Andy Gavin's Blog, page 175
January 26, 2012
Drago New Years
Location: 2628 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90403. T: 310/828-1585
Date: December 31, 2011
Cuisine: Italian
Rating: One of LA's top Italians – but closing 
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Celestino Drago and his brothers have a bit of a mini Italian culinary empire here in LA with a number of different restaurants and concepts. These include the flagship Drago, a branch in Pasadena, Il Pastiao, Enoteco Drago and Piccolo Paradiso in Beverly Hills, Drago Centro downtown, Panzanella in the valley, a bakery, catering, and probably something I missed. All of these places are top notch and despite the expansion there is a real attention to quality.
Originally from Sicily the family blends tradition with the modern to make some of LA's best Italian. Having eaten all over Italy I have to say that the two areas with the best food are in my mind the Piedimonte/Venato and Sicily. And the later wins hands down for desserts. Celistino doesn't purely stick with Sicilian cuisine anyway, but very much pulls in the latest Italian culinary trends. In particular, the pastas, usually homemade, are phenomenal.
He's also incredibly creative and adaptable. He's catered about 8 or so of our events and that includes some whacky stuff. In 2006 we even did a party themed after the Ancient World where all of the dishes were based on the ancient Roman cookbook by Apicius. I just gave Celistino a copy with circled dishes and he adapted these VERY OLD (1900 years old!) recipes and brought them to life. Very interesting.
Anyway, Drago is the flagship restaurant of the empire, and its most formal. They have a big Menu well represented in every category, including good hearty meaty dishes. Certain favorites persist, but it's always being adapted and changed (something I like), and includes seasonal stuff.
We went here for our last meal of 2011 and they had New Year's supplements in addition to the normal menu.
Unfortunately, despite the food quality remaining high, business has slipped off at this particular branch of the empire and so it is rumored to be closing soon.
Being New Years, I brought some excellent (even by my standards) wines. Parker gives this 98 points. "The dense ruby/purple-colored 1997 Percarlo is compelling. Enormous in aromas, flavors, and persistence on the palate, it exhibits profound levels of concentration as well as unbelievably dense, black currant, blackberry liqueur notes infused with new saddle leather, licorice, truffles, and toasty oak. Enormously thick and viscous, with low acidity, and mouthcoating levels of extract, this wine's tannin level is high, but largely obscured by the wealth of fruit, glycerin, and extract. It is an amazing accomplishment! Anticipated maturity: now-2020."
"INSALATA DI BARBABIETOLE E BURRATA. Burrata, market beets, arugula, pistachio, fried shallots, white balsamic vinegar." Most Italians have a beets and burrata these days, but this way a particularly good one with a very interesting sweet dressing.
"Angelhair pasta with tomato sauce." For my three year-old.
"TORTELLONI DI ZUCCA. Mussels, clams, bay scallop, shrimp, squid, tomato sauce." Another favorite and a Celestino classic. This is pumpkin ravioli in a parmesan cream sauce. Inside is a pure of pumpkin, slightly spiced. A homemade spinach pasta, and then a rich cream and cheese sauce. This is a varient on the truly tradition tortellini de zucca where a slightly smaller normal fresh pasta is used, and the stuffing mixes pumpkin and amaretti cookies, and then the sauce is just butter and sage. This version is richer obviously.
""Cavatelli al ragout di capriolo, venison and chanterelle ragout, chestnut." This is one of the reasons I come here: for dishes like this. While this is a special, there are always many great pastas, and this is a level of pasta perfection that you WILL NOT find at 95% of LA's Italians. This particular dish is a homemade larvae shaped Cavatelli (pasta perfection) coupled with this incredibly rich winter ragout. The chestnut adds a little crunch and further winter cheer — chestnuts being very popular/traditional in Italy in Dec/Jan. Stylistically I would have to say this is more a Roman or maybe mountains near Rome kind of dish than explicitly Sicilian, but I could be wrong. Doesn't matter, it's great.
"The 1989 Barolos include the 1989 Bussia Soprano, a huge, full-bodied, super-concentrated, powerhouse of a wine that exudes aromas of sweet black-cherries, truffles, spices, and some intriguing spring flower blossom scents. Extremely intense, full-bodied, and spicy, with oodles of rich, fleshy fruit, this profound wine possesses high tannin which is sweet rather than astringent, and a mindboggling finish. This awesome Barolo can be drunk at an early age, but it should keep for 25-30 or more years.
