Andy Gavin's Blog, page 142
April 13, 2014
Game of Thrones – Episode 32
Game of Thrones
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Watched: Episode 32 – April 13, 2014
Title:The Lion and the Rose
Summary: Martin has a thing for Weddings
ANY CHARACTER HERE
Episode 2 of the season takes a moment (or two) to fill in the characters left out of the premier before moving on to the royal wedding.We’ve been leading up to this “blessed event” for some time, so lets see how it stacks up compared to its predecessor, the infamous “Red Wedding.”
As usual, I’ll break down the episode into threads by...
April 10, 2014
Burgundy at Providence
Restaurant: Providence
Location:5955 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038.(323) 460-4170
Date: April 9, 2014
Cuisine: Cal French
Rating: Awesome food
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After the joyous chaos that was the last Hedonist epic Burgundy Dinner at Jiraffe, our fearless leader Yarom was under some pressure to reign things into a more manageable format with food more in keeping with the stellar wines (Jiraffe has very good food, but we just ordered 2 courses ala cart for 25+ wines!). So that lead us to Providence, which alo...
April 8, 2014
Better than Tangiers
Restaurant: Tagine
Location:132 N Robertson Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90211.(310) 360-7535
Date: June 20, 2014
Cuisine: Modern Moroccan
Rating: Tasty and on point
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After a couple of weeks eating up Vietnam, Tagine makes my return to the LA dining scene for a “last minute” informal Hedonist gathering.
The restaurant takes traditional Moroccan cuisine, and instead of serving it up in a theatrical family style manner converts it to more modern plated dishes.
From my cellar:2012 Comte Abbatucci Ajaccio Vi...
April 6, 2014
Game of Thrones – Episode 31
Game of Thrones
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Watched: Episode 31 – April 6, 2014
Title:Two Swords
Summary: Excellent opening
ANY CHARACTER HERE
Here we are again at Game of Thrones season. The “previously scenes” always give one a clue what’s coming, and this time it reached all over the place to odds and ends, sometimes from a season or two ago (like Dontos) or the Ice setup for what’s about to come with this episode. Watching with my wife, who HAS read the books (years ago) and seen every episode, b...
April 5, 2014
Eating Hoi An – Brothers Cafe
Restaurant: Brother’s Cafe
Location: Hoi An
Date: March 24, 2014
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Rating: Great setting, Great food
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We move on from Saigon to Hoi An, a small “ancient” city in the middle of Vietnam’s long coast. Hoi An is know for, among other things, its excellent food.
The oddly named Brother’s Cafe isn’t really a cafe, but a large riverside restaurant located in this scenic colonial style building.
With a rather picturesque garden and riverside seating.
The menu, like most in Vietnam, is epic....
April 3, 2014
Enter the Mandarin
Restaurant: Mandarin
Location: Saigon
Date: March 23, 2014
Cuisine: Vietnamese / Cantonese
Rating: solid
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Our second night in Saigon lead us to this upscaleVietnamese / Cantonese placed called “Mandarin” (like the lame fake villain in Iron Man III).
The dining room is lovely. And another menu the size of Texas:
Fresh spring rolls with shrimp and pork. Not as good as some, these had a slight medicinal taste (some herb?).
Or maybe it was the slightly strange plum sauce.
Pan fried rice pancakes with shri...
April 1, 2014
Game of Thrones Honest Trailer
In honor of the upcoming launch of Game of Thrones season 4, it seemed apropos to post this much funnier “Honest” one.
Good stuff ain’t it?
See you next week when the real fun begins.
Smile while you can Joff
March 31, 2014
Time for Everything
Title: About Time
Director/Stars:Domhnall Gleeson(Actor),Rachel McAdams(Actor),Richard Curtis(Director)
Genre: Family Drama?
Watched: March 21-22 15, 2014
Summary: Confused, and def not SciFi!
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About Time represents one of those all to frequent films where the expectations of the studio and the filmmaker have about zero overlap. What the studio seemed to have wanted, and attempted to market (despite the reality of the actual film) was a romantic comedy. What they got, was something a bit confused....
March 28, 2014
Apocalypse Dhou
Location: Mekon Delta
Date: March 23, 2014
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Rating: Crispy Elephant Ear fish!
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Hundreds of miles of snaking river was like a circuit cable plugged straight into…
A good meal.
Low and behold, after snaking up the (now) bucolic byways of the Mekon delta, we come across (well, our guide takes us to) this lovely little luncheon (and a low water table, good thing its not mosquito season).
We got the special lunch.
The specialty here is the crispy Elephant Ear Fish. I...
March 26, 2014
Eating Saigon – Hoa Tuc
Restaurant: Hoa Tuc
Location:74/7 Hai Ba Trung, Dist. 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Date: March 22, 2014
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Rating: Fresh flavors
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For our first real dinner in Vietnam a friend of ours sent us down the street to this upscale Vietnamese place (imagine that — in Vietnam no less!). Although, actually, there does appear to be a wide variety of Japanese, Chinese, and other cuisines in Ho Chi Minh City.
The interior is nice and there is a lovely patio outside for those willing to brave th...
