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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
Comments (1)

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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Posted in: Food

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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Posted in: Food

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.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Brentwood, BYOG, Foodie Club, Gelato, Italian cuisine, Lisa Eats, Peppone, Sauce, Wine

Lots more Longo

Jun16

Several more really epic Longo meals have been rolled into this mega post.

Check it all out here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chinese Food, crab, duck, Lobster, Longo, Seafood, Wine

Mr. T doesn’t Pity the Fool that drinks Pierre Peters

Jun14

Restaurant: Mr. T [1, 2]

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

Date: November 3, 2022

Cuisine: Modern French Bistro

Rating: Really tasty — and awesome Champagne

This was the first Sage Society wine dinner “post pandemic” and it was great to get back to this impeccable series that Liz Lee puts on where she showcases the wines of a particular wine maker, with great food, and the wine maker themselves.

The have a cute “patio.”

A sleek modern interior.

Spotless open kitchen.

And this really cool “recording industry” themed private room.

Champagne at the ready.

Rodolphe Péters took over the reins of this venerable estate in the southern Côte des Blancs in 2008, becoming the fourth generation to lead since the estate was founded in 1919, under the name Camille Péters. Today, Rodolphe holds 18 hectares of vineyards, predominantly in the grand cru of Les Mesnil-sur-Oger. Péters owns small holdings in several other grand crus (Oger, Avize and Cramant) but Les Mesnil-sur-Oger is where 45 of the 63 parcels he farms are located.

The menu was totally custom and only thematically linked to the normal Mr T. menu — which I will show at some future meals/posts.

Table setting.

NV Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée de Réserve. JG 91. Blanc de Blancs Brut NV (Mesnil-sur-Oger)) The current release of Rodolphe Péters’ “Cuvée de Réserve” Blanc de Blancs is from the base year of 2018. It includes reserve wines in the blend all the way back to 1988! Seventy-five percent of the vins clairs go through malo for this bottling, with the wines raised in a combination of stainless steel, cask and concrete. It was disgorged in December of 2021 after aging sur latte two years. The bouquet is deep and refined, wafting from the glass in a mix of apple, pear, fresh almond, brioche, chalky soil tones and a topnote of white flowers. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, focused and still quite youthful, with a good spine of acidity, fine depth at the core, good mineral drive, pinpoint bubbles and a long, still fairly brisk and promising finish. I love the expressiveness of this wine on the nose, but it is lagging behind on the palate and could do with a year or two in the cellar to blossom more properly from behind its acids and start to drink with generosity. It is going to be a lovely non-vintage bottling of Blanc de Blancs. (Drink between 2024-2040)

NOTE: the magnum is actually a different cuvee, in this case with all 2017 vintage wine.

Potato Pancake with Creme Fraiche and Caviar. Great pancake with a lot of onion and flavor. Very high quality caviar. Super delicious version of “carbs + creme + caviar.”

Skikoku Oyster with Salmon Roe and Micro Greens. Very nice deliciate small oyster.

NV Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée de Réserve. A 750ml for comparison.

2017 Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru Réserve Oubliée Blanc de Blancs. 93 points.

NV Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru L’Etonnant Monsieur Victor MK14.

Scallops with tomato, cucumber, and lime. This was a stunning dish. The raw scallops were amazingly tender, the tomatoes very sweet, and the cucumber/pickle bits crunchy. But it was the sauce below, which was slightly thick and had this cucumber lime vibe going that was frankly amazing. We all drank the sauce. Very refreshing summer dish (in November).

NV Fleur de Miraval Champagne ER2.

NV Fleur de Miraval Champagne ER3.

Chawanmushi egg custard with Santa Barbara Uni and summer vegetables. Certainly the best Chawanmushi I’ve had at a non Japanese resteraunt. Very light and lovely with a nice textural interplay between the soft custard and the crunchy vegetables.

2012 Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée Speciale Blanc de Blancs Les Montjolys. VM 96. Here in its first release, the 2012 Blanc de Blancs Cuvée Spéciale Les Montjolys takes all of Pierre Péters signatures and gives them an extra kick of intensity that comes from the higher percentage of clay and generally heavier soils in this parcel, which sits just below Les Chétillons. Ample and explosive, with tremendous backing energy, the Montjolys has so much going on. Orange marmalade, spice, butter, hazelnut and lemon confit are front and center. More than anything else, the Les Montjolys possesses tons of breadth and resonance, not to mention considerable character. The Péters family owns three hectares across seven parcels in Montjolys, that form the backbone of the Cuvée de Réserve. This is the first release of pure Montjolys from Pierre Péters, and it is fabulous. Dosage is 3.5 grams per liter. Disgorged: November, 2018. (Drink between 2022-2037)

2013 Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée Speciale Blanc de Blancs Les Montjolys. VM 98. As good as the Chétillons is in 2013, the 2013 Brut Blanc de Blancs Cuvée Spéciale Les Montjolys is even better. In fact, it is the single most impressive Champagne I have ever tasted from Rodolphe Péters. Deep, rich and pliant, the 2013 possesses tremendous depth to play off the searing, bright acids of this late ripening harvest. Light tropical accents add gorgeous nuance to a core of apricot, marzipan and lemon confit. Next to the Chétillons, the Montjolys is richer and creamier. It will be a matter of personal preference as to which wine readers prefer. The Chétillons is taut and focused, while the Montjolys is broader and more vinous. In two separate tastings, I slightly preferred the Montjolys. Both are moving, profound Champagnes. Dosage is 3.5-4.5 grams per liter. Disgorged: March, 2020. (Drink between 2023-2038)

2014 Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée Speciale Blanc de Blancs Les Montjolys. VM 94+. The 2014 Brut Cuvée Spéciale Montjolys shows just how compelling this vintage is. It offers a gorgeous mix of energy from this late-ripening year along with the natural radiance of this site. Lemon confit, white pepper, apricot, white flowers and chamomile are all finely delineated throughout. There is a bit of youthful austerity, though, so I would cellar the 2014 for at least a year or two. (Drink between 2024-2035)

Salmon Wellington. Really spectacular pastry, perfectly moist salmon, savory mushroom layer, and lovely Salmon Roe accented Beurre Blanc. Perfect version of this dish.

2004 Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée Speciale Blanc de Blancs Les Chetillons.

2007 Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée Speciale Blanc de Blancs Les Chetillons.

2015 Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée Speciale Blanc de Blancs Les Chetillons.

Liberty Duck breast with mushroom. A classic French duck prep with that heavy (but not crispy) skin. It was cooked perfectly medium rare but had no funk. The darker paste was a lovely mushroom paste and the nutty mushroom on the left was extremely dense and chewy, but also really fabulous. A bit more Beurre Blanc drew it all together. Great duck dish.

Cheeses. Rich Brillat-Savarin, Comte, and Tomme de Savoie.

Bread for the cheese.

My notes.

Some of the lineup.

This was a fabulous dinner.

First of all, the food was off the charts good. I was really impressed and have been back twice since to sample the normal menu (which is also very good). This is French modern bistro style, very fresh and crispy. Really tasty.

The wines were of course epic. I ended up buying quite a bit more (and I’ve been to previous Pierre Peters dinners and own quite a bit). Really high quality grower champ. I particularly love the Montjolys, very sexy.

As always, Liz Lee of Sage Society puts on an impeccable event.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Bistro, Champagne, French Cuisine, Liz Lee, Mr. T, Pierre Peters, Rodolphe Péters, Sage Society, Wine

Aussie at Locanda Veneta

Jun12

Restaurant: Locanda Veneta [1, 2, 3]

Location: 8638 W 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90048. (310) 274-1893

Date: November 3, 2022

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: fun night w/ retro 90s Italian

I’m not historically a big fan of Locanda Veneta. It’s okay, and the owner is super nice, and execution on the food quite good, but the meal is always the same (maybe that’s Yarom’s ordering) and it’s very 90’s. I like a more modern style of Italian, frankly. This feels similar to Toscana or other good but slightly dated places. And we always end up eating steak — which just doesn’t feel that Italian — although actually it is in Tuscany — but I hate that kind of steak.

Anyway, I decided after many years of rejection to try it out again. This is also right at the start of my new low carb diet but they did very graciously offer substitutes for the pasta.

The location is Los Angeles classic, Locanda Veneta, a Beverly Hills Italian with several decades of history. Above, Chef Andre in the kitchen.

Our big outside table — which is great in nice weather.

From my cellar: 2011 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. 94 points.

2006 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. 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)

2008 Drappier Champagne Grande Sendrée Submarine Edition. 96 points.

The menu.

Ron bonus: 2018 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Bougros Côte Bouguerots. VM 94. The 2018 Chablis Bougros Côte de Bouguerots Grand Cru is well-defined on the nose. Quite stony and terse at first, it opens with orange rind and crushed pebble scents. The palate is well balanced with fine acidity, tight and energetic with a zesty, minerally finish. This meliorates in the glass, ending up quite nuanced and tensile. Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2018 white tasting. (Drink between 2024-2040)

Bread with a “pesto” of parsley, olive oil, lemon juice etc.

