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Akbar Pasadena

Nov02

Restaurant: Akbar Cuisine of India – Pasadena

Location: 400 S Arroyo Pkwy, Pasadena, CA 91105

Date: March 20, 2023

Cuisine: Indian

Rating: Far, but still one of my favorites

We’ve been friends with the Akbar owners forever — hell I’ve been eating their food since 1996 or 97. So I trekked out to the new Pasadena location (and it is a trek for me).

Bright colors.

Huge gang bang table.

Chutneys. I particularly love the spicy veggie mix on the right.

Mango Habanero Sauce. This is a new concoction that Chev Avi whipped up. Leathally hot and super delicious. When used sparingly, quite awesome.

Naan. I avoided the regular naan just for calorie/carb reasons. Later I succumbed to the cheese version. sigh.

French Fries. The kitchen isn’t really geared for our 25+ person party so these came out to sop up some appetite. I skipped, however, because of the obvious carbs.

Shrimp Bhuna. Really delicious and quite spicy. Succulent shrimp and TONS of flavor.

You can see all those tasty onions. Which given that the first couple of these landed at the other side of the table is all I got for a while. Eventually more came and I loaded up on shrimp.

Tandoori Chicken. Succulent and flavorful as always.

Gobi Manchurian. Really tasty with that sweet and spicy flavor. However, small containers for 25+ people and the cauliflower itself was toasted instantly.

Chicken Tikka Masala. One of my two classic flavors at Akbar and still the best CTM around.

Basmati Rice.

Garlic Naan. Stepping up in the naan world. Freshly baked and covered in garlic.

Goat Curry. Very nice, classic “brown curry” with tons of flavor. I do really like the goat meat, although there are a lot of (sometimes sharp) bones.

Bhindi Masala. One of my favorite veggies and nicely salted. I ate about a whole plate of this with the curry sauce.

Lamb Sliders. I haven’t actually had these before. They have a mint chutney and some greens on them lending them a flavor like classic Indian lamb kabobs.

Cheese Naan. Now these made me break my carb diet — wow I love these cheese stuffed naan. So cheesy good.

Saag (sans paneer). I think it was supposed to be Saag Paneer, but someone forgot the cheese. Still, spinach never had so much flavor (and a whole lotta fat) mixed in.

Oxtail Masala. This was the sleeper hit of the evening. Tons of bone you had to chew around, and oddly, while we constantly got new plates someone had taken everything but our spoons, so I was using two spoons to try to pry the meat out. Still, the masala sauce was to die for and it was an incredible dish.

Salty Pistachio Gelato – Pistachio di Bronte DOGC produces an intense pistachio base to which I added just a touch of salt — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #pistachio #sicily #nuts #salt

Cannoli and Baklava’s Evil American Lovechild — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Base crafted from Galbani Whole Milk Ricotta and Sicilian Toasted Noto Romano Almond Paste with a touch of the sugar subbed out for Sicilian Honey. Mixed in is Malibu Honey, California Pistachios, and house-made Gluten Free Honey Graham Crackers (almond flour and so good you can’t tell them from the wheat flour version)! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #dessertgasm #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #ricotta #almond #RicottaCheese #cheese #Sicily #honey #GrahamCracker #pistachio

Overall, food was great as always. For me personally, given that it’s pretty much the same as the Marina branch, and that’s like 10x closer, I’ll go there. But if you live east side there isn’t any better Indian food!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Akbar, Avi Kapoor, BYOG, curry, Gelato, Indian cuisine, Pasadena, Wine

Cheval Crustacean

Oct29

Restaurant: Crustacean Beverly Hills [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

Location: 468 N Bedford Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 205-8990

Date: March 15, 2023

Cuisine: Vietnamese Fusion

Rating: Awesome as always

Crustacean is one of our regular haunts and one of the few places with the stems, food, and service to handle a serious wine dinner. For this particular night some of my friends organized an epic Cheval Blanc tasting covering many of the most iconic vintages of the last 40 years.

We’ve had a couple awesome meals here in the last couple of years.
Our private area.

A magnum of 2010 Dom.

Fried potstickers.

Little dumplings that were partially steamed and pan-fried to get a bit of that crispy bottom.

Tonight’s special menu.

A flight of P2!

2000 Dom Pérignon Champagne P2. VM 96. The 2000 Dom Pérignon P2 is striking. More importantly, it is absolutely delicious right now. Baked apple tart, brioche, spice, vanillin, ripe pear and crushed rocks all flesh out. Creamy, layered and inviting, with soft, voluptuous curves, the 2000 offers a lot of sheer pleasure. Although, perhaps not quite as complex or structured as the very best P2s, the 2000 is wonderfully alluring. Interestingly, in 2000, the Blanc and P2 are not as different as they typically are. The P2 has a bit more volume and freshness than the Blanc, but both wines share a distinct toasty, slightly reductive character. (Drink between 2019-2040)

2002 Dom Pérignon Champagne P2. VM 97+. The 2002 Dom Pérignon P2 is wonderfully open in its aromatics, but a bit less giving on the palate, especially next to the regular release. Lemon confit, white flowers, mint and white pepper open up first, followed by hints of apricot, honey, chamomile and light tropical notes. Interestingly, the P2 is quite a bit less tropical than the original release. Chef de Caves Vincent Chaperon told me he thinks the original release shows more of a buttery character because of the combination of the ripeness of the vintage and the natural evolution of the wine post-disgorgement under crown seal, as opposed to the P2 which stayed much longer on its lees. It is hard to know if that is an exact explanation, but the reality is that the two 2002s are quite far apart stylistically. (Drink between 2019-2032)

2004 Dom Pérignon Champagne P2. VM 97. The 2004 Dom Pérignon P2 is precise and wonderfully refined, just like the first release. There’s a hint of reduction from extended time on the cork as well as a feeling of effusiveness that is so appealing. Readers will find a super-classic DP. Dried flowers, brioche, apricot preserves, sage, mint and chamomile are seamless in the glass. The 2004 can be enjoyed now or cellared for another decade plus. Some editions of the P2 series have been pretty austere in the early going; the 2004 is not among them. (Drink between 2022-2034)

Tuna Cigars. Instant smoke, feuille de brick, avocado silk, vidalia onion, tobiko caviar. I’ve had this before and really liked it, but tonight it tasted a bit too much of faux cigar smoke.

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The white flight! This is necessary to pair with a lot of the food!

2017 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Bouchères. VM 93. A cool, pure and airy nose is exceptionally pretty with its various white orchard fruit, hazelnut and citrusy wisps. The lilting and ultra-refined middle weight flavors possess a lacy mouth feel before terminating in a sneaky long and well-balanced mineral-inflected finale. This isn’t especially complex at present but my sense is that more depth will almost certainly develop if it’s allowed 6 to 8 years of bottle age. In a word, lovely. (Drink starting 2024)

2017 Olivier Leflaive Montrachet. VM 94. The 2017 Montrachet Grand Cru is much more closed on the nose and demands encouragement. There is a slight menthol aroma that emerges with time; a little exotic, perhaps. The palate has good extract and fine acidity, not quite as precise as the Montrachet from Marc Colin, but there is a lovely spiciness and just the right amount of bitterness on the finish. Tasted blind at the annual Burgfest tasting in Savigny-lès-Beaune. (Drink between 2027-2050)

2013 Château de la Maltroye Bâtard-Montrachet. BH 95. This is very much like the Grandes Ruchottes in that the nose is reticent to the point of being almost dumb and even aggressive swirling reveals very little. By contrast the big-bodied and tautly muscular flavors possess superb mid-palate density along with terrific intensity that continues onto the palate coating and massively long finish. This is nothing short of brilliant and could very well be the Bâtard of the vintage. Note well however that plenty of patience will be required. (Drink starting 2023)

2018 Jean-Claude Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Vergers. BH 90. Here too there is just enough reduction to push the underlying fruit to the background but it’s not so heavy as to obscure the fact that it’s ripe with white fleshed fruit and just a touch of oak. The super-sleek, delicious and vibrant flavors are presently relatively compact on the agreeably dry finish that flashes a touch of warmth. The oak does reappear, and this is mildly awkward today so I would suggest allowing this at least a few years to integrate its wood and better harmonize. (Drink starting 2026)

2020 Le Petit Cheval Blanc.

Colossal Tiger Prawns. Served with An’s Famous Garlic Noodles. This is the shrimp version of the classic Crustacean crab dish. Smaller, but great. These noodles never get old with their sweet garlicky bit.

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Big Glory Bay King Salmon. Market vegetables, Saffron Nage. Very crispy and with a great little saffron broth, but kinda tiny.

This flight rocked!

1982 Château Cheval Blanc. VM 95+. Saturated deep red, with a hint of development at the rim. Roasted nose dominated by toffee and tobacco. Wonderfully silky but without quite the exotic ripeness of the ’90. Still, this offers uncanny retention of primary fruit. Expands inexorably on the finish and goes on and on. A wonderful bottle that still improving. (The bottle in the blind flight was slightly less impressive: Good full red, with a hint of amber at the rim. Slightly medicinal aromas of red fruits, cedar and tobacco leaf; comes across as distinctly cooler than the ’90. Dense but penetrating and still a bit closed in on itself. Less sweet and generous today than the ’90, less exotic. But finishes firm and long, with a hint of dryness. I rated this bottle 93(+?).) Drink now through 2020.

1983 Château Cheval Blanc. JG 95. Along with Ausone, the ’83 Cheval Blanc has long been one of the greatest wines of this vintage and it is showing no signs of slowing down any time soon. The wine has gone through periods of glorious drinking, followed by much more closed cycles over the years, but it seems now at age thirty to have finally reached the start of its plateau of maturity and I would be very surprised to see it shut down ever again in its lifetime. Today, the deep, pure and vibrant nose wafts from the glass in a youthfully complex blend of mulberries, menthol, black cherries, a touch of chocolate, tobacco leaf, lovely soil tones and a nice touch of toasty new wood. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very elegant on the attack, with a superb core of fruit, great focus and complexity, and a very long, balanced and modestly tannic finish. The tannins today have fallen away to the point where this wine is very enjoyable to drink, and yet I still have the sense that the wine is relatively adolescent in its stage of development and more fireworks will still be unveiled if one can exercise a bit more patience. This is a great vintage of Cheval Blanc! (Drink between 2013-2050)

1985 Château Cheval Blanc. VM 95. The 1985 Cheval Blanc has always been one of the picks of the vintage for what was a fecund decade for the Saint-Émilion. This example shows similarly to previous bottles. It has a fragrant bouquet with sandalwood, clove and chestnut, maybe here even a touch of brettanomyces? It is only slight. The palate is beautifully balanced with melted tannin. The Cabernet Franc in full flight – hints of bell pepper and cedar, a surfeit of fruit. Maybe it lacks the precision of more recent vintages but how can you resist its charm. Impossible! It is a wonderful wine, but I wonder…was its heyday around the turn of the millennium? Tasted blind at Chez Brunce lunch. (Drink between 2018-2040)

1989 Château Cheval Blanc. VM 95. The 1989 Cheval Blanc is a vintage that I have not encountered since 2010. One bottle opened was rustic and fatigued, and Pierre-Olivier Clouet opened a second that was much better. It has a gorgeous bouquet of ample red fruit, morels, black truffle, cigar box and hints of brown sugar, all very well defined and charming. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannin and approaching full maturity; brown spices, bay leaf and clove infuse the red berry fruit. At 30 years of age, I suspect this 1989 will not improve further, but its robustness suggests that any decline will be graceful. Tasted from an ex-cellar bottle at the château. (Drink between 2019-2045)

1990 Château Cheval Blanc. VM 98. The 1990 Cheval Blanc is a vintage that once upon a time I drank regularly, although I had not seen it since March 2016. Poured against the 1990 Lafite-Rothschild, this is the clear winner. Still youthful in color with modest bricking. The bouquet explodes from the glass with kirsch, mulberry, antique furniture and black truffle scents. With aeration it becomes more savory, the Cabernet Franc wanting to see more of the olfactory action. The palate is medium-bodied and comes equipped with a stunning velvety texture. This Saint-Émilion feels spherical, conveying a sense of controlled decadence but avoiding any ostentation. This is as good a bottle as I have encountered over the years. Brilliant. Tasted at Noble Rot’s “Xmas” dinner. (Drink between 2019-2045)

Rabbit Dumplings. Rabbit Confit “Money Pouch”, leeks, dijon caviar creme. These were great, probably the best of our three dumpling types.

Chicken Satay. Grilled over Binchotan Charcoal with House Pickles. There was a choice of chicken or beef satay. It seemed pretty small and it was because…

They realized they were supposed to serve two skewers so a second came out 5 minutes later for each person.

Filet Mignon Beef Satay. Grilled over Binchotan Charcoal with House Pickles. The pickles were rather microscopic as well.

And here is the second beef skewer.

1995 Château Cheval Blanc. VM 93+. Good full red. Profound, multidimensional nose combines redcurrant, plums, raspberry, cherry, mocha and humus: really quite singular. Wonderful sweetness and depth of flavor; lush but with a firm spine. Already offers compelling inner-mouth perfume, but I suspect this wine will soon close down. Finishes with terrific length and very suave, sweet tannins that coat the teeth.

1998 Château Cheval Blanc. JG 98+. While the money-changers in the temple promote Pavie and Angélus to the bureaucratic summits of Saint Émilion in the classification of the commune’s wines, tastings such as this one definitively show that Cheval Blanc no longer has any real rival for quality. The 1998 Cheval Blanc is an utterly brilliant wine, delivering a refined and very complex aromatic constellation of black cherries, sweet dark berries, menthol, gravelly soil tones, cigar smoke and a suave framing of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is pure, precise and full-bodied, with a velvety palate impression beginning to develop, a sappy core of glorious fruit, marvelous soil signature, fine-grained, seamless tannins and a very, very long, complex and effortless finish. The ’98 Cheval Blanc is certainly a very, very enjoyable glass of wine today, but it is still climbing and I would try to leave it alone for at least a handful more years. Sheer brilliance. (Drink between 2030-2100)

2000 Château Cheval Blanc. VM 94. The 2000 Cheval Blanc is a wine that I have encountered more than a dozen times. Now at just over 20 years of age (how time flies – I remember tasting this from barrel), it has a lovely, quite beguiling bouquet of brambly red berries, iron rust, Provençal herbs and clove, powerful and somehow enveloping. The peppery palate is medium-bodied with quite firm, stocky tannins and good backbone, though coming after a vertical of recent vintages, it feels more rustic and feral. As Pierre-Olivier Clouet noted, there are fewer “pixels” in this millennial Cheval Blanc, but you can’t help falling for its charms. Ready to drink now but will age for the next 20–30 years. Tasted at Cheval Blanc. (Drink between 2021-2040)

2001 Château Cheval Blanc. VM 96. The 2001 Cheval Blanc has a slightly more expressive and less feral bouquet compared to the 2000, perhaps better defined, although I miss the menthol aspect that develops on the previous vintage. But give it an hour’s aeration and it coheres magnificently, gaining more intensity as it manifests dark berry fruit mixed with potpourri. The palate is medium-bodied with grippy tannins, quite firm and (for this estate) quite austere and strict, though yet again, after an hour it mellows, gaining more rondeur and sensuality. Whereas initially I leaned toward the millennial Cheval Blanc, the 2001 has its nose in front by the end. Tasted at Cheval Blanc. (Drink between 2021-2040)

2005 Château Cheval Blanc. VM 100. The 2005 Cheval Blanc has been nothing less than magical on two separate occasions. A wine of breathtaking nuance and sophistication, the 2005 Cheval dazzles right out of the gate. With a few hours of aeration the aromatics blossom and the wine is explosive in every dimension. Espresso, rose petal, mint, blood orange and incense all open as the 2005 shows off its magnificence and pedigree. Bright saline underpinnings convey energy, tension and brilliance. Cheval Blanc is perhaps not as immediately seductive as some of the other top 2005s, but its all there. In spades. I would give it a few more years to unwind. (Drink between 2025-2055)

2009 Château Cheval Blanc. VM 98. The 2009 Cheval Blanc has a rambunctious nose with copious red fruit, meat juices, sage and crushed stone aromas, ineffably complex. This is so refined, constantly mutating in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with fine, saturated tannin. There is a mixture of red and black fruit, hints of cassis, cardamom and allspice. Immense depth and grip towards the finish expresses ripe Cabernet Franc. This is an outstanding 2009 destined for long-term ageing. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting. (Drink between 2021-2060)

Mongolian Lamb. Chargrilled, market vegetables, twice-cooked potatoes. I’ve had this before too, and it’s a nice lamb chop, just a bit sweet. It’s also not exactly enormous.

Steamed Truffle Cream Dory. Steamed in Papillote, black summer truffle, leeks, romanesco, ginger, shaoxing. This John Dory dish is great, very light and moist with a strong ginger flavor.

Prime Rib Eye with XO Bechamel. Remy Martin XO Wagyu Salt Block Steak, White Cheddar, XO Emulsion. Another petite bite.

Orange Old Fashioned Sorbetto — Cold Pressed Orange Juice, Knob Creek Bourbon and Angostura Bitters! Topped with cherries — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Really tastes like an Old Fashioned –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #orange #tangerine #bourbon #KnobCreek #bitters #Angostura

Warm Beignets. Vietnamese Coffee Creme Anglaise. A single Beignets into which was injected the Creme Anglaise. It was served with:

Yar! Ghostly skeletal praline pirates are marauding — Pecan Pirate Praline Gelato — An eggy Texas Pecan base layered with my creepy skull-shaped New Orleans style Vanilla Bourbon Pecan Pralines and Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Pumpkins — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #vanilla #bourbon #pecan #praline #candy #halloween #spooky

Overall, The wines and company were incredible, and the food itself was great. It wasn’t the “largest” meal, but that’s okay given my diet, and it was most Crustacean “staple dishes”, which are awesome — but I’m a novelty junky. Still, it sure was one hell of an evening. Cheval is really an incredible wine.

And boy did the Ans treat us right, amazing service, and great wines. Every dish is always superb tasting and perfectly executed. Although their menu is perhaps not the “perfect pairing” choice for Bordeaux, Crustacean does such an incredible job, it doesn’t matter.

Discussing the food analytically. Very good, and most dishes varied from good to great. The Vietnamese influence is far more subtle, less heavy handed, then at most newer fusion places like Little Sister / LXSO or the more contemporary small plates style Khong Ten. Definitely more roughly 2000 in formal fine dining style — which I don’t mind at all. In some ways it feels like a millennium event fine dining place with Vietnamese — and to a lesser extent Thai and Chinese — notes. It’s a pretty fancy place, and priced accordingly — but particularly during these last two dinners have really knocked it out of the park.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: An Family, Bordeaux, BYOG, Champagne, Cheval Blanc, Crustacean, Gelato, Wine

Tony Teleferic

Oct27

Restaurant: Teleferic Barcelona Los Angeles

Location: 11930 San Vicente Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90049. (424) 832-7595

Date: March 14, April 8, & June 4, 2023

Cuisine: Spanish

Rating: Tasty contemporary Tapas

Good Spanish in Brentwood — woot!

