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Angelini Osteria

Sep04

Location: 7313 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036. (323) 297-0070

Date: July 12, 2019

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: An LA classic

It’s been years, maybe even 10 years, since I was at LA classic Italian Angelini Osteria. Foodie Club member Larry goes all the time so he organized this dinner.

The frontage is located on busy Beverly Blvd in West Hollywood.

The menu.

Erick brought: 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.

Pizza bread.

A kind of free amuse in the form of some kind of grain and veggies.

Salumi Board. Prosciutto di Parma, mortadella, salmi, fresh burrata, mixed baby greens. I wouldn’t really call this a board, as it’s a pile of meat and cheese on a bit of salad — but it was delicious.

From my cellar: 2012 Azienda Agricola Valentini Trebbiano d’Abruzzo. VM 93+. Light orange-yellow. Forward but racy aromas of tangerine, ginger, white flowers, sweet spices and medicinal herbs on the complex nose. Rich and round, but with lovely acid lift and energy to the concentrated flavors of apricot, pear and botanical herbs. Finishes long and pure. Not the most concentrated young Trebbiano d’Abruzzo from Valentini, but has a rich, ripe seamless personality that is hard to resist. Good to go right now but ought to age for 15 years at least. Really lovely wine.

Maryland Soft Shell Crab, rice flour deep fried, arugula, capers, lemon cream sauce.

White Marinated Anchovies, red beets, mixed baby greens, red onions, balsamic. I love white marinated anchovies. I touch odd paired with beets though.

Polipo, Warm Mediterranean Octopus. Arugula, cherry tomatoes.

From my cellar: 2004 Valdicava Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna del Piano. VM 95+. The 2004 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna del Piano is powerful, deeply colored and still carrying a considerable amount of tannic heft for a twelve year old wine. Dark cherry, plum, smoke, tobacco, scorched earth and licorice give the wine much of its distinctive virile personality. The Madonna del Piano is one of the bigger, brawnier 2004s readers will come across. As such, it needs to be served alongside similarly rich, hearty cuisines.

Pizza Margherita, ‘nduja, cherry tomatoes, olives, burrata. Sligtly odd pairing of meaty Margherita with the olives. Maybe I just don’t like black olives on my pizza.

Tagliatelle, duck ragout. Solid duck pasta, much like the classic with pheasant.

Homemade Spaghetti Chitarra alla Norcina, summer black truffles, sausage, parmigiana reggiano. Pasta Norcina is one of my utter favorite pastas, but this didn’t feel like a classic Italian Norcina. Now it was good, and very truffled, but the sausage (and cheese) were a bit subdued.

Veal Shank Agnolotti, parmigiana reggiano sauce. Awesome meat agnolotti. Sumptuous, soft, delicious.

Linguine, Santa Barbara Sea Urchin, garlic, chives. Very solid uni pasta. Not the best I’ve ever had, but very good.

Trish brought: 2004 Gaja Langhe Nebbiolo Sperss. VM 97. The 2004 Sperss is one of the most finessed wines I have tasted from Angelo Gaja’s property in Serralunga. The darkness and gravitas of Serralunga are tempered by the supreme elegance of the year. Dark red and black cherries, smoke, tobacco, menthol and licorice flow through on the deep, resonant finish. This is another powerhouse wine that has been given an extra level of refinement in 2004.

Risotto al Frutti di Mare. Risotto Acquerello, cuttlefish, lobster, calamari, shrimp, mussels, clams. Excellent seafood risotto.

Whole Mediterranean Branzino roasted in sea salt, aromatic herbs, sautéed mixed vegetables.

Comes with these classic vegetables.

They do the filleting fortunately.

The finished plate. Very moist delicate white fish.

Larry 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.

Lamb Chops Scottadito. Grilled Colorado lamb chops, arugula.

Mixed Italian Cheeses.

The dessert menu.

Cassata Italiana. Semifreddo, carmelized hazelnuts, pistachios. Half frozen ice cream with Italian nuts.

Panna Cotta, vaniglia bean, raspberry sauce.

Budino di Cioccolato, vaniglia gelato, chocolate sauce.

Chocolate Peanut Pretzel Gelato — testing a new 80% chocolate fondant base made with Valrhona and Callebaut Chocolates — then layered that with a house made salty peanut pretzel ganache — you can’t see the base, it’s under the 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 #peanut #chocolate #valrhona #Callebaut #ganache #pretzel

Bellini Sorbetto! — French White Peaches and Prosecco — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — I love the Pozzetti (round tubs), but I do need to figure out how to decorate the small batches in an attractive way — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #Bellini #peach #Prosecco

Overall, a very nice meal. Angelini Osteria hasn’t slipped at all and remains a great example of 90s/00s LA Italian. The kitchen is still very on point and the dishes are a mix of old 90s favorites, LA favorites (lots of burrata), and pretty solid contemporary Italian dishes not too different than you might find in Italy. Execution is spot on and service excellent.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Foodie Club, Gelato, Hollywood, Italian cuisine, Osteria Angelini, pasta, Pasta Norcina, Pizza, Risotto, Wine

Kass has Class

Aug12

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

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

Date: June 19, 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).

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

From my cellar: 2006 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon. VM 94+. The 2006 Rosé Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon is powerful, intense and also classically austere in its make up. Crushed flowers, mint, red berries and cranberries are all finely sketched. The 2006 finishes with striking mineral-driven precision, and while it doesn’t have the opulence or exuberance of the 2002, it is still a very pretty and appealing Champagne. The Elisabeth Salmon is 50% Pinot Noir and 50% Chardonnay, with about 8% still Pinot Noir. Dosage is 6 grams per liter.

Erick and I, then Ron, sat outside for a bit drinking our Champagne while we waited for the full crew to assemble.

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.

Grilled Sardines with Eggplant Caviar. Delicious and perfectly cooked sardines. The eggplant beneath had a Lebanese sort of flavor. Delicious!

The next dish makes an arrival.

Egg Caviar. The classic, with scrambled eggs and Kaluga caviar.

Close up. This was a perfect pairing with the 2002 Krug!

Ron brought: 2012 Domaine de la Vougeraie Vougeot 1er Cru Clos Blanc de Vougeot. VM 92. Pears, white flowers and quince meld together in the 2012 Vougeot Le Clos Blanc de Vougeot. This is another rich, inviting white with lovely resonance and an inviting, soft personality beautifully suited to near-term drinking. The oak still needs to become a bit more fused with the wine, but there is a lot to look forward to.

Tuna Sashimi. Arima Sansho Infusion. Crispy Rice. The textural play here was perfect, with the soft tuna and crunchy rice. But the flavors were amazing. There was some olive oil, giving it an Adriatic Italian vibe, and a perfect zing from the Sansho.

From my cellar: 1993 Robert Ampeau & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. 93 points. This has aged well, and I think the second time I have encountered the wine in the last four years, as Howard Cooper also brought it to another holiday dinner a couple of years ago, if I recall correctly. It may not have as much precision as the Ramonet, tasted just before, but I really like how it combines grace and “fat” at the same time. Indeed, the palate is more broad than long, but always pleasing. I am not sure how much longer anyone should hold on to this. It seems fine now and likely just on its plateau.

Housemade Tagliatelle. Lobster Bolognese. Caviar. Another amazing dish. Petite, but the pasta was cooked perfectly and paired fabulously with the rice lobster. Very umami.

Erick brought: 2002 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. JG 100. It is hard to believe that two and a half years have now passed since Champagne Krug unveiled its long-awaited 2002 Vintage Brut. I do not know if there have been different disgorgements of this bottling, but this one is the same as the last bottle that swept me off of my feet back in the spring of last year, having been disgorged in the autumn of 2015. The wine is a blend of forty percent pinot noir, thirty-nine percent chardonnay and twenty-one percent pinot meunier in 2002 and is already one of the legendary vintages of Krug ever produced. The bouquet is deep, pure, ripe and vibrant, wafting from the glass in a marvelous blend of pear, apple, almond, a stunningly beautiful base of soil tones, subtle spice shading, patissière, a touch of citrus blossoms and that signature Krug smokiness in the upper register. On the palate the wine rock solid, mineral-driven and shows off stellar purity, with its full-bodied format seamlessly supported by great structure and grip. The mousse is impeccable, the complexity still youthful and growing with each visit and the finish, long, refined and absolutely perfect. This will last almost forever and I suspect at age fifty-seven, I will never drink it at its absolute zenith of evolutionary perfection. But, I admit very much enjoying my occasional visits as the wine is in climbing mode to that future peak!

Grilled Octopus. Basil mashed potatoes, red pepper coulis. A very nice and tender leg of octo.

Seared Maine Scallop. English peas, salmon roe, beurre blanc sauce. Awesome. Totally brought together by the peas in butter and elevated with the briny bits from the roe.

Ron brought: 1998 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. VM 92. Good medium red. Aromas of red fruit syrup, cola, milk chocolate, humus, graphite and prune. Sweet, lush and rich, with the fruit syrup flavor showing a distinctly roasted quality. Grew fresher and juicier with a bit of aeration and held its shape nicely, but eventually the pruney element became more pronounced. With little in the way of primary fruit remaining, this doesn’t really come alive, in spite of its complexity.

Grilled quail breast. Meaty, almost livery like. Delicious.

Larry brought: 2001 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage. VM 94+. Good bright medium ruby. Subtly complex, granitic nose melds cassis, blueberry, smoky gunflint, pepper, tar, bitter chocolate, roast coffee, leather, game and animal fur. Wonderfully juicy but currently rather folded in on itself. But this has brilliant acidity, precision and penetration on the palate. Almost painfully intense and wonderfully long and gripping on the back. Very firm and structured but not at all dry. This will need a good decade of additional cellaring.

Braised Lamb Shank. Jus. Gnocchi. Super rich and meaty. Absolutely delicious. Needed bread. haha.

Cheese and raison bread. The left one was barely cheese, pretty much fromage blanc. All lovely.

Cherry tart. Perfectly in season and a fabulous cherry flavor.

Poached Rhubarb. Strawberry sorbet. Very nice light dessert. I don’t even normally like rhubarb. Sorbet has that paco jet thing where the structure starts to melt instantly (a gelato maker’s complaint). Tasted great though.

Tarte au Citron. Orange Granite. Crunchy, meets cold, this had amazing textures and bright orange flavors.

Tarte aux Pommes. Vanilla Ice cream. A perfect classic Tarte Tartin. Ice cream again was delicious but instantly starting to lose structure. It’s a pacojet thing, because it wasn’t formulated perse but is just frozen and whipped.

But this is the real thing, even if a bit ugly in this container. My home-made gelato:
Arancia Crema Fiorentina Zabaione — Marsala Orange Vanilla Zabaione base with Orange Variegate — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Very close to the oldest gelato flavor!! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #orange #Zabaione #CremaFiorentina

Salted Caramel Chocolate — House-made salted caramel forms the core of this base which then is layered with house-made Valrhona dark chocolate ganache and Valrhona milk chocolate chips — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — my best salted caramel yet — #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 #Valrhona #ganache

We spent at least 30 minutes talking with Chef Christophe Emé after dinner.

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. Every dish was amazing. 8 out of 8 for the savory and 4 out of 4 for the dessert. Even the cheese course was really nice. Bravo!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Champagne, Christophe Emé, French Cuisine, Gelato, Kass, Krug, La Brea, Los Angeles, Wine

Eating Jerusalem – Pergamon

Jul31

Restaurant: Pergamon

Location: 7 Heleni ha-Malka, Jerusalem 94221, Israel. +972 50-684-3988

Date: June 29, 2019

Cuisine: Israeli

Rating: Very good, particularly for vegetarian

When I made a reservation at Pergamon, which was very well reviewed, I didn’t even realize it was vegetarian. Not a big deal, but it’s not typical for me to hone into the meatless domain — but in Jerusalem with the prevalence of kosher rules this is one way for them to be dairy.

Gratuitous city shot.

Pergamon is located on a pedestrian alley off a busy street.

The menu.

We sat in a cute courtyard in the center of the restaurant.

Like many Israeli places, they have a bar.

We ordered some prosecco.

Dakos. Greek salad with toasted bread and feta cheese.

Beetroot, charred spring onion salsa, manchego cheese & pistachios.

Zucchini salad with arugula, basil, balsamic vinegar, hazelnuts & parmigiano Reggiano.

Polenta chips, tartar sauce. These were really tasty, even if “off diet” (carby).

Fried rice balls in tomato sauce with green beans, spinach & pomegranate molasses.

Grilled courgette with tomato and date salsa, feta cheese, walnuts & smoked tahini. Israeli’s LOVE tahini.

Parisian gnocchi with za’atar butter, charred eggplant, feta cheese & tomato seeds. These were also very good.

Roasted eggplant, tahini, pickles, tomatoes, parsley & a soft-boiled egg. This basic dish — i.e. roasted eggplant with tahini — is super popular in Israel.

Kanafeh, which is cheese and “noodles” with syrup or honey. Delicious stuff when done well, like this one.

Overall, Pergamon was quite lovely. The courtyard was cute and the food was very tasty — particularly considering that it was all vegetarian!

Click here to see more Eating Israel posts.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Eating Israel, Eating Jerusalem, Israeli Cuisine, Jerusalem, Pergamon, vegetarian, Wine

Không Tên – Brunch

Jul29

Restaurant: Không Tên LA [1, 2]

Location: 11520 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064. (424) 832-7000

Date: June 16, 2019

Cuisine: Vietnamese Fusion

Rating: Really tasty, great place

For father’s day brunch I and the family venture back to my friend Kim Vu’s Vietnamese Fusion place, Không Tên.

Coincidently too, my old kitchen lead from RnR, who I’m also still friendly with, sometimes moonlights here.

The location is on a busy stretch of Pico just west of the 405, close to Sawtelle.

The brunch menu.

From my cellar: 2014 Christophe et Fils Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. 92 point. Stone fruit, pear, lemon, saline. Palate is mid-width, fresh and reasonably long.

Thao Farm Bok Choy Salad. Terry Farm Asian Pear, Weiser Farm Rainbow Carrot, Toasted Almonds, Watermelon Radish, Coriander Lemon Vinaigrette. Good salad with nice texture variations.

Tamai Farm Swiss Chard Hash. Shitake Mushroom, Weiser Farm Root Vegetables.

Crab Benedict. Sauteed Thao Farm Greens and scallions & dill. “Mother” Hollandaise. This was a wicked good “benedict”. The combo of creamy crab, veggies, a bit of bread, and a lovely blend of lemongrass and other Vietnamese flavors was awesome.

From my cellar: 2017 Ameztoi Getariako Txakolina Hijo de Rubentis. 90 points. pale color, a little spritz at the outset, fresh, dry, excellent with summer.

Steak and Eggs. Caramelized Sirloin Steak, watercress, roasted tutti frutti tomato, red onion, sesame, 2 sunny side up eggs.

Simple French Toast.

K10 Chicken & Waffles. Thao Farm Sweet Potato Spider Waffle, saigon cinnamon, organic chicken, 5 spice palm sugar syrup, house hot sauce. Also really great. The chicken itself was like chicken snitzel but the mixture of crunchy textures was great and taken up by the sweet and savory thing, the herbs, and the hot sauce.

Some Gelato I made (and brought):

Overall, Không Tên is a hidden little gem. The food is very very good and quite interesting. It’s far more “American with Vietnamese flavors” then a more Vietnamese Fusion place like Little Sister. Quite creative. Also every dish is delicious. It might be a touch understated though, as it’s not super flashy in tonal style. And it’s a nice little space and reasonable too boot. If you’re on the Westside and like this sort of food at all, you should definitely give it a try! I believe at current it’s open only at dinner, which is even more delicious.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Brunch, BYOG, Gelato, Vietnamese cuisine, Vietnamese Fusion, Wine

Bistro Na Birthday

Jul22

Restaurant: Bistro Na’s [1, 2]

Location: 9055 E Las Tunas Dr #105, Temple City, CA 91780. (626) 286-1999

Date: June 15, 2019

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Upscale Chinese, solid kitchen

Chinese Restaurants in the SGV are slowly going more upscale in a way that’s different than the Cantonese palaces of Monterey Park of yesterday. In any case, I wanted an interesting place for my now 3rd annual SGV birthday dinner and so I’d thought I’d return (for a third time) to Na’s.

