Archive for Wine – Page 22

The Not So New American

Jan06

Restaurant: Toomey’s

Location: 6085 Minaret Rd. “At The Village”. Mammoth Lakes, CA. (760)-924-4408

Date: December 30, 2015

Cuisine: American

Rating: decent, for Mammoth

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Mammoth Lakes isn’t exactly a culinary capital, so another night brings us to:

A popular American joint right at the “Village.”

The inside has a “man cave” sports chic.

But like most Mammoth places they do allow corkage!

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

Baked Brie. French Brie baked in puff pastry topped with Apricot, Citrus, Berry Glaze, French Baguette & Fresh Fruit.

Humus w/Vegetables & Pita Bread. Creamy Bean Puree with Fresh Veggies and Pita Bread.

Lobster Taquitos. 3 Taquitos, Black Beans, Avacado Salsa & Salad.

From my cellar: 1993 Georges Noellat Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts. 92 points. Medium garnet-tinged ruby. Narrow paler rim showing a touch of brick, and clear at the very rim. Light, fresh nose. Spicy and floral with ripe cherry and plum fruit. Classy, but not much depth. Mouth feel is round, firm and sweetly fruited with red cherry. Mid-palate shows spicy, meaty tones. Round and pleasing, with good acidity and real flair. Lingering, spicy finish.

Fresh Organic Spring Mix Salad with Fresh Grilled Salmon. Seasonal fresh vegetables, goat Cheese, roasted garlic, balsamic, olive oil dressing.

Chicken tenders and fries.

Fish ‘n’ Chips – “Marin’ the English jealous”. Beer Battered Atlantic Cod served with Fries & Homemade Tartar Sauce.

Seafood Jambalaya “As southern as you can get in Mammoth”. Shrimp, scallops, king crab, Andouille Sausage. It wasn’t exactly real Jambalaya — the seafood was pretty good actually, but the sauce was more a ratatouille than a properly cooked down Creole dish. Still, not bad.

They have pies from Mimi’s Bakery, which is an awesome (even on the absolute non Mammoth scale) pie bakery.

Gingerbread pie.

Coconut cream pie. Amazing.
Chocolate Decadence pie.

Overall, Mimi’s was fine (for Mammoth). The service was top notch and very friendly. The food was solid, but hardly “exciting” in a foodie/culinary way. Still, their execution was decent. And it was walking distance from our condo!

For more dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. The New American – Gjelina
  2. From Russia with Love
  3. Book Review: The First American
  4. Mei Long Village – Pig Stuffed Duck
  5. Mountain Time Machine
By: agavin
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Food as Art – Tempura Endo

Jan04

Restaurant: Tempura Endo

Location: 9777 Santa Monica Blvd. Beverly Hills, CA 90210 USA. 310-274-2201

Date: January 3, 2016

Cuisine: Japanese Tempura (Kyoto style)

Rating: Like being back in Japan, including the price 🙂

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My friend Liz Lee of Sage Society invited me to a pre opening dinner at Beverly Hill’s latest high end Japanese restaurant.

Tempura Endo is a new branch of a traditional Kyoto style tempura restaurant. As they say on their website: “Savor our exquisite Kyoto-style tempura in a most traditional setting in the ancient capital of Japan. the ingredients for our delectable tempura feature the choicest seasonal delicacies. Indulge yourself in exquisite Kyoto-style tempura at Tempura Endo.”

The frontage and interior is modern Japanese elegant.

Tonight’s maxed out Omakase menu.

The plate is pre-prepared with a variety of salts, soy sauce, and lemon. “The delicately seasoned original dipping sauce, made with a secret recipe and carefully selected salt, enhance the natural flavors of the tempura. Premium quality cottonseed oil made from the finest guarantees the amazingly crisp, light, healthy tempura.”

Even the toothpicks are artful.

Liz brought: 1999 Bruno Paillard Champagne Nec Plus Ultra. AG 94. Vivid yellow-gold. Potent, smoke-accented aromas of pit fruits, melon and honey, with a sexy floral overtone and building minerality. Lively, sappy and seamless, with intense nectarine and candied ginger flavors and notes of buttery brioche and anise. Shows a compelling blend of richness and vivacity, with no rough edges. A refreshingly bitter note of citrus pith adds lift and cut to the smoky, strikingly long finish, which leaves notes of honeysuckle and poached pear behind. a 50/50 blend of chardonnay and pinot noir that was aged for 12 years on its lees and disgorged in January, 2012.

Cold Tempura Appetizer. Kyoto-eggplant, minced shrimp, ginger dashi gelee. Very Japanese, with that mild savory flavor lent by the dashi. Interesting textural interplay between the jelly, the bits of ginger, and the cool eggplant.

Amuse Tempura.

Corn tempura. A quarter turn of kernels skimmed off the cobb. Perfectly fresh. The frying style here is light and fluffy, with a nice crispy texture, but without any taste of oil. It serves to enhance the ingredients rather than distract from them. The was eaten (as recommended) with the rice salt.

Shrimp bread tempura. Tasted more like a bit of pan fried shrimp toast. Delicious. This was eaten with the green tea salt.

Liz brought: 1992 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot. Burghound 92. Deep golden. When this wine is good it’s terrific but these days it often isn’t. After years of being a relatively closed wine, particularly in the context of the vintage, this has arrived at its full maturity and is now wonderfully expressive with ample breadth and depth that complement well the admirably rich and full but delineated flavors that offer better fine acid/fruit balance plus excellent length. While not a great vintage for this storied wine, it still is really quite lovely plus, if well-stored, remains a lovely effort. Still I would suggest drinking up sooner than later as my experience, even from perfect storage, has been very inconsistent with several oxidized examples.

agavin: our bottle was a bit flat. No nose at first, although this blossomed. So did the taste, but it never really reached the heights one would have hoped for.

Sashimi course.

Abalone sashimi. Nice crunch and mouth feel.

Toro sashimi. Melt in your mouth good.

Sea bream sushi. Took this simple fish to new heights.

Wagyu sashimi. The beef is from Miyazaki Prefecture in Japan, one of the most elite sources of genuine Wagyu beef. It completely melted in your mouth, silky smooth. Almost certainly the best beef sashimi I’ve ever had.

Just appreciate the geometry of the sauce tray — ignoring the white blob at the bottom.
From my cellar: 2006 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc. Parker 94. The 2006 Chateauneuf du Pape blanc (80% Roussanne and the rest Marsanne, Picpoul, and Bourboulenc) possesses classic notes of orange marmalade, honeysuckle, and rose petals, a full-bodied, unctuous texture, gorgeous purity and richness, and a stunningly long finish. It can compete with the finest full-throttle, dry whites of France as well as the world. It is difficult to find a better white Chateauneuf du Pape than Beaucastel. Much like their reds, their whites are made in a style that is atypical for the appellation. It is put through full malolactic, and one-third is barrel fermented, then blended with the two-thirds that is aged in tank. Extraordinarily rich and honeyed, it is ideal for drinking with intensely flavored culinary dishes.

Endo’s Tempura, style 1. On the left, classic shrimp. They use a bit of wine in the batter, either Chardonnay or Sauvignon blanc, depending on the type of thing being fried. This tempura is eaten primarily with salt, in this case the yuzu salt.

And the shrimp head, which was certainly the best fried shrimp head I’ve had. It was rich, and paired nicely with the Rhone.

King crab tempura. A great piece of fried crab. Light and delicate — although hot.

Sea urchin (uni) tempura. Santa Barbara Uni, wrapped in seaweed, and lightly fried. The uni was still soft and buttery.

Daikon radish, as a palette cleanser.

Eaten with a bit of soy sauce.

From my cellar: 2011 Veyder-Malberg Riesling Bruck. 92 points. First beautiful straw chablis like color, nose of oil can like and lead pencil, the finish is very long smooth and lasting for over a minute. Awesome wine…

Sillago with shiso tempura. A very crispy light fish wrapped in yummy shiso.

Abalone tempura.

This pure butter was provided.

To top the abalone. The result was crispy, with a wonderful combination of textures and richness.

Pea Croquette tempura. A crispy pea pod.

The next course comes in a bag.

Taro with truffle! Very light and delicate.

Then the Refreshment Tempura.

Flambed sweet potato. Sweet and crispy. Like the ultimate high end version of one of those sweet potato desserts served at some Chinese Restaurants.
Yuzu Granite. Delightfully refreshing.
Caviar for the next course.

The roe was used to top this Tempura Style 2 Scallop with Truffle and Caviar. The truffle is layered in the middle. This was one of my favorites.

Sesame Tofu. Soft and gooey inside with a hint of sesame, with a touch of heat too from some daikon. A delightful ponzu too.

Wagyu tempura. The richest tempura you’ll ever have!

Special Salada. Tempura carrots and various stripped vegetables with a zesty dressing. Delicious.

Green tea.

Tempura Bowl.

Ten Don. Egg and various other bits all fried together over rice. This is a high end version of what they serve at Hannosuke. Another of my favorites. I love the egg yolk on the rice.

Red miso soup.

Tsukemono pickles. Nice with the rice.

Chef Satoshi Masuda works the frier.

Traditional pressed sugar candies to go with the special tea (that’s coming).

Each of us got to pick our own tea bowl!

A specially trained member of the staff prepares the tea in the “tea nook.”

The above video shows the entire ceremony.

The special green tea. It was strong, without any bitterness.

Very soft sesame ice cream. Light and delicious.

A close up of the tea.

Overall, this was some spectacular tempura and a lovely meal. In every way it reminded me of various dinners in Japan: the small intimate room, the friendly staff, the small courses of exquisite food, the high price tag (although it’s also similar in price to Totoraku and Yamakase). I also understand this kind of food is inherently expensive, because the staff is large (relative to the guests) and the technique labor intensive. You’ve never had fried food with this attention to detail! But it will be interesting to see if LA appreciates that.

Also, in terms of experience, once they officially open they plan not to allow corkage, which is something I’d like to see changed. They have a very straightforward wine list, and wine guys like us have way too much interesting wine to go that way. If I were eating here again under those rules I’d go with sake (which I do like), but still, not allowing outside wines precludes this as a wine dinner destination — and that is 99% of my fine dining.

Still, as we have such a fine collection of great Japanese restaurants in LA, it’s nice to have yet another with such a different style of cuisine.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Hannosuke Tempura
  2. Food as Art – N/Naka
  3. Food as Art – Takao
  4. Food as Art: Sasabune
  5. Food as Art: R.I.P. The Hump
By: agavin
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California Dreaming

Dec11

Restaurant: Private Club

Location: Somewhere in California

Date: December 9, 2015

Cuisine: American

Rating: Awesome

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After the Foodie Club met for our epic Truffle Dinner, we hit on the idea of a dinner exploring old California wines. We’re not talking the last 20 years of high alcohol monster wines, but the classic post war California. So this drink covers 1954 to 1998!

And what better location than a true California institution, left nameless, a private bastion of the old California.

They don’t make them like they used to!

And we had a custom menu and this awesome private room.

With plenty of space to work out our wine situation. Check out that ice bucket in the back!

1988 Schramsberg Vineyards Blanc de Noirs Late Disgorged (magnum). 93 points. A beautiful etched 3L bottle, which we opened at R&D’s caroling party. Beautiful golden robe with a persistent mousse. Notes of roasted notes, caramel apple, fresh pear and hazelnuts. Fine bead with flavors of cherry, hazelnut, sautéed apple and pear with a subtle hint of honey and vanilla cream on the finish. Lovely. This actually needed some time in the glass to open and express itself.

And a detail on the label.

2014 Wente Bros Vineyards Pinot Chardonnay. 85 points. None of us know what a “pinot chardonnay” actually was. Presumably, and by taste, there was plenty or all Chardonnay. This 60 year old white was pretty much gone, but it did have a sherry-like quality that was kinda interesting with the foie.

1970 Inglenook White Pinot. 89 points. We aren’t sure what was in this either, but plenty of Chard. It was pretty good too and surprisingly drinkable for a 45 year old Chard. I’ve had 15 year old Cal Chards in worse shape!

From my cellar: 1990 Fabien Coche-Bouillot Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières. 93 points. Unmistakable and typical white burgundy notes of mineral, stone fruit, and saline. Very light in color and what appeared to be a new cork in the bottle. I would guess that these might have been topped off with the latest vintage prior to being released. This definitely showed remarkable freshness for a wine of 25 years of age. In a word, delicious.

agavin: I didn’t have any old Cal Chard, so I brought some old Chard. But positively young compared to the previous two. Nutty and nice white Burg.

Foie Gras with mango. Port ginger sauce. Really nice seared foie, with a very good sweet sauce and lovely mushy mango pairing. Worked well with these old chards.

1975 ZD Wines Pinot Noir. 91 points. Very young and fresh!

1982 Calera Pinot Noir Reed Vineyard. 86 points. Slightly musty, but in pretty good shape and quite enjoyable.

1969 Freemark Abbey Cabernet Sauvignon. Our bottle was cloudy and undrinkable.

1974 Souverain Cabernet Sauvignon Vintage Selection North Coast. 88 points. Lovely midpalate lift and silky smooth texture. Palate is tertiary. David says full of dill and American oak, can tell it’s not French. Racines.

Scottish salmon. White beans, fume rouge. Another great sauce. This chef is awesome with the sausome.

1976 Burgess Petite Sirah Harvest of the Napa Valley. 91 points. Bright and young!

1974 Freemark Abbey Petite Sirah York Creek. 90 points. 41 years old and still has a tannic punch to it! Brambly, tobacco aromas, reminiscent of rasberries and blackberries. On the palate gently stewed blackberries, red fruits, mineral and a bit of a tannic kicker. This magnificent wine screamed for red meat accompaniment; alas, I had truffled eggs.

1974 Conn Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Family Vineyard. 96 points. Still quite dark in the glass with minimal bricking at the margin. Big and almost brooding, dense mixed black fruit; full mid palate; medium acidity almost keeps up with the fruit; some tannins on the finish; might have guessed that this was a 10 year old petite syrah.

agavin: everyone agreed with was WOTN, a real stunner

1989 Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Martha’s Vineyard. 93 points. Highly perfumed bouquet of ripe fruit, flowers, and terroir. Indeed, the sexiest bouquet of the eight wines. Generous mouthfeel, considerable substance, quality finish. In a great place, and though it has several years of life left there is no reason to wait.

Smoked quail and porcini mushroom risotto. Another awesome sauce.

1983 Grace Family Cabernet Sauvignon. 93 points. This was the first vintage with the Dick Grace label, 3.5 years in Limousin Oak barrels, typical Grace nose, rich fruit and terrific bottle bouquet plus hints of more wood than the older wines, concentrated medium fruit plus lots of mouth coating tannins in the mouth, finish is long but average flavors when compared to the other wines tonight.
1984 Grace Family Cabernet Sauvignon. 92 points. Drinking very well for an older Cailfornia. I was under the impression Napa Cabs won’t age so well. This wine has changed my perception. Good levels of fruit, soft mellow tannins and a nose so aromatic of dried rasins. Great wine.
1984 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon. Parker 90. This wine has consistently been a crowd pleaser, with its impressive dark color, rich, jammy, cedary, licorice, chocolatey, cassis, and olive-like aromas and flavors, and full-bodied, unctuously-textured style. It is a big, chewy, flashy, oaky style of Cabernet. Although fully mature, there are no signs of decline.
1987 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon Estate. Parker 98. Chateau Montelena has made so many sensational Cabernets that it seems almost impossible to believe that their 1987 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate could be even more profound than any of the exceptional wines made previously at this property. The black/purple color, the extraordinary bouquet of rich cassis, violets, and licorice, the massive extraction of flavors, sensational depth, super ripeness, and a length that must last over a minute, suggest to me that this is easily the most concentrated and potentially longest-lived Cabernet Sauvignon that Chateau Montelena has ever made. The extract level is incredible, yet the balance is there. Anticipated maturity: 1997-2025.

Roast duck. Red wine and figs. Great duck. Great sauce. Perfect pairing.

1994 Mount Veeder Winery Cabernet Sauvignon. Parker 88. Mount Veeder’s 1994 Cabernet Sauvignon is a sleeper. The wine displays loads of creamy, vanilla, pain grille notes in the nose, to go along with ripe black currants intermixed with truffles and licorice. The tannin is sweet, the wine gives a nice tactile impression on the palate (medium to full-bodied and chewy), and the finish includes gobs of pure black cherry and black currant fruit. This is a delicious, up-front 1994 Cabernet that can be drunk now as well as over the next 10-12 years.

1993 Dalla Valle Cabernet Sauvignon Estate. Parker 94-96. Of all the extraordinary wines emanating from California in recent years, one of the most remarkable achievements must be the two cuvees of Cabernet Sauvignon made by Naoka and Gustav Dalla Valle, with the capable assistance of consulting winemaker, Heidi Barrett. Dalla Valle’s Cabernet Sauvignon is a pure, unbridled expression of this varietal at its most powerful and concentrated. The proprietary red wine, named after the owners’ daughter, Maya, is usually a blend of equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc (the greatest Cabernet Franc I have tasted in the New World). These are wines of immense stature and richness. It seems nearly impossible that one could pack so much intensity and flavor into a wine without either the wine or the tannin coming across as heavy-handed. Since 1990, all of the Maya offerings have possessed extremely well-integrated tannin and acidity.
1993 Freemark Abbey Cabernet Franc Bosché Vineyard. 92 points. Very ready to drink now…window is closing. Very smooth and mildly velvet (velour?) mouth feel. Dark purple to almost brownish color with very little clear spectrum at the edges. Plum with a little hit of apricot and vanilla.
From my cellar: 1998 Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Martha’s Vineyard. 91 points. Brown-red. Roses, eucalyptus, flowers on the nose. Very powerful, yet in perfect balance. Tannins and acidity for the long haul. Nice fruit, lots of savory, complexity. This is a deep wine, and I wish I hadn’t just a sip in the tasting room. A wine to be studied and savored.

agavin: Oldest Cal wine in my cellar. lol.

Wagyu hanger steak. Truffle lingonberrie sauce. Truly great hanger steak. Super tender and meaty, fabulous sauce.

1987 Heitz Cellar Chardonnay. Fairly oxidized, but still drinkable.
1978 Joseph Phelps Johannisberg Riesling Selected Late Harvest. 92 points.  It was sweet on the pallete like thin caramel syrup, a dark burnt golden hue in color. Smelled sugary & fresh & delicious. TBA brown in color.

Charles Krug Moscato di Caneli. Not even in cellar tracker. Medium sweet and old. Pleasant.

Selection of domestic cheeses. All three were very nice.

Petit fours. A few random bits of sweet.

All and all a stunning evening. The venue was great. The service was great. Food really exceeded expectations. This kitchen handles an enormous volume, yet these dishes were all really nice, and many fabulous. They aren’t the most modern looking, but they tasted really great and were fabulously paired with the wines.

Speaking of, some very impressive juice considering the age. That Chards and pinots from 40+ years were even drinkable is amazing. But many were very good. And a few of the cabs were just fabulous. I don’t really think these newer high alcohol style California wines being produced today will last like this. These cabs were made to taste like Bordeaux, and to last like Bordeaux. For the most part, they seem to. Now that isn’t to say that every wine in this tasting was young, fresh, and blemish free. These are old wines, and one accepts some fickleness. But they preformed well. More then well, great.

Overall awesome.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or check out more crazy Foodie Club dinners.

Related posts:

  1. Joe’s Restaurant – California Classic
  2. Memorial Day Pig
  3. Dreaming Along
  4. Fraiche – Ultimo Wine Dinner
  5. Food as Art: Ludobites 7.0
By: agavin
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ThanksGavin 2015 – Fat Friday

Dec07

As if Thanksgiving itself wasn’t enough, the ThanksGavin food marathon traditionally includes Fat Friday, another feast hosted by one of my cousins.


This year, like last year, my cousin Matt and his wife Andrea hosted.

Matt is not only a great cook, but he does double duty as bar tender. I, meanwhile, handle Sommelier duties.

From my cellar: 2001 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. Burghound 92. Ripe and extremely opulent intense citrus fruit and white flowers coupled with medium weight flavors dripping with minerality and enough fat to buffer the bracing acidity. There is a subtle underlying complexity and this is remarkably intense, assertive and precise yet there is excellent power and depth as well.

My parents picked this cheese up last month in Portugal. It was a medium gooey, very tasty, pungent cow cheese with a bit of the strength of goat.

My father brought: 2013 Klein Constantia Sauvignon Blanc. 88 points. Strong grapefruit.

Marinated pickles. As the dinner has a bit of a Korean theme, Matt picked up some artisanal banchan from a place that specializes only in kimchee.

Spicy radish.

Pickled greens.

Kimchee. The classic cabbage version.

Pickled spicy peppers.

From my cellar: 2002 Gros Frère et Sœur Grands-Echezeaux. Burghound 92. While not really intrusive, the oak treatment is still visible on the otherwise expressive nose of spice, earth and black fruit aromas that are still completely primary in character. The big-bodied and muscular flavors are not particularly elegant though there is good size and weight to them, all wrapped in a reasonably long finish where wood tannins can also be discerned on the mouth coating backend. In sum, this is a good Grands Ech.

For the less carnivorous, Italian tuna, hard boiled egg.

And parsley sauce.

Which can be assembled into Nicoise sandwiches.

My father brought: 2007 Cellole Chianti Classico.

Itsuki helps prep the next dish.

Various ingredients.

