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Archive for valentines day

DimSumQuest – Happy Harbor

Sep21

Restaurant: Happy Harbor [1, 2]

Location: 1015 Nogales St, West Covina, CA 91792. 626-965-2020

Date: February 14, 2021

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Great cantonese

_

I went here for dinner in 2021 and had a great meal — so I had high hopes for our dim sum visit.
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Happy Harbor is a medium sized Cantonese located right next to Mandarin plaza, a “far east” (Hacienda Heights ish) area we have eaten at again and again.
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The interior is classic Cantonese.

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The infinite corridor.
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Grungy tanks.
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Le menu.

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Decent set of basic sauces.
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On request, they brought us peanuts form the dinner menu.
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And smashed cucumbers which were very pleasant.
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The lot.
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Chicken Feet in Abalone Sauce. People said they were okay.
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Jumbo Shrimp Har Gow. The insides were generous and pretty good but the shells were thick and sticky and broke apart on trying to pickup the dumplings. So just middling.
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Truffle Shrimp har Gow with Squid Ink. These were better as the wrapper retained its integrity. The inside was shrimp with a hint of truffle oil. Not bad.
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Fish Roe Siu Mai. The classic Siu Mai were huge and porky with a bit of whole shrimp. They were solid — both literally and figuratively — but not awesome.
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Chiu Chow Style Steamed Dumplings. With the peanuts inside. These were pretty tasty but the wrapper was fairly heavy.
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Mushroom Shrimp Dumpling. Pretty nice and certainly plump.
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XLB. Typical for dim sum XLB — aka not particularly great.
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Bean Curd Balls with Vegetables. The wrapper was a bit chewy but these were enjoyable.
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Steamed BBQ Pork Bao. The bun was over-steamed and the inside sickly sweet and not very pleasant.
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Inside.
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Baked Abalone Sauce BBQ Pork Buns. Very sticky and sweet on the outside with a sickly sweet red pork interior. Better than the steamed but not great at all.
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Inside.
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Deep Fried Spring Rolls. Stuff with shrimp. Very nice flakey/crunchy outside and some solid shrimp. Pretty good.
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Fried Chives Shrimp Pork Patty. I always try to order these when I see them. These were good, although not the best. They did have that nice texture and the pleasant greasy quality.
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Tofu with Spicy Chicken Sauce. Not sure what’s chicken about this sauce. The Tofu was the classic fried Egg Tofu and was good, even if the overall presentation was sloppy and ugly. The sweet and slightly spicy sauce was probably jarred. But I did enjoy them as I always do.
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Spiced Fried Shisamo Fish. Little dark baitfish DEEP fried. They were very strong and the fry was out of control thick. No one went for a second fish.
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Stuffed Morel Mushroom. Stuff with shrimp paste and topped wiht a bit of crab. While the mushroom was a bit rubbery this was one of the better dishes and is fairly rare.
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Steamed Shrimp Ball with Corn. Fluffy shrimp ball, a touch underseasoned but not bad, laced with corn kernels. The corn leant it an interesting and pleasant texture.
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Steamed Rice Noodle with Spare Ribs in Black Bean Sauce. We ordered these ribs on top of the chow fun in order to get a “2 for 1”. The ribs were the usual steamed ribs, a bit porky, but soft and reasonably decent. Not sure having a bunch of rice noodle underneath was much of a plus.
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Sticky Rice Wrapper with Lotus Leaf. The rice itself was under-seasoned, almost sticky white rice, although the filling was very pleasant.
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Inside.
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Live shrimp steamed with garlic. The garlic flavor of the sauce was potent but nice. The shrimp themselves felt a bit overcooked and small and shell dominated by the time we got to eating them. Could have been much better. AND they were like $80/lb!
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Crispy Durian Cake. The lard based “buttery” pastry was solid and the durian custard very durian-flavored and reasonably nice.
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Overall, Happy Harbor was very “B”. None of the dishes stood out as great. Most of the normal dim sum was okay, but not only below the top A tier, but also below the better (but not top) A-/B+ places in the SGV proper. Still, Happy Harbor was better than the meh places, they have a huge menu with many good options, so it would be enjoyable if the location was convenient.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Happy at Happy Harbor
  2. DimSumQuest – Lunasia
  3. DimSumQuest – Chef Tony
  4. DimSumQuest – ixlb Dimsum Eats
  5. DimSumQuest – Blooming VIP
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Dim sum, DimSumQuest, dumplings, Happy Harbor, Lunch Quest, SGV, valentines day

Valentines at Il Secreto

Feb15

Restaurant: Il Segreto Ristorante Belair

Location: 2932 Beverly Glen Cir, Los Angeles, CA 90077. (310) 474-8644

Date: February 13, 2016

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Decent neighborhood Italian

_

Giacomo Drago, one of the brothers in LA’s mini Drago Italian empire has opened yet another little Italian restaurant, this time a local joint in Belair. We snuck up here the day before Valentine’s day because the fixed menus on the day itself are annoying.

