Wine :: Page 11 :: All Things Andy Gavin

Archive for Wine – Page 11

Fiorita Centro

Dec06

Restaurant: Drago Centro [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Location: 525 S Flower St, Los Angeles, CA 90071. (213) 228-8998

Date: October 29, 2019

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Great high end Italian

Back to Drago Centro for “another” Brunnello dinner, featuring the wines of La Fiorita. Liz Lee of Sage Society kinda co-hosted, but this wasn’t a full on Sage dinner (hey, only 4 courses — Liz would have had 10!). But any trip to Drago is good anyway, as Celestino and I have been friends for 20 years!

Located on busy Flower in DTLA.

La Fiorita is a new and up and coming Brunello producer — more on it in a sec.

But first a bunch of us including Erick and Liz snacked on the patio with:

Arrancini “rice balls”.

Fried zucchini. About the only good zucchini is a fried zucchini!

Crab toasts.

Then we moved inside to this large central table.

A bit about the winemaker.

On the left is Natalie Oliveros, owner of La Fiorita. She’s a NY native with a love of wine and all things Italian. In the back is Chef Celestino Drago.

Photos are a bit rough tonight as I was evacuated from my home because of the California wildfires and had to use the cel phone camera!

2015 La Fiorita Brunello di Montalcino.

2014 La Fiorita Brunello di Montalcino. VM 89. Medium red. Clean, fresh aromas of cranberry cocktail and spicy herbs. Then spicy in the mouth too, with savory herbs and red cherry flavors offering good intensity. Starts very savory and broad, then nicely integrated acidity gives the wine a more buoyant and linear mouthfeel while providing good grip. Finishes long and clean. A much less fleshy, tactile and musky Brunello from La Fiorita than the wines typically made here over the past decade, and I have to say I like this style better. (Drink between 2020-2027)

agavin: drinking great right now

Tonight’s menu — short by my standards.

Australian A5 wagyu steak tartare, shallots, chives, parmesan cream, truffle tuile. Nice dish, but if it’s Australian, it’s not “really” A5 — at least not the way the Japanese do it. No way are the Aussies — as wonderful as they are — going to massage the cows like the obsessive Japanese.

2011 La Fiorita Brunello di Montalcino. 90 points. A bit more sour.

2008 La Fiorita Brunello di Montalcino. VM 88. Bright red-ruby. Subdued but precise aromas of strawberry, cassis and licorice. Nicely layered and rich, displaying an enticing sweetness to its red berry and red cherry flavors. Finishes a bit simple and only moderately persistent, but with fine-grained, pliant tannins and a strong note of violet. This attractive Brunello is ideal for early drinking.
Fresh fettucuni, shaved black truffle. Very nice simple pasta emphasizing the truffles.

2012 La Fiorita Brunello di Montalcino Riserva. VM 88. Good bright ruby-red. Aromas of blackberry and violet, plus a whiff of smoked meat. Big, deep and rich on entry, with black pepper and spice notes complicating savory dark berry and licorice flavors, but turns mountingly astringent in the middle and on the long, mouth-puckering finish. This broad, structured but ultimately only moderately complex wine could use a touch more grace and charm. (Drink between 2024-2029)

Braised ossobuco, broccolini, cipollini, creamy poleanta, salsa verde. Modern form factor on the ossobuco, and I actually prefer the classic messier one — particularly with a great risotto! Still this was good and one could scoop out the marrow!

NV Vigna Dorata Franciacorta Brut Saten. Nice inexpensive bubbly.

Chef’s selection of assorted cheeses.

The wine lineup.

Overall another fine evening at Drago Centro. The wines were great, Natalie Oliveros a lot of fun, and the food and company fabulous as well.

Still, as it was only 3 savory courses (plus our warm up) it was off to Korea Town for second dinner for us — Korean Army Stew!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Brunello, Celestino Drago, Drago Centro, DTLA, Italian cuisine, Wine

Ima Had Too Much Meat

Nov25

Restaurant: IMA

Location: 9669 S Santa Monica Blvd #1, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 734-7829

Date: October 16, 2019

Cuisine: Japanese A5 Shabu-Shabu

Rating: Rich!

For tonight’s meal the minimum Foodie Club heads out to try something few others would dare…

$400 a person Shabu-Shabu!

This is IMA, sister restaurant to Yazawa, the super A5 Yakiniku joint in Beverly Hills. They use the same meat.

And have a similar (adjacent and with connecting doors) modern Japanese vibe.

The tables have little induction burners built in and stylish hoods.

The small menu is some shabu-shabu and sukiyaki variants. We of course ordered everything!

Erick brought: 1985 Château Rausan-Ségla. VM 91. The 1985 Rauzan-Ségla is a vintage that I have tasted several times from bottles I picked up cheaply some years ago. I was particularly effusive about the 1985 although, I feel that it has decayed a little since my last note in 2010. Soft red berry fruit, hedgerow, sage and mushrooms on the loose-knit nose, very typical for a 1985 though it is less intense nowadays. The palate is very savory in style with roasted chestnut and ferrous notes infusing the finish that has an appealing rounded texture. Maybe there are better bottles out there? In any case, don’t hesitate to crack one of these open. Tasted from a bottle from my personal cellar. (Drink between 2019-2027)

agavin: really nice bottle

From my cellar: 1997 M. Chapoutier Ermitage Le Pavillon. VM 94. Bright deep ruby. Blackberry, violet, tar, shoe polish and game on the nose, plus a light floral note; at once vibrant and surmuri. Superconcentrated, remarkably intense flavors of crystallized black cherry, cassis and licorice. An extremely persistent wine of noteworthy finesse, yet also one with a powerful structure for aging. One of the standouts of the vintage.

The appetizer flight that comes with the “Chef’s Special” set course.

Lobster with mushrooms and radish and soy sauce. Bright acid dressing. Very nice.

Hokkaido Uni Tofu with dashi jelly. White creamy quality.

Brussels sprouts with pepper and anchovies. Nice.

A5 Wagyu tartare and Russian Caviar. The caviar is Calvisius ars Italica Caviar. Delicious dish. Although I slightly miss the wasabi ponzu typical on the toro version at Nobu.

Beef Cheek stewed in Saikyo Miso, Topped with Parmesan Cheese. Rich fatty beef chew — like Japanese grandmother’s beef stew.

Grilled Beef Tongue and Vegetables. Thickest tongue I’ve ever had!

Salt and lemon for the tongue.

Toro with salt. Lightly seared. So good we ordered 2 (for the 2 of us).

Steamed Oyster Wrapped in Wagyu with Japanese Salsa. Kinda a bit odd.

The sukiyaki pan arrives.

Sukiyaki meat. Yazawa beef loin. With beef tallow for seasoning.

Sauces and tools.

Raw egg yolk for dipping.

They coat the cast iron pan with tallow then cook.

And dump in sukiyaki sauce (which is a sweet soy).

Here is the tallow and sauce deglazing.

Then you roll your barely cooked piece in the egg yolk — scrumptious. Soft velvety meat, sweet soy flavors, and the rich egg coating.

Broth for the shabu-shabu.

Dipping salt.

First meat (for the shabu): Beef Tongue.

She boiled it in the broth and served it next to the salt. You just eat it with a bit of salt. Super tender and delicious.

More meats, right to left: filet tenderloin, Ichibo, Shin-Shin, rib.

Sauces, a light dashi one and a sesame one.

Chopped mini-green onions for the sauce.

My sauce blend (lighter sauce) with some meat.

Mixing up the sesame sauce.

Veggies and tofu for the shabu (one side).

The other side with glass noodles and a carrot cow.

Pureed Corn Topped with Sea Urchin. I thought I’d love this, but too corn mushy. Cold too and a bit odd.

Noodles for the “ramen” that is coming from the broth.

Flavorant for the broth.

The ramen, brothed up, with noodles.

Special soup to finish, rice porridge.

Dessert time: Pannacotta with soy powder.

On the left, mixed fruit, on the right Passionfruit Sorbet.

Special roasted tea.

I don’t usually post the bill, but this one is useful for the discussion that follows.

Now I liked IMA a lot. The food was very good — delicious in fact — and this was the best/most elevated shabu-shabu I’ve had. And the sukiyaki even better. The meat is incredible (as it is at Yazawa). Service was awesome. Our server was incredibly nice and even helped us cook our food.

Wines were great too (pat ourselves on the back). Corkage isn’t outrageous (at least for the first 2 bottles).

But I wonder how they are going to do and who the market is for this. Only a small set of people (in America at least) even know what Shabu-Shabu is — and even less sukiyaki — and I doubt too many of them are looking for a $400/person shabu/sukiyaki experience! Some high end Asian customers will dig it for sure. I did. But the menu is very limited, so I wouldn’t come back particularly often.

So interesting.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (0)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: A5, Foodie Club, Ima, Japanese cuisine, Shabu-shabu, sukiyaki, Wagyū, Wine

Marcheing South Again

Nov20

Restaurant: Marche Modern [1, 2]

Location: 7862 Pacific Coast Hwy, Newport Beach, CA 92657. (714) 434-7900

Date: October 10, 2019

Cuisine: Modern French

Rating: Great food and service

This particular reunion of the Foodie Club: OC Edition has been in the making for months and follows the format of the previous dinner. Tonight’s them was loosely, coche vs. Domaine d’Auvenay (plus a “bit” of spectacular Champagne).

Due to group constraints, we had to meet deep in the OC at 6:00 — lots of traffic again. This time most of us didn’t do the double header (lunch + dinner) because we were so full last time (even me). Fred, however, is a beast and he met up with some other friends beforehand!

For our super duper elite Foodie Club OC dinner, we selected Marche Moderne — pretty much because it’s one of the best wine friendly restaurants in Orange County (which is a bit of a limited pool).

It’s high end modern French bistro.

Attractive modern decor.

Lots of sunset light.

Our special menu tonight.

Bread.

Butter.

Liz brought: 1969 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon Oenothèque. Vinous 98. One of the highlights in this range, the 1969 Dom Pérignon Œnothèque (Disgorged 2006) is magnificent A stunning, vibrant Champagne, the 69 Œno hits all the right notes. Lemon peel, white flowers, crushed rocks, slate and smoke all soar out of the glass. A thin veil of reduction adds character without being overpowering or dominant. Vivid in color and totally crystalline, the 1969 dazzles at every turn. What a gorgeous wine it is. (Drink between 2017-2027)

Santa Barbara Sea Urchin. Grapefruit Gelee, Fresh Oregano, Radishes, Avocado, Kosho lime vinaigrette. The uni was great, but some of the elements here didn’t quite gelee (haha). Maybe the grapefruit? Maybe the avocado. A touch weird.

From my cellar: 1998 Coche-Dury Meursault 1er Cru Caillerets. VM 92. Fred says much higher. A shockingly elegant and pretty Coche open from the beginning. The delicious Coche signature is present and try as you may you cannot detect any vintage flaws. The more I drink Coche Caillerets the more I am convinced I like it better than the Genevrieres. A wonderful wine that was in the discussion for WOTN next to 92 Coche MP, 99 d’Auvenay Puligny En la Richarde, and 00 d’Auvenay Folatieres. An impressive showing.

Fluke Crudo & Faux Gras. Burnt Shallots Creme, Thinly Sliced Maui Hearts of Palm, Yuzu Confit Marmelade, Beurre Monte Matsutake. Again a slightly bizarre combo of poultry liver and fish.

Kent brought: 1992 Coche-Dury Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. VM 98. Fred says: Darkest wine is the night next to the 98 Coche Caillerets, 99 d’Auvenay En la Richarde, and 00 d’Auvenay Folatieres. Also the most dense and ripe. The balance is there with the acidity and richness in play. There is fruit and rich honey notes but not leaning into botrytis. This continues to build throughout the entire 3 hours. Impressive power.

Egg & Caviar & Cured Scottish Ocean Trout. Kaluga Caviar, Sorrel, Beurre de Citron Confit. More uniform and successful than the previous two dishes. Hard to go too wrong with either egg and caviar or cured salmon and butter.

Fred brought: 1999 Domaine d’Auvenay (Lalou Bize-Leroy) Puligny-Montrachet en la Richarde. BH 91. Fred said: Given the comparisons to Chevalier Montrachet I was expecting power. Instead I got elegance and balance along with floral and mineral puligny character. This bottle is still young and needed 2-3 hours to slowly pick up weight and power. All the while it remains impeccably balanced, not unlike the 98 Coche Caillerets. I believe the best is yet to come and will try to wait another 5 years to open my next one. Lovely. Just lovely.

Sauteed Black Bass. Demi Jus de Bouillabaisse, Barigoule d’Artichaud, Calamari and Mussel, Olive, Basil Emulsion, Spicy Tomato Tartine. The Bouillabaisse “base” was nice. Fish maybe a touch dry.

Erick brought: 2000 Domaine d’Auvenay (Lalou Bize-Leroy) Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières. BH 95. Fred says: Wow. Now this has the power and weight of a Chevalier Montrachet. The most fruit forward of the bunch but supported by that d’Auvenay linearity. A massive and structured wine impressive richness and a hint hazelnut deliciousness. What a treat.

Civet de Homard & Dover Sole. Lobster in a Civet Style, Dover Sole, Gnudi, Chanterelle, Shallot Soubise.

With the sauce. Another slightly oddball mix. This didn’t do the lobster justice. Reduction was good though.
Premier Dessert. Rose & Lychee Sorbet, Eau d’ Hibiscus.

Close up! Nice refreshing sorbet. Texture isn’t as good as mine — of course.

Cheese — because it’s so great with wine. Nice cheeses too.

Strawberry & Pistachio Croustillant. Almond Butter Gateau, Citrus Mousseline, Pistache, Cassis Berry Sorbet. I love a good “Napoleon” although this was jazzed up a bit too much.

Because we didn’t just have 3 ice creams/sorbets from the restaurant, I brought 4 (never one to be outdone).

Nocciola Caramello Budino Gelato — Nocciola custard base made with Pure PGI Piedmont hazelnut paste, infused with house-made caramel (instead of sugar) then mixed with toffee and topped with Toffifay — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — so good it’s an instant signature flavor –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #hazelnut #nocciola #caramel #caramello #toffee #toffifay

Cinnamon Apple Pie Gelato — An intense cinnamon base layered with my house-made bourbon apple pie filling and house-made caramel — 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 #applepie #apple #cinnamon #caramel

Blood Orange Compari Sorbetto — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #bloodorange #orange #compari #cocktail #sorbet #sorbetto

Key Lime Pie Gelato – base is a key lime egg custard, layered with house-made frozen graham cracker and covered with house-made 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 #KeyLime #lime #custard #meringue #GrahamCracker #cookie

Overall, an incredibly epic meal.

Service was first class. We did the wine service though, which is how we wanted it with these wines. Which, by the way, were all incredible. The MP was probably in the “weakest” drinking spot — but that’s like calling Michael Jordan short because he’s not as tall as Manute Bol. Haha. Fantastic and very lucky that we had no flaws.

Food was “interesting” this time. Not as uniformly successful. It was certainly well made and executed, but the combos were a bit odd. Last time they felt much more harmonious.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.

By: agavin
Comments (0)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Coche Dury, d'Auvenay, Foodie Club, Gelato, Marche Moderne, Orange County, White Burgundy, Wine

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.

Here is the private room — the only way to go.

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).

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)

Cod sperm with radish and ponzu. Looks like brain and has a soft squirmy texture — but tastes great.

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)

Oyster with uni and ikura (salmon eggs).

Close up. Bright, briney, and delicious.

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)

Sashimi. Aji (Japanese horse mackrel). Wild snapper. Uni wrapped in halibut with shiso.

Left to right: Baby peach, Japanese pepper, Abalone, Whitefish tempura, and Japanese cucumber with miso paste.

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)

Uni, Ikura, and house made tofu. The uni ikura pairing is a classic.

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)

Johnny crab — not sure how you spell that — but a lovely crab salad nonetheless.

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.

Lobster sashimi, done 3 ways.

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)

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.

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)

Clam and the other clam.

Seared toro, uni mousse, actual uni, takuan, and gold flakes. This is incredible, partially because of the different textures: soft, mushy, smooth, crunchy.

Tempura vegetables and cold soba. First time I’ve had soba here and it was delicious.

1989 Clos Vougeot.

Chu toro sushi.

Kama toro sushi.

Seared red snapper sushi. Charred finish was amazing.

Kama toro again, slightly different way.

Some Grange from a previous night.

A5 wagyu sukiyaki.

The certificate for the beef, including cow nose print.

Here is the finished sukiyaki which was wonderfully beefy, and a touch sweet. I love sukiyaki.

Lobster miso.

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

Zoom!

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

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).

As we often do, it was back to the Marriot parking lot for some valley-view drinking.

