu — more or less tepenyaki.

I eat about 4 bowls of ginger.

Special Japanese snapper with yuzu.

Golden eye snapper.

Blue fin tuna.

Santa Barbara sweet ebi (shrimp).

The head, including roe, fried up.

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

Squid with a bit of char taste and yuzu.

Ocean perch.

Black throat sea perch.

Amberjack yellowtail.

House smoked copper river king salmon.

O-Toro (super fatty tuna belly).

Seared scallop “roll”.
 Miso soup.

Tamago (egg) with sea eel.

Marinated big eye tuna.

Sardine. I like the marinated ones.

Yellowtail belly.

Shiro ebi icy shrimp.

Toro tartar.

And a peach sorbet.

Plus a cleanser of sweetened yuzu juice.

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

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

For more LA sushi reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Sushi Sushi – Small Omakase
  2. Artsy Toppings – Sushi of Gari
  3. Food as Art – Sushi Sushi
  4. Newest Oldest Sushi
  5. Sushi Sushi Sushi
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Burgundy, Foodie Club, Sawtelle Blvd, Sushi, Sushi Tsujita, Wine

Hamasaku Lunch

Sep04

Restaurant: Hamasaku

Location: 11043 California Route 2, Los Angeles, CA 90025. (310) 479-7636

Date: July 10, 2017

Cuisine: Japanese

Rating: good but not great sushi

_

Larry and I met up for our regular lunch at one of my OLD (I mean 2006 haunts):

Hamasaku. Founded originally by Mike Ovitz, I used to eat here with my partners in the early Flektor days. It was fairly innovative at the time, if slightly over-emphasizing the “rolls” (never been a roll fan, preferring nigiri).

The current menu. We got the lunch Omakase which is much cheaper and shorter than it was back in 2006.

6pcs of sashimi. Well, if you consider a sliver of octopus a piece. It was good quality fish though, with some yellowtail and toro too.

Mizuma salad. This had bits of fish cake in there too. I wasn’t a huge fan of the green texture, tickled my throat.

Monkfish karage. I like a crunchier tempura fry than this more “deep fry.” The fish was good, but the overall effect was a touch heavy.

Miso soup.

8pcs nigiri. I don’t love when nigiri comes out on a plate all at once like this. There are a lot of the whitefish in here, hard to identify after the fact. It was solid but nothing amazing.

Faroe Island Salmon and Toro sushi. These were better, quite nice actually. But they were special orders not part of the omakase.

Fox hand roll. Snow crab legs, dynamite sauce, tempura crunch. Just the sort of warm “new style roll” I was talking about at the start — tasty enough though.

Mochi ice cream. Coffee and cookies?

Overall, I remember Hamasaku as better and more innovative than I found today, although this was certainly a decent lunch and pretty decent value as sushi goes. It’s not bad at all, but there are more to my taste (i.e. either more modernist or more traditionalist) places in town. This is sort of a lonely middle-ground sushi, somewhere in the center of the quadrant of innovative, traditional, trendy (like Nobu), and populist (rolls) — drawing from each corner, but not really belonging to any.

Amusingly, two of my former Ramen Roll employees are working here now — and it’s nice to see they have good gigs (it’s certainly upscale from RnR).

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Go Sushi Goes To Lunch
  2. Food as Art: Sasabune
  3. Sushi Gen DTLA
  4. Cocoa Island – Languorous Lunch
  5. Crafty Little Lunch
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: hamusaku, Japanese cuisine, Sushi
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