Sesame sauce (for noodles below). I tuned up the recipe by increasing the sour component (i.e. vinegar) to make it more in keeping with Chinese balance.

Chinese egg noodles.

Sesame noodles. A homemade version of the sesame peanut noodles. This dish is derived somewhat from Dan Dan Mein, one of my favorite dishes. It was quite nice, with a good nutty flavor and a little zing.

From my cellar: 2005 Celler Vall Llach Priorat Vall Llach. 93 points. Quite dark red in color, like black cherry. Nose with subtle notes of plum, camphor, and dark berries. Big flavors of blackberry and spice. Drinking great.

The main event is pork shoulder, shown roasting here.

Midway.

Then finished. It was coated in the most awesome crunchy sweet and salty crust.

And being carved.

Pulled Korean BBQ pork shoulder. One of the best pulled porks I’ve ever had — and I’ve had my share.

Crusty pork. The edge of the meat, with more intense flavor.

Green onion and seasonings to add to the pork. It was used to top the pork inside a lettuce wrap and with a Korean inspired sauce. Ridiculously tremendously delicious.

My father brought: 2012 Celler de Capçanes Montsant Mas Donís Barrica (Old Vines). VM 90. Bright purple. Expressive aromas of dark berries, cracked pepper and violet, with a smoky overtone. Pliant black and blue fruit flavors pick up a licorice nuance with air and show very good, mineral-driven intensity. Finishes with strong stony cut, the licorice and floral notes repeating.

Greens drying.

A bok-choy side.

my father brought: 2010 Clarendelle. 88 points. Red fruit and some slight secondary Bordeaux aromas, tobacco, leather. The ripe red fruit dominates, red raspberry, stewed strawberry. The tannin is soft and round. Velvety mouthfeel. Good initial bouquet but not a particularly long finish. Merlot shows through but with some added subtle features from the Cabs. 82% Merlot, 16% Cab. Sauv., 2% Cab. Franc. Drink over the next 3-5 years.

Rice.

My plate. You can (vaguely) make out the pork wrap in the lower left.

The dessert wines return!

From my cellar: 1983 Bodegas Toro Albala Don PX Gran Reserva. 96 points. Nutty, fig and raisins on the nose, rich and huge depth on palate with figs, raisin and rich expansive tartness that fills the palate. Enormously long finish, 5 minutes of caramel and spice. Outstanding. So good.

My father bought in Portugal: Quinta do Vallado Porto 20 Year Old Tawny. 93 points. high notes of fig, vanilla, caramel and oak and a touch of bright grape. great color. smooth and not heavy with alcohol burn.

Bob made this awesome Derby Pie. A pecan pie with chocolate and walnuts!

And Itsuki whipped up another batch of Grandma’s brownies.

The pumpkin pie return too.

And I literally whipped up some fresh whipped cream, because all the above really needed it.

Plus my mother baked this chocolate chip chocolate icing cake.
And lest the kids feel left out, Matt made these fresh homemade ice cream and melted marshmallow sandwiches!

All and all another staggeringly good dinner, and probably the best Fat Friday yet.

Related posts:

  1. ThanksGavin 2015
  2. ThanksGavin 2015 – Uzbekistan?
  3. Friday Night Feast 2014
  4. Friday Night Lights
  5. Friday Night Feasting
By: agavin
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ThanksGavin 2015

Dec04

It’s that time of year again, time to loosen your belt buckle and sit down for the annual ThanksGavin!

Let me first introduce the chefs, above. On the left my mom and on the right her sister. They’ve been putting together this feast for decades.

Rising Chef Matt (my cousin) cooks a lot too. One of these days he’s going to inherent the feast. But right now he hosts Friday night.

My father brought the sparkler: NV Casa Vinicola Botter Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Santi Nello. 88 points. Peach, mineral, dry, small bubbles, hint of sweetness, but not overly so. Great value.

From my cellar: 2000 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. 95 points. Razor sharp aromas of wet rocks, earth and white fruits meld into flavors that are crystalline in their precision, purity and transparency. Understated, discreet and fine yet this is painfully intense with buckets of minerality. Quite backward presently but this is a genuinely breathtaking wine that defines class. In two words, absolutely brilliant and consistent notes.

agavin: wow! This is what makes Burgundy so great. Like liquid creme brûlée. Chardonnay from anywhere else just cries itself to sleep.

Olives. Appetizers aren’t the focus of this meal, but we have a few.

And homemade olive tapenade.

Good stuff with the toasts.

First a sneak peak at the main spread. Then on to the dinner wines.

From my cellar: 1997 Maison Roche de Bellene Clos de la Roche Collection Bellenum. 93 points. Quite excellent. Rich, penetrating red fruit up front followed by layers of earth, spice, sous bois and perhaps some violets or lavender. The tannins on the longish finish are still abit on the chalky side but this is displaying lots of subtle depth and complexity without being at all heavy handed. There’s just a little bricking on the edge.

agavin: great stuff. Good thing I have more.

From my cellar: 1970 Bodegas Olarra Rioja Cerro Anon Gran Reserva. 92 points. showed beautifully. orange peel, sweet spices, balsamic. Still youthful and full of fruit.

From my cellar: 1990 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. 95 points. I was buying this when I first started collecting wine 20 years ago, I buy it now. Great showing for a bottle in perfect shape. Stinky Mouvedre nose with leather, animal, tree bark and a touch of sweaty saddle. In the mouth, close to fully resolved with spice, tannic tree bark and sweet raspberry fruit, along with a spicy intensity that has huge length and presence but still feels light on its feet. Is this at its peak (for taster who appreciate aged Beaucastel). The wine is in a more structured, “masculine” style than the 1989 or the 1985 – this is more about structure and clarity of expression in a rustic and gamey style. Exceptional.

My father brought: 2011 Quinta da Fronteira Douro Selecção do Enólogo. 89 points. Very enticing nose with lots of lovely red fruit character. On the palate it is initially quite soft, a melding of Valpolicella and Pinot Noir, elegant red fruit and cinnamon but a sound structure to it as well. After a bit of time in the glass, some dark fruit character emerges, and the acidity and tannin become more prominent alongside increased fruit concentration, all of which contribute to the wine really gaining character, much less timid and reserved, much more enjoyable on both intellectual and hedonistic levels.

Bread, in case stuffing isn’t enough.

New this year is this carrot dish. Lovely to look at too.

And also new were Brussels sprouts. Cheese and bacon could be added at will. I willed.

And some savory beans.

Plus fairly usual beets, always good.

A faro salad.

And butternut squash with black pepper.

Cranberry chutney. A choice of two variants on the cranberry theme. My favorite is the spicy chutney (above) which is smooth and slightly spicy.

Cranberry relish. More rough in texture.

And the birds themselves.

Carved turkey. Oh so moist, nicely dressed by the ladies, BBQed to perfection by my father and uncle.

Stuffing of course.

And gravy.

Here is my dad’s plate, giant turkey leg and all.

And mine.

My uncle digs into his own bird.

Dessert wines!

From my cellar: 1983 Bodegas Toro Albala Don PX Gran Reserva. 96 points. Nutty, fig and raisins on the nose, rich and huge depth on palate with figs, raisin and rich expansive tartness that fills the palate. Enormously long finish, 5 minutes of caramel and spice. Outstanding. So good.

My father bought in Portugal: Quinta do Vallado Porto 20 Year Old Tawny. 93 points. high notes of fig, vanilla, caramel and oak and a touch of bright grape. great color. smooth and not heavy with alcohol burn.

To go with all that sugary alcohol, the dessert spread.

Grandmom’s special parve brownies.

Chocolate and chocolate chocolate chip cookies.

My mom’s famous pecan pie. Incredibly gooey in the center.

And cousin Matt’s butternut squash “pumpkin” pie. Nicely spiced.

Chocolate dipped meringues.
And my personal plate.

Too much of a good thing!

This was another spectacular homemade ThanksGavin dinner as usual, quite possibly the best yet. Really, they just keep getting better (and clearly more sleep inducing).

For more ThanksGavin meals, click here.

Related posts:

  1. ThanksGavin 2015 – Uzbekistan?
  2. ThanksGavin 2013
  3. ThanksGavin 2012
  4. ThanksGavin 2014
  5. ThanksGavin 2011 – The Main Event
By: agavin
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ThanksGavin 2015 – Uzbekistan?

Dec02

Restaurant: Chaikhana Uzbekistan

Location: 12012 Bustleton Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19116. (215) 671-1990

Date: November 24, 2015 & November 21, 2017

Cuisine: Uzbeki

Rating: Tasty fun

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It’s tradition on the day before ThanksGavin, for us Gavins to go somewhere ethnic.

This year, we ended up at a new place, and a new cuisine (or sub cuisine) for me: Chaikhana Uzbekistan. Seems fitting this year too because I’ve been reading about the Mongol conquest — and well, Uzbekistan was on the menu. But tonight we are the beneficiaries of this crossroads of the world.

My father brought this sparkler. NV Casa Vinicola Botter Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Santi Nello. 88 points. Peach, mineral, dry, small bubbles, hint of sweetness, but not overly so. Great value.

Salad with preserved meat, olives, and cheese. Nice salad actually. Sort of like a Greek salad, but with bits of pastrami.

Salad in the back. A more normal middle eastern salad. Also in the front, those shot glasses of yogurt and tomato “sauce.” These could be drizzled over just about anything to add to the flavor — and they really did. This is a bit similar to Afghan places.

From my cellar: 2013 Christophe et Fils Chablis. 92 points. Limpid color. More orange fruit than the Petit Chablis. Slightly leaner and lighter than that wine, but similar outstanding acidity and limestone. Excellent.
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Tomato salad.

An eggplant salad. Nice, with good smoked flavor.

Uzbeki bread. Nice and hot and puffy.

From my cellar: 2009 Weingut Knoll Riesling Smaragd Dürnsteiner Kellerberg. 92 points. Medium green-yellow. Seductive aromas of ripe peach, subtle blossom honey and mandarin orange. Becomes more exotic in the mouth, adding papaya and lime to the mix. Sweet peach and papaya fruit is lifted by extraordinarily elegant lemony acidity. Finishes with palate-staining fruit and intense wet rock minerality. Wonderful to drink now, but should be even better between 2014 and 2024.

Herring and potatoes. Marinated cut herring in front. Like some saba sashimi — with potatoes!

Potato dumplings. Very soft succulent gnocchi like things.

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Chicken dumplings. Don’t look like much, but were very tasty.
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Bread with spinach and cheese. Sort of Uzbeki spanakopita.

From my cellar: 1993 Pierre Damoy Chambertin-Clos de Bèze. 93 points. Elegant, extremely pure and spicy with austere black fruit notes and understated, powerful, densely concentrated and superbly well focused flavors that deliver superb mid-palate punch and terrific finishing complexity. This has always been impressive, even since release and it continues to develop well. It can be approached now but it will certainly be better in a few years. That said, it’s so close to its peak that there would be very little left on the table to open a bottle now. Multiple, and consistent, notes.

Rice with lamb. One of these typical pilaf dishes found in central Asia, and north India, and China (as fried rice). Delicious.

Turnovers. Meat and cheese and spinach. The Flat one is the cheese. Both were good, and the meat one was a serious bomb, but quite delicious with the yogurt and tomato.
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Kabob. Beef or lamb and ground beef. I really liked the ground beef kabob (kobideh or similar), even if it looked like a big turd. Delicious.

Meat stew.

Potatoes. Like home made potato chips. Excellent.

Cheese pie. This was crazy gooey with a melted form of fresh cheese and a light flakey dough.

Check out the cheese pull!

Chicken kabob.
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Lamb rib, lamb, and beef kabobs.

Salmon kabob. From those Oxus river salmon.
2011 Torremoron Ribera del Duero. VM 89. Bright ruby. Perfumed, expressive bouquet of black and blue fruits and candied rose. Ripe and generous on the palate, offering fleshy cherry and blackberry flavors and a touch of black pepper. Dusty tannins add grip to the sweet, nicely persistent finish.

Manti. Why exactly these came at the end is anyone’s guess, but these giant dumplings, clearly influenced by China, were stuffed with a chewy meat and onions. Tasty, but I prefer the Afghan version.


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Honey cake and baklava. Not the syrup covered Middle Eastern kind, but more dry.

Tea with sugar and candied fruit.

Lights from the front of Chaikhana Uzbekistan “coat” the adjacent building.

I’d never had Uzbeki food before, and while it’s certainly closely related to Afghan and Russian, but has its own unique personality. The place was fun too. Very lively and there was even a young guy at a nearby table (see below) playing traditional songs on a guitar. Clearly a place mostly visited by Russians and Uzbeki.

Food was quite good too. Perhaps leaning a bit on the heavy meats and pastry, and I would have liked to try the Borscht and some other dishes too, but everything we had was pretty good. Enormous amount too. We took home bags and bags of it, and the bill was very very reasonable.

Great fun.

For more Philly dining reviews click here.

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Related posts:

  1. ThanksGavin 2014
  2. ThanksGavin 2011 – The Main Event
  3. ThanksGavin 2013
  4. ThanksGavin 2011 – The Third Wave
  5. ThanksGavin 2012
By: agavin
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Eating Philly – Tiffin

Nov30

Restaurant: Tiffin Indian Cuisine

Location: 8080 Old York Rd, Elkins Park, PA 19027. (215) 635-9205

Date: November 23, 2015

Cuisine: Indian

Rating: solid Indian

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Our annual ThanksGavin trip always begins with a big Wednesday night dinner out in Philly, but this year we were out a day early so there was a Tuesday bonus.

Tiffin is a local (to Elkins Park) Indian restaurant.

The usual kind of casual decor.

From my cellar: 2004 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese. 93 points. Again, sulphur evident on the nose, although with plenty of bright and acidic fruit beneath. It is delicate, clean, minerally and has tingly acids. Then it seems softer, more gentle, not so much substance, with lots of bright character. Good potential.

Chutney and sauces are included which is nice.

Cauliflower with a coconut sauce. Very nice.

Fried fish. Like fish and chips with black pepper.
Samosas. Certainly a decent version of this classic.

A light creamy curry with potato balls (not unlike matzah balls in texture).

Saag. Creamed Indian spinach.

Chickpeas with a mild curry.

Shrimp curry. Again the slightly sweet goopy curry.

Tilapia with tomatoes and onions. One of the few without the smooth curry treatment.

2009 Bodegas Domeco de Jarauta Rioja Solar de Castro Vendimia Seleccionada. 89 points. Very healthy bright red, cherry and chocolate on the nose, great balance of concentrated but not overpowering fruit, tannins with good structure, giving it a long finish. Very yummy, great wine.

Chicken Tikka Masala. Dark meat. A credible version of this dish, but from the smooth and sweet school of Indian curries. Akbar’s is so much richer and more flavorful.

Chicken Tikka Masala. White meat.

Lamb in a coconut curry sauce. Again the sauce is very sweet with the spice blend being fairly mild and blended into the rich sauce.

Chicken Tikka. My uncle goes nuts over this “BBQ chicken.”

Bismatti rice.

Naan, plain and garlic.
Galub jamun. Perfectly nice syrup soaked cheese/dough balls.

Overall, Tiffin was a good meal, and decent Indian. All the curries have that smooth, creamy, and sweet thing going on, which is common enough at Indian restaurants. They were pretty good too, this wasn’t like the tomato sauce boring Indian. But it was also just too sweet, without the intensity of “spice” (and I don’t mean heat) that better places have. Now, I’m sure a good bit of that is catering to the Americans, but still. The smooth, sweet, creamy thing made all the curries run together, even though their colors and flavor profiles technically varied.

Still, I fully enjoyed it.

For more Philly dining reviews click here.

Or check out the full ThanksGavin feasting series.

Related posts:

  1. Akbar – Curry not so Hurry
  2. Eating Saigon – Hoa Tuc
  3. All Things Akbar
  4. Deep South – Mandovi Goan Cuisine
  5. Eating Senigallia – Madonnina del Pescatore
By: agavin
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Elite – King Crab Custard

Nov23

Restaurant: Elite Restaurant [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 700 S Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 282-9998

Date: November 21, 2015

Cuisine: Cantonese Banquet

Rating: Elite!

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Elite is well known as one of great LA’s top dimsum places, but less well known is how great a Cantonese banquet place it is.

But Charlie chose it as the site for his legendary birthday feast, not only because of how good the food is (and it is good), but because they have a nice private room, great service, and are very Burgundy friendly.

They actually have a couple private rooms, but this time we had the small one, although it was certainly big enough for the 10 of us.

NV Jacques Selosse Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut V.O. 2006 disgorgment. VM 95. The NV V.O. (Version Originale) presents slightly darker, more burnished tonalities of Chardonnay. Almond, marzipan, dried rose petals, spices and anise blossom in an ample, generous Champagne built on volume, but supported by insistent veins of minerality. Hints of trademark Selosse oxidation make the V.O. a bit more eccentric, especially for readers who might not be familiar with these Champagnes. V.O. emerges from parcels in Avize, Cramant and Oger, all Grand Cru villages. The vintages are 2006, 2005 and 2004. This bottle was disgorged on October 15, 2013 and bottled with no dosage.

agavin: delicious. Super rich and tasted more like a 90s Champ.

Peanuts on the table is a Chinese staple.

2001 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. Burghound 93. This is a big step up in power and weight with a gorgeously complex nose of minerals, white flowers and minerals that leads to pure, muscular, fantastically detailed and precise flavors just oozing with sappy extract. This is quite concentrated and there is a certain regal classiness that separates this from all of the prior wines plus the length and vibrancy are simply incredible. This will require a few years of bottle age to completely integrate as the finish is very firm and quite dry for an ’01 but all of the requisite material is here for this to evolve into a superb Les Clos.

agavin: a little closed and reductive at first, but opened up into a green apple monster.
Suckling pig. We preordered this little fellow. He’s kinda sad, but he sure tasted great. Really just a fabulous bit of pork and cracklings. The sweet sauce on the side is great too.

After we ate all the easy bits they took away the pig face and limbs and chopped them up for sort of a “piglet: the return” dish. A little too boney and nasty for me.

Charlie brought: 1995 Coche-Dury Puligny-Montrachet Les Enseignères. Burghound 88. Golden color though with no hints of browning. As one would reasonably expect, the nose has now gone completely secondary fruit though there is no sous bois or undue exotic notes in evidence and introduces flavors that are classic Puligny in style with their understated, delineated and pure character and clear minerality that shapes and defines the mid-palate plus a crisp, intense and fine finish for a wine of this level. This has always been a somewhat lean effort for a ’95 and it remains that way and to my taste, should be drunk up over the next few years as the acidity may begin to dominate the finish if held for much longer. To be clear, there is no danger of this falling over the edge, just that the balance may become compromised in time.

agavin: our bottle was a bit oxidized. Old enough not to be premoxed, but heading downslope. Still, it had a lovely complexity and brulee.

We also went all out tonight and got the giant crab! Here he is alive!

From my cellar: 1996 Coche-Dury Meursault Les Chevalières. Burghound 91. Coche always seems to be able to coax another dimension out of his array of villages level vineyards and the Chvalières is no exception with its completely mature nose of hazelnut, orchard fruit and hint of reduction that doesn’t carry over to the precise and mineral-driven middle weight flavors that offer a fine sense of focus and energy on the punchy and lingering finish. This is lovely juice that has arrived at its apogee but should remain here for at least another decade.

agavin: Charlie opened a bottle of this exact wine at his birthday 2 years ago and I immediately bought some. Expensive, but a total stunner then and now. Reductive, with a staggering nose and real depth. Most in the room agreed it was one of the two best whites of the night.

And in his first prep: Garlic fried ginger crab. Leg sucking yummy.

2002 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet. Burghound 94. A supremely elegant nose of white flower and limestone notes are followed by sweet, pungently mineral and ultra precise middle weight flavors that offer simply incredible focus with an almost painfully intense, stunningly long finish. This\nhas just now arrived on the front edge of its peak drinkability though some may prefer a few more years in the cellar first. In sum, this is really lovely juice that should age gracefully for several decades.

agavin: a young monster, but fabulous.

But nothing compared to prep 2: Garlic steamed crab. This was incredible. Just plain 15 minute old crab steamed with garlic. Oh so good.

2008 Domaine Leflaive Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 96. Here the nose is notably tighter and more reserved with aromas of citrus blossom and zest, spice, smoke, fennel and hints of acacia that introduce big, muscular and wonderfully complex broad-scaled flavors that culminate in a long, focused and explosive finish of breathtaking length and intensity. This should reward at least a decade in the cellar and drink well for a similar period thereafter. This too is terrific and very Bâtard and like the Combettes, the ’08 version is one of the very best young examples from Leflaive that I have ever seen.

agavin: The group joked that this was premoxed. But no, it was nice, young and fresh but dominated by reduction and will almost certainly be even better in a few years.

And version 3: King Crab Head Custard. This crab gave great head. The custard was amazing, soft and tofu-like with bits of crab mixed in. About as perfect a white Burgundy pairing as exists.

Fred brought: 1996 Domaine Roulot Meursault 1er Cru Charmes. Burghound 94. Ultra pure and refined white flower and hazelnut notes introduce crisp, delineated and wonderfully refined, linear and nuanced middle weight flavors that culminate in a bright, racy and extended finish. This is incredibly youthful at 9 years of age and should age for 25 years. A great, great ’96 of uncommon elegance for Charmes.

agavin: another stunner. Got better and better through the night too.