The name is apropos, because it’s tucked away in a mini-mall at the top of Beverly Glen.

The interior is cute, and actually surprisingly large, with an upstairs and a couple of different rooms.
 PANZANELLA. Bread and Tomato salad with cucumbers, onion, and extra virgin olive oil sprinkled with burrata. Always one of my wife’s favorites.
 BRESOLA. Dry cured beef with arugula and parmesan cheese. Not a bad version of this dish.
 PUMPKIN RAVIOLI. pumpkin and ricotta stuffed ravioli with sage and cream sauce. The rich Drago version of this dish. Tasty, but the original Northern Italian one is just butter and sage.

UNI PASTA. handmade green and black penne with rock shrimp and uni sauce. I was disappointed in this. The pasta itself was good, but the sauce smelled a bit fishy and didn’t come together right.

Creme brûlée.
 Lemon Meringue tart. Nice components, but the tart itself tasted very slightly “fridge burned,” which is something I’m really not a fan of.

Overall, service at Il Secreto was great, and the location cute, but the food (in our extremely limited sample) was just okay. Certainly well above average for an LA Italian, but not nearly as good as Il Pastiao, Giacomo’s flagship.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Capo Valentines
  2. More Drago – Via Alloro
  3. Sicilian Style – Drago
  4. Quick Eats – Il Pastaio
  5. Valentines at the Peninsula
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Drago, Il Secreto, Italian cuisine, valentines day

Valentines at the Peninsula

Feb17

Restaurant: The Belvedere

Location: 9882 South Santa Monica Blvd. Beverly Hills, Ca, 90212. 310-551-2888

Date: February 14, 2014

Cuisine: California French

Rating: Good food, turbo service

_

Every year, my wife and I try somewhere different for Valentines. Not only is this one of the best grossing nights of the year, but it’s also one of the least diner friendly. Restaurants tend toward overpriced fixed menus and aggressively tight seatings. This year, we went for the fancy dining room in the Peninsula, the Belvedere.


The menu for tonight.


And the vegetarian variant (of which my wife took everything but the hot pot — she had the fish instead).


From my cellar: 1995 Robert Ampeau & Fils Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. 92 points. This is medium gold. Nose is very ripe fruit and honey, but not boytritis. Sweet and satiny and weighty, acid is failing. Finishes with baked apples and pastry.

Lovely mature Chardonnay.


I apologize for the lousy cellphone photos. I forgot to bring a better camera. A nice bread basket. Those crunchy parmesan things were highly addictive.


Beet Tartare. Variations of Beet Textures. Jewel Lettuces. Wild Flowers. The mix of textures was interesting and included freeze dried or flash frozen bits and other modernist touches. The flavors were a little mild, but it was certainly a pleasant dish.


Lobster and Shrimp Ravioli. Uni Butter. Petrossian Caviar. I’m a lover of this kind of seafood ravioli and the center didn’t disappoint. It also paired nicely with the uni. The broth was light. Perhaps a richer sauce might have had a little more umph, but I enjoyed it.


t

Loup de Mer. Lemongrass-Kaffir Lime Vapor.


Mild and pleasant with those Thai coconut soup flavors.


Petite Grass-Fed Beef Filet Mignon. Perigord Truffle Potato Mousseline. Glazed Leeks. Beef and potatoes — but fancier!


Eggplant Bayaldi. Perigord Truffle Potato Mousseline. Glazed Leeks.


Caramelia Milk Chocolate Coeur a la Creme. Chilled Blood Orange Consommé. Citrus Segments. I liked this dessert. The heart itself was moist and sweet. The chocolate crunch thing under it was delicious, and the citrus consommé was refreshing.