Every Italian wine authority, from the late Sheldon Wasserman, to Burton Anderson, to Victor Hazan, to Roberto Parkero, considers Aldo Conterno to be one of the great masters of his craft. The staggering display of wines he produced in 1989 and 1990 confirmed that no one in Piedmont is making greater Barolo than Aldo Conterno and his sons. If you love great wine, these are must purchases; if you love Barolo, a pilgrimage to your favorite Italian wine shop is in order!
It is virtually impossible to pick a favorite among Conterno's 1989s and 1990s. However, the 1990s, which are not yet bottled, appear even more massive, structured, and tannic than the flamboyant, super-concentrated, flashy 1989s. Readers should keep in mind that the Barolo-Riserva Gran Bussia is released a year later than the other Barolos, so the 1989 will not appear in the marketplace until spring, 1995, and the 1990 a year later.
Wine enthusiasts throughout the world should be beating a path to their retailers to buy the 1989s and to reserve the 1990s when they arrive next year. By the way, Aldo Conterno is one of Piedmont's sweetest people, proving that sometimes nice guys do finish first!"
"BRANZINO ARROSTO. Mediterrenean seabass, gremolata, parnship, potato, endive."
"Salmon with stewed tomatoes."
"PETTO DI POLLO. Porcini prosciutto crust, potato pancake, prosciutto parmesan cheese cream, king trumpets mushrooms, pearl onion." I don't normally order chicken, but this one called out to me for some reason. The breast was perfectly cooked with a nice textural quality to the crust. I didn't really detect the prosciutto, so I would have liked a bit more of a statement there, but it was very tasty.
This is only a small selection of what Drago can do and they have excellent deserts as well. But we had some at home for New Years and old three year-old was getting restless.
Click here to see Eating Italy posts.
Or for more LA Restaurants.
January 25, 2012
Hardcover Mechanical
The The Darkening Dream's hardcover mechanical came in and I submitted a proof. This is the third version of the book, the e-book and the trade paperback already being for sale.
Look for them here
As a long time book lover (over 10,000 books in my library) I wanted a hardcover, even though the paperback will be cheaper, and it's unusual for a small imprint like mine to do a hardcover edition. Plus it's even more unusual for the hardcover to come out after the trade (a few weeks in this case), but I've never been much for doing it the normal way. I just love the feel of a nice hardcover. I'm printing it through Lightning Source which is the only POD printer I know that does real dust jacket hardcovers. And some people say the quality is better than Createspace too, but boy the sign up and interface are 100x more obtuse — which is one of the many reasons Amazon will continue to crush the competition.
Anyway, Apple also turned up the iBooks version the other day — finally! The whole process only took them a month! (I had to make a new iConnect account, as for some mysterious reason app accounts can't also sell books!). But in any case, if for some odd reason this is better for you than the Kindle version, here it is:
January 24, 2012
The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack
Title: The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack
Author: Mark Hodder
Genre: Steampunk
Length: 376 pages
Read: Dec 29, 2011 – Jan 23, 2012
Summary: First rate steampunk!
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This is certainly not your everyday read, although it's certainly a good one. Set in 1861, the protagonist is Sir Richard Francis Burton, the explorer, not the actor. The first fifty or so pages feel like engaging historical fiction.
Then all hell breaks loose. In a good way. This version of 1861 isn't what we read in the history books. It includes steam powered flying chairs, insulting messenger parakeets, genetically engineered werewolves, robotic street cleaners and all sorts of goodies. Most of the characters are famous Victorians, or in this world Albertians given that Victoria was shot to death in 1840 (a real life attempt that was fatal in this alternate history).
The voice of the novel is third person, medium tight and usually riding with Burton. It does, however, jump over to some others occasionally like his side kick the Marquis-de-Sade-loving poet Algernon Swinburne and the title character. The tone is slightly flip, as the inventions and wackiness is just left of possible. Yet things remain consistently period and the characters are well researched and full of era-appropriate dialog, but also clever and engaging.
About midway, the book, already getting weird, goes totally off the the deep end. Enter Spring-Heeled Jack, crazy time traveler, and a host of steampunk altered villains including a double-brain grafted Charles Darwin and an Iron Golemized Isambard Kingdom Brunel. But this zaniness only makes the novel better. I'm reminded of one of my all time favorites, The Anubis Gates, but TSAOSHJ is less magical, more grounded in technology.