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Champagne, ootoro, SGV, Sushi, walnut california, Wine

Billecart Republique

Nov13

Restaurant: Republique [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]

Location: 624 S La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036. (310) 362-6115

Date: October 4, 2019

Cuisine: Modern Bistro French

Rating: Nice (loud) space, tasty hip food, great service

This Sage Society dinner is like a return an old favorite as in the “old days” (a few years ago) they did most of their dinners here at Republique. Tonight is a special custom dinner featuring the wines of Champagne house Billecart-Salmon and a custom Walter Manzke menu designed by Walter and Sage Society chief Liz Lee. Additionally, Antoine Roland-Billecart is in the house to guide us through the epic wine tasting!

Still doing great even after 5 or so years.

We are, of course, in the private room. Way better than downstairs at this very loud but very good restaurant.

The somm for the evening gives some introductions…

The name speaks for itself.

Our starter wine was NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Réserve. JG 92. This particular bottle of Brut Réserve had been in my cellar since 2008, and it has aged beautifully and was drinking very well when opened this past spring. The excellent nose wafts from the glass in a mélange of apple, peach, warm bread, a touch of ginger, a lovely base of soil and plenty of upper register smokiness. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bdoied, complex and still rock solid at the core, with fine mousse, bright acids and lovely length and grip on the wide open, complex and classy finish. This particular release of Brut Réserve had been particularly steely out of the blocks, which is why I tucked some away to see how it evolved with bottle age. Yet again, a pretty strong argument for treating non-vintage Brut bottlings like other fine wines and cellar them for some time before starting to drink them! (Drink between 2014-2025).

Our special menu tonight.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Extra Brut. JG 92+. Billecart-Salmon has been producing their Millésime bottlings as Extra Brut since the 2000 vintage. The 2006, which is comprised of a blend of seventy-five percent pinot noir and twenty-five percent chardonnay was twenty percent barrel fermented in this vintage, and received a very modest dosage of three grams per liter. The wine is very fine, offering up a bright and classy bouquet of baked peaches and apples, pain grillé, almonds, a touch of citrus peel, lovely minerality and a nice dollop of fresh-baked bread in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and rock solid at the core, with refined mousse, bright acids and fine length and grip on the wide open and classy finish. Fine juice, and like a lot of 2006s, it is already drinking very well indeed. (Drink between 2014-2035)

2007 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Extra Brut. 91 points. Fine bubbles, light yellow, this is pretty good, ultra elegant & finesse.

2008 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Extra Brut.

agavin: to my taste, the extra brut is a little “too brut”.

Caviar Flight.

Here paired with the champagne.

And the descriptions of the individual caviar.

Antoine Roland-Billecart of Billecart-Salmon gives an impassioned speech.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Réserve. JG 92. This particular bottle of Brut Réserve had been in my cellar since 2008, and it has aged beautifully and was drinking very well when opened this past spring. The excellent nose wafts from the glass in a mélange of apple, peach, warm bread, a touch of ginger, a lovely base of soil and plenty of upper register smokiness. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bdoied, complex and still rock solid at the core, with fine mousse, bright acids and lovely length and grip on the wide open, complex and classy finish. This particular release of Brut Réserve had been particularly steely out of the blocks, which is why I tucked some away to see how it evolved with bottle age. Yet again, a pretty strong argument for treating non-vintage Brut bottlings like other fine wines and cellar them for some time before starting to drink them! (Drink between 2014-2025)

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Sous Bois. VM 92. Bright yellow. Pungent orchard fruit and lemon curd scents are complemented by suggestions of vanilla, anise and smoky minerals. Toasty and silky in texture, offering juicy pear and tangerine flavors plus a deeper suggestion of candied fig on the back half. Closes sappy, focused and long, with repeating smokiness and strong mineral cut.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Sous Bois (disgorged 2014). I loved this one.
Mushroom Tarte Flambe. Delicious. Crispy cracker like base covered in flame broiled cheese and mushrooms. Like an oversized passing hors d’oeuvre.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru. 92 points. Very good. Nice nose showing citrus and good richness, with some vanilla and a touch of pastry cream. On the palate, lovely acidity, fine mousse, more citrus and some chalk. Clean finish.

2007 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Louis Brut Blanc de Blancs. 94 points. Light straw, refined bubbles. Crisp, with lemon and lemon curd, some creaminess paired with a nice chalkiness. (Would be easy to drink all day).

2006 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Louis Brut Blanc de Blancs. 93 points. Incredible balance on this bubbly. Sweeter mature and ripe yellow fruit, creme brulee, nuttiness, yet also a lemon tart and herbal character. Quite impressed. Medium sized bubbles on the mouthfeel. This is a solid champers, rather youthful with a very long and large history ahead.

1999 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Louis Brut Blanc de Blancs. 97 points.

Spot Prawns (with roe). Perfectly cooked and juicy. Only problem was that I impaled the sensitive area under my tongue with a crispy leg and had to extract it from my flesh with my fingers! Still worth it!

Margarita’s Baguette and Normandy Butter. The reason many of us go to Republique, this is some serious temptation to the low carb diet!

2006 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas-François Billecart. 93 points. Pinot Noir dominant flavors and aromas, as the house style dictates, but also showing a linear Chardonnay brightness. Very good now.

2002 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas-François Billecart. VM 94. The 2002 Cuvée Nicolas François Billecart comes across as rich, powerful and opulent. This latest release of the 2002 was disgorged in July 2015 and finished with a Chardonnay-based liqueur whereas the previous release, disgorged in May 2014, was finished with a Pinot Noir-based liqueur. This is a distinctly vinous, almost shockingly raw, visceral Champagne from Billecart-Salmon. There is no shortage of volume or intensity, that is for sure. Stylistically, this year’s release inhabits a whole other world relative to last year’s release. Dosage is 4 grams per liter. (Drink between 2018-2042)

1999 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas-François Billecart. VM 93. Bright yellow-gold. An exotically perfumed bouquet evokes fresh pear, iodine, white flowers and toasted brioche, with gingery spice and mineral notes adding vibrancy. Rich and weighty but quite lithe and focused, offering sappy orchard and citrus fruit flavors and a chalky mineral nuance on the back half. Closes on a smoky note, with excellent focus and lingering floral character. L422345 16273.

Dover Sole.

Filleted with a cauliflower mash. This is a “simple” fish prep but in Walter’s very capable hands is scrumptious.

2002 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Les Clos Saint-Hilaire. 96 points. Great.

1999 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Les Clos Saint-Hilaire. VM 96. Billecart’s 1999 Le Clos Saint-Hilaire is exotic and beguiling. Constantly changing in the glass, the 1999 offers exquisite aromatics, silky and a real sense of underlying phenolic structure. Crushed rose petals, licorice, smoke, game and tobacco add nuance as the wine opens up. With time in the glass, the personality of these Pinot vines becomes more and more expressive. The 1999 was bottled with no dosage, but that would be impossible to ascertain in a blind tasting. (Drink between 2016-2024)

Pork Belly Caviar. This dish apparently won on some kind of cooking show that Walter was on. It was rich, rich beyond belief. A cube of fatty steamed pork bellow, butter, some kind of puree, more butter, and caviar. Woah! Delicious too but I had to sit quietly for a few minutes to let my arteries recover.

1996 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas-François Billecart. BH 95. An absolutely sensational nose that is floral, spicy, yeasty and citrusy with exceptionally subtle hints of red berries that can also be found on the wonderfully fresh and still beautifully youthful flavors that are crisp, precise and layered. If there is a nit, the finish is perhaps not quite as long as one might hope for but as this ages and “relaxes”, the length will come. A potentially great wine and all it needs is a bit more time in bottle.

1998 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas-François Billecart. VM 94. The 1998 Cuveé Nicolas François Billecart (60% Pinot, 40% Chardonnay) is another beautiful wine. The aromas are especially captivating and highly suggestive of Pinot, but the Chardonnay seems to take center stage on the palate, where the fruit is highly expressive. Like the Bland de Blancs, the wine saw 50% malolactic fermentation and only 5% of the wine was aged in oak as the estate was in its early days of using oak and wisely chose a moderate approach. (Drink between 2013-2018)

1990 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Grande Cuvée. VM 95. Pale amber color. Extraordinary, ineffable nose of baked bread, oatmeal, toast, game, quinine, roasted nuts and ginger ale. Full-bodied, thick and utterly seamless, with superb, integrated acidity giving it great verve. Conveys a sensation of palate-gripping extract. Extremely long, slowly expanding finish throws off notes of pepper, ginger and nutmeg. Every time I returned to this wonderful Champagne I liked it more. (Robert Chadderdon Selections, New York, NY)

agavin: this might have been my WOTN. Amazing bottle.

White Truffle Risotto. Simple and perfect. Stunning creamy risotto with real fresh in season white truffles.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. Pale orange. High-pitched red berry, orange zest and jasmine aromas, with suave mineral and smoky lees notes adding complexity. Spicy and precise on the palate, showing very good punch to its strawberry and bitter cherry flavors. Opens up smoothly with air and picks up a bitter rhubarb quality that lingers onto the long, tightly focused finish. This bottling showed more brawny character than many past renditions of this cuvée, but with no lack of vivacity.

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. (Drink between 2018-2031)

2007 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon. 92 points. Pink, slightly orange. Delicate bubbles. Hints of rose petal, and a touch of strawberry. Medium body, well balanced.

Chicken. That over simplifies the matter. There are mushrooms and reduction here. Delicious bird.

Cheese. The one course that was a let down. Actually rather lame — but we can forgive them after 7 perfect courses above.

My notes.

And the wine lineup.

Another amazing Sage Society dinner. Many of Sage’s wine maker dinners, all those that Liz puts together herself, are like this one, pulling out all the stops. This was a LOT of food — even for me — and the dishes were all custom for the wine and spectacular. And there was so much great champagne, really showing off both the house style and the very varied objectives of each cuvee. Quite educational too.

Too bad Erick handed me his cold that night (via the loaf of bread we shared) because I was sick the whole next week :-).

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (4)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Antoine Roland-Billecart, Billecart-Salmon, Champagne, Liz Lee, pork, République, Sage Society, Walter Manzke, Wine, winemaker dinner

A Fia Kinda Feeling

Nov08

Restaurant: Fia

Location: 2454 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90403. (310) 586-1707

Date: September 28 & December 26, 2019

Cuisine: New American / Italian

Rating: Great Atmosphere / Tasty

With my parents and some various other friends in town for the holiday weekend I needed a place where we could do a 10-12 person dinner — ideally in a private room.

Fia is in the same (gorgeous) space as the old Wilshire, just with a new (more Italian, but not totally) concept. They have inside, lovely patio, and a cool private room.

FIA, A DISTINCT DINING CONCEPT LED BY DECORATED CHEF BRENDAN COLLINS (BIRCH, WATERLOO & CITY, MELISSE), COMBINES CALIFORNIA PRODUCE WITH EUROPEAN TECHNIQUE TO CREATE A GLOBALLY INSPIRED, SEASONAL MENU.

I forgot to photograph the patio, but above is our room. Now I do have to say that they had a pretty hefty “room minimum” here, and it required a set menu. The set menus were tons of food and fairly reasonable for what they are, but the “room minimum” was considerably higher than the set menu X 12 (which is how much the room fit) — so they wanted you to order an obscene amount of alcohol. As I bring my own wine… this was a little tricky, and more on that later.

Our set menu. We modified it a little bit on the fly (actually in advance, but they had some staff changes and the mods were lost, but then restored on site). We also added some food, which was gratuitous, but we were way under the room min anyway.

From my cellar: 2002 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas-François Billecart. VM 94. The 2002 Cuvée Nicolas François Billecart comes across as rich, powerful and opulent. This latest release of the 2002 was disgorged in July 2015 and finished with a Chardonnay-based liqueur whereas the previous release, disgorged in May 2014, was finished with a Pinot Noir-based liqueur. This is a distinctly vinous, almost shockingly raw, visceral Champagne from Billecart-Salmon. There is no shortage of volume or intensity, that is for sure. Stylistically, this year’s release inhabits a whole other world relative to last year’s release. Dosage is 4 grams per liter.

Hamachi, lime, chili, basil, radish. Very bright flavors, zesty, and a tiny bit spicy.

Hawaiian kanpachi, ginger, Calabrian chili, shallots. I liked this one best perhaps of the crudos because of the almost Thai (sweet and spicy and tangy) sauce.

Big eye tuna carpaccio, aqua pazza, avocado, black garlic. Good as well.

Heirloom cherry tomato, bocconcini, tomato consommé. Really nice “capresse” salad (in that it included tomatoes and mozzarella like cheese). The herbs and the vinegar tones brought it up a lot.

Bought from the list: 2017 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons. VM 90-92. The 2017 Chablis Vaillons 1er Cru comes from 3.6-hectares located mainly in the heart of the valley. It offers light pressed flower scents on the nose with hints of nettle and dandelion. The palate is well balanced with a fine bead of acidity, crisp and taut with a precise finish that just needs to develop a little more power. Very fine.

Rock shrimp cakes, horseradish aioli, caviar. Fritters.

Pudwill farms black mission figs, candied walnuts, ricotta, grilled toast. Delicious fig and ricotta combo, heightened by the balsamic.

Slowly roasted Brussels Sprouts, black garlic aioli. Nicely done Brussels.

Cauliflower with raisons (12/26/19). Cauliflower is the new black, it’s everywhere.

Artisanal cheeses from home and abroad, dried fruit, walnuts, truffle honey.

Heirloom green leaf salad, calamansi fennel seed vinaigrette. Is what it is.

Chicken liver mousse, port gele, toast, cornichons.

A zone of the liver. Replaces the “off the menu” fois gras — sigh. Pretty nice though, with the port gele adding that sweet note to go with the liver.

Burrata, San Danielle prosciutto, seasonal fruit on a waffle. Pretty, and we had the ham on the side — would have looked better all combined. Nice flavors too.

Prosciutto on the side.

Seasonal vegetable salad, mushroom vinaigrette, soft herbs. Probably the most boring dish of the night, but I’m not a vegetable guy.

From my cellar: 2009 Domaine René Leclerc Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux St. Jacques. BH 89-92. A somewhat curious nose of reduction with a background herbal character leads to fresh, vibrant and stony middle weight flavors that are supple and almost delicate on the clean, austere and linear finish. This clearly is quite backward and youthfully awkward today though there is no reason that it shouldn’t sort itself out in time.

House made cavatelli, black truffle, parmesan, brown butter.

And with the truffles. Delicious and rich pasta with a lot of heft.

Risotto cacio e pepe, 24 month old parmesan, tellicherry pepper. One of my favorites, like a cacio e pepe congee really. Lots of cheesy bitey rice.

Acorn Squash Risotto, Sunchokes, Toasted Seeds, Goat Cheese (12/26/19). Also very yummy. Rich.

Dungeness Crab Ravioli, Scallop, Ginger, Champagne Crab Sauce. (12/26/19). Very tasty.

Hand cut capellini, lobster bolognese, san marzano tomato. Solid take on this zesty lobster pasta.

Braised rabbit tortellini, dates, pistachio, sage. Interesting sweet, savory, and meaty stuffed pasta. Really lovely.

From my cellar: 2007 Domaine la Soumade Rasteau Cuvée Fleur de Confiance. 95 points. Black/purple color with a lifted nose of blackberries, currants, and toasted vanilla. The palate is dense and volatile with loads of alcohol (15%) keeping it buoyant and ripe. Flavors of black currant, black tea, suede leather, and bitter chocolate form the core. Finishes long and silky with hints of tobacco. Just a great effort from Domaine la Soumade. It’s well-balanced, delicious, and unique for the appellation. Produced in a modern-style. Drink now until 2022.

Lasagna, Beyond Meat Bolognese, spinach, almond béchamel. Not as good as I hoped — mostly because of the vegan thing.

Stuffed Manchester quail, fig, prosciutto, brioche. Nice little stuffed bird.

Baja style whole grilled Dorade Royale. Well grilled fish.

Creek Stone Farm prime filet mignon, horseradish butter.

Torch that butter.

And after. A rich and solid hunk of meat.

Black sesame cake, sesame crumble, mango sorbet. Interesting textures.

Lemon merignue, lemoncello granite. Loved the multiple takes on lemon — I love lemon.

Chef’s box of macarons. Texture was too hard and they didn’t have a strong enough flavor — not the greatest macarons — but macarons are hard.

Overall, we had a great time, tremendous amounts of food, and very good service. The private room was lovely. The whole restaurant is gorgeous. Really atmospheric tres-la patio.

Food was better than I expected, and I had heard good things. Very bright flavors and the pastas were great. Mains were a little less exciting, but still good. I rarely love mains at normal restaurants.