Teleferic is located in the old Vincenti space. The shape is essentially the same but they’ve given it a nice modern makeover.

The interior.

The menu.

Albarinos.

Amuse of some kind of cheese and mushroom tart. This was very well baked, but oddly used a sweeter shortcrust pastry than I’d use in a dessert tart.

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Pan con Tomate. A traditional Spanish dish of toasted bread with tomato. dressing & chorizo butter (gfa). A bit “foamed” and soft as opposed to the more tradtional “minced” totmato version of this dish. Bread was moderately soft as well and I don’t think scraped with garlic. I’m not a big fan of pan con tomate in general but this wasn’t my favorite. Chorizo butter was interesting though.

Secret Kids Tortilla. Classic Spanish Tortilla, aka fritata with potato and onion.

Hidden Gem Salad. Little lettuce gems, Idiazabal, Iberian bacon, basil vinaigrette. Nice light salad.

Taquitos de Tuna & Avocado. Marinated ahi tuna, mashed avocado & wonton shells (gfa). Nice crispy tuna tartare taco. Great with the lime.

Great priorats.

Patatas Bravas. Crispy potatoes topped with homemade brava sauce & aioli (gfa, v). Interesting presentation of the “brave potatoes” and quite delicious. Gotta love that mildly spicy mayo.

Gazpacho Porrón. Watermelon tartare, gazpacho & basil oil served in a porrón (v, gf). Very refreshing and quite unexpected and lovely combo.

Ham Croquetas. Croquettes with Iberian ham & aioli. Fluffy and nice with a very soft bechemel.

Empanadas. Roasted chicken empanadas served with spicy aioli.

Spanish Meatballs. Tender beef meatballs in flavorful ‘canary masala’ sauce & cream. Maybe not the most traditional, but I love a nice curry and the masala really took it up a notch. Quite excellent.

Crab Croquettes. Crab croquettes topped with tuna sashimi & spicy aioli. The croquette would have been fine without the tuna and maybe with a saffron mayo or similar. So a little odd as a kind of croquette nigiri, but still excellent. Nice crabby flavor.

Dragonballs. Chorizo pops filled with Mahón cheese & corn crust. Great crispy texture and intresting chorizo flavor.

Catalan Cod. Black cod ‘a la llauna’ style, served with ‘romesco’ sauce
& butter beans (gf). Solid.

Truffled Cannelloni. truffle beef cannelloni coated in rich black truffle sauce & demi-glace. I thought I’d love this dish and I did. Great meaty inside and awesome semi-sweet creamy sauce.

This second time it was cut into threes and not quite as great — but still good.

Bruselas. Brussels sprouts with a touch of aged cheese. & lemon-honey dressing (gfa, v). Loved these sweet and savory brussels. Could have eaten the whole bowl myself.

Cali-Flower. Crispy cauliflower pops with a deliciously tangy ‘romesco’ glaze. These were great with a nice tang to the glaze.

Artichoke Hearts. Crispy artichoke with light pistachio foam & red curry. Crispy and nice.

Maine Lobster Paella. Freshly caught Maine lobster, gulf shrimp & octopus (gf). Mix crispy texture and fresh seafood so one of the better paella I’ve had in LA — which is a town full of crappy paella. Enjoyable and I need come back and try the negro version.

Paella Veggie. Seasonal mushrooms, cauliflower, artichokes
& seaweed stock (gf, v). The veg version had the same nice crispy texture. Quite addicitive and off my diet. Could have used even more garlic aioli.

Ibérico Pork Paella. Acorn-fed pork chop, pork belly & mushrooms (gf).

Garlic aioli for the paella (I asked for this as I love it).

Gambas al Ajillo. Gulf shrimp, lemon zest & crispy garlic. Very nice whole shrimp version of the classic. Head sucking good with lots of garlic butter. Unfortuantly I missed on the focus.

Forgot to photo my bottle. 2010 Espectacle.

Tondonia!

Catalan Tomahawk. 40 Oz Prime rib eye ‘chuletón’, potatoes & a set of dressings. Cooked properly rare. They left in the big fat strip between the ribeye and the ribcap but it was a nice piece of beef and the sauces were great, basically the potatoes bravos sauces (aioli and romesco) and a pesto.

Mirella womans the bone.

Secret Kids Mac & Cheese. Very creamy, no breadcrumbs.

Prime Wellington. Braised short ribs & Ibérico ham encased in a flaky puff pastry roll, served with Spanish-style potatoes.

I’m not sure what goodness they injected into the Wellington but anywhichway it was awesome. One of the best dishes. The cold savory meatballs were also amazing and the sauce on them fabulous and nutty/sweet.

Paella Negra. Squid ink, gulf shrimp, scallops, octopus & clams. This was probably my favorite paella of the three I tried with a nice sweet & briney quality. It needed more aioli but this time I asked for (and recieved) some. They ask you if you want it crispy or not.

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Torrija. French toast, Catalan cream & vanilla ice cream. Awesome (and very sweet) donut with amazing crema catalana. I total sugar bomb but great.

They came around and poured this conconction of cava and fruit juice into the mouths of willing participants.

Overall, I very much enjoyed Teleferic. It’s not perfect, but it is fairly classic spainish with a bit of a modern twist. Flavors were bright and good. They gave me no trouble over my (Spanish) wines. I’m good. It’s awesome to have a solid Spanish so close to home.

I think I might have enjoyed Teleferic even more the second (and third) time. Jeffrey went without us a month ago and then forced our planned dinner over to the rather uninspired MyDogPoo. But I’m very happy to have this right in my neighborhood. A big menu and almost everything was great. Probably the best Paella in LA right now too, even if it isn’t up to Spanish standards, it’s at least pretty crispy. Service was great too, although things came a bit fast — which wasn’t a problem with the kids tonight but I don’t love when it’s all adults.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Spanish Cuisine, Tapas, Teleferic, Wine

Super Sauvages

Oct25

Restaurant: Laurent Quenioux at the Villamalka for Sauvages

Location: The Villamalka

Date: March 10, 2023

Cuisine: Contemporary French Californian

Rating: Awesome

I’ve been wanting to host a Sauvages lunch for awhile, and finally did in Spring of 2023. For the chef, I again tapped Laurent Quenioux, one of my favorite LA private chefs.

It was pouring outside so we set the table inside. Pushing the limit of pour size, we had 17 gentleman at a single table with 8 stems each (for 5 flights).

Our special menu.

From my cellar: 2002 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas François. VM 96. The 2002 Cuvée Nicolas François Billecart is outrageously beautiful. The ripeness of the Chardonnay is front and center in a Champagne that delivers the goods, big-time. An infusion of apricot, orange peel, crème brûlée, chamomile, hazelnut and honey give the 2002 its racy, exotic personality. I enjoy it most with bottle age, but the 2002 is undeniably beautiful right now. The 2002 is a stunning NFB. The blend is 60% Pinot Noir from the Montagne de Reims and the Vallée de la Marne and 40% Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs, done partially in oak (20%). Dosage is 4 grams per liter. (Drink between 2020-2030)

1992 Dom Pérignon Champagne P3. 96 points. Effortlessly young, superbly balanced, elegant, lifted, creamy, pear, vanilla, baked goods, sweet with barely notable but great acidity. Classically done.

NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvee Edition 170eme. JG 95. It had been a couple of months since I first tasted the “170ème Édition” of Krug Grande Cuvée at a pre-launch tasting for the bottling back in April. It was young and very promising then and has nicely settled in and started to blossom aromatically over the summer months. The wine is from the base year of 2014 and is a blend of fifty-one percent pinot noir, thirty-eight percent chardonnay and eleven percent pinot meunier, with forty-five percent of the cuvée composed from reserve wines. The “170ème Édition” of Grande Cuvée is really starting to become expressive aromatically, offering up scents of apple, pear, passion fruit, brioche, citrus blossoms, a beautiful foundation of limestone soil tones and patissière. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, focused and sports superb mid-palate depth of fruit, with fine mineral undertow, refined mousse and simply marvelous balance and bounce on the very long, complex and still properly racy finish. (Drink between 2022-2065)

NV Duval-Leroy Champagne Femme de Champagne.

We had a lovely Champagne reception in the Drawing Room. Rich Weiss hit it out of the park with a 1992 P3.

Chef Laurent Quenioux in the house! Laurent has cooked at home for us before and is an amazing chef.

Growing up in Sologne, France, Bistro LQ Owner & Executive Chef Laurent Quenioux developed his love of game and wild strawberries with his parents: he would hunt duck, partridge, rabbit and hare with his father, and practice cooking his mother’s recipes at home in the kitchen. When he completed his education, he entered into an apprenticeship in the South of France where, according to Laurent, “everything is about fat duck, goose liver and foie gras.”

After working and honing his skills in some of the finest kitchens in France, Laurent moved 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, serving groundbreaking French Nouvelle California cuisine which became a favorite spot for the mayor and Hollywood celebrities. Subway construction led to the closing of the 7th Street Bistro after a decade, and Laurent spent the late 1990s as the Executive Chef for Dodgers Stadium.

In the early 2000s, he returned to his restaurant roots with the debut of the cozy Bistro K in Pasadena, earning accolades for his originality and precision with a revolutionary menu designed to open the senses and minds of his guests to new possibilities, tastes and textures. With the opening of Bistro LQ in July 2009, Laurent brought his edgy style and ingenuity to a larger & more central location in Los Angeles near West Hollywood.

Feeling a need to take new risks and expand his vision, Laurent closed Bistro LQ in Spring of 2011 for a culinary and creative sabbatical. Presently Laurent is working on a biographic book project while cooking at his popular experimental “Fooding” Supper Club @MaMaison and around Los Angeles, London, Paris and Amsterdam.

gougères. Always yummy, although these could have been a bit cheesier.

veal tartare parmesan cake. Lots of flavor as there were “sneaky” umami elements.

sweet herring roll. This was my favorite of the passing apps, as it had this delicious smoky fish.

merguez confit niçois polenta cake. Lots of flavor here too.

2010 Domaine Ramonet Bâtard-Montrachet. BH 95. While the Ramonet Bâtard is virtually never rustic this seems unusually refined and admirably pure with an orchard fruit and intensely floral nose that already offers impressive complexity. In typical Bâtard fashion this is quite powerful and dense with sleekly muscled big-bodied flavors that possess remarkable amounts of dry extract that largely if not completely buffer the firm acid spine on the almost painfully intense and stunningly long finish that is absolutely bone dry. While it’s not true everywhere, in particular chez Pernot for example, I often prefer Ramonet’s Bâtard to their Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet but in 2010 that is far from clear. What is clear however is that both are absolutely terrific and to the extent that you are fortunate enough to find them, and your pocketbook can stand the damage, I strongly recommend that you acquire both as the upside potential they exhibit is nothing short of remarkable. (Drink starting 2020)

2010 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Corton-Charlemagne. VM 95+. A statuesque, refined wine, the 2010 Corton-Charlemagne stands out for its impeccable balance and understated personality. A hint of vanillin in the bouquet leads to bright citrus, white flowers, crushed rocks and spice in a delicate, beautifully nuanced Corton-Charlemagne that emphasizes refinement over power. (Drink starting 2014)

From my cellar: 2010 Domaine Roulot Meursault Les Vireuils. VM 92+. Subtle citrussy nose. At once tactile and juicy, with excellent mineral spine to support the lemon and pineapple flavors. The very long, stony finish shows the combination of sweetness and energy of the vintage’s better examples.

2012 Louis Latour Montrachet. BH 92-94. A dense and notably ripe if not exactly typical nose features notes of petrol, menthol and spice nuances that sit atop the otherwise cool scents of apricot and floral notes. There is a citrusy character to the broad-shouldered, powerful and complex flavors that ooze plenty of dry extract that really coats the palate on the markedly dry and strikingly long finish. Not surprisingly this is very backward at present and this is going to require at least 6 to 8 years to be approachable and 12 to 15 to reach its full apogee. (Drink starting 2024)

Bordier Butter and La Creme baguette. It’s all about the butter!

smoked haddock | cauliflower cream| ostera caviar | spring onion | potato. This was a great dish. Not only was it very pretty, but it had lovely flavors and interesting textures. Smoky fish (which I love), plus the caviar / cream vibe.

Deserves a second pic.

The gang.

And the ladies table.

2014 Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard Le Montrachet. BH 95. A background note of reduction only mildly reduces the appeal of the ripe citrus and airy white flower aromas. There is good if not massive size and weight to the rich, fleshy and mouth coating large-bodied and dense flavors that brim with a fine minerality on the almost painfully intense and sneaky long finish. This gorgeously classy effort is like a number of examples of Montrachet in 2014 in that there is more finesse than usual. Either way this powerful but silky effort is going to need a long snooze in a cool cellar to realize its full and considerable potential. (Drink starting 2026)

2017 Blain-Gagnard Bâtard-Montrachet. BH 94. A cool, pure and restrained nose that could accurately be described as elegant offers up notes of citrus zest, white flowers, green apple and pretty spice nuances. The super-sleek and intense if once again not particularly dense flavors do possess a lovely sense of delineation on the balanced, saline and gorgeously long finish. This too will need to add depth but given the structure and balance, it should progressively develop. (Drink starting 2027)

2015 Domaine Michel Niellon Bâtard-Montrachet. BH 93. A very ripe but not surmature mix of pear liqueur, spice, petrol and matchstick aromas leads to super-rich, round and palate drenching flavors that are dense to the point of possessing a borderline creamy mouth feel, indeed it is almost thick. This isn’t quite as complex as the Chevalier but as is usually the case it is more powerful and perhaps even a bit longer as well. I would make the same observation here that this isn’t a typical Niellon Bâtard but if I can find it I will buy it anyway. (Drink starting 2020)

2015 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne. VM 95. The 2015 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru is a powerful, dense wine. It possesses tremendous richness and tons of intensity. Radiance and phenolic intensity are two of the signatures. That’s about all I can tell you, as the 2015 is nowhere near ready to drink. It does have tremendous potential though, that is clear. (Drink between 2025-2035)

dover sole | tortilla & cilantro veloute | young zucchini. I love these intricate stuffed dishes. Very french. The sauce had light Mexican tomatillo sauce vibes, but very mild so as to not overwelm the fish. I particularly liked the soft inside “fish pate.”

1995 Domaine Joseph Roty Charmes-Chambertin Très Vieilles Vignes. VM 95. Deep, full red; remarkably dark for its age. Knockout soil-driven nose combines red and black fruits, flowers, spices, minerals, licorice and crushed stone, plus a whiff of cherry liqueur; this one displays all of this site’s key food groups! A compellingly sappy, concentrated wine with terrific breadth and sweetness but also strong framing acidity to its energetic flavors of dark berries, bitter chocolate, violet, spices and salty minerality; considerably deeper than either the ’96 or ’98. This densely packed, seamless wine delivers an exhilarating combination of verve and sucrosité and finishes with splendid vivacity for the vintage. In fact, this particularly bottle struck me as very young, still with a lot in reserve. A second bottle tasted chez moi in January was dark red with ruby tones. It was a bit less expressive on the nose, conveying black fruits and menthol, then sappy but not particularly fleshy in the middle palate, more dominated today by its spine of acidity and tannins. While it struck me as a bit less deep than the first bottle, it nonetheless showed terrific density and thrust and came across as equally youthful. In fact, my notes say that it could go on for another 20+ years. When I first tasted this wine in bottle with Joseph Roty in 1997, he told me that the fruit was picked with potential alcohol close to 14%. And yet the pH here is the lowest of all of the wines in my vertical tasting. (14% alcohol; 3.15 pH; 31 h/h) (Drink between 2019-2040)

1996 Louis Latour Chambertin Cuvée Héritiers Latour. 92 points.

1996 Domaine Maume Charmes-Chambertin. 91 points.

sauteed foie gras printanier | baby turnips | young carrots | snap peas | english peas | smoked duck breast | “grattons” | perigord black truffles. Awesome foie prep. Perfectly seared yet very soft and scrumptious. The truffles were used perfectly and the rich reduction was great. The smoked duck breast would have fooled me into thinking it was pancetta or guanciale.

1996 Domaine Ponsot Clos de la Roche Vieilles Vignes. BH 91. In contrast to some of the Ponsot ’96s the Clos de la Roche is really quite good with lovely aromatic complexity on the fully mature yet still vibrant and fresh red berry fruit, spice, earth, game and smoke hints. The is reasonably good density in the context of a vintage that produced any number of lighter wines and the old vines clearly show as the phenolic maturity of the remaining tannins is much better than the average ’96, all wrapped in a delicious and solidly long finish that displays only a trace of acid tang. Tasted several times with mostly consistent notes. (Drink starting 2013)

1999 Michel Magnien Clos St. Denis. VM 93+. Saturated deep ruby. Roasted plum, blackberry, licorice, mocha and bitter chocolate on the nose. Creamy and very intensely flavored, with outstanding depth of fruit. Lifted by a flavor of bitter chocolate. A wine of uncanny energy and thrust, made almost entirely from tiny millerande grapes. Very long, gripping finish. These ’99 grand crus will need at least seven or eight years of additional cellaring.

From my cellar: 1999 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Ruchottes-Chambertin Clos des Ruchottes. 94 points. A combination of superb floral aroma and complex taste in this relatively old wine. Perfect for 2 hours in the glass before it started to fade. Wordless for this stuff.

2000 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Chambertin. JG 96. The 2000 Rousseau Chambertin another majestic example of the vintage, and there cannot be too many 2000 reds that are in this same league. The deep and utterly classic nose soars from the glass in a blend of raspberries, cherries, clove-like spice tones, coffee, a touch of venison, cedary wood and that magically complex signature of Chambertin soil tones. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very complex, with a great, great core of fruit, exquisite focus and balance, seamless tannins and exceptional length and grip on the poised, elegant and powerful finish. A great example of Chambertin. (Drink between 2013-2040)

pintade hen | veal tendons | chipotle | epazote | morels. Another interesting (and fabulous) stuffed dish. I loved the hen/veal roll, particularly as the tendons inside lent it a great jelly-like texture. Morels are always welcome too.

2002 Domaine Perrot-Minot Charmes-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes. VM 92. Bright red-ruby. Slightly reduced but highly nuanced aromas of rose petal, mocha, dark chocolate and smoke. Sweet, round, creamy and seamless, with fleshy flavors of raspberry, iron and blood orange. Broad, lush and silky but not heavy. Finishes very long, with suave, thoroughly ripe tannins. A superb showing.

2002 Louis Jadot Bonnes Mares. VM 95. Ruby-red. Flamboyantly rich aromas of blackberry, minerals and chocolate. Fat, rich and powerful; compellingly sweet and dense but with terrific thrust as well. Superripe flavors of chocolate and black plum. Finishes very long and powerful, with big but thoroughly ripe tannins. Offers great potential.