Insalata San Remo. Mixed Greens served with Avocados, Tomatoes, Hearts of Palm, Zucchini, and Pine-Nuts tossed in our House Vinaigrette. Not a bad salad but certainly not great with wine either.

Penne Pomodoro.

From my cellar, and WOTN (haha but true): 2011 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. BH 95. As was the case from a bottle in 750 ml tasted in 2019 (see herein), a still strikingly fresh, elegant, airy and cool nose features aromas of wisps of acacia blossom, lemon rind, mineral reduction, green apple and a lingering hint of wood influence. The sleek, pure and stony medium weight flavors exude palpable underlying tension before culminating in a vibrant, driving, intense and impeccably well-balanced finish that goes on and on. This is textbook Perrières that for my taste is still on the way up, and particularly so in magnum format, and I would suggest allowing it another 5 to 8 years of cellar time. With that said, it wouldn’t be a crime to open one now – just be sure to allow for some air time. Impressive. (Drink starting 2028)

“Beluga” Sturgeon Caviar (1lb.) Sturgeon Roe (Imported Real Fine Black Caviar) served with Fresh Made Blini, Chopped Egg Yolks, Spanish Red Onion and Crème Fraiche.

Fresh Made Blini, Chopped Egg Yolks, Spanish Red Onion and Crème Fraiche.

A slight odd course, but delicious (and salty). Always a little amusing when there are 2 white courses (salad and caviar) and a whole lotta giant red.

2001 Penfolds Grange. VM 94. Inky violet with a bright rim. Explosive and utterly captivating on the nose, offering a range of aromas that encompasses red and darker berries, flowers, cigar box, minerals and sexy oak spices. Quite broad on the palate, and packing a real punch to its flavors of cassis, boysenberry, candied plum, bitter chocolate and fruitcake. Serious, harmonious tannins give plenty of structural support. This expands and grows even sweeter with aeration, finishing with outstanding persistence. Oak spices add sex appeal. A superb Grange.

1999 Penfolds Grange. VM 91+. Full ruby-red. Sexy aromas of raspberry, cola, root beer and coconut. Thick, dense and concentrated, with exotic, slightly candied dark fruit, caramel, toasted coconut and mineral flavors nicely shaped by firm acids. Shows strong fruit and a major dose of oak on the powerful, backward finish. This can’t quite match the 1998 for sheer depth of fruit, but it’s built to age.

1993 Penfolds Grange. 93 points. Slightly chemical nose, then herbs, anis. With time better and purerx On the palate much better, high toned red fruit, lots of ripe dark fruit, minerality, herbs, minty notes, again anis and spices. Very complex and layered. Highly precise. No faulty notes. Round but still very powerful but so round and sexy.

1990 Penfolds Grange. 94 points. Excellent 33-year old Grange – mid-neck level and perfect cork. The nose was fantastic and very complex with aromas of cedar, exotic wood, incense, dark cherries, leather and another “je-ne-sais-quoi”. The palate was excellent, but not as impressive. Balanced and very long. Still has the tannic structure and the stuffing to last 5-10 years, but will it improve? I don’t think so. Enjoy now.

Risotto al Tartufo Nero or Blanco. Carnaroli” Rice simmered with a Shaved “Alba’s” Fresh Black Winter or White Truffles. Very tasty and rich.

Antelope Carpaccio with arugula and truffles. The less carby variant.

2000 Chris Ringland Shiraz Dry Grown Barossa Ranges.

2003 Chris Ringland Shiraz Dry Grown Barossa Ranges.

1989 Henschke Shiraz Hill of Grace.

1991 Henschke Shiraz Hill of Grace.

“Tomahawk” di Manzo. USDA Prime Beef “Tomahawk” charbroiled to perfection, rubbed with Kosher Sea Salt, Black Pepper and our Secret Fresh Spices. We had several of these steaks at various levels of doneness (rare to well done). LOTS of beef. It was quite salted but the ones on the more rare side were delicious.

Roasted Rosemary Garlic New Potatoes. Great potatoes but I only had one because of carb avoidance.

Sautéed Baby Asparagus. Solid.

Sautéed Baby Carrots.

Branzino with “no fry” Eggplant Parmigiana. This was an unusual branzino, not quite as light as the classic greak/italian prep, but very tasty. The eggplant was fabulous and tomato sauce forward.

1986 Penfolds Grange. 95 points.

1982 Penfolds Grange. JG 95. The 1982 Penfolds Grange Hermitage has always been an impressive bottle, and since its debut in the second half of the 1980s, this has been a head-turner of a vintage for this great wine. Despite its fairly early appeal (where there was more than enough beautiful fruit that one had no trouble drinking it with great pleasure and just ignoring its fair chassis of tannin), this was always a wine meant to age gracefully and it has done so in no uncertain terms. Today, the bouquet is deep and complex, offering up a moderately jammy blend of cassis, black raspberries, coffee, meaty tones, menthol, dried berries, a touch of leather, new oak and a good base of soil. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and complex, with fine focus and grip, a plush core of fruit and impressive length and grip on the meltingly tannic and well-balanced finish. This is a classic vintage of Grange and has decades of life still ahead of it, but is fully into its apogee. (Drink between 2017-2050)

1981 Penfolds Grange. 93 points.

“New York” Steak di Manzo. USDA Prime Beef “Tomahawk” charbroiled to perfection, rubbed with Kosher Sea Salt, Black Pepper and our Secret Fresh Spices. There were a lot of these steaks too — just tons of meat.

Almond Amaretto Fudge Gelato — Amaretto Zabaglione (egg yolk, amaretto, and sugar custard) Sicilian Almond gelato base with a swirl of house-made Valrhona Cream Cheese Fudge Icing — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #almond #amaretto #icing #chocolate

Apple Tart with Vanilla Ice Cream and Caramel. Delicious.

Panna Cotta. Italian vanilla custard served on a strawberry coulis. Lovely and soft.

Wines tonight.

The gang.

The kitchen.

Overall this was a fun evening. I’ll bring apart commentary into different areas.

Service: The restaurant did a great job managing a group of our size. They were on top of things for the most part and extremely nice and accommodating. Whoever helped pick the menu for white wines did a good job pairing out all those red tomato sauce dishes.

Food: The food was good. Some dishes were excellent like pastas. Some were just nice. It all feels a little 90s Italian-American (which it is), but isn’t fully contemporary or fully Italian. But it’s good. Plating is very 90s.

Wine: Grange is always good, but I always feel weird not drinking Italian at Italian restaurants. These wines are monsters, BTW, even at 30-40 years of age. No point in cracking them at <25 years.

Anyway though, a very fun evening.

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Gelato, hedonists, Locanda Veneta, Steak, Wine

Sauvages Crustacean

Jun08

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

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

Date: October 28, 2022

Cuisine: Vietnamese Fusion

Rating: Awesome as always

Crustacean is one of our regular haunts and features a great patio in these “outside is better” days. Tonight’s meal was a Sauvages wine lunch, with a Red Burgundy theme.

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

Lots of champagne to start.

We are situated in their patio room as usual.

The ladies have a spot nearby.

Cocktail “hour.”

Our menu.

And wine list. Look how organized they are!

2005 Domaine Ponsot Griotte-Chambertin. VM 92-95. Good ruby-red. Sappy, liqueur-like aromas of griotte cherry and black raspberry. Wonderfully intense and concentrated, with a nearly confectionery sweetness to its explosive fruit flavors. Like the Cuvee des Alouettes, this comes across as a bit high-toned and will require careful attention during its final months of elevage But offers great potential.

2005 Camille Giroud Latricières-Chambertin. VM 92-95. A subtle dash of oak influence highlights the equally dense dark berry fruit nose of surpassing elegance and refinement that complements perfectly the texture and very Gevrey medium full flavors that in contrast to the nose seem less refined than usual. Indeed, this is a powerful Latricières that at present anyway seems to under emphasize the underlying minerality so typical of this cru though the finish is long, velvety and mouth coating. A qualitative choice though the respective characters are very different. (Drink starting 2018)

2007 Joseph Drouhin Griotte-Chambertin. VM 92. Medium red with a palish rim. Enticing aromas of crushed red fruits perked up by pepper, spices and herbs; more evidence of stems here. Then densely packed and juicy, with a suave, smooth texture and enticing inner-mouth perfume. A peppery note adds to the vibrancy of this sappy grand cru. Finishes with fine-grained tannins and considerable class.