Then garlic fried lobster. A truly great lobster prep. Crunchy, salty, and oh so garlicky.

Amanda brought: 1996 Domaine Ramonet Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. BH? In its youth and up to 2003 or so, this was a brilliant wine and one of the best examples of Bienvenues that I have ever tasted chez Ramonet with an almost painful intensity and superb cut and detail. However, the last 4 bottles that I have tried, and from multiple sources have all displayed unacceptable levels of oxidation and were essentially undrinkable. It’s not clear whether good bottles exist or not but my luck with it has not been good.

agavin: well, our experience jives with Meadows because this was super oxed. 🙁

Another super special. Winter melon soup. Served fresh in the winter melon!

This doesn’t necessarily look like much, but it was an amazing mild soup. I had 2-3 bowls of it. Delicate lovely broth, and all sorts of bits of goodness in there. More like one of those traditional Japanese soups. There was pork, chicken, seafood bits, crab from our crab of course, mushrooms, and this fibrous soft yummy thing that might have been melon. Hard to say.

Amanda brought: 1969 Camille Giroud Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Pruliers. 93 points. A late release from the domaine. This was showing quintessential Nuits, with a simply massive dose of rustic earth on the nose and palate. The mushroom note was also quite prominent, though I think it’s more reasonable to chalk that up to its age. This was showing amazingly fresh for its age thanks to some bright acids. I’d never be able to call this as an almost-50-year-old wine blind. The ripe and prominent fruit makes this taste a lot younger than it is.

agavin: very fresh for its age. Browned out in the glass after about an hour.

String beans with sausage. A richer version of the usual prep.

1996 Domaine Robert Arnoux / Arnoux-Lachaux Romanée St. Vivant. VM 94. Deep red-ruby. Knockout nose combines raspberry, violet, coffee, licorice, spice and smoky oak. Superb richness and volume without excessive weight. Thick for a ’96, but kept bright by tangy Oriental spices and a lively floral nuance. Extremely long on the aftertaste, with noble tannins. Classy juice.

agavin: good stuff. Very much in the house style.

Roast squab. Succulent little birds, heads and all.

Erick brought: 1990 Domaine Dujac Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Aux Combottes. Burghound 92. A beautiful and now fully mature, complex and pure red berry fruit nose that has taken on secondary nuances is trimmed in noticeable oak that continues onto the supple, rich and still fresh middle weight flavors that offer excellent detail and plenty of finishing vibrancy. This is carrying a bit more oak than I personally like but there is no question that this is a quality ’90 that delivers a high quality drinking experience and should continue to do so for another decade, perhaps longer.

agavin: very nice, but at a sufficient level of maturity (bricking) that I’d drink up.

French style beef. Good with the reds.

2005 Domaine Marquis d’Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Ducs. Burghound 96. The magnificently pure and airy essence of notably ripe dark pinot fruit, cassis and menthol remains reserved and cool with its exceptionally rich, classy, sweet and vibrant mineral-driven and large-scaled flavors that are shaped by powerful if buried tannins. While magnificently long, this stunning Ducster is completely shut down at present and it would be a vinous crime to open one at this very early point in its development as the ’05 is built for the very long haul, indeed 20 years may be too soon. In my view, the ’05 Ducster is destined to take its place alongside the greatest vintages of the past, and while the words “best ever” are presumptuous in a wine with such a distinguished history, the mere fact that it has the potential to be among the very best ever is praise enough.

agavin: we decanted for a while. Even so, while there was tons of fruit, there was so much tannin that it needs AT LEAST another ten years.

Pea greens. Not the pea tendrils, but the older version of the same. With garlic of course.

1994 Vega Sicilia Unico. Parker 96-98. The 1994 Unico is a blend of 80% Tinto Fino, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Merlot (presumably 2% is unknown varieties) that was picked from September 28. It is very intense with notes of raspberry, wild strawberry and mulberry with sensational minerality and vigor. There is a Margaux-like florality to the 1994 that blossom with aeration. The palate is rounded and supple on the entry with great weight and backbone. There is real substance here, similar to the 1996. It expands in the mouth with ravishing notes of blackberry, strawberry, citrus lemon, orange peel and a touch of cedar. There is enormous weight on the finish, a behemoth of a Unico. This is very potent, but it still requires several years in bottle. 96,280 bottles produced. Drink 2019-2040.

agavin: We decanted, very nice.

Dried scallop fried rice. Salty with a lot of umami.

1983 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. Parker 90-94. A stunning wine, Pichon-Lalande’s 1983 has been gorgeous to drink for a number of years. It is one of the finest 1983s, especially for a northern Medoc. The color remains a dark ruby/purple, with slight lightening at the edge. The knock-out nose of roasted herbs, sweet, jammy black currants, and pain grille is followed by a full-bodied, gorgeously concentrated and well-proportioned wine with low acidity, plenty of glycerin, and a savory, highly extracted, fleshy mouthfeel. This has always been one of the stars of the vintage. Anticipated maturity: Now-2008.

agavin: in really great shape and lovely

Seafood chow mein. I love these crispy noodles.

The sauce soaks into them and softens them up. Oh so good.

1991 Domaine Bertheau (Pierre et François) Bonnes Mares. Burghound 87. Bricking now though still showing a bit of elegant cherry/berry fruit influence on the nose leading to slightly sweet, somewhat light flavors that offer good complexity but not much density. There is good complexity and overall, this is pretty rather than profound and performs more like a good but not special premier cru rather than a big grand cru like Bonnes Mares. In short, this is perfectly good but frankly a bit disappointing for a wine at this level.

agavin: a third bottle left over from the night before.

Dessert buns. These fluffy buns are shaped like peaches, which have traditional happy symbolism in China. They had a bit of sweet paste inside. Perfectly nice (for Chinese desserts).

Another awesome Chinese feast. A lot of these dishes were stunning, like the pig and all the crab dishes. The private room was great and we had a stunning lineup of (mostly) Burgundy. Only one wine had any serious issues (the 96 Ramonet) and this dinner showed the power of high quality producer Burgundy — particularly in context of a dinner without too many big reds (only really the Unico and older Bordeaux). I feel that Burgundy shows off by far at dinners where it dominates (although it can mix fine with Champy). You can’t easily go back and forth between the big extracted wines and the more subtle Burgundy.

Fu really knows how to celebrate!

For more LA Chinese reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Elite Wine Night
  2. Elite Dim Sum
  3. Elite New Years
  4. Chili Crab Craze – Starry Kitchen
  5. More Awesome Dimsum – King Hua
By: agavin
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Day of the Truffles

Nov06

Restaurant: Laurent Quenioux [1, 2, 3]

Location: Near Pasadena

Date: November 4, 2015

Cuisine: Modern French

Rating: Truffles!

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Four and a half years ago Foodie Club co-organizer Erick and I put together one of our more legendary dinners, the Bistro LQ Trufflumpagus. Now it’s time for the return!

Chef Laurent Quenioux grew up in Sologne, France, where he developed a passion for food. As a young boy, Quenioux and his father would hunt duck, partridge, and rabbit. Then, he and his mother would prepare her favorite recipes in the kitchen. Eventually, Quenioux left home to embark on an apprenticeship where he trained in some of Europe’s finest kitchens. Quenioux spent time at Maxim’s, Bistro De Paris and La Ciboulette in Paris, before moving on to Negresco in Nice and LaBonne Auberge in Antibe.

In the early 1980s, Quenioux made a move to the United States with a team from L‘Oasis at La Napoule to open The Regency Club in Los Angeles. In 1985, he introduced the celebrated and award-winning 7th Street Bistro in downtown Los Angeles. In the early 2000s, Quenioux debuted the cozy Bistro K in Pasadena and in 2009, Bistro LQ in Beverly Hills. At Bistro LQ, Quenioux set new standards for cuisine in Southern California with his Farmer’s Market-driven kitchen and an emphasis on value and fun.

Returning to Pasadena, Quenioux continues to delight patrons and critics alike in his role as Executive Chef at Old Pasadena’s celebrated Vertical Wine Bistro.

For this special dinner featuring fresh white truffles the chef hosted us at his house, out on the back patio.

Our epic menu.

Will brought: 1998 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. VM 94-5. Bright gold. Ripe orchard fruits, peach pit, toffee, marzipan and dried flowers on the pungent, smoky nose. Broad and fleshy on entry, then tighter in the mid-palate, offering palate-staining pit fruit nectar, apple pie and brioche flavors, enhanced by a toffeed quality. Closes spicy and very long, with resonating smoke and toasted hazlenut qualities.

agavin: Krug is always great.

From my cellar: 2006 Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée. AG 94. Mint, white flowers, pastry and yellow orchard fruit meld together in Krug’s NV Grande Cuvée. This is one of the very best versions of the Grande Cuvée I can remember tasting in recent years. The impression of total silkiness on the palate is classic Krug. Even though this release is exceptional today, I would be tempted to cellar a few wines for the future, as the best Grand Cuvées age effortlessly. This release is based on 2006 and includes wines from 11 vintages going back to 1990.

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

On the left, Buckwheat truffle blinis, ankimo, caviar de Sologne, wagyu.

On the right, Bone marrow, sopes, hutlacoche, truffles.

Interesting and rich flavors.

Mark brought: 1983 Joseph Drouhin Chevalier-Montrachet. agavin 93. Very nutty and drinking rather lovely for its advanced age. Some reductive notes still.

Mark brought: 1983 Louis Latour Montrachet. BR 95. Golden. Deep and sweet nose with butterscotch and lanolin. The palate is intense without weight. Very nice acidity though lower than some – but that doesn’t seem to have harmed it. Overall a very impressive wine that has depth and still plenty of ripe fruit, but just missing an extra zip for the absolute top prize.

agavin: our bottle was just a touch inferior to the Chevy, but was still in very good shape.

“La ratte” potatoes, melted 24 months Comte cheese, H8 vinaigrette, truffles.

Very yummy, with a rich velvety quality.

Will brought: 1990 Domaine Michel Niellon Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 96. Wonderfully expressive, ripe, forward and complex white fruit and honeysuckle aromas explode from the glass leading to incredibly rich and powerful, massively proportioned flavors of simply incredible depth and awesome length. One of the greatest examples of this vineyard I have ever had and it should be capable of living for a long time to come. A genuinely terrific wine of uncommon breed, class and power.

agavin: great bottle!

Will brought: 1991 Domaine Michel Niellon Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 88. Fully mature aromas of honey and a lovely roasted bread quality lead to fat, rich, slightly heavy flavors of good length if not necessarily the best balance. To be sure, a perfectly good wine that is drinking perfectly now and should probably be drunk over the next 5 years.

agavin: much more mature than the 90, but rounded out in the glass and was still impressive for 91

Maine diver scallops crudo, bottarga, chanterelles, escabeche.

This dish had some unusual flavor notes going on. Perhaps it was the bottarga.

Veal tartar, sun choke chips, pickled onions, truffles brioche, celery leaves.

A really nice integration of all the classic tartar elements. Truffles and pickles, how can that not go with raw meat?

Truffle soup VGE. Rabbit albondigas.

Inside this buttery pot-pie pastry was a traditional kind of soup with “meat balls” made from rabbit. Quite lovely.

Trish brought: 1999 Domaine Ramonet Chevalier-Montrachet. Burghound 96. This is now knocking on the front door of its full maturity with the classic white flower, green apple and limestone aromas all framed by a touches of citrus and spice components as well. The flavor profile combines intense minerality and marvelous detail plus fantastic depth and breadth, all wrapped in a hugely long and powerful finish. This just oozes class and while it could be approached now because of the superb mid-palate fat, for my tastes, I would give this another 2 to 3 years in bottle and then drink over the next 10+. Note that I have upgraded my score as the wine has added notably more depth than I originally envisioned.

agavin: another great great bottle.

From my cellar: 2001 Domaine Leflaive Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 93. Big, rich and muscular yet this offers excellent definition with explosive fruit trimmed in obvious anise notes and luxuriant, sappy, dense flavors of uncommon depth and complexity. The finish is rather linear presently yet offers wave after wave of mouthwatering extract, all beautifully framed by more than sufficient buffering acidity. A Bâtard worthy of the name and a great success for the vintage.

agavin: still very fresh and reductive.

Truffle congee, poached hen egg, crispy basil snails Karaage, uni.

Wow! This was an amazing dish. One of the best congee I’ve had. The thing that looks like a bao or burrata was actually a poached egg. The fried snails were amazing too.

Celery root risotto, king crab, truffle air, aged parmesan, uni.

Another wonderful dish. Very harmonious. And that crab was fabulous.

From my cellar: 2000 Domaine Jacques Prieur Montrachet. VM 93.  I tasted a sample of this wine from tank; the real bottling was scheduled for the next day) Bright but reticent aromas of iodine, clove and nutty oak. Fat, round and silky, with superb weight and volume. By far the richest and longest of this set of wines, with the most volume. Very suave and mouthfilling, but with plenty of underlying backbone and power. Very tightly wound but also very long on the aftertaste.

agavin: I was nervous since I had a corked bottle at the Locanda dinner, but this bottle was a stunner. Incredibly powerful.

Trish brought: 2002 Marquis de Laguiche (Joseph Drouhin) Montrachet. Burghound 94. The bottle in the tasting displayed definite notes of premature oxidation. I last tasted this in 2011 and that note is: Astonishingly pure fruit aromas of very ripe pear, peach, honeysuckle and lovely green fruit are nicely complemented by a subtle hint of oak spice that merges seamlessly into powerful yet exquisitely delineated, strongly mineral laden flavors of incredible length. This has an amazing depth of sève and it completely stains and coats the palate. This combination of a silky palate impression yet driving intensity makes this an extremely impressive and very classy effort. For my taste this has just arrived on the front end of its peak drinkability and this beauty should be capable of holding at this level for years to come.

agavin: another great white.

Pacific lobster, Malaise, Truffle vichyssoise, nest.

More shellfish goodness.

Santa Barbara prawn, truffle creme brulee, brussels sprouts, xo.

This had interesting autumn notes of spices and such.

Amanda brought: 1991 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Bonnes Mares. Burghound 92. Big, rich and explosive, still very primary fruit nose that displays only the barest hints of secondary development followed by big, powerful, classically robust and structured flavors that offer superb depth and exceptionally good length. Still youthful, this should benefit from another 3 to 5 years of cellar time but live for a long time after that. A first-rate effort that will probably always possess a slight tannic edge to the finish yet the power and depth make it easy to overlook this.

agavin: Our bottle was cloudy and funky. Not undrinkable, but not really pleasant either.

Larry H brought: 2005 Domaine Robert Groffier Bonnes Mares. Burghound 94. I was frankly shocked to find that the aromatic profile here was even more elegant and arguably finer than that of the Amoureuses with its bright red and blue pinot fruit, minerals and spice notes, particularly anise that complement to perfection the sleek, taut, brooding and focused flavors that explode on the hugely long and deep finish. This is an impressive wine that has that ‘wow’ factor.

agavin: a young stunner. Really good.

Halibut, truffle granola, hazelnuts, chanterelles, brown butter vinaigrette.

The granola was crazy good. Chewy crunchy and a bit sweet.

Larry H brought: 2000 Château d’Yquem. Parker 90. The millennial 2000 Chateau d’Yquem is a valiant effort in one of the most challenging Sauternes vintages in recent memory. The 2000 is quite deep in color. The nose is crisp and well-defined but not the most complex, as you would expect from a truly challenging growing season in Sauternes. It is pleasant in its own way with delicate scents of tangerine, yellow flowers and Mirabelle. The palate is well-balanced with marmalade tinged opening. I like the acidity here, an Yquem with good race, although it does feel a little tapered toward the finish. Drink now-2025.

agavin: very nice sticky in a good spot.

Corn veloute, apple wood bacon, foie gras, truffle Soubise.

A fabulous foie. That corn veloute really notched it up too.

Pintade hen, crispy truffle potato crust, salsify, quince.

Nice interplay of textures.

From my cellar: 1971 Maison Roche de Bellene Volnay 1er Cru Santenots Collection Bellenum. agavin 87. Weird menthol notes.

Erick brought: 1988 Domaine Georges Mugneret/Mugneret-Gibourg Clos Vougeot. 87 points. Pretty tannic.

Amanda brought: 1995 Domaine Dujac Echezeaux. Burghound 90. Beautiful black fruit aromas laced with Vosne spice leads to medium weight, elegant, sappy and quite dense flavors that offer beautiful complexity and terrific length. What it isn’t at this point is especially complex but the tannins are well-integrated and this should drink well for all its life. I would give it another 10 years and drink over the next 10. Really pretty juice of evident class.

agavin: a great bottle. Powerful, fruity, and delicious.

Liberty duck breast, figs, vinegar jus, truffle confit rutabaga.

Here we have sweetness, and more than a little of those autumn notes. That jam like stuff was “spiced.”

From my cellar: 1989 Domaine Leroy Nuits St. Georges Aux Lavières. 94 points. Absolutely beautiful bottle. Floral scents with violets and roses, a lovely earthy underbrush tone on the nose. Bright red toned fruit, cinnamon and spice with a cherry backbone. Just got better and betterover time. Perfect balance, luscious fruit and a long finish. Plush yet sharp. A terrific effort.

Amanda brought: 1991 Domaine Leroy Pommard Les Vignots. 93 points.  tart red cherry, candle wax, sl spice nose; full bodied, red raspberry, red pie cherry flavors, body matches promise of the nose; tannic, oaky in a new world way, finish all about barrels, not fruit; need rich sauce, meat to cover the tannins in the finish.

Veal sweetbreads, porcini, carrot emulsion, truffle.

I’m not a sweetbreads fan, but this was amazing. Rich too.

Amanda picked up these two old Italians in order to replace some we had lost in a “guest shuffle.”

1958 Oddero Barolo. LF 94. This was sauvage and untamed as a Barolo I’ve experienced. This was all black tar, dark cherry/berry fruits and a little horse on the nose with some macerated flowers and rotting forest floor. Lovely deep, sauvage nose. Sauvage Piedmont style though. The palate was big and concentrated. Apparently alot of the fruit that went into this was from Vigna Rionda which would explain the massive palate presence still at forty plus years old. This really opened up and became much more of a complete wine after around an hour. Definetly a bit less finesse than the Fiorina but compelling in a differnt way for itas singular character within the context of Barolo. Fantastic wine that really seemed four or five years away from full maturity.

agavin: this bottle was pretty nice, very Barolo!

1971 Gaja Barbaresco. VM 93. Angelo Gaja’s 1971 Barbaresco, takes a few hours to open up, but when it does it is fabulous. Still deep and quite intense, the 1971 is a testament to how well Nebbiolo can age.

agavin: ours was a bit on the “mature and cloudy” side.

Painted Hills Beef Hanger, vadouvan, eggplant mole, truffles.

Very rare. More autumn spaces too.

Emil brought: 2003 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Richebourg. Burghound 93. his too is very aromatically reserved with only glimpses of spicy and exotic perfume that speak of very ripe, even slightly surmature crushed berries, plum and spice because even though the nose is reticent, the intensity of the fruit is magnificent. The flavors are opulent and sumptuously proportioned with massive amounts of sap and dry extract that completely stains and coats the palate before exploding on the hugely long finish. Yes, this is a big, indeed enormous wine but one that never loses its sense of balance and the velvety backend largely buffers the very firm tannins. There is not necessarily great complexity yet but this is the one wine in the range that could easily surprise to the upside as the raw material here is exceptional and while the style is clearly particular relative to what it normally delivers, it has that “wow’ factor.

agavin: we decanted at the start of the dinner. Wow! Very nice massive powerful and complex bottle of Riche.

Erick brought: 1990 Gros Frère et Sœur Richebourg. JG 92. Starts off a bit meaty and sweaty but breathes up beautifully. Almost looks like an aged DRC with all of its hoisin and soy action. It has notes of mushroom and meat. It is full, rich and intense with acidity that is gentle and length that is superb.

agavin: oh Richebourg, how I love thee!

Scottish wild Hare ravioli, chestnut truffle nage, pecorino.

Great texture combos.

Vacherin cheese, truffle honey.

Tiny, but lovely. And the honey was amazing.

Epoisse flambee!

I love epoisse, but I was a bit disappointed by how much the alcohol in the “flambee” dominated the cheese.

From my cellar: 1977 Dow Porto Vintage. 95-100 points. Wonderful dusty cherry, prune/plum, and raisin aromas. Generous on the palate with more fruit and subtle, tawny-like carmel. Long finish.

agavin: a powerhouse. Next one I’m going to give some more years and then decant.

Chocolate Marquise, Thai basil, mango, macaron.

A really nice bit of chocolate with the mango brightening it up.

Tonka Cremeux, butter ice cream, caramel, granola.

And another great use of that granola.

Overall, this was one of those supremely epic dinners. The food was totally over the top, and delicious at that. Lots and lots of truffle. Not every dish was perfect, but many were very very good. Standouts include the congee, the lobster, the sweetbreads (I have a hard time saying it), and the foie.

The wine was particularly great. Almost all the whites were superb and many of the reds stellar like the Dujac, the Leroys, and both Richebourgs. The Krugs and dessert wines were no slouch either.

Certainly worthy of being called epic.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for more Foodie Club reviews.