2002 Domaine du Clos de Tart Clos de Tart. BH 93. The generous wood this displayed from cask has begun to integrate and no longer sticks out on the expressive and extremely ripe black fruit and plum suffused nose that is nuanced by hints of torrefaction, earth and coffee. The supple, delicious, round and textured full-bodied flavors are notably robust and underpinned by very firm tannins as well as loads of buffering extract. This is a powerful yet detailed wine that does seem to carry its alcohol well with only a trace of finishing warmth. In sum, this is a borderline massive and unbelievably long wine that bathes the palate in sappy extract though note that it is so youthful that it will require ample cellar time to arrive at its apogee, especially in magnum format. (Drink starting 2027)

bleu d’auvergne (mucida) | maroilles (foetidum) | accompaniments.lat savarin (triplex crepito)

On the plate.

From my cellar: 2013 Paolo Bea Arboreus. 90 points. sound bottle. 3 hours of air. ripe apricots and oranges on the nose. palate brings mild sherry-like oxidation with grapefruit pith bitterness. good acidity. not getting any oiliness

From my cellar: 1997 Château d’Yquem. 94 points. The 1997 Yquem comes from a season that witnessed the earliest-ever flowering (5 May) and an early picking that began on 4 September, though botrytis failed to develop, necessitating seven tries through the vineyard over 32 days of picking that lasted until 4 November. One aspect to note is how deep in colour this is compared to the 2003 that Sandrine Garbay served alongside. The nose offers marmalade and quince, hints of yellow plum and honey, not quite as precise as the previous bottle that I tasted in May the previous year, though it displays less of that adhesive trait. The palate has a lovely piquancy, very tangy with driving marmalade and Seville orange notes. The 5g/L of total acidity maintains the tension of the 1997, though maybe it is a little more evolved than I might have expected. Still, it remains a magnificent Yquem that will last many decades. Tasted from ex-château bottle in London. (Drink between 2022-2045)

From my cellar: 1988 Château Climens. VM 91. Green-edged straw color. Sweet butter, marzipan and a bright, riesling-like note of petrol on the nose. Fresh, firm and sharply delineated; the least rich and the driest of these three vintages, in the style of the year. But quite concentrated. Intriguing note of white raisin. Finishes very long and firm, with a slight sensation of disjointed acidity. Fairly dry on the back end.

I went all out on the gelato:

Birch Beer Gelato — Birch Beer flavored gelato base topped with Valrhona White Chocolate Pearls — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #RootBeer #RootBeerFlaot #Sarsaparilla #whitechocolate #Varlrhona

Nocciola White Gelato — Nocciola (hazelnut) base made with Pure PGI Piedmont hazelnut paste mixed with house-made Valrhona White Chocolate Hazelnut Bark — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — one of my signature flavors –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #hazelnut #nocciola #white #Chocolate #bark

Snickerdoodle Gelato NSA — A cinnamon vanilla base, but this version is No Sugar Added and formulated with Allulose — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #snickerdoodle #cookie #cinnamon #vanilla #nsa #allulose

Salty Pistachio Gelato – Pistachio di Bronte DOGC produces an intense pistachio base to which I added just a touch of salt — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #pistachio #sicily #nuts #salt

Salty Pistachio Gelato NSA – Pistachio di Bronte DOGC produces an intense pistachio base to which I added just a touch of salt — this version was formulated No Sugar Added with Allulose — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #pistachio #sicily #nuts #salt #nsa #allulose

Sweet Milk Signature Flavor — Italian Lemon Cookie Meringue Pie — Limoncello Zabaione base with lemon cookie flavor mixed with Italian Lemon Creme Cookies and Sicilian Candied Lemon and topped with house-made toasted Meringue — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #lemon #LemonCookie #cookie #Sorento #Limoncello #Meringue #LemonMeringuePie

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

Chocolate truffles.

pâte de fruit.

Overall, an amazing lunch and one of the best Sauvages yet — if I do say so myself 🙂 — but this was a thought echoed by many attendees. The food was perfect and we had so many great wines. A little crew of 4 of us did the pouring using shot glasses to measure out the pours. It worked great in terms of getting a fair pour all the way around, but was a ton of work / concentration.

By: agavin
Comments (0)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Burgundy, BYOG, Champagne, Gelato, Laurent Quenioux, Sauvages, villamalka, Wine

In the Mood for Moodaepo?

Oct12

Restaurant: Moodaepo

Location: 3014 7th St, Los Angeles, CA. (213) 381-9990

Date: February 28, 2023

Cuisine: Korean BBQ

Rating: Actual place is just a AYCE joint

Okay — this was a strange dinner. Originally, Jeffrey, Erick, and I were supposed to go to Teleferic — but in classic Jeffrey fashion he jumped the gun, went a few days earlier, then wanted to do a big gang bang instead in order to make a show for his Instagram buddy — so we ended up going with Bovon to Moodaepo.

Now, normally, Moodaepo is just a big chaotic KTown AYCE KBBQ joint. I never go to that sort of place as I’m not price sensitive and you just have an odd format and lower quality in service of a perceived lower price. It also misaligns the resteraunt incentives in a way that I really dislike.

Others obviously don’t feel that way, because the place was packed.

The typical multi-tier AYCE format. Not relevant for us because Bovon brought most of the proteins — including ones that weren’t on the menu. So this was sort of BYOM (Bring Your Own Meat) as well as BYOG and BYOB.

Banchan bar. This wasn’t for customer’s directly, but the staff were using it to refill banchan dishes.

Kimchee, macaroni, etc.

Fish cakes (my favorite), glass noodles, bean sprouts.

Potato salad.

Veggies for the grill and spicy miso sauce.

A different (slightly sweet) spicy sauce, salt, and yummy sweetened spicy soy.

Rice wrappers and pickled daikon.

Salad. Neither my most or least favorite Korean salad. Just ok.

The wine was as gang bang as the food.

Caviar bump!

Bovon going all Salt Bae.

Too much filming. I may take pictures but I kinda loath video at dinners. Gets in the way of being a hedonist.

White rice. duh!

Fresh scallops marinated in tumeric sauce. Delicious, particularly when lightly cooked.

Scallop with its own caviar bump.

Sliced prime rib.

Cooked up thinnly.

A4 Short rib. Much more fat and flavor.

Garlic sizzling in sesame oil. The beef was great “cooked” in this!

More meat!

Rip cap and porterhouse.

Juicy!

Giant bone marrow!

First cooked on the grill, but when that was going too slow…

into the oven it went. We scraped this out, some people on rice, me myself on rib cap!

Posers. hehe.

Tomahawk!

So juicy. The sizzling rip cap parts of this were some of the best steak I’ve had.

A5 slices.

Very juicy.

Elk Tenderloin. Lean and flavorful.

On the grill.

One of my earliest Signature Flavors —Tiramisu Gelato — The base is a highly technical Zabaione of Egg Yolk, Fresh Mascarpone Cheese, and Sweet Marsala with Fresh Brewed Espresso. It’s dusted with Valrhona Cocoa powder and layered with house-made Vanilla Rum Espresso syrup-soaked Lady Fingers — the final result is totally Tiramisu — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Tiramisu #Espresso #coffee #chocolate #Marsala #Zabaione #Eggyolk #Rum #Mascarpone

Overall, a very crazy big “mass market” AYCE KBBQ with a huge crowd of the young and the hungry (or at least plus size). But we took over a huge triple table and Bovon (who supplies to the owners) brought all his own premiem proteins, none of which are actually on the menu. I think as to actual restaurant food we only had the banchan/sauces etc and the sliced Prime Rib. This was a fun (if chaotic) and tasty meal, but it’s not really reflective of Moodaepo on a normal night.

For more Italian dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: beef, BYOG, Foodie Club, Gelato, KBBQ, Ktown, Moodaepo, Wine

Pure Lafleur

Oct05

Restaurant: The Aster

Location: 1717 Vine St, Los Angeles, CA 90028. (323) 962-1717

Date: February 25, 2023

Cuisine: Modern French

Rating: Great food, amazing wines

Sage Society always do some of the most incredible wine dinners. Tonight’s was a rare treat: Chateau Lafleur!

It was located at the Aster, a hotel and private club in Hollywood. Above is the bar.

The club’s view of the city.

Getting a short tour before the dinner, I check out the club caberet.

A sky bridge between the buildings.

Another of its 5 bars.

The lounge.

The pool courtyard — soggy night!

Finally, back to the bar, we retire into our private room.

The intimate table for this Lafleur winemaker dinner, hosted by Sage Society.

The big wines have been decanted.

More wines getting ready.

The menu for the night. The club chef is Marcel Vigneron who cooked at my house in 2015.

2005 Gonet-Médeville Cuvée Theophile Extra Brut.

Amuses.

Hamachi Sashimi. A lovely bite of yellowtail with cucumber and a rice chip. There was a nice textural interplay between the soft cool fish, the crunchy chip, and the firm cucumber. The flavor was unique for this kind of bite and reminded me a bit of sunomono, so presumably there was rice wine, sugar, and vinegar.

Squash Blossom Fritter. The texture was great, very crispy and fried. The ricotta inside was nice and soft but perhaps this could have used some counter balance (to the fry) like a romesco.

Kumiai Oyster. With foam. Marcel is famous for foam!

Sage Society president Liz Lee introduces the guests.

A rather ill-cropped and out-of-focus photo of Omri Ram, the winemaker for Lafleur.

Center left is owner of Martine’s Wines, Gregory Castells. I met him previously at this amazing Otium dinner years ago

Chef Marcel Vigneron on the left.

All Sauvignon Blanc (cuttings from the Loire) with lovely acidity.

A rich depth.

Striped Bass. Crunchy skin. Clams with “Tom Yum” foam. Very nice complement and I particularly enjoyed the clams and their tasty foam.

2019 Les Perrières de Lafleur. VM 90+. The 2019 Les Perrières de Lafleur is too oaky on the nose and this masks the terroir expression. The palate is medium-bodied with firm tannins, graphite infused black fruit with a strict and structured finish redeemed by satisfying freshness. A bit “serious” for a Pomerol at this level, but it may surprise with bottle age. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting. (Drink between 2026-2043)

2017 Guinaudeau “G” Acte 9. VM 92. The 2017 Acte 9 is fabulous. Rich, dense and expansive, Acte 9 possesses terrific textural resonance and volume. Ripe red cherry/plum fruit, mint, tobacco and a whole range of mineral inflections race out of the glass in a vibrant, racy wine loaded with personality. I won’t be surprised if the 2017 turns out even better than this note suggests. The 2017 Acte 9 emerges from a brutal year that took with it 90% of the production during the late April frost. All of the Cabernet Franc was lost, which means that Acte 9 is 100% Merlot. The 2017 is the last vintage of this wine under the Acte moniker. (Drink between 2020-2032)

Crispy Pork Belly. A big cube of pig with a delightfully crunchy skin atop a bed of cabbage and some kind of slightly tangy emulsion sauce. Great dish as I’m a cabbage fan and especially a porky cabbage fan.

2019 Château Lafleur Les Pensées. VM 94. The 2019 Pensées de Lafleur is composed and focused on the nose. An old school Pomerol in the positive sense, with truffle and ash scents emerging over time. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, fine acidity, pencil lead and black pepper towards its cohesive and persistent finish. This is a class act. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting. (Drink between 2026-2050)

2017 Pensées de Lafleur. VM 94. The 2017 Pensées de Lafleur is simply stunning. Tasting it today, I can only conclude that Pensées is obviously more complete and enthralling than many Grand Vins in this vintage. Explosive, deep and beautifully resonant, the Pensées shows tremendous depth and energy, not to mention so much character. What else can I say, except that I absolutely loved it. (Drink between 2022-2037)

Duck Confit. With crispy skin atop a bed of lentils. Classic French pairing and quite delicious.

2014 Château Lafleur. VM 95. The 2014 Lafleur has a tightly wound bouquet with earthy, truffle tinged black fruit, hints of dried blood and black truffle developing with time in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin encasing a sweet core of candied red fruit. The Merlot is very expressive here and offers more brightness than many of its Pomerol peers, which is unusual for a Pomerol so saturnine in its youth. Just beautiful. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. (Drink between 2024-2050)

2013 Château Lafleur. VM 90. The 2013 Lafleur, from the infamously maligned growing season, was picked entirely in October. It has a light and slightly monotone bouquet with mulberry and blackberry scents, a touch of briary and floral scents. The aromatics are nothing to be ashamed of. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy red berry fruit, more Merlot than Cabernet Franc-driven, balanced if missing the complexity of most vintages from this esteemed Pomerol growth. Not bad, however it is not a long-term prospect and lacks the cerebral element that Lafleur often brings to the table. Tasted at the Christies’ Lafleur masterclass in London. (Drink between 2020-2032)

2011 Château Lafleur. VM 94. The 2011 Lafleur has an almost Left Bank-like bouquet, well-defined and poised, quite fresh with tobacco and cigar box scents emerging with time. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins with a fine bead of acidity. Quite fresh and lightly spiced with white pepper and tobacco emerging towards the finish. This is a deeply impressive Pomerol in context of the growing season. Tasted blind at the annual 10-Year-On tasting. (Drink between 2022-2045)

Ancho Braised Short Ribs. Ancho is a smoky pepper, and while this beef had lots of flavor it didn’t really have any heat. But it was a delicious shredable bit of braised beef with a delicate bed of polenta and a nice salty reduction. The tomatoes provided just enough sweet acidity to balance the richness of the dish.

2007 Château Lafleur. VM 92. The 2007 Lafleur has a straightforward bouquet with mulberry and strawberry pastilles, touches of scorched earth and game coming through courtesy of the Cabernet Franc. I admire the definition and poise on display here. The palate is medium-bodied with quite bold tannin and satisfying ripeness considering the growing season, a mixture of red and black fruit laced with black pepper, truffle and clove, that lead towards a solid, firm finish. Though this is an off vintage, this showing suggests it will benefit from another couple of years in bottle. Tasted at the Christies’ Lafleur masterclass in London. (Drink between 2020-2038)

2006 Château Lafleur. VM 93+. Good red-ruby. Pungent aromas of kirsch, violet, black olive, menthol and mint. Rich, sweet and suave, with a slightly medicinal cast to the seriously concentrated dark fruit flavors. This vibrant wine coats the entire mouth and builds impressively on the back half, where the big, broad tannins are nicely buffered by fruit. A splendid showing today.

1986 Château Lafleur. 94 points. Probably worth more points, but a perfect aged Pomerol for the duck course. Evolved and showed best after an hour and a half. Plum, bit of funk, hints of sweet spice and red fruits. Balanced and great length. Not “old world” Lafleur but solid.

1983 Château Lafleur. VM 96. The 1983 Lafleur is the vintage that alerted me to the pedigree of this Pomerol growth back in 2004, so I have a sentimental attachment to it. A recent encounter served blind in Hong Kong confirms that the Lafleur ranks alongside the 1983 Cheval Blanc as the best Right Bank of the vintage. It is quite precocious and generous on the nose with sorbet-like red fruit tinged with peppermint and truffle oil. It has lost a little cohesion in recent years but offers more secondary scents of leather and sage. The palate has wondrous balance and poise: hints of iron infusing the supple red fruit with a complex and detailed finish. Well-stored bottles will continue giving immense pleasure. Tasted at a private dinner in Bordeaux. (Drink between 2018-2035)

Venison Wellington. Quite dense and an excellent pairing with the peerless Lafleur. Probably my least favorite savory, but excellent nonetheless.

NV Niepoort Porto 20 Year Old Tawny.

2015 Niepoort Porto Vintage.

3 Cheeses with Toasted Bread.

My thoughts.

Les vins.

This bottle was off and replaced.

Overall, an amazing dinner. It’s smaller, more intimate size, plus the great food, wine, and company, really helped elevate it to the very highest level.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Bordeaux, club, Gregory Castells, Lafleur, Liz Lee, Marcel Vigneron, Martine's Wines, Omri Ram, Sage Society, Wine

Orsa & Winston

Sep25

Restaurant: Orsa & Winston

Location: FARMERS AND MERCHANTS BANK BUILDING, 122 4th St, Los Angeles, CA 90013. (213) 687-0300

Date: February 16, 2023

Cuisine: Modern American Italian Japanese

Rating: light and very interesting

Orsa & Winston is inspired by Italian and Japanese flavors, connected by the creativity of chef Josef Centeno. They were awarded a Michelin star in 2019 & 2021 and chosen as L.A. Times restaurant of the year in 2020.
Interior is small and intimate.

Open kitchen (of course).

Tasting menu only.

Amuse. Chawanmushi with ice plant. Very much the classic “egg tofu” texture. Slightly bitter flavors and a bit of a black pepper kick.

They don’t allow corkage! Boo! But they did have an interesting wine pairing.

Crudo of Hamachi, fava beans, some kind of citrus. Very pleasant and light.

Mushrooms.

Saffron Scallop with a bit of green. Very classic combination, creamy, and quite nice. Not very big of course.

More paired wines.

Bitter greens salad. Maybe endive. Interesting crunch, a bit of salinity from the salmon roe, and a quite bitter lettuce profile. Interesting pairing with the oddball white Bordeaux.

Wine.

Sphagetti with Tomato Sauce and Truffle. Like a high end Spaghetti Pomodoro. Pretty darn tasty. Pasta had some chew, but seemed overcooked compared to a true Italian al dente.

Seafood Satsuki Rice Porridge (supplement). This was my favorite dish (even if it was a carb cheat). Basically a buttery seafood risotto with uni, abalone, etc. I guess technically it’s also like a congee, but such a heavy butter and cream emulsion made it feel far closer to risotto. Either way it was delicious.

Gift of polenta and cheese. Mild and pleasant although fairly bland. I’m never a huge polenta fan.

Wine.

Hamachi Collar with greens and black truffle. Pretty yummy and an interesting Italian/Japanese fusion.

Honey Cornbread. I really enjoyed this — cheat that it was.

Wine.

Mixed Berry Panna Cotta.

Chocolate Coconut Cookies. Yummy.

Overall, a light and very interesting meal. Unique dishes for the most part, but a slightly complex and bitter tonal profile and the only thing that stood out as out and out DELICIOUS was the seafood porridge. Pretty small tasting menu, however, even with the supplement I was exactly stuffed. Plus there is the annoying no corkage factor.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Dinner, DTLA, fusion, italian, Japanese, Josef Centeno, no corkage, Orsa & Winston, Wine

Rhone & the Goat

Sep05

Restaurant: Girl & the Goat [1, 2]

Location: 555-3 Mateo St, Los Angeles, CA 90013. (213) 799-4628

Date: February 8, 2023

Cuisine: Modern American

Rating: Very tasty, some service “issues” with large parties (no private space)

This is my second time here. Food is really good, but generally when Yarom returns he opens a bunch of SQN — blech. However, tonight as a top flight Rhone dinner, which is perfect with goat and more my style.

They are located in a fairly cute offshoot area of downtown I don’t think I have been to.

Swank build out, although we (fortunately) sat outside.

Our table — not quite large enough.

Super-fun night was a great crew, great wines, and great food! We certainly had a LOT of it too.

Jeffrey and I collaborated on the menu which turned out to be perfect. Not listed is the epic Goat Shoulder. They initially tried to get us to take their standard large party menu which had almost every other dish on the paper menu — all the lame carby ones — and NO GOAT!?!

2008 Piper-Heidsieck Champagne Cuvée Rare. 93 points.

Krug rose.