And one of the latest is Bistro Na’s located on Las Tunas near this cool:

Teapot fountain!

The interior is very elegant Chinese, almost traditional but in a new way typical in China today. Ornate wood carvings, lanterns and antique music instruments abound. Technically it bills itself as “Imperial Cuisine”. Maybe there is some of that, but it’s also a bit of Chinese greatest hits. Still, it’s a different cuisine than nearly every other place in the SGV with more ornate plating.

The menu is a hardcover thick paged photo tome!

Tonight, finally, after have been “denied” twice I got one of the 5 private rooms. They seat about 12, but we squeezed in 13. There is one larger one that seats 14-16.

Tonight I tried out ordering this preset banquet menu. It’s a “package” and I ordered it for 10 as we had a couple kids. We added a couple dishes to it. I’m not sure the menu is actually not more expensive than getting all this from the menu manually. I’m way too lazy to add it up. But more than half the cost is in the king crab. This isn’t a discount king crab place.

From my cellar: NV Drappier Champagne Rosé Brut Nature Dosage Zero. VM 90. Pale orange. Mineral-accented red berries and citrus fruits on the nose, complemented by hints of candied rose and white pepper. Stony and precise, offering lively strawberry and orange zest flavors that expand slowly with air. Closes spicy, stony and tight, with very good clarity and floral persistence.

Okra in Seasoned Dressing. These are cold appetizers. I like okra, weird hairy texture and all. This had a nice vinegar tang.

Chef Su’s Pork Feet Jelly. Yes, a vinegary jelly of pig’s feet. Actually very tasty. Nice firm jelly texture and vinegar tang. Like a pig feet jello!

Na’s Drunken Chicken. Pretty much Hainan chicken as far as I could tell, but somehow different. Most people loved this dish. It was fine, but to my taste not a ton of flavor.

Plain noodles for the boy.

Sebastian brought: NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 167eme. 93 points. Bright clean and wound up. Nice minerality and cut with good volume. Serious breed in a lighter package for this edition.

Fingus mixed with Bitter gourd. Interesting textures and VERY bitter “gourd” (the green stuff). Back at MIT in the early 90s, taking new students out to Chinese and making them try “bitter melon” was a hazing ritual!

Truffle Mushrooms. Mushrooms with truffle oil and salt basically. I think I might have preferred them without the truffle oil.

We asked for mustard, instead of Chinese mustard, somehow they had deli mustard!

Smoked Pork Rib. Really yummy pork nibblets!

From my cellar: 2011 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Saint-Aubin 1er Cru En Remilly Cuvée Nicholas et Mathis. 92 points. Pale gold with citrine highlights. Pungent nose of extremely overripe stonefruit with an underlying citrus/mineral aroma. Tart citrus zest, dark wildflower honey, wax & crushed shell. Well rounded and versatile.

Stands for the about to arrive Emperor and Empress jars!

Emperor’s Jar soup. We ordered this off the menu. Inside is Beef Tendon, Mushroom, Fish Maw, Quail Egg, Sea Cucumber. The broth is a very thick chicken stock. Very very smooth. Lots of collagen.

This is empress jar soup. It includes Beef Tendon, Mushroom, Fish Maw, Quail Egg, Sea Cucumber, Forest Frog. Better for Yin than Yang! Women are supposed to eat this one and men the one above. I actually really enjoyed the silky texture and subtle flavors.

They also gave you a bit of these (Pickled Chili Peppers, Cilantro, Fermented Tofu). The pickle is kinda like a pickled pepper one might find in a good hoagie!

Ginseng Chicken Stew. Ginseng, Beef Tendon, Chicken. Very pleasant. Simultaneously, mild and intense, if that’s possible.

Scallion pancakes ordered off the menu for the kids.

Yarom brought: 2009 Domaine Huet Vouvray Franc de Pied Le Haut-Lieu. JG 94. The 2009 Vouvray “Le Haut Lieu” Franc de Pied bottling from Domaine Huët is the current release from this small plot of ungrafted vines. The wine does not have a sweetness designation on the label, but it shows just a touch of sweetness and probably would be classified as a light Demi-Sec if there were one on the label. The nose is still fairly youthful, with a sense of reserve that nine year-old Vouvray will often show, offering up a refined bouquet of quince, lemon, chalky soil tones, beeswax, lanolin and lovely, delicate white floral tones in the upper register. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and light on its feet, with lovely intensity of flavor, excellent focus and grip, bright, seamless acids and simply superb length and grip on the adolescently complex finish. There is certainly a difference between the French roots here and the Le Haut Lieu made with vines grafted onto American rootstocks, as this wine delivers a more elegant profile on both the nose and palate. This is a stunning young bottle of Le Haut Lieu, which is approachable at age nine, but still really in its infancy and will not reach its plateau for another seven to ten years and should drink magically for the next fifty years. A beautiful wine.

The giant king crab for our special menu.

Yarom and my brother posing with the crab.

King Crab Legs, steamed with Chinese (rice) wine. Very tender and sweet.

King Crab Fried with golden egg yolk and baked pumpkin. The salty rich coating. Not my favorite shellfish prep, but one the Chinese love for its richness.

King Crab steamed egg in crab shell. A very light fluffy savory custard I term “Crab Brulee.” Not much actual crab meat in this part.

Go crab!

Scallop with fried corn. Similar sticky salty egg yolk. Both were delicious. Cohesive grainy texture.

Dry Braised Black Cod with Chili Sauce. I loved the crunchy ginger bits in the sauce.

From my cellar: 2008 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Monthélie 1er Cru Les Duresses. VM 88. The 2008 Monthélie Les Duresses is a beguiling, inviting wine laced with dark red fruit. This beautifully balanced, vibrant red carries through nicely to the finish.

Diced Black Pepper Honey Angus Beef. Super tender and soft. Great Chinese beef.

Ordered off the menu: Spinach with Sesame. Coated in a miso like sauce, very interesting. Not typical at all to have greens “coated” like this. Lent a sweet taste and a distinct texture with the sesame seed coating.

Na’s Secret Tofu. Very interesting texture. I liked it. Sort of soft in the center with that semi-dry fry aspect as well, a stretchy give to the coating. Mild salty flavor.

Squid and Shrimp Fried Rice. Delicious Umami salty fried rice. Amazing with the sauce from the fish (above).

Ordered off the menu: Pea Tendrils with garlic. Nice colon sweeper.

Na’s Beef Prime Rib. Bone-in. Very tasty, soft, cooked all the way through and tons of beefy flavor. Extremely soft from the long cooking and fairly high fat content.

From my cellar: 2014 Domaine Dujac Morey St. Denis 1er Cru Les Chaffots. 92 points. Delicious berry juice.

Sweet and Sour Cabbage. Ordered off the menu. Sebastian was jonesing for more veggies and ordered not one but two of these. They were good but his eyes were bigger than his stomach and we didn’t even finish one.

Stir Fried Bok Choy with Mushroom. Light but pleasant.

Crispy Shrimp. This was our favorite dish so far. The shrimp were bursting out of their shells a bit like molting cicadas! Shells are cooked at a high enough temperature that much of the chiton denatures into sugars and they can be eaten.

It should be noted that this was substituted in on the menu for the Na’s Braised Pork Belly because somehow, despite the fact that we had a set banquet menu, they ran out!

Na’s Assorted Eight. Assorted traditional Chinese desserts. Weird, gooey, slightly sweet, and mostly filled with bean paste. They looked fabulous, but aren’t actually that tasty. Textures are nice though.

I brought some gelato as usual.

Crema Fiorentina Zabaione — Marsala Orange Vanilla Zabaione base with Blackberry Mango Coulis — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Very close to the oldest gelato flavor!! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #orange #Zabaione #CremaFiorentina

Fruit Plate.

Sebastian brought: 2006 Château Léoville Poyferré. VM 91. Full ruby-red. Ripe aromas of currant, milk chocolate and smoky oak. Lush, sweet and full, with superripe yet backward flavors of dark berries, dark chocolate and minerals. Wonderfully layered, structured wine whose excellent vinosity and firm tannins call for several years of patience.

Overall, a nice place. The allowed corkage and service was very pleasant — we had a dedicated server in the private room but he must have been handling a couple of them because he was pretty harried. He tried really hard though. They have some weird policies. There was a $100 deposit for the room, which is fine, but they put it on a gift card and you are supposed to use it at the time. Our server forgot (and so did I) so he paypaled me back the $100. Weird but nice.

They brought us wine glasses (not great ones, but they have them). We handled the wine service. There was a good amount of plate changing. Took a while to get going even though we had the pre-ordered menu. They seat all the private rooms in two seatings at 5pm and 7:30pm so all 5 of them were sitting at once. That doesn’t make it easy on the server. All in all it’s excellent service for SGV Chinese, SO much better than we had the week before at Happy Table. But still a bit confused.

Food is interesting. Beautiful plating. Not the most flavor forward of the Chinese cuisines. Pretty good, but also expensive in a relative fashion. Ended up $145 a person all in with a good tip. Now we had Emperor’s jar and King Crab, but if you go to a Top Island or the like you can get that much cheaper too. Still a novel and fun experience. Gorgeous room.

While a bit pricey for the SGV, the atmosphere is lovely and the plating much more elegant. Some dishes were excellent and some just pretty good. I’m not really sure what regionality of Chinese it is. Sort of Beijing/Shanghai maybe? They say “Imperial.” It does feel very contemporary Chinese and is certainly not aimed at white folk.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: birthday, Bistro Na's, BYOG, Chinese cuisine, Emperor's Jar, Gelato, Imperial Cuisine, pork, SGV, Wine

Happy Table 2X

Jul15

Restaurant: Happy Table [1, 2]

Location: 203 West Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA. (626) 872-6677

Date: June 8, 2019

Cuisine: Northern Chinese

Rating: Solid

Four years ago I last went to Happy Table, where it had replaced New Bay and before it Sham Tsem. Usually I would merge the meals but this was significantly different, and a peculiar service experience, so I’m writing it up as its own meal.

Front looks the same, minus the new sign.

We had half the big private room, which was fine given our 13 — which somehow managed to fit at the table!

From my cellar: NV Drappier Champagne Rosé Brut Nature Dosage Zero. VM 90. Pale orange. Mineral-accented red berries and citrus fruits on the nose, complemented by hints of candied rose and white pepper. Stony and precise, offering lively strawberry and orange zest flavors that expand slowly with air. Closes spicy, stony and tight, with very good clarity and floral persistence.

Jellyfish heads and cucumber (marinated). Delicious. Nice bit to the jellyfish, great crunch to the cucumber, good vinegar flavor.

Peppers stuffed with pork. Pretty nice too.

Bean curd salad with cucumber. Refreshing.

From my cellar: 2011 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Saint-Aubin 1er Cru En Remilly Cuvée Nicholas et Mathis. 93 points. Pale gold with citrine highlights. Pungent nose of extremely overripe stonefruit with an underlying citrus/mineral aroma. Tart citrus zest, dark wildflower honey, wax & crushed shell. Well rounded and versatile.

Live crab.

Live crab (now dead) with garlic. A slightly dry prep.

Shrimp with garlic and glass noodles. Nice.

Tea smoked goose. A touch dry, but meaty. A cold cut.

Pork with sea cucumber. Great dish. Both pork and sea cucumber was very good, but not as good as the sea cucumber the other night at Shanghai #1 Seafood.

Crispy beef. I’ve always liked this dish. We ordered 2.

BBQ lamb chops. This was their signature dish and it was fabulous. Juicy, tons of cumin flavor. Sizzling. 4 sauces. We ordered a second. Really great.

Roast duck. Kinda like the goose, but duck and less dry.

Cumin lamb. Given how great the BBQ lamb was, this dish sucked. Off flavors and salty.

Fish boiled in chili sauce. Classic Szechuan dish. Not much mala. Fish itself was good. And it was decently hot. But it didn’t have that hot numbing flavor that it should.

Spicy Chicken (or was it rabbit?). Pretty good.

Pork belly with preserved vegetables. Hunan dish. Actually quite delicious, if a touch salty.

Mapo tofu. Not bad, but not really Szechuan at all. No mala.

Pork meat balls. Polarizing, but I loved them.

Chicken cartilage skewers. Pretty good, but some complained of no meat. lol noobs.

Lamb skewers. Great. Much like the BBQ lamb.

Beef skewers. Tougher. Fine, but not awesome like the lamb.

Maybe this was the rabbit. Can’t remember.

3 flavor dumplings. Very nice boiled dumplings.

Eggs with pork and preserved vegetables. There is a first time for everything. I took a bite and it was so distgusting, so salty, that I spit it out. Foul. Nasty. Never had a dish this bad in the SGV.

Blackberry Mango Amaro Sorbetto! — like a frozen aperitivo — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — although I do need to improve at decorating in the Pozzetti –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #mango #blackberry #amaro

Chess Chocolate Oreo Gelato — Valrhona medium chocolate base with layers of Valrhona Ivoire white chocolate ganache and crumbled Oreos — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #cheesecake #chocolate #valrhona #WhiteChocolate #oreo #chess

Peanut Chocolate Caramel Ganache Reese’s Gelato -Sweet Peanut Base with house-made Valrhona Chocolate Caramel Ganache and mini Reese’s Peanutbutter Cups! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — the ganache is delicious but the 80% Valrhona I used swamps out the caramel — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #peanut #reeses #peanutbuttercup #ganache #Valrhona

Overall Happy Table’s food was a touch weird. I’m not even sure what region it really is, but the Northern and Szechuan dishes were pretty good (although I’ve had better). The Seafood and more Cantonese dishes were so-so. I guess it’s a north west (Chinese) restaurant. Some dishes were great, like the lamb chops and some loathsome like the egg with salty vegetables. Many in the middle.

Service was just laughable. I’ve been to the SGV hundreds of times and China several times and am very used to Chinese service standards. This was among the worst I’ve ever had. There was only one guy who spoke English, and all the others left us to him. He was nice, but so over worked we had to keep hunting him down. He pretty much avoided taking our order for 30 minutes straight. They brought the food to the table fast enough (on ordering) but there was basically no bussing. We kept moving empty plates ourselves out onto another table. I was raiding the main floor of the resteraunt for napkins, chopsticks, glasses, whatever. It was hilarious.

But the whole meal, with a big tip was $36 a person. Get a load of that!

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Chinese cuisine, Gelato, Happy Table, Private Room, SGV, Wine

Chateau Hanare — Death Free

Jul12

Restaurant: Chateau Hanare

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

Date: June 4, 2019

Cuisine: Japanese

Rating: Interesting, tres LA

I hadn’t even heard of Chateau Hanare until the day I went with the Foodie Club (regular member Larry arranged).

It’s “in collaboration with The Chateau Marmont Hotel & Bungalows” and located adjacent to the famed Chateau Marmont (final dying place of John Belushi & Chris Farley). It’s “fancy” Hollywood Japanese.

They have a a gorgeous outside patio — really lovely.

We setup shop in a corner table.

The inside is huge too, several decked out rooms like this — expensive build out.

Menu.

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

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

You can see it hiding in the fog.

Then the theatrics begin.

Poof!

Blow this one off.

A nice piece of toast, but I found the smoke taste a bit distracting.

House Made Tofu, 8:30pm edition, freshly scooped tofu served warm with wari-joyu.

Spoons for the tofu.

Freshly scooped tofu served warm with wari-joyu. Super delicate and delicious. Like tofu creme fraiche or something.

2011 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Butteaux. VM 93. The 2011 Chablis Butteaux is subtle, gracious and utterly impeccable in its elegance. All the elements are simply in the right place. Articulate, energetic and nuanced, the 2011 captures all the qualities of this 1er Cru site, in miniature. This is another of the more approachable 2011s from Raveneau.

agavin: hehe, Beavis. I said butteaux!