2003 Domaine Maume Mazis-Chambertin. BH 93. An absolutely gorgeous nose of black fruit, anise, violet and cassis coupled with a smoked meat and wild herb notes introduce big, intense and explosive flavors that are sappy and seductive. There is a deeply buried but steely tannic spine that will take its time resolving but I’d like to see this wine at age 15 or so. This is really a stunner as it’s very fresh for the vintage and absolutely one to buy. (Drink starting 2011)

Tuna Cigars. Instant Smoke, Feuille de Brick, Avocado Silk, Vidalia Onion, Tobiko Caviar. Lovely little “cigar.” It actually tastes somewhat cigar-like with the “smoke” and after that fades out is more reminiscient of the Spago tuna cone. The tobiko is more textural and doesn’t have the richness of a real (sturgeon) caviar.

2003 Dominique Laurent Charmes-Chambertin. VM 91-94. Deep red. Floral aromas of red cherry, red licorice, spices, mocha and iron. Sweet on entry, then precise, perfumed and sharply delineated in the mid-palate, with juicy, harmonious acidity. Lifted by violet and rose notes. Finishes very pure and long, with nicely integrated, rather gentle tannins. Classic Charmes. (A separate cuvee of Mazoyeres seemed very ripe and was in an oxidative phase.)

2001 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Musigny Cuvée Vieilles Vignes. BH 96. One of the finest wines of the vintage, this is simply a spectacular effort that has captured every bit of the potential it originally displayed in cask. Restrained and backward nose of a fantastically complex mix of blackberries, spice, cedar, soy, anise and dried herbs followed by full-bodied, multi-layered flavors of amazing length. Opulent and lavish yet all remains exquisitely balanced and this is astonishingly precise. A real stunner of a wine that is as classy and graceful as they come. As good and classy as the ’02 if not quite as structured. (Drink starting 2016)

1999 Domaine des Lambrays Clos des Lambrays. BH 94. I was quite surprised to find just how open for business this was in magnum format as I expected something far more reserved but such was not the case. A beautiful and highly expressive nose of ripe black cherry, earth and the hallmark red pinot fruit is followed by medium weight yet concentrated flavors of bacon, smoke and sappy pinot extract that are given lift and verve by the intense minerality and outstanding length. This has added a good deal of weight and seems more powerful than before yet it remains very stylish and classy with excellent potential though like the same wine in 750 ml (see herein), this is so well balanced and harmonious that it could easily be drunk now with pleasure. That said, unless you are lucky enough to have this in quantity, I would counsel cellaring it for another 5 to 10 years. In a word, terrific. (Drink starting 2014)

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.

Kagoshima A5 Wagyu Tartare. Rau Rum Chimichurri, Quail Egg, L’Amuse Golda, Sesame Rice Cracker. Great beef tartare. Tons of flavor, umami from the cheese, and the rice cracker was nice and light.

Roasted Bone Marrow. Escargot Brunois, Garlic Baguette, Rau Ram. This is the best bone marrow I’ve had. There was a lot more of the actual “meat” (aka fat) and it was bulked up with the far tastier garlic snail mixture. Normal bone marrow is just a scraping of tasteless fat but by pair that with the savory escargot and balanced with a bit of lime it was just way better.

1998 Joseph Drouhin Grands-Echezeaux. VM 91. Deep red. Wild aromas of medicinal cherry, mint and coffee; subtle and fine. Full, sweet and silky but very unevolved and dominated today by its structure. A moderately ripe wine that’s not especially sweet or expressive but shows excellent backbone and freshness. Finishes with slightly tough tannins. But very backward and hard to judge today.

1999 Remoissenet Père et Fils Grands-Echezeaux. 98 points. Wow! An extraordinary wine! Gorgeous lush fruit, just the right amount of barnyard, complex notes of earth, leather, and ripe fruits. Perfectly balanced, a BIG wine with loads of structure and a finish that just won’t quit. If you can find this wine, mortgage the house and buy it! It’s drinking incredibly well now, but still has years of life in it.

1989 Mongeard-Mugneret Echezeaux.

1999 Château Latour Grand Vin. VM 92. The 1999 Latour is a vintage that I have not encountered for four or five years. It has a pH of 3.80 and a yield of 38hl/ha, representing 58% of the total crop. Interestingly, this includes 14% vin de presse compared to the 9 to 10% used nowadays. It has a classic Latour bouquet of blackberry, pencil box and undergrowth aromas, quite strict and conservative in style, and fairly intense but not firing on all cylinders; orange zest aromas evolve gradually. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin and nicely detailed, offering blackberry, black truffle, pencil shavings and a touch of spice toward the finish, which shows more grip and density than the 1989 Latour tasted alongside, probably because of that pressed wine. This is beginning to reach its drinking plateau, although judging by this showing it will give another two decades of drinking pleasure. Tasted from an ex-château bottle at the estate. (Drink between 2019-2039)

Pork Belly Salad. Black Mission Fig, Lemongrass, Yuzu Vinaigrette, Butter Lettuce, Point Reyes Blue Cheese Snow, Hazelnut. Some people didn’t like this salad but I did. It was very light and bright, a bit like a punchier version of a lardon and frissee salad. The pork belly was bacon smokey and nicely pervaded the dish.

Mongolian Lamb. Char-Grilled, Market Vegetables, Twice Cooked Potatoes. Very tender, sweet, and tasty. Still basically a lamb chop.

1996 Louis Jadot Chambertin. VM 92-95. Rather delicate aromas of crystallized berries, smoke and sandalwood. Velvety and very sweet in the mouth, with pungent oak spice and a firm mineral underpinning. Ripe acids are in harmony with the wine. Great concentration. No hard edges.

1996 Louis Jadot Chapelle-Chambertin. VM 93+. Saturated red-ruby. Fabulously complex, thoroughly ripe aromas of black raspberry, animal fur, mocha and chocolate, plus a distinct hint of surmaturite. Thick, creamy and very concentrated on the palate, and already quite expressive. Has a complicating herbal note that complements the wine sweetness. Finishes very long, with silky tannins and a hint of marzipan.

1995 Claude Dugat Griotte-Chambertin. VM 96. Deep ruby. Fabulously complex but extremely primary aromas of black raspberry, orange zest, smoke and black pepper; even higher-pitched and finer than the Charmes. This and the Charmes offer just the slightest hint of the animal complexity to come with development in bottle. Dense and pristine in the mouth; conveys a black peppery note of sheer extract. At least as long as the Charmes but suaver, finer. Amazing juice.

1996 Domaine Perrot-Minot Mazoyères-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes. VM 92+. Excellent red-ruby color. Knockout aromas of smoky black raspberry, black cherry, coffee and roasted oak. Thick, sappy and sweet, with powerful cherry and raspberry fruit. Dense but given shape by strong acidity. Long, firm, sweetly tannic finish.

AN’s Famous Garlic Roasted Dungeness Crab with AN’s Famous Garlic Noodles. This was a special personal version of the crab and noodles. I remember when I first came here that you had to pay an extra few dollars for them to crack it! But now that’s included if you like. We didn’t have to crack it at all. The meat was delicious and so were the noodles.

Himalayan Saltblock Steak. Prime all-Natural Rib Eye, Horseradish Crema. Meat.

Bloody Apple Pie Gelato — A Tahitian Vanilla Custard base layered with my house-made cinnamon bourbon apple pie filling, house-made Vanilla Caramel Blood, and house-made Grave Soil Charcoal Graham Crackers (GF) — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #applepie #apple #cinnamon #caramel #GrahamCracker #halloween

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

Vino.

The ladies table in full swing.

Us gents.

Overall, this was an awesome lunch. Boy did the Ans treat us right and we had an incredible menu, amazing service, and great wines. They turned out to be home run unique dishes that really knocked it out of the park.

Wines were great too.

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.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: An Family, BYOG, Crustacean, Gelato, Red Burgundy, Sauvages, Vietnamese cuisine, Vietnamese Fusion, Wine

Kato DTLA

Jun02

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

Location: 777 S Alameda St Building 1, Suite 114, Los Angeles, CA 90021. (213) 797-5770

Date: October 13, 2022

Cuisine: Omakase Asian

Rating: Even better, but too far

In late 2021 Kato, a longstanding modern Asian omakase/kaiseki in Santa Monica shut up shop and moved downtown to a larger, far more glamorous space. Erick and I were bummed because there are so few unique places on the westside — and well the Row is FAR!

The nominal excuse for tonight’s dinner was the rare appearance of Reisa back in LA, so Eve organized this dinner. She’s an investor (and caviar supplier) for Kato.

Kato is right around the corner from Hayato.

The interior is sleek.

We had this nice large sized table.

Most of the gang.

The minimalist menu (not much in the way of descriptors).

I think we bought this off the list. Despite Eve being very tight with Kato, no one senior was in and she had forgotten to arrange something with regard to the corkage — and they have that idiotic 2 bottle limit. What sense does it make that a 2 person table and an 8 person table can open the same number of wines? The Kato list is decent, but it’s young, small, and pretty marked up. Plus we just have way too much wine to be buying off LA lists. After a while they forgot about us and our wine hijinks and we manged well enough.
Chicken Liver, genmaicha, date. Super yummy “liver macaron” style bite.