Bille rose.

1989 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage Blanc. 92 points. Actually great!

2017 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage Blanc. VM 96. Translucent yellow. An intensely perfumed bouquet evokes ripe pear, yellow plum, orange zest, smoky minerals and jasmine, along with a deeper suggestion of honey. Honeysuckle, energetic, sharply delineated citrus, orchard fruit flavors stain the palate and become weightier with aeration. The mineral note expands as the wine opens up and drives an impressively long, chewy finish that features lingering floral, brioche and saffron notes. (Drink between 2027-2036)

roasted oysters. clam baguette . sausage butter . oyster sauce mayo . finger lime. I just ate the oyster (skipping the bread) but it was pretty good with bright flavors and richness — and I don’t usually love cooked oysters.

1983 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage. JG 96. I have been a huge fan of the 1983 Chave in all of its various guises, and this most recent bottle was the finest I have yet had the pleasure to taste. The wine was at its absolute apogee, as it soared from the glass in a classic blend of black raspberries, black olives, grilled venison, a bit of bacon fat, ground pepper, great stony soil tones, espresso, and a bit of violet in the upper register. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, deep, pure and very transparent down to its stony soil, with a rock solid core of pure, black raspberry fruit, great complexity, melting tannins, bright acids and stunning length and grip on the pure and profound finish. Unlike the more recent vintages of Chave Hermitage, which seem to have all of their quality on the surface, this wine wells up from the depths of the glass and is clearly a wine of bottomless beauty. The best bottle yet of the 1983 that I have had the pleasure to taste, and I drink this vintage with some regularity! (Drink between 2008-2025)

1985 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage. JG 95. I finished up my last bottles of 1985 Chave Hermitage a few years back, after having been very happy with the case I bought many, many years ago, but always having the feeling that with each bottle I drunk that the wine had not yet reached its absolute apogee of peak maturity. This is also a vintage of Chave where there is quite a bit of bottle variation, as reportedly, there were three slightly different “blends” produced by Gérard Chave in this year, to match the wishes of his various importers. In any case, this most recent bottle was the finest example of the 1985 that I have ever tasted and fully open and singing, offering up a very complex and red fruity nose of raspberries, spiced meats, pepper, a touch of cocoa powder, bonfires, incipient notes of forest floor, lavender and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and gorgeously transparent, with a great core of fruit, stunning complexity, melted tannins and a very long, tangy and beautifully balanced finish. Makes me wish I was only just starting in on my own case of the 1985! (Drink between 2019-2060)

1991 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage. VM 96. The same is true of the 1991 Hermitage. A few months ago, I had a bottle of the Cuvée Cathelin, one of my favorite wines on the planet, so I was curious to check in on the Hermitage. Here it is the wine’s suppleness and silkiness that are utterly captivating. Expressive floral notes linger on the open, caressing finish.

duck tartare. gochujang mayo . cape gooseberries . sesame . fried brussels. This was eaten all mixed up and it was quite delicious with the gochujang mayo dominating and adding a mustardy slightly spicy zing. Great texture too.

goat liver mousse. crumpets . biscuit crackers . pickled manquats . persimmon-apple jam . craisin relish. First of all the crumpets, vaguely like Chinese fried bread that they were, were hot and delicious. Then the liver itself was much like chicken liver, very smooth and rich. It was nicely offset by the pickles and/or jam — particularly on on one of the bread options.

shrimp & crispy greens. avocado . satsuma mandarin . pepita crunch . limey-herby dressing. Great crispy texture and a nice bright acidic sweet salad.

Good times.

2000 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage. VM 92-95. Full ruby. Raw red berries, leather and pepper on the nose. Thick and silky but bright; youthful and primary. Boasts good power for the vintage. Peleat: Bright deep ruby. Complex, stony aromas of tobacco, mocha, brown spices, pepper and iris. Smooth and vinous, with terrific class and delicacy more than power. Already offers lovely detail. Finishes firmly tannic and persistent. Very expressive of the vintage. L’Hermite: Saturated ruby. Explosive, quintessential Hermitage aromas of raw currant, leather, game, minerals and cedary spice. Supple and silky but quite unevolved. Here the tannins come off as a bit tough. Bessards: Deeper, more medicinal aromas of black fruits, cassis leaf and leather. Quite powerfully constituted but not yet sweet. A very serious, tannic lot that will provide the spine for the ultimate blend. Bessards from a new barrique: Sexy aromas of black raspberry, licorice, espresso and bitter chocolate. Sweeter in the middle than the last sample, then tough on the back end, with strong oak tannins showing. Bessards yet again: Aroma of raw crushed currant. Sauvage and minerally in the mouth; supple texture nicely framed by integrated acidity. A lovely blend of sweetness and tannic structure. Peppery on the back end. Very much a wine from granite soil. Meal: Sappy aromas of redcurrant, minerals and brown spices. Less fresh in the middle than the Bessards, with tannins a bit tough. Meal again: Roasted redcurrant, smoke, minerals and game on the nose. Silkier and more pliant in the mouth; this offers much better balance and more finesse than the last mouthful. Here the tannins are less rigid. The tougher sample was from a parcel that yielded just 25 hectoliters per hectare, while this parcel produced 35, noted Jean-Louis. Should make a lovely drink, though it’s hard to believe this wine will equal the ’99.

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

2007 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage. VM 95-96. A real fruit bomb, with sexy aromas of red berries, cherry and cassis. Lithe and precise on the palate, with tangy mineral lift and very good cut. From Beaume: Exotic, intensely floral aromas of violet, lavender and magnolia. Sweet red fruits and spices on the palate, with the floral quality repeating. Again from Beaume: Spicy and mineral-driven, with sappy red berry flavors and gentle tannins. Less wild than the previous barrel. From L’Hermite: Musky cherry and dark berry aromas are complicated by minerals and underbrush. Fleshy dark berry and cherry pit flavors cling nicely to the palate. From Meal: A very rich sample, offering powerful cherry and cassis scents and a suavely smoky mineral note. Sappy and broad on the palate, displaying sweet kirsch and smoked meat qualities. From Bessards: Deep, strongly perfumed bouquet evokes cherry, cassis, cured meat and licorice. Firm and chewy, with deep dark berry flavors and slow-building tannins. “This will provide the spine of the final wine,” Chave told me. Again from Bessards: Hypnotic aromas of raspberry, candied cherry and incense, with a fresh lashing of minerals. Brisk and focused, with wonderfully pure red fruit flavors and silky texture. Impossibly pure and long on the finish. The final wine will be a riot of red and darker berry fruits, with excellent freshness and clarity.

pork belly noodles. chili crunch . black eyed peas . pickled veggies. Great noodle dish with a very bright light flavor with crunchy bits of rich pork belly. Vague Thai vibe like many dishes here.

braised crispy lamb. kabocha squash stew . pumpkin seed . locust bean yogurt. This was the weakest dish of the night. Some of the lamb was overcooked and dry and I don’t really like squash at all. But still it wasn’t bad.

grilled corn. spiced coconut caramel . cotija . tajin. Definately a hint of Thai going on here but this was some seriously delicious corn on the cobb with a kind of sweet and spicy vibe.

sautéed green beans. fish sauce vinaigrette . cashews. Interesting. Nicely cooked, still very crispy, with a richess from both the mayo-like-dressing and the cashews.

grilled whole branzino. thai style sweet n’ sour . mung bean apple pomelo salad . pickled vegetables. Very strong Thai flavor pattern with coconut and a light curry flavor. Delicious with a nice textural interplay between the soft fish and the crispy fruits and veggies (vaguely like a papaya salad).

2008 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage. VM 91-93. Highly floral bouquet of raspberry, blackberry, violet and Asian spices. Silky in texture, with sweet, fleshy, vibrant red fruit flavors joined by a late note of tangy minerals. From Peleat: Spicy cherry and dark fruit aromas give way to a deeper plum quality with air. Weighty blackberry and kirsch flavors are framed by dusty tannins and pack a solid punch. Surprisingly ripe for this vintage. From L’Hermite: Intensely mineral scents of strawberry, cherry and herbs. Dry and tightly wound, with bitter cherry and tangy red berry flavors. Firm but not tannic, with good finishing cut. From Meal: Ripe cherry and blackcurrant on the nose, plus a hint of cracked pepper. Full, chewy and gently sweet dark fruit flavors are braced by tangy minerals and close on a smoky note. From Bessards: Impressively fresh red berry aromas, with notes of Asian spices, minerals and potpourri. Very elegant in style, with pinot-like clarity and red fruit drive. Finishes with excellent vivacity and spicy persistence. The ultimate wine should be attractive early but looks balanced to age.

2009 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage. VM 96. Drop-dead, highly aromatic bouquet of red berries, incense and potpourri, with concentrated spiciness. From Beaume: Deeper and riper (15.5% alcohol, according to Chave), with intense cassis and blueberry character and hints of licorice and bitter chocolate. From L’Ermite: Heady aromas of red and dark berry preserves, licorice and violet, with a strong note of fruitcake. From Meal: Mineral-driven dark berry and cherry aromas and flavors, with silky tannins that gain strength with air. Really expands on the back end. From La Mortine, in L’Hermite: Powerful, pungent scents of dried red fruits, cherry-cola and licorice. More floral with air. Finishes with gentle grip and dusty minerality. From Bessards, a granite and clay parcel: Distinctly smoky and rich, offering deep blackberry and bitter cherry flavors that become sweeter with air. From Bessards, all granite: Sexy red fruits and minerals on the spicy, perfumed nose. Sweet and penetrating, repeating the red fruit note emphatically. Chave says that this might be the base for Cuvee Cathelin if it develops on the trajectory he anticipates. The final 2009 wine should be a lively, precise and attractively floral-accented wine, with excellent fruit intensity and strong minerality.

goat curry. masa chips . radish . pickled veggies. The goat curry version of Heuvos Rancheros? Interesting with the meaty curry and a lot of really crunchy and flavor-infused chips mixed in. Delicious and addictive.

sticky glazed pork shank. shiitake . asian pear . hoisin mayo . hot mustard . naan . lettuce cups. The first of our two big meat plates this fatty delectable but also sweet and crunchy meat could be arranged into various taco-like configurations or eaten by itself. A little like Chinese pork hock.

The pork itself and lettuce wrap options.

Flat breads.

Sauces for the pork.

My lettuce taco.

Flintstone.

2011 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage. VM 94-95. Tough to read initially, displaying scents of dried cherry, cassis and smoked meat. Chewy and deeply pitched, with sneaky spice and mineral notes coming up with air. #2, from Peleat: Fresher and more red-fruity, with intense spiciness and a hint of candied violet. Shows an appealing silkiness. #3, from L’Hermite: Explosively perfumed bouquet evokes candied red fruits, fresh flowers and minerals, with a hint of Asian spices. Juicy and precise, with strong finishing cut and focus. #4, from Meal: Exotic, floral accented red berry preserve and spicecake aromas and flavors. Sappy and precise, with excellent finishing lift and cut. #5, from Bessards: The wildest of this set, with deep cherry and dark berry character and impressive power. Finishes smoky and long, with resonating spiciness. The bottled wine should be surprisingly dense and dark-fruited for the year, with solid structure and the capacity to age.

2015 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage. VM 97. Youthful purple color. Mineral-accented dark berries, star anise, cola, olive and pungent flowers on the explosively perfumed nose. Offers impressively concentrated, expansive flavors of black raspberry, spicecake, smoked meat and candied flowers that are complicated by licorice candy and dark chocolate notes that sneak in on the back half. Sweet, sappy and precise on the floral- and dark fruit-driven finish, which shows outstanding clarity and round, harmonious tannins that build smoothly and steadily. (Drink between 2028-2040)

The second of our big plates was the pre-order house special Goat Shoulder. It came with pickles, various breads, lettuce wraps, and many sauces.

Zoom.

The crunchy fried tortilla-like breads were incredible.

So I couldn’t resist using a diet-busting “bread” for my goat wrap.

almond & citrus. almond buttercake . citrus ice cream . kumquats . blood orange gastrique . brown butter fun crunch. Very pleasant citrus, almost passionfruit-like flavors and texture texture variation (which is a theme at GATG).

miso butterscotch budino. piced tuile . passion fruit honey . honey whip. I was a little dissapointed with this — now it was good — but it was also very sweet.

The lineup.

The Chaves were incredible tonight. Every bottle was in perfect shape. The 1989 white was super complex, mellow, and “young.” The 85, 00, and 03 were particular standouts of the reds — but they were all very nice. Even the young ones were very approachable. Superb wine and paired very well with the zesty flavors here.

Food here is really good. Almost all of the dishes were really tasty. Very savory, fatty, salty and all that, but full of zest and punch. Chef Izzard was in the house on the night we went.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Girl & the Goat, goat, Rhone, Wine

Monarch Madness

Aug27

Restaurant: Monarch

Location: 1212 S Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007. (626) 596-2818

Date: January 29, 2023

Cuisine: Hong Kong fusion

Rating: Very good, but I like Chifa better

The Leon family knew within the first week of opening their Peruvian Chinese restaurant Chifa in late 2020 that a sophomore effort was in the cards. Though no one in the family was especially well-versed in food service or hospitality, the tenacious squad that includes Humberto Leon, the co-founder of fashion brand Opening Ceremony; his mother, Wendy Leon; sister, Ricardina Leon; and brother-in-law, John Liu; navigated pandemic-related hurdles and ultimately found success. Now they’re ready to do it all over again with Monarch, which opened on South Baldwin Avenue in Arcadia on Saturday, January 14.

Dressed up diner outside is totally SGV.

Super cool dining room.

8 is THE number for these round tables!

Bead screen of Iguazu Falls!

Jeffrey with Mama.

The menu.

Accidental grab as this was a $495 wine for Chinese!

Michael Kaplan’s son’s home-made chili oil (excellent).

Trusting the manager, I put in the entire menu organized into 4 flights. This 3rd flight item came out first but he graciously took it back, sorted it out, and sequenced near perfectly after that.

Silken Steamed Egg. delicate steamed egg with monkfish liver. The texture on the egg was great. However, the monkfish liver was a bit underappreciated in this (very cooked) context.

Decadent Spiced Okra. wok stir-fried okra in a Szechuan spice. Not particularly spicy, but very very pleasant with that goopy and crunchy okra texture.

Filet Mignon Tartare. Westholme Australian Wagyu filet mignon with pickled snow cabbage, chili crisp and quail egg. We mixed this all up and the result was an extremely flavorful tartare.

Shrimp chips for the tartare.

Slippery Egg Crab Fried Fun. Cantonese wok fried rice noodle with egg, crab and salmon roe add Uni. The “Fun” was basically rice sticks but this thick starchy dish was awesome with that old school “lobster sauce” flavor + uni. Really lovely.

Steamed Seabass Olive Tapenade. slow steamed chilean seabass topped with Chinese pickled olive tapenade. Olives are an unusual feature of southern Chinese cooking, probably courtesy of the Portuguese. They certainly worked in this night light seabass preparation.

Black pepper lobster. This special order prep was absolutely to die for. This 5ish pound lobster was super juicy and the black pepper sauce on of the best stir-fry sauces ever. Putting it on those thick al dente noodles was absolutely to die for. Once the oily pepper sauce soaked into the noodles… oh yeah!

Again, just because.

The gang.

Monarch Bolognese. simmered pork and tomato ragu with Chinese egg noodle. Even on their return in proper sequence this was a contentious dish. The porky Bolognese, while a touch dry, was quite lovely. But the noodles tended to clump.

Addicting Curry Noodle. fragrant and spicy curry squid ink noodle with scallop, calamari and shrimp. We all much preferred this unusual noodle dish with its grainy yellow curry flavor. Really was addicting.

Garlic Sweet & Sour Pork. crispy fried pork with Popo’s sweet & sour sauce, onions and kiwi. Like a high end Panda Express Sweet & Sour Pork! Very fried and drowned in this sweet and jammy sauce.

Black Pepper Lobster Tail. Whole lobster tail wok tossed in sweet and spicy black pepper sauce — noodles added. The lobster (and its noodles) were so good that we ordered two tails worth of lobster with MORE noodles. However they were out of the thick round ones and substituted this linguine. The tail meat was easier to eat and I enjoyed its lobster flavor, but the shell had one up on it for being finger licking good. The new noodles were good, and if we had had them first would have been great, but they just weren’t as chewy and amazing as the larger noodles.

Our special order Tomohawk came at first “well done” but again they graciously took it back and swapped for…

Tomahawk, rare. Now this was an amazing steak and really delicious with its warm deep pink/purple center. I particularly enjoyed with the sauces.

Black Pepper Cognac au Poivre sauce. Roasted Garlic Red Wine Reduction sauce. And special Chifa Cucho Sauce. My favorite was the black pepper.

Braised Curry Lamb Shank. tender braised lamb shank in fragrant tomato curry with cauliflower puree. Great that this was on a cauliflower puree (low carb) and the meat was super tender and drowned in delicious sauce.

Trinity Fried Rice. garlic, ginger, scallion trinity fried rice with egg, shirmp and fish roe. Nice large shrimp.

Celery & Red Chidori Kale (V). simple wok tossed celery and kale with fresh garlic. This was a surprise stand out for me. I very much enjoyed the crisp crunch of the celery.

Dessert menu, but we had better:

Cremino al Siciliana Gelato — The base made with Galbani Whole Milk Ricotta and Sicilian Acacia Honey laced with house-made Bronte Pistacchio DOCG “Fudge” — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #ricotta #honey #pistachio #pistacchio #fudge

Overall, this was an amazing meal. It’s sort of an interesting fusion, as it’s essentially Chifa — both the restaurant and the cuisine. Specifically this is a Hong Kong Peruvian hybrid fusion. It’s good and the decor and service are fabulous. But it’s also more expensive than almost all SGV Chinese. And I’m not sure it’s exactly better, just different. I actually like my Chinese very Chinese. I don’t even love Hong Kong “style” Chinese as much as most mainland restaurants because of the European (aka British) influence.

My favorite dishes here at Monarch were many of the ones that were at Chifa as well, like the lobster and steak. I do have to say, however, that the black pepper lobster is INSANELY GOOD. Best Chinese style lobster I’ve had. It’s also pretty expensive, but worth it. And the version we had was off menu, as the on menu one is lobster tail (which is also really good and we also had).

My recommendation would be that anyone very into SGV Chinese, or Chinese food in general, try out Monarch and see what they think themselves. I imagine many people will love it. I’ll certainly be back.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Black pepper, BYOG, Chifa, Chinese cuisine, Gelato, Lobster, Monarch, Wine

Champagne Sauvages

Aug10

Restaurant: 71Above [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13]

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

Date: January 13, 2023

Cuisine: New American

Rating: Awesome in all ways

71Above is one of my favorite LA restaurants and I’ve been many times. In fact there are 10 previous write ups! Original Chef Vartan Abgaryan has moved on to his own new place, Yours Truly (which the pandemic has sadly done in), and 71Above is now seamlessly helmed by his disciple, Chef Javier Lopez. Today the location plays host to a special Sauvages lunch — the “infamous” January Champagne Lunch.