Set menu food price was pretty reasonable too, although menu prices are fairly steep. But you can see that portions are good sized. The base menu was a lot and with our additions an obscene amount.

My only issues were some policy quirks. I don’t like the room minimum being a lot higher than the food price. And I wasn’t old about it until weeks after I booked the space (and didn’t feel like finding a new one). Room min was $1500 (tax and tip don’t count either). The largest set dinner menu was $106 a person (which isn’t bad). But the room sits a max of 12. We had 11, with only 9 adults. Even at 12, that would be $1272 which leaves $225 of alcohol — or $18 a person. Hard perhaps when you have people who don’t drink, but maybe possible. With our count there was a $500 gap — which I had to make up by buying two bottles off the list. I hate buying bottles off the list as they are about 4X retail and I have 1000s of bottles. Wine lists like Fia have some nice wines, but they are way too young in general, and they have a much smaller selection than I do in my basement. They just can’t afford to stock a broad range of wine — and certainly not in my specific taste. No new restaurant can so I don’t blame them for this.

Which brings me to the other policy problem: the curse of the annoying 2 bottle per table corkage limit. They did allow me to open 3, but I just don’t get the 2 bottle limit thing. Insert rant here — and this is not unique to Fia at all, but I’ll just complain here again about it again — but it doesn’t make any sense, not from a service level and not financially. I know they want to make a certain amount of money from alcohol sales. Fine. Calculate the per cover (person) average profit on alcohol and set a corkage to around that number. Don’t limit the bottles. It also makes no sense that a table or 1 or 2 can open 2 bottles and a table of 11 can also open only 2 bottles. Make it one per person… but wait… that’s still stupid. Just don’t have a limit. Charge the correct corkage. NO BOTTLE LIMITS. This dinner ONLY worked with the corkage limit because I bought 2 bottles and because we had a bunch of lightweights (keeping the number I needed to bring down). The limits make it IMPOSSIBLE FOR WINE GROUPS TO EAT AT THE RESTAURANT. We bring specific wines. We bring 1+ bottles a person. Doesn’t work with limits. We come during low volume nights (weekdays) and we order huge amounts of food. At $35+ a person of corkage (pure profit, no cost of goods) I’m sure we would always be a way above average table in terms of profit. If it’s not, raise the corkage to $40 or whatever. The limit just excludes us. So now if I want to come back here with one of my wine groups, we either have to come with only 3 people (and finesse the limit), or we have to call up and argue the house policy with the manager/owner. Crazy. Wine groups keep restaurants alive after the initial buzz has died down.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Fia, Private Room, Santa Monica, Wine

Down the White Rabbit Hole

Oct28

Restaurant: Vespertine / White Rabbit [1, 2]

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

Date: September 17, 2019

Cuisine: Modern Nordic Art Food? Russian Haut Cuisine?

Rating: White Rabbit dishes were great, Vespertine ones weird

Vespertine is a very unusual confluence of all sorts of artsy weirdness. It’s helmed by Jordan Kahn formerly of Red Medicine and currently of Destroyer across the street. I’ve generally been fond of Jordan’s unique culinary style. Tonight’s dinner is a combo dinner with Jordan hosting Vladimir Mukhin the chef from Russia’s most renowned restaurant: White Rabbit.

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

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

As we waited here they had a Didgeridoo player. Yeah, weird.

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

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

The four of us with Chef Vladimir Mukhin from White Rabbit!

In the lounge, the tree was prepopulated with crispy dried somethings.

Maybe pineapple crisps.

And dark hand towels.

A welcome cocktail of hibiscus and stuff.

Mysterious treats called coco lardo. I’m not sure if it was lardo, or “like” lardo. It did taste coconuty. I think those things inside were Linden buds.

Sunflower with caviar and pine-nuts. The pine-nuts are under the caviar. This was delicious — because it was good caviar.

Mackerel, Celery, Malt, I think. This was bright flavored but not brightly lit (except when I took this photo with the cel phone light).

Now we moved on down to the cool dining room, nearly temple-like in its silence — except for the spacey spa music and the sound of wooden spoons scraping on expensive stoneware plates.

I do have to say that tonight, probably because Chef Vladimir Mukhin was “in charge” of the floor, they were lax on the “rules” and didn’t give us trouble about tripods or using the cel phone as a light. I didn’t go all the way to using the big flash, but last time we were here when they enforced “no shutter sound”, “no flash”, “no light” and “no tripod” it was damn hard to take any half decent photos at all. Much better this time.

The napkins have their own box.

The wine pairing was mandatory. This sucks as I don’t love wine pairings and this was typical. A bunch of cheap, off the beaten path wines that are more weird than good.

2007 Dr Hermann, Erdener Treppchen “6” Kabinett Riesling. This was probably the wine I liked best of the pairings. It’s not expensive though, maybe $20.

I figured I’d photo the glasses this time.

The food menu.

Russian Black Salt. To prepare a black salt you mix in equal proportions rye flour and white salt of coarser or fine grinding. The mixture is wrapped in a linen cloth and scorched in a Russian wood burning stove for 8 hours, using exclusively dry birch wood.
Prawn, aged plum, bone marrow. The black salt was sprinkled on top. These were nice, sweet and tangy.

Hoto, Yamadanishiki Daiginjo, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.

Sake!

Markovnik and Scallops.

You break through the crunchy top for the delicious “meat” underneath.

2018 Onward Wines, Malvasia Petillant Natural, Suisun Valley.

Slight spitz.

Courgette, char roe, chicken fat, spruce.

The was very good. Bit of a pickled herring vibe.

Black bread. You could use it to sop up the delicious sauce.

2011, Brokenwood, Semillon, Hunter Valley, Australia.

Golden.

Salted milk mushrooms, green tomato, herbs. This dish was by Jordan Kahn and was his only fully successful dish of the night. Salty, light, and crunchy it was an excellent vegetable dish.

2011 Chateau Carbonnieux, Bordeaux.

Bigger glass.

Baked Cabbage and Caviar. This symbolizes Russia, in this case “the poor” of Russia in that boiled (or baked) cabbage is one of the main staple foods.

But with champagne butter sauce it then represents the “rich” of Russia (aka the Caviar and Champagne). It was actually a stupendous dish. The cabbage had great texture and in the rich buttery champagne/caviar sauce was scrumptious.

I can’t actually read the label.

Blanco.

Experimental Pumpkin, Guava, Madrone Bark. Another Jordan Kahn dish. I didn’t like it at all. I don’t love pumpkin and this was vaguely sweet, cloying, and had that soft obnoxious pumpkin texture. I didn’t even finish it

2017 Seabold Cellars, “Olson” Chardonnay, Monterey, California.

Fake Chard.

Black cod, radish, tangerine. Lovely fish dish.

2014 Ojai, “White Hawk Vineyard” Syrah, Santa Barbara Country.

Poor man’s Hermitage.

Fibers, Bracken Fern, Sacred Pepper, Aromatic Carnanel. Another Jordan Dish — like old rope — the beef version. Very over cooked beef stew/rope? Not so great.

Green Salad. This was the only failing Vladimir dish and I have a feeling it was Jordan making him do it. Supposed to be a “dessert” it was a weird sweet salad. Kind of gross, salad with a sweet flavor.

2003 Quinta do Crasto, Vintage Port, Douro, Portugal.

In a mug.

Black Cap Berry, Meadowsweet. A Jordan dessert. Terrible. Just cloying with a weird root vegetable tone — not what you want in a dessert.

The wine lineup.

The attractive but perhaps impractical bar area on the ground floor was used for the penultimate course.

Birch Inner Barc, condensed milk. Not bad. Weird though and it had an augmented reality app that was supposed to do something. We couldn’t get it loaded though.

The post dinner “dessert” spread back out in the garden.

Caramelized Sunchoke Mushroom. These were tasty, pretty much like a “bearclaw” or “apple fritter.”

Sorrel Curd, Wintergreen. It was dipped in this “cream.” Under the red was a mild whipped cream like substance.

Berries.

Zoom on the berries.

A weird book.

Sea Buckthorn Pearls.

It’s possible this was the Sorrel Curd, Wintergreen – hard to know with these things.

Cups for the tea.

Douglas Fir Tea — Vespertine loves pine and resin notes.

Two scents, one designed by each chef — lol — you get to take these home.

Overall, this was a great experience and very interesting. Quirky though. The building was amazing and the staff was very friendly. And fortunately Jordan’s oodle of rules was much more lax tonight — although there were still some.

Everything was still scented like douglas fir or something. Smells like spa. Sounds like spa. Looks like art.

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

The Vladimir dishes tonight were fabulous. All were great except for the sweet “salad.” The Jordan dishes were almost a complete bomb — only the “mushrooms” was good. The rest all had this cloying, sweet, root vegetable thing going that I didn’t like at all.

The meal was expensive though — yet ingredients were fairly plebeian for the most pair (excepting the caviar). The mandatory wine pairings sucked. Not worth the money and most of the wines weren’t that great. It’s some fairly hard food to pair — although the Vlad dishes easier than the Jordan ones. Those are almost impossible to pair.

So in conclusion, I’d love to try White Rabbit in Moscow, but the whole “chef team up meal” idea doesn’t seem to totally work. It should have just been White Rabbit food here in the Vespertine space.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (0)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Culver City, Foodie Club, Jordan Kahn, Vespertine, Vladimir Mukhin, White Rabbit, Wine, wine pairings

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.

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.

The space is small but attractive.

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.

2017 Guillaume Selosse Champagne Ville-sur-Arce Largiller Extra Brut.

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)

Marinated Sardines from Japan with dashi. Lovely soft delicate fish with the strong sardine oil flavors in perfect balance with the vinegary marinade.

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.

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

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.

Toro tartar with caviar and wasabi ponzu. The nobu classic but perfectly executed.

Fresh king crab, grilled. Simply sweet crab meat.

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.

Tai sushi.

King mackerel sushi.

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)

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)

Baby barracuda sushi.

Blue fin tuna sushi.

O-Toro sushi. The rich tuna belly never disappoints — at least not at a place this good.

Shima Aji (striped jack) sushi..

Black throat sushi.

Golden snapper sushi with truffle paste.

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!

A5 Wagyu, truffles, uni, Mizutaki mushrooms.

A Yama-like bite of quail egg, uni, and toro.

Ikura (salmon roe) sushi.

Uni sushi.

t

Sardine sushi.

Torched butterfish sushi.

Seared Toro with shoyu koji. So rich it tasted like beef.

Fermented squid guts — I gotta say, I like these.

Toro handroll.

Green tea ice cream. Much denser and less creamy than my gelato.

I brought these though, homemade old-fashioned chocolate fudge — made by me.

The wine lineup.

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.

Lovely little salad with homemade onion vinegar dressing.

Miso soup, of course.

BATTERA. Saba mackerel box sushi, salad and miso soup.

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

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.

By: agavin
Comments (4)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Brentwood, Chef Shinichi Miyagi, fish, Sashimi, Sushi, Sushi Miyagi, Wine

Vino Capo

Oct18

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

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

Date: September 4, 2019

Cuisine: Italian with Cal influences

Rating: The food here is really very very good.

The Foodie Club comes to Capo fairly often as it’s close and really good. Atmosphere is great. Service is excellent. Only problem is a somewhat draconian wine policy. Yeah, they have a great wine list — but we have even biggest “lists” at home.

The gang at the table.

The current menu.

I did all the ordering tonight — with consultation — piecing dishes together from the menu into a series of share plate courses for the 6 of us. I prefer this style SO much to ordering individually. Who needs an entire steak? And who can resist 6 pastas?

Bread here is usually very good.

Tuscan white bean paste and some other kind of paste (maybe eggplant).

Trish brought: 1993 Dom Pérignon Champagne P2. 94 points. Nice!

Maryland crab torta. This really is Crab Norfolk, and it’s probably the best one I’ve ever had, and I spent summers as a boy in Oxford Maryland, land of the blue crab. This is a big juicy pile of delicious blue crab, drenched in butter, and their special touch is a little Meyer lemon in the mix. Bellissimo!

Michel Blanchet smoked salmon. With more white asparagus.

Burrata Caprese. Because burrata always makes everything better.

MZ brought: 2004 Domaine Roulot Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. BH 93. As it almost always is, this is the class of the cellar with more discreet wood framing a reserved but ultra elegant white flower and pungent limestone nose that merges seamlessly into fine, precise and intensely stony flavors that finish bone dry and with a vaguely saline quality. This is built to age and should provide at least 7 to 10 years of upside development. As with the Bouchères, there is a trace of reduction but not really enough to detract from the overall sense of outstanding quality though if you were going to try one young, I would suggest decanting it for 20 minutes first. (Drink starting 2012)

MZ brought: 2014 Château de Puligny-Montrachet Chevalier-Montrachet. BH 92-95. Equally discreet wood sets off the beautifully layered nose that blends together notes of citrus, wet stone, rose petal and subtle spice hints. There is excellent verve to the delineated and overtly muscular yet refined big-bodied flavors that possess an abundance of acid-buffering dry extract before terminating in a moderately austere and explicitly saline-infused finish that is like rolling rocks around in your mouth. This is very clearly built-to-age and is going to require at least 5 years to unwind and develop more depth. (Drink starting 2024)

Baja Sardines ‘al Forno.” Sardines salted and cooked on the wood fire grill. Pretty much Spanish style and delicious!

Foie Gras on toast. Big portion, but the sauce overwhelmed.

Toro Tartar. Like Nobu’s, but no wasabi ponzu. Really excellent actually.

From my cellar: 1969 Tenuta Greppo (Biondi-Santi) Brunello di Montalcino Riserva. VM 93. Biondi-Santi’s 1969 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva has aged gracefully. Dried flowers, mint, licorice, molasses, anise, brown spices, iron, game and tobacco grace the palate in a delicate, feminine Brunello that impresses for its overall balance and harmony. All the elements come together beautifully in the glass. The 1969 is now fully mature, although it has more than enough texture and Sangiovese acidity to hold on for another 5-10 years, perhaps a bit longer. The 1969 will always be more of a delicate Brunello with haunting, nuanced Sangiovese overtones and tons of personality. (Drink between 2015-2020)

Larry brought: 2000 Tua Rita Redigaffi Toscana IGT. Parker 96-100. Tua Rita’s 2000 Redigaffi has taken a big leap forward in its evolution. The wine is infused with black fruit, prune and blackberry preserves that come together to form an inky appearance and chewy consistency. Beyond those fruit tones are equally robust aromas of Teriyaki sauce, barbecue smoke and exotic spice. Redigaffi is a pure expression of Merlot and it delivers condensed, thickly extracted and syrupy aromas some 15 years after the harvest. The wine is like a time capsule that takes us back to a time when this richer and more opulent style was so enthusiastically embraced. My feeling is that the wine has not aged as steadily as was once predicted. Upon initial release, Robert Parker had given this wine 100 points, and if I’m not mistaken I believe it was the second Italian wine to earn such an honor after the 1985 Sassicaia. Since then, it has shed much of its fruit and has become more defined by its oak spice and tangy cedar. In the mouth, the wine shows abundant texture with integrated tannins.

Yeah, I’m kinda insane and I did the ordering, so I got us 6 pastas — yep, 6 pastas. And we each got a plate like this (followed by a second round below).

White Corn Ravioli with Black Truffles. This is always to die for.

Pasta with uni, squid, and shrimp. Really nice bright seafood pasta.

Herb Gnocchi, lardo, peas and black truffle.

Round 2: Flight!

Bucatini with lamb ragu. This is one of my favorite pastas. I love the bucatini, I love the gamey ragu.

Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe. Yum.

Risotto with Lobster. Excellent!
Erick brought: 2002 Domaine Xavier Liger-Belair Richebourg. 95 points. Great.

Steak Fiorentina. A giant “black and blue” piece of cow.

Colorado rack of lamb.

Beans!

The dessert menu.

The amazing classic chocolate soufflé.

Made even better with some slightly orange cream.

Tiramisu. Good, but not as good as mine.

Petit fours.

Great night. I just love Capo’s pastas. They do them in this correctly cooked, Italian but not Italian hearty style that is just filled with flavor punch. Balance is superb.

Our wines were fabulous too, if varied and perhaps not always perfectly paired.

Capo isn’t great value — it’s pricey — but they do make really really good food and have for 20 years. Every dish is excellent and it’s a pretty varied menu. They were way ahead of the curve too on the whole wood fired trend.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Capo, Foodie Club, Italian cuisine, Santa Monica, Wine

Dinner at the Borgese’s

Oct16

Restaurant: Dinner at the Borgese’s

Location: Santa Monica

Date: August 29, 2019

Cuisine: Italian influenced gourmet home cooking

Rating: Dinner of the year?

