Andy Gavin's Blog, page 35
May 18, 2023
Maude 3.0
Restaurant: Maude [1, 2, 3, 4]
Location: 212 South Beverly Drive. Beverly Hills, CA. (310) 859-3418
Date: October 6, 2022
Cuisine: French Californian
Rating: Great Theme
_When it opened several years ago, Maude was a big deal on the LA restaurant scene. For quite some time they had a unique “one ingredient, one month” theme. I had gone in late 2014. But that was back several chefs ago, and then they moved to a “season” (of 3 months I think) with a wine theme and food to match. After the pandemi...
May 16, 2023
This Location Again?
Restaurant: Lady Yan’s
Location: 203 W Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA 91801. (626) 872-6677
Date: October 2, 2022
Cuisine: (Mostly) Szechuan Chinese
Rating: Medium level Szechuan
_I’ve eaten at this location as at least 5 restaurants.
It’s the familiar spot that once housed Sham Tsem (Alahambra), New Bay, and Happy Table, and GV Yummy. That’s a lot of restaurant churn — probably the most different restaurants I’ve eaten at in a single location in the SGV. The current name seems to be Lady Yan’s, bu...
May 14, 2023
Borgese’s go Bille Boo
Restaurant: Dinner at the Borgese’s [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
Location: Santa Monica
Date: September 30, 2022
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 is a “Double Team” as it’s not only at Rocco’s, but is a Billecart-Salmon winemaker dinner hosted by Liz Lee of Sage Society. This is actually the second Billecart dinner I’ve been t...
May 12, 2023
Bring out the Animal
Restaurant: Animal
Location: 435 N Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036. (323) 782-9225
Date: September 29, 2022
Cuisine: Modern American
Rating: Tasty
_I’ve been meaning to try Animal for years and somehow never have — until now.
Space is narrow and fairly spartan.
The menu with my markups.
A Jura white.
prawns, roasted garlic, chili lime sauce. Nice juicy shrimp with a very distinct wood fire taste.
chicken liver toast. Tastes like chicken liver on toast. A bit of grainy quality. Pleasant....
May 10, 2023
Mother Wolf – Carb Coma
Restaurant: Mother Wolf
Location: 1545 Wilcox Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028. (323) 410-6060
Date: September 27, 2022
Cuisine: Roman-style Italian
Rating: Really good, really salty, total carb bomb
_Mother Wolf was one of LA’s most anticipated 2022 openings, being the first “post Felix” restaurant from pasta master Evan Funke.
Chef Evan Funke is a highly respected and accomplished chef in the culinary industry. He is known for his passion and expertise in Italian cuisine, particularly pasta-making....
May 8, 2023
Robo Eats – Lucille’s
Restaurant: Lucille’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que
Location: Westfield Topanga. 6220 CA-27 Suite 1480, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
Date: September 21, 2022
Cuisine: BBQ
Rating: Not bad for a giant chain
_As I eat over in Woodland Hills fairly frequently (by myself) I was googling around for lower carb options and found this place. I actually had no idea it was a chain, or even worse, in a mall. I just picked it from Yelp because it was nearby and BBQ (which offers lots of meat).
I hate when restaurants ...
May 6, 2023
What’s All the Fuss About?
Restaurant: Anajak Thai
Location: 14704 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403. (818) 501-4201
Date: September 22, 2022
Cuisine: Elevated American Thai
Rating: Tasty, but kinda boring
_Anajak has a LOT of buzz about it. It’s a Thai place on Ventura in the valley and it’s one of the hardest reservations in the city to get — go figure. They offer “three modes” of dining. Normal, which I’m covering here, a weird Thai fusion taco Tuesday (haven’t tried) and a Thai Omakase (optional) on weekends that ...
May 3, 2023
Jitalda 2022 Update
An awesome return visit to Jitlada to hang out with our friend Jazz and to “check in” on how tasty their food is in 2022.
Raw marinated shrimp salad. Great spicy/tangy “dressing” with nice crunchy cabbage underneath.
May 1, 2023
Lunch Quest – Tsujita Annex
Restaurant: Tsujita LA Artisan Noodle Annex
Location: 2050 Sawtelle Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025. (310) 231-0222
Date: September 19, 2022
Cuisine: Japanese Ramen
Rating: Oh so good
_The morning after our Haige Star bonanza Jeffrey and I (with Hangry Rider joining us as a bonus) set out on a new Lunch Quest.
We were supposed to try this — supposedly — awesome fried chicken place tucked into the weird Colony in Santa Monica. It was closed for some reason (this happens a lot with Lunch Quest) and...
April 29, 2023
Fallen (Haige) Star
Restaurant: Haige Star / Tianfu Cuisine [ CLOSED ]
Location: 18438 Colima Rd Unit 105, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 820-9638
Date: September 18, 2022
Cuisine: Sichuan Chinese
Rating: Awesome
_This amazing (and now sadly closed) Sichuan joint in Rowland Heights has an amusing tale.
So, sometime in the spring of 2022, Jeffrey and Yarom went here went I was out of town. Of course this annoyed me to no end because so many times I’m dragged to repeat Cantonese or Hong Kong places and certain pa...
