Andy Gavin's Blog, page 132
November 29, 2014
House Party from Laos
MyHedonistgang are back to Jake and Elisabeth’s house, this time for some home cooked Laotian cuisine.
Elisabeth and Jake were very generous to host us at their lovely 20s Hacienda.
This setting!
René-Henri Coutier Champagne Brut Millésimé Clos d’Ambonnay. 95 points.
2007 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Bougros. Burghound 92-95.Here too there is a very subtle influence of wood that frames ripe yet elegant and impressively pure aromas of citrus, spice hints, tidal pool and oyster shell not...
November 26, 2014
Ghosts of ThanksGavins Past
A retrospective look at more than a decade of ThanksGavin turkey plates…
November 24, 2014
Truffles at Saam – I am
Location: 465 S La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048. 310.246.5555
Date: November20, 2014
Cuisine: Spanish influencedMolecular Gastronomy
Rating: Truffley goodness
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I’m a bit of aJose Andresgroupie as not only have I been three times to Saam, at least 10 to The Bazaar (REVIEW HERE), but also to brunch at Trés, and even toéby José Andrés(twice) and Jaleo in Vegas and several places in Washington D.C.
For those who don’t know, José Andrés isperhaps America’s leadingpract...
November 21, 2014
Is that a Pistola in your pocket?
Restaurant: Pistola
Location:8022 W 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90048. 323.951.9800
Date: November18, 2014
Cuisine: Italian Steakhouse
Rating: Tasty good
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It’s time for Ron’s birthday, Hedonist style. Last year — and I can’t believe the year has passed so fast — we hit up BOA for awesome steaks and crab. This year we try out the brand new Pistola, an Italian Steakhouse concept by the team that brought us Gusto. It’s taken over the old AOC space but transformed it completely.
The birthday boy.
The me...
November 19, 2014
Furies of Calderon
Title: Furies of Calderon
Author: Jim Butcher
Genre:High Fantasy
Length: 516pages
Read: November3-6, 2014
Summary: Solid escapist fantasy that delivers on the fun
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Apparently, Jim Butcher started this novel (and series) after being dared to write about Roman Legions and Pokemon. It’s clear from Butcher’s writing that he has a sense of humor, but in running with that “premise,” he certainly brought the storyin a direction designed notto give his agent and editor seizures. The Roman element pretty mu...
November 17, 2014
Ultimate New Bay Lunch
Restaurant: New Bay Seafood[1, 2]
Location:203 West Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA.(626) 872-6677
Date: November24, 2014
Cuisine: Cantonese / Chiu Chow Chinese
Rating: Really on point!
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New Bay Seafood is a fairly elaborate (big with multiple private rooms) Hong Kong and Chiu Chow palace that took over the late Sham Tseng space in 2013. This is my second trip, for a massive Sauvages win luncheon.
The front is classicSGV.
The interior is typical of Inland Empire Chineserestaurants. We had a private room (...
November 14, 2014
Empress Pavilion – Age without Grace
Restaurant: Empress Pavilion
Location:988 N Hill St #201, Los Angeles, CA 90012.(213) 617-9898
Date: November5, 2014
Cuisine:Cantonese Dimsum
Rating: Like 20 years ago
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For decades, Empress Pavilion has been a Grande Dame of LAs Chinatown scene, offering up Cantonese and Cantonese American fare (and dimsum).
Chinatown kitsch.
With the eastward movement of the Chinese population into the SGV (San Gabriel Valley), the whole Chinatown has fallen on hard times. Empress even closed. But now it’s back.
Des...
November 12, 2014
The Maze Runner
Title: The Maze Runner
Author:James Dashner
Genre:YA Adventure
Length: 386pages
Read: October 21-30, 2014
Summary:fun but flawed
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Frankly, I picked up The Maze Runner because it was made into a“major motion picture” —academic interest (visa via Untimed kicked in). It was a fun enough little adventure, an easy read, but boy… flaws.
First, there are the good things (and there aren’t many):
The premise isintriguing. Cool “setup.”
The pace is fast.
There is a good amount of sci-fi mystery (even if kinda bo...
November 10, 2014
Waterloo & City – British Invasion
Restaurant: Waterloo & City[1, 2, 3, 4]
Location:12517 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90066 310.391.4222
Date: November7, 2011
Cuisine: Gastropub
Rating: Really tasty!
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Back a couple of years ago I went to Waterloo & City a number of times. For whatever reason it’s dropped off my radar, even though I liked it a lot, but Ron, one of my fellowHedonists organized a dinner there, providing an excellent opportunity to get back.
A view of the bar. This is a pretty big place.
NV Krug Champagne Brut Grand...
November 7, 2014
Blizzard Bits
Blizzard today announced a new franchise, Overwatch. Not only does it look cool, and very Blizzard, but it looks like an interesting take on the FPS. Sort of combining FPS with League of Legends style characters/classes. And perhaps business model? This is an all PVP team play shooter. Probably no “campaign” in the traditional 1 player shooter sense.
The game play is in the above second video. Truth is, the real gameplay looks far cooler than the cartoon-style cinematic. It’s this stuff, and t...