Dinner at the Borgese’s is a special backyard house dinner in Santa Monica cooked by the stunning pro-level home chef Borgese couple. The evening was set up by Michael K and because of the epic nature of the food we all pulled out some amazing wines to match.

The dynamic Borgese duo.

Their house has not only a wine cellar, but a cheese and meat larder!

Awesome backyard.

And lovely outside dining room.

Plus all this incredible wood fired oven set up.

Michael started us off with this actually fairly lovely bottled bellini.

2008 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut. VM 98+. The 2008 Cristal is a wine that takes over all the senses and never lets up. The brilliance and cut of the Chardonnay finds an extra kick of resonance from the Pinot Noir to carry the mid palate and finish in this stunningly beautiful, chiseled Champagne. Lemon oil, almond, flowers, dried herbs and Mirabelle plum are some of the many aromas and flavors that develop as the 2008 shows off its pedigree. The 2008 is a regal, towering Champagne from Roederer. That’s all there is to it. (Drink between 2023-2058)

Pretty place setting.

Our special menu.

2005 Domaine Ramonet Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. BH 93. A fantastic nose of spice, wood toast, brioche, white flower, honeysuckle and citrus hints lead to rich, full, big and sappy flavors that really coat the mouth on the broad and palate staining finish. This is a big Bienvenues and while perhaps not as graceful as the 2000 or 2002, this is certainly stylish and deep. Like many of the wines in the range, it is also relatively forward by the usual standards of this wine yet it will certainly reward mid-term cellaring. (Drink starting 2012)

2013 Paul Pernot et ses Fils Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. BH 93. A wonderfully complex and slightly riper nose offers up notes of honeysuckle, jasmine tea, peach and spiced pear. The superbly rich, classy and pure medium-bodied flavors possess impressive size, weight and mid-palate concentration while coating the mouth on the strikingly long, serious and energetic finish where a hint of bitter lemon appears. This is a relatively big and powerful BBM that will definitely need at least 5 to 6 years of bottle age before it begins to display glimpses of its full potential. (Drink starting 2023)

2014 Aubert Chardonnay Sonoma Coast. 92 points. This one does not fit with the others! Plus — fake chard!

Octopus on the grill.

Insalata di Posilipo. Octopus Salad. Tender octopus with citrus. Very tender and lovely.

From my cellar: 1999 Denis Mugneret Père et Fils Richebourg. BH 92+. Fascinating interplay of black fruit, earth, tobacco and Vosne spice framed by discreet hints of oak toast followed by sweet, supple and very intense flavors that last for minutes. This is not quite as ripe or opulent as most of the wines in this group though it sports excellent acid/fruit balance as a result. I like the more reserved style of this.

Jeff brought — thanks: 1996 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Chambertin. VM 97. A Burgundy of tension and bracing energy, the 1996 Rousseau Chambertin is simply magnificent on this night. Time in the glass brings out the wine’s stunning inner sweetness and perfume in what is an utterly glorious expression of Pinot Noir and Chambertin. I imagine the 1996 will still be compelling in 30 years’ time. Today is transcendental and deeply beautiful. (Drink between 2019-2046)

Tartare de Manzo. Beef tartare with truffle. Excellent tartare, perfect bread, and lots of truffle.

Plus we got direct to the mouth truffle shaving — like the truffle equivalent of an upside down tequila shot.

2011 Bruno Paillard Chardonnay Champagne Blanc de Blancs Réserve Privée.

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.

Calamarata Pasta con Branzino. Pasta with Branzino. A light Southern Italian style pasta. House made and really great texture and bright flavors.

The no carb guy got a pile of tuna or beef or something.

1989 Château Margaux. Parker 90. Dwarfed by its younger sibling, the 1990, the 1989 Chateau Margaux has a dark plum/garnet color and a big, sweet nose of new saddle leather, toasty oak, and weedy black cherry and cassis fruit. The wine is medium-bodied, with relatively elevated tannins, outstanding concentration and purity, but a somewhat clipped as well as compressed finish. This certainly outstanding wine has put on a bit of weight in its evolution in the bottle, but it is hardly one of the most profound efforts from Chateau Margaux. Anticipated maturity: 2006-2025. Last tasted, 10/02.

1995 Château Margaux. Parker 95. Bottled very late (November, 1997), the 1995 has continued to flesh out, developing into one of the great classics made under the Mentzelopoulos regime. The color is opaque ruby/purple. The nose offers aromas of licorice and sweet smoky new oak intermixed with jammy black fruits, licorice, and minerals. The wine is medium to full-bodied, with extraordinary richness, fabulous equilibrium, and hefty tannin in the finish. In spite of its large size and youthfulness, this wine is user-friendly and accessible. This is a thrilling Margaux that will always be softer and more evolved than its broader-shouldered sibling, the 1996. How fascinating it will be to follow the evolution of both of these vintages over the next half century. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2040.

1996 Château Margaux. Parker 100! The 1996 Chateau Margaux, a blend of 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc, must be a strong contender for wine of the vintage. It offers everything you desire from this First Growth. It is blessed with breathtaking delineation and freshness on the nose, understated at first and then blossoming with mineral-infused black fruit, hints of blueberry, crushed stone and violet. The palate is perfectly balanced with filigree tannin, perfect acidity, a wine where everything seems to be in its right place. Blackberry, crushed stone at the front of the mouth, just a touch of spice towards the finish that shows supreme control. This is a Margaux that seems to light up the senses. It was outstanding in its youth…something that has not changed one bit over the intervening two decades. This may well turn out to be the Left Bank pinnacle of the 1990s. Tasted July 2016.

Quaglia Fritta. Fried Quail. Scrumptious bird and batter. Some of the best fried fowl I’ve had.

1998 Tua Rita Redigaffi Toscana IGT. Parker 96. The 1998 Redigaffi (2,000+ bottles produced) is profound. I do not normally quote dry extract numbers, because taste is more important than the numbers. However, I could not help but notice one of the highest measured dry extract numbers I have ever seen in a wine with the 1998 Redigaffi — 39 grams per liter! Made from 100% Merlot, aged in 100% new Allier and Troncais French barrels, it is bottled without fining or filtration. An opaque purple-colored, powerful, enormously-endowed effort, it offers gorgeous black currant, plum, and blackberry fruit characteristics infused with spice box, chocolate, and vanilla. This harmonious wine oozes with extract and glycerin. Extraordinarily pure and impressive, with copious tannin nearly hidden beneath the wine’s superb richness, this beauty should be at its apogee between 2004-2020.

1999 Tua Rita Redigaffi Toscana IGT. Parker 99. The 250-case cuvee of 100% Merlot, the 1999 Redigaffi has an astonishing 36 grams per liter of dry extract, which exceeds most top Pomerols in a great vintage! Unfined and unfiltered, it is as close to perfection as a wine can get. The color is a deep saturated blue/purple. The powerful, pure nose offers smoke, licorice, black cherry, and blackberries. It boasts awesome concentration, a fabulously dense, viscous mid-section, and a finish that lasts for nearly a minute. This is riveting juice. Anticipated maturity: now-2015.

Homemade pasta at the ready.

Ravioli de Melanzana. Eggplant ravioli with a simple butter save sauce. Totally classic and absolutely amazing. Very simple authentic ravioli.

1990 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle. 98 points. An extraordinary wine in fabulous shape. Still needs 90-120 mins in the decanter and can then be drunk over the course of 2 hours or more. Relish how every moment of it – it gets better as time passes but you need to go through all of those moments.

1996 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve. VM 90+. Good deep red. Deeper aromas of black cherry, raspberry, pepper and licorice. Broad-shouldered but very closed, showing less sweetness today than the ’96 Pignan. Red fruit flavors complicated by notes of leather, licorice and herbs. Strong acid/tannin backbone for aging. But tough going today.

2003 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage. VM 98. “Now we take the monster out of his cage,” Jean-Louis warned me before pouring this. Inky, almost black in color. Elemental, hugely concentrated and powerful on the nose, which slowly unveils aromas of dark cherry liqueur, blackberry, cassis, espresso and a deep note of sweet tobacco. Impossibly rich and dense on the palate (the yields in 2003 were off by two-thirds), showing myriad dark fruit and bitter chocolate flavors, with a suggestion of tapenade and an intense licorice quality. Remarkably, this takes on a mineral tone on the finish, which has the effect of further drawing out the amazingly powerful finish.

Agnello alla Legna. Wood fired lamb chop. Great tender lamb.

2009 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Masseto Toscana IGT. VM 96. Good full ruby. Superripe, pure aromas of blackberry, cassis, violet, minerals, milk chocolate and exotic spices. Superconcentrated, rich and seamless, offering explosive sweetness but also great verve, thanks to bright acidity that provides wonderful lift and clarity to the blackberry, blueberry and black cherry flavors. Finishes with ultra-suave tannins and a kaleidoscope of violet and Oriental spice flavors. A very great Masseto from a hot year, when I would have expected the merlot to suffer a bit. But unlike in 2003, when it wasn’t just hot but dry as well, Masseto’s unique microclimate allowed the merlot to avoid major stress in 2009. As good and refined as the Ornellaia is in 2009, I think the Masseto has an extra layer of complexity and depth.

2005 Harlan Estate. VM 95. Open-knit, sensual and perfumed, the 2005 Harlan Estate is super-expressive today. Like so many 2005s, the Harlan is a bit lacking in intensity and overall structure relative to the very best years. The 2005 is a terrific choice for drinking now and over the next 15-20 years. At some point during that arc of time, the 2005 is likely to become a bit frail, but that does not appear to be imminent. Even after thinning to a cluster per shoot, the clusters and berries were large, which required some bleeding in the tanks, a technique that is not often used at Harlan Estate. (Drink between 2017-2027)

Steaks on the grill.

Resting.

Bistecca Fiorentina. Giant slabs of rare beef. Nicely salted and bloody delicious.

Veggies at the ready.

Roasted carrots.

The chef Rocco Borgese (right) his cheffing partner and wife (left back) along with their daughter (center standing).

1986 Château d’Yquem. Parker 98. There is no other wine in the world like it, and there is no other luxury wine that can possibly justify its price as much as Yquem. The remarkable amount of painstaking labor necessary to produce the nectar known as Yquem is almost impossible to comprehend. This is a fascinating effort. With greater evidence of botrytis than the colossal 1983, but less power and alcohol, the 1986 Yquem tastes reminiscent of the 1975, only more precocious, as well as more concentrated. Several highly respected Bordeaux negociants who are Yquem enthusiasts claim the 1986 Yquem is the greatest wine produced at the property since the legendary 1937. Its enthralling bouquet of pineapples, sauteed hazelnuts, vanillin, and ripe apricots is breathtaking. Compellingly concentrated, the breadth as well as depth of flavor seemingly know no limits. This full-bodied, powerful, yet impeccably balanced Yquem should provide memorable drinking for 40-55 more years. Like the 1983, this is another winemaking tour de force. Anticipated maturity: 2000-2040. Last tasted, 4/91.

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

Slightly tweaked second pass at — Almond Amaretto Truffle Gelato — Amaretto Zabaglione (egg yolk, amaretto, and sugar custard) Sicilian Almond gelato base with stacked layers of house-made Valrhona Almond Amaretti Ganache — 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 #Valrhona #almond #amaretto #amaretti #cookie #ganache #ChocolateTruffle

Tingly Passion Gelato — dairy passionfruit striped with blackberry coulis and 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

Banana Caramel Gelato — I hate bananas but I was convinced to make this, fresh banana base with house-made caramel — 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 #banana

NV Domaine Borgnat Ratafia de Bourgogne. Red dessert wine.

These will take the hair off your everything.

Calvados and even more crazy, chartreux — which I had never had before but is very green and interesting — herbal.

Most of the lineup. I think the dessert wines were off being consumed when I shot this.

Overall, this was an amazing dinner, arguably the best of the year so far.

First of all, the Borgese hospitality was awesome, the house lovely, and the food absolutely incredible. Best “home cooked” meal I’ve had. Maybe ever if you restrict it to chefs cooking in their own home kitchen. Just amazing. Every dish was great. Rustic but extremely delicious style. Superb homemade pastas. My gelato was darn good too :-).

Service was handled by the youngest Borgese (teen daughter) and her friend and was better than most restaurant staff. Super friendly and you can tell they do this a lot.

Wines were out of this world too. I like this kind of array of different wines covering a range of foods. I did the pairings (flighting out what we had with the menu). But everything rocked except the Aubert — I just can’t give fake chard any props. Really an embarrassment of riches.

We are heading back during the winter — can’t wait!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
Comments (11)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Dinner at the Borgese's, Gelato, hedonists, Italian cuisine, pasta, Rocco Borgese, Santa Monica, Wine

Skaf’s Lebanese Cuisine

Oct14

Restaurant: Skaf’s Lebanese Cuisine

Location: 367 N Chevy Chase Dr. Ste A, Glendale, CA 91206

Date: August 27, 2019

Cuisine: Lebanese

Rating: Awesome mezzes

Hedonist Anthony set up this particular dinner because he considers Skaf’s to be the best Lebanese in town. Now this is controversial — and the Armenian contingent at dinner doesn’t agree, but in any cases I trekked out to Glendale to check it out.

Street corner location in Downtown Browdown.

Inside is very casual. This is basically a lunch place. They did let us open our wines though.

Pickles and olives. The peppers were nice and spicy and the olives excellent. I enjoyed this dish as I kept munching on the olives.

Tabbouli. Tabbouleh is a Levantine vegetarian salad made mostly of finely chopped parsley, with tomatoes, mint, onion, bulgur, and seasoned with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Not everyone loves Tabbouli because it tastes so strongly of parsley — but I enjoy it for its cleansing and refreshing quality.

Labneh. Basically a yogurt cheese, similar to Greek yogurt. I love, love this stuff. I easily ate several of them and I love it with meat.

Hommus. A Levantine dip or spread made from cooked, mashed chickpeas or other beans, blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and garlic.

Baba Ghannouj. Moutabal. Levantine appetizer of mashed cooked eggplant mixed with tahini, olive oil, possibly lemon juice, and various seasonings.

Pita Bread. Pretty standard.

Cabbage Salad. Loved this zesty salad — pretty much straight fiber to help move things down. I kept munching on it all night.

Fattoush Salad. The standard middle eastern salad. The dressing here was good, but I could do without the tomatoes or toasted pita.

Kibbeh Nayeh. Raw kibbeh is a Levantine mezze. It consists of minced raw lamb mixed with fine bulgur and spices. Kibbeh nayyeh is often served with mint leaves, olive oil, and green onions. Pita bread is used to scoop it. This is also a “more advanced” dish as it’s raw and “mushy.” I do like it a lot though, particularly with labneh!

Falafel. A deep-fried ball, or a flat or doughnut-shaped patty, made from ground chickpeas, fava beans, or both. Herbs, spices, and onion relatives are commonly added to the dough. It is an Egyptian dish as well as a very famous Middle Eastern dish, that most likely originated in Egypt. Not my favorite dish actually. I find falafel too dry and fried.

Cheese Roll. Carby, but delicious. Pretty much a cheese spring roll. The cheese inside is ricotta-like.

Kibbeh. A Levantine dish made of bulgur, minced onions, and finely ground lean beef, lamb, goat, or camel meat with Middle Eastern spices — then deep fried so it gets a crispy shell. Delicious with… you guessed it… labneh.

Maanek. Little tasty “snausages”. Lots of flavor.

Soujouk. Traditional Lebanese sausage with onions. Also lots of salty/meaty flavor. Delicious.

Frog legs with garlic. Super tasty frog leg variant. Lots of GARLIC! I have heard this called Aleppo style.

Spicy Potato. Kind of like potatoes bravos, minus the sauce.

Fried Cauliflower. Served with tahini as usual. This was in before cauliflower was in.

Hommus with Beef Shwarma. Not sure why this came so late. At an odd place in the meal.

Hommus with Chicken Shwarma. Same as above, but drier. I don’t really like chicken shwarma.

Shish Kebab (beef), Shish Tawook (chicken), and Kafta Kebab (ground beef). Garlic spread. I liked the Kafta best, particularly with the garlic paste.

Ashta. Fresh rose water flavored cream topped with bananas, strawberries, crushed pistachios and honey.

Ashta without bananas. I only ate this version as I don’t like bananas. But pretty delicious as I like the soft creaminess and the delicate rose flavor.

Tingly Passion Gelato — passionfruit striped with blackberry coulis, 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

Overall, I enjoyed Skaf’s and thought that the Mezze, while fairly typical, were very fresh and delicious. But the meal was interestingly contentious. The Armenian contingent didn’t love it. I think a big part of this is that it’s not the typical kind of “clubby” place with the big tables and the hookahs. Now those are fun, and Skaf’s is totally a lunch place with like very little evening atmosphere, but it’s food is good — and tasted very fresh. It reminded me of Sunnin from the good old days when Mama used to cook there.