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

On one of these visits, Emil gave me a quick tour of their new “patio” on the 70th floor below where they are serving up Mezzes and drinks.

Gorgeous build out upstairs for the main event.

Look at the crazy view and the crazy fog on this weird spring night.
The pre-lunch crowd.

2018 Dönnhoff Roxheimer Höllenpfad Riesling im Mühlenberg Großes Gewächs. VM 92. This bottling from the stand of very old vines in Höllenpfad is full of juicy white peach fruit that I hadn’t expected from this site – but after all, we are talking about fruit-dominated vintage 2018. That’s not to say that certain elements conducive to austerity are absent: peach kernel piquancy, ash, crushed stone. On top of which, there is only one lone gram of residual sugar. The feel is full and firm, the minerally concentrated finish persistently pithy but juicy, and there is a welcome, saliva-inducing hint of salinity. “This is my new favorite child,” quipped Dönnhoff, “but it still has to finish school,” meaning not that these old vines need to be taught anything, but rather that he and Cornelius are still learning how to best channel this site’s and those vines’ potential. (For extensive background on this bottling and its site designation, consult my review of the inaugural vintage 2017 installment.) (Drink between 2020-2027)

2019 Domaine de Chantemerle Chablis La Chantemerle.

2014 Domaine Billaud-Simon Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. BH 93. A spicy nose grudgingly liberates notes of citrus, floral, wet stone, oyster shell and iodine. There is a fine blend of power and finesse with outstanding punch, complexity and balance on the beautifully lingering and markedly dry finish. A classic Montée de Tonnerre of refinement and grace. (Drink starting 2022)

From my cellar: 2016 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Saint-Aubin 1er Cru En Remilly Cuvée Nicholas et Mathis. 92 points.

Crispy Chicken Bites. Mustard Emulsion, Dill. Crispy with just a touch of heat.

Caviar. Brioche, Dashi Gelee, Chives.

Truffle eggs.

Our private room.

Chilling out.

Today’s special menu.

1995 Charles Heidsieck Champagne Blanc des Millénaires. VM 95. The 1995 Brut Blanc des Millenaires shows just how compelling this often overlooked vintage can be. Layers of lemon, pastry spices, crushed rocks and savory herbs literally jump from the glass in this exquisite, perfumed, beautifully delineated Champagne. The 1995 shows lovely flavor complexity and nuance from its extended time in bottle, yet it also retains plenty of freshness, verve and acidity. This is a great showing from Charles Heidsieck. The 1995 was made before the tenure of the house’s current team, headed by CEO Cécile Bonnefond. It will be very interesting to see what develops at this historic property over the coming years. (Drink between 2013-2022)

1996 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon. BH 97. A distinctly reticent but elegant nose with a purity of expression that is truly impressive to experience as it’s relatively high-toned and while the yeast comes up with air, it’s relatively muted at presence, combining with intense, precise and superbly detailed and complex flavors that culminate in an explosive and wonderfully long finish. This may very well rival the sublime ’90 in time even if it’s not quite as concentrated. This is still a baby so there is absolutely no rush whatsoever.

1998 Krug Champagne Clos du Mesnil. VM 97+. The 1998 Blanc de Blancs Clos du Mesnil has developed beautifully since I last tasted it. What a wine. For the first few years of its life, the 1998 seemed to lack personality, then, suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, it blossomed. Today, the 1998 is rich, powerful and explosive, none of which was a few years ago. Layers of textured fruit, pastry, spices and crushed rocks jump from the glass. Still an infant, the 1998 promises to drink well for two to three decades. This is without question the best bottle of the 1998 I have ever tasted. Time to do another complete vertical? (Drink between 2013-2038)

1990 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon. BH 95. This is a wine that I know extremely well from 750 ml and it’s one that is beginning to tire though I hasten to point out that it’s still enjoyable and just beginning to show signs of fatigue. However there are no such concerns with the same wine from magnum that remains magnificently fresh and while it’s clear that the aromas are mature, that’s not at all the same thing as describing the yeasty and baked apple suffused nose as tiring. There is equally good depth and vibrancy to the beautifully delineated flavors that are supported by a fine and firm mousse that allows the texture of a well-aged Dom to be easily appreciated. For my taste this has arrived at its peak though note well that it should easily be capable of effortlessly holding for years to come. (Drink starting 2015)

Hiramasa Crudo. Passion Fruit, Mandarin, Avocado, Jicama, Furikake, Cilantro, Habanero. Super fabulous crudo with a really zining sweet, spicy, savory, tangy marinate. 71 Above often has these really interesting complex flavors.

2002 Dom Pérignon Champagne. VM 98. I remember the first time I tasted the 2002 Dom Pérignon with then-Chef de Caves Richard Geoffroy at Hautvillers. It was the upcoming release at the time. As was his custom, Geoffroy served the 2002 in a flight that included a number of previous releases. The bouquet was immediately stunning for its audacity. I had never tasted anything like it. Two thousand-two was a year marked by extreme ripeness in the Chardonnays, and that opulence has always been a big part of the wine’s profile. Today, what strikes me most about the 2002 is its timelessness. That youthful opulence remains, yet the 2002 is still vibrant, almost shocking in its freshness. Apricot, ripe peach, tangerine oil, butter and dried flowers all build towards a captivating crescendo of aromas and flavors that saturates the finish. Readers can look forward to another two decades of exceptional drinking. (Drink between 2022-2042)

2002 Piper-Heidsieck Champagne Cuvée Rare. JG 94. It is funny how often I drink the 2002 Rare from Piper-Heidsieck, given that I cannot get a sample out of this Grande Marque of the 2008 Rare or any other recent releases these days. In any case, the radio silence has not soured me on the beauty of the 2002 Rare, which remains one of the finest wines I have had the pleasure to taste from Piper. The bouquet is complex, deep and refined, offering up scents of apple, lemon, fresh-baked bread, chalky minerality and a nice touch of upper register smokiness. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a fine core, lovely balance and grip, elegant mousse and a long, focused and still vibrant finish. At age twenty this wine is cruising along beautifully at its plateau of peak maturity and still has plenty of life ahead of it. (Drink between 2022-2045)

2012 Pol Roger Champagne Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill. VM 96. Pol Roger”s flagship Brut Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill is fabulous in 2012. Rich, open-knit and seductive, the 2012 will drink well right out of the gate, although it certainly has the pedigree to age well for decades. Lemon confit, chamomile, dried flowers, mint, spice and a kick of brioche infuse the 2012 with notable textural richness and resonance. Time in the glass brings out gorgeous aromatic lift to round things out. The 2012 is classy and polished all the way. (Drink between 2022-2037)

Crispy Octopus. Smoked Paprika, Morita Chili, Fingerling Potatoes, Celery, Lemon. Very nice crispy octopus.

2007 Piper-Heidsieck Champagne Cuvée Rare. 93 points.

2004 Paul Bara Champagne Grand Cru Annonciade. 92 points.

2003 Dom Pérignon Champagne. VM 95. The 2003 Dom Pérignon is in a gorgeous place right now. To be sure, it is a powerful Champagne that reflects the personality of a year marked by frost, that took out 70% of the Chardonnay, and then record heat and drought over the summer. The 2003 is just starting to head into its first plateau of maturity. Brioche, baked apple tart, lemon confit and marzipan build into the rich, layered finish. (Originally published in May 2021) (Drink between 2021-2038)

2006 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs. VM 98. We started with the 2006 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne, which is every bit as racy and seductive as it has always been. It’s a great, great vintage for Comtes. (Drink between 2022-2046)

Lettuces, Market Vegetables, Labne, Cumin, Cilantro, Parmigiano-Reggiano. Very nice interesting cumin notes. Good texture.

Risotto Milanese. Saffron, Crispy Bone Marrow, Parmigiano-Reggiano. Perfect risotto, if very rich. I only had a bite as I was saving my blood sugar.

NV Jacques Selosse V.O. Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut. VM 95. The NV Extra-Brut V.O. (Version Originale) (2015) is super-expressive right out of the gate. It marries richness with translucence in stunning style. Dried flowers, mint, pine, spice, baked apple tart and brioche add gorgeous aromatic presence. In this release, the V.O. is so compelling. As always, V.O. is a blend of parcels on the upper slopes of Avize, from vintages 2015, 2014 and 2013 in this release. Disgorged: April 5, 2021. (Drink between 2023-2033)

2008 Piper-Heidsieck Champagne Cuvée Rare. 93 points.

2008 Dom Pérignon Champagne. VM 98. The 2008 Dom Pérignon is a huge, powerful Champagne and also clearly one of the wines of the vintage. This is one of the most reticent bottles I have tasted. So much so that I am thinking about holding off opening any more bottles! The 2008 has always offered a striking interplay of fruit and structure. Today, the richness of the fruit is especially evident. Readers who own the 2008 should be thrilled, but patience is a must. (Originally published in May 2021) (Drink between 2028-2058)

2008 Veuve Clicquot Champagne Brut La Grande Dame. 92 points.

Murray Cod. Little Neck Clams, Celadonian Prawn, Celery Root Chowder, Fennel. Very nice seafood flavors. The Cod was perfectly moist and flakey. Excellent seafood dish.

Sweet champ!

Mignardise. Choux au Craquelin, Pate de Fruits, Madeleines. My diet only allowed me a nibble of each, but the pastry cream Choux seemed awesome.

Pure and Concentrated Evil — Kentucky Mud Pie Gelato — Expresso Knob Creek Bourbon Custard Gelato base with layers of house-made Crushed Oreo Valrhona Fudge Ganache, and house-made Vanilla Coconut Cream Cheese Icing — The Plaid Mode of Gelati and includes a hefty Caffeine kick — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #coconut #valrhona #chocolate #ganache #expresso #bourbon #custard #oreos #icing

Orange Old Fashioned Sorbetto — Cold Pressed Orange Juice, Knob Creek Bourbon and Angostura Bitters! Topped with cherries — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Really tastes like an Old Fashioned –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #orange #tangerine #bourbon #KnobCreek #bitters #Angostura

The gang.

The chefs and to the right, our awesome Somm, Katherine.

Heading down!

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

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

Today’s lunch excelled on all counts. Service, food, company, and of course the wines. Years ago I used to complain about too much Champagne… no longer!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: 71above, BYOG, Champagne, Emil Eyvazoff, Gelato, lunch, Sauvages, Wine

Mr. T x 2

Aug08

Restaurant: Mr. T [1, 2]

Location: 953 N Sycamore Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038. (310) 953-4934

Date: January 10 and February 18, 2023

Cuisine: Modern French Bistro

Rating: Really tasty

I enjoyed my first dinner here so much that I wanted to come back and try the regular menu — which I did — twice!

Mr.T is a contemporary French cuisine inspired by upscale street food dishes featuring fresh ingredients and masterful preparation by our head Chef Alisa Vannah. Indulge in unique flavors using local ingredients to create an authentic dining experience. Mr.T carries a variety of handcrafted cocktails and a uniquely selected wine list offering a tasteful array of wines from some of the greatest producers in the world. We look forward to serving you!

“For Mr. T’s Los Angeles location, Guedj and Miyazaki have tapped Chi Spacca, Tsubaki, and République alum Alisa Vannah to head up the kitchen. Vannah, a Los Angeles native, trained with Miyazaki in Paris and collaborated with him on several dishes that will only appear on the Los Angeles menu, such as a riff on a chicken pot pie made with caramelized onion and tare chicken jus, as well as a big eye tuna crudo inspired by Vannah’s trips to Redondo Beach with her family as a kid.”

The have a cute “patio.”

A sleek modern interior.

Spotless open kitchen.

The main dining room.

Our cool booth in January.

In Feb we ate outside.

The menu on two different nights.

Some Krug from the list.

THE “UNI”. Koshihikari rice, confit egg yolk, sea urchin. Very soft and pleasant. Could maybe have used more uni.

CHIP N DIP. Spinach and artichoke, truffle cream/BBQ chips. Very soft dip texture with an interesting richness.

“THAI” SCALLOP CRUDO. Maine Scallops, Nam jim vinaigrette, mandarine, jalapeno oil. Fabulous sweet, tangy, and slightly spicy vinaigrette. Cucumbers were nice and crunchy too. Perhaps could have had more scallop.

LA SALADE D’AUTOMNE. Yellow Belgian endive, Delicata squash, asian pear, candied walnuts, date vinaigrette. A little sweet for my taste, but that’s the “fall vibe.”

LA SALADE D’AGRUMES. Citrus, cress, pistachio gremolata, calamansi vinaigrette. Lovely light tangy/sweet salad. Quite delicious.

CROQUETTES MONSIEUR. Portabello mushroom, mimolette cheese, lemon crème fraiche. Very gooey inside and quite delicious. The “sauce” had a feel a little like one of those Greek dips.

A lovely white from the list.

MR. T LAMB KEBAB. Roasted lamb, tzatziki, spicy aioli. Stunning. Super soft bread with that great lamb and yogurt thing. Pretty much perfect.

MR. T MAC N CHEESE. Rigatoni, truffle oil, comte cheese flambe, wild mushroom. Really rich and tasty with a great cheese and cream flavor.

BUCATINI A LA TEQUILA. Spicy San Marzano tomato sauce, crispy parmesan. Nice bright and tangy flavor with great texture.

BUCATINI A LA TEQUILA. Manila clams, spicy San marzano tomato sauce, castelvetrano olives. Nice thick bucatini, although one person thought maybe a little over-cooked. The sauce was good with a pleasant infusion of the clam juice. But the best part was the clams itself.

BRANZINO. Miso sabayon sauce, vadouvan crust. Staightforward but nice with that bit of crunch to offset the softness of the fish.

Reds we brought (2 dinners worth).

CRISPY CORNISH A L’ORANGE. Cornish game hen, orange gastrique, marinated cucumber, sesame dressing. I can’t help but think this is not a take on “duck l’orange” but more on “orange chicken.” Either way it was great. Sweet and ultra crispy almost Korean fried chicken like hen bits with a nice hint of orange.

STEAK POMMES PUREE. Hanger steak, black peppercorn sauce. Solid, but not as exciting as the other steak.

CAULIFLOWER TIKI MASALA. Roasted warren pears, Golden raisin. Really great sweet and savory curry sauce. Not spicy at all but fabulous.

CHARCOAL DRY AGED NEW YORK STEAK. Tare glazed. Fabulous charcoal taste and nicely rare. Great steak.

Farmers market vegetables.

LA MR. T BURGER. American Wagyu Beef, Mac T sauce, cheese flambe, fries. Lovely burger. Very soft and juicy and the remoulade-like sauce was first class and a bit tangy.

LOMO SALTADO. Hanger steak, Aji Verde, roasted peppers, fingerling potatoes. Pretty much that classic Lomo taste, which I have really come to love.

Fries and Remoulade. Nice crispy fries and the first rate sauce totally made them. Longs of punch.

Les desserts.

STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING. Pineapple relish, dates, mascarpone. Can’t say no to a sticky toffee pudding! It was sweet, but not as sweet as some.

BERRIES AND PEARLS. Seasonal berries, tapioca water chestnut, rose water tuile. Really great pannacotta and berries dish. The glaze on the berries made it all quite sweet.

PAIN PERDU AU CHOCOLAT. Mascarpone, Amaretto cream, Hot Chocolate. Looked like a mess, tasted great.

BERRIES AND PEARLS. Seasonal berries, tapioca water chestnut, rose water tuile. Really great pannacotta and berries dish. The glaze on the berries made it all quite sweet.

APPLE PITHIVIERS. Hot caramel apple, vanilla ice cream. The spoon of caramel vanilla ice cream was dunked inside the tart.

Comped corkage and some discount on the Krug. Owner was mega-nice.

First of all, the food was off the charts good. I was really impressed. This is American classics filtered through French modern bistro style, very fresh and crispy. Really tasty.

Great times.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Foodie Club, Mr. T, Wine

Niku X – Hits the Spot

Aug03

Restaurant: Niku X

Location: 900 Wilshire Blvd Ste 212, Los Angeles, CA 90017. (323) 920-0302

Date: January 2, 2023

Cuisine: Chinese-owned Japanese Korean BBQ (cultural A for the win!)

Rating: Excellent neighborhood Italian

Every New Year demands a big celebration!

Niku X is Yakiniku (Japanese Korean BBQ), but it’s Chinese owned and operated which means it has a certain extra blind factor — at the expense of Japanese obsession with quality and detail. They describe themselves as:

JAPANESE TRADITION MEETS GLOBAL INFLUENCE
Located in the heart of downtown Los Angeles at The Wilshire Grand Center, NIKU X offers modern
contemporary Japanese cuisine with global influences. NIKU X incorporates the classic yakiniku style
of cooking, a traditional Japanese technique utilized to grill meats. Michelin-starred chef, Shin
Thompson, offers an extraordinary culinary experience characterized by the use of artisanal
produce and “ranch-to-table” ingredients, including certified Japanese A5 Wagyu, in a harmonious
fusion using global techniques.

The space is HUGE and elaborately built out.

This is our “private” room.

Meat hook!

The menu.

From my cellar: 2011 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. 92 points.

Crudo. A5 Toriyama Ribcap Wagyu. Spanish Bluefin Tuna. 7 Days Dry Aged Panama Kanpachi. Tamago. Fresh Wasabi, sudachi jelly, sweet shoyu creme fraiche. This was one of the weaker dishes. The beef was meh. The sweet jelly made an odd and not particularly effective contrast. I did like the sweet shoyu sauce, which tasted like maple cream. Overall it needed acidity instead of sweet.

More white.

Lobster Sashimi. Lobster Tail, black vinegar ponzu, wasabi root. They topped it with some uni and caviar and it was quite lovely.

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

Uni and caviar ready to mix up.

Caviar. Astrea Oscietra Caviar, Hokkaido Uni, Stone Axe Wagyu Tarare, Senbei, Nori. The whole of this is mixed up and then served on a choice of crackers or nori. Quite nice and the nori was dry and crispy.

Crackers and nori to eat it with.

From my cellar: 2016 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Saint-Aubin 1er Cru En Remilly Cuvée Nicholas et Mathis.

12 Days Dry Aged Tyee Ora King Salmon. Sekokani Salt. Smoked.

Raw.

On the grill.

12 Days Dry Aged Tyee Ora King Salmon. Sekokani Salt. Smoked. The salmon was seared and topped with a bit of Teriyaki-like sauce. Quite nice.

Radish and lettuce salad with passionfruit dressing.

Live Boston Hotate (Scallop) with Hokkaido Uni Butter. I didn’t love the scallop, not sure why.

Tilting fast into red Burgundy.

Port Wine Yakiniku Tare, Jidori egg yolk.

The show begins.

Tomohawk, already cooked.

Salty base.

Seared over fire.

After searing it’s sliced.

Then out comes the truffle!

Full Blood Dry Aged Wagyu Tomahawk Steak with Piedmontese White Alba Truffle. The “lighter fluid” they used to flame the steak could still be lightly tasted and I found that midly offputting.

Bordeaux time.

Wagyu Oxtail Pot Stickers. Masami Ranch, Orange, Tokyo Negi. Very nice delicate bite, more like an XLB than a potsticker — and better for it.