White Asparagus. Chilled white asparagus in sakura dashi. In season, but I didn’t love this take. Medicinal tasting.

Uni Ice Cream. Savory housemade uni ice cream with fresh santa barbara uni. As a gelato maker I had to order this. It’s made in the paco jet, which is really the only way to make fully savory ice creams like this. Like cold ice cream textured uni. Interesting and pretty good.

From my cellar: 2006 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Charmes. VM 93-95. Rich aromas of wet stone, minerals, vanilla and hazelnut. Large-scaled but tight, with this wine’s typical firm acidity leavening its textural richness. This expands in the mouth like a top bottling of Perrieres. Perhaps less refined than the Genevrieres but bigger and more powerful wine. The mounting, expanding finish is almost painful.

agavin: this bottle was sadly a touch advanced.

Kobachi. shiro ninjin puree topped with ikura, kinoko yakibitashi, uni and white asparagus, bluefin tuna caviar toast

uni and white asparagus.

kinoko yakibitashi.

bluefin tuna caviar toast.

shiro ninjin puree topped with ikura.

Kim brought this sake.

Madai Yuan Yaki Wanmori. marinated grilled sea bream with seasonal vegetables in a yuzu ankake broth.

2016 Azienda Agricola Valentini Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo. 94 points. right pink-red. Aromas of sour red cherry, raspberry, sage, rosemary and minerals on the enticing nose. Then multilayered, deep and complex, with mouthcoating but vibrant flavors of small red berries, herbs and minerals. Finishes very long and suave with hints of orange zest and underbrush. Extremely serious, ageworthy Rosato, a real Cerausolo.

Lobster Shabu Shabu. Maine lobster hot pot with a side of ponzu.

The broth itself was insane, particularly with the ponzu and after cooking the lobster and veggies.

1988 Joseph Drouhin Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru. 90 points. Surprisingly youthful and dense bouquet of dark red and blue berry fruit. Quite floral with Chambolle perfume and some musty character. Each was a 2014 Drouhin Library Release. The ’88 was the best wine of the flight with the most leathery and earthy nuance to the darker perfumed fruit. A nice soily texture on the palate too. Imagine this is about peak maturity.

Wagyu. Miyazaki A5 wagyu topped with summer truffles, plum asazuke, dashes of wagarashi ponzu and rokuzuke salt.

Special fried rice.

Bowled.

Temari Sushi. assortment of Kyoto style sushi seasoned with truffle soy. This was the only dish I didn’t enjoy. The round shape was interesting, but the rich had no vinegar taste and the truffle distracted. Very dull.

Dessert. Strawberry Gazpacho with Basil Sorbet Straberry gazpacho, katafi, creme fraiche, anko, anko tuile. Awesome, actually.

Mangoberry Cheesecake Gelato — raspberry/mango cream-cheese base with blackberry/mango ripple and house-made graham cracker crumble — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #cheesecake #mango #raspberry #blackberry #GrahamCracker #coulis #ripple #creamcheese

Blackberry Mango Amaro Sorbetto! — like a frozen aperitivo — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — although I do need to improve at decorating in the Pozzetti –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #mango #blackberry #amaro

Peanut Chocolate Caramel Ganache Reese’s Gelato -Sweet Peanut Base with house-made Valrhona Chocolate Caramel Ganache and mini Reese’s Peanutbutter Cups! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — the ganache is delicious but the 80% Valrhona I used swamps out the caramel — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #peanut #reeses #peanutbuttercup #ganache #Valrhona

Together in the bowl.

Larry and Kim, al fresco.

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

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

Wines were mostly great too — awesome night.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Chateau Hanare, Foodie Club, Gelato, Japanese cuisine, Sushi, Uni, Wine

SGV Style – Deferred Maintenance

Jul08

Restaurant: Shanghai #1 Seafood Village [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 250 W Valley Blvd. San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 282-1777

Date: June 2, 2019

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Very authentic Shanghai style

The San Gabriel Valley is a veritable treasure trove of Asian dining, particularly regional Chinese. Shanghai #1 Seafood Village is the LA branch of a high end Shanghai chain specializing in banquet dining.

The decor is Stark meets Chinatown. Interestingly, as cheesy as it is, it’s fairly authentic. It is however, some 7 years after I first went here, looking a bit “shabby.” This is typical of Chinese establishments as they don’t seem to do a lot of maintenance.

We had the private dining room tonight. Mysteriously, even though it was a Sunday night and the place was EMPTY, at first they gave us a table in the main area. We had to ask for the private room. It’s much better though.

Tonight we had a slightly more wine focused group — non of the non-drinking riff-raff — and an attempt to get some interesting menu items to go with it.

The menu is like a giant full color fashion catalog for food, but I thought I’d show a couple pages by way of example.

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.

Marinated sweet turnip. Delicious and crunchy.

Shanghai style smoked fish. Dry and smokey with a sweet soy glaze.

2009 Dom Pérignon Champagne. VM 94+. The 2009 Dom Pérignon is open, seductive and radiant, as it has always been. Soft curves, mid-weight structure and tons of plain allure make the 2009 impossible to resist in its youth. This bottle, the best I have tasted so far, offers a distinc citrus and floral-driven profile that adds a good deal of brightness. Above all else, the 2009 is a gorgeous Champagne to drink now and over then next few decades. This is the first time in the house’s history that a vintage was not released sequentially.

Vegan tofu “duck”. Not exactly duck like, but a delicious beancurd with a nice firm texture.

Bamboo shoots. Delicious and crunchy. Delicate flavors.

Lotus root stuffed with sweet rice in a tea marinate. Very interesting texture and a lovely tea flavor. But a bit cloyingly sweet this time around.

2010 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. VM 95+. The 2010 Chablis Les Clos is all about understatement and balance. White floral notes meld into white stone fruit in this utterly gracious Chablis. Clos can at times be fleeting and elusive, and there is certainly some of that in the 2010. Still, it is impossible to miss the wine’s textural finesse and sheer overall balance. I will not be surprised if the 2010 continues to get better in bottle.

agavin: singing!

Braised sea cucumber with brown sauce. Ever since I had good sea cucumber in Shanghai, I’ve been jonesing for it — and this was certainly delicious. Maybe not AS good as the one at Shanghai Tang, but still yummy.

Hot and sour seafood soup. I thought this would be more different. It was pretty much hot and sour soup (maybe with a bit of crab or something in it). Still tasty though and I do love hot and sour.

1996 Nicolas Joly Clos de la Coulée de Serrant. 92 points. A deep yellow/light gold center and clear rims. The medium+ intensity nose offered up ripe pear, tangerine, hazel nut, and some minerals. In the mouth, this wine had a lovely jelly-like texture. It was a bit heavy on the wood at first but this mostly blended in with time. It had good acidity and very good length after extended air. This developed extremely well. I know that this bottle got several hours of air before we started drinking it an it needed a couple more to show its best.

Lobster steamed with onion, garlic, and ginger. Very nice, light, delicious lobster prep that showed off the lobster without hiding it under a layer of fry.

Cabbage. I love Chinese cabbage.

House Special Stone Pot Fried Rice.

2013 Domaine Dujac Morey St. Denis. VM 90. Pale, bright red. Inviting perfume of raspberry, mocha, coffee, brown spices and wild herbs. Sweet and supple but vibrant too, with harmonious acidity framing the flavors of raspberry, pepper and fresh herbs. Finishes with nicely refined tannins.

Assorted Seafood in Abalone Sauce. There were whole abalone in here, jellyfish, more sea cucumber, a brown thing I have NO IDEA but with a beef-like texture (it was delicious), and quail or duck eggs. Interesting dish. Very Chinese (full of luxury ingredients). Not as good as the standalone sea cucumber, but still great.

2011 David Duband Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Aux Thorey. VM 90-92. Dark red/black stone fruits, wild flowers, sage, tar, rosemary and leather are some of the many notes that flesh out in the 2011 Nuits St. Georges Aux Thorey. The 2011 is soft and sensual to the core, with a caressing, expressive personality that offers considerable appeal, even at this early stage. There is much to like here.

Shanghai style sweet and sour fried fish (squirrel fish). This was one of those goopy straight up orange sweet and sour sauces, but it was awesome. Particularly dripped over rice. And the method of flaying the meat out and frying it created a much crisper effect, even if the appearance is a bit horror movie.

2003 Marc Sorrel Hermitage. VM 90-93. Good full ruby. Aromas of blackberry, cassis, menthol and bitter chocolate. Extremely ripe and impressively dense (the alcohol is 15. 2%), with port-like flavors of black fruits and dark chocolate. Very rich but just this side of heavy. Finishes with powerful but fine tannins. Impressive for this classique bottling. This will be approachable early but has the stuffing to age.

Special Shanghai BBQ red pork. Oh so fatty and oh so tasty!

Shanghai Whole Duck. Not what I expected, and kinda crispy and deep fried, but with a delicious smokey taste and very tender.

2016 Domaine Lucien Boillot et Fils Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Les Corbeaux.

XLB (soup dumplings). Nice versions, always delicious!

Pan fried Shanghai Style pork dumplings. Have to order these here, the juicy meat inside is amazing.

String beans with XO sauce. Nice version of the classic.

Peanut Chocolate Caramel Ganache Reese’s Gelato -Sweet Peanut Base with house-made Valrhona Chocolate Caramel Ganache and mini Reese’s Peanutbutter Cups! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — the ganache is delicious but the 80% Valrhona I used swamps out the caramel — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #peanut #reeses #peanutbuttercup #ganache #Valrhona

Mangoberry Cheesecake Gelato — raspberry/mango cream-cheese base with blackberry/mango ripple and house-made graham cracker crumble — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #cheesecake #mango #raspberry #blackberry #GrahamCracker #coulis #ripple #creamcheese

Overall, this was a really great meal. First rate Chinese and quite authentic and typical of high end banquet meals in China. I’ve been here many times and finally enjoyed getting some “tricked out” dishes like sea cucumber. They were great. Service was good. The place is QUIET these days. Maybe they subsist on dimsum, but it’s a shame as this Shanghai banquet food is delicious.

I flighted the food into waves and it was quiet successful in terms of pacing and size. We also had only 8-9 people which is perfect for both table spacing and dish sharing.

For more LA Chinese reviews click here.

They have a Karaoke setup in the private room!

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Chinese cuisine, Gelato, pork, SGV, Shanghai #1 Seafood Village, Wine, XLB

Awesome Auburn

Jul03

Restaurant: Auburn

Location: 6703 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038. (323) 486-6703

Date: May 29, 2019

Cuisine: Modern California

Rating: Really good fine dining

Auburn is a much anticipated recent opening in LA’s often bankrupt fine dining space.

It occupies the space formerly belonging to the legendary Citrus, then Alex, then Hatfields (all of which I enjoyed).

They’ve partially roofed over, divided and modernized the space, removing the 80s-90s LA garden feel (which I kind of liked, but it’s certainly still very attractive).

The kitchen is large, open, and bustling!

Chef Eric Bost’s (République, Guy Savoy, Alain Ducasse) debut restaurant auburn juxtaposes the higher echelon of traditional fine dining with an emphasis on guest exploration and conviviality while paying homage to Los Angeles’ uninhibited culinary identity in a space designed with honest materials by local makers.

Chef Eric Bost grew up in North Carolina, running around his grandparents’ restaurants at an early age. Upon graduation from business school, he enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America. After an externship at Le Cirque in NYC, Bost traveled across Europe, where he met his future wife, Elodie, and made Paris his home. During their time in France, Bost worked his way through some of the world’s best restaurants, including Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée and Les Ambassadeurs at the Hôtel de Crillon. His experience led him to be chosen by Guy Savoy for his opening team in Las Vegas in 2006. Two years later, the restaurant received 2 Michelin Stars with Bost as Chef de Cuisine. Within months, he was appointed Executive Chef and maintained their prestigious rating, garnering numerous accolades along the way. With the opening of Guy Savoy Singapore in 2010, Bost established a restaurant consistently voted amongst the best in the country. Most recently, Bost was the Executive Chef at Los Angeles’ beloved République. Now, after nearly a decade at the helm of revered restaurants, Bost ventures on his own with auburn.

Our table, right by the kitchen.

The big menu — but that wasn’t big enough for us.

So we asked for (and got) EVERYTHING!

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

Erick brought: 1996 Ruinart Champagne Dom Ruinart Brut Rosé. VM 95. A head-turning beauty, the 1996 Dom Ruinart Rosé boasts gorgeous, resonant fruit to match its considerable structure and intensity. Although quite pretty and expressive, the 1996 has enough balance to develop gracefully in bottle for years to come.

Amuse of fried pork skins.

Amuse of pea tartlets (on dry black rice).

Amuse of iberico pork.

Really nice bread with:

Something (maybe basil) butter.

HIRAMASA CRUDO. green strawberries, citrus fern, celery. Really bright and zesty.

Walker brought: 2016 Caroline Morey Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Caillerets. VM 93. Pale, bright straw-yellow. Musky, slightly reduced aromas of yellow peach, ripe pear, flinty minerality and smoky oak. Rather broad and glyceral on entry, then rich but lively in the middle palate, with pear, lime and wet stone flavors framed by harmonious acidity. The slowly building, tactile, classically dry finish dusts the palate and lingers impressively. Lovely concentration and savory minerality here.

2008 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne. BH 96. This is a classic example of Corton-Charlemagne with its impressively layered floral, green fruit, lime and stone-infused nose that precedes citrusy, precise and powerful mineral-driven flavors that possess real muscle on the almost painfully intense and steely finish that delivers striking length. While it’s not quite as great as the Montrachet, it easily holds its own. A wine to own but note that only the patient will ever see it at its best as this is likely to evolve glacially.

Matthew brought: 2008 Domaine Roulot Meursault Les Meix Chavaux. BH 89. The first bottle displayed a distinct lactic note but a second bottle was extremely fresh with a hint of the exotic on the nose of citrus, stone and floral elements that complement well the minerally, supple and nicely textured flavors that possess good mid-palate flesh, all wrapped in a racy and well-delineated finish.

SANTA BARBARA BOX CRAB. tomato seeds & gelee, mashua leaf, seaweed-lemon granite. Awesome dish. It’s ice cold with very interesting texture and a bright flavor. Lovely.

HALIBUT. ramps, sunflower, green blueberries, artichoke, pistachio.

With the sauce.

WHITE ASPARAGUS. porcini mushrooms, trotters, spruce. Lovely.

MOREL MUSHROOMS. Kusshi oysters. new crop potatoes.

CABBAGE. charred leeks, onion essence, alpine cheese. Really lovely for a vegetable!

From my cellar: 1996 Alain Hudelot-Noellat Clos Vougeot. JG 93+. I am a very big fan of the Clos Vougeot at Domaine Hudelot-Noëllat, which I find consistently to be one of the best examples in the Côte d’Or. The 1996 is a lovely example of the vintage that hails from the plus and buffered camp, with a lovely core of pure fruit fully carrying the structure of the vintage. The bouquet is deep, complex and quite sappy in its blend of plums, black cherries, woodsmoke, a touch of venison, coffee, a great base of soil and a stylish framing of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and impressively pure on the attack, with a fine core, ripe tannins and a long, focused and tangy finish. This is certainly approachable today, but in terms of complexity, it is still a tad on the primary side and a few more years of bottle age should be rewarded with even greater aromatic and flavor complexity. A lovely 1996.

Walker brought: 1966 Château Belgrave. 86 points. Tannins were high, lots of life still in the taste. Decanted well – not much sediment. A little harsh at first, but after taking a bit of dark chocolate (Brix) WOW what a difference. Smoothed out nicely and had a very good flavor. Earthy in bouqet and slight taste. Very nice experience overall.

SONOMA DUCK. cherries, mustard greens, amaranth, black garlic. Nice. Duck was hiding.

30 DAY DRY-AGED RIB EYE. smoked beets, vidalia onions, orach, oxtail broth. Great beef.

Roasted tea.