Also, as usual, the Mezze are way better than the mains. They don’t even have that many mains, just some kebab and shwarma. It should also be noted that Skaf’s is well executed traditional. There is nothing “new style” here like at Mizlala. All the dishes are dishes you can find at most Lebanese (or Levantine) places, just well executed.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
Comments (0)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Gelato, hedonists, kabob, Lebanese cuisine, Mezze, Wine

Sloan not on Loan

Oct09

Restaurant: Private Chef, David Slatkin

Location: Bel Air

Date: August 23, 2019

Cuisine: American

Somehow this season I keep getting “dragged” into New World themed meals, so it’s back again to the house of my friend and wine journalist Jeff Leve for a slate of Cabernet Sauvignon featuring top wines from Sloan.

Member Jeff’s lovely backyard and features food by private chef David Slatkin.

Our host Jeff, and to his left one of the principals at Sloan.

Chef David Slatkin leans in.

2014 Sloan Asterisk. VM 93. A gorgeous second wine, the 2014 Asterisk has a lot to offer. Succulent red cherry, plum and pomegranate fruit give the wine much of its racy personality. In 2014, the Asterisk has terrific energy and brightness, with pretty floral and savory notes that add perfume. There is so much grace and class here, but readers should expect the slightly slender style that is typical of the year. (Drink between 2020-2024) Jeff Level 92. Soft, fresh, sweet and elegant, the purity in the fruit and the open, forward, refined style are the hallmarks of this wine.

2010 Sloan Asterisk. VM 91. Dark red cherry, plum, mocha, tobacco, licorice and spices flesh out in the 2010 ASTERISK. Rich, round and creamy, the Asterisk shows plenty of SLOAN ESTATE personality in a juicy, approachable style. The tannins could use another year or two to soften, but the wine’s balance is terrific. The blend is 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and drops of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. (Drink between 2014-2023) Jeff Leve 93. Purity, refinement, and elegance, with soft, silky tannins and sweet ripe fruits in a forward style that is drinking at close to peak today.

Meat and Cheese board — always yummy!

Beef tartar with crisps. A always love beef tartar.

2015 Sloan. VM 97. The 2015 Sloan is a powerful, dramatic wine endowed with tremendous textural depth. A rush of blackberry jam, grilled herbs, leather and licorice builds as this flamboyant wine shows off its alluring personality. Even with all of its obvious intensity, the 2015 possesses a good deal of freshness and structure. It is a tremendous wine by any measure. (Drink between 2022-2040) Jeff Leve 99. Deep, dark, brooding, powerful, rich, lusciously textured and packed with layers of sweet, polished, black, dark red and blue fruit. The tannins are soft and polished giving the wine the right balance between tannins, power and elegance.

2012 Sloan. VM 97. The 2012 Sloan is dark, sensual and voluptuous to the core. Soft edges and radiant, luxurious fruit add to the wine’s undeniably raciness. Absolutely impeccable, the 2012 Sloan is also a fabulous example of the year at its best. (Drink between 2020-2032) Jeff Leve 98. Deep, dark and powerful, the wine is equally round, plush and polished. Mouth-filling, sweet, multi-layered and complex, the fruit has a great sense of purity that comes through easily. If you like young Cabs, pop it now, else this will age for decades.

2009 Sloan. VM 96. The 2009 SLOAN ESTATE has fleshed out beautifully since last year. Exciting and totally voluptuous, the 2009 covers every inch of the palate with layers of mocha-infused dark fruit. The 2009 boasts striking inner perfume and sweetness, with generous plum, cinnamon, melted road tar and Christmas cake notes that wrap around the highly expressive finish. I imagine the 2009 is a vintage that will enjoy a broad window of drinkability starting pretty much upon release. The 2009 is 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. SLOAN fans will note the Merlot is a little higher than normal in 2009. (Drink between 2014-2027) Jeff Leve 95. Forward, easy to drink, medium/full-bodied with an open, lush character and plenty of blackberries, espresso, fudge and smoke. The wine is soft and refined in the finish.

Delicious meaty pasta. Nice textural bite to the thick pasta.

2009 Abreu Cappella. Jeff Leve 98 Silk and velvet textures make the wine. This is such a great style. The showy, perfectly ripe fruits, soft, polished tannins, and layers of ripe, sweet, fresh and fleshy berries never quits. The fruit filled finish, with its nuances of smoke, dark cocoa, licorice and espresso hang wth you for ages. Drink this now, or wait a decade. This is a very special wine.

2012 The Debate Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard. 96 points. Dark fruit and chocolate on the nose. The palate was dark berries, red cherry, mahogany, chocolate and a hint of sage on the finish. The finish was full and lingering. A great bottle of wine So much better than the Dr Crane I had two weeks ago.

2013 Schrader Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon T6 Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard. Jeff Leve 100. Just stunning in every sense of the word. Still inky dark in color, the wine is opulent, silky, sexy, lush and pure. Concentrated, balanced and energetic, the texture is polished velvet and the fruit tastes as good as it feels. It’s a knockout wine! The last time I tasted this was in 2016 and I noted it could eventually hit triple digits. Today, I no longer wonder as this is so above and beyond, it deserves 100 Pts.

Quail and mushrooms.

2007 Araujo Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard. VM 95+. Good full ruby-red. Vibrant aromas of deep black raspberry, licorice and violet; quite expressive considering it was bottled about a month prior to my visit. Then dense, deep and very primary, with powerful yet suave flavors of blackberry, smoke, licorice, minerals, chocolate and earth spreading out to saturate the palate. An infant today but the wine’s superb persistence and finishing perfume suggest it will rank among the best vintages of this bottling. If there is ever a classification of Napa Valley cabernet vineyards, the Eisele Vineyard would clearly be a grand cru. Jeff Leve 94. Clearly not a wine of power, this is all about the elegant nature, soft tannins, balance, lift and vivacity. There is a purity to the fruit that shines though, along with touches of toasty oak, licorice, smoke and black fruits. This is ready for prime time drinking today.

2006 Colgin IX Estate. Jeff Leve 98. Spicy, suave, silky and intense, the fruit is perfectly ripe, sweet, fresh and pure. The wine offers that unique combination of density paired with refinement, lift, complexity and length. And this is still young, so pop a cork now to check it out, if you have a few bottles, or age it for another decade to see what happens.

2006 Harlan Estate. Jeff Leve 98. Wow! Talk about a wine with a lot going on. Initially, you discover the multiple layers of fruit. But it is the refined character, the soft, polished, silky tannins and the complexity that keeps you going back for another taste of all that ripe, deep fruit. Powerful, but elegant, this is gorgeous. Still young, it’s a nice time to start opening your bottles, but there is no hurry, as they are going to age for decades with ease.

Duck breast.

2002 Abreu Cabernet Sauvignon Madrona Ranch. 96 points. Deep ruby, dark fruit, med. tannins, long finish; delicious, but out shone by the 05 Spottswoode, possibly related to a longer decant. I suspect this wine is still evolving & it needs more time or a longer decant; delicious!

2002 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select. Jeff Leve 97. It’s been ages since I last tasted this gem. It is hard to believe, this is almost 18 years old. The color remains dark. The fruit, which has softened over the years, continues to hold on to its youth. The oak is better integrated. But this is still about the power and layers of decadent berries, so I’d wait another few years before popping another cork.

2010 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select. Jeff Leve 96. Massive, powerful, concentrated and loaded to the top with layers of ripe, dark berries, jam, smoke, espresso, vanilla and licorice. Still primary, it is not ready for prime time drinking yet, as everything still needs to come together.

Beef.

2008 Sloan. VM 95. Bright medium ruby. Pure and high-pitched if reticent on the nose, offering aromas of blackberry, licorice, violet, menthol and sweet oak lifted by an element of dusty stone. Wonderfully suave, fine-grained and light on its feet, with a sexy oak element complementing the black raspberry, mineral and spice flavors. Very dense but not at all heavy, showing terrific floral energy and a light touch for this bottling, with no sign of dehydrated berries. The fruit still conveys a distinctly primary character but the wine’s verve makes it delicious already–in fact, I’m tempted to say that anyone who doesn’t love this is a spoilsport or a masochist. Wonderfully harmonious wine with the underlying spine to support a long evolution in bottle. The substantial dusty tannins show some obvious new oak. (Drink between 2018-2035) Jeff Leve 96. Ready to drink, medium/full-bodied, soft, fresh and polished. The wine serves up its smoky, blackberry, black cherry, smoke, coffee bean and chocolate essence with little effort.

2001 Sloan. VM 92. Good deep ruby-red. Ripe aromas of bitter cherry, blueberry, dark chocolate, violet and brown spices. At once ripe and dry, with good energy and firm structure leavened by a truffley sweetness and leather and tobacco leaf notes that reminded me of Bordeaux. A very nicely delineated, juicy, classically styled wine that finishes with firm tannic spine. But hardly an easy style, and in need of a bit of patience. (I much preferred this to the 2000 version, which was distinctly more leafy and peppery. With less flesh and depth, this wine’s tannins come across as a bit dry and green, in the style of the vintage.) Jeff Leve 96. Still holding on to its youth, the wine is massive, powerful, dense and intense. It is also a bit oaky, although there is more than enough ripe, sweet, dark fruits, chocolate, licorice and smoke to keep you satisfied.

2013 Sloan. VM 97. A huge, backward wine, the 2013 Sloan is deep, powerful and explosive, with huge dark fruit and tons of torrefaction, licorice and menthol notes that add gravitas. Readers will have to be patient with the 2013. All the pedigree of this great vintage is evident, but the tannins need time to soften. At times, the 2013 reminds me of the 2001. Jeff Leve 97. Smoky, with an espresso tone on top of all the layers of inky, dark black and blue fruits. Powerful, concentrated, lush and rich, the fleshy character retains freshness and purity, awarding you a long, mouthcoating finish.

Cheese plate.

Soufflé.

Homemade chocolate chip cookies.

The wine line up.

From my cellar: 2002 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. BH 97. There is a distinctly phenolic character to the secondary-tinged yet super-fresh nose reflects notes of bread, yeast, pear, baked apple, spice and a hint of citrus. The bold and full-bodied flavors possess superb complexity while being underpinned by a notably fine but dense mousse, all wrapped in a gorgeously persistent finish. This is a seriously impressive effort and one of the best of the Krug Brut vintage series released in many years. Note that while this should continue to age effortlessly, it could certainly be enjoyed now. (Drink starting 2017)

Cigars!

After the dinner proper a couple of us retired up the stairs to a lovely terrace on top of the yard and sipped our “bonus wine” (the 2002 Krug).

Great evening, even if the wines were bruisingly intense.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (0)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Cabernet Sauvignon, California Wine, David Slatkin, Jeff Leve, Slone, 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.

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.

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.
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.

They gave us an welcome cocktail, which I think had a sake base, but I can’t remember.

Eventually — and it was about 45 minutes late — we were moved into the secret Sushi|Bar room.

Unlimited Sunomono (marinated pickles). I must have eaten about 10 bowls worth.

The chef’s plating the first course.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

2013 Maison Leroy Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Chenevottes. Very nice!

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.

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.

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.

Tai Snapper topped with caviar, lemon, sea salt, and scallions. The caviar pairing also worked.

Black snapper with yuzu koshu made from fresno chilies. The little dab of heat paired nicely with the snapper.

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Wild caught Korean Escolar, house cured Ikura (salmon roe), scallions, wasabi, soy. A rich fish, balanced nicely by the briny roe.

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.

Giant Clam, wasabi, house soy sauce, lemon sea salt, matcha salt. Chewy and delicious.

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.

Santa Barbara Sea Urchin with wasabi. Classic and delicious.

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.

Uni handroll. So good I got 2.

King crab handroll. Mild, without mayo, but nice.

Unagi with bone marrow fat. Here the bone marrow served just to make the rich eel even richer — which I enjoyed.

Jellyfish with vinegar. I loved with, as it had a really nice “bite” (the chewy crunch) and a great acidic flavor.

“Kobe” Beef with salt and green onion. Very salty and rich. Fine, but maybe not worth the price.

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.

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

Green tea with yuzu and honey. Sweet and tangy!

The wine lineup was amazing tonight!

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.”

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.

By: agavin
Comments (0)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Champagne, Foodie Club, Gelato, Japanese cuisine, Sushi, White Burgundy, Wine

Heroic Wine Bar

Oct04

Restaurant: Heroic Deli and Wine Bar [1, 2]

Location: 516 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 490-0202

Date: August 17 and September 27, 2019

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Pretty awesome, actually

Heroic Deli and Wine Bar is a double concept run by my friend Jeffrey Merrihue (we share an ex-partner in common). By day, it puts the modern spin on the Italian American “hoagie” concept, by night it serves as a wine bar with exceptionally fresh take on modern Roman (the city, not the empire) cuisine.

They took over the old Real Food Daily / Erven space on Santa Monica Blvd.

This is an unusual space, divided into two halves, each of which has a separate loft. The build out is attractive though.

Here’s the main side loft.

Here’s Jeffrey, who like me at Ramen Roll is very hands on operationally.

Hand painted Zodiac ceiling.

The back space is much more dinner-like.

They have this gorgeous table in the center. For the 8/17/19 meal my wife and I came during the evening and sampled the wine bar fare. For the 9/27/19 meal a large 9 person family group of ours took the private room updates over this area.

Up the stairs in the back half (there are 4 areas!) is the private room.

The evening menu (in August 2019). There are also happy hour snacks — fairly extensive.

Prosecco.

From my cellar: NV Pierre Péters Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée de Réserve. VC 91+. As is customary with this bottling from Rodolphe Péters, the wine is a blend of fifty percent of its base year of 2014 and fifty percent from last year’s blend, which had gone into the family solera of reserve wines that dates back to 1988. The vins clairs here do not entirely go through malo as fifteen percent are non-malo wines, with the range raised in a variety of vessels, including barrels, stainless steel tanks and cement vats and the wine spend two years aging sur latte. The new release is very good indeed, offering up a youthful blend of apple, pear, hazelnut, chalky minerality, incipient pastry cream and spring flowers. On the palate the wine is crisp, focused and full-bodied, with a good core, still pretty brisk acidity, frothy mousse and very good backend mineral drive on the long and nascently complex finish. This is very good today and will be even better with a couple of years in the cellar. (Disgorged March 2017). (Drink between 2017-2030)

A glass of nice Italian rose.

Amuse from the chef of Risotto cacio e pepe with truffle. Super creamy.

NONNA’S GNUDI. Ricotta & spinach, sage infused housemade brown butter, fluffy Parmigiano Reggiano. This is basically a ball of soft spinach and cheese, topped with cheese, and soaked in perfect butter sauce. It’s richly cheesy — and buttery — very rich actually. Quite yummy. But you gotta like butter and cheese at its best!

A lovely glass of white.

ITALIAN CORN SOUFFLE. Corn, eggs, cream, caramelized onions, roast pepper. This is fine, but not my favorite dish here. Very mild.

Crispy fried artichokes with aioli. These were fabulous. First of all, it appears to be all heart, second it was super crispy and the aioli nice and tangy. Very addictive.

INSALATA DI GRANCHIO. Pacific crab, lemon zest and vinaigrette. Lovely light and bright crab salad in this adorable crab bowl!

From my cellar: 2013 Giovanni Almondo Roero Arneis Vigne Sparse. AG 88. The 2013 Roero Arneis Vigne Sparse comes across as green and grassy in this vintage, with distinct Sauvignon-like inflections. Lemon peel, grapefruit, lemongrass and flowers are all expressive in the glass, but the overall impression is of an overly vegetal, aggressive wine that is best enjoyed sooner rather than later. The Vigne Sparse is always on the leaner side of Arneis. In 2013, that aspect of its personality is especially prominent. (Drink between 2015-2016)

HAIL CAESAR. A classic parmesan, imported anchovy, garlic, dijon mustard, red romaine lettuce, crostini.

CALIFORNIA CAPRESE. Imported bufala mozzarella, avocado, house roasted tomatoes, pesto, avocado, balsamic glaze. Basically a caprese with guacamole. Very nice though, great ingredients.

ARABIATA MEATBALLS. Tangy tomato sauce. Full of flavor.

CRISPY LAMB RIBS. These were salty, meaty, and very tasty.

Spicy Salami Pizza. Pizza is super new here at Heroic, just having been added in September. A bit of heat. Nice. Basically a “fancy” pepperoni. Crust is super thin, almost like a cracker — I happen to like it that way. Nice and cheesy. It doesn’t have that stretchy doughy quality that many pizzas have. Overall, based on this one pizza, it was pretty good, but not blowing away the best pizza places in town.

White Mushroom Pizza. I didn’t get to try this one.

Margarita Pizza. Or this one.

