Andy Gavin's Blog, page 122
July 10, 2015
Cassia – Vietnamese Reinterpreted
Restaurant: Cassia
Location: 1314 7th St, Santa Monica, CA 90401.(310) 393-6699
Date: July7, 2015
Cuisine: French Vietnamese Brasserie
Rating:really tasty
_My friend Liz Lee of Sage Society organized this excursion to the brand new French Vietnamese Bistro from Chef Bryant Ng and the group that brought us the excellent Sweet Rose, Rustic Canyon, and Milo & Olive.
Ng made himself famous the other year with Spice Table Downtown, now I’m happy to have him Westside.
The space is oddly located o...
July 8, 2015
Eating d’Agliano – La Quercia
Restaurant: La Quercia
Location: Loc. Madonna del Portone 6, Civitella d’Agliano, Italy
Date: June 12 & 13, 2015
Cuisine: Italian
Rating:Surprisingly good local kitchen
_The epic 2015 Italian dining continues as we explore northern Lazio. It turned out to be good enough that we went two nights in a row!
Our hostess at our hotel recommended this local restaurant (the name means “the oak”).
It offers both al fresco dining with a view of the charming countryside.
And a spacious interior.
July 6, 2015
Eating d’Agliano – La Tana dell’Istrice
Restaurant: Sergio Mottura /La Tana dell’Istrice
Location: Piazza Unità d’Italy 12.01020 Civitella d’Agliano (VT) Italy tel. + 39 0761 914 533
Date: June 11, 2015
Cuisine: Italian
Rating:Fun birthday dinner
_On my birthday (most by coincidence) we drove up from Rome toCivitella d’Agliano, a cute little town in Northern Lazio (close to Umbria). Our hotel is owned and operated by a lovely couple. The husband, Sergio Mottura is a local winemaker as well.
Some 20 years ago when they went organi...
July 3, 2015
Eating Rome – Metamorfosi
Restaurant: Metamorfosi
Location: Metamorfosi, Via Giovanni Antonelli, 30/32 – 00197 Roma
Date: June 10, 2015
Cuisine: Modernist Italian
Rating: Amazing modernist Italian
_I found Metamorfosi simply by googling for “Rome Modernist Cuisine” or some such thing like that. I love experimental and modernist food, what we in the Hedonists group call “teacups” or “morsels” (some of my foodie friends are divided on the modernist issue, but I happen to adore but modernist and traditional cuisine). An...
July 2, 2015
Eating Rome – La Pergola
Restaurant:La Pergola
Location: Via Alberto Cadlolo, 101, Roma
Date: June 9, 2015
Cuisine: Italian
Rating:Carts, carts, and more carts!
_And on to our first “fancy” dinner, Rome’s sole 3 star Michelin Restaurant, La Pergola. Even our six year old got to enjoy this one, earning himself more than 8 Michelin stars during the trip.
La Pergola is located high above the city in theCavalieri hotel. This is a very elegant property but with a uniquely Italian blend of 60s, modern, and antique elemen...
June 30, 2015
More Meat – Chi Spacca
Restaurant: Chi Spacca
Location: 6610 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038.(323) 297-1133
Date: June 01, 2015
Cuisine: Italian Steakhouse
Rating:Rich but delicious, acarnivore’s paradise
_The little Mozza empire on Melrose now includes the Pizzeria, the Osteria, Chi Spacca, and Mozza 2 go. Theydo a great job with all theirrestaurants (annoying corkage policy notwithstanding), and I’ve been itching to sink my canines into Chi Spacca for some time. When a plan earlier this year for the larger Fo...
June 26, 2015
Eating Rome – Trastevere
Restaurant:Eating Italy Rome
Location:Trastavere, Rome
Date: June 8, 2015
Cuisine: Italian
Rating:Fun and tasty
_Just a week or so before leaving for Italy my mom learned that one of my second cousins actually lived in Rome, and not only that, that he ran a gourmet food tour business. Turned out some of our other cousins had been on one of the tours and loved it — so we hastily signed up.
We met in this typical looking church square on an island in the Tiber. This particular tour was a four...
June 24, 2015
Sushi Gen DTLA
Restaurant: Sushi Gen
Location: 422 E 2nd St, Los Angeles, CA 90012.(213) 617-0552
Date: April7, 2015
Cuisine: Japanese Sushi
Rating:B+ sushi factory!
_People have been talking about Sushi Gen for some time, but given the surplus of great sushi on the Westside I don’t usually head Downtown (to little Tokyo) for it. But I saw it recently next to Kinjiro and decided to hit it up with my buddy Sebastian.
The interior is actually fairly large for a sushi bar, bigger than even this Pano makes it...
June 22, 2015
Eating Rome – La Campana
Restaurant:La Campana
Location: Vicolo della Campana, 18, 00186 Roma
Date: June 7, 2015
Cuisine: Italian
Rating:Oldest trattoria in Rome
_La Campana is one of Rome’s oldest restaurants, perhaps 500 years old — although one would have to speculate that the kitchen traditions have changed a bit in this vast swath of time.
Nevertheless, it remains a well respected trattoria in the Roman tradition.
Today’s menu.
2009 Arnaldo-Caprai Sagrantino di Montefalco Collepiano. 90 points.
Self serve...
June 19, 2015
Game of Thrones – Episode 50
Melisandre
Show:Game of Thrones
Genre: Fantasy
Watched: Episode 50 – June 14, 2015
Title:Mother’s Mercy
Summary: Grim but great
ANY CHARACTER HERENOTE: SERIOUS SPOILER WARNING. This review/discussion contains tons of spoilers about the episode and even ones crossing over from the books. It’s really my free-for-all musing given all the information at my disposal.
Stannis–We start our series of thread wrap ups with Mr. Grim and and Grammar, Stannis. Things are thawing at Camp Snowbound, andMel...