Sweet Shrimp, seaweed, shaoxing wine. Very interesting blend of flavors being part Japanese and part Chinese. The Shaoxing wine is very distinct.

Scallop, soy preserves, doubanjiang. Yummy little scallop tart with nice textures and a bit of heat to finish.

More champgane.

Sea urchin, Iberico ham, brown butter. Basically a puff pastry/donut hole stuffed with uni and wrapped in ham.

2017 Dr. Loosen Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Großes Gewächs. Probably. Loosen has so many cuvees it was hard to tell which dry Ürziger Würzgarten this was. I picked it off the list.

Black throat sea perch, Tomato and tomato water jelly, shiso. Awesome dish with very pleasant tomato flavors and a bright acidity. I don’t even like (raw) tomatoes and I loved it.

Caviar, dungeness crab, garlic. This is more or less a Kato classic and I’ve had it a bunch of times but it’s still creamy and delicious.

Milk bread. Awesome sweet and fluffy bread. Addictive in fact.

Normandy style butter. Bread was even better with this nice butter.

From my cellar: 2009 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. BH 93. Subtle wood sets off aromas of flowers, oyster shell and tidal pool that complement perfectly the racy, pure and strikingly well-detailed medium plus weight flavors that brim with minerality on the delicious, mouth coating and impressively long finish. This beautifully vibrant and concentrated effort should drink well young and age well too plus it’s more classic in style than many wines from this vintage. (Drink starting 2016)

Tilefish, fish fragrant sauce, Szechuan peppercorn. This is like that French seabass dish with the crispy scales but with a sticky numbing sauce!

1985 Faiveley Latricières-Chambertin. BH 92. Some bricking. The nose is a complex mixture of Gevrey earth, spice, game, underbrush and an evident nose of minerality followed by powerful, intense and still moderately structured flavors with plenty of punch and length. The finish is still firm though by no means hard and while this is certainly approachable now, I would give it 45 minutes or so of air. Note: another recent bottle was similar in character but did not possess the same degree of freshness and in particular, the finish seemed somewhat light and diffuse.

Duck, menegi, duck sausage. Great duck. Super tender, a bit sweet and delicious. The spring rolls off to the side with the sausage were even better.

1999 Domaine Marquis d’Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Ducs. VM 96. Good dark red. Seriously rich, deep aromas of black cherry, currant, tobacco, chocolate and sexy soil tones, plus a whiff of leather that adds complexity. Wonderfully rich, deep, tactile Volnay with a remarkably chewy texture and outstanding dimension to its flavors of strawberry, redcurrant, mocha, tobacco and cocoa powder. The salty, monumental finish features huge, mouthcoating tannins and outstanding rising length. This very complete wine boasts uncanny depth of flavor, particularly in light of the vintage’s healthy yields. By far the best bottle of this wine that I have tasted to date. (13.45% alcohol; September 24 harvest; 41 h/h; 3.37 pH) (Drink between 2019-2039)

A5 Wagyu, beef tendon, sour Chinese mustard. Super tender and rich. Quite nice.

2011 Jean-Claude Boisset Echezeaux. BH91. A ripe, spicy and violet-inflected nose of primarily plum and cassis gives way to opulent, rich and pliant medium-bodied flavors that possess very good depth on the attractively well-balanced finish where a touch of wood can be discerned. In much the same fashion as several other wines in the range this isn’t a great 2011 but it manages to avoid any shortcomings of the vintage and indeed about the only nit is a slight touch of warmth. Note that this could easily be enjoyed now if desired though it should also be capable of rewarding up to a decade of cellar time. (Drink starting 2018)
Freshwater eel, rice, cucumber. More or less like a Japanese rice, but without that Japanese flavor.

Cucumber with a bit of Szechuan peppercorn. I really liked the pickles and was munching them for a while.

Off the list grappa.

Passionfruit, buttermilk, guava. I love passionfruit and I love custard, so this “pot ‘o creme” with passionfruit was an easy sell.

Creme Puff, salted egg. Fine.

Hazelnut, caramelized white chocolate. Like a sweet spaghetti with a white chocolate meatball hiding inside.

Double Mint Oreo — Base made with Fresh Spring Mint infused milk and then laced with Crushed Mint Oreo Thins and Chopped Valrhona 70% Chocolate! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — lovely strong mint flavor and color is all natural — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #dessertgasm #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #mint #valrhona #chocolate #oreo ///// Triple Chocolate Cruch Gelato – The base is made with Valrhona 62% Satilla Chocolate and then layered with Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese Ganache and chopped Nestlé Crunch! — 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 #NestléCrunch

Eve brought several tubs of bonus Astrea Caviar! Yummy!

Take home gift.

Almond sesame “cookies.”

Emotional damage!

The wine lineup.

Food at Kato is better than ever. It’s just as cryptic, but there are perhaps slightly more courses and a few of them are slightly larger. The net effect is that it’s not completely necessary anymore to go for second dinner. Back in Santa Monica, even with all the supplements, it always required something else. Now it’s a full meal, and surprising and delicious at that. But it’s also a trek to downtown. And that whole wine thing dragged out what was like a 8:30pm start into a 9:30pm start and we got home at about 2am.

Still, awesome and unique food, and highly worth checking out if you haven’t been.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Astrea Caviar, BYOG, Eve, Foodie Club, Gelato, Kato, Reisa, Taiwanese Cuisine, Wine

Back to the Borgese’s

May30

Restaurant: Dinner at the Borgese’s [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]

Location: Santa Monica

Date: October 11, 2022

Cuisine: Italian influenced gourmet home cooking

Rating: Awesome

Dinner at the Borgese’s is a special house dinner in Santa Monica cooked by the stunning pro-level home chef Borgese couple. Tonight’s dinner follows hot on the heels of a Billecart dinner I did here a few weeks before. It’s so close that the Halloween decorations were even more opulent.

The Borgese’s LOVE Halloween and so their house was already decorated for the spook season in epic style!

The dynamic Borgese team consists of Rocco, his lovely wife (and the main kitchen chef), and his daughter (helping out with service).

Plus all this incredible wood fired oven set up.The wine lineup. Not too shabby.

NV Moussé Fils Champagne l’Or d’Eugène Blanc de Noirs Brut.

Tonight’s menu.

From my cellar: 2005 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. JG 95+. The 2005 Comtes de Champagne is a stunning young wine. The bouquet is deep, pure and youthfully complex, as it offers up a very classy blend of pear, delicious apple, fresh almond, incipient notes of crème patissière, chalky minerality, brioche and just a whisper of vanillin oak in the upper register. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, focused and rock solid at the core, with exquisite balance, refined mousse, crisp acids and simply superb length and grip on the seamless, youthful and oh, so promising finish. The style of the 2005 vintage gives this some early accessibility that was not evident with the more tightly-knit 2004 out of the blocks, but this wine has the structure to also age long and very, very gracefully. It has been a year since I last tasted this wine and it has started to show more precision to go along with its early generosity and is a classic in the making. My gut feeling today is that it will be superior to the 1989 version, to which I compared it to a year ago. Brilliant wine. (Drink between 2015-2045)

Ricciola Sashimi Cucchiai. Yellowtail Sashimi Spoons.

2018 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Bougros Côte Bouguerots. VM 94. The 2018 Chablis Bougros Côte de Bouguerots Grand Cru is well-defined on the nose. Quite stony and terse at first, it opens with orange rind and crushed pebble scents. The palate is well balanced with fine acidity, tight and energetic with a zesty, minerally finish. This meliorates in the glass, ending up quite nuanced and tensile. Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2018 white tasting. (Drink between 2024-2040)

From my cellar: 2005 Mongeard-Mugneret Grands-Echezeaux. JG 96+. The 2005 Grands Echézeaux from Domaine Mongeard-Mugneret is going to be a great, great wine, but it is still a puppy and needs at least another decade in the cellar. The bouquet is young, but stunning, as it soars from the glass in a blaze of red plums, red and black cherries, a hint of blood orange, a gorgeously complex base of soil, cocoa powder, gamebirds, woodsmoke and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and still quite primary , with great depth of sappy fruit at the core, seamless, ripe tannins, outstanding soil signature and a very, very long, tangy and laser-like finish. This is an utterly brilliant bottle in the making. (Drink between 2025-2100)

Cozze con Guanciale. Mussels with Pork Cheek. The sauce on this mussel dish was essentially like a all’amatriciana except that it was also saturated with mussel-juice. Pretty awesome actually, particularly the crispy little guanciale chunks.

