Andy Gavin's Blog, page 147
December 9, 2013
Friday Night Feasting
As part of the annualThanksGavin celebrationit’s traditional for cousin Abbe to cook and host the Friday night dinner. This year she joined forces with girlfriend Jody to whip up this feast.
The table.
This year, an alien must have kip-napped me because I forgot to photo most of the wine. Only these two bottles:
1995 Robert Ampeau & Fils Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. 92 points.This is medium gold. Nose is very ripe fruit and honey, but not boytritis. Sweet and satiny and weighty, aci...
December 8, 2013
Naughty Dog News
There’s a bunch of Naughty Dog news in the air that I thought worth commenting on. First of all, at VGX 2013 Naughty Dog was awarded Studio of the Year! Awesome! Well deserved. Congratulations dogs!
Then, in the flurry of ThanksGavin activities, I must have missed the trailer for the upcoming The Last of Us downloadable pack (Left Behind), which had a bunch of new single player levels. I’m very excited about this even though the trailer is… minimalistic 
And finally, it has been officially ann...
December 7, 2013
Gusto Italiano
Restaurant: Gusto
Location:8432 West 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90048.(323) 782-1778
Date: December 5, 2013
Cuisine: Italian (Roman)
Rating: Fabulous meal
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Our pal , Chef Vic Casanova, who used to be chef at Culina / 4 Seasons hotel opened his own Italian place. Tonight, for us Hedonists, he prepared a special “Roman” feast.
The 3rd street frontage, not far from the Beverly Center.
Our menu. I had been under the impression he was slanting more Ancient Roman, like this crazy meal at the Getty Villa, but...
December 5, 2013
ThanksGavin 2013
It’s that time of year again, time to loosen your belt buckle and sit down for the annual ThanksGavin!
The table is set.
The libations begin with this bubbly.
1990 Robert Ampeau & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. Burghound 93.A truly wonderful nose of simply knockout complexity features notes of yeast and baked bread along with now fully mature aromas of a variety of floral notes and spice hints that gives way to mineral-suffused, round, intense and detailed medium full flavors that also of...
December 3, 2013
Fond of Philadelphia
Restaurant: Fond
Location: 1537 South 11th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147.215.551.5000
Date: November 28, 2013
Cuisine: American
Rating: Tasty modern American
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Every year we Gavins descend on Philadelphia for several days of epic gluttony. This traditional week of feasting kicks off with the traditional Wednesdaynight dinner at some Philadelphia restaurant.
This year, we hit up Fond, an ingredient focused New American in Philadelphia’s little Italy.
The seasonal menu.
A prosecco to begin.
An amuse of...
November 29, 2013
2009 Bordeaux Doesn’t Blow
Location: Hollywood Hills
Date: November 24, 2013
Cuisine: Molecular American
Rating: Amazing night!
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My friend Stewart had this idea to host a dinner featuring the wealth of 99 and 100 point 2009 Bordeaux. I have to admit, their youth made me skeptical, but he assured me they were drinking great — plus, my vocation as a priest of Dionysus wouldn’t allow me to pass up on 15-20 100 point wines!
To sweeten the pot, he promised a first rate molecular dinner from celebrity chef, Marcel Vigneron (great...
November 27, 2013
Ghosts of ThanksGavins Past
In honor of turkey day, a look back on over a decade of previous Gavin festivals of gluttony…
November 25, 2013
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Title:The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Cast:Jennifer Lawrence(Actor),Josh Hutcherson(Actor),Francis Lawrence(Director)
Genre: Science Fiction / Distopian
Watched: November 23, 2013
Summary: Well done, much like the first
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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...
November 22, 2013
BOA Birthday Blitz
Restaurant: Boa Santa Monica
Location:101 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90401.(310) 899-4466
Date: November 20, 2013
Cuisine: Steak
Rating: Awesome night. Crab was amazing!
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I’m not normally a huge fan of Innovative Dining Group, as they tend far toward style over substance with their trendy collection of sushi and steak joints. However, BOA, their high end steak house, made a convenient and excellent location for Hedonist mainstay Ron’s 70th birthday bash.
Ron is a Hedonist OG and besides be...
November 20, 2013
Falling Skies – Don’t Run Away
Title: Falling Skies
Genre: Family SciFi
Cast:Noah Wyle(Actor),Moon Bloodgood(Actor)
Watched: Late October, 2013
Summary: V meets The Road
ANY CHARACTER HERE
Steven Speilberg produced TV has a checkered history, most being cheesy and family oriented. But he keeps on trying, and I have to admire him for pushing Science Fiction more into the mainstream (Earth 2, Seaquest, Terra Nova, Falling Skies, Under the Dome, Extant and more).
Falling Skies is without a doubt the best of the above (excepting Exta...
