Andy Gavin's Blog, page 149
October 25, 2013
Totoraku Double Meat Madness
Restaurant: Totoraku[1, 2, 3, 4]
Location:10610 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064.
Date: October 22 & 23, 2013
Cuisine: Japanese Yakiniku
Rating: Best beef in town!
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About twice a year my Hedonist group takes over Totoraku. It serves a very refined version of Japanese Yakiniku, which is Beef BBQ originally from Korea but filtered through Japanese sensibility.
Last spring, we took the wholerestaurant with 28 people, but the evening was total chaos (albeit fun chaos), and this time we decided to spl...
October 23, 2013
Luminous Lechon Pigout!
Restaurant: Eva’s Lechon
Location:4252 W. 3rd st.Los Angeles CA 90020. 213-383-3179
Date: October 19, 2013
Cuisine: Filipino
Rating: Total Pig Out!
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Months in the works, it’s finally time for the highly anticipated Hedonist whole suckling pig out!
Elisabeth and Jake were very generous to host us at their lovely 20s Hacienda.
This setting definitely does NOT suck.
Wayne went crazy tonight and brought some really fabulous wines, like this top top champagne.
1996 Salon. Parker 97+.The 1996 Salon is yet a...
October 21, 2013
Medieval Land Fun-Time World
Absolutely hilarious fauxlip sync Game of Thrones trailer. This must have been a lot of work and I can’t tell if the semi-sensical dialog is just goofy writing or a requirement to match the mouth movements in their clips. But cool.
Plus fart jokes. And vaguely reminiscent of Adventureland too.
If you liked this post, follow me at:
My novels: The Darkening Dreamand Untimed
or all my Game of Thrones postsor
Season 1 reviews:[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]
October 19, 2013
Shin Beijing Again
Restaurant: Shin Beijing
Location:3101 W Olympic Blvd – Los Angeles, CA 90006. 213-381-3003
Date: October 17, 2013
Cuisine: Chinese
Rating: very solid electric Chinese
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The Hedonists return to one of our regular haunts, Korean Chinese Shin Beijing for some reliable (and somewhat closer than the SGV) Chinese eats.
NV Billecart-Salmon Rose.Parker 90.The NV Brut Rose is a pretty, gracious wine. Freshly cut roses, red berries and spices take shape nicely in the glass as the wine shows off its understat...
October 16, 2013
Gravity – Puts the Thrill Back in Thriller
Cast:George Clooney(Actor),Sandra Bullock(Actor),Alfonso Cuarón(Director)
Genre: Science Fiction Thriller
Watched: October 14, 2013
Summary: Best movie of the year (so far)
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I know there is a lot of great buzz about Gravity, but I have to chime in and agree. This is just a wonderful film. It’s not deepest hour and a half of cinema to ever hit the silver screen, but as a Science Fiction film, spectacle, thriller, and all around emotional experience — it’s first rate.
Let me also say t...
October 14, 2013
Continuum – Corporate Future
Title: Continuum
Genre: SciFi Thriller
Cast:Rachel Nichols(Actor),Erik Knudsen(Actor)
Watched: October 5-11, 2013
Summary: Solid sci-fi
ANY CHARACTER HERE
Continuum is the second excellent Canadian SciFi television show I’ve found this year (the other being Orphan Black). The regular American networks just wouldn’t make something like this. In fact, they all passed on it. Their loss, because while it has a couple of flaws, as television goes, Continuum is first rate science fiction and imminently w...
October 11, 2013
Not So Close Shave
Restaurant: Salju Dessert
Location:35 W Valley Blvd,Ste B.Alhambra,CA91801.(626) 289-3578
Date: September/October, 2013
Cuisine: Shave Ice
Rating: Perfect after Szechuan
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Most of my San Gabriel valley excursions are to Chinese, and as anyone who eats authentic Chinese knows, you’re more likely to be served taro or red bean than salted caramel budino. And particularly after the sensory assault of Szechuan or Hunan, one needs something to cool off.
Enter Salju Dessert. Here in SoCal we’ve been gettin...
October 9, 2013
East Meets West – Maru Sushi
Restaurant: Maru Sushi
Location:12400 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025.310.820.7240
Date: September 6, 2013
Cuisine: Modern Sushi
Rating: Creative
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Maru is a new addition to the excellent Westside sushi scene. It melds traditional (or at least mostly traditional) sushi with a “market menu” of interesting hybrid East/West dishes.
The big interior used to hold Sasabune.
They have a giant mid restaurant table.
2005 Marisa Cuomo Costa d’Amalfi Furore Fiorduva.An enjoyable wine, with minerality and s...
October 7, 2013
Chengdu Taste – Power of the Peppercorn
Restaurant: Chengdu Taste
Location:828 W Valley Blvd.Alhambra, CA 91803.(626) 588-2284
Date: October 2, 2013
Cuisine:SzechuanChinese
Rating: Face Numbing!
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I’ve been planning for 6-8 weeks to go to Chengdu Taste, which is a Chengdu styleSzechuan restaurant that Jonathan Gold recently raved about.
Obviously, i’m not the only one…
Because even on a Wednesday night there are about 20-30 people waiting for tables. Our big party even had a reservation, but they still made us wait for 45 minutes. Plus — t...
October 4, 2013
The Bling Ring is Pretty Wild
Title: The Bling Ring
Cast:Israel Broussard(Actor),Katie Chang(Actor),Sofia Coppola(Director)
Genre: Satire
Watched: September 18-20, 2013
Summary: As reality bending as a Terry Gilliam film
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I was drawn to see The Bling Ring for two reasons: Director Sofia Coppola (I liked both Lost in Translation and Marie Antoinette) and Emma Watson (who didn’t love Hermione?). I finished with a peculiar feeling: Was I watching Fiction or Truth? Satire or Exploitation? I just couldn’t be sure.
