Andy Gavin's Blog, page 130
January 14, 2015
Return of the Han Dynasty
This was a fantastic Chinese feast. Sure, it burned through my whole GI for 36 hours, but it was worth it. A worthy addition to thecatalogof great Wed night ThanksGavin openings. Commenting two years later, and many many great Chinese meals under my belt, I’d have to say this is solid Schezuan style food, a tad modernized, and good stuff. One complaint on my second go (2014) was that they brought all the food in two giant waves, an “appetizer” and “entree” wave. The first time each item came...
January 12, 2015
Factoring Factory Kitchen
Restaurant: Factory Kitchen[1, 2]
Location:1300 Factory Pl, Los Angeles, CA 90013.(213) 996-6000
Date: December6, 2014
Cuisine: Italian
Rating:Wow! Best Italian in LA?
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The Factory Kitchen serves traditional Italian fare in the heart of the thriving Arts District in Downtown Los Angeles. This trattoria-style restaurant is the product of a long-standing friendship between Restaurateur Matteo Ferdinandi and Chef Angelo Auriana.
The neighborhood is a bit scary, but inside is modern and busy.
The curren...
January 9, 2015
Ultimate Pizza New Year 2014
Every few months, and particularly at New Years, we do another round of our Ultimate Homemade Pizzas. If you’re curious about how these components are made look here, otherwise just enjoy the food porn.
Before diving in, I’ll note that this time I am making further progress in that most difficult of pizza problems: the transfer. The most challenging part of making pizza at home is getting it into and out of the oven without messing it up. Into the oven is toughest because the dough is soft and...
January 7, 2015
SOS – Wine Rescue
Restaurant:Smoke Oil Salt[1, 2]
Location:7274 Melrose Ave.Los Angeles, CA 90046.(323) 930-7900
Date: January4, 2014
Cuisine:Spanish
Rating:Good “New American” Spanish
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Hedonist leader Yarom is an investor in the new Smoke Oil Salt, a tapas bar fromAdam Fleischman (Unami Burger) and Perfecto Rocher (Lazy Ox), so it’s anatural gathering for our gang. We went last spring, and now we return with even more wine for Paella night!
Chef Perfecto Rocher is behind the bar here.
Sommelier Naureen Zaim cuts a f...
January 5, 2015
January 2, 2015
Truly Deeply Sick and Twisted 2
Title: Wetlands
Author:Charlotte Roche
Genre:WTF NSFW
Length: 241pages
Read: December 30, 2014
Summary:Fascinating… oddly
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I stumbled across this short oddball novel last night, grew curious, given that it sold a million copies in Germany, and was made into a film — so read it today in an hour and a half. It’s not very long. I’m not even sure it’s very good, but it was veryquick. Thefilm version recently toured Sundance, so you can get a glimmervia the preview.
Wetlands is a sort of literary equival...
December 31, 2014
Indian by the Beach
Restaurant: Akbar[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Location:1101 Aviation Boulevard, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.(310) 937-3800
Date: December29, 2014
Cuisine: Indian
Rating: Bold and balanced flavors
ANY CHARACTER HERE
For our lastHedonist groupdinner of 2014, we celebrate atLA’s best Indian restaurant,Akbar(Hermosa Beach branch).
Fellow Hedonist Chef Avi commands the kitchen!
TheMenu can be found here, although the chef designed our feast himself and it features many unusual and off menu items.
The chutney’s and pickles....
December 29, 2014
Palace of Pepper
Restaurant: Chuan Ren Bai Wei
Location:6420 Rosemead Blvd.San Gabriel, CA 91775.(626) 286-5508
Date: December28, 2014
Cuisine:Beijing / SzechuanChinese
Rating:Great!
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Just six months ago I ate in this same space, but it was a different Chinese restaurant at the time, Beijing Duck House. Now, due to the rising popularity ofSzechuan cuisine it has been rebooted. It still looks the same. It still serves Peking Duck. But there’s a lot more pepper on the menu.
2012 Gérard Boulay Sancerre La Comtesse Mon...
December 26, 2014
How many Saddles to Peak?
Restaurant:Saddle Peak Lodge[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]
Location:419 Cold Canyon Rd,Calabasas, CA91302 (818) 222-3888
Date: December18, 2014
Cuisine: Modern American
Rating: Greatambianceand terrific game oriented food.
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Ever year, both in the summer and winter, we Hedonists return to Saddle Peak Lodge. It’s pretty much the perfect venue for both a winter or summer food and wine blast, with gorgeous lodge patio, game driven food, and awesome wine service. For those of you who don’t know, Hedonist events...
December 23, 2014
The Power of Providence
Restaurant: Providence[1, 2]
Location:5955 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038.(323) 460-4170
Date: December15, 2014
Cuisine: Cal French
Rating: Awesome food
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It’s been a month since the Foodie Club convened for the awesome white truffles at Saam dinner and so Erick was itching for some more epic wine dinner awesomeness. Enter the chef’s table at Providence. There is no doubt that Providence is one of LA’s top fine dining establishments.
Enter the private chefs table: pretty much inside the kitchen!...