EPOISSE. sunchoke, seeds & flowers. The cheese comes later!

Here it is, all molten.

Then on top. Delicious.

YOGURT. Mushroom caramel. Nice dessert.

STRAWBERRY & MILK. Fermented plum. Absolutely stunning strawberries and cream dessert.

ROSE. Buckwheat honey. Interesting.

Finish of dried leaf.

Finish of strawberries and other dried sweet stuff.

Folk looking a bit satiated. This was a long dinner. It started at 8:00 and took a while to get going. I wasn’t in bed until close to 2am. Sigh.

Overall, food was fabulous Audacious for LA fine dining, very California in style, but with nearly every dish working out. Lots of dishes. Even the vegetables — especially the vegetables — were great. Bravo on the food. Hope the dishes change frequently.

Our wines were pretty much great.

The chef, his wife, and the whole crew were super friendly. The wine director was off tonight though, and although super accommodating with the wine, the remaining crew was overwhelmed by our style of dinner. They took way too long to get bottles open. Way too long to get them poured etc. The dinner was so long it worked out, but there were long stretches where a bunch of us had all empty glasses. That shouldn’t be at serious fine dining. Really, it’s best for groups like us to leave the opening and pouring to us — just bring us the glasses — but we had the vague feeling that would be stepping on their territory and the bottles weren’t on the table. So we waited.

But awesome evening — if long (it started so late).

For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.

Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.

By: agavin
Comments (2)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Auburn, California Cuisine, Eric Bost, Foodie Club, New American, Wine

Carmel Birthday!

Jun28

One of my best friends rented out a house in Carmel Valley California for his 40th birthday party and a bunch of us all drove up/down there.

We “suffered” this terrible view from the balcony of our rental getaway!

But this is the chronicle of the main birthday dinner as cooked by private chef Arielle Mckee (above).

Her loyal assistant, Bailey working the early 90s kitchen.

And so the meal begins:

Cocktail. French 75, Meyer lemon, gin, rose petal, keto simple syrup.

From my cellar: 2011 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Saint-Aubin 1er Cru En Remilly Cuvée Nicholas et Mathis. Drinking awesome. 93 points. ale gold with citrine highlights. Pungent nose of extremely overripe stonefruit with an underlying citrus/mineral aroma. Tart citrus zest, dark wildflower honey, wax & crushed shell. Well rounded and versatile.

Amuse of watermelon and pistachio coated goat cheese. The ball is a lot like an ancient Roman snack.

Amuse of fresh cheese stuffed strawberries with honey. Delicious!

From my cellar: 2009 La Pousse d’Or Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Le Cailleret. BH 92. A deft touch of wood frames lemon and moderately exotic fruit aromas that include peach, mango and pear. There is excellent richness to the full-bodied, dense and mineral-inflected flavors that culminate in a naturally sweet, sappy and generous finish. This delicious effort is blessed with plenty of dry extract and while not classic in character, it’s really quite attractive all the same.

agavin: this bottle was a touch premoxed.

Amuse of “potted plant“. Actually some kind of turnip or radish in an edible “dirt.”

Arctic char (an ode to spring), pea shoot, pea flower, shaved fennel, cara cara orange, watermelon radish, avocado.

From my cellar: 2013 Prager Riesling Smaragd Klaus. AG 92. Luscious peach and Mirabelle are significantly marked by their pits as well as by smoky black tea and forest floor notes for a low-toned, dark impression. Sappy and expansive, palpably rich in extract and fundamentally firm, this finishes with piquant concentration and formidable length, a hint of blond tobacco adding welcome, saliva-drawing savor.

green garlic, asparagus, and oyster mushroom bisque; goat kefir, shaved goat Gouda, herb flower.

From my cellar: 1999 Bouchard Père et Fils Beaune 1er Cru Clos de la Mousse. BH 88. I clearly underestimated the density here because my concerns about the borderline intrusive wood that this displayed on release has been successively integrated. The nose now reveals ripe red and black pinot fruit that is still almost completely primary yet the tannins are indisputably beginning to melt and in their stead, offering lovely finishing complexity on the suave and velvety backend. This should continue to positively evolve for the next 5 to 7 years though it is certainly enjoyable now.

Roasted half quail, pan jus, porcini, red gooseberry, California white sage, carrot-parsnip mash.

Pescatarian option: porcini “steak”.

From my cellar: 1989 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. VC 93+. I have always been a fan of the 1989 Château Beaucastel, which I rank just behind the superb 1981 at this fine estate. The most recent bottle I tasted of this wine was still just a touch youthful, but offered up fine complexity on both the nose and palate and shows excellent promise. The bouquet is a blend of roasted fruitcake, cherries, new leather, venison, incipient notes of sous bois, woodsmoke and hot stones. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and rock solid at the core, with a bit of tannin still to resolve, fine focus and grip and a very long, classy and slightly chewy finish. I would be tempted to give this wine a few more years to really resolve, as it will be a superb wine and it would be most enjoyable to drink it at the same plateau that the 1981 has been enjoying for a good decade already.

Rack of lamb: blueberry-balsamic. I use the most amazing sherry balsamic vinegar from Portugal, fresh rosemary, Cabernet, morel mushroom, celeriac purée, Russian red kale. Delicious meatsicles!

Sea Bass, French green lentil broth, leek, sherry balsamic, Russian red kale, heirloom cherry tomato salad

Local cows milk cheese: savory candy cap almond flour shortbread, local Catalina cherry preserves, garam masala spiced almond crumble

Muscat poached local stone fruit, bergamot panna cotta, edible pineapple guava flower.

Rose Turkish Delight. Probably the best Turkish Delight I’ve had.

Our wine lineup. Not bad for a bunch of parents!

Mangoberry Cheesecake Gelato — raspberry/mango cream-cheese base with blackberry/mango ripple and house-made graham cracker crumble — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #cheesecake #mango #raspberry #blackberry #GrahamCracker #coulis #ripple #creamcheese

Chess Chocolate Oreo Gelato — Valrhona medium chocolate base with layers of Valrhona Ivoire white chocolate ganache and crumbled Oreos — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #cheesecake #chocolate #valrhona #WhiteChocolate #oreo #chess

Overall, a really nice meal, leaning keto, extremely fresh and indicative of California ingredients and style. We do have fabulous produce (and chefs) here in the Golden State! I was really impressed by the cooking, which for being done by one lead chef and a couple hard working assistants in a rental kitchen was quite on point.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Arielle Mckee, birthday, BYOG, California, California Cuisine, carmel, Gelato, strawberries, Wine

Thai Tour – Jitlada

Jun23

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

Location: 5233 W Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90027. (323) 663-3104

Date: May 23, 2019 and September 20, 2022

Cuisine: Thai

Rating: Gut burning great

Our final stop on the April/May 2019 Thai Tour is Hedonist regular joint, Jitlada, an outrageously authentic Southern Thai place deep in Thai-town. The joint gets 27 in Zagat! It’s run by Jazz Singsanong.

You know it’s real because they don’t skimp on either the chilies OR the fish sauce. The menu can be found here.

After a few minutes of table juggling we managed to squeeze ourselves in — this isn’t the kind of place that normally deals with 10 person tables that well.

This is my cryptic ordering plan. I carefully laid out a phased dish progression and then owner Jazz put it all in the computer and it all came super fast and in random order — plus we had just enough people that one dish was hard to split. Ideal number at Jitlada is probably 6.

Pepper pork belly. Really tasty chewy pork belly bits with super yummy spicy sauce.

Crispy Morning Glory Salad. This salad of shrimp and fried morning glory is just plain glorious. Sorry, couldn’t resist. Basically tempura flowers and it’s really the tangy, slightly sweet sauce/dressing that really makes it. Very similar to many of the salads I had in Vietnam.

Pomelo salad. Shrimp, pomelo, onions, peanuts, garlic. This salty, spicy, sweet, savory salad was fabulous. Really Thai mix of tones.

Raw marinated shrimp salad (often called Naked Shrimp) (9/20/22). Great spicy/tangy “dressing” with nice crunchy cabbage underneath.

Chicken Satay. A bit boring.

Garlic lamb chops. Incredible crunchy garlic on these chops. It was to die for. I kept eating the piles of it left over.

Beef “Jerkey.” Excellent version of this dish with a lot of flavor.

Sweet Pork Ribs (9/20/22). One of the weaker dishes. A little sweet — hence the name.

Chicken Larb. Ground chicken with spices, fish sauce, etc. Pretty hot too and salty/vinegary. Not my absolute favorite Jitlada dish.

Soft-shell crab noodles. Fried soft-shell crab (in season) with pan fried sweet noodles. Unusual combo, but massively delicious.

Dungeness Crab with Garlic Sauce (9/20/22). Really awesome. I’ve been trying to find this dish (on the vast menu) again for some years. The garlicky “sauce” is amazing. A bit sweet with the sweetness of the crab.

BBQ Squid (9/20/22). Interesting. Not my absolute favorite.

Red Duck Curry. Not spicy but incredibly delicious.

Spicy duck salad or maybe this was Celebrity Chicken. Never had this before but it was great!

Basil frogs legs. Delicious and full of basil and garlic flavor. Bones weren’t offensive either.

Flambe Prawns. Grilled giant prawns topped with our house curry sauce. These are amazing. The sweet curry sauce is just full of curry flavor goodness.

Papaya prawns. Like the curry prawns but drowned in papaya.

Garlic and/or Coconut king crab. Hard to get the meat out, and a touch expensive, but really delicious sauce.

Coco lotus soup. This was a mild red coconut curry soup with chicken. It was amazing! Really fabulous curry flavor. Tons of tamarind giving it a really balanced sour tone.

Beef Tongue with Sator Beans (9/20/22). Very spicy with that jungle curry type flavor. But lots of good flavor. Beef Tougue itself is kinda chewy.

Yellow Curry with Oxtail (9/20/22). Delicious. Not that much meat and it’s mostly bone, but you could put shoe leather in this curry and it would be good.

Duck Red Curry (9/20/22). Fabulous flavor, very rich and creamy. Not as much meat as one might like. Quite spicy too.

Jungle curry with lamb. Exotic thai curry with god knows what in it besides the lamb. This stuff was HOT and pretty fabulous. The heat was insane. Slow burn, such that you started in on it and thought it would be fine, but then building to a head-sweating mind-altering gut-burning sear. Took me hours to recover!

Jazz burger. A big beef patty covered in onions, peppers, and dressing. The flavors were fabulous. We were VERY full at this point and the burger is spicy too.

Sweet Red Pork Rice (9/20/22). Slightly weird sweet dish. Not bad, but also one of the “weakest” of the night.

Mango Sticky Rice with coconut Ice Cream (9/20/22). The rice itself is awesome.

Cherry Cough Syrup Sorbetto (9/20/22) – Amareno Cherry, Morello Cherry, and Creme de Cassis Sorbet! — so intense, and so awesome for a red fruit lover — 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 #sorbetto #amareno #morello #cherry #CremediCassis #cassis

Nocciola Espresso Caramello Gelato — A classic nocciola base made with Pure PGI Piedmont hazelnut paste and then layered with a house-made Espresso Caramel Ganache then topped with fresh roasted hazelnuts — 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 #hazelnut #ganache #dulcy #ChocolateTruffle #nocciola #caramel #caramello

Sicilian Tiramisu Gelato –attempting to reinvent Tiramisu with Sicilian flavors: Pure DOGC “Bronte” pistachio paste gelato base with lady fingers soaked in house-made orange syrup and layered with house-made “cannoli filling” (sweetened fresh ricotta with cinnamon and mini dark chocolate chips) — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — this one will be a test of concept: too much? –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #pistachio #sicily #ricotta #chocolate #orange #ladyfingers #tiramisu

Mango with sticky rice. So full but this is so delicious!

Yarom with Jazz.

I love Jitlada, and it’s hands down the best Thai I’ve had in LA. The menu is enormous and full of goodies. Tonight’s meal was one of the best we had, despite the absence of the original chef in the kitchen 🙁 We had 8-9 people which is just about 2 more than the dish size is best with. Once we had way too many people and and some late comers that botched the whole progression. The food was really on point tonight, and just two days after Night + Market Song showcased the delicious complexity of Jitlada’s flavors. Jitlada is a food restaurant though, and not a service restaurant. I mean, they are SUPER friendly and we love them, but the dishes just pop out in random order and speed.

Tonight (2019) we ordered very well. Every dish was very good, most great. We had a pretty nice variety. Sure, there are favorites we missed, the menu is vast, but it was a great meal. Jazz hung out with us for a chunk of it and helped us order. The kitchen was really on point too with some dishes that have a little variability all coming down on the awesome side tonight.

On our post pandemic (9/20/22) return we also order extremely well and they put out fabulous dishes (except for a couple of sweet meats that certain non spicy lovers made us order :-)). When you order right, Jitlada is incredible.

Not super spicy either, only the jungle curry busting the 5 or 6 line (it was a 9, even on the weighted Jitlada scale of blistering heat — although I painfully have had it hotter before).

All in all, if you like Thai food and live (or visit) in LA you must try Jitlada.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for more crazy Hedonist meals.

Great wines tonight too:

By: agavin
Comments (3)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Gelato, hedonists, Jazz Singsanong, Jitlada, Thai cuisine, Thai Tour, Wine

Thai Tour – Night+Market Song

Jun19

Restaurant: Night + Market Song

Location: 3322 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026. (323) 665-5899

Date: May 21, 2019

Cuisine: Thai

Rating: Good and spicy

Our Thai Town Tour continues with this 5th location (my 4th). While I’ve been to Might + Market + Sahm I have long wanted to try this one.

Kris Yenbamroong is the 33 year-old chef and owner of NIGHT + MARKET restaurants. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Chef Kris has no formal culinary training — but grew up in his family-owned restaurant, Talesai. He attended New York University and graduated with a degree in film. If NIGHT + MARKET restaurants were to have a mission statement, it would read as follows: “We aim to make the most delicious and authentic Thai food to facilitate drinking and fun-having amongst friends.” There is a term for this in Thai: “aharn glam lao.”

Located in Silverlake on Sunset, not exactly in Thai Town but in the heart of Hipster-ville.

Which is a good thing considering how incredibly hipster the interior is — and the place was mobbed with a huge line gathered before our 8pm start and all through our tenure. They are definitely busy.

We had a special large party reservation and a set menu (we chose the largest set menu).

Hey-ha party wings. Party wings sweet and a little salty. These were some perfect chicken wings. As they describe it, sweet and a little salty, hot and a lot savory.

Moo Sadoong. Grilled pork, basil, lemongrass, garlic, fish sauce, lime, chili, onions, cilantro. Everything here has cilantro — which I love — but I pity the fools (no offense, just making a Mr. T joke) who think it tastes like soap. This was a great dish also. Lots of porky flavor.

Sai Uah. Homemade spicy pork sausage served with nam prik noom (aka “thai salsa”) and cucumber. Solid Thai sausage, but not as strong as the first two dishes.

Sticky Coconut Rice.

I’m trying to avoid carbs but I do love this coconut milk sweetened rice. Great texture too.

Nam Khao Tod. Crispy Rice Salad with soured pork, raw ginger, onion, peanuts, cilantro (of course), and chili. Really nice texture. Crispy/crunchy. Tons of salty spicy flavor.

Beef (I think) with cilantro. This was an extra brought for those who were avoiding carbs.

Som Tum. Green papaya salad with green beans, tomatoes, palm sugar, peanuts, lime juice, and chili. FIne, but on the “duller” side as Thai dishes go.

Larg Gai. Minced chicken, lime, fish sauce, rice powder, chili, cilantro (again), and onion. Salty, hot, and savory. The chicken version can be a touch dry.

Hot Pot Tom Khar Soup. Skin-on chicken, coconut milk broth, galangal, lemongrass, cilantro (no duh), onion, chili, lime leaves, mushrooms, hot and sour! Awesome soup. Super, super delicious. I had like 5 bowls. Very spicy too. Fabulous mix of flavors.

