Andy Gavin's Blog, page 126
April 10, 2015
Farewell New Bay
Restaurant: New Bay Seafood[1, 2, 3]
Location:203 West Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA.(626) 872-6677
Date: April8, 2014
Cuisine: Cantonese / Chiu Chow Chinese
Rating: Some of the best Cantonese I’ve had!
_New Bay Seafood has been one of our go to spots for several years for really high quality Cantonese and really excellent service. Unfortunately it seems that they are a little too pricey for the crazy cost competitive SGV restaurant scene and are closing their doors — which is a real shame. Sti...
April 8, 2015
Hot Pot Hot Pot
Restaurant: Hot Pot Hot Pot
Location:120 S Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA 91754.(626) 282-1089
Date: June 20, 2015
Cuisine: MongolianHot Pot
Rating:Shabu Shabu’s evil good cousin!
_Hot Pot is one of those Chinese comfort foods that American’s usually know nothing about.
These places are mobbed, and there are a lot of them. Basically, it’s throw lots of things in a pot of boiling broth and cook it table side. Similar to Shabu Shabu — and this is hardly a surprise as the Japanese got the id...
April 6, 2015
Spicy City!
Restaurant: Spicy City
Location:140 W Valley Blvd.Ste 208.San Gabriel, CA 91776.(626) 280-0186
Date: March31, 2015
Cuisine:Szechuan Chinese
Rating:Awesome and authentic, spicy!
_Szechuan is one of my obsessions and fellow Foodie Club founder Erick recommended Spicy City as one of his favorites — he should know too as he’s spent a lot of time in China, including Chengdu.
Spicy City is upstairs in one of those gigantic SGV mall plazas which seem to have been teleported from Asia.
Certainly n...
April 3, 2015
Dirty Dozen Ride Again
Restaurant: Del Frisco’s Grille
Location:1551 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90401.(310) 395-7333
Date: April1, 2015
Cuisine:Commercial Steakhouse
Rating:Food was decent, service excellent
_Last yearmy Hedonist group started up a new concept, a sort of club within a club of high end blind tasting diners. The deal is everyone brings a bottle (and backups) blind. We eat drink and try to guess at what they are. The group is know as the “Dirty Dozen” (although we crept up to 14 tonight). Oh, and we...
April 1, 2015
Petros Greek Feast
Restaurant:Petros Restaurant
Location:B110, 451 Manhattan Beach Blvd.Manhattan Beach, CA.(310) 545-4100
Date: March29, 2015
Cuisine:Greek
Rating:Best Greek I’ve had in LA
_Tonight’s dinner was originally supposed to be special Hedonistic home cooked Greek Easter Feast by chef Popi Terzi but the chef had a last minute medical emergency and we relocated to a Manhattan Beach Greek restaurant.
Tonight’s special menu.
2004 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut La Grande Dame. VM 93.Vivid gold...
March 30, 2015
Eating San Francisco – Absinthe
Restaurant: Absinthe
Location:398 Hayes St at Gough, San Francisco, CA.415-551-1590
Date: January18, 2015
Cuisine:French American
Rating: SolidneighborhoodFrench
_After five Michelin stars in just three nights, we wanted something more casual for our last San Francisco dinner. Hayes Valley’s Absinthe seemed about just right.
The menu.
A martini-like variation on a pimms cup.
This smoky Mexcal based drink was actually pretty spicy (see that chili around the rim?).
Soft garlic pretzels. Ve...
March 27, 2015
Tai Sui – Froggy Goats
Restaurant:Tai Sui
Location:3219 North San Gabriel Boulevard, Rosemead, CA.(626) 307-0203
Date: March22, 2015
Cuisine:Cambodian
Rating: Awesome meats!
_We Hedonists are never ones to shy away from the exotic, and Tai Sui, a Cambodian hole in the wall in the San Gabriel Valley surely fits the bill.
NV Egly-Ouriet Champagne Brut Tradition Grand Cru. Burgound 91.The last time this cuvée was reviewed (disgorgement in 2006) it was noticeably toastier and a bit less elegant than this version, if...
March 25, 2015
2002 White Burgundy at Kinjiro
Restaurant: Kinjiro
Location:424 E 2nd St, Los Angeles, CA 90012.(213) 229-8200
Date: March20, 2015
Cuisine:Japanese
Rating:Good modern Japanese comfort food
_Last year the Babykillers and I went to BOS in this same spot. It was good, but kinda extreme, being an offal restaurant. The owners have since rebooted the space as Kinjiro, a modern Izakaya (bar with food).
It should be noted that tonight’s wine theme was 2002, mostly. The mostly being both the year and White Burgundy. We also tossed...
March 22, 2015
Melisse – 2007 Montrachet!
Restaurant:Melisse[1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
Location: 1104 Wilshire Blvd.Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 395-0881
Date: March19, 2015
Cuisine: California French
Rating: Awesome again
_And so we arrive at Part 3 of the epic three night 2007 White Burgundy Dinner series (Part 1 can be found hereand part 2 here). This series of dinners, hosted by Burg-meister Don Cornwell, explores in great detail the best wines of a particular vintage, in this case 2007.
Tonight features “Mostly Montrachet” that i...
March 20, 2015
Barrel & Ashes – BBQ Go Big
Restaurant: Barrel & Ashes
Location:11801 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604.(818) 623-8883
Date: March16, 2015
Cuisine:American BBQ
Rating:Amazing Meats
_My Hedonist group will eat anything — well anything good. It can be fancy or casual, but there’s (almost) always wine.
Barrel and Ashes is a collaboration between restaurateur Bill Chait, Chef Timothy Hollingsworth, Chef Rory Hermann and mixologist Julian Cox riffing on the classical pairing of bourbon and barbecue.
The menu focuses on...