And more.

The meat IS nicely presented.

Masami Ranch Wagyu Beef Tongue. Mushroom Duxelles, Japanese Black Vinegar, Tokyo Negi.

Stone Axe Misuji (top blade). Chrysanthemum.

Stone Axe Ichibo (top sirloin).

Masami Ranch 45 Days Dry Aged Striploin.

Masami Ranch Shortrib. Umeboshi Salted Plum Chimichurri.

A5 Miyazaki Tenderloin. Served on the toast below.

Before cooking.

Tomahawk Tallow Fried Parmentier Potatoes. Masami Ranch Wagyu Butter, Valery Potatoes. These were great.

On the grill. They cook it for you.

Some of the cuts on the plate.

And more wine.

This was my favorite one.

Miyazaki A5 Ribeye & Wagyu Rice Donabe. Hijiki Salt, fresh wasabi Covered with Piedmontese White Alba Truffle. Pretty yummy.

More meat.

Miyazaki A5 Ribeye & Wagyu Rice Donabe. Hijiki Salt, fresh wasabi Covered with Umbrian Black Winter Truffle. Pretty yummy.

Mixed up.

The bone.

Standing ovation.

And more meat.

Ick!

A5 Miyazaki Tenderloin. Ginza Nishikawa Milk Bread, foie gras, blueberry gastrique. This was rich and delicious. The sweetness of the gastrique paired nicely.

The meat keeps on coming.

The wine keeps on flowing.

The raw A5 before grilling.

On the grill.

Fried rice at the ready.

A5 Miyazaki thin cut, with Wagyu Rice and Port Wine Yakiniku Tare, Jidori egg yolk. Really yummy with that slightly sweet tare.

Japanese Pickles. Nice and crunchy but didn’t have that sweet vinegar thing I really like about Japanese pickles.

Macha Mochi with fruit. The macha was way too strong here.

I love this flavor — Peppermint Bark Gelato — Base is pure peppermint milk (subbed the sugar with crushed peppermint candies) and it’s laced with house-made double-sided peppermint bark, Valrhona Dark Chocolate and Ivoire White! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — The Peppermint Bark recipe was developed by a famous pastry chef and author, the mum of a Naughty Dog Alum @nancy_baggett — this year I added the two layer thing which is awesome — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #dessertgasm #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #peppermint #bark #Valrhona #chocolate

Meat larder.

Overall, this was an incredibly fun night. However, it looks slightly better than it tasted. I mean it tasted good. And we had a blast, but being Chinese they rushed the service. They were super nice and super well intentioned, but they favor theatrics and they basically deluge you with food and theatrics AT THE SAME TIME. Several of the major events like the Wagyu reveal and the Tomahawk flaming were literally happening simultaneously. It should totally be sequential, but Chinese favor fast service. There is also that “fancy but cheap” Chinese build out. Ingredients are good, but they don’t quite have the flavors in perfect balance in the same way that a fully Japanese place would. But then again, given all the high end ingredients the value proposition is actually quite high. It’s just a little different than you might expect if you are used to high end Japanese dining.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Chinese Japanese, DTLA, Foodie Club, Gelato, Japanese BBQ, Niku X, Wagyū, Wine, Yakiniku

Manzke Birthday

Jul30

Restaurant: Manzke [1, 2, 3]

Location: 9575 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90035. (424) 500-9575

Date: December 16, 2022

Cuisine: Modern American French

Rating: Really good and great fun

There is no question that Walter Manzke is one of LA’s most influential chefs of the last decade or so. His Republique is iconic and I’ve eaten dozens of meals there.

This particular (second visit) to Manzke was for Sebastian’s 2022 birthday!

Manzke is his new “tasting menu only” spot located in the former Picca space above Water’s Bicyclette. Manzke is sort of a full restaurant version of the kind of special Walter tasting menu meal I’ve been getting for years at special events in the Republique private room.

The build out is lavish, two leveled, and features a big open kitchen.

There is a full bar of course.

Sebastian and Walter.

The menu.

Sadly, I forgot to charge my camera battery and had to slum it with the iPhone — ick!

2002 Salon Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. VM 97. Another highlight in this vertical, the 2002 Salon is also fascinating to taste after the 2004. Rich, opulent and intense, yet also very classic in the Salon house style, the 2002 possesses superb persistence and depth. The radiant vintage has softened the contours and given the wine fabulous depth to match its decidedly powerful personality. At the same time, the 2002 remains quite youthful. Next to the brighter and more finessed 2004, the 2002 offers more of a baritone-inflected expression of Chardonnay. (Drink between 2016-2036)

Potato Chips. Charred banana tzatziki, soked trout roe. I ate the dip straight without the chips. Very nice, with just a bit of a hint of banana in the otherwise sour tzatzkiki.

Potato Chips.

2008 Pol Roger Champagne Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill. VM 95+. The 2008 Brut Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill is one of the most reticent and tightly wound wines of the vintage. To be sure, all the 2008s offer tremendous brightness and punch, but most are also a bit more approachable in the early going. The 2008 Churchill is totally closed in on itself at present. Vibrant floral, citrus and saline notes add an attractive upper register to a core of persistent Pinot-inflected fruit as the wine gradually opens up. The 2008 is a total knock-out, but I wouldn’t dream of touching a bottle anytime soon. (Drink between 2024-2038)

Tostada. Bluefin tuna, salsa fresca. Very lovely little tuna tostada, which tasted exactly like that with the strong corn notes offsetting the cool tuna.

The “salsa fresca” was actually this clear liquid which while it had about the texture of a shot of sake, did taste just like salsa fresca. Interesting!

2007 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut. VM 97. Long-time Chef de Caves Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon has produced yet another in a string of superb Champagnes with the 2007 Cristal. Rich, powerful and enveloping, the 2007 takes hold of all the senses and never lets up. The aromatics alone are captivating, but then the wine opens on the palate, revealing layer after layer of flavor to match a multi-dimensional, kaleidoscopic personality that will leave Champagne lovers weak at the knees. The 2007 is 58% Chardonnay and 42% Pinot Noir, which is to say a bit more Chardonnay-leaning than is the norm. The 2007 is striking today, but it should also age effortlessly for several decades. It is also without question one of the very finest new releases of the year. (Drink between 2015-2037)

Nantucket Bay Scallops. Granny smith apple, ginger vierge, shiso. Lovely little bit with strong fruity and ginger notes and an awesome sweet and tangy sauce.

Santa Barbara Uni. Kaluga caviar, heirloom tomato gelee. The uni was in some kind of panna cotta beneath the caviar, but mostly it tasted like caviar and panna cotta — which was pretty delightful.

2012 Domaine Billaud-Simon Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. BH 93. A more elegant and equally restrained nose is composed of floral and mineral reduction scents where top notes of white fruit and sea breeze hints are evident. The pure and sleekly muscular flavors possess a silky texture that continues onto the mineral-driven, intense, mouth coating and beautifully balanced finish. This is seriously impressive. (Drink starting 2020)

Laminated Brioche. Radolphe le meunier Normandy butter.

Incredibly soft and flakey laminated croissant-like pastry bread.

Radolphe le meunier Normandy butter. This butter is to die for!

From my cellar: 2010 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières. VM 93. There is a cool, inward minerality to the 2010 Puligny-Montrachet Les Folatières that is quite striking, but the wine is going to need some time to fully come together. Lemon, white flowers and flint are some the many notes that are layered into the wiry, tense finish. I very much like the sense of energy here. (Drink starting 2013)

Japanese Hamachi. Shinko pear, passionfruit nuoc cham. Extremely tangy and lovely crudo.

Sebastian and his lovely wife.

From my cellar: 2002 Gros Frère et Sœur Richebourg. VM 95. Medium red. Highly perfumed, ineffably complex aromas of strawberry, currant, bacon fat, cocoa powder, gunflint, coffee and smoked meat. Dense, sappy and wonderfully intense, with exhilarating flavors of smoked meat, spices, minerals and underbrush. Conveys a powerful impression of soil tones. Builds almost freakishly on the back end, finishing with a kick of spice and a flavor of pink peppercorn. A wonderfully suave, extremely long Richebourg that offers great early appeal but has the spine to develop in bottle for 10 or 15 years. (A Patrick Lesec Selection; importers include Classic Wine Imports, Boston, MA; Fine Vines LLC, Melrose Park, IL; The Wine Warehouse, Commerce, CA; Domaine Select Wine Estates, New York, NY )

Maine Lobster. Carrot, coconut Thai curry. Tasted like lobster tom yum goong more or less. Certainly rich and delicious.

The private room.

The wines.

2009 Château Mouton Rothschild. VM 97. The 2009 Mouton-Rothschild has a very backward bouquet that is clearly nowhere near its drinking plateau, unfolding reluctantly with cedar and pencil box infused black fruit. Glimpses of pressed rose petal unfurl with continued aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, a mixture of red and black fruit, and veins of blue. Very harmonious with a satin-like texture towards the persistent finish. Philippe Dhalluin conjured a gorgeous Mouton-Rothschild this year, but it needs another few years in the cellar. Tasted at BI Wines & Spirits’ Ten Year On tasting. (Drink between 2022-2055)

2009 Château Cheval Blanc. VM 98. The 2009 Cheval Blanc has a rambunctious nose with copious red fruit, meat juices, sage and crushed stone aromas, ineffably complex. This is so refined, constantly mutating in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with fine, saturated tannin. There is a mixture of red and black fruit, hints of cassis, cardamom and allspice. Immense depth and grip towards the finish expresses ripe Cabernet Franc. This is an outstanding 2009 destined for long-term ageing. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting. (Drink between 2021-2060)

Norwegian Halibut. Monterey abalone, matsutake, dashi beurre blanc. This is essentially a classic french poached fish with beurre blanc, but with various Japanese twists. The fish texture was succulent and perfect, and suspended in the rich, bright butter. The Abalone was very tender and nicely offset by the pistou-like sauce.

1985 Château Mouton Rothschild. VM 92. The 1985 Mouton-Rothschild came from magnum. Unfortunately, there was a little cork taint on the nose, so this tasting note actually comes from a bottle that I tasted in Bordeaux. The bouquet is open, very classic in style, perhaps blind more like the 1986 with scents of pine cones and undergrowth. It was always quite a backward and (for the vintage) quite surly on the nose. The palate is well balanced with cedar and truffle, firm tannins with gentle grip, maybe missing a bit of flair towards the finish. It is an enjoyable Mouton-Rothschild, though you might have wanted a little more panache. Tasted at the “Judgement of Clapham Junction” dinner in London. (Drink between 2021-2040)

1986 Château Mouton Rothschild. VM 99. Philippe Dhalluin served the 1986 Mouton Rothschild to wrap up our vertical. The 1986 remains one of my favorite Moutons. A dark, powerful wine, the 1986 is endowed with a vertical sense of structure that is a marvel to behold. Dark stone fruit, smoke, graphite, mocha, soy and licorice are fused together in a marvelously intense, deep Mouton that promises to drink well for another few decades. Tonight, the 1986 is absolutely stunning. The blend is 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. Harvest started on October 2nd and wrapped up on the 16th. (Drink between 2016-2036)

1986 Château Margaux. VM 98+. The 1986 Chateau Margaux was even more emotionally moving. Still incredibly youthful, it showed incredible focus and depth, all backed up by considerable structure. As hard as it may seem to believe, on this night the 1986 appeared to still be some years away from peaking. It was striking in every way.

1986 Château Lafite Rothschild. VM 96. The 1986 Lafite-Rothschild is a great wine although over several recent encounters it is never a convincing “perfect” wine. This mirrors the bottle I tasted at the property in 2016: blackberry and graphite on the nose, gawky at first, but coalescing with time. The palate is well balanced with firm tannins, strong graphite scents unfolding with time, superb energy if not delivering quite the finesse and precision that the very best Lafite-Rothschild will bestow. This is a wine that benefits from long decanting, say five or six hours, though it never quite reaches the ethereal heights that it could have done. Tasted at the International Business & Wine First Growth Dinner at the Four Seasons. (Drink between 2020-2050)

Italian White Truffles. Acquerello carnaroli risotto, vacche rosse parmesan. Perfect rich truffle risotto.

1982 Château La Mission Haut-Brion. VM 94. The 1982 La Mission Haut-Brion is a vintage that I have tasted several times. This bottle has a gorgeous, eucalyptus-tinged bouquet of black fruit plus hints of clove and bay leaf; a light marine scent emerges with aeration. The palate has a ripe pastille-like quality, dark cherries commingling with blackberry and cranberry. A lovely saline undertow lends sapidity on the harmonious finish. This does not equal the 1982 Haut-Brion and may have reached its peak in the late 1990s, but it remains the best La Mission Haut-Brion since the 1978. Tasted at the La Mission Haut Brion dinner at Amuse Bouche in Hong Kong. (Drink between 2021-2035)

1982 Château Haut-Brion. VM 96. Good medium amber-edge red. Flamboyant aromas of smoked meat, leather, truffle and burnished oak. Intensely flavored and penetrating, with strong acids giving the flavors terrific cut and grip. I get an impression of strong cabernet tannins. Drink now through 2020. 94. My second bottle showed even more extravagantly expressive aromas of hot stones, tobacco, minerals and marzipan; a denser, silkier palate impression, with more obvious roasted Graves character; and an uncanny combination of sheer sweetness with structure and grip. I rated this wine even higher.

Liberty Farms Sonoma Duck. Satsuma mandarin, sweet potato tartlet, sauce bigarade. Perfectly cooked slice of duck breast.

2000 Château Cheval Blanc. VM 94. The 2000 Cheval Blanc is a wine that I have encountered more than a dozen times. Now at just over 20 years of age (how time flies – I remember tasting this from barrel), it has a lovely, quite beguiling bouquet of brambly red berries, iron rust, Provençal herbs and clove, powerful and somehow enveloping. The peppery palate is medium-bodied with quite firm, stocky tannins and good backbone, though coming after a vertical of recent vintages, it feels more rustic and feral. As Pierre-Olivier Clouet noted, there are fewer “pixels” in this millennial Cheval Blanc, but you can’t help falling for its charms. Ready to drink now but will age for the next 20–30 years. Tasted at Cheval Blanc. (Drink between 2021-2040)

2009 M. Chapoutier Ermitage Le Pavillon. VM 95. Glass-staining purple. Smoky black raspberry and cherry-cola aromas display impressive clarity and alluring spiciness. Lush, creamy red and dark berry flavors possess impressive depth, with a firm mineral spine and the smoky note repeating. A sappy, sweet, extremely long finish leaves sweet berry skin and violet pastille notes behind.

Snake River Farms Wagyu Rib Eye Cap. Butterball potatoes, swiss chard, black truffle jus.

2008 Dom Pérignon Champagne Rosé. VM 97. The 2008 Dom Pérignon Rosé is magnificent. Rich and deep in the glass, the 2008 offers up an exotic mélange of aromas and flavors. Sweet red cherry, mint, orange peel and rose petal all grace this beguiling beauty. Bright acids and a little less still red Pinot (21%) than in most recent editions yields a Rosé that is delicate and light on its feet, with less of the vinous intensity that marked vintages such as 2006. There is a classic feeling of austerity in the 2018 that is mesmerizing. (Originally published in May 2021) (Drink between 2026-2048)

Brillat Savarin Cheesecake. Citrus. Seemed more like a citrus panna cotta. I was trying to avoid the desserts but this was really spectacular and refreshing.

Hot Chocolate!

Madelines.

Mignardise.

A little birthday tart for Seb.

Take home gift.

Manzke is a great addition to LA’s anemic tasting menu scene. Overall the food was extremely good, very “butter forward” in that he cooks with a lot of butter. As I mentioned before it’s somewhat similar to custom dinners Walter has cooked at Republique. I’ll be very curious to see how often the menu changes. The space itself is lovely and they even have a nice (quiet) private room with a gorgeous large table. Plus the location is good. So I look forward to returning.

It should also be noted that service was spectacular. Walter really knows how to run a very good crew. The private room rocks as well. Really great space for a great meal.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: birthday, Bordeaux, Manzke, sebastian, spp, Walter Manzke, Wine

Orange Opulence – Chang’an

Jul24

Restaurant: Chang’an

Location: 13051 Newport Ave, Tustin, CA 92780. (949) 324-5558

Date: December 10, 2022 and February 23, 2023

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Best Chinese in the Southland

Among my friends Chang’an is a highly controversial Chinese restaurant. Personally, I think it has hands down the highest quality Chinese food in California, really the best I’ve had outside of China. But it’s high end, and in Tustin, and very expensive. There is a certain contingent who likes their Chinese grungier and at a better QPR feeling this is “more authentic.” The reality is that both are different aspects of modern China. Chang’an is extremely “authentic,” just to the style of recent high end eatery cropping up in China’s major cities. A good example would be Shanghai Tang.

They are also known for their elaborate table-side Peking Duck and are the winner of my in depth Ultimate LA Peking Duck Guide.

It’s located in this “French Chateau” like structure way down in Tustin. The drive is a real pain.

The decor is at a different level.

Details.

The have a dedicated peking duck oven!

One of their several bars.

The menu.

For our first meal we ate out on the “floor” near the giant screen (oddly playing Christmas videos). For the second, we had the awesome private room.

Gotta have champagne for:

Bovon brought 16oz of caviar!

Fist bump time!
And in a new first new BYOU (bring your own uni) — two trays of fresh Santa Barbara Uni!

They serve a Shaanxi bread and this spicy bean sauce.

Some Dec 22 wine.

Out comes the “main event” – LA’s best Peking duck.

Close up.

The table-side Peking Duck Show really gets underway!

The duck was covered in Baijiu and lit on fire to crisp (and flavor) the skin.

Carved table-side.

Skin was thin and mildly crispy, aged ducky flavor, served with traditional brown sugar. But still this way of doing the duck, better for the meat, compromises the skin ever-so-slightly = 6.

Natural cane sugar for dipping the skin into.

Pancake was thin and translucent and there were plenty of them = 10.

Accoutrements were scallion and cucumbers as usual plus pear = 9. Hoisin was good to great. Slightly thin maybe, sweet and savory, quite pungent = 8.

Meat was served 2 ways, both with some skin on the white meat, straight up = 10 where it was really juicy and full of flavor.

The burrito/bing together was a 7/10 or perhaps 8/10 as I didn’t pack it right. I should have made a second but I didn’t want the extra carbs.

The smoke machine was used to smoke this second batch of duck meat.

Watch it in action.

A second half of the meat was served smoked which was very different, a bit more like ham, and quite lovely = 9.

Dec 22 wine. It takes something racy like this to pair with numbing clam.

Spicy Arctic Surf Clam with Green Sichuan pepper 青花椒炝北极贝. Fabulous dish with chewy clam and pungent citrus-tinged peppercorns and a slightly sweet soy base. Underneath were unwraveled green onions. We ordered two of these they were so good.

And Bovon just had to “do his thing” to the dish for the photo. The combo certainly didn’t clash with the clam and even the peppercorn, but it did mute the peppercorn, which to me was a slight distraction.

