Andy Gavin's Blog, page 131
December 21, 2014
Ring the Ji Rong Gong
Restaurant: Ji Rong
Location:8450 East Valley Boulevard #115, Rosemead, CA 91770.(626) 280-8600
Date: December14, 2014
Cuisine: Beijing Chinese
Rating:Solid
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More Chinese food, it never gets old. This time we try out Ji Rong, another Beijing style place is Rosemead.
More or less the usual decor.
From my cellar:2011 Louis Jadot Meursault Les Narvaux. 92 points. Nice young white Burg with a ton of vanilla on both the nose and palette.
Some kind of cold sliced pork part. Rubbery.
2014 Cloudy Bay Sauvigno...
December 18, 2014
The Hobbit: The Battle of 5,000 Animators
Title: The Hobbit:The Battle of Five Armies
Director/Stars: Martin Freeman(Actor),Peter Jackson(Director)
Genre: Fantasy
Watched: December 18, 2014
Summary: More is more is more is more!
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What happens when you expand 44 pages at the end of a novel into 144 minutes of film? Well, in the case of The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies, a whole lot of fighting. Enough to provides sustenance foran entire generation of computer artists. Smaug, arguably my favorite character in this second trilogy, regret...
December 17, 2014
Multitextured Maude
Restaurant: Maude
Location:212 South Beverly Drive.Beverly Hills, CA.(310) 859-3418
Date: December11, 2014
Cuisine: Modern
Rating:Good, but slightly deconstructed
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I’ve wanted to try Maude since it opened last February, but the annoying reservation system turned me off. They open reservations by phone only on the first Saturday of the month before for the whole month. I spent 40 minutes autodialing with 3 people on 4 phones and we ended up with two completely random reservations. Ours was at 5:30...
December 15, 2014
Ruen Pair Rules
Restaurant: Ruen Pair
Location: 5257 Hollywood Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90027.(323) 466-0153
Date: December9, 2014
Cuisine: Thai
Rating:Solid Thai, not super spicy
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It’s been awhile since I’ve had authentic Thai, so it was with some relish that I headed out with my Hedonist group to this Thai town eatery.
The minimall is packed with Thai restaurants, massage places, and the like.
Inside.
NV Tissot (Bénédicte et Stéphane / André et Mireille) Crémant du Jura Extra Brut. 92 points.Really liked this sparkle...
December 12, 2014
Pheasant & Deer are Never Boaring
Restaurant: Phong Dinh[
Location: 107 E Valley blvd, San Gabriel, Ca, 91776.(626) 307-8868
Date: December 9, 2014
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Rating: Excellent!
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My Hedonist clubhas hit up Phong Dinh several times before, once in their old location and once in this newer one— albeit in a nearby San Gabriel Valley spot. This authentic Vietnamese continues to serve up interesting stuff — plus they’re happy to take some of Yarom’s “do it yourself” meats, like both boar, deer, and pheasant he shot rec...
December 10, 2014
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
Title:The Hunger Games:Mockingjay Part 1
Cast:Jennifer Lawrence(Actor),Josh Hutcherson(Actor),Francis Lawrence(Director)
Genre: Science Fiction / Distopian
Watched: December5, 2014
Summary:Slower
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I enjoyed the first film and loved the first book, but I wasn’t even able to finish Catching Fire (the novel) when I tried reading it years ago. The political mumbo jumbo really bugged me. Sure, if you’re a fan of the council scenes in The Phantom Menace or of The Matrix sequel’s Zion, you might groove t...
December 8, 2014
Sage at Oliverio
Location:9400 W Olympic Blvd.Beverly Hills,CA90212.(310) 407-7791
Date: December4, 2014
Cuisine: Italian
Rating: AwesomeFood & Wine
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Sage Society is a fabulous wine salesbusiness operated by my friend Liz, who has one of the best palettes for food and wine of anyone I know. We also have very similar taste in both and she is a huge lover of Burgundy and interesting and geeky Italians. She periodically organizes dinners for her clients which always combine fabulous wine...
December 6, 2014
Salty Saturday 2014
Part of the tradition for theThanksGavin weekend of gluttonyis a Saturday deli brunch. As we celebrate in Philadelphia, we have access to all sorts of great deli andthe like.
For the second year in a row, the location is the house of my cousin Matt and his wife Andrea. They’ve picked up a lot of the load, having also tackled the Friday Night Feast.
The main event for Salty Saturday is bagels and cream cheese the Philly way.
Capers and olives.
The third return of the olives and artichokes from Thu...
December 4, 2014
Friday Night Feast 2014
As part of the annualThanksGavin celebrationit’s traditional for us to do a home dinner on Friday night, historically cooked by my cousin Abbe. But this yearshe abdicated the job to her brother Matt and his wife Andrea.
NV Casa Vinicola Botter Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Santi Nello. Bubbly to start. Zingy acids, excellent minerality, very small fizzy bubbles. Ultra refreshing.
More fancy olives.
The return of the artichokes.
Bread.
2007 Simon Bize Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Aux Vergelesses....
December 2, 2014
ThanksGavin 2014
It’s that time of year again, time to loosen your belt buckle and sit down for the annual ThanksGavin!
The table is set.
NV Casa Vinicola Botter Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Santi Nello. Bubbly to start. Zingy acids, excellent minerality, very small fizzy bubbles. Ultra refreshing.
Crudites.
Some kind of dip of mysterious origins.
1995 Robert Ampeau & Fils Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. 90 points.This is medium gold. Nose is very ripe fruit and honey, but not boytritis. Sweet and sa...