This was a tasty meal and I enjoyed the light modernist touches. My biggest gripe was the turbo speed at which they served the dinner. They managed to get us out of there in 1:15 minutes total! Wow. The food came nearly immediately and the pace never let up. That being said, service was attentive and they filled the wine glasses frequently, but the meal was so fast we couldn’t finish the bottle.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Valentines at Michael’s
  2. Capo Valentines
  3. Crash Valentines
  4. Bistro LQ – 27 Courses of Trufflumpagus
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chardonnay, Filet Mignon, The Belvedere, The Peninsula, Truffle, valentines day

Valentines at Michael’s

Mar18

Restaurant: Michael’s Santa Monica

Location: 1147 Third Street, Santa Monica, CA 90403. 310-451-0843

Date: February 14, 2013

Cuisine: New American

Rating: Great job with a tough night

_

Valentines is a notoriously difficult night to get a great meal on. The frenzied rush to maximize profits usually results in lackluster service and stilted over-priced fixed menus.

The first Valentines my wife and I celebrated was at Michaels, a Santa Monica staple that many credit for inventing New Californian cuisine, so we decided to head back and try it out. Things have been substantially updated this year both in decor and with regard to the menu — which is a necessity for any restaurant entering it’s 4th decade!


Michaels has a fantastic garden in back, which remains a nice temperature all year round due to heat lamps.


The special Valentines menu.


The ripe pear and hazelnut nose is marred by a note of lactic acid that leads to rich, sweet and generous medium-bodied flavors that possess good detail on the linear finish. I found this to be a bit disappointing reative to what I originally saw in cask as the nose is curious. This was a tad “advanced”, way more oxidized than it should have been.


Fromage blanc infused with maple and salmon roe.


Roasted Winter Squash Soup. Sherry Gastrique, Burrata, Sage, Chive.


Cowgirl (WA) and Cowboy (NY) Oysters on the half shell, Citrus Mignonette.


Asian Pear with Thyme, Citrus Brown Butter, Walnuts, Pecorino Fiore Sardo.


Seared Ahi Tuna “Carpaccio Style” Parsley, Roasted Garlic, Bone Marrow Vinaigrette.


Grilled Wild Stripped Bass. English Peas, Caramelized Shallots, Orange Nage.


Braised Prime Short Ribs. Coconut Polenta, Watercress and Pickled Chile Salad, Aromatic Soy Reduction.


Chocolate-Hazelnut Bar. Almond/Sesame Brittle, Blood Orange Caramel, Creme Fraiche.


Coconut Tapioca Pudding. Berry Caramel, Lime Zest, Coconut Oat Crisp.

This was both a nice menu and good execution. There were a few small service errors, but they recovered nicely. Overall, as Valentines dinners, go this was a very good one and we need to return and try the new menu on a regular night.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Capo Valentines
  2. Crash Valentines
  3. Fraiche Santa Monica part deux
  4. Fraiche Santa Monica
  5. Ice Cream & Coffee
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: 2005 White Burgundy, American Cuisine, Burrata, California Cuisine, Meursault, Michael's Santa Monica, valentines day, White Burgundy

Crash Valentines

Feb14

In honor of Valentines, I share with you both a cute fan pic, courtesy of die hard fan Daisy Parker, and fan Aaron White’s latest masterpiece stop motion Crash Bandicoot fan video: Rise of the NeoBots.

And the best thing — which makes this oh so apropos — is that they’re a couple!

Enjoy!

Cortex Valentines

Related posts:

  1. Crash Live Action Tribute
  2. Game Shop Crash
  3. Crash Bandicoot Fan Film
  4. Crash Launch Commercials
  5. Capo Valentines
By: agavin
Comments (25)
Posted in: Games
Tagged as: Crash Bandicoot, Doctor Neo Cortex, fan art, fan film, Rise of the NeoBots, valentines day

More Maison Giraud

Jul30

Restaurant: Maison Giraud [1, 2, 3]

Location: 1032 Swarthmore Ave, Pacific Palisades, Ca 90272. 310-459-7562

Date: Winter/Spring, 2012

Cuisine: French

Rating: French “home” cooking at it’s best

_

Maison Giraud is the closest fine dining to my house. Pacific Palisades doesn’t have a lot of great food, but this restaurant/bakery is from acclaimed LA French chef Alain Giraud.


The Swathmore Ave frontage has been revealing itself in stages since at least the 4th of July.


Inside the chef peers down at your from the French-style board.

My wife and I had our Valentine’s Day reservation here, which turned out to be a damn good choice as the day before I crushed the bones in my left hand, and couldn’t have managed to travel further. There was a set menu, which can be hit or miss on this overcrowded holiday, but turned out great at MG.