Crispy Beef Tongue 脆皮牛舌. Fried, rich, but very delicious. The center was dense and chewy and the fry nice and light. The sweet and “spicy” sauce livened it up a bit.

A touch thin and oxidative.

Tons of lovely chevy minerality.

Lovely.

Cold Crispy Jellyfish With Hot and Sour Sauce 浆水海蜇. Incredible texture and a refreshing taste. Great jellyfish. The jellyfish itself was exceedingly firm with a great bite.

Taking it up to the next level we “decorated” with uni and caviar! Actually the caviar really helped the dish.

Tossed Cilantro, Scallion & Red Peanut Salad sweet & sour vinaigrette 陕西大拌菜. Extremely elegant salad. I could have eaten 2 all by myself. Very tangy with great texture, crunch, and tangy flavor.

Cucumber & Cold Noodles in chili sesame or hot and sour sauce 老陕凉皮 (麻酱/ 酸辣). There were two variants here, the spicy bean sprout noodles and a less spicy sesame cold noodles. They were fairly good, and better than last time as they started the meal. Texture was great on both. I particularly liked adding some of the even spicer “bread sauce” to the spicy noodles.

48-Hour Braised Sea Cucumber (per person) twenty-two different herbs and spices 招牌葱烧海参佐黑松露饭(每位). Wow! This was hands down the best sea cucumber I’ve had. They make a supreme stock and then slowly rehydrate the dried sea cucumber in it so that it absorbs the lovely and complex flavor. The rice is special Japanese snow rice with a very aromatic sauce. Really special.

Stir- Fired Lychee Prawns with Sweet Sour and Spicy Sauce 贵妃荔枝虾球. Very sweet. The cashews were candied. The sauce was sweet. The shrimp were perfectly cooked and quite nice. The fried balls were lychee deep deep fried covered in caramelized sugar.

Snow Crab with Egg pancake 风花雪蟹配鸡蛋煎饼. Eggy versions of the spring pancake with a very salty and delicious crab and seafood mix. Almost like a dry XO sauce it had little dried shrimps and scallops in there. Insanely savory.

The ultimate umami salt pancake with the crab mix and a huge blob of caviar!

Dec 22 wine.

Live Fish (Seasonal/Reserve only) Market Price 时价. In this particular case Turbot. Steamed with scallion and soy. I usually find this a bland dish but the succulent quality of this lovely fish and the perfect sauce made this dish insanely good. It was even better topped with lots of caviar!

Turbot in action.

On our second visit we decided to prep the Turbo a different way: Live Turbot Soup. I’m not sure what this was called, but this soup prep of the Turbot was incredible. The broth was mixed fish and chicken and seasoned liberally with white pepper. It was stunning. The chunks of fish were melt in your mouth and filled with that gelatinous softness that great turbot has. Amazing!

Out comes our friend, the soon to be dinner, his highness, King Crab.

Live King Crab “ginger and scallion.” I’ve never had this particular variant on the ginger and scallion. Instead of being a wet wok version, this was deep fried and then stir-fried with ginger and scallions in a spectacularly effective manner than leant it amazing Wok Xi (aka char flavor). Really delicious.

Live King Crab legs steamed with garlic and vermicelli. Perfect light and sweet version of the leg meat.

Jeff just had to Uni and Caviar this up too!

The crab shell returned with steamed “tofu egg.” Very loose light version of this dish. It was good but I actually prefer it as a more “solid” mass of custard.

Very nice, bright and deep. Not showing at that amazing level though.

Dusty at first, but it blew off. More berries than the 2001 and also not amazing.

Chang’an Squab 长安乳鸽脆皮/椒麻两种口味 Crispy/Peppercorn chili. Very nice classic Cantonese squab. Maybe a touch drier than the best ever, but really still quite lovely and amoung the better ones I’ve had.

Spicy Stir-Fried Wild Mushroom Morels with Shanghai Bok-Choy 辣炒羊肚菌配小棠菜. Delightful veggies. I just love morels.

Cucumber & Cold Noodles in chili sesame or hot and sour sauce 老陕凉皮 (麻酱/ 酸辣). I didn’t see any cucumber. These noodles were just spicy. They were fairly good, but the monotone of flavor made them one of the “worst” dishes of the night (given that every thing was great).

For his birthday Erick was given a special Xi’an style soup with long knife cut noodles (for long life) and a fried egg (for good fortune).

Sautéed Pea-Tips with Garlic 蒜蓉豆苗. Excellent version. Very delicate.

Dec 22 wine.

Extremely clean and concentrated.

Qin Style Roast Lamb Leg 秦味烤羊腿. This dish was insane. I didn’t deal with the buns but the lamb was super hot and intensely flavorful. It just melted off the bone and had this sizzling fat and intense smoked and crunchy chili flavor. Insane!

Close up of this perfect spicy meat.

Buns for the lamb.

Bovon caviared the buns!

Braised Abalone and Pork Belly with hand made steambuns 一品鲍鱼红烧肉. Not the strongest dish. The pork was very good with that braised star anise flavor and tons of fat.

Peppercorn Ice Cream 花椒冰淇淋 (每位). Very mild peppercorn flavors and very cold (and hard). But still good.

Tangerine Ice cream was hard but had a delightful flavor.

Strawbaccio Gelato — an awesome dairly Strawberry base with house-made Bronte Pistacchio DOCG “Fudge” — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — whacky combo day — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #strawberry #pistachio #pistacchio #fudge

Dec 2022 wine.

Feb 2023 Wines (up a notch!)
In one of the main dining rooms.

Private room gang.

Overall, I think this is some insanely good Chinese food. It’s not just great for Chinese, it’s really up there in terms of meals available in Southern California. The downside is the distance — easily over 2 hours in traffic — and the price (can be several hundred $$ a person if you are getting King Crab, etc.). I feel it’s worth it, and so do all the people I went with, but some of my other friends do not like the QPR. It’s definitely not a “value.”

Decor is great too. The atmosphere is “interesting.” Service is earnest and quite excellent for Chinese but still fighting its own instincts. They want to serve in Chinese order and they want to serve FAST! (almost everything at the same time). We have our own preferences for order, designed to match the wines. Many items here are pre-order only, like the duck and crab. The duck in particular is a bit odd. The very strangely limit you to one a table. Really two would be good with a large party. And they have an extremely specific pre-arranged time where they are GOING to serve the duck. By default this is the minute of your reservation — like start milling around the table discussing seating and here comes the duck! So it’s very important to arrange this specific time some distance (perhaps at least 30 minutes) AFTER your reservation time. And it’s then difficult to arrange for it to be after all the seafood (because you don’t know how long that will take). But these little idiosyncrasies are well worth putting up with (IMHO).

Chang’an also blends a number of Chinese regional styles. It’s nominally celebrating the city of Xi’an and so has significant Shaanxi influence, but certainly isn’t a classic Shaanxi place. It has Beijing dishes (like Peking duck) and some somewhat Cantonese dishes. All are filtered through both a higher end and slightly western Chinese lens.

Highly, highly recommended — but know what you are getting into.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOC, BYOG, BYOU, Caviar, Chang'An, Chinese cuisine, Fancy Chinese, Gelato, Orange County, Peking Duck, Shaanxi, Tustin, Uni, Wine, Xi'an

Big Citrin Birthday!

Jul20

Restaurant: Citrin [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14]

Location: 1104 Wilshire Blvd.Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 395-0881

Date: January 29, 2020

Cuisine: California French

Rating: Rebooted

Iconic Santa Monica Melisse has rebooted as 2 restaurants in the same space. In the front, Citrin, in a (slightly) more casual (slightly) more shared format, and a small room in the back with Melisse 2.0 — as a $300+ a head tasting menu only spot.

For Jeffrey’s bday we covered on Citrin for an epic birthday blowout.

The front has been opened up and now has a bar.

The main dining room is similar, but with the finishes redone.

The menu.

8 of us plus about a trillion unwelcome microbial visitors.

1982 Château Haut-Brion. VM 96. Good medium amber-edge red. Flamboyant aromas of smoked meat, leather, truffle and burnished oak. Intensely flavored and penetrating, with strong acids giving the flavors terrific cut and grip. I get an impression of strong cabernet tannins. Drink now through 2020. 94. My second bottle showed even more extravagantly expressive aromas of hot stones, tobacco, minerals and marzipan; a denser, silkier palate impression, with more obvious roasted Graves character; and an uncanny combination of sheer sweetness with structure and grip. I rated this wine even higher.

Beggar’s Purse. A mini crepe filled with caviar and Crème fraîche. Delicious, tastes just like a crepe with caviar and Crème fraîche but in a very cool dumpling shape.

Oyster with Crème fraîche. Bright and delicious.

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

From my cellar: 2014 Jean-Claude Ramonet Saint-Aubin 1er Cru En Remilly Blanc. BH 90. A soft trace of wood frames pretty and cool but ripe yeast, apple and pear scents that slide gracefully into the nicely detail, rich and relatively generously proportioned middle weight flavors that possess a lovely salinity that surfaces on the focused and persistent finale where a touch of bitter lemon appears. This is already sufficiently forward that it could be enjoyed now but I would be inclined to allow it at least 2 to 3 years of cellar time and 5 will probably prove to be ideal. (Drink starting 2019)

2002 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. VM 94. Healthy bright yellow. Classic brothy, crushed-stone Chablis nose, with lively hints of ripe citrus fruits and flowers. Wonderfully dense and tactile yet weightless, showing a sexy creaminess in the mid-palate for such a mineral-driven wine. An element of candied yellow fruits emerged with air, with a repeating floral note providing lift. Beautifully balanced, vibrant and long, finishing tactile and classically dry but not at all austere. A bit like the 2010 in style. (Drink between 2019-2033)

COUNTRY ROLL, BASIL BRIOCHE. The bread at Citrin/Melisse has always been great. I didn’t eat it tonight for diet reasons. Sigh.

Beurre de Baratte.

EGG CAVIAR. Soft Poached Egg, Cauliflower Mousseline, Lemon Chive Créme Fraiche. Total Melisse classic and always great.

CRUDO OF JAPANESE HAMACHI. Yuzu Compressed Apples, Vierge. The fish was perfect and the sweet and tangy marinate gorgeous.

HOKKAIDO SCALLOP. Sunchokes, Salsify, and Root Vegetable Consumme.

2008 Dom Pérignon Champagne Rosé. VM 97. The 2008 Dom Pérignon Rosé is magnificent. Rich and deep in the glass, the 2008 offers up an exotic mélange of aromas and flavors. Sweet red cherry, mint, orange peel and rose petal all grace this beguiling beauty. Bright acids and a little less still red Pinot (21%) than in most recent editions yields a Rosé that is delicate and light on its feet, with less of the vinous intensity that marked vintages such as 2006. There is a classic feeling of austerity in the 2018 that is mesmerizing. (Originally published in May 2021) (Drink between 2026-2048)

WILD MUSHROOM SOUP. Whipped Black Truffle Mousse. This is basically mushroom cream soup but as such is incredibly delicious.

HAMACHI COLLAR. Carrot Escabeche, Yuzu Mayo, Puffed Grains. Very nice.

Lettuce wraps for the collar.

LOBSTER BOLOGNESE. Maine Lobster, Fresh Capellini, Brown Butter Truffle Froth. Another original Melisse classic. Always fabulous with great texture and a savory lobster flavor.

Ocean Trout. Kabocha, Winter Citrus, Persimmon. Probably poached in the classic French style the fish was superbly soft.

SALADE MELISSE. Shaved Vegetables, Parmesan, Truffle Vinaigrette. This simple salad had great textures and a really appealing vinaigrette.

2005 Camille Giroud Chambertin. BH 93-96. There are actually several different cuvées of this wine and at the time of my tasting, Croix had not decided what he was going to use for the final blend. The best of them featured a reserved and very backward, indeed almost brooding nose of ripe and distinctly earth red pinot fruit plus a touch of animale that merges seamlessly into textured, powerful and pure big-bodied flavors that despite the size, richness and raw muscle are harmonious and perfectly balanced. A monument in the making but I reemphasize that this review may or may not reflect the final blend. (Drink starting 2018)

From my cellar: 1947 Moillard-Grivot Chambolle-Musigny. 90 points.

2003 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée da Capo. VM 95-97. Deep, dark red. Multidimensional bouquet of kirsch, cassis, red plum, pipe tobacco, grilled meat, licorice pastille and roasted coffee; this has nearly all of the Chateauneuf food groups. Utterly mouthfilling in its richness, with tremendous concentration of red and dark berries, garrigue, bittersweet chocolate and aged beef. Finishes with a velvety lushness, round tannins and palate-staining persistence. A simply remarkable wine: it finished at 16.2% but the alcohol only shows in the wine’s unctuous, almost oily palate feel.

DIRTY CHICKEN FOR TWO. Roasted Carrots, Potato Mousseline, Roasted Chicken Jus. Some of the best chicken I’ve had, perfectly juicy, with a nice crunchy texture to the skin, and the “jus” (gravy) really took it to the next level.

Potato Mousseline.

Roasted Carrots. Nice for roasted veggies.

Arugula and Radish salad. I loved the bracing acidity and texture of this simple salad.

16oz PRIME RIB EYE. Lemony Potato, Yu-Choi, Pepper Condiment. Steak!

Morels and other mushrooms in butter. These were incredible. I think I ate two entire containers of them. So buttery. So mushroomy.

1982 Château Mouton Rothschild. VM 99. This is one of the best bottles of 1982 Mouton-Rothschild that I have drunk. Intense and lavish on the nose, this bursts with blackberries, raspberry confit, wild mint and graphite aromas, yet there is a sense of calm and refinement, perhaps less VA than some examples. The palate is medium-bodied and beautifully balanced, with some of the finest tannins that I have noticed on this Mouton Rothschild. Slightly tertiary on the finish, it builds and builds and leaves you utterly smitten. My God, dare I say it almost reminds me of L* ***r? Tasted at La Trompette in London. (Drink between 2023-2050)

1982 Château Cheval Blanc. VM 96. Saturated deep red, with a hint of development at the rim. Roasted nose dominated by toffee and tobacco. Wonderfully silky but without quite the exotic ripeness of the ’90. Still, this offers uncanny retention of primary fruit. Expands inexorably on the finish and goes on and on. A wonderful bottle that still improving. (The bottle in the blind flight was slightly less impressive: Good full red, with a hint of amber at the rim. Slightly medicinal aromas of red fruits, cedar and tobacco leaf; comes across as distinctly cooler than the ’90. Dense but penetrating and still a bit closed in on itself. Less sweet and generous today than the ’90, less exotic. But finishes firm and long, with a hint of dryness. I rated this bottle 93(+?).) Drink now through 2020.

2007 Domaine de la Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée XXL. VM 93-94. Jeffrey style (big and round!)

Snake River Farms Beef Sirloin and Braised Cheeks. Cone Cabbage, Pommes Fondant, Horseradish Jus. A very nice steak and the jus was awesome but the cabbage (with jus) was really the champion here — amazing!

Braised Beef Cheeks.

Millbrook Farms Venison. Butternut Squash, Chanterelles, Black Walnut Condiment.

Michael breathing on the chef.

16oz PRIME RIB EYE. Lemony Potato, Yu-Choi, Pepper Condiment.

Cheese Plate.

Crisps.

1989 Château d’Yquem. VM 99. The 1989 Yquem is my favourite of the triumvirate and this bottle was stellar. It explodes from the glass with scents of quince, acacia, honeysuckle, saffron and wild heather (a trait that I have observed previously). What marks this out is the stunning delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with tangerine, fig, marmalade and quince. A livewire Yquem with enormous depth and intensity, a bit more swagger than the 1988, a bit more precision-tooled than the 1990. Fabulous. Tasted blind at a private dinner in Bordeaux. (Drink between 2022-2050)

CHOCOLATE SOUFFLE. Cocoa Nibs, Dulce de Leche.

VALRHONA CHOCOLATE TART. Coffee, Caramel.

ORANGE SOUFFLE. Ice Cream.

STICKY TOFFEE. Cream Cheese Mouse, Pomegranate Sorbet.

Various coffees.

Passion fruit mini dessert for everyone. I nibbled this and it was so up my alley. Too bad I’m avoiding the carbs.

Chocolate bon bons.

Tropical fruit jellies. I nibbled one of these too and it was insanely good.

The lineup.

1982 Château d’Yquem. VM 95. The 1982 Yquem reached physiological ripeness on 16 September, though rain interrupted harvest that only really commenced on 2 November for just four days. My third encounter with this off-vintage blew me away and frankly, I was not prepared for the quality given the previous showings. Limpid gold in hue, this has a brilliantly-defined bouquet with shimmering scents of quince, saffron and honeysuckle, one of the most citrus that I can recall. The palate is built around its livewire acidity, taut and finely detailed with orange zest, quince and white peach. The 1982s focus and energy is irresistible. I suspect that I will never encounter a bottle as good as this. Tasted at the 1982 Bordeaux dinner at Hatched in London. (Drink between 2022-2045)

—

Overall, another epic epic night. Wow, that was a lot of food!

Service at Citrin is first class. Wine service is very good. As good as it gets in LA. There is no bottle limit too, although corkage is a bit steep.

Food was quite good. Similar to Melisse, but formatted differently. We sort of did the “fixed” menu plus a LOT of add ons and share plates here. Worked out well with the add ons. Just the normal fixed menu would be a bit light for us gluttons and a dinner like this.

Great evening. Don’t miss my coverage of the more modernist (and Asian influenced) New Melisse.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: birthday, Chef Josiah Citrin, Citrin, covid, French Cuisine, Wine

Arcadian Pastures

Jul18

Restaurant: Meizhou Dongpo

Location: 400 S Baldwin Ave #2045, Arcadia, CA 91007. (626) 538-4136

Date: December 4, 2022

Cuisine: Beijing/Szechuan Chinese

Rating: A bit better than its Century City brother

I’ve been to the Century City Meizhou many times, and I’ve even been to this Arcadia branch (which oddly opened LATER) for lunch, but I was always skeptical of going out here for dinner as there are so many other places in the SGV (and after all, we have one close by).

But off I went anyway.

They do have EPIC private rooms. This one is huge, decorated, and has a nice “sitting area.”

Sichuan Dumplings. Pork dumplings with chili oil. Pretty nice version with soft skins, good filling, and a tangy/spicy sauce.

Spicy cucumber salad. Very solid version. A touch spicy, nice sweet and tangy sauce.

Dongpo sausage. Two types. Actually a touch spicy/sweet. The light colored one was incredibly delicious in a sweet pork sort of way.

Cold mung bean noodles with chili. This was a spectacular version of this Chengdu street dish. Tons of flavor and a hot of heat.

Cold noodles with chicken and spicy sauce (not pictured). You mix it up and douse in the sauce. Quite nice cold noodle dish with good texture and flavor.

Sole Filet with green onions. Very lovely as well with nice thick filets. Super silky texture.

Lobster with Ginger and Scallions. The meat was tender and the sauce flavor was great.

Meizhou Special Fried Rice.

Condiments for the peking duck.

Out comes the peking duck!

For more detail on the whole duck thing in LA, check out my Ultimate Peking Duck Guide.
The do it table side, which is sadly rare here.