From my cellar: 2003 Valdicava Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna del Piano. AG 93. The 2003 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna del Piano is a super-ripe, opulent wine that resembles the 1997 in its generous, full-bodied personality. The tannins are surprisingly well-balanced within the context of this challenging vintage. The 2003 should drink well relatively early for this Riserva. All things considered, this is a superb effort. Production was down sharply in 2003. The estate bottled just 13,000 bottles of this wine compared to the typical 23,000 bottles. (Drink between 2013-2023)

Rigatoni Pomodoro. My son found the sauce had too much tomato flavor (he likes it bland).

TRIOFE AL PESTO. Organic basil, Parmigiano Reggiano, pecorino Romano, pine nuts. This is as good a pesto pasta as I’ve had in America. The Triofe — which is a classic shape for Ligurian pesto dishes — had a great bite to it and lots of surface area to pick up the very strong and oily — in that great Olive Oil way — pesto. Delicious!

BUCATINI ALL’ AMATRICIANA. Slow roasted tomato sauce, house made guanciale. This was my least favorite of the pastas as the guanciale this night was a bit soft and fatty (rather than crispy). It did have that tomato/pork flavor going on big time, but the porcine quality was a touch overwhelming.

RIGATONI AL SUGO DI AGNELLO. Braised Superior Farms lamb shoulder, crispy artichokes, house made n’duja. Mild and meaty but very delicious.

PASTA CARBONARA. Mezzemaniche, house made guanciale, pecorino Romano. Chef Barbara shows off her Roman chops with this scrumptious carbonara. The Mezzemaniche also has a really nice bite, and the pork cheeks the perfect crunch and porcine flavor. Very roman and again maybe the best Carbonara I’ve had in a long time. It maybe could have been a touch creamier — as this is an pork and cheese forward prep, but the guanciale alone is worth the price of admission.

An Italian Cabernet — better than most California ones — if big.

CAVOLFIORE. Whole cauliflower, crispy garbanzos, roasted tomatoes, olives, Sicilian capers, garlic (vegan). I really liked the textural play and particularly the stunning olives.

POLPO CROCCANTE. Crispy octopus with Russet potatoes, garlic and parsley. Really crispy and quite lovely.

THE SANTA BARBARA. Fresh sea urchin (live) spot prawn (live) blue ocean spaghetti, caviar – crispy fried prawn head. Oh god, love uni and caviar. This was fabulous too.

So good it’s worth another picture. Notice the blue Spirulina pasta.

BRANZINO ALL’ ACQUA PAZZA. Italian Branzino with fennel, leeks, saffron broth.

MERLUZZO PUTTANESCA. Santa Barbara Black Cod, tomato, capers, garlic and anchovies.

SALTIMBOCCA ALLA ROMANA. California veal, sage, prosciutto di Parma, wine. Like a fancy, slightly porky old-fashioned veal salimbocca. Plus some truffle. Meat was very tender and soft, with that particular texture of pounded veal.

TOURNEDOS ROSSINI. Central Valley Rib cap, chicken liver parfait, King Oyster mushroom, Italian summer truffles. This was rich, but boy was it good! How can you go wrong with those ingredients?

TORTE DE MELE. Deconstructed apple pie with salt caramel. Also quite lovely.

TIPSY TIRAMISU WITH BRANDY SHOT. A very solid tiramisu with a nice zabaglione note.

PANNA COTTA. Amarena cherries, crumbled biscotti, Barolo sauce. Very nice with a great creamy texture.

I’ve been meaning to come by and try the night time food for months now and finally managed to do it (twice) — and boy was I impressed. So different from the lunch — which is also good — but this is actually some really serious Italian and in a style that is very unusual for LA. Ingredients are all either top flight Italian or really good fresh local California. It’s an interesting hybrid, but Chef Barbara’s flavors are great and really taste very Italian Italian (as opposed to Italian American) in flavor. As a night time restaurant the physical layout is a little odd (although attractive), and it’s not cheap, but all the dishes I tried were delicious. Particularly the pastas. Woah some of those are good (particularly the pesto, carbonara etc).

Stylistically this is a hybrid of very authentic Roman (the city) food with ingredients either being top-shelf imported Italian or really good local California-sourced. This later, however, is still filtered through the stricter sensibilities of Chef Barbara and so is more Italian style with California ingredients. Places like Bestia or Felix on the other hand are more Italian cooking philosophies with punched up California sensibilities. Quite different, actually.

I would say that because Heroic started as a sandwich shop (which of course it still is during the day) and has such an unusual multi-part space that it’s a sleeper for really good LA Westside dining. So consider it placed on your dining radar.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (3)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Barbara Pollastrini, Heroic Deli, Italian cuisine, Jeffrey Merrihue, pasta, Wine, Wine bar

Providence Chef’s Table

Sep27

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

Location: 5955 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038. (323) 460-4170

Date: August 12, 2019

Cuisine: Cal French

Rating: Awesome food, awesome night

I usually make it to Providence about once a year, and so we return with the Foodie Club for a small, epic Chef’s Table night.

While the colors are different, Providence still looks a lot like Patina to me — as the layout is basically the same.

This is the view from the chef’s special tasting room — adjacent to the kitchen in it’s own little nook.
Our special menu tonight.

One of the few places in town that still has elegant table wares.

Ron brought: NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 167eme. JG 96. The new release of Krug Grande Cuvée “167eme Édition” is stellar. The wine is from the base year of 2011 and utterly transcends that vintage, but, of course, it includes nearly two hundred different wines in the blend, with the oldest reserves dating all the way back to the 1995 vintage. Fully forty-two percent of the cuvée this year is made up of reserve wines. The cépages for the 167eme Édition is forty-seven percent pinot noir, thirty-six percent chardonnay and seventeen percent pinot meunier. The wine shows its lovely preponderance of pinot noir on the nose, wafting from the glass in a beautifully complex blend of apple, white peach, a touch of patissière, very complex soil tones, caraway seed and a gently floral contribution in the upper register from the pinot meunier in the blend. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, complex and nicely broad-shouldered, with great depth at the core, refined mousse, bright, seamless acids and outstanding focus and grip on the very long, complex and beautifully balanced finish. This is simply outstanding and should age effortlessly for fifty to seventy-five years!

Yellow tomato soup shot. Bright like a gazpacho (but not so vinegary).

Rolled salmon with salmon roe on crisps — delicious!

Mussels with curry sauce. A sort of deconstructed Moules Frites dish.

Crispy seafood taco in shiso (relative). Scrumptious.

Crab tartlet.

Cucumber wrapped oyster.

Wagyu “cigar.” Like a super taquito — crispy and amazing.

From my cellar: 1993 Robert Ampeau & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. 93 points. From a late Domaine release. Golden color. A lot of Wows on the table from the first smells. This bouquet had it all. Orange peel, flint, lemon curd, grass, flowers, very deep and complex. The palate was crisp as well with excellent freshness and length.

Kanpachi. Nasturtium, espelette, lime. Very bright flavors, soft textures, with a creaminess. Absolutely delicious.

Bread and (fancy) butter and salt.

The bread even comes with its own “about the bread” sheet!

Coleman farms celtuce, geoduck clam, box crab, osetra caviar — amazing! One of the best dishes of the night.

Erick brought: 2006 Domaine Leflaive Meursault 1er Cru Sous le Dos d’Âne. JG 91. The 2006 Meursault here is a bit cooler than the previous two wines, and shows no signs of alcohol poking through on the finish. The nose is very lovely, as it offers up notes of pear, apple, almond paste, flowers and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, fine and focused, with a lovely base of soil, crisp acids and an almost crystalline profile, with good length and grip on the finish. This is a very good bottle that is rather atypical in the context of this vintage chez Leflaive in its more classic profile, though the wine is still quite forward stylistically. This will make a great restaurant wine list option.

Prawns live in this tank.

Peel ‘n’ eat spot prawn, shiso, basil, nuoc cham. You just eat this with your hands, wrapped in the herbs. Gave it a slightly Vietnamese vibe. Great prawn, perfectly fresh and cooked.

Aori ika, haricots, hazelnut, ogo. Vaguely Japanese and very pleasant “salad.”

Ron brought: 2013 Paul Pernot et ses Fils Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. VM 93. Pale yellow. Lovely purity to the aromas of nectarine and flowers. Sweet and fine-grained, showing a compellingly silky texture to its stone fruit and nutty oak flavors. Finishes sedate and long, with lovely balance. Really seamless for the vintage.

Black cod, artichoke, mint. Nice buttery white fish. Very “new French.”

Salmon belly, porcini, zucchini.

With the sauce. This cut of salmon is particularly rich and tender, very nice seared like this.

From my cellar: 2001 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Bonnes Mares. VM 94. The 2001 De Vogüé Bonnes Mares exhibited uncommon depth and richness in the luxuriousness of its vibrant fruit, with a personality that was delicate yet powerful. Still very much an infant, it was a privilege to catch this gorgeous wine in its youth.

Ron brought: 2003 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Bonnes Mares. VM 91. Medium red-ruby. Blackberry, violet, mocha and bitter chocolate on the slightly roasted nose. Huge, sweet and expressive, with extravagantly rich flavors of currant, blueberry, chocolate and spices. Quite velvety and sensual for this wine, thanks to its unusually fat, broad texture. Finishes with suave but serious tannins.

Duck — we added this as a supplement.

Larry brought: 1999 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Masseto Toscana IGT. VM 95. The 1999 Masseto is a cool, inward wine graced with exquisite finesse, but it still needs a few years in bottle to show its potential. That said, it is pretty spectacular even today. This is a vintage that will appeal to readers who enjoy firm, structured wines. (Drink between 2013-2024)

A5 Wagyu, magic myrrna potato, nori. Meat hidden under leaves.

And another supplement, because we had so much big red wine left, we got a second (different) A5!

Cheese cart. Love me the cart and you so rarely see it now.

My prep of gooey strong cheeses.

Bread for the cheese.

And a second cheese course!

Mango, makrut, finger lime. Really interesting texture, partially frozen (beneath). Delicious.

Peach, jam mousse, lemon verbena. This was my favorite of the desserts, extremely fruity and refreshing.

Ban this dessert. Harry’s berries strawberries, pistachio.

With the strawberry sauce. The pistachio was formed into a kind of mousse and felt like, and even almost tasted like, foie gras. Superb.

Crunchy pastry.

Bon bons. Chocolates, meringues, and jellies.

Parting gift of a bit of Zucchini cake or something for the next morning.

This was a great night and tons of fun. The chef’s table is by far the best way to do Providence, and the total tab wasn’t even that bad as it was no corkage monday — even with our Chef’s Tasting Menu and a bunch of supplements. With Melisse gone, this is now the only remaining 90s/00s style elegant white table Cal French spot left in LA. Good thing it’s great!

Service was (as usual) superb too tonight — as were our bevy of wines. 7 for 4 people. Didn’t feel the fastest in the morning!

For more LA dining reviews click here,

By: agavin
Comments (0)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Burgundy, California French, Chef's Table, Foodie Club, Providence, Seafood, Wine

Mandarin Plaza Crawl

Sep18

Earlier in the year, Yarom and I hatched and plotted this particular all afternoon mega crawl at the Rowland Heights Mandarin Plaza — partially at least while sucking down some serious hot pot in said plaza. This place is far from LA proper, way out 40+ miles to the east but is in the heart of the “new Chinatown”.

Restaurant: Leung Kee

Location: 18908 E Gale Ave, Rowland Heights, CA 91748

Date: August 3, 2019

Cuisine: Chinese BBQ

Rating: check: roast pig before noon

We start at 11am, “meating” (haha) up at the former Sam Woo BBQ, now Leung Kee Chinese BBQ.

It’s right smack in the middle of this huge mall that contains tons of Asian restaurants, including Chinese, Korean, Thai and more.

They do a lot of takeout biz, pigs and ducks and the like.

The space is typical old school SGV.

Boba must be a new thing.

The menu.

Tea comes in a mug!

And there is free eggdrop soup — which was pretty darn good.

Macau style roast pork. Must have just been reheated as it landed on our table in 2 seconds, but pretty tasty.

Crispy beef. Very fried, but very delicious.

Peking Duck. It wasn’t the best peking duck, maybe a bit soggy, but peking duck is always pretty good.

Buns instead of pancakes.

And sketchy extra duck meat — that was actually pretty good.

Overall, just fair. Pretty much what you’d expect. But I like pretty much all (real) Chinese food at a good bit.

Restaurant: Mandarin Bay Seafood

Location: 1015 S Nogales St, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 839-7738

Date: August 3, 2019

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: check: Just ok

Next up, we leave the actual mall and cross the street on foot to:

Meet up with more people at noon at:

Cantonese Mandarin Bay Seafood Restaurant.

The gang (minus yours truly).

The takeout menu.

It’s noon, by 1 minute or so, so time for wine.

From my cellar, a touch too dry — bone dry rose sparkling from France.

Nice.

Second free soup of the day, hot and sour — this was not good hot and sour. I saved the stomach space.

Marinated Jellyfish. Vinegary and chewy good.

Salt and Pepper Shrimp. Salty, crunchy, very tasty.

Salt and pepper squid — somehow we ended up with the same prep twice. These were good too.

Ginger and Green Onion frog. Kinda fried, but the sauce was great.

Overall, Mandarin was fine too, but nothing super exciting.

Restaurant: Spicy Moment

Location: 1015 S Nogales St, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 581-4966

Date: August 3, 2019

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: check: Surprisingly good, big menu

Next up we walked 2 doors down.

To a new style Szechuan place.

This is what I mean by new style. They still have the ugly drop ceiling, but they have made a tiny effort at decorating.

The menu is gargantuan.
This is a great wine on any day, and particularly great on a hot day with Chinese.

Recycled from the Vietnamese crawl.

Grilled pork jowl with Yunnan sauce. Delicious.

Fish in pickle pepper soup. This wasn’t spicy, but it was amazing. Really, really delicious. Soft tender fish and very distinct and lovely sour flavor.

Dry pot pork rib and shrimp. Also filled with potatoes to sop up the sauce. I generally like dry pot and this was particularly delicious. Lots and lots of flavor.

Black pepper lamb shoulder. Not spicy, but very tasty with a strong onion flavor.

Eggplant with garlic sauce. Fine rendition.

Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised by Spicy Moment and would totally go back for a full meal. Plus they let us drink our wine on the down low. Menu is huge and execution was good — and interesting. It should be noted, that as of Feb/March 2020 Spicy Moment “rebooted” into a totally different, more homestyle Szechuan place with the same name. I have, of course, already eaten there.

Restaurant: Hunan Restaurant

Location: 1015 S Nogales St, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 964-8458

Date: August 3, 2019

Cuisine: Hunan Chinese

Rating: check: Solid

Then we popped back to this spot:

Located in between the Mandarin Bay and Spicy Moment.

Hunan is more old school than Spicy Moment, but it also has a vast menu:

Vast menu.

More sweet wine.

And a rhone blend.

Peanuts.

Shredded minced pork with corn and pickled vegetable. Super tasty — pork really helps a veggie. Sure to make things really move along later.

Sautéed lamb. Tasty.

Crispy pork ribs with garlic and chilies. Lots of flavor, not so much meat.

Fish filet with fire cracker salt. Very delicious boiled fish with garlic and chilies.

Spicy pickled cucumbers. Also delicious. Generally a fan fave.

Overall, Hunan was also very good. Sort of a blend of (more old school) Szechuan AND Hunan, but who cares. It was excellent. While the pictures above cover what we ate during the crawl, I’ve also been to this place my specifically, and a more detailed write up can be found here.

Restaurant: Happy Tree House BBQ

Location: 18904 E Gale Ave, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 581-9886

Date: August 3, 2019

Cuisine: Chinese Skewers

Rating: check: hmmm

When I was spotting during the hot pot night, this place seemed intriguing.

Happy Tree BBQ. It’s a new style skewered meats place.

Very snazzy new interior.

Real coals.

And this warmer thing on the table where they put your skewers.

Powders.

Seaweed salad. Tastes like it looks.

Spicy octopus salad. Ok, but the sauce tasted a lot like Sriracha.

Beef skewers. Not bad.

Shrimp skewers. You eat shell and all.

Hot dogs. Well they didn’t call them that, but they basically are.

Chicken skin skewers. Crispy!

Lamb skewers. Pretty good too.

Chicken wing skewers. Just so so.

Overall, we were kinda disappointed in Happy Tree. Chinese skewers aren’t nearly as good as good Yakatori. They’re fine, but not super exciting. This place looks good, and is probably packed with young people on dates in the evening, but it just doesn’t feel as “Chinese” somehow. I’m not really sure where in China this kind of food is actually from.