Garlic Green Beans. Sautéed with garlic, soy sauce, and white pepper. Very Chinese!

Uni Fried Rice. I liked that there was also the salmon row, nice and briny. Cilantro of course.

Kao Pad Pu. Crab fried rice, served with lime wedge and fish sauce with diced chili (and a bit of cilantro garnish). Nice fried rice, but weird that we had 3 rice courses AND noodles.

Pad Thai. Market version with sweet radish, tofu, egg, crushed peanuts, and chili powder. Great pad Thai.

Brought by and made by me:

1998 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée da Capo. 97 points. Saturated dark ruby. Nose like a fruit essence: blackberry and blueberry liqueur, licorice, pepper, Provencal herbs, and hints of more exotic fruits. A wine of extreme unctuousity, virtually too large for the mouth. Suggestion of marc, but with sappy fruits and great solid underlying structure. The tannins saturate the palate on the peppery finish. Very much in the style of Bonneau rarely made Cuvee Speciale. This wine took nearly two years to finish fermenting. Paul Feraud told me he feared that the alcohol would burn, that there would be too much residual sugar, and that the wine would show signs of premature oxidation. But in fact this headspinner (and I mean that in the purest, Linda Blair sense) boasts great surmaturite without quite descending into madness.

Most of the wine is lumped in below, but I have to call out the Cuvee da Capo — which while being swamped out by the heat of the night, was still a stunning stunning CNdP and extremely generous for a Thai meal.

Overall, Night + Market Song was great. They treated us really well, particularly given how crowded it was. They allowed our wine. Food did come out a bit fast. Ingredients are very fresh and flavors are strong but a touch simplified. Less sweetness and fish-sauce notes than some of the places with a more Thai audience (it’s pretty hipster in here). Everything is quite spicy (I like that). But fairly relentless.

The menu balance with the large party set menu is really weird though. A bunch of salads, 4 types of rice, and a noodle dish. No curries! No Khao Soi (which I love). It’s pretty carb heavy. I don’t know if these are just crowd pleasers or they are keeping the cost of the menu down. I love curries, so I was quite disappointed in this — but it’s really my only complaint about the evening.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Gelato, hedonists, hipster, Night + Market, Night + Market Song, Silverlake, Thai cuisine, Thai Tour, Thai Town, Wine

Perfect Atmosphere – LSXO

Jun17

Restaurant: LSXO

Location: 21022-21148 Pacific Coast Hwy, Huntington Beach, CA 92648. (714) 374-0083

Date: May 16, 2019 and January 30 & February 19, 2020

Cuisine: Vietnamese Fusion

Rating: Awesome flavors

LSXO, a concept-within-a-concept, inside Bluegold at Pacific City, is the brainchild of Chef Tin Vuong of Blackhouse Hospitality. Cuisine is inspired by District 1 in Saigon (where Tin’s family hails from) and dishes range from more traditional to innovative amongst a stunning hideaway overlooking the Huntington Beach pier. Behind an unmarked door adjacent to the wine room, guests are transported to District 1 (China Town) in Saigon via Blackhouse’s 28-seat restaurant-within-a-restaurant, LSXO. A spinoff of the Little Sister brand (Manhattan Beach and Downtown Angeles), LSXO is love letter to the culture, heritage, and lineage of Vietnam (Vuong’s relatives hail from the region). While Little Sister is known for its French Vietnamese menu, LSXO follows the same Southeast Asian inspiration with a more refined, expat feel.

LSXO draws inspiration from Southern Vietnam with a number of Chinese influences. While the menu is 90% different from Little Sister, a handful of signature dishes are offered, such as the Beef Tar Tare, Imperial Rolls, and Salt & Pepper Lobster. Lunch & Dinner items range from cold plates from the garde manger to salads, rice paper rolls, fish & shellfish, meat & poultry, both dry and soupy noodles, and banh mi (lunch only). A unique addition, LSXO debuts Afternoon Tea, featuring a selection of open-faced finger sandwiches, French pastries, and specialty sweets to complement an array of international tea blends

Bluegold is located on the top level of Pacific City at 21010 Pacific Coast Hwy., Huntington Beach, CA 92648. The restaurant serves California coastal cuisine alongside craft wines, beers, and inventive cocktails. Bluegold is open Monday-Sunday for breakfast, lunch, “in between,” and dinner (9am to close). For more information please call (714) 374-0038 or visit website, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

LSXO draws inspiration from Southern Vietnam with a number of Chinese influences. Check out the cool Indochina-style room with it’s ocean views.

The view.

So OC too, as the big table had a huge part of OC moms and their babies living it up — must have been a Mommy & Me group or something.

On my first visit, in May of 2019, our threesome was Foodie Core members Erick, Fred and myself, kicking back ocean-side to enjoy some Champagne and White Burg just hours BEFORE our epic and crazy evening white burg dinner.

Elegant touch.

Hot sauce! They have two different kinds of house-made hot sauce and a “sweet” fish sauce. All are fabulous.

The menu.

From my cellar: 1996 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne. 97 points. Taittinger’s 1996 Comtes de Champagne is another highlight. The flavors are only now beginning to show elements of complexity, a great sign for aging. Gently spiced and buttery notes suggest the 1996 is about to enter the early part of its maturity, where it is likely to stay for another decade or so.

Red curry spiced pork rinds, chili oil & scallions. Nice crispy shrimp chip textured pork rinds. A touch of heat. I expected more curry flavor.

Pickled cabbage, crushed peanut, chili. Light little snack/side.

Goi du du. Green papaya salad, Viet beef jerky, peanuts, chili lime vinaigrette. Awesome bright salad.

Beef tartare, Viet herbs, fried aromatics, quail egg, lobster rice crackers. Pretty decent meaty tartare.

Grilled pork spring roll. Nem Nuong red leaf lettuce, mint, carrot, cucumber, house sauce.

Autumn roll, sweet potato, jicama, egg, herbs, Chinese sausage, candied shrimp, coconut peanut sauce. Incredible take on the classic Vietnamese sausage roll. So much flavor.

Pork, shrimp & crab dumplings. Spicy black vinegar dressing, chives, spinach, peanuts. Very tasty. Lots of complex herby flavor.

“Ga xao xa ot” spicy lemongrass chicken. Fried garlic & dried chilies. This was the most incredible “fried chicken”. It had this sweet and tangy and crunchy thing going on and a really bright complex savory flavor.

Pho banh cuon with beef and tendon, herbs, lettuce, pickled onion. These can basically be seen as either deconstructed pho or pho flavored soft rice rolls. It’s a rice crepe roll, with the pho components, and a bit of a sweet and sour sauce. Great texture and flavor.

Vietnamese crepe. Bánh xèo. Sizzling pancake. PRawns, pork belly, bean sprout, herbs and greens, house dressing.

Here are the herbs. This is actually a very traditional Vietnamese dish. You take some of the omelet and add herbs and sauce and eat. Delicious.

“Bun Rieu” omelet, soft shell crab & tomato chili sate, Viet herbs and condiments. Delicious, with a good amount of crab.

XO sticky rice, lap cheung pork flass, crispy shallots, slow egg, roasted chili vinegar. I’m all over anything with pork floss — and this had incredible flavor and texture.

Pork floss zoom! Gotta love the pork floss. It looks like insulation but tastes incredible.

Lamb belly with shrimp chips and herbs.

2001 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Butteaux. BH 89. A trace of wood spice frames expressive aromas of limestone, white flowers and obvious Chablis fruit that lead to bigger, richer, firmer and more penetrating flavors plus a finish that is both persistent and very dry. I like this very much as it offers a bit more precision than the Forêts.

agavin: reviewers were crazy because this is an amazing wine.

Fred: A bit of honey and ripe fruit on the nose. Almost like botrytis. However, on the palate there is good acidity with some waxy round texture. Very full but not flabby. A wonderful wine to start the day.

Lamb satay, egg noodle, mustard greens, long beans, fried garlic.

You mix this up. This dish was an 11. Now, I’m a noodle fiend, but it was amazing — rich with TONS of flavor — like a lamb satay.

Noodles with coconut and seafood. Delicious with light vermicelli noodles.

Black duck egg, chilies, sesame rau ram. Chili sauce was great but the egg itself didn’t have enough of that salty flavor.

1996 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clavoillon. 92 points. Fred writes: Excellent wine. Still incredibly youthful with a strong classic Leflaive flint signature. A bit more acidic and than than the 01 Raveneau Butteaux but both wines are just drinking superb right now. Plenty of lemon acidity and an awesome long finish.

Tom rang thit ba chi caramelized prawns with pork spare ribs and lardons. Awesome!

Salt and Pepper lobster, butter fried shallots, fried chilies and garlic. Tasty, but not worth the big markup.

Viet braised Salmon in a claypot. This is a take on the tradition caramelized catfish (or whatever fish they use in Vietnam). I didn’t particularly love substituting the salmon. All those heavy oils settle with salmon.

Pan fried eggplant & basil. Sausage, scallions, satay sauce. Very nice eggplant. Super temperature hot on arrival.

A kind of beef tomato stew that was delicious.

The stew above came with this perfect baguette roll, chili butter, chicken liver paste, limes, and tangy pepper sauce. The combination of all of these on the rolls was a fatty foodgasm.

Crab salted cod chao, white fish and egg white. A mild salty congee — savory and delicious.

Carb on carb. The chao (congee) comes with these Chinese savory doughnuts — unsweetened crullers.

Chao. Confit duck & bamboo with aromatics, herbs. Served with cilantro, scallions, fried shallots & Chinese style savory crullers.

Toppings for the congree/chao. The congee (rice porridge) itself is very mild, but when you throw this stuff and both some of the sweet fish sauce and the house-made chili goo in — delicious!

Pork. Absolutely amazing grilled meat with stunning flavors.

Shaky Shaky Beef. Watercress, baby tomatoes, burnt butter soy with tomato garlic fried rice. A very nice version of the classic shaking beef, but not the most exciting of LSXO’s dishes — mostly because the others were so amazing.

Pork belly with a sweet and tangy sauce. Very tender and nice.

Birthday cake for my brother on 2/19/20. Awesome day piggybacked with a lunch “snack” at Oc & Lau.

Now, I do love Asian food of almost all varieties, and adore Vietnamese food, but LSXO is stunning in every way. Hard to imagine this is in a mall. The ocean views and light are spectacular as is the intimate room. And the food. For the most part it’s better than anything I had in Vietnam — even though some of that was amazing — because the ingredient quality and execution is so good. Basically it’s Vietnamese classics, but really elevated way above street food (with its fly infested meat and little plastic chairs). Of course you pay about 30X (compared to Saigon street food).

Also, Fred, Erick and I had a blast as we always do — and our wines didn’t suck.

I returned with my family in January of 2020. It was just as good and might possibly be the best Vietnamese restaurant I’ve been to — including Vietnam. It’s different than in Vietnam, and more “modernized”, but has incredibly good bright flavors and great ingredients. We also came back 2/19/20 for dinner — where there is a very slightly different menu — and had another fabulous meal.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.

Wines from 2/19/20:

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Champagne, Foodie Club, LXSO, Orange County, Pacific Ocean, Vietnamese cuisine, Vietnamese Fusion, White Burgundy, Wine

Shanghailander Arcadia

Jun14

Restaurant: Shanghailander Palace [1, 2]

Location: 1440 S Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007. (626) 348-8866

Date: May 19, 2019 and January 18, 2020

Cuisine: Shanghai Chinese

Rating: Excellent – best Shanghai food I’ve had in the US

Hedonist trips to the SGV and its requisite Chinese adventures are among my favorite dinners. Shanghailander specializes in Shanghai style cuisine (obviously). We’ve been out many times to their Hacienda Heights location, and last time the owner invited us to try their newer spot in Arcadia — which is closer so no complaints there.

Chinese frontage built into what may have been some kind of family restaurant in the 50s or 60s.

The dining room.

But the Arcadia one has several awesome private rooms!

Cold appetizer plate (5/19/19 & 1/18/20) to start.

Greens in a mustardy sauce to the left. Sweet meat and tofu to the lower left. Hainan chicken on the bottom.

Mushrooms to the right.

Perhaps an eggplant to the right.

Crunchy marinated sweet turnip in the upper right and pork jelly at the top.

Jellyfish in the upper left.

Cold Shanghai style duck (5/19/19). Excellent and very juicy.

Sautéed shrimp (1/18/20). Simple but tasty. I’ve had this dish dozens of times at many Shanghai restaurants and this was for sure one of the best versions I’ve had in the US.

Sea cucumber with shrimp roe (1/18/20). Sea cucumber, the white stuff was roe, shrimp and fish. Weird soft textures but very pleasant. Not exactly a looker, but quite tasty.

Sea cucumber (1/18/20) — nice texture, odd mild garlic and grain sauce.

Shrimp with pineapple in mustard sauce (5/19/19). Close to walnut shrimp, but with a distinctly different flavor.

Shanghai style crab with rice cakes (5/19/19). Really nice garlic and ginger sauce (delicious with the cakes).

Seasonal special: Crab with sticky rice (1/18/20) — really nice. sticky rice has mild but good flavor with sweet Chinese sausage.

Peking/Shanghai duck (1/18/20). Sometimes peking duck isn’t so hot at non Beijing places, but this one was excellent with a rich thick hoisin sauce and pancakes (way better than buns).

The whole assembly.

Duck soup (1/18/20). This was actually a tasty duck soup! It was rich, not overwhelmingly salty, and tasted of actual duck. There were also big chunks of juicy meat. Usually I hate duck soup, but this was quite enjoyable.

Shanghai style eel in pot (5/19/19 & 1/18/20). This was delicious. Soft and rich in a savory slightly sweet sauce.

Shaking Beef or French Style beef (5/19/19). Excellent juicy beef with lots of beefy flavor.

Fried fish with herbs (5/19/19 & 1/18/20). Lovely fried fish. We always order this.

Shanghai style braised pork in brown sauce (5/19/19). A huge hock of pig that falls off the bone. This is about as good as roast pork gets.

Cut up a bit. It’s a lean meat.

Meatballs stuffed with egg (5/19/19). Very unusual dish (here, typical in Shanghai). A kind of fried meat ball with a gooey duck egg yolk INSIDE!

Soy sauce or 3 cup chicken with chestnuts (5/19/19). Not always my favorite dish but this example was really good.

Jellyfish with cucumbers (5/19/19). We loved this dish so much we ordered another (larger) one. Awesomely tangy with a textural contrast between the crunchy cucumbers and chewy jellyfish.

Braised eggplant with salty fish flavor (1/18/20) — sweet sticky sauce and distinct bonito flake flavor. Almost Japanese in style like miso eggplant.

Grandmother’s special pork (1/18/20) — super tender, fatty, delicous with that thick sticky sauce

Pea tendrils with garlic (5/19/19). At first it was a little short on the garlic and we mentioned it and they remade it with even more garlic — awesome.

Shanghailander pan fried buns (5/19/19 & 1/18/20). A fried version of same. So hot they were hard to eat, but oh so tasty.

Shanghai steamed dumplings (XLB) (5/19/19 & 1/18/20). Always one of my favorites. The dough was great, the meat needed a hair more flavor, but I still ate about 6.