1989 Château Latour Grand Vin. JG 95. The 1989 vintage of Château Latour was not considered a great year for this superb property, which was purported to have started a mini-slump after the release of the brilliant 1982 vintage at the estate. However, though I did not buy this wine on release (believing the critics of the time and their assessment of its relative inferiority), on the couple of occasions where I have been lucky enough to drink it again in recent times, it has been clear that this wine was underrated at the outset and really is an excellent vintage of Latour. The most recent bottle was getting close to full bloom, but not quite there yet, offering up a deep and complex bouquet of cassis, sweet dark berries, cigar ash, Latour’s classic gravelly, dark soil signature, cedary oak and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and plenty deep at the core, with firm, well-integrated tannins, excellent mineral drive, very good acids for the vintage and a very long, balanced and complex finish. This is getting close to really drinking well as it closes in on its thirtieth birthday, but it is an old school Latour and will still be an even better drink at age forty than it is today. (Drink between 2018-2085)

1990 Château Latour Grand Vin. VM 98. Tasting the 1990 Latour is like running into a long-lost friend. Still dark, deep and spectacularly flamboyant, the 1990 possesses remarkable textural richness from the very first taste. Time in the glass brings out a whole range of pencil shaving, dark fruit, chocolate, licorice and spice flavors, but more than anything else, the 1990 is a wine of pure and total voluptuousness. While I never think of wine as a competition, the 1990 is quite a bit more complex, layered and intriguing than the 1982 served alongside it at the same charity dinner. Its longevity will ultimately be determined by the quality of the cork and storage conditions, as the wine has several decades of truly exceptional drinking still to offer. In a word: magnificent! (Drink between 2019-2039)

1995 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque. VM 96. Griotte and kirsch complicated by roast coffee, smoke, mocha and a whiff of game; complex and ineffable. Lush, sweet and very intensely flavored; sappy cherry flavor complicated by a peppery quality. Seems a bit higher in acidity than Guigal’s ’95 La Mouline, and the tannins are distinctly firmer. Again, quite explosive on the aftertaste.

Pasta Fresca di Tonna. A fresh spaghetti with tuna and olives. This lent it a slightly “Spaghetti alla puttanesca” vibe, although not as pungent as that dish. Quite delicious and perfectly textured.

1996 Château Haut-Brion. JG 94. The 1996 Haut Brion is less hermetically sealed than the 1998, and is beginning to hint a bit at its secondary layers of aromatic complexity, though it still remains a very young wine. The bouquet is deep and classic, as it jumps from the glass in a mélange of black cherries, dark berries, Cuban tobacco, incipient notes of the black truffles to come, and a fine base of Graves earth. I assume that the 1996 saw the same amount of new oak as the 1998, but there is little sign of the wood at the present time. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, deep and very intense, with a quite powerful profile for Haut Brion. The wine is rock solid at the core and very tannic, though the tannins are ripe and well-integrated into the wine. The finish is very, very long and soil-driven, and this will clearly be one of the most powerful vintages of Haut Brion to emerge since the 1959. It will be superb, but one will require plenty of patience. (Drink between 2025-2075)

1996 Château Latour Grand Vin. VM 94. The 1996 Latour is a wine that I often find overrated and did not achieve everything that might have been possible in this favourable growing season. That said, this might well be the best of around two dozen bottles I have encountered over the years. As usual, the 1996 is decidedly austere at first, standoffish, looks down its nose at you. Yet it coalesces with time and develops engaging cedar-scented black fruit tinged with pencil box and a touch of iris with time. The palate (again) is a little muted at first but it soon found its voice and evolved very fine tannin allied with a crisp line of acidity. It is not quite as demonstrative as it was even just a couple of years ago, gained some detail and perhaps it will continue to meliorate. Very fine, very fine indeed – but not a patch of say, the Château Margaux or perhaps even Léoville Las Cases. Tasted at the International Business & Wine Latour dinner at Ten Trinity. (Drink between 2018-2040)

1997 Château Mouton Rothschild. VM 90-91. Very good red-ruby color. Currant, cassis, roasted nuts, gunsmoke, chocolate and a note of surmaturite Fat, sweet and expansive, but with sound underlying structure. Lowish acids and a confit note (due at least partly to passerillage, or drying of the grapes by the wind and sun) contribute to the wine almost voluptuous texture.

Quaglie Ripiene. Stuffed Quail. Stuffed with sausage (and some veggies) on a bed of polenta. We’ve had this several times before and it’s a fabulous dish.

1998 Penfolds Grange. VM 97. Very deep red-ruby. Smoky, deeply concentrated fruit bomb of a nose: blackberry, dark plum, cassis; creamy vanilla and lightly toasty coconutty oak; and ethereal background notes of white pepper, smoked meats, musky spices, tar and licorice. Profoundly concentrated but velvety-smooth and seamless; impressively muscular and thickly coated with oak, and bound by drying, astringent tannins. Without question the most concentrated Grange of all time, utterly steeped in blackberry flavors; a real show pony. It’s also the most alcoholic Grange ever made, and at a declared 14.5% does taste warm and spirity – the first Grange to do so. It also ventures to some degree into the realm of currant and prune. No doubt a brilliant wine, but only time will tell if, with its elevated alcohol and its superripe flavors, this 1998 version ranks with the very best Grange vintages.

1999 Penfolds Grange. VM 91+. Full ruby-red. Sexy aromas of raspberry, cola, root beer and coconut. Thick, dense and concentrated, with exotic, slightly candied dark fruit, caramel, toasted coconut and mineral flavors nicely shaped by firm acids. Shows strong fruit and a major dose of oak on the powerful, backward finish. This can’t quite match the 1998 for sheer depth of fruit, but it’s built to age.

2003 Penfolds Grange. VM 93. Inky purple. Seductively perfumed nose offers cassis, blueberry, cherry-cola, violet and dried fig scents, with a suave undercurrent of smoky minerals. Deep, finely etched cherry and dark berry flavors are complicated by mocha and candied licorice, becoming riper with air. Cured meat and black cardamom notes arrive with air, adding further interest. Full, fleshy and sweet on the impressively long finish, which is nicely braced by dusty tannins. This is more energetic than most wines from this vintage.

Risotto a Costine. Short Rib Risotto. Chef Jen made a 2 day short rib ragu and then it was integrated into this fresh risotto. Yum, now that’s my kind of risotto! Actually I love most good risottos but this one is particularly great.

2005 Sine Qua Non Grenache Atlantis Fe2O3~2a, b & c. VM 100. The 2005 Grenache Atlantis Fe203-2a has been absolutely thrilling both times I have tasted it within the last year. A huge, vertical wine, Atlantis graces the palate with deep, voluptuous red fruit, crushed rocks, smoke, tobacco and mint. Even with all of its intensity and explosiveness, the wine remains light on its feet, with great balance and class to burn. The inclusion of whole clusters adds gorgeous lift and perfume, especially on the finish. At nearly ten years of age, the 2005 Grenache Atlantis is in a perfect spot right now and should continue to drink well for another 5-10 years, perhaps longer. (Drink between 2014-2024)

2013 Sine Qua Non Grenache Jusqu’à l’os Eleven Confessions Vineyard. VM 96+. A darker, more potent side of Grenache comes through in the 2013 Grenache Jusqu’a’ l’Os. This powerhouse wine is nowhere near ready to drink. Swaths of tannin enshroud a core of plum, dark fruit in this muscular, brooding Grenache from Sine Qua Non. Readers will have to be patient. The 2013 is 79% Grenache, 18% Syrah and 3% Petite Sirah, all from Eleven Confessions, done with 89% whole clusters. (Drink between 2023-2033)

Braciola di Vitella Ripiena. Stuffed Veal Chop. Perfectly cooked and super juicy. The white meat was similar to a great pork chop, but milder. It was stuffed with provolone, prosciutto, and tomatoe.

With veggies.

You can see the stuffing here.

Funghi. Wood fire grilled 3 mushroom medley.

Melanzane. Grilled eggplant.

The return of the polenta, this time with the shortrib ragu on top — insanely good.

Hazelnut Hojicha Gelato – Nocciola (hazelnut) base made with Pure PGI Piedmont hazelnut paste and infused with Ceremonial Hojicha Roasted Green Tea — 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 #matcha #Hojicha #GreenTea #hazelnut #Piedmont

Chocolate Nutter Butter Gelato – a base made from 100% Valrhona Chocolate and South American Peanuts layered with chopped “Nutter-Butter” cookies — 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 #chocolate #valrhona #peanuts #PeanutButter #reeses #NutterButter #cookies

The wine lineup.

The gang.

The lovely ladies of the house.

Overall, this was another amazing dinner, and the Borgese’s just keep amping up the quality.

First of all, the Borgese hospitality was awesome, the house lovely, and the food absolutely incredible. One of the best “home cooked” meals I’ve had. Maybe ever if you restrict it to chefs cooking in their own home kitchen. Just amazing. Every dish was great. Rustic but extremely delicious style. Superb homemade pastas.

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

Wines have crept up in “biggness” here — and I don’t mean their caliber (which is fine) but too many big reds. This food has a bit of a ramp and there were two seafood dishes and then a quail, so we could have ramped through Champs, 2 flights of whites, and then red Burgundy before getting to a few bigger wines. Not everything needs to be gigantic — or SQN (at least there were only 2).

