Andy Gavin's Blog, page 24
March 10, 2024
Brothers Dom
Restaurant: The Brothers Sushi Santa Monica [1, 2, 3]
Location: 1008 Montana Ave #1, Santa Monica, CA 90403. (424) 330-0270
Date: June 6, 2023
Cuisine: Modern Sushi
Rating: Awesome (and close)!
_Our Foodie Gang has been going to the incredible “The Brothers Sushi” in the valley for some time now, and it was with much glee that we welcomed in the brand new (and somewhat delayed) Montana Santa Monica location. Now it’s become a bit of a staple spot for us.
The space used to be the repulsive Loui...
February 29, 2024
Another 71 Above
Restaurant: 71Above [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14]
Location: 633 W 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Date: May 28, 2023
Cuisine: New American
Rating: Awesome in all ways
_71Above is one of my favorite LA restaurants and I’ve been many times. In fact there are 10 previous write ups! Original Chef Vartan Abgaryan has moved on to his own new place, Yours Truly (which the pandemic has sadly done in), and 71Above is now seamlessly helmed by his disciple, Chef Javier Lopez. Today is ano...
February 23, 2024
Spanish Sauvages 2023
Restaurant: Teresa Montana [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
Location: Flintridge
Date: May 26, 2023
Cuisine: New American
_Today’s Sauvages lunch is a lunch in honor of late Co-Poobah Steve Levin. It’s graciously hosted by Paul at at his beautiful home in Flintridge. This event is held outdoors in memory of the Zinfandel barbecues that Steve would hold for our group every summer at his home (it being Paul’s idea to maintain this fine tradition). To that end, we always enjoy a few Zinfandels at this lunch in...
February 18, 2024
No Funk at Funke
Restaurant: Funke
Location: 9388 S Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (424) 279-9796
Date: May 23, 2023
Cuisine: Modern Italian
Rating: Great pasta. Salty!
_Funke is the latest from the pasta master at Felix and Motherwolf.
Funke is located on Little Santa Monica right near Il Pastaio.
Fancy Beverly Hills frontage.
Lots of good wine, and not a crazy markup, maybe 2-3X. Of course, this is painful with a Gaja or something. And they have the really annoying 2 bottle limit. As usual th...
February 12, 2024
Superb Shoku
Restaurant: Shoku
Location: Private
Date: May 20, 2023
Cuisine: Japanese influenced Ultra Comfort Food
Rating: Incredible — and priced that way
_Shoku is a team of hyper talented chefs who whip up some incredible high end interpretations of comfort food with incredible ingredients.
Tonight’s special dinner was hosted at the industrial chic DTLA appartment of a friend.
Shoku is an exclusive Private Dining Concept with a very talented team of chefs who come to a place of your choosing and cate...
February 9, 2024
Gaja at Charcoal
Restaurant: Charcoal Venice [1, 2, 3, 4]
Location: 425 Washington Blvd, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292. (310) 751-6794
Date: June 14, 2022
Cuisine: New American Grill
Rating: Some great meats
_Our second Gaja dinner of the Spring (there were rival factions). Back to Charcoal, a favorite.
The menu.
Bread with Beurre De Baratte
smoked paprika mustard chimichurri, red wine chipotle bbq sauce, J-1 steak sauce, and charcoal marinade.
Yellowfin Tuna, Pickled Cucumber, Avocado, Citrus Vinaigrette. Clas...
February 5, 2024
Carnival of Flavors
Restaurant: Carnival Restaurant
Location: 4356 Woodman Ave, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423. (818) 784-3469
Date: May 16, 2023
Cuisine: Lebanese
Rating: Maybe second best Lebanese in the city
_I’ve been wanting to try Carnival for a long time.
Pickles!
Tabbouli Salad. Cracked wheat, ripe tomatoes, onions, parsley, with lemon & olive oil. Nice bright tabbouli. Fortuantly not much wheat.
Humos. Ground chickpeas with sesame sauce blended with lemon juice. I can’t eat chickenpeas anymore.
Bab Ghanoug ...
February 2, 2024
To Tama
Restaurant: Sushi Tama
Location: 116 N Robertson Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048. (424) 249-3009
Date: May 15, 2023
Cuisine: Sushi
Rating: Solid Beverly Hills Sushi
_Kaz (from Totoraku) invited us to try this favorite sushi spot of his.
Right across from The Ivy.
Edamame.
Baby squid with miso sauce.
Super tender and succulent with that “in a good way” taste of the sea.
Clams in “butter broth.” It was a delicious clam broth with a bit of butter and plenty of salt.
Cubes of Seared Toro ...
January 30, 2024
Rocking Roccos
Restaurant: Dinner at the Borgese’s [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]
Location: Santa Monica
Date: May 11, 2023
Cuisine: Italian influenced gourmet home cooking
Rating: Awesome
_Dinner at the Borgese’s is a special house dinner in Santa Monica cooked by the stunning pro-level home chef Borgese couple. Tonight’s dinner was another Hedonist dinner featuring whole lamb.
Lovely night out on the patio.
Rocco and gen prepping.
Some big tomohawks at the ready.
Tonight’s special feature was a who...
January 28, 2024
Went to Wangjia
Restaurant: WangJia Restaurant
Location: 800 W Las Tunas Dr Ste 300, San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 872-0618
Date: May 7, 2023
Cuisine: Shanghai Cuisine
Rating: Just pretty good
_Another Sunday, another Chinese.
Wangjia is a 3 year old Shanghai style place on Main St (in Alhambra) that was written up in Eater. Somehow, probably because of the pandemic, it wasn’t on my radar until recently.
The Eater article made it sound “more upscale” but this is a narrow Mom & Pop place where the 20 year-old ...