MDP skin was very thin and crispy but there was less of it because of the split skin cut = 6

Carving away.

The meat is served with legs in a separate dish. Each duck turns into two of these plates. We had three whole ducks this time around!

Meat was super juicy, even a touch pink, with real jus. Excellent. Some was served with the skin on = 9

Great thin pancakes. Pancake was thin and resilient = 9

The condiments. They include sugar for dipping the skin.

Hoisin was very good, but a touch savory = 7

Accoutrements were scallion and cucumbers as usual, but extra point for sugar = 8

The “burrito/bing” together was a 7/10 because the pancake/hoisin is the most important component of that.

Cumin Duck Bones. A bit boney and dry, but great flavor.

Duck Soup. They gave us this for free. Actually very pleasant, with a flavor like a great chicken soup.

Eggplant in chili garlic sauce. Nice but a little sweet. Texture was very good though. Very temperature hot as is typical with this dish.

Wok-Fried String Beans. Nice version of the dish.

Beef Filet with Black Pepper. A bit boring, but nice enough.

Steamed lobster with garlic and vermicelli. As good as the first lobster was (we actually had two of each!) this one was even better. Super moist and tender, just great lobster meat with garlic flavor!

Braised pork hock with special sauce. Super delicious umami/msg/savory sauce. Rocked.

Kung Pao Shrimp. It’s supposed to be a touch spicy — it wasn’t — it was sweet with nice crunchy peanuts. Despite the sweetness, it was delicious and addictive. Maybe a little too addictive. Texture was great.

Chocolate Butterfinger Crunch Gelato – The base is made with Valrhona 62% Satilla Chocolate and then layered with Peanutbutter Cream Cheese Ganache and chopped Butterfingers! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #chocolate #creamcheese #ganache #icing #peanut #butterfinger

A rarity with our Asian dinners, people under 30! (some adult children of some of the other guests).

The wine lineup.

Overall this was actually an excellent Chinese meal. Not only do they have the great private rooms (which really elevate Chinese dinners and make them a lot more fun) but MDP Arcadia is a touch more precise than the Century City version. Service is good at both, and the menus are almost the same, but there seems to be an extra level of consistency here that takes it up a notch.

I just wish they would balance a little bit less “sweet” and a little bit more sour/spicy. That would take it up from an 8 to a 10!

For more LA Chinese reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Arcadia, BYOG, Chinese cuisine, Gelato, Lobster, Meizhou Dongpo, Peking Duck, SGV, Wine

Fatty Friday 2022

Jul07

It’s tradition at ThanksGavin (the 4 day feasting our family engages in each November) for one of my cousins to host the Friday Night dinner, which is like thanksgiving night all over again (but with different food). This year, Matt and his wife Andrea handled BOTH nights!

Shrimp Cocktail with home-made Cocktail Sauce.

Home-made Trout Dip. Very lovely smoked trout flavor and great creamy texture.

Toasts for the trout dip.

A pile of Snake River Farms beef.

Tomohawk steaks.

New York Steaks.

Sliced steak.

Salmon.

Home-made Béarnaise sauce for both the steaks and salmon.

Cauliflower Gratin. Covered in a Béchamel sauce that was infused with cheese then baked.

Crispy sliced potatoes.

Sautéed Mushrooms. Just like a steakhouse.

Sautéed Spinach.

Caesar salad made with my “famous” classic Caesar Dressing (includes anchoives and raw egg yolks of course).

My personal plate, avoiding the carbs.

The dessert spread returns the leftovers from Thanksgiving the night before.

Satisfaction!

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Dessert, Fat Friday, Meat, ThanksGavin, ThanksGavin 2022, thanksgiving, Wine

ThanksGavin 2022 – The Feast Itself

Jul05

And so we come to the traditional ThanksGavin Feast in its 2022 incarnation.

The main and kid’s tables.

Cute decorations this year.

And cute name tags.

The turkey straight out of the Green Egg.

Two turkey’s actually.

Mozzerella and Pepperdew appetizer.

The main spread of vegetables.

Salad dressing.

Kale Salad with a nutty dressing. With a meal like this a little fiber is always welcome!

Home-made cranberry jelly.

My mom’s home-made Cranberry Chutney.

Braised Leeks with Cheese. I’m really quite fond of leeks and probably ate at least 25% of this.

Roasted Beets.

Baked Sweet Potatoes.

Mashed Potatoes.

Brussels Sprouts with Walnuts.

Breads.

The “Turkey Station.”

Turkey. This is only part of the two birds, but you can see how well cooked it is with juicy smoked meat and a nice skin.

Just a portion of the delicious Challah Stuffing.

Vegan Gravy.

Regular gravy made from browned turkey wings.

Flounder Cakes that tasted exactly like crab cakes.

My 2022 Thanksgiving Dinner Plate. This year I was on a serious diet and so avoiding the carbs. I did have to cave in and pile a little bit of stuffing in the middle, but otherwise I avoided all the potatoes, beets, bread, etc and just piled on the meat and veggies. #thanksgiving

My brother’s plate, which had a different selection.

The main dessert spread.

The hot dessert spread.

Pecan Pie. My mom bakes the best pecan pie. I use part of the recipe (minus the crust) in my pecan pie gelato.

Filo Dough and custard.

Pumpkin Pie.

Grandmom’s brownies — they live on decades after her passing.

Grandmom’s blondies. I actually like these even better than the brownies.

Whipped Cream. I made whipped cream again. Just cream, vanilla, and a bit of powdered sugar.

Sweet Milk Gelato’s amazing Butterscotch Sauce. For the third year “running” (2019, 2021, and 2022 as 2020 was canceled) I whipped this up. Overcooked it slightly this year and it was a touch chewy. Still tasted amazing though.

My dessert plate. Sadly, the wine weakened my resolve and I broke down and had a little dessert. I didn’t finish the plate though and took about 1/3 of what I’d normally take.

Buster had Pig Ear for dessert.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Philadelphia, ThanksGavin, ThanksGavin 2022, turkey, Wine

Kinn Again

Jun28

Restaurant: Kinn [1, 2]

Location: 3905 W 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90020. (213) 291-0888

Date: November 15, 2022

Cuisine: Korean Fusion

Rating: Really tasty & a great deal

After Erick and I had such a great “Round 1” of our double dinner at Kinn a few months back we decided to return with the whole gang for a “real” Foodie Club dinner.

It was way more crowded this time around.

We had a mega table which took up about 1/3 of the restaurant.

Our special expanded menu. The normal menu is about half this size.

NV Jacques Selosse Initial. 95 points.

Steamed Abalone. Potatoes, squid ink. You slurp the contents out of the shell. Essentially it’s like a “abalone chowder.” Quite nice if a bit potato focused.

Bluefin Tuna Collar Tartare. These seaweed cigars were very crispy and filled with an unctuous tuna filling.

Caviar, Squash Ice Cream, and Chungju. The caviar is astrea which Eve brought. I wasn’t that big a fan of the squash ice cream, but it was mild and creamy and so went well enough with the caviar. Still, caviar this good is best by itself. The white creamy stuff must be the Chungju, which is a sake-like rice wine (in this case I guess whipped?).

2007 Domaine Roulot Meursault Les Luchets. VM 90. Ripe but reduced aromas of vineyard peach and spices. Ripe but quite dry and stony, with orange and mineral flavors dominating. I find this a bit less vibrant than the Meix Chavaux.

2010 Domaine Roulot Meursault 1er Cru Les Poruzots. VM 92. The 2010 Meursault Porusot shows the distinctive richness of the vintage. Juicy yellow stone fruits, flowers and mint flesh out in this radiant, expressive Meursault. Although quite extroverted, there is a centeredness and poise to the Porusot that is striking. (Drink starting 2014)

2017 Domaine Roulot Meursault Les Vireuils. BH 90-92. Notes of matchstick, petrol, white flower and discreet citrus zest nuances comprise the cool and restrained nose. As is usually the case, the medium-bodied flavors are not as rich as those of the straight Meursault but there is noticeably more minerality and cut and particularly so on the sappy, long and bone dry finish. This offers excellent quality for a villages level wine. (Drink starting 2025)

Truffled Egg. These were excellent white truffles with a very lovely eggy base beneath.

Steamed Shirako. The cod sperm sakes were perfectly delicate and coated in a butter caviar sauce with parsnips. Great butter sauce and shirako texture, but there was a slight bitter tone.

Non shirako fish substitute. Someone couldn’t “handle the cream.”

Spanish-Style Crispy Octopus. The sauce is a creamy aioli with Korean Chili Paste. Perfectly cooked octopus with a crispy outside and tender inside, I was able to cut it easily with a spoon. The aioli, basically a Korean inspired take on Bravos Sauce, was very thick and “creamy” with an egg, oil emulsion. Lovely take on this classic Spanish dish.

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

2002 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Bonnes Mares. VM 93. Bright medium red. Explosive aromas of cherry and iron lifted by high-toned exotic spices. Hugely rich and fleshy, plush and full, with the powerful spice character following through on the palate. Finishes with terrific breadth and substantial dusty tannins. Millet finds the 2002s less subtle than the 2014s. The wines are a bit sweeter as well as higher in alcohol, he added. I should note that this sample came from a 375-milliliter bottle, so the same wine in a 750 almost certainly has a lot more life ahead of it. (Drink between 2016-2025)

Dry aged duck.

The chef reveal.

Dry aged duck. Awesome chewy rare duck with a rich buttery sauce and a meaty reduction. Delicious.

Crispy Tilefish with a Fish Broth. The Crispy Topped fish was perfectly cooked, served with a Fennel Salad, and underlayed with a delicious Korean Fish Bone Broth spiked with Serrano Chili and Tarragon Oil. Really lovely.

1998 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Landonne. VM 97+. Full dark ruby. Sauvage, multidimensional aromas of dark berries, leather, meat, pepper, gunflint, fresh blood and brown spices, along with torrefaction notes of mocha and smoke. Hugely rich, dense and sweet; a wine of great volume and suavity. Finishes with big, ripe tannins and great persistence. Even the empty glass boasted extraordinary aromatic complexity.

Colorado Lamb Chop. Very nice rare chop with another delicious reduction and delicious onion.

Blackthroat seaperch rice. Very lovely Japanese/Korean style fish on rice.

Lime to squeeze on the fish.

Truffle Ice Cream with Chocolate Cake. Great truffles but this only confirms my longheld belief that truffles do not belong in dessert.

An old Ramen Roll classic — Matcha White Gelato – Ceremonial Matcha Green Tea base mixed with White Chocolate Chunks — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #WhiteChocolate #matcha #GreenTea

Chocolate Raspberry Pie Gelato – The base is made with Valrhona 62% Satilla Chocolate and then layered with Raspberry Jam, Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Raspberry Squares, and house-made Gluten Free Graham Cracker “crust” — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #chocolate #raspberry #Ghirardelli #GrahamCracker #GF

The lineup.

Kinn was awesome. Not only was it intimate and the chef extremely friendly and interesting, but these were big bold flavors and quite novel. The cooking techniques are heavily “modern French” or “modern European” (some dishes like the Octopus are pretty Spanish) but a lot of Korean ingredients and flavors have been melded in. It’s simultaneously comforting and novel.

This larger dinner was more “filling” and we certainly didn’t need second dinner. Great stuff and great wines. I did miss the shiso sorbetto though — loved that the first time.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: BYOG, Foodie Club, Gelato, Kinn, Korean Fusion, Wine

Petrified Peppone

Jun22

Restaurant: Peppone Restaurant

Location: 11628 Barrington Ct, Los Angeles, CA 90049. (310) 476-7379

Date: November 11, 2022

Cuisine: 1970s Italian American

Rating: Saucy!

Jeffrey was clamoring for months to visit Peppone in Brentwood for Old School Italian eats.

I, myself, hadn’t been in 15 or 20 years!

Not that the interior changed. It hasn’t changed since disco was king! This place opened in around 1971 and looks it. All the hot girls were there too (later) — just the girls who were hot in the 70s!

At the bar.

The petrified menu.

From my cellar: 2012 Borgo del Tiglio (Nicola Manferrari) Collio Studio di Bianco. 95 points. Borgo del Tiglio’s flagship 2012 Studio di Bianco is the most precise, sculpted wine in the range. Lemon peel, white flowers and crushed rocks are some of the nuances that take shape in a wine that deftly balances the richness and tension. As is often the case, I expect the Studio will need a few years in bottle to truly open up and show the full breadth of its personality. (Drink between 2017-2027)

Cheesy Garlic Bread with Marinara Sauce. I didn’t try these (avoiding the carbs) but people said they were pretty good. But they do start off tonight’s “sauce” theme, even if it’s a dipping sauce in that EVERY dish served was covered in a sauce.

From my cellar: 2018 Azienda Agricola Valentini Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo. VM 92. Bright pink. Minerals, fava beans, pomegranate and violet on the bright nose. Then very harmonious in its acid-fruit-tannin profile, with lively balanced acidity nicely extending the flavors similar to the aromas on the long back end. Strikes me as a rather refined, sneakily concentrated Cerasuolo. (Drink between 2019-2025)

Jumbo Artichokes Venetian. Not only is this pretty hideous (and decidedly messy) but it was probably the worst artichoke I remember having. The sauce was just vaguely salty and the artichoke itself was very thick and heavy and it was difficult to scrape any meat off of the leaves. This is an easy dish and can be delicious steamed with butter, garlic, and a bit of salt — don’t complicate it.

Baked Zucchini Blossoms. Ugly as hell, but actually fairly tasty. The overall texture was much like an omelet as the blossoms were smashed flat and slightly soggy. A fairly tasty brown sauce of some sort was sort of drizzled over it.

Escargots. Another looker! Passible, but these shelled snails were drowned in this mysterious brown sauce. Straight French-style garlic butter escargot are much better.

Scampi Vesuvio. Nicely cooked shelled shrimp were soaked in the vesuvio sauce which seams to be butter, lemon juice, and some seafood “juice.”

From my cellar: 1965 Badia a Coltibuono Chianti Classico Riserva. VM 97. Garnet-tinged red. Aromas of raspberry, red cherry, dried flowers, licorice and smoky spices complicated by white pepper and herbs. Suave on entry, then sweet but gripping in the middle, with harmonious acidity giving terrific definition and lift to the multifaceted flavors of red berries, minerals, iron and spices. A wonderfully creamy, almost fleshy Chianti with utterly silky tannins. Offers amazing vibrancy while saturating the entire palate without conveying any impression of weight on the extremely long finish. A great wine from a vintage that received mixed reviews at the time, with some producers liking it a lot, and others much less so. The general consensus, though is that it was inferior to both 1964 and 1966.

Would have been home on the original opening list!

Pasta Trio with Rigatoni with Italian Sausage, Fettuccine Alfredo, and Lobster Ravioli. Three “classic” pastas. The good one was the Rigatoni which was quite al dente and had a nice Italian American Sausage sauce. The Fettuccine was mushy and just tasted like cream. The Ravioli sauce tasted mostly like salt with almost no lobster shell (aka bisque) taste.

From my cellar: 2002 Romano Dal Forno Valpolicella Superiore Vigneto di Monte Lodoletta. VM 94. Dal Forno’s 2002 Valpolicella is a massively endowed effort revealing backward dark fruit, new leather, spices, herbs, roasted coffee beans and toasted oak on an imposing, tannic frame. Made in a super-concentrated style – even by Dal Forno’s standards – it will require several years of cellaring for the tannins to soften somewhat, although it is hard to imagine that will ever completely happen. Beginning with the 2002 vintage Dal Forno’s Valpolicella is made from 100% dried fruit, whereas in previous vintages the wine had been made only partially with dried fruit. (Drink between 2013-2017)

Sweetbreads Pompei, Sandabs in Padella, and Chicken Livers Flambee. These were all actually pretty good. The Sandabs were fabulous, albiet coated in another of those salty old fashioned sauces, but they were very delicate and moist (drowned). The Sweetbreads were also good, but hard to tell under the sauce. The Liver was my least favorite but it was still solid for liver of this sort as it was soft and not chewy or heavy.

From the ancient list: 1989 Gaja Barbaresco Costa Russi. VM 97. The 1989 Barbaresco Costa Russi is a thrilling wine that literally takes my breath away – and that comes from someone who usually isn’t the hugest fan of this particular wine. In 1989 the Costa Russi offers a touch more roundness and spiciness than the Barbaresco. The fruit here is super-luxurious and silky, while the tannins possess remarkable polish. The finish remains firm and full of life. Even 20 years ago Angelo Gaja and Guido Rivella were making wines most producers would kill for today. Simply put this is a magical bottle; I only wish I owned it. Wow. (Drink between 2013-2030)

Sausages Pizzaiola. This seemed more like sausages and peppers. But regardless the sausage itself was great, classic Italian America with a nice bit of fennel. Sauce worked well making it like a good street Sausage and Peppers. The old fashioned veggies lol. Steamed with maybe a bit of butter. Drowned in the sauce they were actually fine as they were still reasonably crunchy — but so old fashioned!

Vitello Saltimbocca. Hard to find the veal under all that sauce, and it was salty, but it was also tender and pretty delicious.

Lamb Osso Buco with Gnocchi. I usually expect Osso Buco to be vertical with more fat and collogen and this is more reminiscient as a cut to a Middle Eastern lamb shank, but the meat was delicious. The Gnocchi were a bit chewy, not the light fluffy ones that are best.

Sautéed Mushrooms. Ugly delicious for sure! Looks like a bowl of dog food, but these mushrooms, nearly invisible under the thick salty brown sauce were quite delicious. Certainly it was all about the salty mushroom (and maybe beef) sauce.

Yar! Ghostly skeletal praline pirates are marauding — Pecan Pirate Praline Gelato — An eggy Texas Pecan base layered with my creepy skull-shaped New Orleans style Vanilla Bourbon Pecan Pralines and Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Pumpkins — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #vanilla #bourbon #pecan #praline #candy #halloween #spooky

We were joined tonight by the lovely and vivacious Lisa of LisaEatsLA. Plus her boyfriend.

Overall, the room at Peppone is gorgeous. The clientele consists of 1968 California Girls dolled up and ready to party — in 2022. The waiters have all probably worked here for decades and they were great. Very nice, very knowledgeable, efficient. Our meal did take mysteriously long. They kinda did that thing where they ignored us a bit until the bulk of the crowd (which had seated before us, even though we at at 7pm) thinned out.
Food was better than I thought, but OMG the hideous plating and all that sauce. Literally every single dish is drowned in a barely identifiable heavy sauce. The driest dish was the Garlic Bread (which also included a sauce). And it’s just poured over. And it’s all so 1970s. I love sauce but this was a bit much. And we aren’t talking a precise french Beurre Blanc or even a peerless Marinara but these heavy sloppy butter based “brownish” sauces. Plus the antiquated veggies. However, must dishes were pretty tasty in a salty buttery way. Pastas were weak. We didn’t try dessert.

They do have a pretty well priced big wine list. It’s poorly spelled and only sometimes includes vintages but we did manage to find a fantastic 1989 Gaja Russi for $349 (which is probably about retail).

For more LA dining reviews click here.