This meal was a slew of Rocco staples, like the quail, but it also featured the unique veal chop.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: bbq, Bordeaux, BYOG, Dinner at the Borgese's, Gelato, Grange, Grill, Italian Cusine, Lala, Wine

Big at Bistro Na

May26

Restaurant: Bistro Na’s [1, 2, 3]

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

Date: October 9, 2022 and January 7, 2023

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Upscale Chinese, solid kitchen

Chinese Restaurants in the SGV are slowly going more upscale in a way that’s different than the Cantonese palaces of Monterey Park of yesterday. I’ve been here several times before, even celebrating a birthday, but Jeffrey wanted to go, and we figured we’d check it out post pandemic (10/9/22) and then not long after Arnie wanted to try it too, so we went back (1/7/23).

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

Teapot fountain!

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

The menu is a hardcover thick paged photo tome!

We reserved the private room again. You basically HAVE to do this at Na if you want a great experience. The regular area is just too cramped and restrictive. Food somehow seems better in here too. But they have annoying policies with the regular room. It has a minimum, which isn’t THAT high, so it’s okay, EXCEPT for the fact that you can only reserve at either 5 or 7:30pm and you only get 2 hours. So if you want a different time, say 6:30pm, you need to PAY for both blocks!

In contrast on 1/7/23 about 10 of us were smushed into this booth out in the main dining room as that was the largest table they had. Yarom hovered as usual.
The menu. A lot of dishes at Na are bland so Jeffrey and I spent hours in advance plotting the best things to order.

Chili Tofu Skin Salad (10/9/22). Very nice texture and a little bit of heat.

Na’s Spicy Chicken (10/9/22 and 1/7/23). The classic Sichuan cold dish. Super tasty with a nice balance of salt, tang, and heat. Some numbing as well. Very tender chicken.

Celtuce Jellyfish Salad (10/9/22). A combo dish of smashed cucumbers and jellyfish. Now while it’s expensive ($42!) it was a fabulous jellyfish (and cucumber) dish with a great tangy/sweet soy.

Jellyfish Salad (1/7/23). Not bad, although not much jellyfish — and it replaces the now discountined Jellyfish with Cucumbers (above) that was amazing. Poor direction to go in.

Chef Su’s Pork Feet Jelly (1/7/23). Kind of bland, although the pork meat part was okay.

Smoked Pork Ribs (1/7/23). Bleh. Kind of like lame ribs at a lamb American BBQ joint.

Beijing Zhajian Noodles (10/9/22). They are served all mixed up. It’s very mild but plesant. The meat and mushrooms add some heartiness. The bean sauce is subdued.

Mixed up.

Alaskan King Crab Typhoon Style (10/9/22). Spectacular version using the crab body. Shell was cooked down to be very tender and the crispy garlic was awesome.

Alaskan King Crab Legs, Steamed. Simple but delicious.

Alaskan King Crab Egg Custard. Pleasant texture and mild flavor.

Crispy Shrimp (10/9/22 and 1/7/23). This is Na’s signature dish and for a reason. The shrimp were perfectly cooked and the shells completely candied and edible. Delicious, if a touch sweet. They remind me somehow of cicadas escaping their shells.

3-4 lb Lobster “Typhoon Style” (1/7/23). Lobster itself was a little over cooked and the Typhoon was oddly soggy without the crisp and stong garlic flavor. A bit meh.

2.5lb Turbo steamed with Ginger and Soy (1/7/23). Okay but a bit bland. Nowhere near as good as the Chang’An version.

Braised Abalone and Sea Cucumber (10/9/21). Pleasant brown sauce. This dish is all about the texture. The Sea Cucumber had a nice mouth feel.

Black Pepper Lamb Chops (1/7/23). We asked for rare and got medium plus. Okay, but a bit too overcooked. These also replace the crispy lamb which was great.

Na’s Braised Pork Belly (10/9/22 and 1/7/23). Great version of this classic Shanghai dish. The pork was super succulent and the sweet brown sauce had a nice depth of star anise.

Crispy Pigeon (10/9/22). Fine, but actually one of the weaker dishes tonight as these were slightly dry.

Stir Fried Angus Beef with Garlic (10/9/22 and 1/7/23). Really interesting. The beef itself was tender and good, even if the piece size felt a little bit thick, but the real killer was the crispy candied chilies. These were incredible! Actually fairly spicy.

Braised Brisket with Quail Egg (1/7/23). Kind of sweet and savory, more or less a beef stew. Not bad though.

Stir Fried Pea Sprouts with Mushrooms (1/7/23). Excellently cooked. Could have used a touch more salt (or “flavor”) but otherwise nice.

Chili Pork with Cauliflower (10/9/22). Very tasty vegetable with nice crunch and a good porky flavor.

Stir Fried Cabbage with Dried Shrimp (10/9/22). The dried shrimp give this version of the dish a quite significant pungency. Weirdly they removed it from the menu by our return in January!

Fried Mixed Mushrooms with Rice Cracker Bites (10/9/22 and 1/7/23). OMG these were like potato-stick crack. They felt “hollow”, crispy, and coated in an almost candied shell. So good!

Shrimp Fried Rice with Bonito (10/9/22). Nice complex fried rice with a distinct bonito flake flavor.

Pan Fried Beef Buns (10/9/22). Very nicely flavored beef and chive filling. Pretty temperature hot at the start and could have used a little vinegar/dumpling sauce to balance the hot fat.

Fruit (10/9/22). I guess you only get this in the private room!

Key Lime Pie Gelato — base is a key lime egg custard, layered with house-made Graham Cracker and covered with house-made Torched Meringue — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #KeyLime #lime #custard #meringue #GrahamCracker #cookie

The emotional damage!

Overall, a complicated place (for the SGV) to review.

Service on 10/9/22 was good, better than before. They brought us wine glasses (not great ones, but they have them). We handled the wine service. There was a good amount of plate changing. Took a while to get going even though we had the pre-ordered menu. They seat all the private rooms in two seatings at 5pm and 7:30pm so all 5 of them were sitting at once (not to mention the limited time thing and the minimums). That doesn’t make it easy on the server. All in all it’s excellent service for SGV Chinese.

On 1/7/23 service was fine, but a bit different as we were smushed in outside. I was also annoyed with them because they had removed several of their best dishes from the menu and replaced them with even blander alternatives.

Food is interesting. Beautiful plating. Not the most flavor forward of the Chinese cuisines. Pretty good if you order very very carefully, but also expensive in a relative fashion. Ended up over $200 a person all in with a good tip because of the King Crab. If you go to a Top Island or the like you can get that much cheaper too. Still a novel and fun experience. Gorgeous room.

While a bit pricey for the SGV, the atmosphere is lovely and the plating much more elegant. Some dishes were excellent, some just pretty good, and some outright bland. I’m not really sure what regionality of Chinese it is. Sort of Beijing/Shanghai maybe? They say “Imperial.” It does feel very contemporary Chinese and is certainly not aimed at white folk. I have a general problem here with their “under-seasoning.” A lot of dishes just seem too sweet or too bland. On Oct 9, 2022 meal we ordered really carefully and leaned toward their more spicy (not actually spicy) dishes. This helped a great deal. On 1/7/23 the meal was considerably inferior. We weren’t in the private room and the “crowd” I was with wanted to order some of their meatier dishes that just fall a bit flat.

Hangry Rider made this excellent video summary of our 10/9/22 meal.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Bistro Na, BYOG, Chinese cuisine, Foodie Club, Gelato, hedonists, Private Room, SGV, Wine

Borgese’s go Bille Boo

May14

Restaurant: Dinner at the Borgese’s [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]

Location: Santa Monica

Date: September 30, 2022

Cuisine: Italian influenced gourmet home cooking

Rating: Awesome

Dinner at the Borgese’s is a special house dinner in Santa Monica cooked by the stunning pro-level home chef Borgese couple. Tonight’s dinner is a “Double Team” as it’s not only at Rocco’s, but is a Billecart-Salmon winemaker dinner hosted by Liz Lee of Sage Society. This is actually the second Billecart dinner I’ve been to, the previous being at Republique some years back.

Billecart-Salmon is a highly respected Champagne house that was founded in 1818 in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, France, by Nicolas François Billecart and his wife Elisabeth Salmon. Over the course of two centuries, the family-owned and managed company has stayed true to its roots, maintaining its dedication to quality and tradition. Billecart-Salmon is famous for its refined and elegant style, characterized by its finesse, complexity, and consistency. The house has achieved worldwide acclaim for its remarkable Brut Rosé, but also produces a variety of other styles, including Brut Reserve, Brut Sous Bois, and various vintage and cuvée champagnes. Through its commitment to excellence, Billecart-Salmon has secured its reputation as one of the most prestigious brands in the Champagne region.