Nocciola Espresso Caramello Gelato (5/19/19) — A classic nocciola base made with Pure PGI Piedmont hazelnut paste and then layered with a house-made Espresso Caramel Ganache then topped with fresh roasted hazelnuts — 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 #hazelnut #ganache #dulcy #ChocolateTruffle #nocciola #caramel #caramello

Sicilian Tiramisu Gelato (5/19/19) –attempting to reinvent Tiramisu with Sicilian flavors: Pure DOGC “Bronte” pistachio paste gelato base with lady fingers soaked in house-made orange syrup and layered with house-made “cannoli filling” (sweetened fresh ricotta with cinnamon and mini dark chocolate chips) — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — this one will be a test of concept: too much? –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #pistachio #sicily #ricotta #chocolate #orange #ladyfingers #tiramisu

Mud Pie Gelato (1/18/20) — Hot brewed espresso gelato with house-made milk chocolate coffee ganache and crushed Oreos — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — the gluttonous classic made even more gluttonus! — #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #chocolate #valrhona #espresso #coffee #oreo #MudPie

Peppered Lemongrass Ginger Creme Brûlée Gelato (1/18/20) — A blended milk and Thai coconut cream base steeped with lemongrass and ginger and then juiced up with yuzu and black pepper. For sugar, I used coconut palm sugar and even torched the top! — created 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 #lemongrass #ginger #CremeBrûlée #BlackPepper #coconut #yuzu

Our 5/19/19 visit to Arcadia was insanely good. Almost every dish was on point and many were unusual. Food was really really good. Service was great too but this was certainly the best Shanghai style food I’ve had outside of China — and this is just a couple months after my most recent visit to Shanghai and incredible means like Shanghai Tang. The private rooms are better here, but we forgot to preorder some dishes, like roast duck, plus they had lots of other interesting things. So next time we will have to really up the ante for a major banquet. They are super nice and I’m sure will knock it out of the park.

Our 1/18/20 visit was just as good — if not better — with a great menu (picked by Bonnie W and I) and a more focused set of wines. Still the best Shanghai place I know of in the US.

For more LA Chinese reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Wines from 1/18/20:

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Arcadia, BYOG, dumplings, Gelato, hedonists, pork, SGV, Shanghai Cuisine, Shanghailander, Wine, XLB

Dirty Dozen at Water Grill

Jun10

Restaurant: Water Grill Santa Monica [1, 2, 3]

Location: 1401 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 394-5669

Date: May 8, 2019

Cuisine: American Seafood

Rating: Solid coastal seafooder

Tonight’s outing to Water Grill Santa Monica is for Dirty Dozen, the sub group of the Hedonists that does periodic themed blind wine dinners.

Tonight’s theme was relatively young White Burgundy (2002-2017).

The Water Grill was chosen probably because they don’t charge for corkage (Dirty Dozen is cheap about this). It is VERY nicely located (close to my house). The ocean sunset throws some awesome color on the facade.

And they have a great private room. Huge, paneled, and very secluded.

The menu is classic California seafooder. It’s a bit over priced, a touch “boring”, and a tad challenging to arrange into small plates. But kitchen execution is fairly solid.

Flight 0 – Champagne:

2010 David Leclapart Champagne Premier Cru L’Artiste Blanc de Blancs Pas Dosé Trépail. 91 points. The nose started a bit difficult, I guess because of the glas. Very intensive but not very positive. One hour later typical notes of peach, baken pineapple. Good acidity structure with fine bubbles, refreshing, precise. Good wine foor food because of the power and concentration.

NV Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Cuvée Rubis. VM 93. The NV Cuvée Rubis, a blend of 2014 and 2013, is unusually strict and severe. Those are not bad qualities at all, but this edition is especially focused and pulsing with energy. The cranberry, white flowers, grapefruit and white pepper notes are finely cut. In many years, I find the Cuvée Rubis to be airy and even a touch diffuse, but in this release, the wine is finely etched and sculpted, not to mention a huge overachiever. I loved it. The Rubis is 90% Pinot Noir (of which about 15% is still red wine) and 10% Chardonnay. Disgorged November 2016. Dosage is 9 grams per liter.

Hot bread and butter.

Our seafood tower accompanies the first flight. A trio of different oysters.

Giant shrimp and crab “nuggets”. On top is some uni — way too little of this. Both the shrimp and crab were quite good for what they are. Lobster was left off for cost saving reasons. Truthfully, you do need to get a lot of it, which adds up.

Various sauces for the raw bar.

Flight 1:

2011 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Corton-Charlemagne Quintessence. VM 93-96. Distinctly cooler on the nose than the “regular” Corton-Charlemagne: lime, crushed rock and white flowers, with a hint of the chicken broth quality shown by the classic bottling. Tighter in texture and higher-pitched in the mouth, with the crushed stone minerality currently dominating the lime and floral flavors; imploded today yet utterly vibrant. The pure, saline finish builds and builds. This should be long-lived.

2005 Henri Boillot Corton-Charlemagne. VM 98+. Wonderfully ripe, deep aromas of lime, minerals and crushed stone. An incredible mouthful of stones and minerals, with uncanny intensity, juiciness and lift. At this point in my marathon tasting with Boillot, my handwriting was degenerating and I was using exclamation marks rather than adjectives. Flat-out great white Burgundy. Incidentally, Boillot changed his supplier of Corton-Charlemagne as of this vintage; he now works with vines in Aloxe-Corton that face full south.

2004 Morey-Blanc Corton-Charlemagne. VM 91+. High-toned aromas of raw pineapple and menthol. Then tightly wound and imploded in the mouth, with pure, juicy flavors of lemon peel and crushed stone. Very solidly built but not hard on the back. Not yet longer than the Genevrieres, but this one really needs to be buried in the cellar.

A trio of crudos:

Farmed New Zealand King Salmon. fig jam, sour cream

Wild Eastern Sea Scallop. togarashi rub, Japanese mustard aioli, pickled vegetable, golden raisins

Wild Pacific Bigeye Tuna. fennel orange purée, diced oranges, fennel pollen

Flight 2:

2009 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. VM 96. The 2009 Chablis Les Clos is inward, cool and impeccably precise. It presents a chiseled, sculpted expression of fruit, then blossoms on the mid-palate and finish as the voice of the year comes through. The 2009 is a relatively open, radiant Les Clos that should offer rewarding drinking fairly early for this cuvée. It is drop-dead gorgeous from start to finish.

2008 Joseph Drouhin Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Mouches Blanc. VM 93. Healthy bright yellow. A sexy note of reduction to the highly complex aromas of white peach, pear, minerals, mint, hazelnut and toast. At once silky and vibrant; a wonderfully concentrated midweight with terrific balance and thrust and a winning combination of fresh white fruits and minerals complicated by subtle salinity from start to finish. The aftertaste delivers lovely sappy, building length and a weightless impression but no hardness. The highest in acidity of all the vintages in this tasting–and right up my alley. This is a big success for its vintage and is evolving slowly.

2014 Joseph Drouhin Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. VM 92+. Pale, bright yellow. Tight, bright aromas of lemon-lime, grapefruit pith and crushed stone. Pliant on entry, then adamantly minerally and firm in the middle palate and dominated by its structure. But this very intense, fine-grained wine really resounds on the finish. Very closed today but has the balance and backbone to age gracefully.

Uni Toast. Toasted brioche. a bit dry, not enough uni!

Jumbo Lump Blue Crab Cake. Celery root remoulade

Seafood Fritters. Crab, shrimp and Atlantic cod, with romesco sauce and pickled peppers. Tasty, but DEEP fried.

Wild Spanish Octopus. Charcoal grilled with tomato, feta and nicoise olives. Pretty good.

Wedge Salad. bacon and blue goat cheese. I love a wedge — all about the dressing.

Bitter Greens. salt cured anchovies and garlic vinaigrette

Flight 3:

2015 Jean-Claude Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Ruchottes. BH 91. This was strongly reduced, indeed to the point that it was unpleasant and difficult to like, both on the nose and on the palate. On the plus side there is good density to the caressing yet powerful medium-bodied flavors that brim with dry extract that imparts a sappy texture to the slightly warm and mildly bitter finish. I gave this an extended aeration and it helped but like the Morgeot, it’s not completely clear that this is going to grow out of what could generously be described as youthfully awkward. To be sure, there is excellent underlying material and given the excellent track record of this wine, I am inclined to offer the benefit of the doubt. But that’s not a guarantee that this will eventually transform from an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan.

2012 Paul Pernot et ses Fils Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. VM 91-94. Pale yellow-green. Vibrant, precise aromas of lime leaf, thyme and mint. Then rich and pliant on the palate, with lovely texture and restrained sweetness to the flavors of ripe peach, noble herbs, smoky oak and spices. Wonderfully harmonious, classy wine with lovely floral and herbal lift to its persistent white fruit flavors.

From my cellar: 2007 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Chevalier-Montrachet. VM 94+. Bright medium yellow. Very ripe, expressive nose offers yellow peach and white flowers. Opulent, shapely and very ripe, in a distinctly sweeter style than the Batard. Gives an impression of lower acidity too, but there’s plenty of acid here. I suspect this one will shut down in bottle. Girardin, who bottled most of his crus in April and May of this year, noted that the 2007s really only started to express themselves in February, and that many of his fellow producers bottled this vintage too early.

Wild Channel Islands Black Cod Kabayaki (Sablefish). soba noodles, green onions, spiced fish broth

Wild Ross Sea Chilean Sea Bass. pan sautéed with herbed ricotta gnudi and brown butter

Dover sole with lemon butter.

Santa Barbara Spot Prawns.

2010 Mongeard-Mugneret Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Orveaux. BH 89-92. The composition of the nose is similar to that of the Vosne villages though here it’s a bit more elegant and slightly fresher as well. There is good mid-palate fat and a touch of minerality that adds interest to the solidly precise and vibrant medium-bodied flavors that terminate in a dusty and naturally sweet finish. I like the balance and interestingly the sweetness is balanced off by just a touch of austerity.

Prime Split-Bone Ribeye. 20 ounce

Broccolini with Chinese sausage — sausage makes everything great!

Crispy Polenta with Melted Fontina. Ok, but a touch bland.

Mac and Cheese.

French Fries.

Flight 4 – Dessert:

1988 Château La Tour Blanche Sauternes. VM 89. Reticent aromas of almond, petrol and brown spices opened to show a honeyed richness and good botrytis character. Very rich, fat and honeyed in the mouth; showed a grapefruity freshness with aeration. Still, this expansive wine seems rather low in acidity. Finishes quite suave, and a bit less sweet than the middle palate would suggest. This was the turnaround vintage, under the management of Jean-Pierre Jausserand.

Cheese plate. Pretty good.

Chocolate Orange Pistachio Gelato — my classic 63% Valrhona chocolate base but with orange infused milk, and laced with house-made Bronte Pistachio Valrhona Gananche — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Just say it again: Bronte Pistachio Valrhona Ganache — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #pistachio #orange #chocolate

Reimagining an old flavor Cocoa Samoa Gelato — Coconut dairy base, new super delicious formulation, house-made caramel and Valrhona chocolate ganache, with Girl Scout Samoas — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Crazy Choco Caramel Nostalgic Goodness! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #coconut #caramel #samoas #girlscoutcookies

Moscow Mule Sorbetto — new highly technical sorbetto made with lime, cucumber, ginger beer, and Stoli Vodka — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — yeah, there is actually a lot of vodka in here — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #MoscowMule #lime #cucumber #GingerBeer #Stoli #vodka

My minimalist notes.

The scores for tonight.

The DD results history.

The wine lineup.

Winner, winner, chicken (or fish) dinner Kirk with his bottle. Cotsen is jealous.

The gang.

Overall, a fun evening. Food was tasty and fresh. It’s not the most exciting or novel, and some dishes are just okay. I don’t love trying to make a tasting menu out of this menu. It doesn’t really have share plates and the entrees are hard to split (we didn’t). But the restaurant did a good job by us, and the private room is awesome.

Wines were quite nice tonight by D&D standards. Whites were showing better than they usually do in this group.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Chardonnay, Dirty Dozen, Gelato, hedonists, Water Grill, watergrill, White Burgundy, Wine

Matsumoto Maxsumoto

Jun05

Restaurant: Matsumoto

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

Date: May 10, 2019

Cuisine: Japanese

Rating: Very good, and interesting, but expensive

Erick, Larry, and I kept hearing through the rumor mill that Matsumoto in Beverly Hills had one of the best Japanese Omakases in town so of course the Foodie Club had to saddle up and go.

They are located on Beverly in a busy strip mall — like most other good LA Sushi joints. The “Beverly Hills” location is more like West Hollywood.

It’s non-assuming for sure.

The interior is pretty typical Japanese restaurant.

We had prearranged this giant special menu! It was so long, they refused to start dinner later than 6:30!

From my cellar: 2006 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon. VM 94+. The 2006 Rosé Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon is powerful, intense and also classically austere in its make up. Crushed flowers, mint, red berries and cranberries are all finely sketched. The 2006 finishes with striking mineral-driven precision, and while it doesn’t have the opulence or exuberance of the 2002, it is still a very pretty and appealing Champagne. The Elisabeth Salmon is 50% Pinot Noir and 50% Chardonnay, with about 8% still Pinot Noir. Dosage is 6 grams per liter.

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)

Appetizer plate:

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

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

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

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

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

Ama Ebi Ceviche (center). Diced Sweet Shrimp with home-made yuzu salsa.

From my cellar: 1993 Robert Ampeau & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. BH 92. A fully mature and expressive nose of elegant secondary fruit and floral aromas introduces intensely mineral-driven, pure and beautifully well-detailed middle weight flavors that possess excellent depth and fine length. This is drinking perfectly now and should continue to do so without effort for at least another decade. Tasted only once recently.

2015 Bret Brothers Viré-Clessé La Verchère. VM 88. Pale, bright straw-yellow. Ripe peach, orange zest and passion fruit on the nose, with a touch of leesy complexity. More exotic than the Les Crays but less harmonious today, showing a more glyceral texture, then surprising acidity. The stone fruit flavors convey very good depth, plus a slight mineral edge.

Soup (Suimono). Hama Sui. Cherry stone clam in clear soup.

Kim brought this great unfiltered sake.

Sashimi (Otsukuri). Hon maguro (blue fin tuna), shima aji (striped jack), aji (Japanese grunt), sakura masu (wild cherry salmon), hotate (scallop).

Notice the fin beneath the fish.
Grilled (Yakimono). Hokke Matsumae Yaki. Grilled atka macherel marinated with kelp (overnight).

Fried (Agemono). Chi-ayu tempura & Soramame Kakiage. Deep fried young sweetfish w/ Sansho Pepper sea salt & depp fried fava beans with sea salt.

Side Dish (Naka-Zara). Kani Miso Cheese Koura Yaki. Hairy crab innards (mixed with crab meat, egg & scallions) grilled with cheese in the shell. This was a unique prep of crab guts — awesome and slightly like a Japanese crabby tuna melt.

Uni Flight. Three kinds of uni. I think all Japanese.

1987 Cellier des Samsons Fleurie!

Small Dish (kobachi). Mushi awabi. Tender cooked abalone with okra.

1978 Joseph Drouhin Beaune 1er Cru Grèves. BH 89. Mostly bricked through. The expressive and attractively layered nose is composed of full-on sous bois, earth and herbal tea scents. I very much like the complexity to the well-delineated and punch middle weight flavors that exhibit a subtle minerality on the linear finish that displays an acid-tang that is enough to mildly dry the finish. This is pretty and very ’78 in character though the balance isn’t quite perfect. Drink up.

We added a wagyu sushi flight.

Pretty bowl for:

Steamed (mushimono). Kinki and kabu nibitashi. Rockfish steamed with sake and turnip cooked in light soy and dashi.

And because that giant menu wasn’t enough we added some more meat — I think this was duck.

Then the sushi (shokuji) started to come:

Sumi ika (squid) and kegani (hairy crab).
Nodoguro (seared black throat perch) and toro (supreme toro).

Kuruma ebi (prawn).

Hokkaido uni (sea urchin).

Plus we wanted MORE. A final flight of sashimi!

2005 Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Clos Häuserer. VM 90. Pale straw-gold color. Aromas of orange liqueur, white flowers and minerals. Vibrant and clean, with ginger and nutmeg spice notes contributing energy to the peachy fruit. I find this brighter and more precise than the Clos Windsbuhl. It’s sweeter but also livelier, thanks to a juicy sugar/acid balance.

Bessert (mizugashi). Baked sweet potato cake and fruits.

