Andy Gavin's Blog, page 37
April 3, 2023
Robo Eats – Agra Tandoori
Restaurant: Agra Tandoori
Location: 19560 Ventura Blvd, Tarzana, CA 91356. (818) 342-2290
Date: August 26, 2022
Cuisine: Indian
Rating: Fine, but old school
_Continuing my explorations of random valley ethnic places during my son’s robotics classes…
Located in a typical Ventura Blvd strip mall.
Classic interior — but at least it’s not a drop ceiling.
Big menu.
Papadum to start.
Chicken Tikka Masala. Pretty good, but still a bit too sweet and tomato sauce like.
Coconut Lamb Curry. Not...
April 1, 2023
Robo Eats – Khaosan
Restaurant: Khaosan Thai Street Food
Location: 19801 Ventura Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 91364. (818) 932-9845
Date: August 8, 2022 and many times after
Cuisine: Thai Street Food
Rating: Very good small dish Thai place
_This was actually the first — and most frequent — restaurant I visited while waiting for my son at robotics in the valley.
It’s located right on Ventura in Tarzana / Woodland Hills. They have a mostly digital menu (which I’m not a fan of).
Fried fish balls with sweet sauce. Deliciou...
March 28, 2023
Mes Ami – C’est Mort
Restaurant: Mes Ami [ CHEF LEFT SUBSEQUENTLY ]
Location: 561541 Wilcox Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028. (323) 410-6200
Date: August 25, 2022
Cuisine: French Bistro
Rating: Excellent — but closed
_This summer a couple trendy new Hollywood places opened and of course the Foodie Club had to go try them out, tonight consisting of Erick, Jeridan, and myself.
Quoting from Eater:
There seems to be renewed optimism around Los Angeles’s robust restaurant scene, particularly as the state prepares to open up...
March 25, 2023
Robo Eats – Szechuan Place
Restaurant: Szechuan Place
Location: 9250 Reseda Blvd, Northridge, CA 91324. (818) 280-5355
Date: August 17, 2022
Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese
Rating: Just okay
_I was excited to find a “real” Szechuan restaurant not too far from my son’s robotics.
Typical mini-mall location.
They made some effort to decorate.
Chongqing Cold Flat Noodle. Unfortunately fairly bland.
Spicy Wonton Soup. Dumplings were good but the broth needed more flavor.
Special Chinese Lettuce in casserole. This can be a grea...
March 23, 2023
Providence Chef’s Table 2022
Restaurant: Providence [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
Location: 5955 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038. (323) 460-4170
Date: August 16, 2022
Cuisine: Cal French
Rating: Best meal I’ve had at Providence
_I usually make it to Providence about once a year, and so we return with the Foodie Club for another Chef’s table dinner in the little back room.
The space used to be Patina in the 90s.
While the colors are different, Providence still looks a lot like Patina to me — as the layout is basically th...
March 21, 2023
OOToro Double
Restaurant: OOToro [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
Location: 1569 Fairway Dr, Walnut, CA 91789. (909) 598-8299
Date: August 13, 2022
Cuisine: Japanese Sushi (with slight nod to China)
Rating: Ends of the earth, but very good
_Chef Kaz of Totoraku, an occasional hedonist, sent us far east to this Sushi restaurant in 2016 and it was such a fun time that we had to return again for a sixth visit — it’s now become a twice a year thing. This is my second return since the pandemic — although some in the g...
March 19, 2023
Robo Eats – Anarbagh
Restaurant: Anarbagh
Location: 22721 Ventura Blvd, Woodland Hills, CA 91364. (818) 224-3929
Date: September 20, 2022
Cuisine: Indian
Rating: Ok old fashioned Indian
_During my son’s robotics team meetings I have a chance to explore random spots in the Western San Fernando Valley, so I’m nicking naming this the “Robo Eats” series.
Anarbagh is a well rated Indian with several branches.
Obviously this location was once some kind of mid century restaurant.
Inside it has that drop ceiling and boo...
March 16, 2023
Fred loves N/Naka
Restaurant: N/Naka [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]
Location: 3455 S. Overland Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90034. 310.836.6252
Date: August 12, 2022
Rating: Awesome
ANY CHARACTER HEREThe Foodie Club returned to N/Naka (again) with the (brief) return of remote member Fred. This meal is part 1 of a 3 big wine meals in 24 hour extravaganza. Woah!
The busy street corner on National.
The empty interior.[image error] 
Our table — before we got to it.
Tonight’s menu.
Welcome drink. Sake mixe...
March 13, 2023
Major Major Major
Restaurant: Majordomo [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Location: 1725 Naud St, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (323) 545-4880
Date: August 4, 2022
Cuisine: Korean Fusion
Rating: Big dishes amazing
_It’s with gigantic expectation that NY restaurateur David Chang opened his first LA outpost last year and since then it’s become a regular foodie and wine destination among my friends. Tonight is my fifth visit, and my second time with the Hedonists.
Looking on the map, I was pretty skeptical of the weird between Chinatown an...
March 10, 2023
Far East – Beijing Tasty House
Restaurant: Beijing Tasty House [Crawl: MK BBQ, Peking, Bafang, Spicy Home, Beijing Tasty ]
Location: 1380 Fullerton Rd Ste 105 Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 573-8518
Date: July 31, 2022
Cuisine: Beijing Chinese
Rating: Okay, but not as good as Alhambra branch
_Crawls generally need a good “closer” meal at the end where the group can mop up to a satisfying level. In this case, we chose the newish Hacienda Heights location of Beijing Tasty House.
I’ve eaten at the Alhambra branch at least ha...