The Borgese’s LOVE Halloween and so their house was already decorated for the spook season in epic style!

The dynamic Borgese team consists of Rocco, his lovely wife (and the main kitchen chef), and his daughter (helping out with service).

Plus all this incredible wood fired oven set up.The wine lineup. Not too shabby.

Our lovely patio table.

Tonight’s menu and wine list.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Réserve. JG 92. 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.

Fresh Oysters with Caviar.

Caviar on Toasted Brioche with Bordier Butter. You can really taste the great and distinctive butter.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Nature. 90 points. Rich for the style. Lemon tinges, biscuit, mild but not without intensity .

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Grand Cru Brut Blanc de Blancs. JG 92+. The non-vintage Blanc de Blancs is not a large production item for Billecart-Salmon, and one does not cross paths with it regularly. The current release is all 2007 vintage and was aged nearly five years on the lees prior to disgorgement. Billecart produces their Blanc de Blancs bottlings from fruit sourced in only three villages in the Côte des Blancs- Chouilly, Mesnil-sur-Oger and Cramant. The new release offers up a deep and lovely aromatic blend of pear, apple, stony minerality, bread dough, a hint of the pastry cream to come with bottle age and orange zest. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and very elegant, with a lovely core of fruit, refined mousse and excellent length and grip on the well-balanced, youthful and classy finish. This is a very fine bottle of Blanc de Blancs that will only improve as it blossoms a bit more structurally with further bottle age. (Drink between 2013-2025)

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

Hokaido Scallops with Caviar. Maybe could have used a bit of lemon/lime/yuzu juice.

2009 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Millésimé. VM 93. The 2009 Vintage is another stellar wine in this range from Billecart-Salmon. This is the first time the Vintage includes Meunier in the blend. That approach has worked out so well here. Resonant and generous, the 2009 is so expressive today. The low dosage of two grams per liter is expertly judged. The 2009 is rich, but not heavy, while offering all of the natural generosity of the year. (Originally published in May 2021) (Drink between 2022-2034)

2008 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Louis Salmon Brut Blanc de Blancs. VM 95. The 2008 Brut Blanc de Blancs Louis Salmon (formerly the vintage Blanc de Blancs) and named after the maison’s first cellar master, is fabulous. Rich and ample, the 2008 is beautifully resonant in the glass. It offers up an enticing mélange of lemon confit, marzipan, dried flowers and spice. It’s a terrific 2008, especially for readers looking for a relatively affordable option to some of the super high-flyers in this celebrated vintage. The blend is 40% Chouilly, 33% Cramant, 20% Mesnil and 7% Avize, done 1/3rd in oak and 2/3rds in steel. Dosage is 7 grams per liter. Disgorged: October, 2020. (Drink between 2024-2038)

Grilled Spot Prawns with Caviar. Great dish. Chewed it up at the expense of my flesh like Daryl Hannah in Splash. With the caviar two kinds of eggs! Nice char flavor.

2007 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas-François. VM 97. The 2007 Brut Cuvée Nicolas François Billecart is positively stellar. Elegant, polished and sophisticated, the 2007 dazzles with effusive aromatics and gorgeous balance. It”s not an obvious wine, though, but rather a Champagne built for long, patient cellaring. The 2007 is 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay taken from Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, Ambonnay, Verzenay and Verzy for the Pinots and Chouilly, Avize, Cramant and Mesnil for the Chardonnays. In other words, as good as it gets for villages. The wine was done mostly in tank with about 15% of the lots vinified in oak. Dosage is 6 grams per liter. (Originally published in May 2021) (Drink between 2027-2047)

2002 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas-François Billecart. 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)

1996 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas-François Billecart. VM 96. Fabulous nose combines lemon, orange zest, quinine and steely minerality with suggestions of toffee and brown spices. Wonderfully precise and vivid on the palate, delivering an impression of outstanding concentration and grip with a light touch. Extremely fine-grained Champagne with strong but integrated acidity. As young as this is, it’s harmonious from the outset. The building finish is pristine, chewy and extremely long. (Robert Chadderdon Selections, New York NY

Crab and Caviar Linguine. Very light and salty (and delicious) pasta.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. We started with a demi-bouteille of Billecart-Salmon Rosé: a safe option, but it does the job, even though I would say that a full bottle is better. (Drink between 2018-2025)

2008 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon. VM 97+. The 2008 Brut Rosé Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon explodes from the glass with a mesmerizing array of aromas, flavors and textures. Blood orange, cinnamon, mint and dried flowers. The 2008 is incredibly young, but it is also incredibly tempting. Patience will be rewarded. In the meantime, readers might enjoy adding a few bottles of the stellar 2007 to their cellars, as the nervy, taut 2008 needs time. The 2008 is 55% Pinot Noir (from Aÿ, Verzy, Verzenay and Mareuil) and 45% Chardonnay (from Chouilly, Avize and Cramant), with 9% still wine from Mareuil. It is the first vintage that includes a portion of wines (17%) done in barrel and the first vintage in which the magnums were aged on the cork rather than on crown seal. Dosage is 7 grams per liter. (Originally published in May 2021) (Drink between 2028-2043)

Branzino and Clams. Perfectly cooked juicy branzino and lovely clam flavor. The broth was fabulous (could have used some bread for it) and there was a distinct parsely flavor.

2006 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Les Clos Saint-Hilaire. VM 98. The 2006 Le Clos Saint-Hilaire is fabulous. In this radiant year, the Clos Saint-Hilaire has a touch more mid-palate sweetness and generosity, but that’s a good thing, as it balances some of the more austere leanings that can make young vintages hard to appreciate upon release. Apricot, lemon confit, ginger, graphite, spice and crushed rocks are strands in a gorgeous, captivating tapestry that dazzles right out of the gate. The precision here is just mind-blowing. Billecart’s 2006 Clos Saint-Hilaire is a very special Champagne, that much is very clear. (Drink between 2024-2036)

Fried Rosemary Quail. Perfect “fried chicken”. Super savory and delicious with a great crispy texture.

Roast carrots.

Roast eggplant.

Cheeses (all Italian). The truffle one was particularly tangy and delicious.

Truffle cheese.

The wine lineup.

Overall, this was an amazing dinner, and the Borgese’s just keep amping up the quality.

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

Wines were, as you can, pretty darn impressive! Billecart is a fabulous champagne house with both great whites and reds. I buy a range of their wines all the time as they have both reasonable NVs and fabulous Tete de Cuvees — in both colors.

This meal has a different skew, being customized for Champagne, so there was more seafood and no big steaks — this is fine with me, I’ve had plenty of steaks. They did a wonderful job with the grilled prawns too. The quail is a classic of theirs but never grows old.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Billecart-Salmon, BYOG, Gelato, hedonists, Italian Cusine, Liz Lee, Rocco Borgese, Sage Society, Santa Monica, Steak, Tomohawk, Wine

Bring out the Animal

May12

Restaurant: Animal

Location: 435 N Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036. (323) 782-9225

Date: September 29, 2022

Cuisine: Modern American

Rating: Tasty

I’ve been meaning to try Animal for years and somehow never have — until now.

Space is narrow and fairly spartan.

The menu with my markups.

A Jura white.

prawns, roasted garlic, chili lime sauce. Nice juicy shrimp with a very distinct wood fire taste.

chicken liver toast. Tastes like chicken liver on toast. A bit of grainy quality. Pleasant.

sugar snap peas, ponzu, green garlic, sesame. Very fresh and delicious “salad.” There was a bit of mint in here. Quite lovely.

From my cellar: 2001 Emidio Pepe Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. JG 94+. The 2001 vintage is one of the recent favorites of Signor Pepe, and he is convinced that this will be a classic in the fullness of time. The bouquet is still quite primary in its blend of dark berries, black cherries, Cuban cigars, a bit of cherry pits, dark soil, botanicals and a nice touch of nutskin in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and quite a powerful young vintage of the Pepe Montepulciano, with a rock solid core of fruit, lovely, nascent complexity, chewy tannins and excellent length and grip on the focused and still quite youthful finish. Today, the fine 2003 accessible, but with sufficient bottle age, the 2001 is going to be a reference point vintage of this great wine. (Drink between 2020-2050)

crispy pig ear, red chili, lime, market egg. This was mixed up to eat. Tasted like crispy bacon and eggs. Hands down the best pig ear I’ve had. Delicious.

Mixed up.

double corn anson mills cheese grits, tomatillo, crèma. Very creamy with a sharp tomatillo flavor. Quite pleasant.

piri piri chicken wing, aioli. Small and a bit boney but very juicy with that wood char flavor.

Some grilled bread for dipping.