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

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

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

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beverly Hills, Burgundy, Foodie Club, Japanese cuisine, kanimiso, Matsumoto, sake, Sashimi, Sushi, tempura, West Hollywood, Wine

DRC at 71Above

May28

Restaurant: 71Above [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]

Location: 633 W 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071

Date: April 23, 2019

Cuisine: New American

Rating: Awesome in all ways

71Above is one of my favorite LA restaurants and I’ve been many times. In fact there are 8 previous write ups! Today the location plays host to a special DRC dinner that owner Emil organized with a special menu. Chef Vartan Abgaryan has moved on to his own new place, Yours Truly, and 71Above is now seamlessly helmed by his disciple, Chef Javier Lopez.

Besides being located on the 71st floor (950 feet up!) of the US Bank building, being the highest restaurant west of the Mississippi, it’s owned and operated by my friend Emil Eyvazoff!

Gorgeous build out.

Look at the crazy view and the crazy fog on this weird spring night.

We set up shop for this evening in the private room.

Just a few stems.

The special menu.

NV Taittinger Prelude. VM 91. (a 50/50 blend of chardonnay and pinot noir; L2068TD00100): Light, bright gold. Mineral-accented lemon and lime pith on the nose, with complicating notes of honeysuckle and pear skin. Dry and precise, offering vibrant citrus fruit and fresh fig flavors and showing strong mineral spine. Finishes bright and long, with lingering floral notes and a touch of ginger.

An amuse.

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.

Another amuse of Oyster, poached uni, caviar, tarragon, and champagne. Delicious.

2002 Bouchard Père et Fils Chevalier-Montrachet. BH 93. More noticeable wood spice than in the prior wine combines with wonderfully pure green fruit and white pear aromas underscored by intensely stony notes, leading to ripe, chiseled, vibrant, wonderfully precise flavors that offer excellent definition. This really coats the palate and the finish lingers for several minutes. I like the punch here yet the intensity is delivered in an ultra refined, classy and pure style.

2008 Paul Pernot et ses Fils Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. BH 94. Here too the nose speaks of honeysuckle, citrus and lightly spiced pear aromas that serve as an elegant introduction to the pure, cool and understated middle weight flavors that possess outstanding depth of material and stunning length. This is a hugely long and quite serious yet impeccably well-balanced Bienvenues.

2014 Louis Jadot Bâtard-Montrachet. BH 94. There is enough wood to notice surround the beautifully complex array of pear, white peach, lilac, acacia blossom and anise-suffused aromas. As is usually the case this is a broad-shouldered and concentrated effort with its imposingly scaled flavors that brim with palate coating dry extract before concluding in a youthfully austere and almost painfully intense finale. This is an impressive effort that is built to reward extended cellaring and indeed one that will need at least 6 to 8 years before it will display at least some of its full potential.

Hamachi Crudo. Kumquat, coconut, lime, lemongrass, salsa seca, ginger, cilantro.

1990 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Echezeaux. BH 91. Intense, ripe and slightly roasted black fruit nose with developing complexity that leads to rich, full-bodied, rounded, sweet flavors underpinned by big tannins and the wine finishes with grand cru quality length. This is quite big and certainly dramatic but for all its richness and power, it’s not an elegant wine per se. All of that said, it’s still a relatively youthful wine and could be drunk now with pleasure or held for a few more years to fully round out the finish. Multiple and consistent notes.

1996 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Echezeaux. BH 91. The Domaine de la Romanée-Conti fashioned outstanding ’96s and while this will not challenge the dominance of its more esteemed stable mates, it is clearly a lovely effort. The expressive nose displays lovely spice and violet aromas that offer more elegance and finesse than usual and lead to rich, sweet and moderately structured flavors supported by bright but not aggressive acidity and excellent finishing persistence. I quite like the ’96 Ech and while it can finally be approached now with pleasure it should be capable of holding at this level for years to come. Multiple, and consistent, notes.

Avocado and steak tartare. Avocado with citrus, seaweed, thai basil, puffed rice, black radish, sesame, lime oil. Wagyu sirloin tartare. Mustard, piquillo, marcona almond, caper, yolk, crostini. Very nice. The steak paired better with the reds, the avocado with the lingering whites.

2014 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Echezeaux. BH 94. A wonderfully complex nose features a broad array of spice elements with those of plum, violet, sandalwood and Asian-style tea that are also trimmed in soft wood nuances. There is good punch to the refined, cool and pure medium-bodied flavors that possess better concentration on the balanced, persistent and youthfully austere finale where the only nit is a very subtle hint of warmth. Of all of the wines in the Domaine’s portfolio, in my view the Ech is the most improved over the last 10 years and it shows as the 2014 is bigger and more powerful than usual.

2014 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Grands-Echezeaux. BH 95. Here the expressive nose is even spicier and more floral with its lovely array of rose petal, lilac and lavender scents adding elegance to the mostly dark pinot and earth aromas that are also trimmed in a bit of wood but in this case it is even more subtle. As is virtually always the case this is bigger, richer, more powerful and more muscular with excellent volume to the rich and mouth coating flavors that deliver superb length on the chiseled, robust and hugely long finale. Patience will definitely be required.

2014 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Corton Domaine Prince Florent de Merode. BH 93. A notably floral nose consists of ripe plum, spice and plenty of earth while being trimmed in all-but-invisible oak. There is good power and muscle to the generously proportioned and notably rich big-bodied flavors that culminate in a robust finish that offers fine depth and length. This is not as concentrated as the best here but it’s clear that the vineyard work continues to push the quality level forward each year.

Heritage Pork. Loin, fritter, mustard seed, pork jus. Great pork.

1990 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Musigny Cuvée Vieilles Vignes. BH 89. As long time readers know, I have never thought very highly of this wine and I have had on the order of 3 cases of it without ever finding one that I thought was very good, let alone great. This would include a bottle that was air expressed directly from the domaine so my objections have nothing to do with storage, provenance or shipping. However, the bottle in this tasting displayed the best fruit/acid/tannin balance of any ’90 VV that I’ve yet had and while I would stop well short of according it the accolades that it once received in abundance, it didn’t not display the green finishing tannins and overtly advanced aromas that its predecessors have. In short, a wine of moderate promise and while by no means great, at least acceptable in the context of the extremely high standards of this wine and this vintage.

1993 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Bonnes Mares. BH 91. The ’93 Bonnes Mares is a big and burly wine with an expressive, intense nose revealing some aged notes to accompany the black fruit followed by muscular, concentrated, beautifully detailed flavors of excellent intensity first class length. While this is clearly an impressive wine of real quality, there is a rustic side to this wine that I’m not entirely convinced is ever going to completely disappear. Time will tell but it’s clear for the present that this is quite structured and will require at least another 7 or 8 years of cellar time, perhaps more but it should be worth the wait. Consistent notes since release.

From my cellar: 1996 Louis Jadot Bonnes Mares. VM 94+. Medium-deep red-ruby, with a hint of development at the rim. Deep, smoky aromas of espresso, bitter chocolate, meat and licorice, plus a floral topnote. Then penetrating, brisk and tightly wound, with terrific verve and structure. Boasts superb vivacity but comes across as surprisingly supple owing to its excellent extract. Finishes firmly tannic, with late hints of woodsmoke and chocolate. “The grapes ripened on photosynthesis during a clear, cold September, retaining strong acidity. The cool weather allowed for a natural cold maceration prior to the fermentation.”

Wagyu. Japanese A5 8+ Grade Ribeye, broccolini, black garlic, peanut, grilled onion jus. This beef was incredible!

1989 Château d’Yquem. VM 97. Laid-back, extremely young aromas of honey, creme caramel, smoke and earth; essence of semillon. Rich, large-scaled and powerful; really expands in the mouth. Lovely harmonious acidity and bright notes of orange peel and minerals give this very youthful wine great clarity of flavor. Classy and impeccably balanced. The subtle, oak-spicy, nutty finish goes on and on. Conveys an almost saline impression of extract. This should approach peak drinkability within the next eight to ten years and last for decades.

Domestic cheeses and season accompaniments. Always love some good cheese.

Gelato made by me:

Valrhona Dark Sorbetto – Doing the dariy free thing — a super intense Valrhona 63% Chocolate plus 100% cocoa plus 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 #chocolate #cocoa #sorbetto

Mango Passionfruit Sorbetto – 95% mango, 5% passionfruit, plus a little lemon, just throws a bit of acidity into the too-sweet mango to brighten it up — 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 #sorbetto #mango #passionfruit

Toasted Almond Coconut Sorbetto – when I can’t use milk this Thai coconut milk base with toasted almonds from Sicily is pretty darn awesome — 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 #coconut #almond #CoconutMilk #ToastedAlmond #sicily

Awesome wines.

Chef Javier Lopez and the rest of the kitchen crew.

Sommelier Catherine Morel on the right did an impeccable job.

Heading down!

Overall, 71Above is just a seriously well conceived and executed one-of-a-kind restaurant. Really, it’s more like a NY, Singapore, or Tokyo kind of concept. First of all, the view is just awesome. I can’t wait to come back on a really clear day. Particularly once they begin brunch service, a nice winter day will offer an observation deck like panorama.

But then Emil and crew built out such a lovely space to capture the drama. It’s modern, but welcoming. Not too loud, you can hear the conversation and the music both. And from when you enter off the double elevator ascent it folds from one experience to another: lounge, dining room, more intimate corridors, chef table, quiet and romantic view areas in the back, and a series of two adjustable private dining rooms. The attention to architectural detail is amazing.

Today’s dinner excelled on all counts. Service, food, company, and of course the wines. Sure the 2014’s were a “tad” young, but they still showed! We learned that they should be opened and decanted at least 12 hours ahead of time.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: 71above, BYOG, DRC, DTLA, Emil Eyvazoff, Gelato, Javier Lopez, Wine

Double Eagle is Pretty Standard

May13

Restaurant: Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse

Location: 10250 Santa Monica Blvd Suite 1700, Los Angeles, CA 90067. (323) 784-0473

Date: April 15, 2019

Cuisine: Steakhouse

Rating: Middling

Some of our core gang members decided to try out the new Del Frisco’s Double Eagle.

It’s a monster of a steakhouse in Century City — 15,000 square feet of restaurant — and represents Del Frisco’s attempt to go more upscale. Their regular place is like this.

It’s all those levels on the right.

The build out is very extensive/expensive — in a kind of corporate fake way.

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.

Bread.

Menu.

2014 La Chablisienne Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses. BH 94. Moderate wood frames the green fruit, floral, citrus and mineral reduction scents. The highly energetic and beautifully well-detailed middle weight flavors possess excellent minerality on the balanced, saline and Zen-like finale. This is quite simply terrific.

Stone Crab Claws with mustard. This was amazingly, I think, two portions. They were fairly flat and bland. And certainly small.

Chilled Shrimp “tasting”. Traditional Cocktail Sauce, Remoulade & Garlic Marinade. Nothing to write home about. And $4.33 a shrimp.

Shanghai-style Fried Calamari. Sweet Chili Glaze, Bean Sprouts, Cherry Peppers, Crushed Peanuts & Scallions. About as Shanghai as Shanghai McNuggets — but this was actually the first tasty dish as fried squid with sweet chili sauce is hard to get wrong.

1976 Château La Mission Haut-Brion. Another aged winner, this had a huge spicy aroma with hints of leather, cedar and cigar box complimenting the black currant fruit in the taste; it held up and finished as it started; a mild bit of sweetness came in late; enjoyable mature Bordeaux.

Thick-Cut Nueske’s Bacon au Poivre. Bourbon Molasses Glaze. Now this was tasty. Fatty, of course. And Sweet, and not really innovative or anything — but tasty.

Erick brought: 1985 Domaine de Chevalier. JG 93. It has been several years since I last saw a bottle of the 1985 DDC, but when last tasted in 2007, it was showing outstanding potential. The deep, pure and beautifully refined nose wafts from the glass in a blend of red plums, cherries, tobacco leaf, black truffles, cocoa powder, beautifully complex soil tones and a deft touch of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and velvety on the attack, with a fine core of sappy fruit, modest tannins, sound acids and outstanding length and grip on the really intense finish. This is a beautiful vintage of DDC that was just entering its plateau of peak maturity in 2006 and should continue to drink well for many decades to come.

Classic Caesar. Crisp Romaine Leaves, Shaved Parmesan, Croutons & Caesar Dressing. Anchovies.

Blue Cheese Lettuce Wedge. Iceberg, Cherry Tomatoes, Crisp Bacon & Danish Blue Cheese Dressing. Okay enough wedge.

Kirk brought: 1990 Château Trotanoy. VM 91. Bright red with an amber rim. Gamey aromas of black cherry, fig, leather, ink and spices; conveys an impression of rusticity. Fresh and lively on entry, then earthy and supple in the middle, with ripe acidity framing the black fruit and licorice pastille flavors. At once densely packed and lively, with a very long finish featuring substantial but smooth tannins and a trace of bitterness. This delicious, silky, open-knit Trotanoy is currently drinking well.

A dry aged cut. Maybe ?

Lobster Macaroni & Cheese. Certainly good. Not the best I’ve ever had. But I’ll give it some props.

Sautéed wild mushrooms & pearl onions.

1996 Château La Mission Haut-Brion. VM 91. Full ruby-red. Very reticent aromas of plum, black cherry, leather, dark chocolate and flowers; faint suggestion of surmaturite. Fat with sweet fruit; lush and voluminous for the vintage. Finishes with big but very even tannins that spread out on the palate.

From my cellar: 1996 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. VM 97+. What a treat it is to taste these two Pichon Lalandes straight from the chateau’s cellar. The 1996 Pichon Lalande is stratospheric from the very first taste. The deep, layered bouquet alone is deeply transfixing. Smoke, mocha, dark spices, lavender, crème de cassis, a host of dark-fleshed fruits and a touch of warm, resonant sweetness from the French oak draw me in. All of those sensations follow through to the palate, where the wine is massive, intense and totally enveloping. Time has softened the tannins to the point the 1996 is ready to drink, but there is enough sheer concentration here to support another 20-30 years of exceptional drinking. I am not sure I possess the vocabulary to describe just how captivating the 1996 is, but I do know this: If I had an opportunity to pick up a few well-stored bottles I would take it in a nanosecond. Readers holding the 1996 should be thrilled. The 1996 Pichon Lalande is a magnificent wine with plenty of upside. In word: fabulous.

Larry brought: 1996 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron. VM 94. The 1996 Pichon-Baron now has a superior bouquet to the 1995. There is much better definition here, and the scents of blackberry, graphite, smoke and a touch of gravel are all very harmonious and focused – quintessential Pauillac. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin and very fresh in the mouth. Hints of blood orange suffuse vivid black fruit tinged with a core of mineralité toward the finish. This is a seriously fine Pichon-Baron that seems to be pulling away from the 1995. Easily the peak of the nineties. Superb. Tasted at the Pichon-Baron vertical at the château.

Fancy salt tasting.

This premium steak came out to be cut table-side. The “Double Eagle” 45 day dry-aged double bone prime ribeye.

Let the carving begin.

Chop chop.

Slice slice.

Plate plate.

Thick-cut onion rings. Nice staking method.

Creamed corn. Blistered shishito peppers. This was pretty delicious.

I brought some gelato as usual, as I had a motherlode from my 6 batch set the other day.

Testing out a new Italian nut source — Salty Pistachio Gelato – using my new egg yolk based nut formulation with the new Sicilian Pistachio to produce a pistachio base with a slight saltiness — 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 #salty #pistachio #sicily #nuts

Testing out a new Italian nut source — Caramel Nocciola Gelato – using my new egg yolk based nut formulation with the new Piedmontese hazelnut to produce a hazelnut base, then adding in house-made caramel and chopped up hazelnuts — 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 #hazelnut #Nocciola #caramel #nuts

Traditional Cassata di Siciliana Gelato — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Sicilian Christmas cake as a gelato, with a ricotta almond base mixed with candied fruit and dark Valrhona chocolate chunks — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Cassata #Valrhona #CandiedFruit #fruit #chocolate #ricotta #almond #RicottaCheese #cheese #CassataSiciliana

Testing out a new Italian nut source — Salty Pistachio Gelato – using my new egg yolk based nut formulation with the new Almond to produce the base, then weaving in Italian apricot variegate — 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 #nuts #almond #apricot

Very Cherry Gelato – a super intense amarena cherry gelato topped with candied amarena cherries — 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 #amarena #cherry

Overall, while we had a fun time this particular night, there were some issues.