“Oyster & Champagne Gelee.” Notice the aphrodisiac theme.


“Tender Greens & Beets Salad. Citrus Vinaigrette, Goat Cheese.”


“Burrata Agnolotti. Hearts of Broccolis, Pomegranate Seduction.”


“Scallops ‘Valentino’ Piquillo, Cauliflower, Chorizo.”


“Red Snapper. Saffron-Fennel Broth. Spring Peas.”


“Veal Tenderloin. Spinach Cream, Red Wine Sexy Sauce.”


“Macaron Harmony for Two. Litchis & Rose Cream & Raspberries.” This dessert was absolutely amazing. I love rosewater and this had that classic soft flavor. The texture of the Macaron was also perfect.

Below is a composite dinner built from 2-3 visits.


From my cellar: Fin Amour, a blockbuster wine that redefines that cliché with energy and precision. Those centenarian vines of Grenache and Carignan pictured above are actually located in Maury, a miniscule appellation across the Spanish border in Roussillon that’s traditionally famous for immortal dessert wines (we had a recently released Maury from 1928 in the shop the other day, to give you an idea of their longevity). The appellation is conservative about their stickies, so Case and Shiverick did forgo the classification to make a low-yield Cotes de Catalanes dry red wine of 70% Grenache and 30% Carignan. These Bonsai like vines stubbornly live on an outcrop of chopped up schist, which is ideal for giving the few grapes they produce their incredible Catalonian minerality and aromatically spiced fruit.


“Vegetable Salad. Seasonal Market Vegetables with Coriander and Lemon.”


“Grilled octopus special.”


Pistou is a classic southern French soup, cousin to minestrone.


“Soup ‘Au Pistou’. Farmers Market Vegetables, Pearl Pasta, Almond and Basil Pistou.”


You can see the minestrone resemblance here. The French version is a little milder.


“Farm Eggs. Town and Country. Light Mushroom Custard, Rustic Egg Cocotte.” I like the creamy fraiche inside the egg thingy.


“Loup de Mer ‘Barigoule’. Baby Artichokes, Basil Pistou, Tomato Confit.”


“Colorado Lamb Filet. Spring Onions, Fava Beans, Fennel Panisse, Black Olive Sauce.”


“Side vegetables.”


“Steak special. Sauce Au Poivre.” Simple French classic.


“Classic boulibase.” MG serves a modest sized portion, which actually can be a good thing. I paired this with a nice Provencal Rose.


“Chocolate Soufflé Traditional Soufflé, Crème Chantilly, Crème Anglaise.” A total classic, and as good as any Chocolate Soufflé I’ve had.


“Vacherin Glacé Lavender Ice Cream, Strawberries, Meringue.” This is a Giraud staple and rather wonderful, particularly because of the Lavender thing. It has certain similarities to the Valentines Rose flavored Macaron, but is crunchier.

We also go frequently for Brunch/Lunch.


“French Toast. Brioche, Crème Chantilly, Homemade Preserves.” I’d kill for this Crème Chantilly.


“House Burger Caramelized Onions, Tomatoes, Aioli.”


“Maison Giraud ‘Cobb’ Salad, Blue Cheese Vinaigrette.”


“Le Plateau.” Everyday they offer a set plate with three items. This particular day it included a salmon caesar to the right, scallops in the center, and a bit of bread pudding.

So far, I’m very pleased with Maison Giraud. The food is essentially French comfort food with a bit of international adaption, but everything has been spot on fresh and well done so far, and the bakery is outrageously good. Given how incredibly lame most of the Pacific Palisades food offerings are this is all incredibly welcome.

For my previous review, see here.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Maison Giraud
  2. Maison Giraud at Last
  3. La Cachette Bistro part deux et trois
  4. Palm Springs – Colony Palms Hotel
  5. Food as Art: Ortolan
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Alain Giraud, Brunch, Cauliflower, Chorizo, Dessert, French Cuisine, Goat Cheese, Grenache, Los Angeles, Maison Giraud, Pacific Palisades Los Angeles, Roussillon, Snapper, Soufflé, valentines day

Capo Valentines

Feb17

Restaurant: Capo [1, 2, 3]

Location: 1810 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica, Ca. 310-394-5550

Date: February 14, 2011

Cuisine: Italian with Cal influences

Rating: Well done, particularly for a special night.