2011 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie Château d’Ampuis. VM 93. Vivid ruby. Spicy red fruits, incense, violet and botanical herbs on the flamboyantly perfumed nose. Vibrant, mineral-tinged black raspberry and bitter cherry flavors show impressive depth and vivacity and a seamless texture. Juicy, precise and appealingly sweet on the youthfully tannic, incisive finish, with the berry and floral notes echoing. The blend of fruit intensity and tension here is quite suave. (Drink between 2016-2033)

barbeque pork belly sandwich, slaw. Tasted like a Carolina Pulled Pork Sandwich. Absolutely delicious. Rich and the slaw really helped make the dish by cutting the fat.

This was a great little “slider.”

dolma fried rice, chicken confit, tzatziki. Not that crispy, but did actually taste like a dolma. Enjoyable and interesting.

roasted bone marrow, chimichurri. The best bone marrow I’ve had. Very thick and succulent and the chimichurri added some zesty flavor.

duck confit, heirloom beans, collard greens, porchetta spice, fennel. Salty but spectacular. Lots of meaty duck notes.

sweetbreads, spinach, hen of the woods, caper brown butter. Not the biggest sweatbread fan.

tempura soft shell crab, green curry, coconut caramel. The crab itself was beautifully fried and delicious. The curry didn’t actually taste fully curry-like. I think it would have been better with a more punchy Thai-style curry.

creme brûlée gelato. A little boring by itself but incredible with the toffee pudding.

sticky toffee pudding, boysenberry sorbet, creme fraiche cream. Delicious. Tasted like sticky toffee pudding. Not sure the sorbet added much, but the rest was awesome.

tres leches, strawberry. Absolutely fabulous tres leches. Moist and creamy and the slightly candied strawberries totally took it to the next level.

Fun little night at Animal. We were pretty late, but it wasn’t crowded at all on this random weekday night. Such is the fickle life cycle of LA restaurants. I was not super impressed by the atmosphere. It felt like the standard kind of 3′ wide city retail space just kind of turned into a restaurant.

Food was very good though. However, somehow it isn’t the type of thing I crave and I kinda feel like I’ve “been there done that.” Hmmm. But many of the dishes were quite good. Maybe just not crowd pleaser style exactly. But that pork belly sandwich, that I could crave.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Animal, Foodie Club, Wine

Mother Wolf – Carb Coma

May10

Restaurant: Mother Wolf

Location: 1545 Wilcox Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028. (323) 410-6060

Date: September 27, 2022

Cuisine: Roman-style Italian

Rating: Really good, really salty, total carb bomb

Mother Wolf was one of LA’s most anticipated 2022 openings, being the first “post Felix” restaurant from pasta master Evan Funke.

Chef Evan Funke is a highly respected and accomplished chef in the culinary industry. He is known for his passion and expertise in Italian cuisine, particularly pasta-making. Funke has worked in some of the most renowned kitchens in the United States, including Spago and Rustic Canyon in Los Angeles. He also trained under Italian pasta masters in Italy, which sparked his love for traditional Italian cooking techniques. Funke is also the founder of the popular Los Angeles-based restaurant, Felix Trattoria, which has received numerous accolades and recognition for its exceptional pasta dishes. In addition to his work in the restaurant industry, Funke is also an author, having published his first cookbook, “American Sfoglino: A Master Class in Handmade Pasta,” in 2019. He is widely regarded as one of the top pasta makers in the world, and his dedication to preserving the traditional techniques of Italian cooking has made him a beloved figure in the culinary community.

Mother Wolf is “Roman” themed — not ancient Roman, despite the obvious Romulus and Remus logo — but reflecting the food of the city. Most specifically his own take on those foods, particularly the pasta.

The interior is huge and gorgeous. It’s located right next door to Mes Ami (RIP) and part of the same management group.

The menu.

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)

PIZZA ROSSA. salsa di pomodoro, sea salt, olive oil. Gift from the kitchen. Nice texture and char taste to the dough. Chewy. Great for being such a simple pizza (I like them more complex).

SUPPLI AL TELEFONO. risotto croquette, guanciale, pomodoro, mozzarella di bufala, pecorino romano DOP. Classic Roman risotto balls (supplì). Cheesy center. Very temperature hot. Suppli are like the pizza flavored arancini. Basically a tomato soaked risotto and some melting mozzarella. It’s battered with egg and deep fried.

From my cellar: 2020 Capichera Bianco Capichera VT Isola dei Nuraghi IGT. Awesome high salinity Vermentino that I bought at the winery in Sardinia.

FIORI DI ZUCCA. squash blossoms, ricotta romana DOP, parmigiano reggiano. Very nicely fried and soft ricotta inside. Like many dishes at MF, this is a Felix transplant.

RUCHETTA. wild arugula, parmigiano reggiano, lemon, black pepper. Bracing and refreshing salad, perfect with all the fat and carbs.

2019 Paolo Cali Vittoria Mandragola. We bought this off the wine list at the Somm’s recommendation and I LOVED it — bought a case on my phone while we sat there.

LA MORTAZZA. mortadella di bologna, ricotta fresca, pistacchio di bronte, agrumato. A pizza version of a bologne sandwhich? Really good mortadella actually with a lot of nice very fresh ricotta. TONS of crust.

GAMBERI IN SALSA VERDE. blue prawns, green garlic salsa verde. Head sucking good. Salsa brightened things up. These are pretty much a Felix thing too.

SALSICCIA PIZZA. mozzarella di bufala, salsiccia, sweet peppers, spring onion, pomodoro, origano selvatico. This was pretty much my perfect classic sausage pizza. Great char and chew to the dough. Soft and chewy in the middle. Really liked the sausage and cheese offset along with the classic oregano vibe. Like a fancy version of those New Jersey pizzas.

SPAGHETTI CON BOTTARGA. aglio, olio, bottarga di muggine. Simple but perfectly al dente and with good botarga flavor.

1954 Marchesi di Barolo Barolo.

TONNARELLI CACIO E PEPE. pecorino romano DOP, black pepper. This probably would have been very good if we hadn’t also had the gricia (which was stunning and had that extra porky flavor). Pretty heavy but very al dente.

SPAGHETTONE ALLA GRICIA. guanciale, black pepper, pecorino romano DOP. One rarely sees this fourth pillar of the Roman pizza quartet and this version was absolutely perfect. Such seductive porky flavor! Insanely good pasta.

MEZZI RIGATONI ALLA CARBONARA. guanciale, egg, black pepper, pecorino romano DOP. Unusual pasta type but very “creamy” and incredibly rich. I liked it a lot but it was making me very full.

From my cellar: 2004 Valdicava Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna del Piano. VM 95+. The 2004 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna del Piano is powerful, deeply colored and still carrying a considerable amount of tannic heft for a twelve year old wine. Dark cherry, plum, smoke, tobacco, scorched earth and licorice give the wine much of its distinctive virile personality. The Madonna del Piano is one of the bigger, brawnier 2004s readers will come across. As such, it needs to be served alongside similarly rich, hearty cuisines. (Drink between 2016-2026)

RIGATONCINI ALLA VACCINARA. oxtail ragu, guanciale, peperoncino, pecorino romano DOP. Solid meaty rigatoni.

PUTTANESCA. sugo di pomodoro, pomodorini, acciughe, green and black olives, basil. This wasn’t Puta enough. It was solid, and perfectly cooked, but I couldn’t really taste the anchovy. I wanted to be bowled over by the pungency.

ARROSTICINI. new zealand lamb belly, insalata di cipollina, lemon. Interestingly middle eastern. The mint “salad” was really good for offsetting the fat.

The dessert menu.

TORTA DI CIOCCOLATO. letterpress chocolate, arancia candita, gelato di pistacchio. Lovely rich tart and I really liked the candied orange and pistachio.

MARITOZZO ROMANO. monterrey strawberries, crema chantilly. Like a nice donut with strawberries and cream. Hard not to like as it was very soft and fresh.

Our wines.

Overall, this was a great meal. It was heavy though. It didn’t seem like it exactly, but I slept terribly. Everything tasted great, but it was extremely well seasoned (aka salty) and between the massive carb overload and the salt it really through my system out of whack. But of course I have no one but myself to blame as I did the ordering. And do notice that with four people I ordered three pizzas (actually one was on the house) and six pastas! That’s half a pizza and 1.5 pastas each, not to mention the other stuff. But really I probably ate about 2.5 pastas myself. haha.

And Mother Wolf, like Felix before it, is all about the pasta. They were darn good, particularly the carbonara and the gricia. I was almost tempted to order all 9, but I had to draw the line somewhere. They make good pizza here too, very good, but not totally mind blowing. The pasta is better. And they do have all 4 of the sacred 4 Roman pastas: cacio e pepe, amatriciana, gricia, and carbonara. They are all Southern Italian. The appetizers and mains are fine, but more forgettable, and not even totally regional.

Too bad MF is so far from me and reservations are so hard to get. Six months later you can get them, but only for 9:45pm. lol. And it’s a big restaurant. I guess Los Angelenos don’t mind $25-30 rustic pastas if they are good enough! I don’t.

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