First of all, the menu is a bit boring. It’s just slightly up scaled Del Friscos. There is no unique signature to anything. The food execution reflected that. It wasn’t bad. Many dishes were certainly tasty. I liked the meats themselves. The sides. Appetizers were pretty uninspired.

They have a big wine-list. Fairly impressive. But I don’t see who will be ordering the expensive stuff. It just doesn’t feel exclusive or really upscale enough for a serious baller work steakhouse dinner.

They had a TON of staff, and service was okay, but not amazing. Lots of people running around or not doing anything. Wine service was very NICE, but not actually that great. The Somm, while extremely friendly and personable, and extremely accommodating, didn’t anticipate the needs of moving through 8 bottles of wine with 6 people. You have to get it IN THE GLASS for a flight BEFORE the food arrives. If you are opening bottles, fetching stems, etc after or when the food arrives, the wine will all pile up at the end. We had to keep prompting him about this, and we had nearly half of it left at dessert. It takes real anticipation to get the wine shoved through one of these multi-course dinners.

The rent has to be crazy. Now, I’m sure Westfield (the mall owners) gave them huge TIs for the build out. But I can’t possible see this place full any percentage of the time. It’s not a bad steakhouse at all, but it’s not really inspired either. And there are a lot of steakhouses in Los Angeles. So why would you come to this one unless you were just at the mall? And then it makes one hell of an expensive mall dinner.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Bordeaux, BYOG, Century City, Del Frisco's, Double Eagle, Gelato, hedonists, onion rings, Steak, steakhouse, Wine

Szechuan Impression Tustin

May10

Restaurant: Szechuan Impression

Location: 13816 Red Hill Ave, Tustin, CA 92780. (714) 505-9070

Date: April 14, 2019

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: that dependable SI quality

I’ve long been a huge fan of Sichuan Impression having eaten regularly at the Alhambra location and about 40 times at the West LA location. At the opening of SI West Yarom and I met one of the owners, Kelly, and struck up a friendship. She’s come to a bunch of our dinners and she invited us down to a big dinner at their flagship Tustin location.

And my commitment to Chinese is even more demonstrated by the fact that this night was the Game of Thrones season 8 premier!

This Tustin minimall much be a hot spot for Szechuan because just like in West LA there is a mob outside waiting.

We, of course, have our big table and owner-planned menu.

Special salad. This is off menu, and is a cool salad of carrots, cucumbers etc.

With a tangy soy based dressing poured over.

Cold Noodles. On the westside, I found this dish a bit heavy, but this version was excellent with nice chewy noodles and tangy sauce.

Juicy Steamed Chicken in Chili Sauce. This classic cold appetizer was excellent here. Not absolutely perfect. This particular night, the chicken was good, but the sauce was a little flat.

Cumin mutton. Super tender. Awesome version of this Szechuan classic.

Off menu, fried chicken, aromatic peppers, and crispy rice.

Tea Smoked Pork Rib. Pork rib, dry chili, scallion, minced peanuts. This was a moderately contentious dish in the group, but I loved it as always. The meat is super tender, melt from the bone, with a dry and nutty heat.

Spicy Crab. This was one of the best Chinese crab dishes I’ve had. Like a Chinese version of Maryland Eastern shore spicy crab. The meat was delectable and not overcooked, and the shell soft enough you could chew right through it.

Spicy beef noodle. Very spicy with thick chewy knife cut noodles and soft beef. Like a very spicy Szechuan beef stew.

Ginger Frog. SUPER spicy with fabulous flavor and delicate but (very boney) frog. I was addicted to this. But because it was Orange County, we only had a couple serious Chinese fans augmented by some newbies — who were a bit scared by the amphibian factor.

Fish filet with green chilies. Really nice version of this dish. Thick soft fish and lots of green heat. Very delicate and flavorful.

Pig trotters. Chewy, but lots and lots of flavor.

The classic shredded potatoes. Great with sauce.

Sweet and Sour Shrimp. Super garlicky, spicy, tangy. Really like this dish too.

Fried rice.

MaPo Tofu. 10 out of 10 version of this classic dish. Salty, but not too salty, with lots of mala.

Lettuce. Also very good. Tons of good garlic flavor.

Kung Pao Chicken. Fabulous. Very much Chengdu style with the heat, sweetness, and tangy quality.

Of course a brought a bunch of my famous gelato, left to right:

Testing out a new Italian nut source — Caramel Nocciola Gelato – using my new egg yolk based nut formulation with the new Piedmontese hazelnut to produce a hazelnut base, then adding in house-made caramel and chopped up hazelnuts — 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 #hazelnut #Nocciola #caramel #nuts

Traditional Cassata di Siciliana Gelato — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Sicilian Christmas cake as a gelato, with a ricotta almond base mixed with candied fruit and dark Valrhona chocolate chunks — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Cassata #Valrhona #CandiedFruit #fruit #chocolate #ricotta #almond #RicottaCheese #cheese #CassataSiciliana

Like all of the SI branches, this is excellent. As this was the flagship, and the owners bringing out the dishes, everything was really on point tonight. The only (slightly) off dish was the cold chicken which was a little flat. It was fun too to try some new (off menu) dishes like the “salad” and chicken with crispy rice. The crab is on menu and I was particularly spectacular.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Gelato, GYOG, hedonists, Sichuan, Sichuan Impression, spicy, Szechuan Chinese, Szechuan Impression, Tustin, Wine

Marino Ristorante Back Room

May08

Restaurant: Marino Ristorante [1, 2, 3]

Location: 6001 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038. (323) 466-8812

Date: April 12, 2019

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Superb

Restaurants in Los Angeles are constantly changing, opening, closing etc. One of the recent changes I miss the most was the shuttering of Il Grano — certainly West LA’s best Italian, particularly in the fancy/modern department. I really miss it – as it was one of my favorites and has 9 write ups on the blog (I think the most of any restaurant).
But the amazing chef/owner Sal Marino has relocated (back) to his original family haunt, venerable Marino Ristorante on Melrose and continues to cook up his unique blend of amazing modern Italian. And if anything, he’s gotten even better.

We Sauvages have been here or Il Grano many times, and so we return with a familiar Barolo and Barbaresco theme.

Today we took up residence in the private room. I haven’t been here before but it’s very nice — totally private.

Our special menu.

NV Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Grand Cellier d’Or. VM 92. Vilmart’s NV Cuvée Grand Cellier bristles with all the energy that makes the Vilmart Champagnes so compelling. Crushed rocks, lemon peel, white flowers, mint and dried flowers are all crystalline and finely cut. Medium in body, fresh and pulsating in its feel, the Grand Cellier is another winner from Vilmart. This release is based on 2014, with 50% reserve wines from 2013 and 2012. Disgorged September 2016. Dosage is 8 grams per liter.

2006 Dom Pérignon Champagne. VM 96. Powerful, dense and tightly wound, the 2006 Dom Pérignon is fabulous today. To be sure, the 2006 is a broad, virile Champagne, but I find it compelling because of its phenolic depth and overall intensity. Chef de Caves Richard Geoffroy adds that August was quite cold and wet, and that ripening only happened at the very end of the growing season. Although numbers alone can never explain a wine, I find it interesting that the 2006 has more phenolics than the 2003. Readers will have to be patient, as the 2006 is easily the most reticent Dom Pérignon in the years spanning 2002 and 2009. I am confident the 2006 will have its day, but in its youth, it is not especially charming or easy to drink.

Fried dandelions from Sal’s garden. Nice and delicately crispy.

Bread.

2001 Tenute Cisa Asinari dei Marchesi di Grésy Barbaresco Martinenga Camp Gros. VM 92. Palish bright red. Ripe, highly perfumed nose offers red berries, tobacco, minerals, dried flowers and woodsmoke: a classic example of the vineyard. Sweet, deep and rich but light on its feet, with a texture that’s at once silky and utterly mouthfilling. Wonderfully perfumed Barbaresco, finishing with impressive breadth, length and class. I could see the 2004 developing in a similar direction.

1997 Azienda Bricco Asili (Ceretto) Barbaresco Bricco Asili. VM 92. Bright amber-red. Perfumed aromas of dried red currant, apricot skin, almond paste, sweet spices and blood orange. Lively acidity provides clarity and cut on the midpalate, lifting the floral red cherry, tar and spice flavors. The finish is long and nuanced, but the tannins are a little tough.

1990 Gaja Barbaresco. VM 95. The 1990 Barbaresco emerges from the glass with an exotic array of tar, smoke, licorice and grilled herbs. There is wonderful intensity to the fruit and plenty of structure. The tannins are still a bit young and the wine is only now beginning to enter the early part of what looks to be a long drinking window! The 1990 Barbaresco is a touch rounder and softer than the 1989, with perhaps just a little less aromatic complexity and inner perfume, although that is splitting hairs at this level. The finish is long, intense and deeply satisfying. This is a marvelous bottle of Barbaresco.

Quaglia Ripiena. Deboned stuffed quail with prosciutto and robiola cheese. Great quail.

1996 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Villero di Castiglione Falletto. VM 95. An uber-classic wine, the Bruno Giacosa’s Barolo Villero is utterly captivating from the moment it is first opened. The 1996 needs a good hour for the aromatics to open up and the fruit to find its sweetness, but it is a mesmerizingly beautiful Barolo. Now nearly twenty years old, the 1996 Villero has lost some of its youthful tannic grip and is in perfect place to deliver pleasure. Scents of orange peel, spice, lavender and dried rose petal are woven into the exotic finish. Next to Giacosa’s Falletto Barolos, the Villero is more perfumed and sensual. Count me among those who were deeply saddened to see Giacosa stop making wine from this historic Castiglione Falletto site. The 1996 is a fitting close to Giacosa’s work here.

From my cellar: 1997 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Le Rocche del Falletto di Serralunga d’Alba. VM 93. Saturated deep red-ruby. Deep, expressive aromas of cherry syrup, road tar, smoke and game. Fat, chewy and loaded with fruit; can’t quite match the ’98 for flavor development or sheer verve, but this is sweet and lush. Finishes with major, tongue-coating tannins that will require at least a few years of additional bottle aging.

Pappardelle Fagiano. Pappardelle pheasant ragu. I love these rustic ragus. Very nice chewy pasta too.

1999 Elio Altare Barolo Vigneto Arborina. VM 96. I have always adored Elio Altare’s 1999s, even if for many years, Altare told me he preferred the 1998s. In my view, the 1999s always had more energy. That is still the case today. A great example of the vintage, the 1999 Barolo Arborina hits the palate with substantial depth. The tannins have begun to soften, revealing layers of crystalline fruit and more than enough freshness to drink well for another decade-plus.

2001 Paolo Scavino Barolo Bric dël Fiasc. VM 96. The 2001 Barolo Bric del Fiasc is a gorgeous wine laced with smoke, tar, licorice and menthol. The 2001 remains powerful and authoritative, with more than enough fruit to balance its huge tannins. Today it comes across as almost impenetrably young. There is plenty of upside to cellaring this fabulous Barolo.

Pollo. Autonomy Farms chicken breast black truffle, celery root.

Plus the truffle. Who says chicken has to be boring?

1997 Renato Ratti Barolo Marcenasco. VM 90. Full deep red. Exotic, superripe aromas of candied red fruits (currant, raspberry) and brown spices. Very sweet and lush but given shape by ripe, harmonious acids. Seems fatter and deeper than the ’96. A rather powerful, large-scaled wine in an essentially gentle style. Tannins are attractively sweet.

1999 Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo Cicala. VM 92. Bright full red. Highly aromatic, minerally nose of raspberry, spice and underbrush; less open today than the Colonnello but very pure and noble. Wonderfully sweet on entry, then considerably less evolved in the middle palate. A powerful, penetrating wine with superb acidity and grip. Firmly tannic, tough and long, but the tannins are nonetheless buried under explosive fruit. The Colonnello is gentler and sweeter on the back today, but this rather masculine Barolo has uncanny persistence. One of the stars of the vintage. The Conterno 1999 Barolos all say 14% alcohol on the label, but the actual level is even higher, according to Franco.

1999 Luciano Sandrone Barolo Cannubi Boschis. VM 93. The 1999 is easily one of the best wines in the series. It offers rich sensations of spices, flowers, toasted oak and minerals along with well-delineated layers of ripe dark fruit, menthol, and eucalyptus flavors, finishing with exceptional structure, length and freshness. I didn’t taste the superb 1989 (see above) at age six, but when I tasted this 1999 on a later occasion, the first thing that came into my mind was a young version of that wine. The 1999 will require at least a few years of bottle age and will start to be at its best around 2009, after which it should last another decade.

Agnello. Windrose Farms lamb, morels, porcini sauce, polenta.

From my cellar: 2012 Azienda Agricola Valentini Trebbiano d’Abruzzo. VM 93+. Light orange-yellow. Forward but racy aromas of tangerine, ginger, white flowers, sweet spices and medicinal herbs on the complex nose. Rich and round, but with lovely acid lift and energy to the concentrated flavors of apricot, pear and botanical herbs. Finishes long and pure. Not the most concentrated young Trebbiano d’Abruzzo from Valentini, but has a rich, ripe seamless personality that is hard to resist. Good to go right now but ought to age for 15 years at least. Really lovely wine.

Formaggi Piemontesi. Italian cheeses hit the spot with the Trebbiano.

Espresso.

Today’s wines.

My lousy notes.

The whole gang.

Today we were joined by these three lovely ladies du sauvages.

2003 Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Auslese ***. 93 points. Medium yellow in color. Deep aromas of ripe orchard fruits, citrus oils, fresh cut yellow flowers, slate and honeysuckle. Superb palate shows incredible intensity to the citrus and honey poached pears, peaches, good acidity and a long lip smacking finish with shimmering acidity. Woah…, this bottle is drinking incredibly well. There have been other bottles (from a six pack bought on release) that showed advanced age/aromas.

1989 Château Bastor-Lamontagne. 92 points. This had taken on the beautiful, golden amber colour of aged Sauternes. It was delicious, with the classic flavours of caramel, (hazel)nut and brown sugar. Slight savoury tinge, with uncanny Banofee like flavours dominating the palate, with just a little spice at the end. Simple, but absolutely yummy.

Because the day before I had a MEC3 rep in my gelato “lab” I had a whole series of gelatti.

Made 6 Gelatti to test out some new ingredients —Traditional Cassata di Siciliana Gelato — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Sicilian Christmas cake as a gelato, with a ricotta almond base mixed with candied fruit and dark Valrhona chocolate chunks — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Cassata #Valrhona #CandiedFruit #fruit #chocolate #ricotta #almond #RicottaCheese #cheese #CassataSiciliana

Testing out a new Italian nut source — Caramel Nocciola Gelato – using my new egg yolk based nut formulation with the new Piedmontese hazelnut to produce a hazelnut base, then adding in house-made caramel and chopped up hazelnuts — 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 #hazelnut #Nocciola #caramel #nuts

Testing out a new Italian nut source — Salty Pistachio Gelato – using my new egg yolk based nut formulation with the new Sicilian Pistachio to produce a pistachio base with a slight saltiness — 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 #salty #pistachio #sicily #nuts

Testing out a new Italian nut source — Salty Pistachio Gelato – using my new egg yolk based nut formulation with the new Almond to produce the base, then weaving in Italian apricot variegate — 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 #nuts #almond #apricot

Very Cherry Gelato – a super intense amarena cherry gelato topped with candied amarena cherries — 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 #amarena #cherry

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Gelato – a super intense Valrhona 63% base with Valrhona 40% chips — 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 #chocolate #ChocolateChips

Sal was totally on point today as were almost all of the wines. Service was great too. Really nice lunch that went extremely smoothly. The private room left us feeling like we were in our own little restaurant.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or experience my gluttonous month-long food trips through Italy.