Andy Gavin's Blog, page 145
January 27, 2014
Ultimate Akbar
Location: 2627 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, Ca 90403. 310-586-7469
Date: January 23, 2014
Cuisine: Indian
Rating: Bold and balanced flavors
ANY CHARACTER HERE
It’s time for my myHedonist groupto return to LA’s best Indian restaurant,Akbar(Santa Monica branch).Too many Indian places focus on low cost buffets of very over cooked food, but Akbar cooks everything to order — even baking their own Naan when you place the order. They are more focused on the cuisine of the Punja...
January 24, 2014
Riding the Dragon
I’ve created a new index to celebrate the bounty of Chinese food fair Los Angeles has to offer…
January 22, 2014
New Bay Seafood
Restaurant: New Bay Seafood
Location:203 West Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA.(626) 872-6677
Date: January 20, 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.
The interior is typical of Inland Empire Chineserestaurants. We had a private room (there are several).
On the table to start were the traditional peanuts.
And some marinated pi...
January 20, 2014
Cheesy Pork Cutlet
Restaurant: Kimukatsu
Location:2121 Sawtelle Blvd,Los Angels, CA 90025.310-477-1129
Date: January 13, 2014
Cuisine: Japanese Pork Cutlet
Rating: Tasty fry
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One of the first things I noticed spending a lot of time in Japan was that restaurants specialized. I mean, really specialized. Some served sushi. Some served BBQ eel. Some tempura. Some Udon. And, of course, some served Tonkatsu, or deep fried pork cutlet. This is traditional accompanied by cabbage and its own special sauce.
The menu.
Condiments...
January 17, 2014
Eastern Promises – Azeen’s Afghani
Restaurant: Azeen’s Afghani[1, 2, 3]
Location: 110 East Union Street, Pasadena, Ca, 911103. 626-683-3310
Date: January 15, 2013
Cuisine:Afghan
Rating: Awesome again!
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Another week and another Hedonist dinner. We braved 2.25 hours in traffic to take on Azeen’s Afghani in Pasadena, dominating therestaurantas usual with a giant table. Pictures of the room are available at a previous meal here.
We aren’t the only ones who love Azeen’s.
The menu. This place is amazing AND will not break the bank.
From my...
January 15, 2014
Reference Pasta – Cacio e Pepe
I’m pretty much a pasta fiend, particularly good homemade pasta, so an evening home with my son afforded a good opportunity to try out my pasta cooking chops on this ultimate reference pasta — cacio e pepe. Literarily, it just means “cheese & pepper” and it’s an extremely basic pasta from Rome that showcases its extremely few ingredients. In Gavin tradition, like my ultimate pizza or my uber tiramisu, I try to do it to the highest standard of quality.
That starts with a good pasta. Cacio e pep...
January 12, 2014
Game of Thrones Season 4 Trailer
It begins, theGame of Thronesseason 4 trailer is here and it looks pretty badass as usual.
All our favorites are pictured, although with some (like Theon), we can only guess what parts of which book they’ll be borrowing from. And some new characters too, like Oberyn the Red Viper (who’s crazy dancing combat style looks pretty awesome). If you know the books there are a lot of spoilers, but I guess viewers either do or don’t. They are borrowing a bit from the madman style too, where you mostly...
January 10, 2014
Viva la Republique
Restaurant: Republique
Location: 624 S La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036.(310) 362-6115
Date: January 7, 2014
Cuisine: Modern Bistro French
Rating: Nice (loud) space, tasty hip food, great service
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Republique is certainly one of LA’s most anticipated recent openings. Taking over the gorgeous old Campanile space, this replacement is helmed byWalter Manzke and Margarita Manzke (of Church & State and Milo & Olive). As you’ll see, while the core cuisine marries Brasserie with neo-tapas, this is a pla...
January 8, 2014
Mysterious Secrets of Uber
I’m more than a little fascinated by Uber (the ride sharing company). I use them 4-6 times a week (mostly to avoid driving to my overzealous wine dinners) and am always quizzing the drivers about their experiences. The most interesting thing about the whole business is the new pattern by which they took an existing fragmented, over-regulated, monopolistic industry that has a medium barrier of entry and centralized the matchmaking part of it while decentralizing and dropping the barrier of ent...
January 6, 2014
Hearthstone Beta Review
I’m no stranger to Trading Card strategy games, having playedMagic: The Gathering way back in 1993 (and fairly heavily through 1995 or 96). In recent years, lacking an enthusiastic series of human opponents, I periodically tried my hand at their latest computerincarnations. Most recently, this wasIOS Magic 2013. This game was okay, but the designers felt too beholden to the specifics of the card game and not confident enough to invest in changes that would streamline the digital experience. A...