Bravo! This book really shows off tremendous world building and research while remaining fast paced and easy to read. If it has anything that holds it back from being a complete classic, it's that the characters, while well developed, don't really illicit any significant pathos. Things are just a little too distant and weird for that. It's not a huge book, and Hodder crams in an enormously distinct world, so it's no surprise this isn't a character study. Still, I do feel that the complex character of Burton was well profiled, almost like in a good biography. Impressive.
I read this right after putting down another steampunk book, Clockwork Angel, just 20% in. Wow, what a difference. Both are set in alternate 19th century Londons, but other than a couple random "period words," CA feels exactly the same as the author's contemporary paranormal YA, with all its forced faux-romance. TSAOSHJ, on the other hand, is an adult book, and makes use of one's babbage augmented, steam-powered, glass jar encased, cybernetic brain.
January 23, 2012
The Magic of The Darkening Dream
January 22, 2012
The Bourbon Caramel Bacon Sundae
Restaurant: Sweet Rose Creamery [1, 2]
Location: 225 26th Ave, suite 51, Santa Monica, 90402 310-260-CONE
Date: January 21, 2012
Cuisine: Homemade Ice Cream
Rating: Very REAL ice cream. And they have bacon!
ANY CHARACTER HERE
A local favorite of ours at the Brentwood Country Mart is Sweet Rose Creamery. They make real homemade ice cream using only the traditional and natural ingredients. None of those emulsifiers and artificial flavors.
The board of flavors.
My brother with his normal ice cream. Fresh mint and coffee on the left, caramel on the right.
But I've never been normal, check out the fourth sundae down.
The bacon sundae! Yes, it's true. A scoop of caramel ice cream and a scoop of verve coffee ice cream with bourbon carmel sauce, candied bacon, pecan crumble and whipped cream.
The side view. This was a seriously decadent sundae. The caramel tasted pretty strongly of bourbon too, but it was the whole bacon and carmel thing that really made it. Bacon is so good with gooey sweet stuff. 10/10.
January 21, 2012
Trio of Eats
I updated three of my regular restaurants with additional meals, dishes, and photos. These are all great places. Click each photo for the detailed reviews.
Rustic Canyon
La Cachette Bistro
Josie Restaurant
January 20, 2012
Forbidden Mind
Title: Forbidden Mind
Author: Kimberly Kinrade
Genre: YA paranormal
Length: 134 pages
Read: January 18, 2012
Summary: Fast and fun. Recommended.
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This little novel caught my attention yesterday while running a Kindle Select free day. I was sold by the tag line, "She reads minds. He controls minds. Together, they might get out alive." I like the notion of a couple stuck together by the inherent nature of circumstances. I tried to build this dynamic into my second novel, Untimed — only it's time travel, not mind reading.
I pounded through this book in one sitting, as it is only 134 pages, making it more a novella. This is a new trend made possible by the Kindle store. Previously novellas were basically impossible to sell and besides, I was never really into them, being more the 400,000 word per volume, ten volume fantasy kind of guy (I have actually read all but the last of the Wheel of Tedium). But now, being older and having less time, I'm finding I dig 'em.
Forbidden Mind is written in tight first person past. The prose is very snappy and light, the way I like it. Perhaps it could use the tiniest bit of further line editing, but it's good. We drop right into the character and the story and race from there. In a 134 pages, there isn't room to dawdle and Kinrade doesn't. Things are lean, with the bare minimum description. The protagonist is very likeable. She isn't super complex, but she has a nice non-snarky teen voice. The setup here is that she's a mind reader who lives in a kind of Professor X's school for the gifted — but they aren't so altruistic. In fact they rent out the paranormal kids for clandestine missions (slightly Dollhouse like). The scenario is very intriguing and the book so breathlessly fast that we race right through the "school" scenes and into Act 2 and the B story (romance), which likewise blur by.
I've always liked mind readers and what's known in the literature as mind controllers, pushers, or coercers. Some of my favorite books are Firestarter, The Case of the Vanishing Boy, Carrion Comfort (best horror novel I've ever read, and Stephen King agrees with me), and Intervention.
In Forbidden Mind, the story is the girl's perspective and so we get more of the mind reading than the controlling. This part is well handled, but I thought there was some juicy potential in the synergistic relationship between a mind reader and a coercer that was left on the table. Things move fast and character is more Kinrade's strongpoint than complex action so their extraction from their predicament is quick and straightforward. Being a crazy nerd I've spent an insane amount of time thinking about physic powers and their ramifications. I love books that deal in complexity with a system of powers. The Julian May books do, as does Sheri S. Tepper's remarkable True Game series. I would have loved to see this pair escaping using a mental version of the three legged race. Plus, this is a powerful pair of powers: unlimited mind reading and mind control, so they could easily overshadow obstacles without a very threatening antagonist (a Heroes Sylar type) or significant limitations (like Firestarter's cerebral hemorrhaging). We don't have these. But Kinrade constructs the story in such a rapid and straightforward way as to avoid the problem. And the ending comes equally quick, but satisfying.