Restaurant: Silk Road Garden

Location: 18904 E Gale Ave, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 581-9886

Date: August 3, 2019

Cuisine: Uyghur Chinese

Rating: check: great

So our final place is all the way west.

And merely across the parking lot next to the first spot.

It’s Uyghur Chinese like Dolans and has the decor to match. Very cute and intimate.

Being Uyghur doesn’t mean their menu is any smaller! They have skewers here too — I bet they would be better.

Garlic pickles. Nice crunchy garlicky cucumbers.

Yellow noodle with cumin lamb. Delicious tender cumin lamb on top of spaghetti-like noodles.

Meat and Vegetables in Homemade pastry. A giant golden meat pie. Extremely hot on the mouth, but tasty.

Special homemade noodle with minced beef. A western Chinese bolognese — tons of flavor. Nice thick al dente noodles.

Manti, meat and onion filled dumplings. These were superb, with really delicate skins. They could have used a dipping sauce though.

They had a little freezer of ice cream macarons.

Overall, I was also very pleasantly surprised by Silk Road. First rate execution. Small, intimate, and clearly cooked with precision. The dishes are typical of the region — half way between Shaanxi and Afghan — focused on lamb, and delicious.

In Summary, we only hit 6 of the perhaps 20+ restaurants in Mandarin plaza, and we “only” had 8 people, but we dined like Emperors on a cross China trek! Seriously, so much variety of style. The far SGV (aka Rowland and Hacienda Heights, Dimond Bar, etc) is where a lot of exciting culinary growth is.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Chevy and Mary may have skipped the first place (the BBQ) but they made up for it by getting shave ice and boba tea!

By: agavin
Comments (3)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, crawl, food crawl, hedonists, Hunan Cuisine, Mandarin Plaza, Rowland Heights, SGV, Sichuan, Szechuan cuisine, Uyghur Cuisine, Wine

Little Saigon Mega Crawl

Sep16

Restaurant: Brodard Restaurant

Location: 16105 Brookhurst St. Fountain Valley, CA 92708. Phone number (657) 247-4401

Date: July 31, 2019

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Solid

Crawls are usually a lot of fun, and this super far, super extensive Garden Grove / Westminster Vietnamese Food crawl has been months in the planning. I collated several online lists of the best Vietnamese in Little Saigon and narrowed it down to 5 places (plus one coffee shop) and a list of their best dishes. I love Vietnamese food and have written up my full 2014 trip to Vietnam here. Bear in mind that 4 of us completed the entire crawl. Two joined for the 4 middle places.

We started furthest south at Brodard.

Their interior is fairly modern.

And they have a bunch of takeaway and bakery products. French influence in Vietnam I guess.

Vietnamese menus can be very long, and this is no exception.

Grilled Pork Spring Rolls (Nem Nuong Cuon). Heritage Berkshire grilled pork wrapped in rice paper with lettuce, cucumber, carrots, cilantro, chives, daikon and mint served with their house special sauce. These were a great spring roll, pretty much your typical “fresh” (soft, not fried) Vietnamese roll, except for the thick slab of amazing grilled pork. Really made the roll.

Jackfruit Salad (Goi Mit). Young jackfruit and steamed pork tossed with asian herbs, peanuts, shallots, and roasted sesame seeds, accompanied with rice crackers and mom tom (fermented shrimp sauce) dressing on the side. I was interested to get this because I hadn’t had it — can’t say I loved the weird sour and fish taste. It was edible certainly, but a bit odd.

Hue Style Beef Noodle Soup (Bun Bo Hue). A spicy and richly flavorful soup with rice vermicelli, tender beef shank, pork hock, and roasted shallots accompanied by asian herbs and bean sprouts. This was supposed to have liver, can’t say if it did. What it did have was PIG SNOUT. Really obvious snouty snouts. Pretty sketchy. Broth and noodles were great though.

Mixed up a bit to show off the noodles.

Overall, while I anticipated Brodard would be one of my favorites, it just turned out fine. Nice, modern, but I wasn’t blown away. Hard to tell though based on three dishes.

Restaurant: Quan Hop Restaurant

Location: 15640 Brookhurst St. Westminster, CA 92683. (714) 689-0555

Date: July 31, 2019

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Good

On to stop two, just down the street.

Clearly this wasn’t built as a Vietnamese restaurant originally.

The interior made me think it was once a sushi bar or something.

Another big menu.

Some riesling — they even charged us a little corkage!

Rice pancakes (banh beo). These were amazing. You put a little fish sauce on them and slurp ’em like an oyster. Really light, delicate, and exciting flavor.

Shaved filet mignon, stir-fried and tossed with finely shredded banana blossoms (goi bo). Very nice beef salad. Tangy with great textures.

Fried rice cakes topped with pork and shrimp dumplings (banh it ram). Extremely interesting carb on carb dish. Greasy (in a good way) rice cakes with, yeah, a dumpling on them. Kinda a bit breaded, but tasty.

Overall, All three of our dishes were great.

Restaurant: Song Long Restaurant

Location: 9361 Bolsa Ave, Ste 108. Westminster, CA 92683. (714) 775-3724

Date: July 31, 2019

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Old school, but amazing fish

I was wary of place number three, it felt too old school — but it turned out to be great.

Old school.

And not the most updated minimall.

Yeah baby, look at those curtains! This place has much more French influence.

Huge menu.

Rice crackers.

French bread.

Vietnamese style Chicken Wings (Canh Ga Chien Nuoc Mam). The wings were fine, very crispy, but that garlic butter sauce was to die for!

Sizzling fish (Cha Ca Thang Long). Catfish garnished with dill, onions, peanuts, served with pickles and greens and rice vermicelli.

The herbs and noodles. You pile it all together with the fish and add fish sauce. Absolutely amazing. 10/10 dish. Really really great fish with a lovely turmeric/dill flavor. Super addictive.

Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised by Song Long. Really by the fish dish — which as I had been told was worth the price of admission. Really fabulous. Garlic butter was crazy good too.

Restaurant: Banh Cuon Tay Ho 4

Location: 9822 Bolsa Ave Ste 101H. Westminster, CA 92683. (714) 531-5171

Date: July 31, 2019

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Very casual

Fourth place.

This has more the look of a lunch chain spot.

Interior is new, but bland.

Ice Tea? No, it’s a giant pitcher of fish sauce on the table!

Combo with wide rice noodles (banh cuon) and sweet potato and shrimp fritters (banh tom) and some liverwurst like meat. Interesting, and tasty enough with fish sauce. Almost the entire menu is various combos like this mostly including the same set of rotating items.

Beef noodles. You douse it in fish sauce and…

Mix it up. Surprisingly delicious.

Overall, this was my least favorite of the 5 places as it’s menu was so small (mostly version of the first dish). It would be okay for a quite cheap and tasty lunch by oneself.

Restaurant: Oc & Lau Restaurant

Location: 10130 Garden Grove Blvd, Garden Grove, CA 92843. (714) 636-2000

Date: July 31, 2019

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Great

I had high expectations for Oc & Lau too, as it was purported to be in the league of Garlic and Chives which we didn’t visit today, but I love.

The exterior, just down the block from Garlic and Chives — there are two locations.

Interior is.

Big menu.

Ruinart never sucks.

Frog legs (Ech Chien Bo). Fried frog legs. Excellent!

Fried quail (Chim Cut Rotti). Much like the Chinese style quail. Great!

Garlic butter queen clams (Nghieu Hoang Hau Chay Toi). Really tasty.

Creamy coconut periwinkle escargot (Oc Gao Dua). This sauce was a 10, rich with curry coconut flavor, but I messed up and got the tiny winkle snails which are impossible to eat. About 1 in 3 times you can pry one out (with some challenge) using the toothpick. Bummer. I just sucked the sauce.

Tamarind Lobster (Tom Hum Range Me). The sauce was too sweet — tangy sweet — but very sweet. Nice lobster though. We would have ordered with a different sauce.

Filet Mignon with udon (Bo Filet Xao Udon). Very tasty beef with onions and great thick udon noodles.

Weird purple yam and sticky milk free dessert.

Restaurant: Cafe Lu

Location: 636 S Harbor Blvd, Santa Ana, CA 92704. (714) 604-6347

Date: July 31, 2019

Cuisine: Coffee

Rating: Super weird

With just four of us left — and being very full — someone suggested we sample this oddity of the Orange County Vietnamese cultural scene:

Cafe Lu, a kind of bikini coffee bar.

Imagine a super divey bar where women in bathing suits and stripper heels serve you extremely over-priced Vietnamese coffee (or chicken wings). Very weird. Even weirder clientele. A certain hedonist managed to pound a giant coconut smoothy-shake (after our 5 restaurants) and THEN go to a huge Cantonese banquet in the SGV only 2 hours later. Woah!

In total summary, an amazing 4-5 hour journey through a California landscape not so often explored by the typical white-bread Los Angeles resident. One of the great things about our city (and I include the extended area we visited today) is the incredible wealth of culinary (and cultural) variety brought in by our vast immigrant populations. Keep ’em coming!

In terms of restaurant quality, none of these places blew me away quite as much as Garlic & Chives, but Oc & Lau is close and seems worthy of its own full meal visit.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (5)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Banh Cuon Tay Ho 4, Brodard, Champagne, Garden Grove, hedonists, OC, Oc & Lau, Quan Hop Restaurant, snails, Song Long, Vietnamese cuisine, Westminster, Wine

Second Kass

Sep13

Restaurant: Kass Restaurant – Wine & Bar [1, 2]

Location: 320 South La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036. (323) 413-2299

Date: July 30, 2019

Cuisine: California French

Rating: Fabulous

Years ago I enjoyed Chef Christophe Emé’s Ortolan and have had attended private dinners he’s prepared.

So it was exciting that he opened a new place on La Brea — supposedly a bit more casual this time (as is in vogue). The Foodie Club went in June and the meal was so fabulous we are back (with a slightly different mix of people) just a few weeks later.

I think the sign was completed in 2018, I believe the restaurant itself opened in 2019 :-).

This is the inside after dinner when we outlasted everyone. Clean and cosy.

The kitchen was small and neat and you can see Chef Christophe Emé in the center, carefully managing every detail.

Liz brought the newly released 2002 Dom Pérignon Champagne P2. VM 97+. The 2002 Dom Pérignon P2 is surprisingly, almost shockingly, austere and tightly wound. That almost surely bodes well for the future. Today, though, the 2002 is very hard to taste. Stylistically, it is also much less available than the original release. Readers lucky enough to own the 2002 should plan on being patient.

Cheese and sorbet with kaluga caviar. A light and elegant pairing that showcased the caviar — and of course we were drinking champagne!

2002 Joseph Drouhin Griotte-Chambertin. VM 92. Enticing redcurrant and strawberry scents are precise and impressively perfumed, with pungent floral lift and exotic Asian spice accents. Clean and brisk but tightly wound, with red fruit and bitter cherry flavors firmed by dusty tannins and zesty minerality. At once highly concentrated and elegant, showing a youthfully tangy tone to the impressively long finish. Hold this for another five years, at least.

Tartar with mushrooms and potato chips. Really fabulous. I do love tartar and this was a superlative one. We opened the Griotte-Chambertin (above) to have some red with this.

From my cellar: 1985 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon. JG 96. The 1985 Dom Pérignon is still several years away from its peak of drinkability, and while it is certainly quite approachable at this stage in its evolution, this wine will continue to improve with further bottle age. The bouquet is deep, complex and still a tad adolescent, as it offers up scents of tart apples, pink grapefruit, gentle herbal tones, a touch of limepeel, stony minerality and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and still quite young, with a rock solid core of fruit, bright acids, fine focus and balance, tiny bubbles and superb length and grip on the racy finish. While some tasters around the table thought this wine was drinking beautifully, for my palate it remains still a bit bound up in its minerally adolescence and will offer up significantly more opulence and toasty charm with another five to ten years of bottle age. It should prove to be an absolutely classic vintage of Dom Pérignon.

agavin: this bottle was a bit oxidized and not nearly as good as the one we opened at Angelini — that being said it was still good.

Scrambled Eggs. White truffle. Simple but incredible dish. Perfect texture and soft delicate flavor. Also perfect with the “mature” notes of the 1985 Dom.

2002 Marquis de Laguiche (Joseph Drouhin) Montrachet. VM 94. The 2002 Drouhin Montrachet Marquis de Laguiche was almost as impressive, although stylistically it was quite a bit more honeyed, voluptuous and creamy.

Cold Cucumber soup. Super cool and refreshing. Lovely.

Liz brought: 1986 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune. JG 91. I drank up a couple of cases of the 1986 Clos Ste. Hune from the mid-1990s through around 2005 or so, but I should have held onto some of cellar cache of this vintage, as the wine has continued to age very gracefully and is probably drinking better today than any point in its past. The beautiful nose is a blend of apple, grapefruit, chalky, stony soil tones, tart orange, petrol, a whisper of leesiness and a touch of corn kernel. On the palate the wine is medium-full, long and crisp, with superb focus and complexity, a good core and lovely length and grip on the well-balanced finish that closes with a distinct note of sea salt. A lovely, middleweight vintage of Clos Ste. Hune that continues to cruise along beautifully.

Tile fish with chanterelles and a butter sauce. Fabulous buttery mushroom thing. High mercury levels yeah, but delicious!

From my cellar: 1981 R. López de Heredia Rioja Blanco Gran Reserva Viña Tondonia. VM 92. Yellow-gold. Yellow plum, peach and orange rind on the nose, with complicating notes of cinnamon, mace and allspice. The equally complex palate offers sweet pit fruit and citrus flavors and touches of smoky oak and marzipan. Gains weight and nuttiness with air without loss of energy and finishes with clinging honey and orange marmalade qualities. This would be great with a rich poultry or shellfish dish.

Scallop with parmesan and tomato.

Kirk brought: 1998 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage. VM 94+. Full ruby. Subtle, extremely complex nose melds cassis, bitter cherry, licorice, menthol and gunflint. Great purity and class in the middle palate, though extremely young and not currently showing the texture of the unfinished ’99. But this is utterly compelling syrah, finishing with superb length and extremely fine tannins for the vintage. The ’99 may be more pliant in the early going thanks to its sweeter tannins, but I’m not yet convinced it will surpass this brilliant ’98.

Lamb with tortellini and peas. Another great dish, livened up by the fresh peas.

Cheese selection.

Tarte aux Pommes. Vanilla ice cream.

And of course gelato by me:

Cioccolato Fondente Torrone Gelato — I’ve been working to squeeze the most chocolate humanly possible into a dairy gelato. This is 70% cocoa Valrhona and 100% Callebaut Chocolates — a total of 22.5% cocoa by weight — extremely intense — offset slightly by Italian soft nougat (torrone) — 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 #peanut #chocolate #valrhona #Callebaut #torrone

Strawberry Margarita Sorbetto! — like a frozen cocktail — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Strawberries from Avignon, blended with fresh lime, Reposado Tequila and Cointreau –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #strawberry #Margarita #cocktail #Tequila #Cointreau

Overall, this was an amazing meal. Our wines were nice, and service was really spot on, but it’s the cooking that really showed everything else up. We had no repeat dishes from our epic meal previously and all the new ones were great too. The kitchen was a touch more distracted which perhaps slowed the pacing down a bit. The dishes we had were just as good, but for whatever reason we had one less savory and only one dessert instead of 4. Not that I left hungry. So if the first meal was a 10/10 this was maybe a 9/10, but still awesome.

And it should be noted, that as of late August chef Christophe Emé has moved on to new projects, and as such this place represents another ephemeral snapshot into past dining experiences no longer available.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.

By: agavin
Comments (0)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Cheese, Christophe Emé, Dessert, Foodie Club, Gelato, Hollywood, Kass, Liz Lee, Sage Society, Wine

Sauvages Bordeaux

Sep12

Restaurant: Private Chef, David Slatkin

Location: Bel Air

Date: July 27, 2019

Cuisine: American

This particular entry in my series of Friday afternoon wine themed Sauvages lunches was set at…

Member Jeff’s lovely backyard and features food by private chef David Slatkin.

We dined at this lovely table — it would be romantic except this is about a dozen old winos :-).

Even Hercules, the dog, knows how to have a good time.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. We started with a demi-bouteille of Billecart-Salmon Rosé: a safe option, but it does the job, even though I would say that a full bottle is better.

Ceviche “tacos.” Food notes are a little sketchy because I don’t have a menu and am writing this up weeks later.

Beet and goat cheese skewers. “Classic,” but still delicious.

From my cellar: 2004 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne. VM 96. I am thrilled with the way the 2004 Comtes de Champagne continues to evolve in bottle. A few years ago, the 2004 was quite focused and linear, in the style of the vintage, but more recently, the wine has begun to fill out beautifully. The 2004 remains bright, with a full range of citrus, white flower and mineral nuances that dance on the palate. A brisk, saline-infused finish rounds things out beautifully in a Comtes that impresses for its crystalline purity. I expect the 2004 will always remain a bit cool next to the more opulent 2002, but it is still drop-dead gorgeous.