Related posts:

  1. Truffles at Saam – I am
  2. Pistola with a Bang
  3. Babykiller Birthday
  4. The Power of Providence
  5. Sauvage Spago
By: agavin
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Saint Joseph at Maison G

Nov02

Restaurant: Maison Giraud [1, 2, 3, 4]

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

Date: October 21, 2015

Cuisine: French

Rating: Classic French “home” cooking

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Maison Giraud is the closest fine dining to my house. Pacific Palisades doesn’t have a lot of great food, but this restaurant/bakery is from acclaimed LA French chef Alain Giraud. This wine dinner, featuring the wines of the Northern Rhone’s Saint Joseph region was hosted by a friend of mine, Merv Hecht, author of The Instant Wine Connoisseur.


And it should be noted that the Swathmore Ave frontage might not be there for too much longer, as the whole street is slated for massive construction in 2016 when developer Rick Curuso starts building his new “Palisades Village” project.


Anyway, as it was a lovely warm (late October in LA) night, we dined outside.

With a generous staging area for the wines.

Tonight’s special menu.

2012 J.L. Chave Sélection St. Joseph Céleste. VM 91. Light gold. Pungent, mineral-laced aromas of dried pear, fig, honey and fennel, with a hint of jasmine in the background. Fleshy and dry on the palate, offering incisive orchard and pit fruit flavors and a touch of waxiness. Smoothly combines richness and vivacity, finishing with firm mineral bite and strong floral persistence.

agavin: I’m not sure I’ve even had a Saint Joseph blanc before. It tastes very much like white Hermitage, and that means Rousanne. Not sure it’s my favorite grape. A bit hot.


2013 J.L. Chave Sélection St. Joseph Circa Clos Florentin. 90 points. Obviously young. This is probably getting more serious and I think has more sulphur. Very rich, concentrated and that slightly oily texture that you get with white rhone. I’m sure this will get better, and probably will leave for another year before approaching again. Good value.

2013 Domaine Coursodon St. Joseph Blanc Silice. 92 points. 100% Marsanne this had a fruity honey quality. Vinified without oak.


Maison G bakes its own fabulous bread.

Classic french pate with toasts.

2011 Domaine Faury St. Joseph Vieilles Vignes. VM 92. Opaque ruby. Intense, mineral-driven aromas of dark berries, candied licorice and potpourri, plus a sexy Asian spice quality. Tangy and sharply focused, boasting impressive purity and depth to its sweet blackberry and cherry compote flavors. Silky tannins build on the persistent, incisive finish, with the floral and spice notes repeating.

2013 Domaine Faury St. Joseph. VM 89-91. Bright purple. Lively black and blue fruits on the spicy nose and in the mouth. Nervy and focused, showing no excess weight and a subtle sweetness. Shows good clarity and siky tannins on the gently gripping finish. Very fresh, in the style of the vintage.

2012 Domaine Coursodon St. Joseph Le Paradis Saint-Pierre. VM 92-94. (made from 80-year-old serine vines and raised in all new oak): Dark purple. A complex, highly perfumed bouquet evokes ripe blackcurrant, cherry pit, potpourri and olive tapenade, along with smoke and mineral accents. Stains the palate with intense dark fruit liqueur flavors and suggestions of candied violet and licorice. Closes on a smoky note, with superb clarity and lift and slow-mounting tannins.

Lobster bisque. Jumbo crab, asparagus, brioche croutons. One of my favorite soups. This version didn’t disappoint and was full of chunks of crab meat.

2011 Domaine Coursodon St. Joseph L’Olivaie. VM 91. Bright ruby. Fresh blackberry and floral scents are complemented by deeper-pitched notes of dark chocolate and licorice. Supple and open-knit, offering gently sweet black raspberry and cherry flavors that become spicier with aeration. Closes tangy and quite long, with sneaky tannins adding grip.

agavin: these Coursodon’s were in general my favorite wines of the night.

2012 Domaine Coursodon St. Joseph L’Olivaie. VM 91-93. Inky ruby. Fresh blueberry and candied violet on the highly perfumed, spice-accented nose. Fleshy, seamless and broad, offering intense black and blue fruit flavors and a sweetening note of vanilla that gains strength with air. The spicy quality comes back on the finish, which clings with excellent tenacity and just a hint of tannins. These vines are now over 60 years old, according to Coursodon.

2012 Domaine Coursodon St. Joseph Silice. VM 90-92. Brilliant ruby. Spice-accented black raspberry, mocha, pipe tobacco and licorice on the nose, with a sexy floral topnote. Sweet, spicy and penetrating, displaying a silky texture to its dark berry and spicecake flavors. Shows pinot-like character–or at least pinot from a warm region. Finishes round and supple, with soft tannins, good breadth and a lingering suggestion of violet.

Spanish Turbot. Slowly backed, forest mushroom, porcini emulsion. An absolutely lovely fish and a killer sauce.

In the back is chef Alain Giraud.

2012 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave St. Joseph. VM 93. Bright violet color. Explosive aromas of black and blue fruits, smoky Indian spices and minerals, with a suave floral quality in the background. Fleshy and expansive on the palate, but with excellent clarity and spicy lift to its blackberry and licorice flavors. The dark fruit element recurs on the long, seamless finish, which is framed by supple tannins that fold smoothly into the wine’s lush fruit.

2012 Paul Jaboulet Aîné St. Joseph Domaine de la Croix des Vignes. VM 92. Deep ruby. Explosive aromas of black and blue fruits, smoky Indian spices, licorice and minerals, with a suave floral quality building in the glass. Fleshy and expansive on the palate, showing excellent clarity and breadth to its blueberry and cherry compote flavors. The floral quality repeats on a long, seamless, fruit-dominated finish that’s framed by velvety tannins.

2012 Domaine Boissonnet St. Joseph.

Rack of Lamb. Roasted, Fall baby carrots, lamb Bordelaise. A perfect pairing for the wines.

2011 François Villard St. Joseph Reflet.

2010 Domaine du Tunnel (Stéphane Robert) St. Joseph. VM 90. Inky ruby. Spicy black raspberry and cherry aromas are complicated by notes of black pepper and dried flowers. Deep, chewy dark fruit flavors are framed by dusty tannins and become spicier with air. Shows very good energy and focus, finishing with strong cut and grip.

2012 Domaine Blachon St. Joseph Hommage. 91 points. Deep purple to rim. Barnyard earth, pepper spice and a sweet floral tone on the nose. Sweet cherry, toasted bread and rhubarb on the palate. Medium to medium-plus tannins. Medium acidity. Medium-long to long finish.
I’m thinking this would be great with braised lamb and cassoulet. Also a good cigar wine.

Cheese Plate. Selection, grapes, fruit-nuts bread. This was both a generous and awesome little trio of cheeses. I loved the buttery one in the middle.

2012 Domaine Durand St. Joseph Lautaret. 89 points. Gamey.

Lemon Tart. Meringue, berries, raspberry coulis. Also classic, but perfectly executed.

This was a great dinner. The food is very classic, but these special menus show off Giraud’s cooking even better than the regular menu. Each dish was superlatively executed. The wines were fun, and solid, if a little young and not quite up to the refined heights of Syrah at my recent LaLa dinner.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Saint Martha Modern
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  3. Maison Giraud at Last
  4. Burgundy at Bouchon – Faiveley
  5. Maison Giraud
By: agavin
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Stick It – Feng Mao

Oct30

Restaurant: Feng Mao Lamb Kebab

Location1: 3901 W Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90019. (323) 935-1099

Location2: 414 S Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90020. (213) 388-9299

Date: October 26, 2015 & April 25, 2016 & October 14, 2019

Cuisine: Korean

Rating: Really tasty

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Los Angeles is blessed with America’s largest Korea-town, and as such we have so many fabulous Korean dining options.

Feng Mao has a tremendous menu of Korean and Korean/Chinese items, including a vast array of things available for grilling.


Notice the built in ducts! (Olympic location).

And the pop up wood charcoal grills.

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The private (side?) room at the Western location.
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The vast menu.

2010 Kistler Pinot Noir Kistler Vineyard. VM 93. Ash, game, tar licorice, incense and dark cherries are some of the notes that emerge from the 2010 Pinot Noir Kistler Vineyard. A pretty soft, understated wine, the 2010 also has a hint of wildness running through it. Today, the 2010 is a bit compact, but I very much like the sense of grace here. Sweet floral notes reappear on the finish, adding a burst of freshness and vivacity to a finish underpinned by lovely streaks of saline minerality. In 2010 yields were too low for Kistler to bottle the Cuvee Elizabeth Pinot. The little fruit that came in was blended into the Kistler Vineyard Pinot.

agavin: not bad for a “fake” pinot

Some flavored salt for dipping and a little mini salad.

And various other banchan. Broccoli and garlic.

Bean sprouts.

Shredded pickled spicy radish.

Peanuts.
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More banchan.

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Garlic cucumber. Marinated and with a nice texture.
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Beef and cucumber.
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Numbing stew. Very good with mala.
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And looking close, pig’s blood!
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Spicy beef tendon, but we wondered if tripe, too chewy.


From my cellar: 2000 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage. VM 94+. Saturated ruby. Superripe aromas of blackberry, blueberry, clove, minerals and black licorice. Very ripe but precise and penetrating. At once lush and powerful; seamless but with terrific thrust. Black fruit, flint, spice and dark chocolate flavors offer considerable density and verve. Finishes with substantial noble tannins that arrive very late. Has all the elements for longevity. Give this 10 to 12 years before pulling the cork. This comes across as a bit denser than the young 2001 but not finer. The Chaves clearly did a superb job of harvesting in 2000.

agavin: WOTN for most of us, although the competition wasn’t fierce.

Plate of raw stuff ready for grilling.


And more skewers.

Beef on the left, lamb on the right. The beef was a bit sweet and fabulous. The lamb full of flavor.

2012 Alain Voge Cornas Les Chailles. VM 91. Deep ruby. Smoky, oak-spiced blackberry, licorice pastille and olive paste on the nose, with subtle floral and mineral nuances adding complexity. Velvety, sweet and nicely concentrated, offering dark berry liqueur and fruitcake flavors that slowly tighten up with air. Supple tannins come on late, giving shape to a long smoke- and spice-tinged finish. As approachable as this wine is today, I think that it has the material for cellaring.

They do most of the grilling here, which makes it easy.

Pork belly. Eventually this chars down to carbonized bacon.

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Pork belly and lamb spareribs. Both good.

Squab or some other small bird.

Getting there.
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Pork belly wrapped around enoki mushroom.
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More meat and sausages.

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Sausages were great. Squid was icky.

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Sardines!

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Condiments for the skewers.


Steamed egg. I love this kind of simple dish.

2009 Bibi Graetz Testamatta Toscana IGT. VM 91. Deep red with ruby highlights. Reticent aromas of raspberry, red cherry and chocolate. Then large-scaled, fat and chunky on the palate, with highly concentrated red fruit and herbal flavors showing creamy depth and noteworthy persistence. This rather powerful wine stains the palate on the long, ripely tannic finish. I would have liked a bit more finesse, but many drinkers will love this.

Jellyfish salad with meat, veggies etc.

The mustard sauce is mixed in. Great stuff.

2004 Torbreck Descendant. Parker 98. The 2004 Descendant, an old oak-aged blend of 92% Shiraz and 8% Viognier from a 12-year old vineyard, offers up notes of blackberries, ink, sweet truffles, and acacia flowers. There are 1,000 cases of this full-bodied, intense, rich blockbuster. It will drink well for 10-15 years.

Bean curd “pasta” with chili. Delicious.

Stir fried mushrooms.

Steamed pork dumplings. Good, although I’ve certainly had better.

Sauce for the dumplings.

2005 Favia Cerro Sur. 93 points. Cherry, bell pepper, cedar, and licorice on the nose. Lot’s of strawberry and cherry jam on the palate which heat/spice from the alcohol. Beware, this is a fruit bomb.

Fried sweet and sour pork. Almost certainly the best sweet and sour pork I’ve had. We got 2-3 orders. Super scalding and delicious.

Purple rice.

Eggs and zucchini. Light and mild.

2004 Sean Thackrey Petite Sirah Sirius Eaglepoint Ranch. 92 points. Color is very dark. Medium legs with a silky mouthfeel. This is the oldest Sirius in my cellar and is drinking really well right now. A classic Thackrey version of petite sirah. Always one of my favorites.

agavin: more balanced and not as overwhelming, good.

Spicy fried eggplant. Yum!

Pan fried pork dumplings. Doughy, but I liked them even better than the steamed.

2010 Saxum Terry Hoage Vineyard. Parker 95+. The 2010 Terry Hoage Vineyard is a blend of 46% Syrah, 33% Grenache, and 21% Mourvedre that comes from Jennifer and Terry Hoage’s west side Paso vineyard. Less gamey than when tasted from barrel, it offers up a pure, beautifully fresh bouquet of red and black fruits, spring flowers, ground pepper, leather, and wet stone-like minerality that flows to a rich, fabulously concentrated, and textured palate. Showing the savory, mineral characteristics of the vintage, as well as noticeable underlying tannin, this gorgeous effort needs short-term cellaring, and will thrill for over a decade.

agavin: needed about a decade more time!

Fish filets boiled in chili oil. Feng Mao’s take on this classic Szechuan dish was awesome.

Lots of numbing chili oil heat! Great with rice.

Glass noodles. Mild and good.

Crispy potato pancake. Like a Korean latke.
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Seafood pancake. Yummy!

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Egg with chives. Awesome. Seems so simple, but tons of flavor.
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Cumin chicken bones. Just ok.

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Shredded pork with cilantro. pretty good.
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Clams with brown sauce.

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Spicy noodle soup. Very nice, with a pleasant, medium spicy broth and nice thin egg noodles.

Fried chicken. This was actually from next door at Da Jeong. Many in our party claim this is the best fried chicken ever.

Overall, this was a great meal. Really tasty and nearly every dish was good. The price was right too, as it was $30 each all in (including tax and tip). Service was great and they have a big menu, so I’ll have to return to sample even more goodies.

The food is partially Korean, partially Chinese — or at least from the border realms between the two areas. Since I love both, that’s all good!

After all, we didn’t even order the bull penis (it’s on the menu).

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!
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Related posts:

  1. Nanbankan – Stick with It
  2. Shin Beijing Cubed
  3. Gwang Yang – Beeftastic
  4. San Fran – Feng Nian
  5. Little Sheep Hot Pot
By: agavin
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Sauvage Spago

Oct28

Restaurant: Spago [1, 2]

Location: 176 N Canon Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 385-0880

Date: October 23, 2015

Cuisine: American

Rating: Great

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Nothing like a Friday afternoon for Grand Cru Burgundy Lunch — and this time at LA classic Spago.

The whole restaurant is lovely, but the private room is the real way to go.

Our special menu.

From my cellar: 2007 Simon Bize Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Aux Vergelesses. Burghound 90. As would reasonably be expected, there is just more here in every dimension with a more complex and more elegant nose that is layered and very fresh and this refinement continues onto the nicely concentrated middle weight flavors that display evident minerality on the sappy, intense and mouth coating finish that lingers and lingers. This is a terrific Savigny blanc and recommended.

agavin: our bottle was a bit advanced.

1986 Domaine Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet “Morgeot”. 94 points. A single vineyard village, almost 30 years old, and stunning! Lots of nutty richness and good acid.

Buttery puffs filled with country ham. Delicious.

Spago staple, sweet sesame cones with ahi tartar.

Bread.

1996 Domaine Ponsot Chapelle-Chambertin. Burghound 85. Lightish cherry/pinot fruit without much structure or body. Good finesse but that is about the best that can be said for this.

2000 Domaine Robert Groffier Chambertin-Clos de Bèze. Burghound 92. Much more forward and evolved than any of the preceding wines as the malo finished almost 3 months before the others. Elegant, rich, extremely ripe with somewhat low acidity that is barely able to buffer the powerful flavors yet the wine is also able to effortlessly carry the elevated alcohol. The wine finishes with a touch of warmth but it is not unduly intrusive. This is a surprising wine in that it’s extremely ripe, lavishly rich with very high alcohol yet somehow it remains beautifully balanced. It’s not clear how well it will age but there is enough tannic structure to require 7 to 10 years to resolve.

agavin: spice, lovely.

1999 Bouchard Père et Fils Bonnes Mares. Burghound 93. This is still quite youthful with ever-so-mildly toasty dark berry fruit, earth, wet stone and underbrush-infused aromas leading to rich, full-bodied, powerful and appealingly intense flavors that are blessed with ample amounts of tannin-buffering dry extract that both coats the palate and confers a sappy texture to the beautifully long and still notably structured finish. This may turn out to be even better than my score suggests because while there is not yet outstanding complexity, the underlying material is present that could very well allow the additional depth to develop.

1999 Frederic Esmonin Chambertin. Burghound 89. A noticeable step up in size and volume though not necessarily in intensity or complexity. Earthy and rich with solid power and length to go with medium weight flavors and relatively fine tannins. While this is certainly not disappointing, I was hoping for more.

Grilled Lobster Tail. Herbed Oat Porridge, Glazed Baby Carrots. A big portion of juicy moist lobster. A very lovely dish.

2002 Faiveley Mazis-Chambertin. Burghound 91-93. Always one of Faiveley’s best wines and the ’02 is no exception with an incredibly complex nose of damp earth, minerals, game and a slightly wild fruit component followed by wonderfully sappy, deep, broad, muscular flavors and knock-out purity of expression. I very much like this and the finish is long and strikingly persistent.

2001 Louis Jadot Chambertin-Clos de Bèze. Burghound 91-94. As it should be, this is easily the biggest wine of the entire line up with robust, intense, broad-shouldered, supremely complex, solidly structured flavors introduced by deeply spicy, quite aromatic and expressive aromas and dramatic finishing intensity. An altogether superb effort that delivers knock out quality.

2003 Louis Jadot Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques. Burghound 90-92. Interestingly, this is also quite ripe but not necessarily any more elegant though there is perhaps slightly better depth of material and certainly better overall purity of expression and intensity, especially on the superbly long, firm and punchy backend. While this is not classic in style, there is so much explosive energy and verve that this may very well surprise to the upside with time in bottle.

agavin: best wine of the flight right now.

2002 Louis Jadot Chapelle-Chambertin. Burghound 89-91. Noticeable wood spice frames pretty and pure earthy red fruit that highlights the rich, sappy and elegant medium weight flavors that deliver fine length. This is quite elegant yet altogether serious and blessed with plenty of old vine sap and enough structure to suggest that this will benefit from the better part of a decade in bottle.

Cacao Pasta Matlagliatti. Braised Oxtail Ragout, Pecorino Romano.

2002 Domaine Bertagna Clos St. Denis. Burghound 93.  Rich, even extravagant and exotic black fruit leads to round, supple, forward and generous flavors with excellent richness and fine detail. The superbly long finish is impressive for its sheer depth and wonderful complexity and as many of the best ’02s reveal, the tannins here are extremely fine. In sum, this is an absolutely stunning wine with serious potential.

2002 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Chambertin-Clos de Bèze. Burghound 91. A spicy black fruit nose that remains reserved and completely primary leads to rich, full and solidly concentrated flavors that have better definition than what Girardin usually produces and in particular, this is a good deal less fruit-driven as well. Good juice here and one that should age very well yet be accessible relatively early on.

agavin: drinking great now

2001 Domaine Méo-Camuzet Richebourg. Burghound 94. A spicy, elegant and very pure nose is just beginning to display the initial hints of secondary development. There is superb precision to the racy, intense and mineral-driven medium-bodied flavors that exude a focused power on the driving and explosive finish. There isn’t the mid-palate fat or velvety texture of the 2002 but this has its own personality and charm and overall, this has arrived at a place where it could be drunk now with immense pleasure or held for another 5 to 7 years. Note that I have had several bottles that did not show as well as the one described above though most bottles have showed most impressively.

agavin: really great right now, prob best of the flight

1996 Geantet-Pansiot Charmes-Chambertin. VM 94. Saturated deep ruby; one of the darkest ’96s I saw in November. Multifaceted nose combines black fruits, violet, licorice, espresso, smoke, gibier and sweet butter. The class of the cellar in terms of concentration, sweetness, finesse and length; in fact, today this wine makes Geantet’s ’95 seem almost heavy in comparison. Lovely roundness and clarity of flavor. Really explodes on the palate-staining finish.

Roasted Rack of Lamb. Cauliflower Flan, Wild Mushrooms savory cabbage, Cabernet Savignon Reduction. You can never go wrong with lamb chops. Well you can, but not when they are done correctly like this.

1990 Domaine G. Roumier / Christophe Roumier Bonnes Mares. VM 98. Good deep, dark red. Explosively ripe aromas of plum, raspberry, mocha, mint and fresh herbs. Wonderfully fat and voluminous; in fact, this is downright massive for Bonnes-Mares, offering extraordinary palate presence. Finishes with huge, dusty tannins, outstanding breadth and palate-staining length. Unquestionably the most impressive wine of the tasting, but to my palate not the most interesting wine, as the vintage dominates the terroir But this will go on in bottle for many more years.

agavin: Maybe WOTN, or certainly close.

From my cellar: 1993 Louis Jadot Bonnes Mares. Burghound 92. Earthy, deep and wonderfully fresh fruit leads to dense, solidly tannnic, beautifully delineated and focused, rich flavors of exceptional purity and length. While the finish is firm, it is by no means hard and there is excellent buffering sève all underpinned by vibrant acidity. There is plenty of wine here but this is a wine for the patient and it should live for years to come.

agavin: this bottle was sadly just a little corked, not undrinkably so, but enough to steal away the fruit and ruin the experience.

