Andy Gavin's Blog, page 146
January 3, 2014
Coconut Curried Snails?
Restaurant: Phong Dinh[
Location: 107 E Valley blvd, San Gabriel, Ca, 91776.(626) 307-8868
Date: December 29, 2013
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Rating: Excellent!
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My Hedonist club hit up Phong Dinh earlier in the year, but they moved to a new location — 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 and deer he shot recently.
NV Taittinger Champagne Brut. 8...
December 30, 2013
Playful Playground
Restaurant: Playground[1, 2]
Location:220 East 4th Street.Santa Ana, CA 92701.Phone: (714) 560-4444
Date: June 9, 2013
Cuisine: Modern American Tapas
Rating: Amazing experience!
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I ubered all the way down to Santa Ana (1.5 hours) to join some of my Burghound friends for some great eats and an obscene amount of great Burgundy.
Therestaurantis located in a fairly low rent mall in Santa Anna.
Chef Jason Quinn has created this very LA zeitgeist restaurant oddly tucked in low end Santa Ana. It’s mobbed,...
December 27, 2013
Graffiato Italian Tapas
Restaurant: Graffiato
Location:707 6th St NW.Washington DC 20001.202-289-3600
Date: December 2, 2013
Cuisine: Italian Tapas
Rating: Good stuff
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The whole tapas or small plates things has slowly been insinuating itself into the contemporary restaurant scene and Graffiato is a Washington D.C. take on doing it up for Italian. I happen to love small plates, as I’ve become a jaded mega-diner who thinks that 5 courses is just getting started.
Gray December afternoon in D.C.
The menu. Paper of course.
The...
December 25, 2013
Never Say Too Much
Restaurant: Michael’s on Naples[1, 2]
Location:5620 E 2nd St.Long Beach,CA90803.(562) 439-7080
Date: December 23, 2013
Cuisine: Italian
Rating: A top LA Italian
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After Michael’s on Naples made this year’s Zagat list as #2 best restaurant in all Los Angeles, it seemed fitting to organize a proper Hedonist outing. I co-organized this one with our fearless leader Yarom, myself, coordinating and designing the menu. So many things sounded good that I came up with a 15 course extravaganza. Well, lots of...
December 23, 2013
Newport Special Seafood
Restaurant: Newport Seafood
Location:518 W Las Tunas Dr, San Gabriel, CA 91776-1073.(626) 289-5998
Date: December 19, 2013
Cuisine: Chinese
Rating: First rate Chinese
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I’ve been wanting to go to Newport Seafood for years as many people consider it one of the best Chinese restaurants in SoCal, but somehow events have always conspired against it.
This is a big place, and moderately “fancy” as San Gabriel Chinese joints go. Even on a Thursday night, it was mobbed, and people were waiting for a good lo...
December 20, 2013
Salty Saturday
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.
This year, we’ve moved to a new location for Salty Saturday, namely my cousin Matt and his wife Andrea’s house (they just moved in this year).
A bagel brunch begins with great bagels!
And fresh Nova lox of course. This was hardly salty at all.
Two kinds of herring, creamed and pickled.
On the right is the chive cream cheese (...
December 18, 2013
First Growths First
Location:755 North La Cienega.Los Angeles, CA 90069.310.659.3900
Date:December 16, 2013
Cuisine: Steakhouse
Rating:Gluttonousfun!
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This year the Hedonists have been doing more high end themed dinners. So earlier in the fall we celebrated top end Burgundy, and now we are doing so with Bordeaux. Technically, this was a First Grown Bordeaux dinner. We also included La Mission, Lafleur, and Petrus (no one brought one, sadly). A pair of top California Cabernet’s snuck in too.
Th...
December 16, 2013
Dragon in the Hole
Title: The Hobbit:The Desolation of Smaug
Director/Stars: Martin Freeman(Actor),Peter Jackson(Director)
Genre: Fantasy
Watched: December 15, 2013
Summary: More is more!
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First some technical bits: Again I saw The Hobbit in HFR 3D (at the Arclight). Last year, I found this new flickerless tech fascinating, hyper realistic, and more than a little disquieting. This year, either I’ve gotten used to it (thanks to my 120hz TV) or Peter Jackson and crew really worked the solve the problems. I’m pretty su...
December 13, 2013
Saddle Peak Peaks
Restaurant:Saddle Peak Lodge[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Location:419 Cold Canyon Rd,Calabasas, CA91302 (818) 222-3888
Date: December 12, 2013
Cuisine: Modern American
Rating: Greatambianceand terrific game oriented food.
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For one (and just one) of our Hedonistic Holiday Feasts, we Hedonists return to Saddle Peak Lodge. It’s pretty much the perfect venue for both a winter wine blast, with gorgeous lodge patio, cozy lodge, game driven food, and awesome wine service. For those of you who don’t know, Hedonist eve...
December 11, 2013
Last Generation
Title: The Last Generation of the Roman Republic
Author: Erich S. Gruen
Genre: History
Length: 596 pages
Read: November 1 – Dec 6, 2013
Summary: Fascinating and detailed
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I love to read about ancient history in general, and Roman history in particular, as I’m fascinated by the cultural differences (a.k.a. similarities) and the stark political lessons illustrated again and again (and all too often ignored today). But, for reading this book, I had an even better excuse, as I’m doing research for a ne...