_

Valentines is tricky restaurant-wise, and rarely shows off a place at it’s best. The economics of the situation tend to force them toward set menus (at high prices) and to rush the service so they can get 2-3 seatings in. We decided to try Capo, which I have reviewed on a normal night HERE.

Normally, Capo boasts of being a “slow food” restaurant. Tonight they hustled a bit, although the food was very good. We had a 7:15 reservation and they had us out of there (7 courses later!) at 9! Actually, we didn’t really mind, but that certainly wouldn’t be the case here on a normal night.

The have good bread. I particularly like the flatbread.

And this probably chickpea based dip.

For Valentines there were two menu choices, the regular on the right, and the truffle on the left. Both had two choices per course (more or less). Click to embiggen.

The amuse, a cone of tomatoes. Essentially like a tomato bruschetta — in a crispy cone.

To start we got two glasses of white. A muscat on the left and a Sancerre on the right. Other than having a rather hefty per glass price tag they were very nice wines.

“Baby red beet, ricotta ravioli.” The first of many Beurre blanc type pasta sauces. They have very nice fresh pasta here, and well the butter sauce is hard to go wrong with.

“Russian Beluga caviar, linguini.” Again with the butter. A very simple dish of pasta, butter, and caviar. It worked. The sauce was bread dipping good. This might not be the BEST venue to show off the caviar, although it certainly wasn’t overwhelmed, lending a briny note to the whole thing.

I love Amarone, as it is very grapy, and that’s one of the things I like in a red.

Parker gives this 92. “The 2004 Amarone is beautiful and understated in its wild cherries, sweet herbs and flowers, all of which come together with unusual finesse and clarity. Silky, ripe tannins frame the exquisite finish. The 2004 is already approachable and should continue to drink nicely for another decade or so. This is a very representative vintage for Allegrini. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2020.”

“Bluefin tuna tartar, caviali.” This is a very nice sushi grade tuna, essentially chopped like you might find in a tuna handroll. The bread is very toasted.

“Gnocchi lobster, truffles.” Again with the Beurre blanc! The gnocchi were perfectly pillow-like, the lobster tender, and the truffles do go spectacularly with the butter — really one of the best ways to show them off. Everyone but my arteries thought this was a fantastic dish. Again, I lapped up the butter with yet another piece of bread.

“Heirloom tomato vegetable, burrata.” No faulting this combination. Capo always has a lot of burrata, and you know I love it (HERE FOR MORE ON THE BEST FRESH CHEESE!).

“Jamon Iberico de Bellota.” Spain’s best ham (see leg below). My biggest beef with this dish is that the bread is too toasted. It has a nice charred flavor, but that overwhelms the subtle salty-nutty taste of this very fine pig product.

Oink! How did my leg get from Iberia to American?

“”BBQ Wild King Salmon.” My wife, a salmon aficionado, loved this salmon. It had nice accompanying veggies too.

“Cote de Boeuf, truffle potato puree.” This was my least favorite dish of the evening, but this is just because I’m not really a steak guy. It was very rare, more than medium closer to rare. That was good. But I’m just not that into simple meat. I like things jazzy. If one were a steak lover, I’m sure this would be awesome. As it was for me it was good, but not mind blowing or anything. The mashers were really good though, and went particularly nicely with the black truffles.

“Fruit Crostata, zabaglione.” They described this as a pear tart. It tasted like apple pie. I wonder if they mixed it up and gave us “Hot apple tart, truffle honey ice cream” except that’s whipped cream (zabaglione?) and not ice cream. In any case, it was good apple pie, although it tended to fall apart.

“Chocolate creme brulee.” Yum! This was very good, rich, creamy, nicely chocolatty!

Some various petite fours. Mostly simple nut cookies and a couple fruit cream filled chocolates.

And they even included a rose!

Overall, this was one of the better Valentines dinners we’ve done. Really, just like with the flowers one can expect to pay more for less on this special night. But Capo did as well as could be expected. The choices were good, and every dish was very well executed.

Related posts:

  1. Food as Art: Capo
  2. Fraiche take on Franco-Italian
  3. Bistro LQ – 27 Courses of Trufflumpagus
  4. Figs are in Season
  5. Food as Art – Takao
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Allegrini, Amarone, Butter, Capo, chocolate, Cook, Dessert, Food, Home, pasta, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Salmon, Sancerre, side, Steak, Truffles, valentines, valentines day, vegetarian
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