From my cellar (replacing BM above). 1990 Gros Frère et Sœur Clos Vougeot Musigni. 93 points. Powerful fruit, great structure. Just the beginnings of secondary flavors. Rich nose of bright fruits with a smoky undertone. Tastes incredibly fresh for a 19 year old. Bright cherries smoothed by tannins. Very nice. Great burgundy from a great vintage.

agavin: a great wine, in the top 3 or so of the day.

Chef’s selection of artisanal cheese. Nice cheeses, although not enough of them for my taste.
Great fruit bread for the cheese.

I needed a macchiato, it was after all only 4pm when we finished.

Sauvages lunches are always great, but this one like the previous Burgundy lunch was particularly fabulous. Spago is one of the few white table cloth restaurants left in town, and it’s been around for a while, but remains fresh and contemporary. It doesn’t embrace the loud new ambiance like Republique or Bestia, but it does knock the food out of the park, while keeping the look up to date and timeless. The food these days is more Japanese inspired, and less of the California whimsy that Puck originally introduced, but it’s equally fabulous.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or check out other Sauvages meals here.

Related posts:

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  2. Sauvage by Moonlight
  3. Spago – 2005 White Burg part 1!
  4. Babykiller Birthday
  5. Pistola with a Bang
By: agavin
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Cotsen’s Again!

Oct26

I was lucky enough to be invited again to a absolutely fabulous wine dinner hosted by Eric Cotsen at his lovely Malibu pad. The group was mostly Hedonists, with a few other pals of Eric’s mixed in. Eric has these diners regularly and they feature an awesome setting, great company, wonderful food, and amazing wines provided by both him and the guests.


You can see the ocean is right there! Like under the house.

The chefs slave away to make us dinner.

Eric has these crazy high tech nitrogen dispensers that preserve (and aerate) the wines. He even has sets of glasses with etched number and letter combos so you can pair to the wines. Tonight there were two white wines in here and a set of 6 reds.

During this early phase of the party all the wine is served as a blind free-for-all. Eric himself served up eight wines (blind) as follows, with the red’s having a secret theme of “1990”.

2013 Aubert Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard. VM 97. The 2013 Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard is translucent and weightless, yet also magnificent in its depth. Graphite, slate, smoke, incense, lemon and white peach emerge from the glass, but only with great reluctance. The Ritchie is the most reticent wine in this range, but it is in many ways the most intriguing. Intensely mineral and nuanced, the 2013 Ritchie will thrill those lucky enough to own it for another decade-plus. I can’t wait to see how this develops in bottle. The 2013 was done in 100% new oak, yet there is virtually no trace of oak at all.

2010 Brewer-Clifton Chardonnay Cuvée Blanche Sta. Rita Hills. 89 points.

1990 Joseph Drouhin Pommard 1er Cru Les Épenots. 84 points. Slight dried blood and beef but just a taint. Stillmostly brambly crush berries and dark red cherries. Showing medium bodied chewy tannins that would help it age another few years easily. Rough and more musculine on the palate than the volnay. This has more structure and extract that does contrast nicely with the volnay. Sappy dark red cherry fruits with pith.

2005 Cos d’Estournel. Parker 97-98. The 2005 Cos d’Estournel is another great success from this property, which is owned by Michel Reybier. A superstar of St.-Estèphe in this vintage, this wine has a dense ruby/purple color, beautiful, sweet cassis and blackcurrant fruit, some floral notes, spice and a touch of oak in a full-bodied, layered, impressive multi-dimensional style. The tannins are surprisingly sweet and well-integrated, as is the acidity, alcohol and wood. This is a beauty and certainly the top wine of St.-Estèphe. Drink it over the next 25+ years.

1990 Lafite-Rothschild. Parker 96-97. Interestingly, a bottle of 1990 Lafite Rothschild I pulled from my cellar for a video blog on my web site was still buttoned down, tight, and even with extended decanting was not showing as much as I would have hoped. However, a bottle tasted, of all places, in Seoul, Korea in February, was only a few points short of perfection. That amazing performance motivated me to pull another bottle out of my cellar and follow it over the course of two days. Sure enough, by the second day the wine was roaring from the glass. The 1990 Lafite has turned out far better than my early assessment. While it still possesses some firmness, and performs like a late adolescent in terms of its evolution, it boasts gorgeous aromas of cedar, tobacco leaf, cassis, and lead pencil shavings. The explosive aromas are followed by a fleshy, full-bodied wine that should hit its peak in 5-8 years, and last for 25-30 more.

1990 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. Parker 87. The 1990 is not as well-endowed as the 1989. It displays medium dark ruby color and an attractive bouquet of vanillin from new oak, ripe blackcurrants, and spices. Although not as concentrated as usual, the wine does exhibit medium body, some glycerin, and fine ripeness, as well as an overall sense of grace. This stylish wine would have benefitted from more length and intensity. In the context of the vintage, it could have been better.

1990 La Tour Haut-Brion. Parker 85-86. A disappointing example of this wine, the 1990 exhibits a smoky, herbaceous character, medium body, and neither the depth nor richness of La Tour Haut Brions made in the forties, fifties, sixties, seventies, and the monumental 1982. The 1990 needs to be drunk up as it is not likely to get any better. The color is already showing considerable amber and brick at the edge. The wine is somewhat superficial, but it offers complex aromatics of roasted herbs, meat, smoke, and spice.

1990 Beringer Chardonnay Private Reserve. Parker 89. Beringer continues to do everything right. Its staff of talented professionals may rank as the best in the business. Beringer’s Chardonnays take advantage of the rich, opulent fruit the warm growing climate and rich soils provide. Since 1991, the top Chardonnays have been 100% barrel-fermented and put through a malolactic fermentation. Both the Private Reserve and Proprietor Grown Chardonnays have soared in quality, with exceptional vintages in 1991 and 1992.

The gang mills around during the early phases.

And the wines that everyone brought are hidden in socks and served in a giant blind free-for-all.


2012 gripes of wrath.

From my cellar: 2001 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles. VM 91+. Nose hints at spicy oak and flint. Extremely closed and inexpressive today; in a dry style but quite pure and delicate, with brisk acidity. Best today on the subtle, long finish. A very stylish wine but still stunned by the recent bottling.

2004 Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Auslese **. VM 89+. Pale golden-yellow color. Tangerine and apple blossom on the nose. Delicate yet rich in spice and decidedly floral. A salty minerality rather than obvious sweetness graces the finish, but there’s a creamy quality to balance the mineral character. Good length.

2003 Faiveley Corton-Clos des Cortons Faiveley. VM 93+. Dark red-ruby. Nose shows a slightly porty ripeness, with aromas of candied blackbery, violet and licorice pastille. Huge, velvety and thick, with a candied, liqueur-like quality and great concentration. Distinctly different from the rest of these 2003s, with utterly black flavors of berries and violet. A brooding and very primary wine with a huge structure for aging and rather penetrating acids. This will need many years in bottle to become civilized but may well be a monument of the vintage. The alcohol here is 15%.

agavin: whacky, didn’t even taste like a pinot, almost Syrah-like.

1964 Ducru Beaucaillou. Parker 78. Solid, rustic, amiable, and pleasantly full and firm, the 1964 Ducru-Beaucaillou lacks complexity and character, but offers a mushroom-scented, robust, round mouthful of claret. The fruit is just beginning to fade. All things considered, this was a success for a 1964 northern Medoc.

agavin: our bottle was in great shape, really nice and mature.

From my cellar: 2000 Domaine de la Vieille Julienne Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve. Parker 99-100. The 2000 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve (15.5% alcohol; 100% Grenache) is a wine of magnificent intensity as well as majestic texture and richness. Layers of concentrated fruit cascade over the palate. Opaque purple-colored and extremely full-bodied, with a gorgeous nose of minerals, white flowers, black fruits, pepper, and garrigue, this sumptuous, seamless 2000 Chateauneuf must be tasted to be believed. I have had this wine a half dozen times in blind tastings that included some of the finest 2000 Chateauneuf du Papes, and it consistently ranks as one of the top 2 or 3 wines in the tastings. Then again, I’m looking at its overall potential as it is not the most forward or evolved of the 2000 Chateauneuf du Papes. It is a magnificent tour de force in winemaking. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2025.

1994 Michel Ogier Cote Rotie. Parker 89. Ogier’s 1994 Cote Rotie is one of those elegant, finesse-style wines offering an intense, seductive, sexy, smoky, bacon fat, and cassis-scented nose. The wine hits the palate with a delicate, sweet ripeness, enough crisp acidity to provide definition, and a medium-bodied, well-knit personality. A slight shortness in the finish kept this wine from meriting a higher score. Readers should not be surprised if it fills out over the next several years, elevating my rating. It will offer attractive drinking now and over the next 12 years.

2004 Alvaro Palacios L’Ermita. Parker 98. 2004 was a superb vintage in Priorat and the three entries from Alvaro Palacios are stunning. The 2004 L’Ermita is harvested from a 5 acre parcel of 70-year-old head-pruned vines of which 85% is Grenache, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Carignan aged in 100% new French oak. The color is purple/black and the super-expressive nose offers toast, minerals, kirsch, and blackberry. The wine is full-bodied and seamless with complex flavors and the tannin totally concealed. The finish is very long and pure in this powerful yet elegant offering. It should drink splendidly for 15-20 years.

agavin: our cork was oddly dry and crumbled.

2006 Lewis Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Cuvée L. 95 points. Dark blackish red with fruit-forward blackberry, delicious and robust with dark chocolate, some oak, spice and deep black coffee Excellent complexity and structure to the wine with delicate tannins. Beyonce power in a more elegant lady.

1995 Turley Petite Syrah Hayne Vineyard. ST 93+. Brilliant ruby. Outstanding floral lift to the primary red berry and dark chocolate aromas. The palate combines superb thickness of texture and mineral lift, with a flavor of raspberry coulis complicated by coffee and leather nuances. Still remarkably youthful, communicating an exhilarating balance of sweetnes and acidity. Finishes with plush, sweet tannins and terrific floral length. This is still evolving and may ultimately merit an even higher score.

1999 Harlan Estate Proprietary Red Wine. Parker 94. Very deep garnet-black colour going brick at the rim. Complex, maturing nose with notes of warm blackberry, game, dried plums, moss, white pepper, Provence herbs and a whiff of iron ore. The palate reveals a concentrated, medium to full bodied wine balanced by medium acidity and a medium to firm level of velvety tannins. Very long finish departing with lingering savoury and mineral flavours. Drink now to 2018. Tasted November 2008.

2008 Torbreck The Pict. Parker 94. Very deep garnet colored with a hint of purple, 2008 The Pict offers expressive notes of ripe mulberries, kirsch, dried plums, Ceylon tea, tobacco, spice cake and fertile earth. Full bodied, concentrated and firmly structured, it has a firm level of chewy tannins and racy acid supporting the generous fruit, finishing long. This vineyard clearly coped extraordinarily well with the heat-wave and produced a superb wine! Drink it now to 2020+.

2007 Kapcsandy Family Winery Estate Cuvee State Lane Vineyard. Parker 96. The 2007 Estate Cuvee State Lane Vineyard (a 750-case blend of 46% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot) boasts an inky/plum/purple color as well as a complex bouquet of melted licorice, chocolate, creme de cassis, mocha, and sweet forest floor aromas. Full-bodied and layered with exquisite purity, texture, and length, this large-scaled offering reveals a supple texture along with 20-25 years of drinkability. It is a seductive yet extraordinarily complex wine that should prove to be a future super-star.

2001 Paul Hobbs Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard. Parker 97-98. From the undeniable first-growth quality site comes the 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard. When the fruit from this vineyard is handled properly, the resulting wine often flirts with perfection. Hobbs’ 2001 boasts a dense blue/purple color along with an incredibly pure nose of spice box, cedarwood, creme de cassis, blueberry pie and subtle smoke as well as graphite notes that could easily pass for a first- or second-growth Pauillac. Broad, expansive, full-bodied flavors reveal stunning purity, amazing depth and richness, and a finish that goes on for nearly a minute. Still youthful, but oh, so impressive, it is hard to resist now, but it should be even better in 5-8 years, and keep for 30-40+ years.

2008 Clarendon Hills Astralis (Shiraz). Parker 97. Also deep garnet-purple in color, the 2008 Astralis is a little reduced and brooding on the nose showing aromas of dark berries, meat, licorice and dark chocolate. Big, full-bodied and rich in the mouth it has balanced acid along with medium-firm grainy tannins. It finishes long and balanced. Drink it now to 2028+.


1990 Mayacamas Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. 92 points. Another good, mature Cabernet from Mayacamas, showing peppermint, cassis, licorice, oak, pine needles, molasses, pepper, leather, dirt, and plum. Still plenty of tannin to resolve. I’d say it’ll go another 10 years or so.

2011 Peter Michael Winery Les Pavots Proprietary Red Wine. Parker 92. The 2011 Les Pavots (3,086 cases) is composed of 73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Cabernet Franc, 10% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot. Its chocolaty fudge-like notes intermixed with espresso roast, black and red currants, smoky barbecue and underbrush are followed by a deep, rich, full-bodied, outstanding red wine that should drink well for 10-15 years.

1977 Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon York Creek. 91 points. Very cool. Color was dark red/ black. Classic Cali cab with smooth tannin. Cassis and red fruit with some tertiary development. I really love 70s Cali cab.

During this early phase, there are a variety of munchables:

Various cheeses.

An homage to Spago, with crispy sesame cups filled with salmon tartar, caviar, and bonito flakes. Delicious.

And a slightly different version with grav lox. Stronger in flavor, but equally delicious.

Ham and cheese panini with manchego and jamon de Iberico!

A white fish with yuzu, cilantro, and red peppercorns. Bright and delicious.

Mushroom ravioli.

Sun dried tomato ravioli.


Dinner itself was enjoyed here at the outside table and its warming firepit.


Mushroom soup.

Wasabi mashers.

Grilled vegetables.

Beef. Tasty, but salty. There were two types.

Gravy. Super salty.

2007 Château Coutet. VM 92. Full medium gold. Pineapple, orange, toffee, nutty oak and a whiff of spun sugar on the enticing nose. Sweet but youthful and tangy, with lively acidity and underlying minerality giving an incisive quality to the bright core of pineapple and apricot fruit. At once rich and sharply focused, finishing with excellent length and verve. This should evolve slowly.

Berries.

Whipped cream.

And deconstructed smore.

Finished out with graham cracker and seared marshmallows.

Then topped with the fruit and cream.

Just a bit of wine — 27 bottles!

Overall, another fun evening. Lots of great wine, company, and food. What more can you ask?

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

  1. Big and Bold on the Beach
  2. Wine on the Beach
  3. Epic Ocean Party 2015
  4. Memorial Day Pig
  5. Oceans of Wine
By: agavin
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Little Sheep Hot Pot

Oct21

Restaurant: Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot

Location: 140 W Valley Blvd #213, San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 307-1901

Date: October 18, 2015

Cuisine: Mongolian Hot Pot

Rating: Middling quality hot pot

_

Hot Pot is an ever popular style of Northern Chinese / Mongolian food. Basically a pot of boiling broth is used tableside to cook various foods.

Little Sheep is a small chain, the name refers to the prevalence of lamb in Mongolian cooking. Fortunately it’s not, “Little Marmot,” as the squirrel-like rodent is common on the Mongolian steppes and has been known to end up on the cook fire.

The interior is fairly modern.

The menu, somewhere in the middle of our markup process. You have to understand that you basically order plates of stuff, which you add to your hot pot.

Little Sheep does have a sauce bar. It’s not nearly as extensive as the one at Hai di Lao, particularly as the left and right halves are the same, but it’s still more than sufficient to make a great sauce.


These are my sauces. On the left is a richer sesame paste one, on the right a lighter ponzu style.

There are two broth types here, “plain” and “spicy.” This is spicy, which isn’t actually that spicy unless you eat the chilies — but good luck avoiding them all!

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


Supreme lamb shoulder.


Premium Lamb leg.


Supreme angus beef.

USDA Choice rib eye.


Beef of an indeterminate nature.

Pork belly. Look at all that fat.

Free range chicken. Surprisingly good, for chicken.

2009 Aubert Pinot Noir UV Vineyard. VM 93. The 2009 Pinot Noir UV Vineyard once again shows the richness and heft of the clay-rich soils in this site. This is an especially dense Pinot, even by Aubert’s standards, that needs another year or so in bottle to start shedding some of its baby fat. Despite the wine’s richness, there is more than enough underlying minerality to give the wine a sense of proportion and harmony.

Lamb meat balls.

Beef meat balls.

Pork meat balls.

Luncheon meat. A.k.a. spam. Delicious.

Pork sausages. Little wieners.

From my cellar: 2004 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese. 92 points. #1; COLOR-nice golden; NOSE-burnt BMX tires meets peaches, apricots & pears; spritzy; TASTE-beautiful bluestone; gorgeous dried Apricots; viscous & oily; gorgeous peach juice; very polished; great, great wine; very delicate; nice floral aspects; subtle cactus juice & on the finish; a concoction of Cantaloupe & dandelion dancing on the back-end; very complex; great balance of acidity & fruit; great structure; absolute elegance at it’s finest; DS-92; GV-92.

Scallops. Total fail here, these were not fresh.

Shrimp. These were fine.

Calamari (squid).

Crab legs. Got a bit mushy in the pot.

Fried fish cakes. Pretty tasty, with an interesting chewy texture.

2010 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Meursault Les Narvaux. Burghound 89-91. An elegant, pure and cool nose of white flower and citrus leads to minerally and well-concentrated middle weight flavors that possess a racy, intense and well-balanced finish. This dry and relatively forward effort should offer 2 to 3 years of upside development if desired.

Miscellaneous vegetable plate.

Miscellaneous mushroom plate.

Soft tofu. I love it, but hard to get out of the pot.

Hot Pot Dumplings. Chewy, tasty. Not sure what if anything was actually inside.

Udon noodles. Again hard to get out of the pot.

Fresh egg noodles. I loved these. Mixed with the sauce they made one of those tangy/spicy Chinese noodle dishes.

Glass noodles. Also great.

Chinese donut. Not actually sweet at all, but with a very nice crunch.

Mongolian bread. Hot from the oven and nice. Who says Chinese don’t make bread?

Mongolian beef pie. This one was delicious. We had a second that was a bit overdone and wasn’t so great.

2010 Copain P2. 89 points. Neither red, white nor rose. Slight tannins from red give body and structure while the pinot gris gives a fragrant juciness that allows it to go with so many modern foods, especially on a warm day with a slight chill.

Lamb dumplings. A little weak.

Pork dumplings. Same. Just kinda soft without too much flavor.

Lamb skewers. With the usual cumin.

Beef skewers.

Chicken skewers.

At the end, the cooling sauce is starting to congeal.

Overall, Little Sheep is a decent hot pot place. The broth was good, the sauces good, and many of the ingredients like the meat and breads quite good. The seafood was fairly lousy, and the dumplings weak. They also don’t have a ton of broth choices and you have to share the pot with about 4-5 people.

Now I’d place it about Hot Pot Hot Pot (with a 8+ person per pot and no sauce bar), but below Hai di Lao. However both of the first two have a bit more variety of non hot pot ingredients than Hai di Lao.

After, we wandered downstairs in this monster Maxi-mall (which also includes Spicy City) and checked out this bakery.

A couple of us got this layered Crepe Cake. It’s just crepes and custard, chilled. Mild, sweet, milky and delicious — like a sort of crepey tres leches cake.

Another mild cakey thing.

And they also have various teas and slushies. On the left a milk tea, on the right a mango slushie.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

  1. Pecorino – No Sheep is Safe
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  4. Heavy Noodling at JTYH
  5. New Bay Seafood
By: agavin
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More Meat at Totoraku

Oct16

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

Location: 10610 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064.

Date: October 14, 2015

Cuisine: Japanese Yakiniku

Rating: Best beef in town!

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About twice a year my Hedonist group makes a regular pilgrimage to Totoraku, LA’s “secret beef” restaurant.  Toto (as its affectionately known) serves a refined version of Japanese Yakiniku, which is Beef BBQ originally from Korea but filtered through Japanese sensibility.

We often oscillate between 30 person mega dinners — quite the madness — and more intimate 10-15 person affairs. This was the later, with about 10-12 drinkers, and I much prefer this size. You can talk to everyone, bottles go all the way around, and the quality of the wines is generally more consistently higher.

The outside is basically a shell. The “Teriyaki House” has nothing to do with the food within, and the phone number is incorrect. The place is like a beef speakeasy!

The interior is a tad “minimalist.”


Here, chef Kaz Oyama, himself a part time Hedonist, sharpens his knives. Uh oh!

Bonus from my cellar: NV Vilmart & Cie Champagne Grand Cellier Brut. VM 92. Lemon peel, white flowers, mint, crushed rocks and almonds are some of the notes that meld together in the NV Cuvée Grand Cellier. The flavors are brisk, nuanced and pure in this refreshing, saline-inflected Champagne. Chardonnay plays the leading role in the Grand Cellier, and that comes through in the bright flavor profile. This release is 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir, 50% vintage 2010 and 25% each 2011 and 2012.

The appetizer plate. Lots of yummy little tidbits.

Uni risotto balls.

Salmon wrapped in daikon, stuffed with avocado and other vegetables.

A very soft gelatinous thing that probably had some crab in it, certainly veggies.

Fish with tomatoes.