Which leaves us room to explore this interesting dynamic in the sequel. If you like paranormal teen adventure, try it out.
January 19, 2012
Palm Springs – Tropicale Lounge
Restaurant: Tropicale Lounge
Location: 330 East Amado Road, Palm Springs, CA. (760) 866-1952
Date: December 26, 2011
Cuisine: American
Rating: 50s fantasy
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Continuing our brief Palm Springs foray we decided to check out a classic dining destination. And classic it was, so much so that it almost seemed like a 50-60 year time warp.
Even the sign is totally old school.
And the Neptune's Lair style interior bar. The Cuban jazz music only added to the ambiance.
This was sort of a cosmo like drink. Not bad.
And a passionfruit mango one. This one tasted a little fake fruit flavored.
The menu.
"Salt-Roasted Beet Stack. Imported Gorgonzola & Toasted Pistachios." Sort of attempt to be more contemporary.
But not this. The "pupu platter. An 'exotic' combination of chicken & beef satay, Vietnamese spring rolls, ahi nori rolls, and coconut shrimp." Everything feel into that half-tasty half-lackluster category. But the sauces were pretty yummy. Edible, but not high art.
Cheese pizza.
"Miso glazed Atlantic Salmon Rice Bowl. Broccoli, snow peas, tomatoes, shitakes & soy."
"Pan-Roasted Wild Sea Bass with Gingered Thai Red Curry. Pineapple rice, stir fried vegetables, Asian sprout slaw, gingered tomatoes." This dish was entirely made by the red curry sauce, which was half-decent (not fantastic). I could have used more of it. The vegetables were pretty old-school steamed.
This was a fun evening, even if our three year-old was a handful, but this joint is running on pure kitsch!
For more LA dining reviews click here.
January 17, 2012
Round 1 Winner Selected!
I've official "sold" all 100 tickets in ROUND ONE of the Naughty Dark Contest. So I fired up the Ruby interpreter and asked it to compute the appropriate pseudorandom number, which turned out to be 6.
Counting from zero − I'm such a programmer − this turned out to be a ticket owned by Dorothy Beecher of New York!
She chose the following for her prize: A signed copy of The Darkening Dream!
Ain't it dreamy?
But just because ROUND ONE is finished, doesn't mean you can't win. Check out the rules and get submitting, round two is open. As soon as it sells out another 100 tickets, there will be yet another drawing. And the special prizes are available to anyone, anytime!
Which speaking of, Markus Grundnig of Austria is our latest special prize winner, having gone for the gusto and earned 25 tickets! He chose to get a signed copy of his (and my) favorite Naughty Dog game, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back.
Signed Crash 2 before heading East toward Austria
Crash 2, besides being the most painful year of my life (1997), represents IMHO the pinnacle of Crash gameplay. Some might enjoy Warped's crazy vehicles (and they were fun), but I for one, like the classic platforming intensity of Cortex Strikes Back. Having cleaned up the crappy Crash 1 save system, revamped the technology, and smoothed the gameplay, Cortex really shines. Although don't get me wrong, it's a real close call.
Game of Thrones – Croatia
HBO has pushed out another "behind the scenes" that features filming in Croatia.
You can see some of the King's Landing and Qarth sets. Mostly the spoken content of this little video is what Jason Rubin and I used to call "Cinecrap"* which is the entirely positive marketing spew. In this case talking about how wonderful Croatia is. But actually, cinecrap or not, it's probably true, as the place does look gorgeous. Even the Roman Emperor Diocletian thought so as he built his giant pleasure palace there, declaring it to be one of the nicest places in the Empire. And his conquests had afforded him the grand tour. Plus I've wanted to visit for some time myself 
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That it looks medieval doesn't hurt either.
* By the way, the origin of the "Cinecrap" term stems from us reading a lot of Cinefex magazine in the early 90s. This cool special effects journal went in depth on the making of movies like Terminator 2, Aliens, and the like. The articles had long interviews with the effects directors who spewed out a lot of praise for whatever film making team was paying their salary. Still, it was a fun magazine.
King's Landing... achem... Dubrovnik Croatia