Oyster shooters.

Beef tartar on polenta.

2015 Château Cos d’Estournel Blanc. VM 91. Jeff gives it 92 points. A bright, juicy, fresh blast yellow citrus with a hint of lime. Quite vibrant and fruity. Drink now, or age it for a few more years.

2004 Y de Yquem. 93 points, Jeff says: Bright, peppy, energetic blast of grapefruit, lemon and honeysuckle with loads of fresh, yellow citrus with just a hint of honey in the finish. This is drinking in its sweet spot today.

Sea bass with basil, beans, and bacon. Bacon makes everything better.

1986 Château Lafite Rothschild. VM 96. The 1986 Lafite-Rothschild is a great wine although over several recent encounters it is never a convincing “perfect” wine. This mirrors the bottle I tasted at the property in 2016: blackberry and graphite on the nose, gawky at first, but coalescing with time. The palate is well balanced with firm tannins, strong graphite scents unfolding with time, superb energy if not delivering quite the finesse and precision that the very best Lafite-Rothschild will bestow. This is a wine that benefits from long decanting, say five or six hours, though it never quite reaches the ethereal heights that it could have done. Tasted at the International Business & Wine First Growth Dinner at the Four Seasons.

1982 Château Lynch-Bages. VM 92. Dark red with a hint of garnet. A floral element lifts the very ripe aromas of kirsch and spicecake. Smooth, juicy, balanced and clean, with flavors of raspberry jam, graphite and tar exhibiting very good sweetness. Lively, balanced acidity confers precision and cut to this easygoing midweight. Finishes linear and long, with plenty of charm.

1982 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. 96 points. Deep red-ruby color. Liqueur-like aromas of currant, cedar, lead pencil, truffle and smoked meat. Magically sweet and silky in the mouth, with superb depth of flavor and a complete absence of rough edges. A huge wine with utterly compelling sweetness and great terroir character. Powerful if somewhat unrestrained. Finishes ripely tannic, long and sweet. Many tasters still rank this among their two or three favorites of the vintage. Drink now to 2015.

Gnocchi with lobster and morels. Probably my favorite savory dish, but I do like pasta and mushrooms — particularly morels.

2000 Château Léoville Poyferré. VM 90. Good full medium ruby. Subdued, slightly roasted nose combines cassis, cherry and chocolate mint. Chocolatey-sweet but less deep and expressive than the ’02 and ’01. Offers good currant and cherry flavors but seems a bit dry-edged and medicinal for a 2000, without quite the harmony of components of the subsequent vintages here.

1989 Château Lynch-Bages. VM 96. The 1989 Lynch Bages is a wine that in multiple tastings has never really put a foot wrong and as it approaches 30 years, one wonders just how long this Pauillac is going to give so much drinking pleasure. Those enticing blackberry and cedar scents remain in situ, maybe less pencil lead here compared to previous bottles. Yet, you have to stand back to admire the intensity and sheer brio of these aromatics. The palate is still unbelievably fresh, this the most youthful example that I have encountered with pure black fruit laced with cedar, just a hint of chestnut towards the symmetrical finish. When I first tasted the 1989 I remarked that it is equal to a First Growth, a sentiment that I have no hesitation in repeating. Jean-Michel Cazes would not make a better wine until the following year. Tasted at a private dinner in Bordeaux.

From my cellar: 1990 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron. VM 96. The 1990 Pichon-Baron is a sensational wine that must have had the First Growth rattled when it was released. At 28 years old, it is still reveling in its precocious growing season. The multidimensional bouquet features blackberry, graphite, cedar and mint flanked by iodine and warm gravel on a summer day. Wow! The palate is medium-bodied, delivering a mixture of red and black fruit, a fine mineral undercurrent and a long, precise finish: blackberry, cedar and graphite remain in the mouth for a good 60 seconds. Still a fabulous Pauillac after all these years. Tasted at the Pichon-Baron vertical at the château.

Jeff gives it 98 points: This is a super wine. In fact, I am not sure there is a better example for the money in the market today for a great Pauillac with bottle age. This has everything you need in a mature Left Bank wine. It is rich, powerful, concentrated and multi-layered. But the wine is not showy, it’s restrained. The aromatic profile is text-book with its tobacco leaf, smoke, cassis, blackberry, wet earth and herbal notes. The texture is masculine and refined, with a finish that doesn’t quit. An hour at most is all this needs in the decanter.

Meat, two ways.

1996 Château Latour Grand Vin. VM 94. The 1996 Latour is a wine that I often find overrated and did not achieve everything that might have been possible in this favourable growing season. That said, this might well be the best of around two dozen bottles I have encountered over the years. As usual, the 1996 is decidedly austere at first, standoffish, looks down its nose at you. Yet it coalesces with time and develops engaging cedar-scented black fruit tinged with pencil box and a touch of iris with time. The palate (again) is a little muted at first but it soon found its voice and evolved very fine tannin allied with a crisp line of acidity. It is not quite as demonstrative as it was even just a couple of years ago, gained some detail and perhaps it will continue to meliorate. Very fine, very fine indeed – but not a patch of say, the Château Margaux or perhaps even Léoville Las Cases. Tasted at the International Business & Wine Latour dinner at Ten Trinity.

Jeff gives it 99 points: A stunning wine in every sense of the word. Full-bodied, deep, concentrated, regal and long, the wine is packed with ripe, juicy, sweet, fresh dark red fruits, tobacco, earth and spice. Concentrated, balanced and complex, this is still youthful. The finish really hangs in there. You can enjoy it now with 2 hours of air. Or give it another 5-10-15 years in the cellar for more development.

1996 Château Margaux. VM 96+. Bright full ruby. Pure, perfumed aromas of cassis and violet. Dense and tactile in the mouth; a huge, chewy wine with major extract but also considerable refinement. Almost painfully backward today, and a bit less perfumed than it was in the year or so after the bottling, but the huge tannins show no hardness. Another great expression of cabernet sauvignon from the ’96 vintage. Drink 2015 through 2040.

1998 Château Mouton Rothschild. VM 92. The 1998 Mouton Rothschild is another wine that I had not tasted for several years. It is a blend of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc. Compared directly with the 1988, there is clearly some improvement for the bouquet is fresher with greater complexity – blackberry, cedar, a spring of fresh mint and a little juniper berry for good measure. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannin. Like many Pauillac 1998s, this feels quite structured and masculine, but at least there is adequate fruit tucked in just behind. It segues into a rather ferrous last third, fresh and precise with a sustained finish. Although it lags behind more recent vintages under Dhalluin, it appears to be at its peak after 20 years and should remain there for another decade. Tasted at the château.

Jeff gives it 95 points: The wine starts off with an array of layers in the perfume. Full-bodied and concentrated, with layers of fruit. But the finish is a bit clipped. The wine is very good, but the brief finish is a bit disappointing. Time will add complexities, but the finish is probably not going to get any better.

Beef with chanterelles, green beans, and mashed Peruvian purple potato.

1996 La Mondotte. VM 91. Black ruby. Slightly high-toned aromas of raspberry, minerals and toffee. Extroverted, sweet and powerful in the mouth, with superb density for the vintage. Finishes with huge but well-distributed tannins. This is 100% merlot, while the ’97 and ’98 include 20%-25% cabernet franc; von Neipperg says he picked the cab franc too early in ’96 and found it too rustic to include in the blend.

Jeff gives it 94 points: Mature, richly textured, ripe, sweet, lush and fresh, there is no reason to hold this any longer. While not at the level of subsequent vintages, the wine is quite nice, especially for the vintage.

2000 Château Pavie Decesse. VM 93. Bright, deep ruby. Explosive aroma of roasted black cherry. Dense, highly concentrated and deep, with penetrating, palate-saturating flavors of blackberry and black cherry framed by firm underlying minerality. A wine of great force; despite its major ripeness, there’s also a cool, medicinal aspect that’s utterly refreshing. Finishes with big, broad tannins and outstanding length.

Cheese plate.

My cryptic notes on the main wines.

1986 Château de Fargues. 93 points. Sublime; shows why 86 is such a fantastic year for Sauternes – a perfect balance of body, acid, and sweetness. Has it all.

Soufflé with peaches and whipped cream.

House-made chocolate chip cookies.

Gelati by moi:

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

Radical new flavor: Gianduja Extra Virgin Olive Oil — a tricky high fat EVOO base made with 2014 Giuseppe Quintarelli Olive Oil and layered with house-made Piedmontese Hazelnut and Valrhona Chocolate Ganache — 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 #evoo #OiliveOil #Quintarelli #SavorySweet #ganache #valrhona #chocolate #hazelnut

Some bonus wine:

1995 Château Mouton Rothschild. VM 95. Jeff gives it 94 points: There is a bit more strictness and severity to the wine that is becoming more apparent over the years. The wine has power, loads of tannin, and the fruit is ripe, but the increasing austerity that is an issue with many 1995 Bordeaux wines is something to take note of.

Even more bonus wine:

1998 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle. VM 92. Red-ruby. Expressive nose combines currant, roast coffee, chicory, underbrush and smoke. Suave yet penetrating in the mouth, with complex flavors of redcurrant, iron, minerals, smoke and tobacco. Finishes with dusty tannins and excellent length, though there still some acidity to be absorbed. This is showing well now, though its slightly more advanced aromatics suggest it will not be as long-lived as the ’99.

Overall, a great lunch with really good food and amazing wines — all of which were drinking in great form. I don’t buy too much Bordeaux anymore, but they are really great when you give them a few years.

After the dinner proper a couple of us retired up the stairs to a lovely terrace on top of the yard and sipped our “bonus wines” (the 95 Mouton and Hermitage).

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (0)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Bel Air, Bordeaux, BYOG, David Slatkin, Gelato, Sauvages, Wine

Bubbe’s Kitchen – Traktir

Sep11

Restaurant: Traktir

Location: 8151 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046. (323) 654-3030

Date: July 25, 2019

Cuisine: Russian Cuisine

Rating: Delicious!

Erick’s Russian friends told him that Taktir was the best Russian place in town and so we had to try it.

This is the West Hollywood location, there is also one over in the valley, in Tarzana. I have no idea if one is better than the other.

They have a big outside patio.

Seen from the other side.

And the interior (we sat to the left there).

The menu.

From my cellar: NV Krug Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 94. The NV Brut Rosé is brilliant and finely-sculpted in the glass, with floral aromatics, pulsating minerality and chiseled fruit. Less austere than it can be, the Rosé impresses for its combination of tension and textured, phenolic weight. There is so much to like. The blend is 59% Pinot Noir, 33% Chardonnay and 8% Pinot Meunier. Disgorged Spring 2013.

Pickled Vegetable Combination. Tomato, Cucumber, Cabbage. Just like at the Jewish deli!

Homemade Cured Salmon. Really nice cured salmon actually. Not too salty but great flavor.

Larry brought: 2013 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Les Forêts. VM 89. Pale, bright yellow. Stone fruits and oyster shell on the nose. Supple, sweet and fruity, showing a bit more grip than the village wine but still in an essentially soft style. Drinkable now for its ripe stone fruit flavors.

Olivier Salad. Russian potato salad. Lots of dill!

Herring «Moskovsky». Herring on Dark Toast with Butter & Onions. This very north eastern dish was spectacular. Super fresh tasting marinated herring with onion and in perfect balance with the toast.

Darnitsky Salad. Tomato, Cucumber, Onion, Feta, Cilantro, Parsley, Dill, House Vinaigrette. Not a bad salad at all, lots of vinegar.

Fake chard.

Salo. Cured Pork Fat Garnished with Garlic. I was a touch wary of these sheets of solid lard, but they turned out to be great with the incredibly strong mustard.

The mustard was so good we had to ask to see the jar.

Red Caviar. 4 oz served with Blinis and Garnish. The cheap caviar, but still pretty good on the little pancakes and with the sour cream.

Pougs brought: 2005 Domaine Francois Lamarche Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots. 92 points. Medium+ colour. Some animaux, beautifully perfumed red fruit and then caramel. Wonderfully intense and nuanced red fruit palate, it is absolutely perfect today. The suave fruit and tertiary notes are fully forward. No need to be afraid of tannin in this 2005 – this is beautiful.

Kharcho. Spicy Tomato Based Lamb Soup with Rice. Nice soup, basically goulash.

Golubtsy. Stuffed Cabbage with Ground Meat and Rice. This is such a traditional Kosher Jewish dish and this particular version of it was so good. Tender and delicious.

Yarom brought: 2004 Tua Rita Redigaffi Toscana IGT. VM 93. The inky-colored 2004 Redigaffi, 100% Merlot aged for 16 months in new oak, offers expressive, nuanced aromatics along with sensations of richly-textured blue and black jammy fruit, minerals, mint, chocolate, spices and sweet toasted oak on big, powerful frame with notable underlying structure and a warm, resonating finish. Although it has enough structure and acidity to drink well for another decade or so, I enjoy Redigaffi most in its youth.

Vareniki Combination. Potato Vareniki. Russian style Dumpling with Potato Filling. Sauerkraut Vareniki. Russian Style Dumpling with Sauerkraut filling. Not bad at all, but not as good as below.

Pelmeni. Meat Filled Tortellini served with Sour Cream. Wow these were spectacular. Tender little pasta pockets (heavily boiled) but with a nice meaty flavor and in perfect combo with the sour cream.

2006 M. Chapoutier Ermitage l’Ermite. VM 94. Full ruby. A roomfilling bouquet of fresh red and dark berry scents, along with smoked meat, violet, incense and minerals. Wonderfully fresh in the mouth, with vibrant raspberry and black cherry flavors. Gentle tannins rein in the expansive fruit without standing in its way. The finish is all about fruit, with late-arriving notes of black olive and smoky minerals. Extremely sexy now but balanced to age.

Lula Kebab. Ground Meat with Spices.

Super grill plate with:

Chicken Shashlik. Marinated Chicken in House Spices.

Pork Shashlik. Marinated Pork in Special House Sauce.

Lamb Shashlik. Lamb Marinated in Herbs & Spices.

Beef Tenderloin Shashlik. Beef Tenderloin Marinated in Herbs & Spices.

Lula Kebab. Ground Meat with Spices.

Potatoes and slaw.

2003 Colgin IX Estate. VM 93. Ruby-red. Explosive aromas of black raspberry, minerals, graphite and flowers. Wonderfully sweet and dense, with a superripe suggestion of maple syrup and a note of hot rocks. Finishes with huge, chewy but well-buffered tannins and a lingering note of caramel. Perhaps the least lively today of these 2003s, but winemaker Aubert notes that the 2003 vintage in general here brought higher-than-average acidity.

Grilled 16 oz French Cut Pork Chop. Served on a Sizzling Skillet with Mushroom & Onions.

Beef Stroganoff. Sliced Beef in Sour Cream Sauce. Very soft, but the meat itself was quite tasty.

Chicken Tabaka. Pan Seared Pressed Cornish Hen in a Garlic Wine Sauce.

Lamb Chops. Marinated in Our Special Sauce & Flame Grilled.

Kotleti. Ground Meat Patties served with mashed potatoes.

House-made flavored vodkas!

Raspberry vodka. Sweet and not too harsh.

NV Buller Calliope Rare Tokay. VM 95. Deep amber. Spiced nuts, Cuban coffee, toffee, melted butter and brown sugar aromas are broad and explosive. This completely coats the glass. Thick and viscous, with powerful flavors of vanilla bean, honey, Bananas Foster and toffeed apple. This almost overwhelms the palate. Clings on the back end, showing almost oily concentration and unreal length. Remarkable stuff.

A chocolate and cream parfait.

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

Radical new flavor: Gianduja Extra Virgin Olive Oil — a tricky high fat EVOO base made with 2014 Giuseppe Quintarelli Olive Oil and layered with house-made Piedmontese Hazelnut and Valrhona Chocolate Ganache — 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 #evoo #OiliveOil #Quintarelli #SavorySweet #ganache #valrhona #chocolate #hazelnut

In the bowl.

Overall, this was a very fun evening and Traktir over delivered in terms of food quality and tastiness. It’s not the most updated interior, or slickest service, but the food just tasted really good — at least most of the dishes. Many of these dishes are similar to classic Jewish food (like my mom sometimes cooks) and are among the best versions I’ve had. Certainly the best stuffed derma (stuffed cabbage). This isn’t a Jewish place per se — it does have cured pork fat on the menu — but eastern Jewish food is so influenced by Russian. Not every dish was perfect, but enough were really good, like the herring, stuffed cabbage, meat dumplings, that I was fairly impressed.

For more LA dining reviews click here.