2005 Aubert Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard. VM 95. It’s interesting to taste the 2005 Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard next to the Lauren. Here the flavors are quite a bit more mineral-driven, with plenty of graphite and crushed notes. Hints of orange peel and white truffles add the final layers of nuance. The 2005 Ritchie is a bit more forward than the Lauren, and has also aged with a bit less overall finesse, but that is a pretty small critique at this level.

Egg with pear, potato, and some kind of crisp.

Foie gras, some kind of fruit.

A white fish sashimi.

Shrimp with caviar.

Sesame tofu with pea.

Scott brought: 1977 Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia Vino da Tavola. 91 points. I’ve never had a Sassicaia this old and at first it was a touch thin, but it really opened up and was quiet nice and interesting.

Beef carpaccio with special salt, flowers, and some onion family derivative. Very yummy. This is eaten raw.

1988 Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia Vino da Tavola. 90 points. Perfectly matured yet fresh Cab nose, lovely red fruits, mineral, also cassis, lead pencil, strong presence of iron which is different than the last bottle, a hint of ash and tar and flower. Medium concentration, silky palate, strong presence of iron/mineral, nicely integrated tannins and seamless long finish. Other than a hint of tar, I would guess it as a perfectly mature classic cab if served blind. Lovely.

agavin: consensus at our dinner was that the 77 was a bit better than the 88

Two kinds of beef sashimi, eaten nearly raw. On the left beef tataki (rib eye) and on the right (in the cup) beef throat sashimi. Also on the plate is a bit of Korean style hot sauce (the red stuff), some intensely strong garlic (yum) and micro julienned ginger.

The throat was very chewy, more about texture. The rib eye soft and more flavorful. All went well with the garlic and ginger — I particularly liked the garlic.

From my cellar: 1986 Leoville-Las Cases. Parker 100! The late Michel Delon always thought that this was the greatest vintage he had produced. We often tasted it side by side with the 1982, because I always preferred the latter vintage. Of course, the two vintages are quite different in style, with the 1986 a monument to classicism, with great tannin, extraordinary delineation, and a huge, full-bodied nose of sweet, ripe cassis fruit intermixed with vanilla, melon, fruitcake, and a multitude of spices. The wine has always been phenomenally concentrated, yet wonderfully fresh and vigorous. The wine still seems young, yet it is hard to believe it is not close to full maturity. It is a great example of Leoville Las Cases, and another compelling reason to take a serious look at the top Cabernet Sauvignon-based Medocs of 1986. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2035.

agavin: really fabulous. Super smooth and balanced, mature with a youthful power. Long way to go here.

A raw beef dish. Marinated raw beef is seen here with ginger, raw egg, cucumber, daikon, pine nuts, and something orange. Apparently, this is a Korean dish called Yukhoe. Actually, I’ve had it at Korean places, but in any case it’s delicious.

The elements are mixed together and then eaten. It’s hard to describe why it’s so good, but it is, with a very complex flavor and texture interplay.

The tabletop grill we cook the rest of the dishes on.

Mark brought: 2000 Vega Sicilia Unico. Parker 93-98. In the absence of a 2001 Unico, Vega Sicilia has re-released the 2000 Unico which I reviewed in Issue 189. The 2000 Unico is deep crimson-colored with an ethereal perfume aided by its extended upbringing. Aromas of Asian spices, lavender, incense, truffle, and confiture of black fruits are compelling. Sweet, forward, rich, and hedonistic, it nevertheless has the balance and structure to continue evolving for another 5-10 years. In strong vintages Vega Sicilia drinks well at age 50 and I would expect the same of the 2000.

Beef tongue with salt. After cooking, you dip it in lemon juice.

Don’t put your tongue on the grill!

Larry brought: 2001 Penfolds Grange. Parker 98+. It is always a treat to taste Australia’s most famous wine, Penfolds’ Grange cuvee (the word Hermitage has been dropped because of legal issues). The 2001 Grange is one of the few vintages of this cuvee to be composed of 100% Shiraz (the others being 1951, 1952, 1963, 1999, and 2000). Aged 17 months in 100% American oak, and tipping the scales at 14.5% alcohol, the 2001 is undeniably one of the top examples of this wine. At this stage, it appears to eclipse the 1998 and 1996. Inky/blue/purple to the rim, with a stunning perfume of blueberries, blackberries, chocolate, graphite, and earth, it boasts good acidity, huge tannins, magnificent concentration, and a multilayered, textured mouthfeel. It is a big, but impeccably well-balanced Shiraz that should shed some of its structure and tannin over the next 4-5 years, and be at its best between 2010-2030+.

agavin: regarded by most at our dinner as the WOTN!

Filet Mignon with bell peppers, onions, and sisho pepper.

Filet on the grill.

2008 Penfolds Grange. Parker 100! Very deep garnet-purple in color the 2008 Grange reveals a truly decadent nose with tons of spices, fruit cake and black & blue fruit compote notes along with nuances of chocolate and potpourri. The full and rich, multi-layered palate has a little oak still showing, it is going through a little bit of a structural stand-out stage, but it doesn’t detract on the long and complex finish. It still needs a good few years to develop, though this very opulent, expressive Grange shows the very best of this vintage and the vineyards it hails from.

The “salad.” Cucumbers, carrots, daikon. The vegetables do help to move along the fat and protein heavy meat.

They are served with this spicy sweet miso dip.

Momotaro tomatoes with a vinaigrette. These are supposedly incredibly good tomatoes, as a hater, I didn’t try them. I think Oyama-san gets them from some special place in Orange Country.

Brock brought for Crystal: 2007 Vietti Barolo Riserva Villero. VM 96+. Vietti’s 2007 Barolo Riserva Villero is a flat out stunner. Dark red fruit, Villero spices, leather, tobacco, smoke and menthol come alive in a rich, sensual Barolo that captures the essence of this site. Rose petals, mint and sweet red berries flesh out on an inviting wine loaded with class and personality. Over time, the powerful, explosive style of the year becomes more evident. The fruit turns darker, more balsamic and also more intensely mineral.

agavin: too young, but you can tell it was an enormous and balanced wine.

Outside rib eye with special salt and garlic.

The outside rib eye on the grill.

After being flipped, green onion is added.

Yarom brought: 2001 Hundred Acre Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Kayli Morgan Vineyard. Parker 98. Having performed spectacularly well last year in the retrospective of ten-year old Napa Cabernets, this 2001 remains incredibly young, with all of its potential waiting to burst forth. Its dense purple color is followed by notes of mulberries, creme de cassis, blackberries, licorice, graphite and subtle smoke. The wine reveals fabulous fruit along with full-bodied power and a seamless integration of acidity, tannin, alcohol and wood. Forget it for another 4-5 years and drink it over the following 25-30 years.

agavin: really nice “for a California.” Very balanced and smooth.


Inside rib eye.

The inside rib eye on the grill. Probably my favorite cut.

Another bonus from my cellar: 2010 Dominique Lafon Meursault. 92 points. The 2010 Meursault emerges from the glass with notable elegance and class. This is a slightly more restrained, nervous style than fans of Comtes Lafon have become used to over the years. The 2010 is made from parcels in Petit Montagne, Charmes and Narvaux that belong to Dominique Lafon and that were once used in the Comtes Lafon Meursault.

As any regular Totoraku goer knows, any new dish is a big deal here, as the menu is very consistent. This is one of TWO new specials chef Kaz whipped up for us tonight, Sawara, a kind of Spanish Mackerel. It is considered the best kind of Mackerel in Japan. Not only it is a big variety, but its comparatively white flesh is succulent in almost any kind of cooking! Here we have it miso marinated and raw. We lightly seared it on the grill and enjoyed!

Awesome and very rich! One hell of a piece of grilled fish.

Kirk brought: 2002 Abreu Cabernet Sauvignon Madrona Ranch. Parker 100! The 2002 Madrona Ranch possesses an opaque blue/purple color as well as an extraordinary, enveloping, massive aromatic profile consisting of spring flowers, charcoal, lead pencil shavings, blueberries, raspberries and blackberry liqueur. In the mouth, there is sensational texture, full-bodied intensity, and terrific freshness, precision and vibrancy, despite what is undeniably a massive, rich, intense wine that should age well for another 25-35 years. The 2001s were about as profound as I have ever tasted from Abreu, but the 2002s may be even sexier since they are slightly more evolved.

“Special” beef. I think it was a form of sirloin. It was certainly good, very salted.

Grilling.

Brock brought: 2003 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage A Jacques Perrin. Parker 95-98. The 2003 Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage a Jacques Perrin is a blend of 40% Mourvedre, 40% Grenache, 10% Syrah, and 10% Counoise (normally this cuvee includes 60% Mourvedre and 20% Grenache). A 50-year effort, it is closed, backward, and formidably tannic at present, but the color is a deep ruby/blue/purple, and the nose offers up scents of graphite, blueberries, black truffles, earth, smoke, and licorice. Ripe, full-bodied, and powerful, but searingly tannic, it will need at least a decade of cellaring. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2050. The irony is that in spite of the much higher percentage of Grenache, it is still extremely tannic and backward, even more so than the 2001, 2000, 1999, or 1998.

You have to special order the lamb, which like all of Kaz’s meats, is pretty wonderful.

On the grill.

One hell of a chop.

We char broiled it.

So much so that ash rained down from our efforts.

Brian brought: 2012 Sine Qua Non Grenache Stein. Parker 97-66. Starting with the Grenache release, the 2012 Grenache Stein is a blend of 76% Grenache, 16% Syrah and 8% Mourvedre, aged in 14% new French oak (15% was in concrete), that comes mostly from the estate’s Eleven Confessions Vineyard in the Sta. Rita Hills, but also includes grapes from the Cumulus, Third Twin (Syrah) and Bien Nacido vineyards. Checking in at 15.7% alcohol, it’s no lightweight, yet it has considerable elegance in its sweet blackcurrants, white pepper, licorice, baking spices and hints of violet-like aromas and flavors. Possessing the hallmark purity of the estate, it’s full-bodied, concentrated, rich and textured, with sweet tannin barely noticeable on the finish. I don’t think it’s one of the greatest Grenaches from the estate, yet it’s still an incredible effort that will benefit from short-term cellaring and have 15-20 years or more of overall longevity.


Skirt steak.

On the grill.


Toto serves homemade ice creams and sorbets as dessert.


So chaotic was this giant night that they brought out all five flavors on each  plate and just placed them about the tables. I like the ice creams better than the sorbets here. The white chocolate was fantastic. Still, it’s all great.

To show the epic white chocolate raspberry, I had to turn around the plate.

This place is all about the beef, which is arguably some of the best I’ve ever had. Certainly the best yakiniku/Korean BBQ I’ve ever had. There is a perfect tenderness to every cut that’s fairly transcendant. I’m not even that much of a steak fan — but I’d take this stuff any time over even a spectacular cut from Mastros or Cut. The food here does not vary much from visit to visit. There is no menu. The quality however is utterly consistant. So while it isn’t an everyday sort of dining experience, perhaps once every 6-9 months, I love to return for my fix.

This evening was quite awesome. We had a smaller party (12-15), with a few non drinkers. Thus every wine easily made it all the way around. Additionally, everyone really stepped up and we had some pretty epic grapes. At least 3 official Parker 100s!

More crazy Hedonist adventures or

LA dining reviews click here.


Related posts:

  1. Totoraku Double Meat Madness
  2. Totoraku – Hedonists Beef Up
  3. Totally Totoraku
  4. Epic Hedonism at Totoraku
  5. Totoraku – Secret Beef!
By: agavin
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Posted in: Food
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Renu Nakorn

Oct14

Restaurant: Renu Nakorn

Location: 13019 Rosecrans Ave #105, Norwalk, CA 90650. (562) 921-2124

Date: October 11, 2015 & September 16, 2018 & January 3, 2025

Cuisine: Thai

Rating: Far, but really great Thai

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I’m always up for some Thai adventures and Renu Nakorn, although very far and deep down in the inland empire off the 5 is the seed restaurant that gave birth to Lotus of Siam.

The strip mall they used to be in rebooted up into this bigger 2006 mall. The Chutima’s ran it back in the 90s and in 1999 solid it to their friends Pharchumporn Shonkeaw and Umpa Sripetwannadee. Named after the Renu Nakhon district of northeastern Thailand, it serves up Northern Thai cuisine.

2011 Domaine des Baumard Savennières. 89 points. Quite creamy on the nose with subtle, slightly funky aromas of animal hide, papaya and fennel. Medium-bodied and slightly soft with savory, flinty flavors of grass, hard lemon candy and tangerine.

Fried sweet corn special. They made this up for us special. Absolutely delicious. Crunchy and sweet.

Rose

Renu Nakorn Sausage. Grilled sour rice sausage, served with fresh chili, ginger & peanut. Sausage was super tasty, although very salty.

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Northern Thai Sausage (9/16/18), a slightly different more aromatic variant.


Chicken Sate.

2005 Dönnhoff Schloßböckelheimer Felsenberg Riesling Spätlese. VM 91. Pale golden yellow.Subtle bouquet of pineapple, nut oil and lemon zest.The luscious yet crisp papaya fruit is brightened by a refreshing mineral character.Deceptively light and wonderfully drinkable.A charming riesling with a sweet/salty finish.

Nam-Prik-Noom (Green chili dip). Roasted green chili, garlic, onion and tomato pounded in mortar. One of the most popular dip of Northern Thailand, eaten with sticky rice, fried pork skin and fresh vegetable. Lots of flavor, not super hot by my standards.
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The red chili dip (9/16/18) version of the same dish.


Pork Jerky.


Beef Jerky.
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Some kind of special beef salad (9/16/18).

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Larb koong (9/16/18). A northern style larb.


Spring Rolls.


A different kind of spring roll.
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Stuffed chicken wings (9/16/18). Super awesome, we ordered 2 or three times!
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Classic papaya salad (9/16/18).


Raw Shrimp. Big, juicy, and very spicy.
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Coconut chicken soup (9/16/18).
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In the bowl.


2001 Weingut Johannishof (H.H. Eser) Rüdesheimer Berg Rottland Riesling Spätlese. 89 points. Peach, grapefruit and brown spice in the nose. Enormously rich and peachy in the mouth, expansive and bright across the palate. Effusively fruity, honeyed and spicy in the finish.

Special apple salad with salmon. The salmon was perfectly cooked, very mild yet flavorful.

2000 Erben von Beulwitz Kaseler Nies’chen Riesling Auslese**. 93 points. Sweet but not cloying.

Nam Kao Tod. Minced Issan sausage mixed with green onion, fresh chili, ginger, peanuts, crispy rice and lime juice. Super delicious, but incredibly salty.

2003 Le Haut-Lieu Vouvray Moelleux. 93 points. Sweet, with perhaps a touch of funk.

Nua Yum Katiem. Charbroiled spicy beef topped with fresh garlic and spicy sauce. Super delicious, and our spicy one actually had some heat (from those peppers). Lots of good garlic and acidic flavor too. The texture of the meat reminded me of tongue (in a good way).

2002 Inniskillin Vidal Sparkling Icewine. 93 points. Very nice. Few bubbles left, but what was left added just the right spark. Deep color. Flavors very concentrated. Probably near it peak, but showed zero hint of oxidation, so it may last quite a bit longer.

Northern Larb. A completely difference from the Is-san larb in taste, this Northern style larb (ground pork) is cooked with Northern Thai spices and no lime juice. Garnish with fresh herb and vegetable. Lots of flavor, a bit of heat, and extremely salty again.

2010 Rhys Pinot Noir San Mateo County. VM 94. The 2010 Pinot Noir (San Mateo County) is simply fabulous. Rich dark cherries, crushed flowers, mint and spices burst from the glass. This is a hugely delicious wine from Rhys. The 80% whole clusters are nicely balanced by the sheer depth of the fruit. This is a flat out stunning wine from Rhys. In 2010 the San Mateo is the entry-level Pinot. The 2010 is bottled under San Mateo appellation, as it includes fruit from Bearwallow (in Anderson Valley) rather than the more typical collection of sites from the Santa Cruz Mountains. Once again, one of the appellation-level Rhys Pinots shines.

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They prep the next dish.

Khao soi. Northern red curry with chicken and flat noodles.

In the individual bowl. I loved this, but I LOVE red curries, and I love noodles, so go figure.

Condiments for the curry.

2012 Horsepower Vineyards Syrah The Tribe Vineyard. 96 points. Total rocks rockstar. If you want to show someone Rock terrior, this is about as good as it gets. Super clean, but showcasing that ethereal burn olive and blood flavor. Good acid on the palate for being obviously higher PH. Long finish.

Drunken noodles, combination. Good stuff, we went through the noodles fast.

2007 Carlisle Syrah Bennett Valley. 91 points. Drinking quite well. Most of the group enjoyed it even more than I. Plums, black raspberries and some black pepper on the nose. Tannic. Good fruit but certainly not uber ripe. Starting to show some complexity, but certainly no hurry at all. It really is a beautiful wine.


Crispy Chicken.

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Pork stew Northern Style (9/16/18).


Special off menu pork.
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Spicy Young Jackfruit Curry (9/16/18). Interesting flavors.

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Seafood Chili Mint Leaves (9/16/18).
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More fried rice (9/16/18).
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Red chicken curry (9/16/18). Classic and delicious.


Red Curry with Duck.


Special green curry (2015 & 9/16/18) with pork, extra spicy. Loved this stuff, with a nice coconut flavor.


Yellow Curry with Chicken.
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BBQ beef in spicy sauce (9/16/18).


Braised stew.
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Pad See Ew (9/16/18).

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Catfish (9/16/18).


Fish.
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Crying Tiger Beef (9/16/18).


Bannana fritters with coconut ice cream. I only ate the ice cream, which tasted like ice milk or frozen coconut milk. It was okay.


Bland cake.
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Made by me for 9/16/18.

Cherry Cough Syrup Sorbetto – Amareno Cherry and Creme de Cassis Sorbet! — so intense — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #SummerTime #cherry #amareno #Sorbet #cassis

Passionape Sorbetto – Passion Fruit and Aperol Sorbet — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #SummerTime #Sorbet #PassionFruit #Aperol


Food was excellent, if a touch salty. Service was excellent. Only minus was the drive.

I still like Jitlada a bit better. Renu Nakorn has a different, more northern style, however. It also isn’t nearly as spicy. We asked them to give us nuclear hot dishes and they were only “hot”. My scalp never got sweating like it does at Jitlada.

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!
Extra wines from 9/16/18:
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1A0A7469
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Related posts:

  1. Hedonists Noodle over Hoy-Ka
  2. Ruen Pair Rules
  3. Jitlada Overkill
  4. Hedonists in Vegas – Lotus of Siam
  5. Jitlada – Fire in the Hole
By: agavin
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LaLa – Valentino

Oct12

Restaurant: Valentino Santa Monica [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Location: 3115 Pico Blvd  Santa Monica, CA 90405. (310) 829-4313

Date: October 8, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Good, if a touch slow!

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For some time my Hedonist gang has been arranging this special dinner of all Guigal single vineyard Côte-Rôtie, known affectionately as the LaLas (as they are named La Landonne, La Mouline, and La Turque).

The wine service for this was extensive and expertly handled. We had glasses for every wine and they were opened, tested, decanted, poured all in advance and delivered in neat flights.

Our special custom menu.

Ron brought as a bonus: 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.

Parmesan crisps.

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

agavin: our bottle was mildly corked or funky. Still drinkable, but not up to its usual standards.

Caprese skewers.

Bonus from my cellar: 2011 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Saint-Aubin 1er Cru en Remilly Cuvée Nicholas et Mathis. 94 points. Precise, delineated, a bit reductive, with tons of fabulous acid.

Fried potato puffs with tomato sauce. Very nice.

Ron also brought: 2013 Samuel Billaud Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. VM 93. Pale, bright yellow. Rather exotic aromas of orange peel, musky ginger and curry powder. Large-scaled, broad and deep, with a distinctly old-viney creaminess and superb mineral depth to the explosive flavors of soft citrus fruits and ginger. The mounting, palate-staining finish shows a youthfully aggressive quality but does not go heavy. The crop level here was just 30 hectoliters per hectare, according to Billaud.

agavin: a nice screaming young Chablis

Crudo al cucchiao. Tuna with pineapple. The sweet / salty pairing here is very nice.

Grilled pizza margarita.

Involtini. Eggplant wrapped around soft ricotta cheese.

Breadsticks.

Now we get to the LaLas.

1990 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque. Parker 98. The 1990 La Turque offers an opaque purple color, and an overwhelming perfume of jammy black cherries, cassis, toast, and minerals. With its sweet, generous, incredibly harmonious personality, it is an unforgettable wine.With sweet tannin, low acidity, and one of the most velvety-textured, decadently rich palates I have encountered, this fabulous wine has a finish that lasts more than a minute.

agavin: good, but not nearly as good as the 91

1991 Guigal Cote Rotie la Landonne. Parker 99. The 1991 La Landonne will provide multimillionaires with plenty of pleasure over the next 20 years. They can also debate whether it or the perfect 1990 is the better wine. The 1991’s bouquet offers huge, smoky, new saddle leather, licorice, Asian spice, meaty, and cassis scents. Black in color, with layers of richness, huge body, massive extraction, and a phenomenal finish, it is another legend from Marcel Guigal. It will be the least precocious of the 1991s, needing until the turn of the century to open and develop; it should keep for 25-30 + years.

agavin: WOTN, really gorgeous

Warm beef carpaccio. With parmesan, cappers, etc.

1995 Guigal Cote Rotie la Landonne. Parker 95-97. The brawny, black/purple-colored 1995 Cote Rotie La Landonne reveals the animal, sauvage side of the Syrah grape. Licorice, prune, iron, and vitamin-like aromas compete with copious quantities of black fruits and smoke in this complex, structured, muscular, massive Cote Rotie. It will require 5-6 years of cellaring, and should keep for 30+ years.

1995 Guigal Cote Rotie la Mouline. Parker 96-100. The 1995 Cote Rotie La Mouline (11% Viognier included in the blend) was scheduled to be bottled (unfined and unfiltered of course) in February, after 42 months in 100% new oak. This is one of the most extraordinary wines made in the world. As I have said many times, if I were ever stranded on the proverbial desert island with only one wine to drink, it would have to be La Mouline. A compelling perfume of violets, black raspberries, coffee, pepper, and pain grille soars from the glass. Medium to full-bodied and lush, with a terrific multi-layered texture and outstanding purity, this is a phenomenal example of La Mouline. It possesses enough structure and substance to last for two decades, although it will be delicious upon release.

agavin: my favorite of this awesome flight.

1995 Guigal Cote Rotie la Turque. Parker 98-100. The 1995 Cote Rotie La Turque (about 7% Viognier in the blend) possesses a dense ruby/purple color, and roasted herb, olive, and Asian spice characteristics. It exhibits exceptional concentration and is velvety and concentrated. The fabulous 1995 La Turque is a virtually perfect wine with flamboyance, harmony, and remarkable opulence and length. It should drink well when released, and last for two decades.

Sea scallops in porchetta, wrapped in pancetta with a red wine sauce. It’s unusual to have such a “red” scallop prep, but it totally worked and made for a solid Syrah pairing.

From my cellar: 1998 Guigal Cote Rotie la Mouline. Parker 97-100. The awesome 1998 Cote Rotie La Mouline is a seamless, full-bodied classic with many characteristics of the 1997 La Landonne , but more structure, tannin, and muscle. It will need two years of cellaring, and will last for twenty years. Stylistically, it is reminiscent of the 1988.

agavin: another amazing flight

1998 Guigal Cote Rotie la Turque. Parker 98-99. The 1998 Cote Rotie La Turque may end up being a perfect wine. Its smoky black fruits intermixed with licorice, roasted meats, cassis, and flowers create an explosive, exotic perfume. The wine reveals considerable tannin, immense structure, and potentially legendary depth as well as intensity. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2022.

1998 Guigal Cote Rotie la Landonne. Parker 100! The 1998 Cote Rotie La Landonne is a perfect wine … at least for my palate. Its saturated black/purple color is accompanied by an extraordinary nose of smoke, incense, tapenade, creosote, blackberry, and currant aromas. It is densely packed with blackberry, truffle, chocolate, and leather-like flavors. The wine possesses high tannin, but perfect harmony, impeccable balance, and gorgeous integration of acidity, alcohol, and tannin. It is a tour de force in winemaking. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2025.

Calamarta with porcini duck ragu. A lovely pasta, although a few complained that theirs arrived cold (mine was fine).

Jeff brought this bonus: 2003 Rene Rostaing Cote Rotie la Landonne. Parker 97. Revealing more structure and definition than the regular bottling, the 2003 Cote Rotie La Landonne offers more scorched earth, camphor, blackberry, and roasted meat characteristics. Last year this cuvee displayed no acidity, but that is not the case from bottle (perhaps the use of 50% stems helped). Rostaing admits that analytically, there is practically no acid in this wine, so it will age on its extraordinary extract and richness. This blockbuster should drink well young, yet age for 12-15 years.

agavin: warming us up to 2003

2003 Guigal Cote Rotie la Landonne. Parker 100! The 2003 Cote Rotie la Landonne continues to blow me away every time I taste it and it’s a desert island wine for me. One of the stars of this extreme vintage, it offers sensational levels of fruit and decadence, perfumed, intense aromatics, beautiful freshness and a to-die-for texture and finish. Still youthful, with masses of sweet tannin, it’s nevertheless a a heavenly drink today.

agavin: brooding monster, needs at least 10 years

2003 Guigal Cote Rotie la Mouline. Parker 100! A desert island wine (as is just about any top vintage of the cuvee) and a gorgeous showing, the 2003 Cote Rotie la Mouline is drinking beautifully, yet is still young, loaded with fruit, and possesses over-the-top richness. Giving up notions of plum, liquid flowers, potpourri and smoked meats, this puppy is full-bodied, massive and layered on the palate, with a stacked mid-palate, thrilling amounts of texture, and a blockbuster-styled finish. There’s nothing classic about it, but it’s still as good as it gets.

agavin: another monster

Risotto with wolfe ranch quail. There was pretty solid agreement that this was a great dish. The quail was nice and flavorful and that jus was fabulous. The risotto was mild but great with the Jus.

1999 Guigal Cote Rotie la Mouline. Parker 100! The 1999 Cote Rotie la Mouline is straight-up awesome on all accounts. Drinking beautifully, with explosive aromas and flavors of blackberry, smoked meats, pepper and exotic flowers, this puppy hits the palate with full-bodied richness, beautiful concentration and a seamless, sexy and oh, so fine texture that is the hallmark of this cuvee. This is another wine that will continue to evolve gracefully, yet I’ve been lucky enough to have it multiple times recently, and when a bottle is drinking this good, don’t miss it by always waiting for another day.

agavin: up there with the 91 for WOTN, and up against stiff competition

La Bistecca: Prime New York Steak “Tagliata” with sea salt and Mosto Cotto Reduction. This wasn’t everyone’s favorite, and it was fairly fatty. It did have a nice, if salty, flavor.

2005 De Suduiraut. Parker 93. Tasted blind at the 10-Year On Tasting in Sauternes. The 2005 Château Suduiraut seemed a little out of sorts at first, although it comes together with honey, barley sugar, orange blossom and mineral scents that become more delineated as its aerates. The palate is very intense on the entry. There is a beautiful line of acidity that cuts through the viscous fruit, though the finish does not quite exude the precision of a top vintage, but still delivers that sense of class one expects from this address.

agavin: very nice, clean and sweet.

Feast of Artisanal cheese with traditional complements. Good but small — I’d hardly call this specific dish a “feast.”

1978 Rieussec. 91 points. Honeyed color. Very pretty nose of apricot and dried peach. In the mouth, viscous and pretty, with wonderful balance and a lush presence, unfolding apricot, butterscotch, and dried fruit notes. A moderate spike in acidity remains. Smooth finish. Not quite the concentration or persistence of a great Sauternes, but this is really excellent. A testament to their ability to age and the enjoyment they afford when mature.

agavin: I thought there was a lot of acidity and apricot — really enjoyed this older wine.

Assortment of Desserts: Panna cotta, chocolate tart, pear gelato. All very tasty.

Let’s breakdown the parts overall:

Wine Service: A total 10. One guy (pictured at the top of this post) was there the whole time. He ordered (with Jeff Leve and Larry), opened, decanted, poured everything. We had glasses for every wine and it was served efficiently in neat flights. He was really on top of it. Bravo.

General Service: Certainly they were very nice as always. A couple guys gave me the eye at being stopped to photo the passing appetizers — but well, you can’t really blame them 🙂  In general service was quite excellent as it usually is at Valentino, but there was one glaring problem tonight: The food took forever to get going. We waited about an hour for a few passing apps, then those (and they were great) dragged out for about an hour themselves. The first official course came in the middle of them — but itself very late. There was a little trouble getting the dozen or so down real fast too. The second course took a real long time too, but after that it sped up. Some people reported their pasta course was cold. Handling of details like the credit card were excellent. I think the trouble was that they had at least one, and maybe 2 other wine dinners going. My friend (and often Hedonist) Kirk was at a Vega Sicilia dinner. He came and joined us after his was finished and around the time the pace really picked up.

Food: Somewhat contentious, but most of us thought the food was good, although not blow you away. I’d say that the food was an 8, with several great dishes and a few that were just fine (like the beef). There was plenty of it too.

Wines: Through the roof. We had no bad Lalas (just the slightly off rose champ). All were in great shape. The 91, all 95s, all 98s, and the 99 were all amazing. 99-100 points for sure. The 2003s you could tell were amazing, but they are so big they need at least another decade.

Value: Excellent!

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

  1. Valentino – 2004 Red Burgundy
  2. Valentino – 2007 White Burgundy part 1
  3. Epic Ocean Party 2015
  4. Valentino – 2005 White Burg part 2!
  5. Nanbankan – Stick with It
By: agavin
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Meat under the Moon

Oct02

Chef: Andrew Greene

Date: September 27, 2015

Cuisine: New American

Rating: Awesome meats

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Jake and Elizabeth’s yard has been the site of several awesome Hedonist gatherings, and tonight is no exception.

It’s a gorgeous warm night and twenty-some of us are ready to chow down.


The chef tonight is Hedonist veteran Ron’s son, Andrew Greene (with the beard), shown here with a bunch of other chefs in attendance, including Kaz from Totoraku! Andrew is the chef at Troya in San Francisco and he’s prepared some epic meaty feasting for us tonight.

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

Salami. Out in the beginning are a few nibbles.

Cheeses.

2004 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon. VM 97.5. Racy, silky and vibrant in the glass, the 2004 Dom Pérignon is all about energy. Here the flavors are bright and delineated throughout, with veins of acidity and minerality that give the wine its sense of drive. Mint, rosemary and yellow-fleshed fruits linger on the finish with the classic DP reductive overtones that are such a signature. Once again, the 2004 Dom Pérignon truly shines. The 2004 Dom Pérignon is a wine to treasure over the next thirty or so years.

More cheeses.

Crackers.

From my cellar: 2004 Henri Boillot Bâtard-Montrachet. VM 95. Knockout nose combines pineapple, orange and spices, with a subtle leesy suggestion of nuts. Wonderfully sweet, supple, fine-grained and full, with a captivating sugar/acid balance and an intriguing suggestion of exotic fruits. Extremely broad, silky, palate-saturating wine of great purity and persistence. I underrated this when I tasted it from barrel a year ago. From Domaine Caillot vines located high on the hillside. A great Batard.

hamachi with fennel, pickled with ponzu, Persian cucumbers.

This was a nice sashimi starter.

2010 Marcel Deiss Schoenenbourg. VM 94+. Bright straw-green. Spicy aromas of lime, honeyed peach, anise and quinine. Dense on entry, then spicy and vibrant in the middle, displaying juicy, fresh flavors of peach, flowers and earth. This structured, very long wine magically combines an impression of strong extract and a weightless quality. Very impressive.

Uni. Isn’t much of a looker on the plate.

But sure tasted great on crackers.

w

Mushroom dashi. A lovely light soup of bonito dashi and various mushrooms.

2008 Kistler Pinot Noir Cuvée Catherine. VM 94. Glass-staining ruby. Highly perfumed, precise aromas of cherry, blackberry, licorice, herbs and violet; much darker in character than the preceding wines. Sweet and firm on entry, then fresh and aromatic in the mouth, with strong cherry and dark berry fruit supported by a firm spine of minerality. Finishes sweet and long. This is built to age.

agavin: ain’t no Burgundy!

2006 Kistler Pinot Noir Cuvée Elizabeth Bodega Headlands. VM 94. Deep red. Energetic red and dark berries on the nose, with sexy notes of potpourri and blood orange adding complexity. Lively raspberry and blackberry flavors stain the palate, taking on a richer mocha quality on the back. The red fruit repeats strongly on the strikingly pure and precise finish. An impressively tangy, pure expression of pinot, with the balance and intensity to reward cellaring.

Tomato corn salad.

From my cellar: 1995 Louis Jadot Echezeaux. 92 points. Deep colour, wonderful fruit (black fruits) and sweetness. Very long. A really pleasant surprise, and a perfect companion for salmon teriyaki. A true grand cru, excellent value for money. No hurry to drink the rest.

1990 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. Parker 96. Two great back to back vintages are the 1990 and 1989. The more developed 1990 boasts an incredible perfume of hickory wood, coffee, smoked meat, Asian spices, black cherries, and blackberries. Lush, opulent, and full-bodied, it is a fully mature, profound Beaucastel that will last another 15-20 years.

Lamb bacon. Chunks of tender lamb meat reduced and smoked. Very chewy, and amazingly delicious.

2001 Clos des Papes Chateauneuf du Pape. Parker 95. The classically styled 2001 Chateauneuf du Pape has plenty of the telltale kirsch and sweet spice notes that always seem to be present in Avril’s wines. Showing more mature notes of truffle, olive, licorice and garrigue as it sat in the glass, it’s medium to full-bodied, elegant and balanced, with a great texture and finish. It has solid mid-palate depth, as well as sweet tannin, so, while there’s no harm enjoying bottles today, it has another decade of longevity.

braised oxtail.  Tender meaty oxtail.

Warm humus.

1991 Beringer Chardonnay Private Reserve. Parker 96. The second largest production of Beringer’s Private Reserve, the 1991 came in just behind the 24,000 cases of the 1997. Interestingly, these are among the greatest Private Reserves made, and as Ed Sbragia told me, it was just one of those perfect vintages. One of the longest and coolest growing seasons in the history of California, it was marked by cool temperatures throughout the summer and a perfect Indian Summer. The hang time of the grapes, ranging from the date of flowering to the date of harvest, was historically long (I do not believe it has been equaled since). The Cabernet Sauvignon came from the same three sources as the 1990, Bancroft Ranch, the Home Vineyard in St. Helena, and Chabot Vineyard, and the tiny dollop of Cabernet Franc was from the Bancroft Ranch site. I’ve enjoyed many bottles of this spectacular effort, which still possesses a dense ruby/purple color as well as a sumptuous nose of spring flowers, graphite, loamy soil, creme de cassis, black cherries and blackberries. With sweet tannin, a full-bodied mouthfeel and incredible purity as well as youthfulness, this wine has another 15-20 years of life left in it. If this were a Bordeaux, one would think it was 8-10 years old, not two decades. There are no hard edges, and the seamless integration of all the component parts make it one of the prodigious Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserves to drink now as well as over the next 20 years.

fig marmalade. These four, the bacon, oxtail, humus and marmalade were served together.

Things are cooking!

2003 Guigal Cote Rotie Chateau d’Ampuis. Parker 96. A wine I’ve been lucky enough to have numerous times recently, the 2003 Cote Rotie Chateau d’Ampuis is an off-the-hook effort that gives up plenty of plum sauce, smoked duck, licorice, tar, vanilla bean and violet aromas and flavors. Never acidified, it has awesome freshness and focus to go with full-bodied richness, a hedonistic texture and a blockbuster-styled finish. While it’s not for those craving delicate-styled aromas and textures, I think it’s a gorgeous effort that will continue to drink nicely over the coming decade or more.

Salmon with tomatoes and onions.

2007 Valdicava Brunello di Montalcino. Parker 95. The 2007 Brunello di Montalcino is gorgeous. Dark red cherries, plums, spices, leather and tobacco wrap around the palate as this dense, powerful wine starts to open up. Expressive aromatics are woven throughout, giving the 2007 a measure of polish and sophistication that is not always present in this wine when it is young. Finessed, suave tannins reinforce an impression of elegance. The 2007 can be enjoyed with minimum cellaring, but it will also age gracefully for many years. Readers who want to try the 2007 today should give the wine plenty of air, as the more refined qualities only emerge over time. When tasted next to the 2006, the 2007 shows redder tonalities of fruit and less sheer muscle. Hints of tobacco, crushed flowers and spices wrap around the sensual finish.

2010 Grace Family Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Grown. 92 points.

Venison loins.

Seared venison. Incredibly tender slices of venison.

Some Turley Petite Syrah. I don’t usually bother with these monsters.

Served with blueberry demiglase.

2000 Pavie. Parker 100. Just beginning to come around and strut its enormous potential, this wine at age 15 has been evolving like a glacier. The wine has an inky, opaque, plum/purple color and a stunningly rich nose of mulberries, bramble berries, blackberries, licorice and incense as well as touches of toast and graphite. Fabulously concentrated and full-bodied, with a multidimensional mouthfeel, this profound Pavie is in mid-adolescence. It should evolve and continue to drink well for at least another 30-40 years. This is clearly the first compelling effort made by the Perse family.

agavin: bottle was empty before I got to it 🙁

Maitaki mushrooms.

1996 Mouton-Rothschild. Parker 94-96. This estate’s staff believes that the 1996 Mouton-Rothschild is very complex. I agree that among the first-growths, this wine is showing surprising forwardness and complexity in its aromatics. It possesses an exuberant, flamboyant bouquet of roasted coffee, cassis, smoky oak, and soy sauce. The impressive 1996 Mouton-Rothschild offers impressive aromas of black currants, framboise, coffee, and new saddle leather. This full-bodied, ripe, rich, concentrated, superbly balanced wine is paradoxical in the sense that the aromatics suggest a far more evolved wine than the flavors reveal. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2030. By the way, the 1996 blend consists of 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, and 8% Cabernet Franc.

Smoked fingerling purée. These mashed potatoes were insane, particularly with the blueberry sauce. Tasted like BBQ or something.

2005 Rol Valentin. Parker 92-94. A sexy, full-bodied, very drinkable style of 2005, Eric Prissette’s 2005 Rol Valentin displays loads of black cherry fruit, licorice, Christmas fruitcake and spice. Full-bodied and opulent, it can be drunk over the next 10-15 years.

Duck confit. One of the best duck legs I’ve had — not quite Peking duck, but what is?

2001 Shafer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select. Parker 100! The 2001 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select is the first of these back-to-back perfect wines from Shafer that, at age 13, is still a baby, but, wow, what an amazing wine. A fabulous growing season produced a wine with inky/purple black color, stunning crème de cassis notes, with additional hints of lead pencil shavings, spring flowers, cedar wood and forest floor. It is full-bodied, sensationally concentrated, with a seamless integration of acidity, tannin, wood and alcohol. This is a great, monumental Napa Cabernet Sauvignon that is still an infant, at age 13, going on 14. This has got at least three decades of life left in it, and probably won’t hit its peak for another 5-7 years.

agavin: slut!

Veggies cooked in duck fat.

2006 Justin Vineyards & Winery Isosceles Reserve. 93 points. Massive, complex fruit, with a nice layer of tannin. This is a whopper, with plenty of time left. Highly enjoyable now with a some air. Very masculine.

From my cellar: 1973 R. López de Heredia Rioja Gran Reserva Viña Bosconia. 93 points. This is quite dusty but really complex. Coconut, sweat, mushroom, strawberry, cranberry and dark cherry flavours. The palate shows a strange lactic note that borders on yogurt and egg yolk which is a bit distracting but in the end, flavours of earth, mushroom, cherry, sweat, herbs, leather and cedar round this wine out and make it quite enjoyable. The finish is medium+ with moderate complexity but is really earthy which is just so captivating.

Charred fennel purée. Good stuff.

1932 Massandra Red Port. 94 points. Tawny in color, with a complex nose of smoke, caramel, butterscotch, toffee, coffee ban, banana and wild strawberries. The wine had great freshness and ample sweetness, but the nose was better than the palate, due to the shortness of the finish. But then the wine was close to 85 years of age. Massandra is not a wine I see often, making this a rare and interesting treat.

agavin: Joseph Stalin probably tasted this wine many times.

1999 Fred Prinz Hallgartener Jungfer Riesling Auslese. Really nice.

Kumefe (Turkish filo dough with cheese), with Meyer lemon syrup, hazelnut crumble. I’ve had this in Turkey a number of times. Great stuff with an interesting crispy/gooey texture.

Some extra hazelnut crumble.
It should be noted that we were able to see the “super blood moon” (super moon in eclipse) right as we ate.

Overall an incredible evening of amazing food — and way way too much of it too — and tons of great wines. We rolled out of there. The meats were super flavorful and extremely well cooked. They probably “suffered” slightly too from the family style plating, as I can imagine individually plated with all the elements integrated they would be even more impressive — and they were fabulous as is. Mmmm, lamb bacon.

For more LA dining reviews click here.


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By: agavin
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Salt’s Cure

Sep30

Restaurant: Salt’s Cure

Location: 1155 N Highland Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038. (323) 850-7258

Date: September 26, 2015

Cuisine: New American

Rating: Really tasty

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Liz Lee of Sage Society really knows how to organize a dinner. Not only does she find some of the best chefs in town, but the wine is always crazy good.

Liz has long been a fan of Salt’s Cure, and now that they are moving to a new larger space wanted to do an epic dinner in the new location. Well, this is a very “soft” opening with regard to the construction, but the food and service are fully worked out.

This particular dinner was BYOB, and ended up with more than 25 wines for 15 people. All great too!

Our special menu for the night.

NV Champagne Savart Champagne L’accomplie. 91 points. Apricot, peach, wild flowers, honey, spices and mint all meld together in the NV Brut L’Accomplie. Here the style is round, succulent and approachable, with lovely up-front intensity and volume. The current release is 80% Pinot Noir and 20% Chardonnay, based on the 2010 vintage with the addition of 45% Réserve wines. This is a very pretty wine, although the limits of the 2010 vintage are impossible to fully overcome.

Mussels with lemongrass.

NV Godmé Père et Fils Champagne Brut Reserve 1er Cru. Burghound 92. A markedly yeasty and impressively complex nose of various dried white fruits, particularly apple and pear, leads to equally complex, bold and robust flavors that are supported by a firm but not aggressive effervescence on the clean, dry and slightly austere finish. This is not an especially elegant Champagne but I very much like the frank character and the Réserve designation in this case is well warranted because it’s clear that there is a substantial percentage of older wine in the blend. Lovely and this could easily be drunk now but there is so much underlying material that this would make a great choice to age for another 5 to even 10 years if you enjoy the flavors of older Champagne. Recommended.

Crabcakes and tartar sauce. Lots of good solid crabby taste.

2002 Ruinart Champagne Dom Ruinart Brut Rosé. VM 95. Light, bright orange-pink. Heady mineral- and yeast-accented aromas of dried red berries, blood orange, buttered toast and tea rose. Densely packed and expansive on the palate, offering intense raspberry, cherry compote and floral pastille flavors and a smoky overtone that gains strength with aeration. The mineral quality comes back strong on the silky, focused finish, which goes on and on. An outstanding blend of power and finesse.

Steak tartar on potato crisp. I really liked these.

Chef Chris Phelps on the left, organize Liz Lee on the right (standing).

2009 Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée Speciale Blanc de Blancs Les Chetillons. VM 94. The 2009 Cuvée Spéciale Les Chétillons is remarkably polished and balanced throughout, with plenty of vintage 2009 radiance. Apricot pit, smoke, peach and spice overtones take shape in a striking Champagne. Although quite open and expressive today, the 2009 is also holding back a considerable amount of pure, unbridled power as well as potential. Ripe and racy to the core, yet with no excess weight, the 2009 stands out for its exceptional balance. Dosage was 4.7 grams per liter, a bit higher than normal. Péters told me he thought the drier vintage needed a little bit more sugar.

NV Taittinger Champagne Nocturne Sec. VM 90. Bright yellow. Deeply perfumed aromas of poached pear, melon, nectarine and lemon curd are complemented by suggestions of buttered toast, anise and chamomile. Plush and broad on the palate, offering ripe citrus and pit fruit flavors with a touch of chalky minerality adding cut and lift. A floral quality builds slowly with air and carries through the spicy, sappy, gently sweet finish. I like this Champagne’s balance of fruitiness and vivacity and there’s no way that I’d have guessed that its dosage was so high.

2012 Prager Grüner Veltliner Stockkultur Smaragd Achleiten. Grapefruity, short finish, lots of acid.

Chicken liver pudding with soft pretzels and pickles. A great mix of bread, fatty liver, and bright acidic pickles and onions.

2008 Hanzell Chardonnay. 91 points. Carmel, citrus…nutty finish. Quite elegant. Drink over the next 2 yrs. Didn’t taste like Chardonnay!

Plum, cherry tomato and ricotta with basil vinaigrette. A nice bright salad.

1993 Kalin Cellars Chardonnay Cuvée LD. VM 92. Pale green-gold color. Knockout nose of orange blossom, minerals, apple and hazelnut. Thick, rich and uncompromisingly dry; already showing superb inner-mouth perfume of orange oil, apple, flowers and spices. Brisk but harmonious acids frame the deep flavors perfectly and contribute to the impression of strong structure. Finishes quite powerful and long. “This wine was still totally dumb six months ago,” notes winemaker Terry Leighton, who won’t release a wine until it ready for its close-up. Leighton’s LD bottling is from a north-facing slope, while the LV vines face south.

Chilled tomato soup with grilled cheese. The sandwich was fairly straightforward, but the soup was awesome, lots of vinegar, almost like a gazpacho.

2012 E. Guigal Condrieu La Doriane. VM 93. Bright yellow. Assertive aromas of nectarine, violet and smoky minerals, with a gingery nuance adding lift. Broad and silky on the palate, offering densely packed orchard and pit fruit flavors that become spicier with air. The mineral note comes back strong on the finish, which lingers with excellent tenacity and building smokiness.

Mackerel Toast with Sauce Gribiche. Tasty, but a real tough wine pairing with all that salt, vinegar, and strong briny tones.

2012 Domaine de Montille Meursault Perrières 1er Cru. Burghound 92. Here too strong sulfur and reduction render the nose impossible to assess. As one would reasonably expect this is intensely mineral-driven with an excellent sense of energy and tension to the saline-inflected flavors that display only moderate depth on the otherwise wonderfully long and well-balanced finish. My range offers the benefit of the doubt that more depth will develop with age.

agavin: Friend and dinner companion MZ owns a chunk of this estate and this was the first vintage from his collection! Very bright and delicious.

2002 Bouchard Père et Fils Chevalier-Montrachet. Burghound 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.

Yellowtail with succotash. I’m not used to having yellowtail fully cooked, but it was a nice flaky fish in this format.

2001 Simon Bize Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Les Fourneaux. Burghound 89. Much finer and purer than the Suchot with detailed, precise, very earthy fruit and a subtle touch of finishing minerality. There is virtually no rusticity and while this is firmly structured, the tannins are almost completely buffered by an impressive sappiness that coats the palate.

1999 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Charmes-Chambertin. VM 89. Full medium red. Floral, sappy aromas of red fruits, nuts and game. Tangy red fruit flavors are kept bright by healthy ripe acidity. Finishes with very good length and grip. An unusually strong showing for this cuvee.

2002 Louis Jadot Echezeaux. Burghound 93. Strong oak spice presently dominates the nose with round, sweet, rich and impressively complex flavors that deliver stunning length. This is quite a powerful wine yet there is almost no rusticity and I very much like the obviously high quality material. As with several wines in the range, my score awards the benefit of the doubt regarding the oak.

Roasted Chicken with Herbed Gravy. Chicken and mashers!

1998 Domaine Bruno Clair Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Petite Chapelle. Very bright, like cherry juice.

1999 Domaine de L’Arlot Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Clos des Forêts St. Georges. Burghound 92. More serious than the ’99 Clos de l’Arlot though not quite as ripe with color that is almost black as is the fruit with crushed herbs and intense minerality, succulent flavors and excellent pinot character. There are sizeable tannins that are completely wrapped in velvety fruit and this displays a slightly sweet finish. This is really very fine and fresh and while this is not a truly dense wine, it has filled out better on the mid-palate than I originally predicted. It will also need a bit more time as well to really arrive at its prime drinking window. Consistent notes.

1991 Domaine Jamet Côte-Rôtie. VM 93. Dark red color. Classic aromas of black raspberry, smoked meat and bacon fat. Dense, spicy and sweet on the palate, with sappy inner mouth perfume. Kept firm and fresh by pepper and mineral components. Finishes long and subtle, with dusty, even tannins. A beauty.

Chorizo with sweet onion puree and peppers. Tasty sausage, although with some heat.

2002 Domaine Joseph Roty Charmes-Chambertin Très Vieilles Vignes. Burghound 95. A heavily toasted nose with spice, wood and tar nuances frames ripe but fresh black pinot fruit and cassis aromas that also display an extraordinary panoply of secondary nuances, including earth, underbrush, leather, soy and spice. The powerful, rich and utterly delicious big-bodied and very concentrated flavors coat and stain the palate and completely buffer the now softening tannic spine on the superbly long finish. In short, this is flat out incredible juice and while it’s clearly quite oaky, the wood somehow works quite well with the wine even though it’s far from invisible. As to drinkability, I would probably opt to hold the ’02 Charmes for a few more years but it could easily be drunk now with pleasure.

2001 Emmanuel Rouget Echezeaux. Burghound 91. This closely resembles the style of the Beaux Monts with its lighter ruby color and ultra elegant pinot spice aromas followed by medium weight, pure, complex, quite refined flavors and a creamy, slightly toasty finish. Relatively light by the standards of many vintages of this wine but it is so elegant that is it hard to fault.

2002 Mommessin Richebourg.

Duroc Pork Chop. Sides Farro Bowl, Mashed Potatoes, & Wood Roasted Seasonal Vegetable.

Louis Jadot Latricières-Chambertin. I can’t remember the vintage.

From my cellar: 1991 Camille Giroud Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts. 93 points. Very rich with strong vosne spice.

1996 Domaine Leroy Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Boudots. VM 94. Excellent deep ruby-red color. Subdued but vibrant aromas of cassis, blackberry and violet. Superb sweetness and flavor intensity; penetrating flavor of spicy blackberry. Lovely acidity gives the wine juiciness and great cut. Very persistent and fine on the finish. Has fruit of steel. Great Nuits-Saint-Georges premier cru.

Duck, Oatmeal Griddle Cakes & Fruit Compote. This was a pretty awesome duck. Basically duck and pancakes, like a non-fried version of chicken and waffles?

Mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Grapefruit pie, date brownie. The brownie was much like a sticky toffee pudding.

Overall this was a really great night. A warm one too in this rough and half finished space. But for all the walls being unpainted, the staff both in the room and in the kitchen did a great job. The food was really solid. Excellent execution and slight variants on fairly classic ingredients and dishes — this isn’t radical food — but just very well done with a lot of flavor. We had A LOT of it too. Boy were we full.

The wines, and we had more than a few of them, were pretty spectacular. Perhaps a few too many great red Burgs pilled up on the last 2-3 courses, but one yummy bottle after another. We even managed our best at pairing with some difficult pairings (picked mackerel!), mostly because Liz is a master of pairing and brought some good ringers.

All around great times.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

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  3. Sage at Oliverio
  4. Pistola with a Bang
  5. Republique of Vosne
By: agavin
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Sauvages at Drago

Sep28

Restaurant: Drago Centro [1, 2]

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

Date: September 25, 2015

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Great high end Italian

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For the second time this month its off to Drago Centro, this time for an epic Sauvages lunch of 2001 and older Barolo!

Located on busy Flower in DTLA.


We were situated in the “Vault” room, an awesome, huge private room over to the side of the restaurant (past the patio). It featured its own bar and kitchen and a huge table.

It’s worth noting that we had 23 people and 23 wines, so it was impossible to pour around. Therefore, we split the table into 2 sub tables, and each constructed four 3 wine flights based on the wines of those sitting on that side of the table. I matched the table 1 flights with the food, and grouped the table 2 flights all together at the end. I just didn’t know what else to do. It was just an excess of great Baroli.


Our special menu.

To begin with, a couple of us brought some nice Italian whites.

From my cellar: 2013 Giovanni Almondo Roero Arneis Vigne Sparse. 89 points. The 2013 Roero Arneis Vigne Sparse comes across as green and grassy in this vintage, with distinct Sauvignon-like inflections. Lemon peel, grapefruit, lemongrass and flowers are all expressive in the glass, but the overall impression is of an overly vegetal, aggressive wine that is best enjoyed sooner rather than later. The Vigne Sparse is always on the leaner side of Arneis. In 2013, that aspect of its personality is especially prominent.

2013 Luigi Boveri Timorasso Colli Tortonesi Derthona. Nice and acidic.

2012 Bruno Giacosa Roero Arneis. VM 89. Bright, pale yellow. Aromas of apple and flowers complicated by a musky leesy note (this wine spent just one month on its lees). Sappy, concentrated apple and honeysuckle flavors show noteworthy extract. Finishes with a refreshing bitter edge and lovely length and grip. A very good vintage for this wine. In comparison, noted Bruna Giacosa, the 2011 was less aromatic.

House selection of charcuterie. Various pig. Tasty, of course, although not one of the crazy good charcuterie plates like we had the previous week at Bestia.

1989 Domenico Clerico Barolo Ciabot Mentin Ginestra. VM 97. One of Domenico Clerico’s early masterpieces, 1989 Barolo Ciabot Mentin Ginestra opens with a gorgeous, captivating bouquet of soy sauce, smoke, tobacco and cedar. The wine possesses sumptuous richness and beguiling inner perfume in an intensely powerful, mineral-driven style that coasts the palate in stunning style. I am not sure the tannins will fully soften here, but readers lucky enough to own this wine are in for a thrilling ride. This is stunning juice!

agavin: amazing nose! Very nice mature Barolo.

1990 Paolo Scavino Barolo Bric dël Fiasc. VM 97. The 1990 vintage may have given Scavino a little more to work with as his 1990 Barolo Bric del Fiasc (3-liter) is utterly profound. Rich, dark and sensual, the wine flows onto the palate with marvelous concentration and depth. Layers of menthol, spices, sweet roses and dark fruit swirl around in the glass as this magnificent, regal Barolo struts its stuff. A veritable fountain of youth, this towering Barolo promises to drink spectacularly well for anoter two decades. From a standard bottle the 1990 is approachable, but readers lucky enough to own large formats will want to find a way to wait a few more years.

From my cellar: 1990 Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo Vigna Cicala. 94 points. Great typicity. Tar and pot purri, some dried roses but also a hint of rotten vegetable in a positive, interesting sense. Good sweetness in the middle and also solid acidity structure. Food wine with a lot of life ahead.

Veal agnolotti dal pin, brown butter, sage. One of those classic Italian pasta sauces with a rich veal feeling.

1997 Giovanni Corino Barolo Vigna Giachini. VM 92. Good full red. Fresh, spicy aromas of cherry, camphor, licorice and dried flowers. Fat, sweet and pliant; a step up in complexity and concentration from the Arborina. Finishes very long, with lush, fine tannins. A very successful, thoroughly ripe ’97 Barolo.

1997 Paolo Scavino Barolo Bric dël Fiasc. VM 92. The 1997 is a flashy, opulent Bric del Fiasc, with layers of super-ripe dark fruit, chocolate, tar and alcohol that burst onto the palate in a display of awesome concentration and length. It is a big, weighty Barolo that promises to drink well for at least another decade.

1999 Paolo Scavino Barolo Riserva Rocche dell’Annunziata. VM 96. In 1999 the Barolo Riserva Rocche dell’Annunziata is surprisingly virile and potent, with fabulous richness and enough pure intensity to continue to drink well for a number of years. The red-toned, floral flavors are remarkably fresh and vibrant. I find a little more finesse in the Carobric and Bric del Fiasc, but the Rocche dell’Annunziata is undoubtedly terrific. Some of the silkiness and pure sensuality typical of this La Morra site is missing, so readers should expect a powerhouse Barolo here.

Garganelli, pork sausage, fennel pollen, parmesan. Nice and al dente, with that rich sausage, the kind that they use on New York sausage pizza.

Making the risotto for the next course.

And some rack of lamb!

2000 Massolino Barolo Riserva dieci X anni Vigna Rionda. VM 95. The 2000 Barolo Riserva Vigna Rionda Dieci Anni represents the essence of refinement and elegance. Dried roses, tar, licorice, cherries and leather are some of the notes that spin out effortlessly from this sublime, pedigreed Barolo. Today the 2000 Dieci Anni is in an in between state where the earliest signs of tertiary aromatics suggest the wine might be close to being ready to drink, while the foreboding tannins tell another story entirely. This powerful, sensual Rionda needs at least another few years in bottle, but it is already shaping to be a beauty. This is one of the best Riondas Massolino has ever made. The Dieci Anni is a re-release of the 2000 Barolo Riserva Vigna Rionda from the estate’s library.

2000 Tenuta Pianpolvere Barolo Riserva Pianpolvere Soprano Bussia. VM 93. Pianpolvere Soprano’s 2000 Barolo Bussia Riserva is a terrific wine. It possesses gorgeous inner perfume to its ripe fruit, spices and sweet toasted oak. It is still primary and could use another few years to develop more nuance. While it doesn’t have the structure of the 1999, it is a beautiful, approachable Barolo to enjoy now and over the next decade or so.

2000 Podere Rocche dei Manzoni Barolo Vigna Cappella di Santo Stefano. VM 90+. The estate’s 2000 Barolo Vigna Cappella di Santo Stefano displays a penetrating nose of spices, macerated cherries, and mint. The most complete of the three Barolos, it is at once brooding and closed, but at the same time intense, displaying generous amounts of sweet dark fruit with excellent persistence.

Roasted lamb rack, wild mushroom risotto, shaved truffles. Uh, this didn’t suck! Yummy mild risotto and perfectly cooked rare lamb — plus truffle.

2001 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Falletto di Serralunga d’Alba. VM 94. The 2001 Barolo Falletto impresses for its layered, silky personality. Sweet roses, tar, licorice and menthol are all woven together in this deceptively medium-bodied Barolo. There is plenty of muscle to back things up. Today the Falletto is quite a bit more delicate than it has been in the past.

2001 Massolino Barolo. VM 89+. The 2001 Barolo opens with aromas of roses, licorice and underbrush. Medium in body, it shows very pretty flavors of bright red cherry fruit and minerals with good persistence and a balsamic note on the finish. It is terrific normale that conveys the terroir of Serralunga.

Chef’s assorted cheeses. Always good with so much wine! Truffle cheese, and a few other medium hard ones.

mini chocolate bon bons. With a cherry center.

After all that Barolo, totally needed the expresso.

The whole gang (minus me taking the picture).

Overall another fabulous lunch. Drago really did a bang up job here. Not only was the food great, but they handled all the wine service in this crazy 2 table 23 person lunch. 4 flights, 3 glasses a flight, with two completely parallel sets of flights! That’s a lot to process.

For more LA dining reviews click here,

The “table 2” wines are below, as you can see they are just as good.


1989 Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo Vigna Cicala. VM 95+. After tasting the 1989 Bussia earlier this year, I was curious to check in on the Cicala. The Cicala is Aldo Conterno’s most masculine Barolo, as the soils here are extremely poor, and thus yield wines of great structure. The wine is dark ruby in color, with no signs whatsoever of age. The wine is rich and decadent, with generous flavors of dark cherries, spices, tar, and plenty of tannins. The Cicala appears to still very young and in need of further cellaring.

1990 Gaja Barolo Sperss. VM 96. Gaja’s 1990 Barolo Sperss is a sweet, seamless beauty endowed with gorgeous fruit. The wine possesses superb inner perfume and purity even if it doesn’t quite reach the level of Gaja’s most successful wines in this vintage. Still, this is pure 1990 and pure Serralunga.

agavin: fabulous

1996 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Falletto di Serralunga d’Alba. VM 94+. Medium red. Musky, complex aromas of black raspberry, licorice and lead pencil. Large-scaled but penetrating; tangy raspberry flavors are given great precision by the wine firm spine of acidity. Almost painfully young today. Finishes with explosive, very persistent flavors and firm but thoroughly buffered tannins. A bit dominated by its powerful structure today, but this wine really blossomed with aeration.

1998 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Falletto di Serralunga d’Alba. VM 95+. Very good medium-deep red. Knockout Barolo nose in all its rustic splendor, showing everything from exotic fruits to smoke, game, tobacco, camphor and white truffle. Urgent, penetrating and supersweet, with nearly candied red fruit flavors saturating the palate. A youthfully aggressive wine that really needs a few years to calm down. Finishes with strong but fine tannins and great ripeness.

1997 Domenico Clerico Barolo Ciabot Mentin Ginestra. VM 93+. Full, saturated red-ruby. Sappy, high-pitched aromas of cherry, nuts and oak spices. Superconcentrated, spicy and sweet, but nearly as backward as a top ’96, with superb extract and powerful underlying structure. Finishes with substantial mouthdusting tannins and a late note of dark chocolate.

1997 Paolo Scavino Barolo Bric dël Fiasc. VM 92. The 1997 is a flashy, opulent Bric del Fiasc, with layers of super-ripe dark fruit, chocolate, tar and alcohol that burst onto the palate in a display of awesome concentration and length. It is a big, weighty Barolo that promises to drink well for at least another decade.

2000 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Riserva Monfortino. VM 98. I also very much like the 2000 in this flight. A model of total finesse and delicacy, the 2000 doesn’t have the volume or power of the 1997, but it is perhaps just a bit more finessed. Today, the 2000 is a bit shy. What might it blossom into in a few years’ time? I can’t wait to find out. From magnum, the 2000 Monfortino is pure seduction. Tasted from magnum.

2000 Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo Cicala. VM 92. The 2000 Barolo Cicala opens with gorgeous notes of crushed berries. It is a relatively small-scaled, lithe Cicala that shows excellent freshness all the way through to the long finish. The wine gains freshness and focus in the glass, with suggestions of menthol and pine that add lift.

2000 Azelia Barolo Bricco Fiasco. VM 91. Full red. Nose dominated by flowers and brown spices. Rich, dense, fat and sweet, with a lovely pliant texture. Complicating note of tobacco. Finishes long and lush, with building, sweet tannins. Very true to the vintage.

2000 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate Le Coste. VM 96. The 2000 Barolo Brunate/Le Coste, tasted from magnum, is one of the wines of the vintage. Still imposing and massively structured, it is also one of the most imposing 2000s. It possesses marvelous richness and depth, with just enough radiance to make it approachable today. Almost. Readers who can still find magnums of the 2000 should not hesitate. This is a magnificent wine.

agavin: the table #2 people thought this was the WOTD.

2001 Domenico Clerico Barolo Pajana. VM 90. The 2001 Barolo Pajana offers up freshly cut flowers, espresso, mint, leather, exotic spices and plums. The fruit still shows plenty of intensity and the tannins have softened, yet the Pajana remains a bit of a brute. There is enough fruit for the 2001 to drink well for another decade or so, but I don’t see this ever being a truly elegant Barolo.

2004 Conterno Fantino Barolo Sorì Ginestra. VM 96. Conterno-Fantino’s 2004 Barolo Sorì Ginestra captures the essence of this great vintage. Exotic orange peel, spices, cedar, dark plum and menthol meld together in a big, structured Barolo endowed with considerable depth, power and enough structure to drink well for another decade or perhaps more.

Related posts:

  1. Sauvages at Oliverio
  2. Drago Centro
  3. Sauvages in the Forest
  4. Sauvages – East Borough
  5. Drago New Years
By: agavin
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